Category: friends

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Flawed But Authentic, The Site

What we have here is a case of moving a tag line over to its own site and helping it become what it was meant to be.

I’ve enjoyed the community feeling of Real Mental these past few months and I bought the domain name for FBA a while back with the intention of replicating that safe and supportive feeling. The best part is that I get to work with another great group of writers including Jessica, Kelly, Angela, Kyran and Suebob.

FBA will be updated daily with all kinds of inspiring, hopeful and otherwise wonderful tidbits to keep you going throughout the day. We’ll be having spotlights, contests and prizes. You’ll want to be there.

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A Few Of My Favorite Things

Sometimes, I am, in a word, Odd. I know this. For the most part I embrace it. But, it’s come to my attention that some of my favorite things are different than other people. In fact, it could be said that I have favorite things in some categories where others wouldn’t.

For example, ice. I like only a certain kind of ice – crushed but kind of soft so that the ice breaks apart easily between my teeth. I would rather have no ice than have the really hard, sharp crushed ice that, when chewed between my teeth, cuts my gums. And large cubes? No. I say no. None of that in my drink. But my really, really, really favorite part of crushed ice is when it comes out of my fridge door while I’m using the CRUSH feature and the tiny, tiny flecks get on the top along the rim of my glass and it reminds me of a snow cone or snow only better. When I finish filling my glass to 2/3rds full, I put it to my face, stick my tongue out and scoop those excruciatingly wonderful tiny flecks into my mouth. THAT is my favorite kind of ice.

I have a favorite spoon. Well, actually, spoonS. They are the only two of their kind and I have no idea where we got them. They don’t match anything and I don’t remember seeing them before we moved from San Diego a few years ago. They have a brushed silver finish, not too shiny, not too dull. The handle fits in my grasp in the most wonderful way. They have a perfect weight, not too heavy, not too light. The tip of the spoon is squared off but not harsh. The bowl of the large spoon is the perfect size for cereal and the bowl of the small spoon is perfect for ice cream. If you use one of these spoons and render it dirty for me to use next, I won’t say anything. You would probably never know they were my favorite. But, you might find that your pants are folded not as nice with the crease down the center next time. In this small way, I will be passive aggressive.

Speaking of ice cream, I don’t really like it. Except one kind – French Vanilla Bean made with all natural ingredients. And I only want one small scoop with an entire sliced banana on top and one squeeze of warmed hot fudge sauce on top. No whipped cream or nuts or cherry. And if you can get me one of those just the way I like it, I might make out with you for an hour. But, only if you are my husband. If you aren’t, I’ll just say a muffled thanks while I snarffle. And then I’ll make you a quilt or build you a house or something. But, I only want one of those once every couple of months or so.

Right up there next to the crushed ice is the smell of freshly rained-on concrete. Or bricks. I can’t really expound on those since they are as simple as what I wrote.

Links for today:
>Jason Calacanis wrote about what he’s learned about weight loss. I’ve reread it a few times now and I still like it.
>I got this little zine from Jen Lemen at Blogher. It’s inspirational and worth every cent.
>Do not click on this link if you value keeping your lunch in your stomach. But if you do click and have any idea who the demographic is for this product, I’d love to hear. (via)

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I Was A Wrangler At Blogher '07

Last year at Blogher, I commented on a distinct oogy feeling that permeated parts of the conference. This year, despite however much I was quietly alert for it, The Oogy did not appear. Blogher ’07 was fabulous and there was not one moment that the feeling wasn’t just loving, creative and supportive for everyone.* I spoke with Elisa on Sunday morning right before I left for my flight and asked her what she thought the difference was. She mentioned better internet access, better support through the hotel and services, better hotel in general (I don’t think anyone there last year has forgotten those charming rooms – yuck.), and a smaller jump in growth as opposed to last year when the growth rate was about double. I don’t think I had put all those components together, but I agreed with her instantly after she listed them. Congrats to Elisa, Lisa and Jory – the Co-founders of Blogher.

I got to meet Ree and have dinner with her the first night. I also met her mom and her daughters for a quick second. Wow, talk about adorable. Later, as Ree and I took a cab with Heather and Jessica to one of the cocktail parties, Ree looked mischievously at the cabbie and let out a burp like you have never smelled heard before. In fact, I think she might even win Heather and GEORGE! in one of their burping contests. It was THAT amazing. In the next cab on the way to the next cocktail party (I’m sure typing cock a lot today) Ree sang out one of her Ethel Merman specials (did you know she once did a Leahpeah Burp special just for lil’ol me?) and I swear that cabbie wanted to just dump us at the closest corner to get us out of the car. I think but I’m not sure because we were all laughing so hard. We demoed the new Wii game called Boogie at the Imperfect Parent Soiree. You can see what a great dancer Jessica is here.

BlogHer is like Disneyland (I don’t really like Disneyland, but you know what I mean, right?) for people like me that like to actually meet and interact with other virtual people. So many of the panels were wonderful and informative. I enjoyed meeting or re-meeting everyone there. Which brings us to my panel on Saturday, (did you enjoy that sweeping fast-forward through an entire day and a night and a morning?), The Art of Crafts. This panel would not have happened if Grace hadn’t suggested it to me. And if Natalie hadn’t asked Fred for Amy’s email. And Fred hadn’t decided he could trust me. And if certain unnamed people hadn’t vouched for me. And if Amy hadn’t said yes. Thanks, Universe.

The panel went great. I think I enjoyed it so much because of the great mix of women, all with their own strengths. Kristin Roach is fantastic. I wanted her for the panel so bad because she has this innate sense of sustainability in her work that is so important to me. As someone mentioned, waste is everywhere and it’s heartbreaking to see all the waste we generated at the conference when Chicago doesn’t even have a recycling program to help minimize the impact. Kristin reuses some of her grandma’s craft bits and reclaimed items from the thrift shop to make new items and it’s just inspiring. She hand-dyes yarn and sells kits to support her other projects so if you are in to that kind of thing, check it out. It’s beautiful, yummy stuff.

Natalie Zee Drieu was wonderful on the panel. She has this great over-arching perspective on the crafting community because of her position with Craft. She’s privy to the cool peeps and the hot links. (now I sound like a rapper.) She started an entry here at the Craftzine blog for anyone wanting to continue the conversation or people looking for great links or wanting to link to their own crafts. It was a little tricky for me to find the free registration, so in case you have any issues, sign up here to create a free account so you can comment. Nat has a huge Flickr set here, some images which have a story I’m sure I don’t remember. Thanks, free Oops! wine and Helenjane!

It was a real pleasure to talk with Natalie. She invited me to come along to have cocktails (see? again!) with herself, Kristen and Chloe Dao, winner of Project Runway Season 2. Chloe and Natalie were talking high fashion during which I got lost a few times because high fashion? I think I don’t own any. (although Kristin made her awesome dress, which I think is pretty high fashion.) But I still loved listening and learning new things. Chloe was very sweet and told me the behind secrets including things about my beloved Tim Gunn. I still do the best impression of him you’ve ever seen. Seriously.

Kathy Cano Murillo was adorable. I had no idea I would like her so much because due to an unfortunate hot knife accident, she missed our conference call a few weeks ago. So, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I guess if I had to summarize her, I’d say she’s Glitterific. She’s one busy lady, what with her new product line with Duncan, her writing and crafting and her TV appearances. I’m so glad she found the time to come. (side note, I found out she’s friends with Laurie Notaro. Hi, Laurie!) Kathy’s heart is as pure as gold and she deserves all the success she’s reaping.

And then there is Amy. Amy Sedaris. I don’t even know what to tell you guys about her. I knew she would be funny as hell because I think she can’t help it. She has too much organic Jerry Blank in her blood not to be completely inappropriate and hysterical. But, I really didn’t know before hand just how smart, charming, kind, warm and authentic she is. At one point at the cocktail (16 times now, is it?) party, as the 8th person asked her to call a loved one and say something insane to their cousin Bill, I marveled at her ability to just keep being amenable and gracious. I asked her at dinner how she keeps her composure and if it wears on her and she said, quite genuinely, that it’s fine and she enjoys it. She said her fans are nice, not usually scary, and that she appreciates them appreciating her. She said it so much better than I just did, but you get the point. And smart. She knows what she wants and figures out how to make it happen. I guess you have to be super smart to get where she is and I should have figured, but something about her disarming public persona makes it hard to see sometimes. And authentic. She really and truly loves crafting and crafters and wants to support them. Yes, some of her crafts are on the silly side and she does some fun re-packaging of other products and puts her label on them, but she puts her love in to each and every thing she does, silly or not. I’m so happy to have met her. I can honestly say I enjoyed every second with her and that is kind of a rarity. Even as we were straight-faced lying as we waited for the shuttle to some really nice gentleman about how we grew up together in a small town cul-de-sac and how we’d been best friends forever and even when she dumped about a gallon of perfume on halfway through the book signing and blamed it on me and even when she yelled out CHING-CHONG to a Japanese lady and even when she made me take $40 for helping to sell all her awesome crap at the table – it was great. When I took this photo, (one of only about 6 I took the entire conference), Amy had just finished making a Bean Burrito (which she describes making in the podcast linked below and which she gave me as a gift when we left.) and she took the extra hose piece and slipped it on her hand. For the next few minutes she was just talking and gesturing with her hand to people as they came to the table as if it wasn’t even there and it was SO funny. She turned to me and said, ‘About that web stuff!’

The very nice Jennifer of Craftsanity made a podcast of our panel. You can listen here. And thanks to Suebob for being our great mic runner. Man, I was so glad to see her when I walked in the room. I knew I wouldn’t have to stress or do a lot of making sure she knew what I wanted before hand. It’s like she can read my mind.

There is lots more. I have no idea if I’ll write about it or not. I might be bloghered out. But thanks to everyone who came up and said hi to me. Leave a comment and say hi again so I’ll have your URLs. It might be days before I unpack and find all the business cards.

ps. links mentioned in the podcast:
– my craft trading site at craft.leahpeah.com
– Andrea’s jewelry from Superherodesigns.com
– craftzine
– creative commons

pps – the latest issue of Craft, Issue 4 shown here at the top, has my candle making article in it.

*Updated to add – I guess I missed the oogy and I misspoke. I should have said “there was not one moment that the feeling wasn’t just loving, creative and supportive for me.”

Updated again to add – Ariel from Electrolicious liveblogged our panel.

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Various Updates

Of which my blog is one.

I love how I was so insane that I couldn’t even add the S on the end of ‘seconds’ to this post title. What a tool I am.

Here is what the sunset looked like last night through my sunglasses. Tony took it. I like it a lot. I guess the song is real.

This is one of my favorite moments from the weekend:

kids1

I haven’t gone through the reunion photos yet.

So many video interviews posted while I was away!

Video of Catherine Connors from Her Bad Mother
Video of Eden from Fussy
Video of Melissa Summers from Suburban Bliss
Video of Leah from A Girl and a Boy
Video of Angela from Fluid Pudding

UPDATED: JenB from JenandTonic

You should go watch them because they represent a large chunk of time from last year’s Blogher and also because these women are great!!

And now I have to go shower because I hear tell that cleanliness is something that the people around you appreciate. Whatever.

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Me, in 10 Second. Oh, and Bye.

Big Reunion! Parent’s 50th! 12 Hour Drive! Getting Up at 6am! Hot, Hot, Dry, Dry Utah! Not Really Packed Yet!

See you next week. In the meantime, if you get bored, here’s some of my favorite entries.

Also, because I love MochaMomma, here I am in 10 seconds, since that is really all the time I have. And, if you think it sounds like something I would have written for a bio or book jacket, it’s because I have. (recycle, reuse!)

Leah Peterson is a freelance writer, photographer, artist and crafter. Leah is lactose intolerant, allergic to soymilk, afraid of non-dairy creamers and hoping to find something to add to her coffee besides rice milk, which she finds too sweet.

OR

Leah Peterson is a freelance and sometimes professional writer, photographer, artist and crafter. She is a compulsive starter-upper and now hosts two reading series, a craft-trading site and a blogger network. Leah also believes in sustainability, conserving resources and is herself made from 100% recycled material.

Read about Me in 10 Seconds! here.

Lastly, keep checking the Alpha Mom site for new interviews! There should be a new one every day. Countdown to Blogher ’07!

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Zee Catching-up, As They Say

>Last night was so hilarious. SO funny. I can’t even express it except to say my cheeks still hurt from laughing and I can’t wait for next time.

>Heather linked to this video of the tiny Mormon folk singing at school about NOT LYING (BIG SMILE) and man, I just about died from remembering how many times I sang that song as a kid. Those kids probably had to get temple recommends to be in the commercial. Oh, wait. Maybe not because here is Alfonso Ribeiro, who I believe is not a tiny Mormon folk, TELLING THE TRUTH about breaking a window in another 80s Mormon commercial. (HE’S SMILING!) I must assume they will let you be in the Mormon commercials as long as you can smile very large and for long periods of filming time.

Now THIS commercial still freaks me out. I remember bawling when it came on because my life was never going to be as perfectly awesome as the little girl who kept morphing into an older version of herself. My heart strings – they were pulled. Now when I watch, I can’t get over the fact that the mom, who has just birthed a baby girl, is hallucinating in the hospital and they are LETTING HER GO HOME WITH HER BABY! Perhaps they should check her for a little postpartum depression? If your newborn is morphing into a pre-teen and arabesque-ing down the hallway on your way out, you may have an issue or two.

And this commercial is a perfect representation of how every young adult in the L.D.S. religion talks over lunch. Always.

I don’t remember now who sent me this link (SORRY! I LOVE YOU!) but it explains why polygamy exists according to the 13-year-old male mind. Things misrepresented – the young gentleman would never be alone – Always! Always! with his companion and his name tag was WAAAAY too small. Mormon Missionaries are proud, dangit! And they have the name tags to prove it.

And please don’t live your entire life and miss the Johnny Lingo temple visitor’s center film. You can view the 3 segments here, here and here. Watch for the part where the loving father says, ‘Mahana, you ugly! What are you hiding up there for? Today is the day of bargaining. Come down and be ready to greet your husband to be!‘ so he can trade her to the highest bidder. Still, to this day, I don’t understand why they play it there. Like, it’s a really great representation of how Mormons live? Not. But, it is funny. Just ask Joe. He’s had to sit through both the original version and the new version. (Yes. It was so awesome, they made it again.)

>I’m done scanning. (YAY!)

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Two Links

1) Joe and I stumbled upon Rob and Big sometime on Friday and the rest of the weekend we watched episodes online whenever possible. We’ve seen them all now and the last one was just as good as the first. Pro skater Rob Dyrdek and his bodyguard Christopher “Big Black” Boykin have a relationship that kind of defies probabilities. It’s male bonding at its finest. (And his Bulldog (who gets his own pet miniature horse) learns to skate!)

2) I’ve been laughing about these photos of Kevin for days. I recommend them to anyone trying to get through a hard time.

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LA Bloggers Live! #1

I don’t think anyone would disagree that last night was fun. We had wonderful readers, one of whom worked at the Tangier and signed on at the last minute. The stories varied from relationships to Barbies to early bike riding to recent bike riding and more. It was delightful! There was an abundance of talent in the room and hardly a slow moment.

I spent the last few weeks wondering if I wanted to do a bang-up MC job and go all out with funny quips in between readers or if I should just keep it simple and announce the readers as their turn came up. I couldn’t stomach trying to be the lady in the funny hat so I decided to just stick with announcing their names and URLs, which sometimes I forgot to do. I thought more time for the readers was a better choice since we only had about an hour.

In retrospect, and based on the feedback of some attendees, I think next time I’ll do more of an introduction before each reader. I might even create a list/program so people know the basics of who will be reading when.

Thanks so much to all that came out to listen and those that were brave enough to read. I so appreciate your support! See you all in August. And in the meantime, come to LA Angst on July 11th.

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Photabulous, The Recap

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I threw clam chowder up once and I couldn’t eat it for about 6 years and that was a onetime vomit deal. Nothing like the incredible amounts of awesome pain I’ve been in with our old friend Blue Cheese. You’d think I got ran over by a truck and then wrung out like an old dishrag. Picture me lying prone, moisture-less and wrinkled up like an old prune, arm extended slightly up and meekly calling for water. Additionally, I’ve had about 10 narcoleptic naps the past few days and as Joe will tell you, normally I can’t fall asleep anywhere except in the bed with about 15 pillows moated around me, the lights out and the fan on low to lull me into unconsciousness. Sometimes there is chanting going on in the background and incense rolling out in tufts over the headboard. If he so much as breaths wrong, I stiffen and have to start the whole relaxation process* over again, starting with my toes. Man, I’m a party in the sack.

The first and only time I ate blue cheese prior to this past weekend was in high school. Someone dared me to taste it so I tongued a chunk, gagged, and then spent my hard-earned 5 dollars on a new Duran Duran cassette tape. I probably had an eating disorder and I threw up on purpose so I could fit into my super tight button fly stonewashed 501s, so I don’t think you can count it as a really sad episode in my life. Plus, Double Duran? I scored. (Simon! I waited for you for so long!)

Joe will routinely get salad with blue cheese. I still kiss him but I have to admit that it’s not high on my list of Things Joe Eats That Make Me Lust. It’s higher than onion and garlic but lower, much lower, than say, strawberries or chocolate.

Last weekend I took Alex to San Diego with me for a get together with the photabulous women I shoot photos with occasionally. (I can say occasionally now that it’s happened twice, right?) Anyhoo, we started the wonderful day eating brunch and then walking downtown looking for things to take photos of. We only annoyed a couple of people. Quite a successful feat for us. I must say that what Ocean Beach was lacking in silicone it more than made up for in body odor. BO in OB. GET IT?? And also? Unfortunate clothing choices.

While we waited for our food at Hodad’s, I heard my name called through the open window. And lo and behold, there was Joe’s Aunt Joan! Fun surprise. We chatted through the window until the angry man (ASShole!) sitting in between us “asked” us to stop.

At the beach we saw a dude with friendly parrots who used a very unique call to get them to come back. I believe it went something like, “Hey! Get back here!! NOW!!” And the weird thing is that they did.

Margot, Susan, Alex and I went to Old Town to the Living Room to eat fish tacos for dinner. And then Margot went home. (sadface)(hello, matt!)

On the way to Susan’s home, we stopped at Aaryn’s home. The minute I walked into the door her husband Sam put me to work folding towels. Just kidding. I love to fold clothes so I pushed my way into the Folding Circle. I just don’t like putting them away or hanging them up. Their home is quite lovely and we had great conversation but we missed seeing Ruby in the flesh. What? Kids don’t stay up past 11?

We finally made it to Susan’s where we found hand written notes scattered along the kitchen counter intermixed with plates and bowls of food. Twas a veritable smörgasbord and all fixed lovingly by Mr. Susan, Doug Myrland. Yes, Doug had given up on us ever really making it to the house and had long since gone to bed, but he left behind him the very best parts of himself and we consumed the delectable chicken wings and veggies and fried zucchini and fried olives. (Olives? Really?? Yes. They were yummy.) And herein is where we meet our old friend Blue Cheese because what would you dip all the wonderful crudités in if not blue cheese dressing? And it wasn’t just an ordinary blue cheese dressing. This was a Doug Myrlandized blue cheese dressing with additions that I can only imagine. Probably magic and fairy dust because it was the most delicious thing I’d ever had on raw carrots and celery sticks.

About a half gallon later, I went straight to bed where my stomach proceeded to not digest a single, solitary iota of any particle of food. One of the fun effects of stupid hypothyroid is slow digestion, which makes me never really feel hungry and I forget to eat because the food just sits there. It also means I’m pooping out chicken and blue cheese today from 3 days ago even though I emptied my stomach through the top vent by throwing up the entire drive home. Yes, I loved the blue cheese the first time but not the next 17 times. But, Doug! Thanks for being so sweet and next time we’ll get there sooner and eat with you. But I’m afraid I must bid the blue cheese adieu.**

I saw my old/new doc the other day and she upped my dose by about a kazzillion percent, was astonished at the lack of care I’d received during the year and a half I had been away from her and was righteously angry on my behalf as I told her all about how ridiculous and obtuse that dumb doctor was. I felt validated and safe. And then I cried real puppy dog tears and thanked her from the bottom of my heart for being so informed and saying all the things I needed to hear. After feeling my throat for what seemed like ages, she determined that the nodules are actually getting smaller. Instead of going crazy with some kind of invasive procedure, we’re going to wait and see. I like that. She even hugged me on the way out and gave me a two-month supply of Synthroid at the new, higher dose to save me money. You can’t beat that. As bad as the old place was, the new/old place is that great in contrast and I’m so glad to be back with them. There is a reason they don’t accept HMOs. It allows them to keep their level of care so much higher.

*My relaxation technique was given to me by one of my therapists where you start with either your head or your toes and consciously think about each body part relaxing while steadying and deepening your breathing. It usually works for me but it takes a dang long time.

**Alex just came home and told me that her stomach feels terrible and that she might start ralphing. I wonder if we caught a bug and that it had nothing to do with blue cheese at all? If that is the case, I’d like to apologize to Doug’s Blue Cheese Dip. Aaryn, did you say you got sick, too?