Utah Peaches.

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It’s so easy to love a peach.

Once I discover Utah peaches, though, no other peach is the same. On warm August days in Idaho Falls and around the West, by the side of the road, you see the signs: Utah Peaches.


Don’t pass them by. If you do, you can never know the sweetest peach. Or bitter regret.

The summer I discover Utah peaches, I buy them by the bushel, peel the skin away and slice them (one for me, one for later; two for me, one for later) -and flash freeze each piece individually, so I can taste them in the middle of winter. Then, I sauté them up with some chicken breast and herbs. Or bake a peach cobbler.

But in the summer, I eat my Utah peaches naked. With abandon.

Photo by totalAldo

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Tomato.

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Summer’s finally golden here in the Northwest, and I’m thinking about tomatoes.

Picked from the vine, warm from the sun, juice running down my arms … sweet, red, Green Zebra, heirloom, Sweet 100’s, drip … meaty Beefsteaks, slender plums, outstanding San Marzanos. Big, healthy bites, sweet surrender –a flood of childhood memories bringing me back to this moment, this taste, this fruit … the spicy smell of nightshade, yellow, orange, popping in my mouth, sticky … bursting with the flavor of summer.

Repeat.

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Photo by visualdensity

Ten thousand hours.

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If any of you have read Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers, you recognize the phrase ten thousand hours. According to many studies, ten thousand hours is the magic number of greatness.

“Practice isn’t the thing you do once you’re good. It’s the thing you do that makes you good,” Malcolm states in the book.

In journalism school, our professors always urged us to write, write, write –keep writing until you get enough words under your belt to actually start being a writer.

Don’t I know it.

How many steps does it take to achieve exercise nirvana? Ten thousand. A doable thing.

If you’ve been writing an hour a day, every day for a year –you’d have hit ten thousand hours in a smidge more than 27 years.

I’m several years over. Does this mean I can start being a great writer?

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Photo by LadyDragonflyCC

Making room for the new.

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Cleaning out your closets may not be something you look forward to doing, so remember what it feels like when you’re done!

This is how you open yourself up to the abundant flow, the new, how all your needs and desires are met before you even ask.

Lately, I start my day with this: “I wear my beauty graciously. I am strong, releasing the past to move my body forward in a healthy way. I love and approve of myself.”

p.s. Happy Birthday, Mom!

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Celebrate.

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Feria de San Miguel, Arcos de la Frontera … Viva España!

Dreaming of our next visit.

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Happy hour.

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Hey, let’s meet here at this rooftop garden in Rome for an adult beverage after work today, O.K.? Would love to see you and catch up.

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Friday Night Lights.

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On July 15, Friday Night Lights ends its five-year run. And recently, the folks behind the Emmy Awards announced four nominations garnered by the cast and crew: Outstanding Lead Actor, Outstanding Lead Actress, Outstanding Writing for a Drama Series and Best Drama Series. So well deserved.

This television show is one of my favorites. Drawn to it initially by the fantastic cast headlined by Kyle Chandler and Connie Britton, I’ve been introduced to so many talented actors, all playing characters I’ve come to love. Life –and football- in Dillon, Texas are pretty interesting to me because of them.

Friday Night Lights is the sort of show you can’t help but record because you want to watch it slowly –watch parts again, really savor the work. You can save up a few episodes to watch together –”serious TV time,” I call it. It’s a joy, a learning experience, moments of appreciation that television could be that good.

Few shows make it to my “serious TV time” … Picket Fences, The Sopranos and Northern Exposure are in there. Of course, now there’s On Demand and Hulu and all sorts of ways to watch your favorite shows, but this Friday night, I’ll be doing my serious TV time, watching several saved up FNL episodes in honor of Peter Berg and everyone associated with it – including the series finale.

And as far as the Emmys are concerned, I watch several of the shows nominated for Best Drama Series … but I hope Friday Night Lights wins this year. It would be proper thanks for the inspired storytelling.

Snaps for brainywoman.

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The global community of inspiring women is awesome. Always supportive and social, it’s really satisfying to serve them. Fun, too.

Recently, one of my clients –brainywoman.com– was nominated as “Most Positive Website in June” by  PostiveThinking-Toolbox.com. Site creator Bonnidette Lantz interviews Patricia Anaya –the woman behind brainywoman.com- here. Snaps!

One of the things Bonnidette loves about brainywoman.com is reading our stories featuring all those brainywomen out there creating a difference in their lives and in the lives of others. “So, every time you highlight a brainywoman, there is a chance one of your readers can say, ‘Ah, yes -that is me,'” she says. “‘I can do that.'” This is exactly why bw Magazin’ is structured the way it is. “I want to thank my editor, Janet Muniz,” Patricia responds, “because she is the woman behind the stories in bw Magazin’ and I have learned a lot from her. She is a wonderful woman!”

Thank you, Patricia –and thanks for your kind regard, too, Bonnidette. We appreciate it.

If anyone would like to tell their story, or tell the story of a friend, tell us! Visit brainywoman.com here and we’ll get you published.

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Successful unveil.

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After celebrating five years of publishing trade magazine HUDSON’S Childrenswear Review, co-founder Margaret Mobius took stock of her media company’s future. “In recent months, we have taken the time to really consider our dream – our brand, goal and focus, and our customers’ needs and wishes,” she says. “Now, we are excited to introduce to you our newly re-designed website.”

On July 1, Margaret and our staff unveiled a clean, well-organized online presence for HUDSON’S featuringa “magazine flipbook” version of our current issue and a nifty advertiser section that highlights our advertisers in a stand-out way.

Developed by Jordan Mansfield, the all-new HUDSONSCR.com also has links to official blog HCRSourceBook (two years’ publishing in May), HUDSON’S Facebook page and more.

I’m excited! It’s a fabulous start to the rest of 2011 and beyond!

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In praise of day husbands.

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Check out what my day husband –long-time collaborator and creative partner J.Churchill Morgan- says about working together:

Most partnerships pale in comparison to the day husband-day wife bond –that rare and most unique of creative synchronicities capable of moving every project to a higher level. I mean, who wouldn’t want to be part of that? I don’t know anyone who doesn’t benefit, least of all a client.

What’s cool about asking your day husband (or any trusted creative partner) for an endorsement is, you can throw a little love their way. I find that a testimonial says just as much about the person or company giving it, so when you put one out there, it reflects graciously. A reward in itself.

Thank you.

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