December 26. My birthday. Our road trip. The Grand Canyon by day. Las Vegas by night. Nearly overwhelming. . .
Laura Egley Taylor
Then a miracle occurs . . .
a day of contrasts
December 28th, 2009Tags: birthday, grand canyon, las vegas, road trip
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road trip!
December 25th, 2009
Still uncertain how to handle Christmases on our own (we visited extended family for many years but have tried to do our own thing lately), this year—after floundering about and feeling like failures at the holiday thing—Tim and Reeve and I ended up doing one of those things we do best: running away.
Yes. We rented a car yesterday and hit the road today. Four hundred miles later, we’re hoteled and heading to bed a few miles from the Grand Canyon, looking forward to checking it out in the daylight tomorrow.
It’s been a really lovely (and memorable) Christmas Day. Took turns playing music from our iPods over the rental car’s surprisingly good sound system. Opened presents at rest stops along the way. Marveled at the stunning scenery. Dined at (gulp) Sonic and a Chinese restaurant on the Hopi reservation. Found a hotel and took hot baths and crawled into bed and even watched some TV. And now it’s time to get some sleep. More adventures tomorrow. . .
Merry Christmas, everybody!
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Tags: christmas=, highway sign, I-40, road trip
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a Christmas present from Mel
December 18th, 2009
And these aren’t even a twentieth of the words included in this special-edition Laura Egley Taylor Magnetic Poetry Kit which I just received from my coworker, miracle-worker Melyssa Holik. Since we have a dorm-sized fridge here at the office, I’m not sure there’s even room for all the words there. . .
And what words they are! We got your very appropriate thaumaturgy, mercury, and retrograde; fun words like beslubbering, shenanigan, fugacious, and antediluvian poppycock; uplifting words like bucolic, wabi-sabi, and sheets, of, and easter; inspiring words like creativity, lilt, and coffee; and—I’m pleased to reveal here—a brand-new word, coined by Mel, guaranteed to further your communication skills: malmanfricate.**
Thanks in advance for all the wordplay fun, Mel!
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*hippopotomonstrosesquedalian: of or pertaining to extremely long words
**malmanfricate: to rub one’s hands together in a back-and-forth motion in gleeful anticipation of some nefarious undertaking
Photos above of 1) my first-ever fridge blog and 2) a mere sampling of the verbiage from Mel
Tags: christmas=, magnet, malmanfricate, melyssa holik, poetry, words
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a different kind of holiday carol
December 17th, 2009
The Mothering holiday party Tuesday night at El Nido restaurant in Tesuque was a delightful success. Good company, good food, and—if it’s not an oxymoron to say so—good Karaoke.
Photo above shows some of our staffers singing “Birthing Queen,” a song written by Mothering‘s own Candace Walsh (lyrics below) to the tune of Abba’s Dancing Queen.
From left: Marketing Director Elizabeth Carovillano, Features Editor/Product Review Editor Candace Walsh, Managing Editor Melissa Chianta, Associate Publisher Lally McMahon (with Ad Production Manager/Staff Photographer Melyssa Holik’s red hair showing behind Lally’s head), Editor at Large Ashisha, and Publisher/Editor in Chief Peggy O’Mara. Oh, and that’s Elizabeth’s daughter Noelani in the front.
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Birthing Queen (to be sung to the tune of Abba’s Dancing Queen)
intro
Ahhhh-ahhhhhhh
Ahhhh-ahhhhhhh
Ahhhh-ahhhhhhh
Ahhhh-ahhhhhhh
Ooh yeah
you can nurse
you can birth, oh,
holding your babies so close
oooh
Instincts rule
Fill the pool
You are a birthing queen
1st verse
You took the test, and you’ve got some news…
You’re pregnant and it’s time to choose
Everyone has some counsel
They’ve got advice for you
telling you what to do
Your neighbor planned a cesarean
And recommends her OB-GYN….
Don’t you want an epidural
pregnancy’s a minefield
of things that could go wrong
1st chorus
But when you tune that out,
You are a birthing queen
Strong and proud
And without a doubt
Built for this
You’ve got hips
So let’s rock it out
Oh Yeah
You can birth
take your pick but
Hospitals are for the sick
ooh
fill the tub
feel the love
You are the birthing queen
2nd verse
When baby’s hungry,
you whip them out
breast is best without a doubt
sleeping snuggled together
waking up’s a treat
when you are bedsharing
2nd chorus
It is a waking dream…
We work at Mothering
Magazine
It’s a groovy scene
Slow to wean
Instincts rule
and hold that vaccine, oh, yeah
Green your house
Sling your sprouts
Midwives and doulas are us, oooh
Feel the love
Get your sub
to Mothering magazine
—lyrics by Candace Walsh
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how things happen
December 17th, 2009
As I walked through the main part of the office last week (across the hall from the production studio where I work with Melyssa Holik and Melissa Chianta), I was surprised by the feeling of holiday bustle. Accounts Manager Shirl Ervin and Fulfillment Manager Micki Garcia were wrapping and packing in the mailroom area, Associate Publisher Lally McMahon was bringing over stacks of boxes just delivered by UPS. When I asked what was going on, they all answered “Sophie!”
Sophie, as I learned a couple of months ago, is a charming rubber giraffe who showed up in a photo submitted to me by photographer Lise Varrette. Since the subject of the photo was also quite charming, a young girl named Harmony with a vulnerable smile that made us all Ooh!,* we used the photo on our November–December cover. And we started getting inquiries: where could one buy Sophie?
So, after poking around online and making a few calls, we decided to make Sophie available at the Mothering online shop. The orders poured in. Somehow, we found ourselves in the toy giraffe business! —packing and shipping hundreds of toy giraffes for the holiday season—which has been both a lot of fun and an unexpected little boost at the end of a really rough financial year for the magazine business.
I love it how these things happen. . .
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*A phenomenon known around here as the Ooh Factor, identified as such by our publisher, Peggy O’Mara. You know a photo’s got it when pretty much everybody who looks at it can’t help but Ooh.
Tags: "Ooh Factor", holiday season, issue 157, Mothering shop, November-December 2009, Sophie
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that miracle
December 4th, 2009
Woo-hoo! We just put Jan-Feb to bed, as they say in old-school printing vernacular.
Each time we get another issue of the magazine out, it seems like a miracle. And this issue (my 35th!) was no exception.
Today, however, Mel and I were helped along by production angel/ managing editor Melissa Chianta‘s inspired takeout gifts of caffeine and chocolate from The Chocolate Maven.
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Tags: 158, chocolate maven, january-February 2010, melissa chianta, melyssa holik, the making of a magazine
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color confidence
December 4th, 2009
One of the things I learned a few years ago at Camp Quad (a conference our press holds annually for all their clients) a few years ago: our ability to detect color begins to deteriorate after we reach 40.
Which is not at all helpful to know when we’re in the last hours of magazine production and are trying to color-correct photos. So, at times like this, I pull out this screen shot.
Last summer, someone sent me an online color test where you line up a bunch of color swatches by hue. My production sidekick extraordinaire, Mel,* took the test and did well. I kept meaning to take it but kept waiting for a better time—when I wasn’t rushed or the light was better or my eyes weren’t tired . . . Truth is, I was petrified. What if I took it and flubbed it? How could I, the art director, expect anyone (especially Mel!) to respect my opinion if I couldn’t even pass a silly online color test?
Finally, at Mel’s urging (“It’s fun—and it’ll be good for your confidence.”), I set aside some time and took the Online Color Challenge. Mel was right. It was fun—and it did wonders for my color confidence. Hence, the screen shot.
Try it yourself here.
*Staff Photographer/Ad Production Manager/Web Designer Melyssa Holik, who is 20 years younger than me
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paper dolls!
December 3rd, 2009
Back in October, I mentioned a new feature that we were going to be including in our November–December issue, but I neglected to follow up on it.
So here’s the scoop: paper dolls. Originally created by our very own Melyssa Holik as a Christmas present for Mothering publisher-editor Peggy O’Mara—who liked them so much she suggested we put them in the magazine as a holiday gift for our readers.
And here is where you can download PDFs of four different dolls and their wardrobes—for hours and hours of good old-fashioned paper doll play. Enjoy!
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Tags: clothes, crafts, gift, melyssa holik, paper doll
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swimming upstream
December 1st, 2009
At this stage in the magazine-production game, it feels like we’ll never make it up that river . . . Must. Keep. Swimming!
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Photo: detail from a whimsical yard in Santa Fe that Tim and I often walk past.
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© 2009 Mothering Magazine