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Laura Egley Taylor

Then a miracle occurs . . .

that nurturing Mothering spirit

May 21st, 2010

team-grape2

. . . was, um, in full force Friday afternoon for The Sometime Annual Peggy-O’Mara’s-Post-Birthday Photo Scavenger Hunt, as evidenced here by this shot of Team Grape as they posed for a team portrait while trying to psyche out the competition, Team Birdbath. (Team names and colors came from the color palette we use for the magazine)

Photos from the fun: escalatorand-they're-off

Above: Team Grape’s fighting crew of three included Fulfillment Manager Sarah Patamia, Publisher/ Editor Peggy O’Mara, Associate Publisher Lally O’Mara McMahon

Far right: John McMahon, Melyssa Holik and Shirl Ervin of Team Birdbath point illustratively to the only escalator (currently disabled) in downtown Santa Fe.

Above: And they’re off! Melyssa Holik and Simone Snyder reading the next assignment dash away on their latest assignment.

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Sarah and Peggy catch their breath and rapidly read their next assignment while Lally calls tries to reach a possible fourth teammate.

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Team Grape muses thoughtfully over their nextcheckers
move at Santa Fe’s downtown outdoor chess board.

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Team Birdbath: Circulation Director Johnteam-birdbath
McMahon, Ad Production Manager/Staff Photographer Melyssa Holik, Accounts Manager Shirl Ervin, Product/Resource Manager Simone Snyder.

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yet another example of why I love working with Mel

April 29th, 2010

e.g., her whiteboard calendar of days.

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another day in the life

March 19th, 2010

raw-food. . . of the Mothering production team.

Mel (Staff Photographer Melyssa Holik) and I spent a good chunk of yesterday on the back porch of Candace’s (Feature Editor/Product Review Editor Candace Walsh) very gracious former partner, shooting raw food recipes for our May–June issue.

The food was “cooked” by Mel and Mothering’s new fulfillment manager, Sarah Patamia (who has jumped into her role here with both feet—and primo culinary skills), then styled by Mel on site—with occasional awkward and inopportune suggestions by me.

By far the tastiest raw food surprise of the day was the Raw Choco-Nana Pudding, made with cocoa powder, honey, bananas, and . . . avocados!

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Photo of Mel shooting a fresh and colorful plate of Caribbean Tacos. Notice the conveniently placed clothesline—perfect for hanging green seamless (in an attempt to “springify” an otherwise still winter-brown back yard).

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whatever you, do . . .

March 9th, 2010

PANIC!

panic-day

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According to Mel’s possibly-nonexistent-but-who-cares-because-it’s-great-entertainment Daily Calendar of Interesting Days, today is Panic Day, a day on which, I”m told, everything is worth making a fuss over, and everyone speaks loudly and urgently, in all caps and with a lot of exclamation points.

Which was a huge relief for me, having just last night ACCIDENTALLY KILLED MY LAPTOP!!!!

NOOOOO! UNDO, UNDO, UNDO!!

It was nice to know that not only was I allowed to panic, I was encouraged to do so—and had good company in the panicking. Mel and Melissa were admirably  supportive, launching into histrionics as I told my woeful tale of getting up off the couch (NO, not the COUCH!) and tripping on the cord (ANYTHING but THAT!!) and pulling the laptop onto the hard floor (THE FLOOR! OMG!). Needless to say, we laughed a lot throughout the day, which went a long way toward helping me deal with the loss of my five-year-old electronic sidekick.

And meanwhile, Associate Publisher Lally O’Mara McMahon restored my will to live by ordering a new trip-proof Mac for me.

OMG! OMG!! A NEW COMPUTER!! I CAN’T STAND IT!!!

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Photo of the cheery production department white board

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behind the scenes @ issue 159

March 9th, 2010

openerOr, how to make a production “miracle” happen.

1. Realize at the almost-last minute that you can’t use the photo of a medicine cabinet you thought you could get permission for. (The one you grabbed from an online cabinet shop and Photoshopped a stock photo of a bowl of soup into a month ago and forgot you didn’t have the rights to, the one that Managing Editor Melissa Chianta has been patiently and persistently leaving message after message all week for the owners of . . . but to no avail.)

2. Put Mel (Staff Photographer and Ad Production Manager Melyssa Holik) on the hunt for white medicine cabinets that are 1) in town, 2) immediately acquirable, and 3) at least somewhat aesthetically pleasing. Oh, and 4) don’t cost the $635 the one I found does. (Being Mel, she’ll know to take 5–10 minutes first to research this online before taking the search to the streets.)

3. Dig around in the props cabinet for the the blue bowl we bought for our soup shoot back in November.

4. Send Mel out to pick up 1) the remarkably inexpensive medicine cabinet ($30!) she discovered online at a local home improvement store, and 2) some chicken broth from her house. (Here again, being Mel, she’ll remember to also grab a spoon.)

5. Ask Candace (Product Review Editor Candace Walsh) whether she might happen to have any little medicine cabinety things in or around her desk since she’s always getting product samples in the mail.

6. Marvel as Mel returns in less than 30 minutes and assembles the cabinet and heats up the broth in less than 10.

7. Hover as Mel fills medicine cabinet with freebies provided by Candace and a steaming bowl of soup.

8. Note as Mel begins shooting that medicine cabinet seems to be tilted toward camera; wonder if it’s just you showing signs of late-stage production delirium.

9. Shake your head in amazement as Mel whips out her iPhone, equipped with the Carpenter’s Tools level app, places the level atop the medicine cabinet and adjusts accordingly.

10. Watch as Mel shoots away, downloads photos, and hands them off to you to choose from and drop into Cynthia Lair‘s* article on foods that heal.

. . . and TA-DA! Sent the page off for a proof and we were done. Less than two hours—start to finish.

This kind of stuff happens all the time, of course, but rarely so seamlessly and quickly. Maybe not officially a miracle, but close enough for me.

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Image above is from the opening spread of “Your Kitchen Medicine Cabinet,” March–April 2010, on stands now.

*For fabulous tips and recipes—and especially for her delightfully wacky cooking videos, visit Cynthia’s site, Cookus Interruptus.

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Deadline Pressure meets Hat Day

January 15th, 2010

hat-day2Mel has this new calendar, see? And she told Melissa and me yesterday (which was Clean Your Desk Day, by the way) that today, January 15, is Hat Day. And we both forgot.

But, luckily, Melissa happened to have with her a multi-purpose scarf of versatility—which she was able to transform, impressively, with a flick of her wrist, into a sumptuous turban. And I had a pair of scissors and an old magazine from which I was able to fashion (ironic choice of words, considering the result) an almost-looks-beaded-if-you-squint-real-hard headband. And Mel was there, with her bona fide plaid cap, anchoring our Production Department Hat Day with haberdashery legitimacy.

No, of course, we don’t have time to be making and modeling hats. But we figure the endorphins from the laughter just might produce a surge in both creativity and productivity . . .
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Photo: Perhaps I should be a bit more reluctant to post this, but here’s a shot of the three of us on this very busy, very silly day.

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when the going gets tough, the tough. . .

January 13th, 2010

hoopsshoot hoops.

Don’t know what possessed me to purchase an on-sale Nerf basketball goal at Walgreens as I was picking up some Walgreen’s Extra Strength Headache Relief (i.e. acetaminophen, aspirin, and . . . caffeine. Serious stuff, but it does take the edge off the migraine without making me walk into walls), but I did.

And, even though we are, indeed, in the midst of production madness (March–April issue), I brought the new toy to the office, assembled it, hooked it over the standing screen by my desk, and invited managing editor Melissa Chianta and ad prodution manager/staff photographer Melyssa Holik to join me in some therapeutic basketball.

Delightful hilarity ensued, since none of us have exactly kept up our basketball skills over the years. (I’m not sure MC ever had them, though Mel and I both did, actually, yes, play basketball in high school.) We got back into the groove surprisingly quickly, each of us making baskets in quick succession—at which point we stopped for the day, knowing it’s wise to quit while you’re lookin’ good on the court.

Now we just need uniforms . . .

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a Christmas present from Mel

December 18th, 2009

blog-on-fridge

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. . .

words-from-melAnd 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

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that miracle

December 4th, 2009

production-aidsWoo-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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paper dolls!

December 3rd, 2009

paper dollsBack 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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