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10.22.2012

A HIP HANDMADE WEEKEND

this weekend i flew to utah real quick on "business" -- hah!
and oh, utah. 

no, i love utah, i really do.
utah is like this beautiful, hostile foreign planet. 
three minutes there and my throat is parched and my skin is threatening to shrink up and fall off. 
and also, all those mormons.
i kid!

i really love my visits to utah. i never have enough time to do everything i want to do there.
utah is gorgeous this time of year and i still have never hiked the Y!
and all of my favorite and best people live in utah and i'm not sure how that happened!
i like to eat cafe rio once a day while i'm there and cafe rio makes me feel like a hero!
(cafe rio! come to manhattan already what is wrong with you?! pork salad!)
utah is lovely but also it's amazingly germy******** and i'm always afraid of catching something heinous while i'm there.
but hey, let's move on! 

i was in utah this weekend for a super quick 36-hour trip to help two of my favorite people launch and promote their new exciting online craft pack, a hip handmade holiday
like an e-book, but actually really cool?

it is hip and it is handmade, and if i were from utah i would call it "darling" but i'm not so i won't. 
it was sponsored by vivint and they put us up at the gorgeous sundance resort. 

(i was all set to fly solo and maybe even wean my two-years-old-this-week child while i was at it, but at the last minute our holbsworker couldn't swing the days off and so i traveled with my trusty plus-one. it's okay, i'm not totally ready to wean really, if i'm being honest with myself.)

 luckily, he is the raddest plus-one under two.
(and my sister-in-law could watch him during the day.)

in between our filming sessions we got to craft. hard-core style. 

this photo right here is of me applying a bandaid after impaling myself with leather scissors. 
the scissors weren't made of leather, but rather for cutting leather.
we decided i could have the award for furthest traveled for the weekend, first to get injured for the weekend, and in the most weirdest way possible for the weekend.
i am nothing if not a winner. of all the things. 

crafting is really stressful to me, have i mentioned?
i am good at admiring the crafting, or buying the crafting, but not so much at doing the crafting. 
but such as.
(it was not so stressful to nicole and jennifer because those two are pros.)
(photo credit kindly to alison, thanks for letting me steal it!)
(the rest are mine, and now we're set.) 

filming involved hiding a can of diet coke in my pants. but not like that! come on.
nicole and emily, you so owe me a couch crash in the city. let's play!
it was fun and furiously quick and i feel so honored to have been invited.
and so, so proud of susan and alison.
those girls have such an eye, you're going to love it, i promise.

thanks again to vivint and sundance and my sister-in-law and to all of utah for not getting me sick (knock on wood).

and also to the girl who came up to me and said, "omg, are you the pink peonies girl??"  
because that was hysterical.

*** 

this blog is so silly sometimes. i've kept one since before
"monetizing" was even a thing, and i have said and will continue to
say plenty of stupid things in here. i'm not a horrible person and i'm
not trying to push anyone's buttons. i'm just writing down my life and
trying desperately hard not to think about it  too much. all you
readers are a bonus, and i respect you a lot. so sometimes i do what
you tell me to do. change this or change that. sure, okay. i mean,
this is MY blog about MY family and i don't really make any money off
you like you seem to think i do. (dudes, i sure wish i did though!)
someday all "this" will go away and at the end there will just be
THIS, this blog. some photos of my family and a written account of who
i am, right this minute. and occasional giveaway posts for me to roll
my eyes at that mean absolutely nothing to my family. i struggle with
balancing the "taking advantage of opportunities" bit with the "this
is my family record" bit, but even harder for me to juggle is this
interesting, sometimes wonderful but often awful relationship of
"readers and bloggers."

two years ago when the ball really started rolling on "mormon mommy
blogs" i started getting some backlash from people who were new here,
thought i was doing this "for profit" and "as a business," and took a
lot of what i was writing (rather tongue-in-cheekly) really really out
of context. i was horrified. so i went through and i wiped it. i took
it all out, deleted tons of posts. i figured, well, what can i part
with? i stripped it down to bare bones so nobody would ever get the
wrong impression. when i read those posts now, it makes me feel so
sad. i can remember what i'd written that i'd removed and honestly, i
did a disservice to myself and to my family. those years were hard and
those posts weren't all that great, but they were important. to me.

i got some of the nastiest, meanest, most purposefully insulting
comments from "readers" yesterday and today demanding that i apologize
for mentioning that i'd spoken about a topic with a friend that, to
me, was a funny thing to talk about in utah. that's all! that is the
only reason that i included it in the post. it was a lovely, memorable
lunch, and for the rest of the day i giggled over a bunch of
conservative mormons dropping OTHER PEOPLE'S rape fantasies casually
into conversation. i want to remember that conversation because it was
good, and funny, and poignant at times, and inspiring at others, and
the rape fantasy bit was just a tiny portion of it but what would
remind me of it best. you want a bunch of wink smiles and explanations
and disclaimers any time i write anything? fine. but then this will be
YOUR blog. not mine.

in a few hours i'm going to delete this little update. i want those of
you who care to know that i am sorry for upsetting you. i am going to
remove the offending sentence, as well as any comments referring to
it, because this is my blog that's meant to be a record of my life
with my family and not as my life as a business woman beholden to her
readers. in the future, if i say something off color that offends you,
please know it was accidental. i can be ornery at times but i am never
mean. if you ask nicely, i'll do just about anything for you. if you
are hurtful to to me because you need to "take me down a notch" or to
make yourself feel better, i'll delete your comment and feel sorry for
your mother, who obviously never managed to teach you any manners.

47 comments:

  1. Sounds like a great time. Your posts always make me smile! I wish I was motivated to get my "craft on", haven't made anything for such a long time. Why is Utah so germy?

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  2. Wish I could have somehow bumped into you while you were in Utah. Dream. Come. True.

    xo.Deidre
    Love, The Skinnys

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  3. I love how the "girl talk," conversations we all seem to have sound so ridiculous out of context. I have had a conversation recently involving: Plastic Chicken Legs, 911 and Nancy Kerrigan. So there's that!!

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  4. you sneaky diet coke hider, you.

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  5. Maybe she meant these peonies...? http://www.natthefatrat.com/2010/10/thoughts-on-moscow-blessing-of-late.html xx

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  6. haha too funny, I know Rachael and I don't think you two look anything alike except you both have dark brown hair I guess? haha I love me some cafe rio, cancun fried shrimp tacos are my heaven. When I lived in Salt Lake City we were literally down the street from one and we went there weekly :)

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  7. How is Utah germy? That seems like a completely false statement. I don't get it.

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  8. Yayyy arts and crafts time! (hehe- always makes me think of Happy Gilmore) I would have been the one to win the award for first to get injured, as well. Hurrah! And where did you get that fur vest, because I am on a quest, and failing miserably.

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  9. You are not missing anything as far as the y hike goes. It is a steep zig zag all the way up. Utah is germy. It's because there are so many snot nosed kids running around. :)

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  10. 0h & I can't wait for your post on dry shampoo

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  11. Honestly, this post made.my.day.

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  12. We are moving to Utah in December I better get my hand sanitizer ready! Also dying laughing at the pink peonies comment.

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  13. if i was someone who had any sort of filter, i probably would not tell you this.

    but as i am not, here goes nothing. i am incredibly sad that your trip to utah was so short. because, 1. utah is pretty awesome. and 2. i didn't get the chance to stalk you and "coincidently run into you" so i could tell you how awesome you are and how much a adORE you. and also, if i did run into, it would only be fair for me to say, that we have mutual friends! like in real life, and i feel that that means that we need to be friends. in real life.

    the end.


    i promise....i'm not a total creeper.....

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  14. You are so funny. I moved to Utah from PULLMAN and have been year less than three months and our family has been sick THREE times! What is this?! And all those Mormons. It's crazytown here!

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  15. What a fun weekend! And The Pink Peonies girl could totally pass for YOU

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  16. Oh that all looks like so much fun. I'm excited to see the video.
    Also I wonder if one can be allergic to a state. While you have issues with Utah, Colorado seems to slowly drain me. I can't wait to go back east!

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  17. This looks like such a blast! I just moved to Utah a few months ago, and I TOTALLY get what you mean about the "hostile foreign planet"... and not just the weather. Ha. Oh, and Pink Peonies?? Pssshh. I personally like you more. ;)

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  18. Listen, I've got a serious craft problem as well. And being a homeschooling mother of 3 children under 6, it makes for a bit of an inferiority complex, know what I mean?

    I can garden, and cook, and ride my bike really far and quickly too, and I Believe in the Handmade, but I just can't do it. And when I try, I feel proud that I've done it, that it exists, even though I drew a picture of a leaf, perhaps, and then cut it out and taped it on the wall.

    I will check this book out. (My husband can sew and has a creative engineer's brain so it's not so bad around here.)

    Whenever I've read that you've got crafting issues, or cake decorating issues, it makes me happy.

    Also, and this is probably a waste of space and something you already know, but in case not, you can travel without Huck and he'll still want your neenees. (or whatever he calls them.) This could be good or bad, depending on your intention. I went to a wedding without my daughter who is Huck's age, for 5 days. I took a pump, and when I came home, it was practically the way we said hello, after I got my luggage, of course.

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  19. I have yet been to Utah! All this talk is making me travel hungry ; )

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  20. oh man, i am the worst at crafts. i crafted a little for my wedding, let's just say there was a lot of cursing involved. and maybe some wasted money when i just went out to buy the things instead. woops!

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  21. I am with the other comments wondering how Utah is so germy?(I definitely get the hostile part though) I have not yet been to NYC, but I just can't imagine it would somehow be cleaner? but I could be wrong and I very often am. I live in UT and just got back from Richmond, VA which I felt like was basically a cloud of secondhand smoke everywhere. So when I was coming home to Utah, I was thinking of how clean it is here? Ironic much?

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    1. I lived in Richmond for two years and now have lived in Salt Lake for five. I think the haze/smog/pollution here is WAY worse than VA!!

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  22. Why is Utah germy again? If anything, I would have thought that NYC would've been number one on the list. During my recent stay, I was paranoid of getting sick all the time. Either way, I'm glad you had a nice stay in Utah! Cafe Rio sure knows how to give a tasty welcome.

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  23. i wish i could've been the one to run into you because i would never make such a mistake! and i probably would have been obnoxious and pulled up a chair with my own pork salad and diet coke and asked to hold your adorable +1 because he is just the cutest. but seriously, pink peonies? haha.

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  24. wow so many people are getting mad about germs...anyway, love the post. pink peonies girl, haha. nice one.

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  25. I'm sort of confused about Utah being germy and hostile? I have been there a handful o times and I find it to be quite lovely. The people are really nice- (Mormon or not) BTW... Aren't your Mormon?.....

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  26. It looks like a quick fun trip! Glad you & Huck were able to stay healthy! xo

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  27. I live 5 minutes from the Y trailhead! Just recently made my first trip up, trying to lose the baby weight! I am from Florida so Utah is weird to me but hello!! Fall colors!! Yay! :)

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  28. I am writing you from the desk of Utah, and I must say as a nearly-native plotting her escape daily: YOU RIDE THE MANHATTAN SUBWAY. How could you be afraid of any germs anywhere?!!?

    P.S. Thank you and your gorgeous plus-one for making NYC available to us out West. :D

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  29. Looks like it was a fun trip! My blog

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  30. Love Huck's hair, it's getting so long! Fun pictures from your hip handmade holiday, what a fun sparkly backdrop!

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  31. I am excited to see this little hip handmade holiday guide! I love me some craftiness. And someone really asked you if you were "the pink peonies" girl? Really? That is awesome. What did you say to her?

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  32. So awesome! I bet huck enjoyed himself! It looks like so much fun!

    Theresa
    http://bomamma.blogspot.com

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  33. "three minutes there and my throat is parched and my skin is threatening to shrink up and fall off.
    and also, all those mormons.
    i kid!"

    Hahah love that!

    I just found your blog today and I'm in love! :)

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  34. Totally. I'm such a pro. (And it was awesome to see you.)

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  35. Looked like all of u had a fun and great time!

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  36. looks a great time for you! congrats! :-)

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  37. Looks like so much fun! That makes me happy :)

    xxx

    http://joyfuldiary.blogspot.de/

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  38. Is it weird that my favorite things about this post is your chunky socks?? So cozy - socks rules!

    Suddenly City

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  39. I found this post to be weird and rude. Sometimes I think you just want to be so funny that you write weird things. Like this!

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  40. And you live in New York... Isn't New York like the Mecca of germs?!

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    Replies
    1. i don't get sick in new york very often, but i get sick in utah every time i visit, so i'm standing by it. guys, utahns! i'm sorry if i offended you!

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    2. Hey so, I'm fine if Utah happens to be an extra germy state (is that even a thing? haha). However, I think that it could be the flight that gets you sick? They are notorious for that...everyone sharing the same recirculated air for hours and all. I usually take an Airborne before and after a flight for this very reason. Or maybe all the Airborne in the world won't protect you from Utah Germs, who knows. Haha! Anyways, hope that helps, because boo, nobody wants to be sick - especially traveling!

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