Welcome back, PeyPey

People, it's been 2 weeks since my last post and for that I'm sorry. Can we just agree to blame it on tax season? And since that's the industry I work in, it makes sense. So agreed, yes? In no way have things slowed down enough for me to justify blogging right now, and honestly, I don't have a hot topic or Thoughtful Thursday to share with you, so I'm just going to ramble, mmmkay? So here's a couple of useless tidbits of information for you:

1. I have another published article coming out in May's issue of the local magazine, Columbus & The Valley. I'm pretty super excited about this article, so go out and grab a copy. Do it. Or else. If you missed my last article, check it out here. Columbus & The Valley's owner and editor, Mike Venable, has also asked me to be a featured blogger on their website so stay tuned for that. I'm pretty amazed at how this opportunity has fallen into my lap. A friend of mine, Michelle Burton, emailed me one day after reading my blog and told me I should get in contact with a friend of a friend or hers (it pays to know people, people. Literally, it pays. So all you people out there burning bridges? You should probably stop right now.)  So I did. I emailed someone I didn't know, offered to take her to lunch, and was assigned an article for the upcoming issue of Valley Parent magazine in a matter of minutes. I did end up taking Jill out for lunch and when I naively asked her, "so what do you do for the magazine", she set me straight telling me she's part owner and co-editor of Columbus & The Valley and Valley Parent. I was a bit floored. I was amazed at how down-to-earth she was - willing to meet little ole' me for lunch and offering me a writing assignment just like that! I'm so blessed to have these opportunities and hope my relationship with Columbus & The Valley is a long and fruitful one. Do I hope my picture one day graces the jacket of a book penned by me? Yes. Am I a long way from that? Yes. Would my freshman English 101 prof "yell" at me with red ink if I turned in a paper with a paragraph this long? Yes. Moving on.

2. But more about writing. My idol and very famous author, Jenn Lancaster, returned an email with great feedback about blogging to me a few weeks ago. The jubilance I felt when I opened this email was probably akin to how screaming girls felt when New Kids on the Block walked on stage at one of their concerts and in all their acid wash glory. (I wouldn't know. I wasn't allowed to listen to them, much less go to a freaking concert. My mom, I guess, thought NKOTB were straight from Satan's sperm, because no matter how much begging and pleading I did, I didn't even get to have a NKOTB slap bracelet, for crying out loud. [She also wouldn't let me watch Captain Planet. To this I say, WTF, mom, W. T. F?] So what did I do? I watched NKOTB - every concert on Pay Per View and every interview on Disney - in secret at my friend Crystal's house. So booyah, mom. And I did get my slap bracelet, you just didn't know about it. And did I turn out okay? Um, yes. I think I may have my next blog topic somewhere in all that.) So, needless to say, I was pretty freaking excited to see her email in my inbox. She is also following me on Twitter now, which is just peachy.

3. Ok, now for some pictures. It's Spring, and that means festival season. While I didn't get to go to Coachella and the prospect of going to Bonnaroo is but a dream, I did get to go to the Frogtown Hollow Bluegrass festival! (Please read that in an uber-country accent and perhaps say "hollow" like "holler" to get the full affect.) It was a fun night with Rachel and Lance - blue skies, beer, and bluegrass.

Last weekend was one of the Seven's (I'll explain this in a later post) weddings. Lori Holman became Lori Levine and we all had a blast. This picture exemplifies my relationship with the Seven's. We were making "that's what she said" jokes at the bachelorette dinner. I love this picture of Barbara and me. Tons of laughter and lots of support and love.

And finally, I've spoken briefly about it before, and promise to devote a full, future post to it, but the BBB - Bread Baking Bunch, AKA Bread Baking Bitches AKA Drink and Bake - is still in full swing. This was a pic from March's meeting. April was pizza dough, next month is a Mother/Daughter where we'll be teaching our moms how to make a loaf of wheat bread (and watching Captain Planet while listening to NKOTB), and then in June, we're taking an overnighter to Chateau Elan to attend a winery tour and take a break from all our slaving over hot ovens. Don't you wish your girlfriends could bake like us? We've also been in touch with other bread baking groups - AROUND THE WORLD! Yeah, no joke! Pretty exciting! I'm smelling a yeasty joint venture.

Ok, so that's all I got for today. I promise future blogs on BBB, my crazy mother, kid stuff I loved but was not allowed to do but did anyway, and the Seven's. Stay tuned.