Segullah

Mormon women blogging about the peculiar and the treasured

Being an Artist

When I was in high school, other kids in my studio class senior year were going on to art school. I remember the signs up for portfolio days with the big schools—Pratt, Cooper Union, Chicago, RISD. “You should go,” my art teacher pressed. But when I thought about being an artist as a profession it [...]

Putting some heart in it

I am a personal person. I REALLY like personal things. I like giving little bits of myself to other people, and I love when other people give parts of themselves to me. I love things that are homemade. This takes on a lot of forms. I have one friend who brings me after-church treats. As [...]

IQ- Inspiration quotient

This fall was a roller coaster of a fall. Still, somehow in the blur of it all something has stood out to me. It wasn’t something new, but it was something I am learning to understand in deeper ways. I have noticed the great blessing and energy I derive from people who influence and inspire [...]

You don’t need a pillow to be happy

It was a simple place, this provincial Cambodian town near the border of Vietnam—a collection of stilted houses, animals, and some small businesses. No grocery stores or anything like that, just a market consisting of wooden stalls and stands and piles of food spread out on tarps. Fish flopped in metal tubs; slabs of meat [...]

Grown up Evenings

I always had this image in my head of what it would be like when I was grown up, married, and had kids. After I tucked my darlings into bed, I pictured myself spending calm, quiet evenings sitting on a comfortable couch,  a good reading lamp by my side, while my husband and I engaged [...]

“Big Word” Braggart

Every  Monday morning Mr. Fulton,  my seventh-grade advanced skills teacher at Marie Schaefer Jr. High, passed out the infamous three-page stapled packet which bore the week’s list of 25 vocabulary words. For the next seven days we all memorized definitions and practiced them in sentences… words like “tortuous,” “flagrant,” “inculcate,”  and “obsequious.” If there was [...]

Have you seen my guest post?

Come to find out the answer to that question (which may be posed in the minds of many of you) is… no. I come bearing humble apologies today. Oh the blessings and curses of technology! Somehow our guest post submission page has been placing all the submitted guest posts in a certain inbox—which unfortunately we haven’t been checking—or were even aware of, for [...]

Not long on longevity

I flipped the TV on as I pulled clean sheets onto my bed. The man on the screen explained the antioxidant powers of fruits and vegetables. He demonstrated how to make this broccoli, pepper, apple, banana (with peel) juice he drank daily and swore allegiance to a diet with no saturated fat—all necessary to ensure [...]

The Arts

I pushed “play” on the old silver cassette player as my parents kissed me goodnight and closed the door to my bedroom. I lay there alone in the darkness covered with my cool, fresh sheets, and listened to the clear familiar wail of the clarinet that opened Gershwin’s Rhapsody in Blue. As an eight-year-old, I [...]

all in a day’s work

I once had a roommate who bragged she had never done a day’s work in her life. Over Thanksgiving, while pondering my life list of all the things I’m grateful for, I realized one of the things I was most thankful for was work. Work conjures visceral love/hate responses. It shows off our strengths, reveals [...]

Had it With Homework

. When my children explode through the door at 3:15 and open their backpacks and folders, I find my blood pressure rising. It’s not just the chaos of the afternoon, the recounting of the day, the voracious snack consumption, or strewn backpacks, shoes, and coats. It’s the homework. I’ll admit it—I am a conscientious objector [...]

Filler Spaces and “Eureka!”s

I’ll admit it; I love a good old Adam West Batman KAPOW! I wear red patent shoes, and love the thrill of boarding a plane with my passport in hand. I can’t deny having  a crush on excitement and new things. Still, for every pair of hot shoes, I have stretchy black yoga pants and [...]

Here comes the bride…and cake and flowers

I always love to come to my parents’ house in the summer and look through the stack of wedding announcements that sit in the basket by the desk. Envelopes in cream, white, and ivory, laced with tissue- paper squares, and ribbon embellishments. Sprinkled in are photos of smiling couples—bearing resemblance to those kids I used [...]

Segullah Writers’ Retreat Recap

Were you at the Segullah Writers’ Retreat?  I was.  Well, if you weren’t able to make it, I thought I’d fill you in on how it was… and it was, in a word, amazing.  It was a perfect Saturday, filled with delightful company and writing inspiration, not to mention great food. Truly, every person I talked [...]

July Up Close

Thank you for your continued patience with our cyber dust as we continue some transitions and work through some technical issues on the blog. We welcome your submissions for July’s Up Close. Those of us on staff are heading off to points near and far and we know you are too, so share with us [...]

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