SURROUNDING MYSELF WITH GREATNESS:

part 2

as you know, i LOVE it when i can brag about amazing friends that do amazing things! i also love helping them generate business or interest in what they are doing. take a look at the latest edition of my shameless plugs for the good people in my life, the ones that make it interesting!

d a r y l s m i t h
magazine creator and designer



you guys HAVE to subscribe to this magazine. get this, the intent behind this magazine is to highlight the small moments in our every day lives that taught us to learn and grow and to do good things. it's completely advertiser free and is filled with heart-warming stories of how people learned from their parents by the small acts of love, kindness and service.

daryl is one of my dearest friends from boston and he has put his heart and soul into this magazine. follow the link to sign up for your subscription or to sign someone else up as a cool christmas gift!

http://seeingtheeveryday.com/

+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +

t r e v o r p a r k e r
television producer and show creator

trevor is a new friend of mine. i met him when i first moved back to utah. trevor co-created a show with some friends that airs on the poit 5's (if you know what that means)... it's called MOMUMO and showcases and critiques local bands, artists, actors etc.

so go to his website and show him some love. even if you don't live here or have digital television, you can still download his podcast!

http://www.momumo.com/HOME.html



+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +




b r a d o v a r d
photographer extraordinaire!




okay so it's not just that he's married to my sister-- it's that he's quite amazing. brad has been photographing wedding memories for several years now and has really learned the art of capturing the most amazing moments on that special day!

so if you are in need of some great pictures on your big day, go to his site and check him out!

http://bradovardphotography.com/Site/Brad_Ovard_Photography.html

IN LOVING MEMORY...

Andrea Healy
6.11.1970 - 10.19.2008

two days ago my dear friend and co-teacher, ANDREA HEALY passed away. words cannot express the amount of sadness in my heart as the many wonderful memories with her fill my mind. andrea had to be one of the sweetest people i have ever had the pleasure of knowing. she was always thinking of others, always racing to someone else's aid, always making sure others were taken care of. she never did things out of obligation... it was just part of who she was.

she also had great compassion and love for children. andrea and i taught side by side for 4 years and i had the pleasure of learning from her and watching her interact with the children in our classes. i saw how much they loved her and how much she loved being with them. she had a way with them that no one else could duplicate.

i will miss you so much andrea. i will miss our teacher's lunches and our fun dinners together. i will miss hearing your cute laugh at my stupid jokes. i will miss teasing you on IM about the guys are you dating. i will miss sitting in a circle full of children with you... children's theater will not be the same without you.

i love you my friend.

ROLLING MY EYES AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS!


the following words are used to describe my mood over the past few days:
frustrated, anxious, insecure

waiting for ones future to be decided sucks rocks.

for those that haven't heard, i am about 99% done with the required testing that it takes to donate an organ. back in june my little sister announced that she would need a new kidney. she's had kidney failure all her life and this needed kidney will actually be her 2nd donation. knowing that i was one of the next in line from my family to be considered, i went to the doctor's and had my blood tested for tissue and blood match.

the results: 100% match.

this exciting news has changed my life forever. back when she had her last transplant and the doctors told us they weren't sure how long the kidney would last, i made up my mind then and there that i would donate the next time she needed one. it's a decision i haven't looked back on since.

the remainder of the tests have been to make sure my body was healthy enough to donate the kidney. so far, so good. in fact i should get the results of this most recent round of testing (a 6 hour day of getting poked and prodded) within the next few days. if it's good, then i meet with the surgeon and we choose a donation date. the earliest date possible being the middle of november.

in the meantime, i haven't been able to do much by way of getting a job and although i have submitted my resume to several temp agencies, most places want me to be available longer than a month.

so really and truly it's been a very long month of waiting. waiting for results, waiting for calls, waiting for certain days to get here... waiting... waiting... waiting!!!

i'm tired of waiting. i'm sick of my days being filled with errands that come and go quickly. i hate watching my bank account shrivel up because the withdraws outweigh the deposits 100 to 1.

i'm so frustrated.

and then the sick reality of the fact that if we do go forward with the donation, it's 8 more weeks of not doing anything and waiting to get better.

i think i will run away to china. or something.

oh don't listen to me... i'll get over it and feel better in a few days.

TGIF!!!

gosh sometimes i still wish it was 1990- don't you?

EMBRACING YOUR GEEKNESS...


i'm missing new england fall this year and i am also missing out on my most favorite activity in the fall... apple picking. okay that's fine, i can deal with that... but please don't ask me to miss out on everything i love about a new england fall!!

story time:

about 4 years ago, i had gone with my ward to our ward camp out that was (up until this year) held at camp joseph (joseph smith's birthplace) in vermont. while among the beautiful trees and such a friend of mine suggested that a few of us go to "town" not far from the campground and get some treats at the local store. once at the store we encountered a man that has forever changed the way i look at apple pie (okay i know i am being dramatic... just go with me). this man was standing in the middle of this small grocery store handing out free slices of apple pie with a scoop of ice cream.

it was AMAZING!

come to find out that we were eating VERMONT MYSTIC APPLE PIE, a frozen pie that had just been heated up and handed to us by the owner. after much inquiry, we found out that he had just recently started this company and that yes, he had just started selling his pies to some WHOLE FOODS in the boston area. we were thrilled.

after returning home we ran to the nearest whole foods and purchased our very own pie for thanksgiving that year... we were not disappointed!

ever since then it's been a love affair.

so this year, as i have had much time on my hands, i became homesick and in need of surrounding myself with things of the home i just left, i got online to see if there were any whole foods in utah. lucky me... there are. then i looked up the VMAP website (go here) to see if they sold their pies out here... THEY DO!

so the other day while i was in salt lake city, i stopped into the whole foods to find my pie! they didn't have it and because it was so important to me (because i am a major geek), i ended up in a full on search with the frozen produce man who helped me try to locate a pie in the salt lake area. when that failed he looked up the product in their book and low and behold-- found that my pie was available for purchase.

i was overjoyed!

then the man looked at me and said- "well how badly do you want this pie- because if we order this for you, you have to buy a full case (6 pies)."

i hemmed, then hawed... then realized that it was worth it! hahaha!

so now in the next few weeks i can expect a full shipment to come in and i am so excited to have a little piece of home with me on this my first thanksgiving in utah in over 5 years!!

but umm... i don't need all 6... does anyone in utah want to buy an amazing pie for $10???

3 a.m.


hello from 3 am... this is peggy reporting that absolutely nothing interesting happens when you suffer from insomnia and are pointlessly awake at 3 am. so now that i have made the necessary trip to the bathroom, read 10 pages in the Book of Mormon (the story of ammon gives me chills every time!), and checked both email accounts-facebook-blogs-and my bank account, i have run out of things to do to pass the time. so now i will just pontificate.

did anyone else just feel that general conference today was overwhelmingly amazing? i just didn't want it to end. i was soaking in all of the spiritual juices like an old crackly sponge that hadn't seen water in years. and president monson makes me feel like grabbing a cozy blanket and curling up at his feet to listen to his stories and feel his warmth. gosh i LOVE being a member of the church of jesus christ of latter day saints. people that mock and scoff just don't get it- it's amazing and i'm lucky.

so i am getting really tired of flaky people. i get it that we are all busy (and when i say WE i really mean YOU because i don't have anything better to do than sit around and wait for my life to work itself out) but the fact of the matter is-- if you can't commit to something- than don't say you're going to do it and then not do it... it's rude and annoying. and so to the people in my life that have been doing this lately-- i love you- but you suck!

the other night i had this most amazing conversation with someone very dear to my heart and because of that conversation i have decided to take up crocheting (by the way i totally had to look up how to spell the word crochet). i am actually very excited to go to the store tomorrow- or rather today- and buy some yarn and some needles or hooks or whatever you call them and then take a few lessons. the goal now is to have a scarf made by christmas. oh and i was also thinking as i lay here that also learning how to play the guitar could be cool.

in the past year i have been on dates with two guys that remind me so much of each other that it's actually uncanny. they have a few things in common- both of them talk incessantly about themselves- both of them asked me questions about myself and after i started talking, interrupted me to continue to talk about themselves- both of them attempt to mask their insecurities by ingratiating themselves and using money to impress and last but not least both of them have honestly asked me the question (and this is AFTER i just got done listening to them talk about themselves for 2 hours) "so do you have any more questions about me?" are you kidding??? who asks people to ask questions about them??? or maybe people do that and i missed the memo. honestly- i would have asked if i had questions! but they didn't give me a chance to catch up to them after sharing their entire life story with me in a 2 hour setting. so when this most recent dude asked me that question, toward the end of our date, i responded how i responded to the first guy that had asked me that "well do you have any questions for me?" i'm sure this comes across as a selfish way to respond-- but for a guy that 'seems' so into me- it seems he doesn't really want to know anything about me. props to guy #2 for actually asking a question because guy #1 said (and i'm not exaggerating) "no, i don't think so." hahahah! anyway post date, guy #2 texted me the usual post-date-schmoo and i responded and then, i kid you not, his very next text said and i quote "if you have more questions about me, don't hesitate to ask, work is really boring on fridays." SERIOUSLY?!? what could i possibly need to ask? he didn't leave anything out on the date!! so i responded with, and i know this was not the response he was looking for- but i couldn't help but just be straight with the dude- "i think it's funny that you keep asking me to ask questions about you, is there something your dying to tell me that i haven't asked you about?" his response to that took roughly 4 or so hours and then i haven't heard from him since. sorry dude #2- but just like dude #1- it's just not going to work out. but i just can't help but feel sorry for these guys who mask their insecurities in this way. and i know they just can't see how they are coming across and how unattractive it is. gosh i wish there were penalty cards for dating and if you get yellow carded by someone you're on a date with you have to attend a mandatory class on social skills and proper ways of interacting or you can't go on any more dates!

to be honest with you- i HATE election time. don't get me wrong, electing a new president is exciting and interesting and it helps us, as a country, take a look at what we do need to change and all that jazz. but seriously i am so sick and tired of 3rd grade playground politics banter. i'm sick of reading news articles and blogs facebook messages with people making fun of senator palin for not being able to pronounce words correctly or senator biden being emotional. i think there is definitely room to make light of politics and to make fun of the mayhem that is capitol hill (go here for a great example) i know as citizens of the united states of america we want and are entitled to a smart, well-spoken, well-informed person to represent our country... there's nothing wrong with that... but seriously to bash someone else for saying words wrong is quite elementary school of you and i don't want to hear about it anymore. i can't even count on both my hands and my feet how many times i have said wrong words in public speaking moments and heaven forbid i would have someone come up to me afterward and make fun of me for it. seriously can't we just stick to the real topics? can't we just worry about the real stuff and leave someone's weaknesses out of it for a change and talk about the issues? and why do people have to get so firey about it? you really and truly HATE that person? it can't be that you just disagree with his/her view? you actually have to despise them and get into heated, ugly arguments about how they suck? okay you PERFECT people out there- you should run for office and save us all from the world of imperfection that we currently live in! ugh. i can't wait til november has come and gone!

alright- i've word vomited enough for one early morning insomnia induced session. now that it's officially 3:50 am i am going to, once again, attempt to go to sleep. have a good night- or good morning... whatever... peace out!

OVER THE LAST 6 MONTHS...

i have lost 10 pounds... gained 8 pounds... then lost 9 pounds. my weight control is starting to feel like a story problem you find at the end of each chapter in your math book. "if peggy was chubby and lost 10 pounds then was stressed out of her mind for 2 months and ate ridiculous amounts of fatty foods and gained 8 of those pounds back then got back on track and lost 9 pounds over the following 2 months, how much weight did peggy lose over the past six months? draw a graph to show your work."


i have read several am books. i shall recommend a few of my favorites:








"the life and the times of the thunderbolt kid" by bill bryson
"a great and terrible beauty" by libba bray (it's actually a trilogy... so read all 3)
"the secret life of bees" by sue monk kidd
"the known world" by edward p jones


i moved to a new place, bought a new car, got a new job (well kind of... i'm teaching theater at hale centre theatre on saturday mornings), made some new friends. new is the new old!


i have cried more than i have in a really really long time


i have had the strangest dreams. really violent and bizarre dreams that are wicked intense and really vivid.


i have watched how my father in heaven has taught me, molded me and helped me to find direction and purpose in my life. it's the kind of direction you don't notice at the time but when you take a few steps back and look at how different your life is from what you planned for yourself and you see that what you are looking at is WAY better than what you could ever have conjured up for yourself... it's easy to recognize the hand of a loving father.