Almost everything in my life is in a state of flux. Last winter I relocated from the midwest to Southern California. Being from the St. Louis area, I thought I knew the meaning of heat. Of course, that was before I moved to the lower desert. A hot day in May and my car registered 113 degrees. Silver, they say, is refined by heat. A smith turns the heat up under the silver, and the higher it is, the more dross comes to the surface. The same thing seems to be happening in my own life. Everything that does not belong is coming to the surface, and God, my silversmith, steadily removes it as He turns up the heat.

I think people write because they have something they just need to say. I grew up in a typically lower-middle class, midwestern town. We had a steel mill, blazing summer sun, and bone chilling winters. Fried chicken, apple pie, and the St. Louis Cardinals. How this spawns a writer, I don't know. Maybe the same way it grows corn. You have a springtime of promise and beauty, a summer drought that matures and deepens the flavor, a mild fall the allows the harvest, and the frost that kills the pestilence in the soul. You tell yourself, "the harder the frost, the better" although at times it nearly freezes your heart. The best way to till the soil is to write.

Recently I was asked to come on board as the steward for a new Orthodox/Catholic sub-channel as the Orthodox steward. Eventually this will evolve into a sub-channel strictly for Orthodoxy. (Drips with irony, I know.) I am thrilled at this opportunity to encourage others to write about topics important to Orthodox Christians. Orthodoxy is not just a belief system, but an entire way of life and of looking at the world, at eternity, at ourselves. I pray for the wisdom to facilitate and guide in a way that reflects the true values of peace and charity, to the glory of the Father, and of the Son, and of the all-holy, good and life-giving Spirit. Amen.

My passion is ...

truth.

I know too much about ...

potential.

My parents always told me ...

that I was the smart one (I wanted to be the pretty one).

My childhood ambition ...

happiness.

My first job ...

stacking books at Southern Illinois University.

My best moment ...

every time I see my daughter or hear her voice.

My inspiration ...

beauty.

Style & Beauty > Fashion Trends & Styles Spring 2008 fashion trends for affluent, warm-weather residents

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Palm Springs on a warm day in early Spring, nothing compares to it! An open air lunch at yummy Las Casuelas is just the thing to recharge the shopping batteries on a beautiful Tuesday afternoon. A girl breezes by my table in a gorgeous gauze dress, strapless, flame orange at the hem and transitioning to brilliant gold at the bodice. Her red hair is up in a loose twist and the scent of Sarah Jessica Parker's "Covet" lingers faintly after she is gone. It is going to a be a great year for fashion.

Fun is what it's all about this Spring. While much of the nation has endured a horrific winte...

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