[pic(pics/feb_06/winner_committee.JPG)]
from left to right....me (it's not a bow, they're my glasses), my mom, lauren, jill, liza, maria

Lauren Winner, author of Girl Meets God, Mudhouse Sabbath (my favorite), and Real Sex: The Naked Truth About Chastity spent the weekend in Pittsburgh holding a writer's conference and women's retreat at my church.

I was honored to not only attend, but be a part of the "behind the scenes" of the weekend. This role allowed me, along with the above pictured women, a chat over a glass of wine (or cranberry and soda) and spinach dip with Lauren following the retreat.

I could write in great detail about the workshop and retreat in a lengthy entry, but instead I'll just say how great it was to see that she is as real in person as she is in her writing. She can be profound, funny, and can address an awkward audience question about the place of the female midriff in the American church in one whirlwind of a weekend.

Now go read her books.