I was thrilled to open my inbox today and learn that an article about me and Raggedy Chan was the winner of an international competition! Read the complete article here.

The article was written by a local Sonoma County journalist named Shirah Madsen. Her article was so good that it landed me on the cover of a regional parenting magazine called Sonoma Family Life Magazine, which is distributed in three local counties. I was invited to a photography studio for a photo shoot. (I’m a closet America’s Next Top Model fan, so this was pretty much one of the coolest things that has ever happened to me—short of getting married and giving birth.) Here’s the magazine cover, which was released in February of 2011. My mother and daughter are both featured on the cover with me.

The magazine competition was hosted by the Parenting Media Association. PMA is a trade association for regional parenting magazines. Sonoma Family Life Magazine not only won an award for best profile article, but another award for a family travel article. Congrats to Sharon Gowan, publisher of this lovely magazine. I’m so tickled that Raggedy Chan gets to be a part of all this.