Satellite Sisters

09/16/2026

I'm touring Peru with some friends for my birthday. Just finished 3 days on the Amazon river and in the jungle. I was skeptical when our naturalist said it was ok to jump into a lake that fed into the big river because the piranhas were more afraid of us than we were of them. I did it and lived to tell the tale. Video incoming.

07/17/2026

Is this Madonna or me trying to get up off the floor without using my hands like all the experts say I'm supposed to be able to do to avoid a nursing home? Answer in the new Pep Talk. Stop the Friday afternoon email dump! Let's Dance instead. Plus, For Little House on the Prairie fans, a link to our interview with Caroline Fraser, author of Prairie Fires, the Laura Ingalls Wilder biography and my impressions of the Little Town on the Prairie, De Smet, SD.

Link to newsletter in STORY or COMMENTS.

07/15/2026

Join Lian in Bend, Oregon!

Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding, Lian Dolan
Thursday, July 30th, 6:30pm
Please join us for this in-store event.
This is a ticketed event: $5 or book purchase.
Join Lian Dolan, bestselling author of Lost and Found in Paris and The Sweeney Sisters, and Nicole Meier, author of The Second Chance Supper Club, to discuss Abigail and Alexa Save the Wedding (available May 19).

Everyone loves—and hates—a big fancy wedding! From the author of Lost and Found in Paris and The Marriage Sabbatical comes a champagne-sparkling summer read about two very different women planning their children’s wedding in glamorous Montecito, California.

06/01/2026

Are you all caught up on the Lizness School podcast ? Side Quests are a key pillar of the Lizness School curriculum. This week 3 listeners share their side quests with Liz and Leah. Find the link to the show in comments.

What Side Quests are you working on?

05/07/2026

Do you want even more of Liz Dolan than her Lizness School podcast? Check out this episode of This Kaleidoscope Career from podcaster and longtime Satellite Sisters listener Helen Jonson. Helen created This Kaleidoscope Career to empower women to build unconventional careers and Liz has certainly had one of those. From her early days in NYC to her experience at Nike, co-creating Satellite Sisters, working on Oprah’s OWN and National Geographic Channel to marketing sporting events like the 1999 Women’s World Cup and the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Oregon, Liz shares the highlights and a few lowlights with Helen. Follow The Kaleidoscope Career on for Liz’s story and many more.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/3TlJ6yfaqaxjrF0odFSKLR?si=QvpqC456QV-Vsn1-VibHDg

This Kaleidoscope Career Podcast · Episode

02/08/2026

RT 2026 #3

If you woke up on Saturday and your first thought was, “Wow, the Austrians haven’t won a downhill in three years,” then you are my people.

A glorious day with the Swiss racer on top and two Italians on the podium. A fantastic course and extraordinary speeds.

For the record: I’m rooting extra hard for the athletes from Minnesota

The female speedskaters are the high jumpers of the winter games. World Class athletes or Supermodels? Who can tell?
Big Air: Am I bringing my butter to this commentary? Or is it just pre-spin?

Sweet 17-year-old Ollie waiting out that silver medal spot to no avail. The loneliest finish at the Olympics: fourth.

Nordic skiing looks as miserable as it actually is. There is sacrifice on every athlete’s face. Hang in there, Jessie Digggins.

Twizzle Time. The Ice dance portion of the team competition. Whatever this team thing is, I like it.

Chock/Bates Mom Cam in action. Looking good, Olympic Moms. Patriotic Neckwear Coordination on point.

Is it me or are a lot of skaters throwing themselves onto the ice like it’s a contemporary dance number from So You Think You Can Dance Season 2? Look at them all, on that hard cold surface. Pounding on the ground, dropping to their knees, crawling around down there to finish the performance? Still deciding about this choreography trend.

Somebody’s Bummer Aunt seems to be doing the ice dance commentary with Johnny. She is well versed, just a little pinched. I missed her name. Is it Coach Nofun?  She just buttoned up her comments on a beautiful performance with the line, “They train in a rink in the basement.”  Whaaaat.

We are in a very good era of Ice Dance Costumes. And music

More athletes should make out with each other after a great performance, like those stunning Italian ice dancers. Imagine the bobsledders really going for it after a run. That would be fun.

Chock and Bates ~ fierce
I get physical upset when I see the networks and talent supporting all the online sports gambling apps.

I don’t appreciate the Super Bowl getting in the way of my curling.
 
Cheers🥂

02/07/2026

Randon Thoughts 2026 #1
Love me an Opening Montage. Here we go. More cowbells.
 
Get ready for me to drop that rusty college Italian and dusty Classics major knowledge at any point during my coverage. As in, Armonia = Harmony.
 
We’re four minutes into the opening Cupid & Psyche dance sequence. Too early to call this spectacular? Stunning for sure.
 
Big Headed Composers, Paint that Looks Like Toothpaste and the Dance of the Crayons. Could NOT love this more.
 
The Runway Model Italian Flag presentation gave me chills. Plus, the fabrics! The Epaulets! The capes! Fantastico.
 
When Mary Carillo explained that the violin/poetry/dance number was about Duality, I was relieved. I thought it was going to be a lot more complicated than that.
 
In case you had any doubt, I think that extended metaphoric dance number sealed it. Europeans~ They’re not like us at all.
 
Immediately Iconic: The Silver Puffer gowns and goggles on the Italian Country Card Holders
 
Hats off to everybody involved for making it possible for as many athletes as possible to walk in the Opening Ceremonies. What a logistical nightmare behind the scenes, but lots of happy faces on the screen.
 
Are the SELLING those Hersey Chocolate Gold medals anywhere?
 
Brazil bringing the puffer power. And the samba feet.
 
Everybody loves Canada.
 
Iceland gonna Iceland in all white.
 
Yes, the Dutch are in fact the tallest people in the world.
 
Get those Thailandia athletes some gloves.
 
The US kits are delivering! Ralph Lauren is back, baby. Toggle Coats for the win. And those sweaters.
 
Well, at least the crowd loves the American athletes.
Honestly, was secretly hoping Pope Leo would be marching with the American delegation.
 
I covet the Italia headband.
 
A Comedy Bit! In the middle of the Opening Ceremonies? Hmm, not since Mr. Bean in London 2012, methinks. Very Brave, Italy.
 
How cow, Charlize Theron. Incredible. How do human beings look and sound like that?
I love the sweet little Cortina ceremony.
 
Well done, Milano Cortina. The music, the dance, the costumes, the lighting. And Shaun White choked up.
 
Andiamo!!
 
Cheers, Lian

02/06/2026

I’m ready for it. The athletes, the outfits, the coverage. I want all the memes, the commercials and the commentary. Even though it’s 80 degrees here in Los Angeles, it’s the Winter Olympics in my heart. Milano~ Cortina, we welcome you into our living rooms, our social media feeds, our Zoom calls when we’re supposed to be zooming.  Work your magic.

I’m in training for my favorite sporting event of all: the Olympic Downhill. That’s right, take your Super Bowls, your World Cups, your Curling Gold Medal Matches and roll then all into one and you still wouldn’t match my love for the downhill. The Downhill is two minutes of pure athleticism with an equal measure of crazy executed at eighty miles an hour on a sheet of steep ice. That is sport, my friend.

And this week, Lindsey Vonn ~ American skiing icon, Minnesota girl and Eyelash Influencer~ making yet another comeback at age 41, tore her ACL and for days, those of us who are downhill fans waited on pins and needles to know whether Lindsey could race. (Seriously, family text chain about how stressed we were awaiting the decision!) The bad news is that she did blow out her ACL; the good news is that she is racing.

Because Lindsey doesn’t need no stinkin’ ACL.
I’m not a knee doc but I’m sure the NBC commentators will give us all kinds of 3D renderings of the biomechanics of LV’s knee, so I’ll spare you the medical arguments against her participation. But if there is any athlete who understands pain, it’s Lindsay V.   I trust Lindsey to know what Lindsey can handle. As she said this week, “My knee will never be the same. Neither will my determination. And then she added,“ Let’s go get it.”

Girl, go get that downhill.

Cheers, LIAN Dolan
Pasadena, California

You can see Lindsey race on Sunday, February 8 at some point in the time space continuum that is Olympic viewing.

And watch this space for my Olympic Tradion: Random Thoughts

Follow for all her action. This is her cute selfie from instagram.

01/27/2026

Hello, Pep Talkers...

(For full text, see Stories. )

I know the phrase “Keep showing up” is meaningful in the recovery community and I can’t stop thinking about the power of those words for anyone asking themselves the question, “How can I be of service?” Well, you can show up at events, at work, at the hospital, at someone’s front door when they need a boost.

Here’s my Pep Talk today:

If you’re working towards peace and justice, keep showing up.
If you’re neighbors need help, keep showing up
If you’re caring for the sick and the elderly, keep showing up.
If you’re teaching or coaching kids, keep showing up.
If you’re grieving and hurting, keep showing up.
If you’re praying and honoring, keep showing up.
If you’re working hard and treating your coworkers with respect, keep showing up.
If you’re walking the dog, checking on friends, putting out the trash, keep showing up.
If you’re the storyteller, the music maker or the picture taker, keep showing up.
If you’re the friend, the sister, the aunt, the guncle, the grandmother or grandfather, keep showing up.
If you need help and you know where to go, keep showing up.
If you're giving help and you know where you're needed, keep showing up.
If you’re the one that can see clearly, keep showing up.
If you’re the glue that’s holding the whole operation together, keep showing up.
Even if you're not, keep showing up.
And, if your goal is to keep showing up is for the month of January, good news. You only have 47 more days to go.

xo Lian Dolan
Pasadena, California

12/22/2025

Hello, Pep Talkers ...

Thank you for reading this post and spending a moment of the season with us. We appreciate your time and acknowledge that there have been some hard, hard days in 2025 for the Satellite Sisterhood across the country and the globe. We hope in this season of light that we can all find a flickering flame somewhere in our hearts, our homes and our communities to make the days brighter. 

As this year comes to an end, we wish you peace, joy and connection wherever and however you can find it. 

Happy Holidays,

Julie, Liz, Lian, Sheila and Monica