Welcome to my little internet home! Come in, have a cup of coffee, and I'll tell you a little about myself.
I am a bit of a renaissance soul and have studied and worked in lots of different areas. I got my bachelors degree in International Affairs and French. While I was in school, I worked in a pizza joint, an Irish pub, and at a biotech firm that was doing R&D on a blood substitute for use in emergency situations. I started a graduate program in geography, with a focus on the post-socialist economies of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union.
Then, halfway through my first year of graduate school, my little man came along and suddenly the life of a researcher traveling frequently to unstable portions of the world no longer seemed ideal.
I found myself in several jobs that left me feeling stymied. Either I was pigeon-holed into doing just a few tasks, or I felt that the work I was doing was not in line with my values. I worked for years in construction, which was interesting and full of new things for me to learn. BUT...as someone who values the environment and who has gotten on a path to try to consume less, this left me feeling conflicted. Did I really want to be working on building giant houses or new developments where previously there had been open spaces? Filling landfills with old things to make way for newer things? It left me feeling inauthentic, which made going to work every day into a struggle instead of a joy.
Eventually it became clear that, on my current trajectory, the next step was to go into sales. So. not. me. The idea of starting a business had been spinning around in my head for some time, and it seemed to be time to begin considering it more seriously...so here we are.
Best vacation ever.
Random facts about me:
I have been a Harry Potter fan since I read the first book many years ago. I then read them to my son (I think it took us 4 years of bedtime readings to get through the whole series!), and it has since developed into a full-blown obsession. He loves the series as much as I do and we tend to fan each other’s mania. For his 11th birthday, I sent him his Hogwarts letter and the two of us took an epic trip to the Wizarding World in Orlando. We are currently daydreaming about a trip to the U.K. totally revolving around Harry Potter (did you hear they are opening a pseudo-Hogwarts in a British castle?!?). Pennies are being saved.
I’m fueled by coffee and sunshine.
My son will be turning into a teenager this year and I am scared to death.
It's rare for me not to be reading several books at any given time. They fall into a few broad categories: 1) Actual physical books, usually related to work or self-improvement, or because I just couldn’t resist them when I was last at the library, 2) audiobooks that I listen to on my commute or while doing chores, and 3) books on my kindle that I read before bed or when I wake up in the middle of the night (since I don’t have to turn the lights on, you know?).
I am weirdly good at painting. Not, like, art...but walls and stuff. I almost never need to tape because I have such a steady hand.
If you bring me peanut butter M&Ms, I will love you forever.
Road trips are my favorite, even (especially?) when I’m alone. I like to switch off between listening to books or podcasts, and blasting music with the windows all the way down.
Speaking of music, my road trip playlists have no discernible logic: lots of 80's rock, country, motown, pop, alternative, what my besty calls "angry chick rock," Tupac, and Taylor Swift. Don't judge.
I've lived in or near the mountains my entire life and don't feel like myself without trees nearby (which is where the idea of naming my business came from).
Still reading? Want to know even more?