A bit more about me!

As I grow, I have so many facets that have been more refined with each passing year. As I look back to the girl I once was two decades ago or beyond, as a young woman, and then onto my childhood, I see most of all how incredibly fast time has flown by. But in that time are immeasurable memories... experiences, challenges, trials, triumphs, heartbreaks and hallelujahs. It is difficult to summarize me, as it is anyone with the vast steps we each have taken on our walk in life, but perhaps giving you some interesting bits about me will help you get to know me better.
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Let's start with chocolate. What better place to begin, really? I love really good dark chocolate truffles... Mmmm... think Godiva... or Fannie May chocolate covered marshmallow squares. Have you ever had those? You must. You will thank me profusely.

I am a total night owl. Really bad habit. Must work on that.
{Oh, I am laughing... like that will ever change!}

I have an addiction to quinoa. So does my daughter. It seriously rocks. Made with cinnamon, butter, and topped with cream and sugar... oh, it is amazing!

I have my mother's hands and feet. Not LITERALLY. That would be creepy. I have her hands and feet and so does my daughter and I love it.

I have only one item of clothing that is navy blue. A navy Gap jacket with white threading. I was dressed in navy blue so much as a kid - I just can't bear to wear navy.

When trains are going above me on overhead passes it is freaky to me... the weight and mass of those things is incredible.

I had a cat for 16 years and I am SO not a cat person.

I love when it is "Hair Day" and I can go and relax for two hours and read a magazine and catch up on the celebrity world, which is so surreal. My favorite part is the head massage and sitting under the dryer.

I have a LOVE for perfumes! Like a little bit of heaven in a bottle. There is something about a spritz of perfume that simply completes your outfit, whether it is jeans and a t-shirt or a sexy dress. Mainly floral, feminine and flirty scents. From classic Chanel No. 5 to Miss Cherie Dior to Estee Lauder Pleasures to Juicy Couture to Coach Poppy to Lola by Marc Jacobs, and oh, I could go on... I keep my empty perfume bottles as they are all so pretty. Seriously, the best gift idea for me is such a cliche': "chocolate and perfume"... too funny, but so true!

A blood donor saved my life! I am a Jesus girl, and I sing praise and worship music consistently while driving. I rock out to other genres too, but they don't really compare to being overcome by the Holy Spirit while belting out a Lincoln Brewster song at the top of your lungs going 70 mph.

I am a nature girl and love to hike and explore. I have collected shells, stones, gems, slabs and hunks of rock since I was six and my mother taught me about the beauty of nature. Pressed leaves and flowers too. My daughter loves to do the same and I am seeing the little girl I was 3 decades ago in her today and it is lovely.

My right foot is a half inch longer then my left foot. Seriously. I am nearsighted too. Legally blind even. Now you ask, do I bump into things and trip a lot?

I adore the ocean and beach... the really beautiful Carribean waters and the silky white sand beaches. In fact, I ache to be near them. I look forward to my husband and I being able to go for an amazing beach trip again sometime, somewhere simply amazing...

I recently had a hole in my heart that I had repaired. I began to get horrible migraines 3 years ago and had a "bubble test" done that determined I had a hole in there. 1 in 8 people have such a thing and if not treated, can lead to a stroke or heart attack, so please get checked if you have migraines. Go to www.sorensenmd.com for more info. Dr. Sherman Sorensen is THE world renown doctor for this testing.

I love discovering new and delicious recipes and menu items and love to enjoy new dining experiences and tastes. I adore Thai, Indian and Italian food and of course everything inbetween. I cannot bear the thought of eating or cooking anything that bounces or prances (ie. lamb, veal, deer, bunnies, ducks.) I know that ducks don't bounce or prance, but come on... it is a duck! It just cannot register in my brain to consume it.

I am a "Let go and let God" girl. God meets you where you are. My path has been paved for me by his hands, his love and his guidance. I am trying to shine his light through me to others to bring glory to him. Every place and step in my life whether in sun or storm is where I am meant to be, by him, for him and to him. It gives me great comfort to know that I am not in control!

I love train yards and the colors and lines and textures they reveal in different lighting and seasons. The aged, rusted and distressed car skins alongside the brightly dressed graffiti drenched ones is so interesting to look at, and the tracks are simply mesmerizing... intertwined veins carrying life and load. I heard the trains gliding along the tracks from afar as I would lie in bed at night as a child. The horns routinely calling out - sometimes screaming when something was awry - and I would be comforted by that churning and gliding sound of the tracks carrying the train to destinations unknown. I live now where I hear the train horns in the distance faintly and it again brings me comfort and memories of being eight or ten and lying in my bed, the moonlight splashing swaying leafy shadows across my walls, the nighttime summer breeze fluttering my white ruffled curtains and bringing with it scents of lilac and freshly cut grass.

I could eat more spaghetti in one sitting than a grown man. More perhaps even than like a lumberjack, a Navy Seal or a professional wrestler. Seriously. Not that I would, but I could. It it the one food item that I can just eat for like, ever, when I have it. I do have a "pasta" weekend once a month and oh yes, I down it!

I love farmer's markets, antiques stores, garage/yard sales, unique boutiques, consignment shops and arty street fairs. I love seeing the variety, tasting, trying on, sampling, shopping and being within the energy and fun experience of places like that. My mother took me everywhere like that as a child, so in turn, I return to them. And yes, my little one is alongside me as well!

I am beyond blessed to have had my beautiful daughter. She simply amazes me in every facet of her sweet being and I almost cannot remember my life before she was within it. I look at her and I see my mother's hair color and smile from when she was a child, and that warms my heart so much. She is nearing the time to have a loose tooth and begin first grade and I know that in a blink I will be helping her pick out a prom dress and teaching her how to drive. I hold her and I become instantly calm and fulfilled. She does my hair with about 30 barrettes and I adore it. It is so relaxing. Once I even answered the door with both my hair and makeup "done" by her and the UPS guy couldn't stop smiling at me. I had no idea why he was so smiley. Then I looked in the mirror. Hot pink blush, glitter lip gloss and 30 barrettes crammed in a basket weave pattern across my hairline made for quite the fashion statement.

My husband is fantastic... darling and strong and kind and handsome and sweet and integrity based and social and incredibly funny and an amazing dad and creative and a fix-it-guy and oh, so much more. I really got the best when I got him. He is my best friend and we have had a fun, eventful and awesome 16 years of knowing one another. We weather the challenges and celebrate the triumphs together, we enjoy the simple things, we adore traveling and experiencing new things together and above all else, ultimately know that it isn't about us or our treasure here, but that our treasure will be where our heart is, as we walk on the path God has paved for us.

I so love my family and friends, both near and far! It feels like a huge extended family around us as we also have so many friends through our church and home location that it is lovely to also have plenty of "aunties and uncles and pseudo-siblings" for our daughter. I have a great number of friends I remain in contact with since my elementary youth as well, which is really heartwarming. There is something special about those who watched you grow up and become "you", who saw your challenges and life experiences. I am also within a large number of new friendships and connections at this time and it is such a blessing to me. My hope is that in paying forward some of myself, that they {and you!} will be rewarded and inspired to do the same. A small gesture of inspiration, compassion and kindness can change a multitude of lives.