A Little Bit About Me

What I really think you should do right now is go back and read every single post I've ever written.

{crickets}

Okay, then, I guess I can give you the quick recap.

I was born and raised in Watertown, NY, a little city at the eastern tip of Lake Ontario and just south of the Canadian border. Here's a map for your viewing pleasure.

Click for a better look

Tiny Grammy

My parents separated when I was very young, so it was mostly just me, my mom, my older brother, and my Grammy. Grammy didn't live with us but we spent a lot of time together. My fondest memories are of Saturday nights spent cleaning the house while listening to SuperGold, camping vacations, and driving around in my mom's best friend's convertible listening to Aerosmith at ridiculous volume levels.

Sometime around the end of seventh grade, at the invitation of a good friend, I started attending a church that was a block from my house. I leapt into the community there with reckless abandon, making the church family into the extended family I didn't have.

All my life, I've been a nerdy introvert, who loves school and reading and photography and other similarly solitary activities about which I can completely geek out. I was also the "fat girl" from about third grade on. Fortunately for me, my family and teachers and church made me feel special for being smart and funny and kind and those qualities kept the teasing I experienced to a minimum. Most of my classmates seemed to like me well enough and I had some good friends at church.

Not all my Houghton peeps but one of my favorite pictures/memories of my time there.

Then I went to Houghton College, where I found my people, the ones who, though far flung, are still an integral part of my life. We were all nerdy and young and idiotic together. Good times.

During high school and college, I got to travel quite a lot: Venezuela, Papua New Guinea, Australia, England, Scotland, and Tanzania. I'm not so sure about the impact of mission trips on the countries visited but they are great for the kids who go and study abroad is one of the best inventions ever.

After Houghton, I lived in Buffalo, then DC, before moving to Princeton, NJ, to attend seminary. I started out wanting to be a scholar (Hebrew Bible, ftw), changed my mind mid-stream and began the process of ordination, and, finally, ended up pursuing neither academia nor parish ministry. I did take one useful, self-taught skill away from seminary: bookbinding. Also, a whole bunch of friends.

Immediately after graduation, I lived with a family near Philadelphia as their nanny for a year. Life then took me to Lancaster, PA, for a time. My latest adventures have brought me to Baltimore, MD, where I work at a Christian non-profit and have somehow transformed myself into a sometimes joyous, sometimes ambivalent runner.

Interested in knowing more? Read the blog, dang it! And if you want more pictures, see the photos tab.