Trying to find the words to describe who I am and what I’m about is much more difficult than I thought it would be. Let’s try some nontraditional descriptors. I’m passionate about the slow food movement. I try my best to cook with locally sourced, in-season ingredients and rarely buy food that is processed. I believe world peace could be achieved with two simple things: a sublime kiss and a really good meal. I love shopping at public markets and spend hours on Saturday mornings with a basket on my arm meandering through Findlay Market in the Over the Rhine neighborhood in Cincinnati, Ohio. Since moving to Northern Kentucky in 2013, I’ve developed a taste for craft beer, especially porters and stouts. Are you noticing a pattern here? My high school guidance counselor told me my interests were too one-sided and I wasn’t college material. I’d love to dig her up, wicked old screw that she was, and show her how far I’ve come since that afternoon in her office.

Next on my list would be travel, anywhere and anytime. If you’d call me with a trip in mind I can be packed and sitting on my suitcase ready to go in 20 minutes. I have the wanderlust for sure and if it weren’t for missing my children and their children, I do believe I could live out of a suitcase. With so many adventures under my belt, I’ve never been to Europe but it’s next up on my list. I’ll be traveling to Ireland in September 2016 and I’m hoping for Italy in 2018. Perhaps someday I’ll plan a grand European tour or maybe a road trip on Route 66, no matter which as long as I’m seeing new places.

The true loves of my life are my girls: Sarah, Katie, Susannah, and Molly; their significant others: Joey, Jay, and Dimitri; and most especially my grandies: Jacob and Amelia. A near perfect day would be spent with all of us together, at a bustling market, a coffee stout in hand, and a dim sum dinner on the table. You’ll meet them all as I travel from one market to the next as they are sealed upon my heart and I couldn’t separate their stories from mine and would never try.

Somewhere among all this is an intense love of my hometown, Louisville, Kentucky, football, books, quilts, handmade jewelry, Aveda shampoo, music, live theater, and Downton Abbey. I’m enjoying my empty nest status and everything I’m learning in graduate studies. I look forward to sharing my adventures with you.