A little information about me...

·        Peripatetic since the age of 2 (eldest child of a jet-setting advertising executive mother and a roving cultural anthropologist father), I was raised abroad, lived on 4 continents growing up, and have traveled in over 30 different countries, most of which were in South & East Asia and Europe. I have lived in 4 U.S. states in the past 15 years… so, yes, I understand little bit about what it means to move around.

·        I picked up and moved to Chapel Hill in mid 2006 after unintentionally visiting it for the first time on what was supposed to be a weekend road trip to check out Charleston.  (You should know up front that my sense of direction is really abysmal.)   Instead I spent three days exploring the Triangle, had a wonderful experience, and then immediately relocated here without knowing a soul.  (I have since made a visit to Charleston, and still feel I made the right choice picking Chapel Hill.) 

·        I try to leave the country at least once a year to visit new places and expose myself to other cultures, people, architecture, and ideas.  I find this makes me more well-rounded as well as more grounded. 

·        I am a fanatic gourmand, lover of the public library, enthusiastic though untrained cook, NPR-Sustainer, slightly obsessive neat-freak, documentary film junkie, budding ballroom dancer, avid museum go-er, beginning gardener, committed dumpster-diver, perpetual student, ongoing home-fixer, energy efficiency nerd, opera enthusiast, and eternal traveler

·        Likes: inquisitiveness, research, challenges, dry humor, TED Talks, data & statistics, truly shared responsibility, metal roofs, amortizing things, modern structures, international travel, older houses, birds at my bird feeders, efficiency in all areas (except words), sustainable building & retrofitting, cooking daily, home renovation projects, finding deals, the art of Bonsai, big sunglasses, irises, moss, chunky soups, almost all cheeses, mangos, and fresh kale

·        Dislikes: apathy, keeping up with The Jones-es, lots of grassy lawn, lack of curiosity, mediocre professionals, preventable wastage, TV commericials, paying more than something is worth, unwillingness to learn, the deer who eat my garden, refusal/denial of change, driving across bridges, thoughtless home designs, poor table manners, unconscious consumption, McMansions, ear-buds, lima beans, tapioca pudding, and the smell of baby powder