I assume most of my web page visitors already know me, so there isn't need to delve into the archives of my past. Brrrrrr. Cha-click, brrrrrr... "And here I am wearing my first spaghetti dinner," etc. However, there may be a few readers who followed the links from my husband's site, so...

Born and raised on 2.5 wooded acres in Chugiak, Alaska, I will always love the outdoors. As a child, I never felt cold in my snowsuit and moonboots, even after hours outside. My parents had to find creative ways to get me to come inside for dinner and bed. I learned to ski around the same time that I learned to walk. My first skis were little yellow plastic rectangles, and I would follow my dad around on these in his tracks through our yard.

My mom went to a psychic when she was pregnant with me and the woman said, "This girl will always love the mountains." Isn't that the truth! I feel so lucky to have had the Chugach and the Talkeetna mountains nearly in my backyard. I have many fond memories of hiking and camping with my parents.

I was so proud of my first backpacking set-up, long researched, which I purchased after my freshman year in college. It wasn't long before I was taking trips with friends and eventually a few by myself. I became an avid peak bagger, and am so happy that my dad and I summited together on Kebnekaise when I took a year to study in Sweden, and later bagged Aconcagua together in Argentina after I graduated.

Peak bagging naturally progressed to its more technical sibling, rock climbing, which lead me to my true love: my husband, Jon. We met in Yosemite National Park, when I was on a road trip of the lower 48. You can find our story here. Channeling our inner dirtbags, we took several climbing pilgrimages to the Eastside (of the Sierra), and then found a way to move there. Bishop was our happy home for about one and a half years. We fell in love with it there, surrounded by mountains that have snow in the winter and beautiful wildflowers and streams in the summer. We climbed, bagged peaks, skied, went backpacking, gardened, biked, and ran in the hills. Unfortunately, we couldn't afford to buy a house there with our local salaries.

So now we are back in the Bay Area and fortunate enough to enjoy our jobs, while we save for a home to retire (early) in. First, Jon got an excellent job programming at VMware, to which he commutes by bicycle. I finally passed my professional engineering exam and work for the County of San Mateo in the traffic section of public works. This is what I do. It serves me right for handing my father, also a civil engineer, an elaborate scribble at age 5 and declaring it his new highway alignment (possibly not using those words.) The best part is that I finally have a job with responsibility and a chance to make a positive difference.

Even though I love my car, Jon and I aren't avid drivers (I commute by train and foot). We save up our emission karma vouchers for the weekends, when we often travel to the Sierra for my sanity and adventures.