Hello, and welcome to the inside of my mind.

I’m a Midwest girl from an East Coast family currently residing in the Southwest. Lover of the written word, humans, food, travel and life, I usually don’t know what’s going on, but I’m on a journey to figure it out!

So why If You Give a Girl a Degree?

Everyone knows when you give a mouse a cookie, he’s going to ask for a glass of milk. And, when you give a moose a muffin, he’ll want some jam to go with it. But what happens when you give a girl a degree? Now that I’m a graduate mourning college life in the real world, I’ve taken it upon myself to answer that question. Mostly through food, and travel, which is really just about eating food in a new location.

Here are the top ten things you need to know about me in order to understand anything I talk about, ever.

1. I love tacos, pizza, mac and cheese and creme brulee more than most things (sorry friends and family).

2. Otters are the best animals. Now before you say anything, yes, I am aware of all the horrible things they are capable of, but they are actually really important to their ecosystem and just so damn cute. Seriously, look at these little faces right now.

3. I am the queen of freak accidents. There’s really no explaining this one, but it all started the day I tried to climb into a grocery cart and ended up dislocating my kneecap and tearing my meniscus. It was a lot of fun.

4. No one should ever underestimate the powers of nature. I grew up in a small town and knew I had to get out. I love living in a major metropolitan area, but if I didn’t have some nature retreat to escape to every weekend, I would be in bad shape. Hiking a mountain is my version of therapy, or church, or both. Plus it’s a pretty good workout.

5. When I first got to college I was majoring in journalism with a concentration on fashion. HA! It took me about two weeks to realize I don’t know how to dress myself let alone other people and I swiftly switched to journalism+culinary science. I mean, the culinary science minor required a course where I got to drink six glasses of wine in each lecture, the choice was easy.

6. I have the annoying tendency to sing about everything I do. I’m kind of just a human version of a really crappy radio station.

7. I’ve been known, and am completely proud, to eat more than one breakfast on any given day. One of my coworkers once asked me why if I eat such a big breakfast before work I still eat a bunch of peanut butter before lunch. Um, excuse me lady, have you ever eaten peanut butter?

8. My most commonly used phrases all start with, “Where is my …?” If you’ve ever met me, you know and hate this about me. I’m sorry.

9. I have no intentions of ever fully growing up. Alice in Wonderland is my favorite movie and Pocahontas comes in at a close second (I once won two gold fish and named both of them Pocahontas). Also, I will hula hoop until the day I die. And have I mentioned my love for mac and cheese?

10. Speaking of cheese, cheeeeeeeeese. That is all.