I'm happily married to an editor/musician named Andy, and my house is active with two teenage girls, three cats and two dogs...never a dull moment. My husband and I are very active with the Atlanta Blues Society (we write, review CDs, etc. and publish the newsletter). By day I'm a State Farm insurance agent and I love my job. I am also the founder of a slow-growing company called Soul Play Productions, featuring artists who exemplify a concept of authenticity in motion. Anything with pasta and cheese! I'm a big fan of casseroles. And I love creating something with whatever I have in the kitchen. I was a single mother for 8 years and the hardship taught me how to be creative, especially in the area of reinventing leftovers. I also grew up in the south with some great influences in the kitchen (my mother and grandmother). My grandmother grew up during the depression, so I was taught to not waste food. Let's just say I can make leftover turkey go a long way! After traveling during the holidays for many years, 2008 marked my first year as "the holiday cook." My first tradition? Recreating the pumpkin ice cream pie that my husband's mom used to make at Thanksgiving. I found the recipe on allrecipes.com as a matter of fact...it was great! I am something of a "potluck Queen" in my neck of the woods. I love inviting folks over and throwing down whatever is on hand...and discovering how well it goes with whatever shows up at my door. My last potluck triumph was cleaning out the cupboard, fridge etc and creating a chicken skillet dish that everyone loved...even with frozen mangos (within a week of their freezer life) thrown in at the last minute. I also used three partial jars of salsa left in the fridge (mango, peach and hot)...there were no leftovers that night! Years ago I wanted to roast turkey legs like they do at the Shakespeare Festival, thought it would be cute to see my little girls running around with giant turkey legs. Well, my youngest just looked at this giant thing on her plate and refused to touch it...she's a vegetarian now actually...anyway...I don't even remember what I did, but the dog wouldn't even eat it. My kids still remind me of that.