I live in north Georgia with my husband, Mike, our two dogs, Buster and Frankie, and our two cats, Freddy and Tess. I teach fifth graders at a school near my home. In college I studied and earned a degree in marine biology, and for three years I worked as an editor and reporter at a local newspaper. That's where I discovered my interest in education! In my free time I enjoy being a mixed media artist, and most of the things I make are given as gifts to my family and friends. In my next life, if I can't come back as a sea otter, I would like to be a textile artist ;-) I love to cook good things for my family, and I enjoy learning new techniques and recipes. Sometimes if I eat something at a restaurant or at someone else's home, I try to recreate it in my own kitchen. It's the artistic and scientific aspects of cooking that attract me more than the eating. Baking cookies with my mom and sisters. We did this every Christmas when I was young, but in recent years I've been too busy with work to get involved. I hope to make more time for it in the future. As the eldest of five kids, when I was a teen/college age I sometimes made suppers for my little brothers and sisters. No matter how simple the menu, they always acted like I was creating a masterpiece! I'm sure it was the novelty of having someone besides Mom cook for them, but it helped encourage me to try new recipes and make them happy as we have all grown older. When I was around 10 years old, my little sister and I tried to make a nice breakfast for our mom on her birthday (or was it Mother's Day?). Anyway, the French toast was burnt on the outside and slimy on the inside. I think we managed to make Mom feel nauseous on her special day. My Dad, on the other hand, ate every bite of it! I guess we still owe him for that. As far as I can remember, the cafe au lait turned out OK. The only cooking tragedy I have had as an adult happened one summer when I tried to make a lemon meringue pie on the hottest, most humid day of summer, with no air conditioning. Clearly I did not know the first thing about meringue! Still, my sister's boyfriend ate every bite of the lemony mess!