: About Me

In this world of change, only a few things remain constant. In each of us, our God-given talents are some of those things. While a few gifts remain dormant and show up only upon occasion, others become obvious in our childhood and help carve the course of our lives. For me, writing is one of those constants. For as long as I can remember I've felt a kinship to newspapers and magazines and from the time I was very young, I knew that my future would be interwoven with the relating of information through the written word.

As you would expect I was editor-in-chief of my high school newspaper and majored in journalism in college. During college I wrote for the school paper and in my senior year I interned at a local afternoon daily. At the end of college I got married and my husband and I moved from northeast Tennessee to the North Shore of Massachusetts. I quickly found a writing job with a publishing company and enjoyed many years of the daily grind. As a fun way to earn a little extra cash, I also worked in direct sales as a Pampered Chef sales consultant. I enjoyed running my own business and our family enjoyed the vacations I earned.

In the spring of 2000, I left my office job in preparation for our daughter's birth. Since having one parent home with our children been a part of our family's plan from the start, I stayed home with our daughter beginning with five weeks of bed rest that preceded her birth. A few months after she was born I took advantage of the flexible schedule of motherhood and pursued a latent interest I had in religion and faith. For the following three years most of my writing was done on our family blog or for research papers in my graduate program. Just before our daughter turned three I graduated with a Master's degree in comparative religion and Christian mission's.

In 2005 our son was born and we moved our family from the land of over-priced- everything to a small town outside of Nashville, Tennessee. It happened to also be the town where my father grew up and a great place to grow a family (look it up in Family Circle magazine's August 2009 issue). With this move, I got out of the direct sales business and turned once again to my writing, only this time in freelance work. Since the summer of 2006 I have been working consistently as a freelance writer and continue to explore new opportunities and outlets for my work.

In my spare time, I enjoy scrapbooking, evening television medical dramas, and serving as room mom for my kids' classes. I love a bargain and I love shopping thrift stores, second-hand shops and our local Goodwill store to find them. I like to cook and I love to visit all sorts of teeny, little, out-of-the-way restaurants my preference being for all things Mediterranean, Mexican, Indian and beyond.

My passion is ...

capturing a moment, whether on film or in writing.

I know too much about ...

organizing and cleaning stuff.

My parents always told me ...

it's better to be an A+ person than an A+ student.

My childhood ambition ...

to become a journalist like Woodward and Bernstein.

My favorite memory ...

going snorkeling with my husband in Barbados.

Why I write ...

because the words are part of who I am.

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

"She's Gonna Blow" and iCarly with my kids during summer vacation!

My first job ...

was in the public affairs office on base where my dad worked in the Netherlands.

My best moment ...

was when I first laid eyes on my newborn daughter.

My inspiration ...

is the mental image of realizing my dreams.

Sciences > Zoology The habitat of collared lemurs

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Collared lemurs live in the  humid forests of Southeastern Madagascar.  They share their habitat with the more dominant ring-tailed lemurs and are often roused by the more aggressive lemur breed to move to other trees, though they are usually able to protect their chosen territories.  Collared lemurs eat fruit, leaves, flowers and insects which are common to their tropical forest habitat.  As opportunistic feeders, they have been known to eat whatever is available in their environment including toxic plants and bird’s eggs. This behavior increases with the reducti...

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