I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and double majored at Northwestern University in Chicago in Education and English. I spent a year abroad at Oxford University studying English history and literature, where I rowed crew and enjoyed the dining hall that looked just like Hogwarts. I earned a master's degree in history from the University of Missouri at Columbia, and a certification in Educational Leadership from CSU. I landed in Colorado in 1998, and I have loved living in the mountains ever since. I have a cat and two adorable, brilliant children who love Harry Potter, Star Wars, and Legos as much as I do. I love to be outside, routinely stay up too late reading or watching something, and love my Evergreen community. I have been teaching for over twenty years, and I love what I do even more than the day I started.