Bio

I was born in Denver, Colorado to teenaged parents in 1982. To take care of the family, my father joined the Army and married my mother shortly after my first birthday. The Army provided our family many opportunities to travel and experience culture throughout the United States, as well as internationally. I lived for a short time in Denver, moved to Missouri, then moved back to Denver whilst my dad was stationed in Turkey. It was in Denver that I began school and discovered that I loved music (God bless cable and MTV) and boys (my first crush was "Chris with the curly hair" in my kindergarten class), and that I enjoyed learning. I would come home and "play school" with my younger brother-- forcing him to do worksheets I'd created based upon what I was learning in class that week. Thus, my passion for teaching began.

When my father returned home from Turkey, we were whisked to California where I thought I'd be "discovered". We moved to the California/Nevada border, however, which is nothing but desert-- so I'm not rich and famous--YET. From California, we moved to Belgium, which became one of my favorite places in the world to be. When I retire, I hope to open up a small pastry shop in Brussels or Mons, buy my childhood home (the pink one on Rue des Canadiens), and live out my days with chickens and a garden in my giant backyard. In Belgium, we had the opportunity to visit France, Germany, and the UK, and for that, I am eternally grateful because I had the opportunity to see that the world was vast and wide-- and much bigger than the United States in all her glory.

From Belgium we moved to Colorado Springs where my father extended his tour, so that I could graduate from Wasson High School (in the year 2000). I played baseball and softball throughout junior high and high school, and became incredibly interested in creative writing and photography. The dark room at Wasson was most definitely one of my sanctuaries. I graduated 13th in my class and ran a photography club and creative writing club, I was on our school's bowling team, and I  had a part-time job at Chuck E. Cheese.

 After high school, I went to college for a year in Illinois (2001-2002), met my husband at a concert in Chicago, and moved back to Colorado to attend school at UCCS (University of Colorado at Colorado Springs). I worked at Independent Records (a record store) full time while attending UCCS. It was at UCCS I earned my Bachelor's Degree in English in 2006, and my Master's Degree in Curriculum and Instruction, along with my teaching certificate in 2008. I was hired at Falcon Middle School in District 49 in July of 2008, and moved to Vista Ridge High School in 2010 when my FMS principal became principal at VRHS. In 2020, I earned my Educational Specialist degree from the University of Northern Colorado (Greeley) in Educational Leadership.

In 2009, I married my husband. In 2011, we had our son, Elias-- who is the reason we work so hard. We hope to give him opportunities we never had; we hope to show him the world; we hope to teach him that respect and hard work do pay off.

In my spare time, I still love creative writing and am working on my third novel. I also love photography, though I do it mostly for fun. I enjoy spending time with my family, going to concerts, and discovering new artists in the punk, indie, rock, and hip hop music genres. I also love perfecting sweet recipes I find on Pinterest, and experimenting with makeup and my hair color. Life is far too short to not try everything, so if someone asks if I want to participate in something new, most often, I'll do my best and try anything once.