"There's a better version of me // That I can't quite see // But things are gonna change...."  
-- Addison Road, "Change in the Making"


My love for song lyrics is matched only by my love for list making.  So here is a list of 10 things about me.

1. I am a Christ follower....even though I fail at it time and time again, it's who I am.  My heart's desire is to be a girl who knows who she is in Christ and not let the world tell me who I am.
2. I am a wife, a mother, a sister and a daughter.   
3. I was born in San Diego in 1971 and lived there for 21 years until moving to the Bay Area (CA) for 15 years.  Now, I live in Tennessee.   I blame San Diego for my intolerance of any temperature outside of the 64-76 degree window.    I blame Tennessee for the introduction of  "y'all" into my vocabulary.
4. I am a photographer....I love to photograph people, places, food and things - not necessarily in that order.  I have a strange fetish for photographing rusty, grungy, distressed, dilapidated things with unique textures.
5. I love Scrabble, cooking, watching movies, music of all varieties and the beach. I guess that's really like 5 things counted as one.   Sorry.
6. I love my church!   I know there are really great churches out there and I'm not here to dog anyone's place of worship, but I think my church is exceptional.   God has used the people of my church in amazing ways to encourage, mentor and challenge me.     I would not be where I am if it were not for the people of WOC.
7. I am part of the Celebrate Recovery ministry at our church - as a participant and leader.   I started attending in June 2009 and have been addicted ever since (haha, addict humor, sorry).  In addition to working my steps on a daily basis, I now have the honor and privilege of walking alongside other people in their journey of recovery.    
8. I have a cat named Cephas.   My daughter wanted to name him Peter, which I think is a ridiculous name for a Cat, so I proposed the Greek version.    He is the hairiest cat in history, I believe.
9. I love to sing.    At one point in my life I wanted to be a Las Vegas lounge club singer.   I'm being for real.    Not so much anymore.   But, if you ask my family they will tell you - I do make up songs and sing them lounge club style around the house.  I also do some Ethel Merman too.
10. If you've read this far, I'm impressed!   Last thing to share is my most vulnerable part.  I have struggled with my weight for a majority of my life.   In the past, I was able to lose weight only to gain it back (and more - you know how it goes).    For the first time in my life (after years of recovery and therapy)  I've learned a healthier way to process and cope with the pain and difficulty of life.    I am not all the way there, but I'm closer now than ever before.     I call it the "inside out" plan - I've dealt with most of the "inside" stuff (my mind) which is allowing me to work on the "outside" stuff (my body) now with greater success.    

I'm just a girl, on a journey.    
Not sure how much of my story to tell....
Not sure how transparent I want to be on the pages of the interweb.  
Not sure if my stories or my experiences will impact anyone....
Not sure if anyone will care.  

The good news is - you have a choice!  
You can choose to read or
you can choose to click away.
Which leaves me free to write what I want.

But I hope you'll stay awhile...