ABOUT

I’m a 41-year-old-wife, BioBanking professional, Harry Potter enthusiast, reluctant runner and life-long Marylander. While not a conventional “parent”, I consider my furbabies J. Peterman and Stella  my "children" and will flip my lid on anyone who tries to tell me otherwise. 

I am married to Shawn, a nationally recognized arborist, beer connoisseur and tolerant husband who suffers through his “fan-girl” wife’s nerdy obsessions. We have been married since 2000 and have traveled quite a bit over the years (that is when I can pry him away from work)! I am a graduate of the University of Maryland – TERP FOR LIFE -  with a Bachelor’s degree in Microbiology and received my Master’s degree in Environmental Biology from Hood College. 

In 2003 I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis… for the first couple of years I lived in denial, insisting to my neurologist that I absolutely did not have the disease, but nonetheless opted to move forward with IM drug therapy. Ten years after my diagnosis my MS symptoms became more pronounced and my IM therapy became less effective, this led me on my quest to focus on treating the MS not only with conventional pharmaceuticals but also through adopting a healthy lifestyle. This was a lofty quest, I’m talking Knights Templar, searching for the Holy Grail kind of quest as I am not an inherently health-conscious person.  I love McDonalds... and T.V.... and Diet Coke... and tequila.

While I will never be passionate about exercise or salads, I am very passionate about maintaining my mobility, which was the driving motivator in my becoming the proverbial “reluctant runner”. I don’t enjoy running, at least not yet.  I run to finish not win and as a non-competitive person, I will never subscribe to the Ricky Bobby philosophy "if you're not first you're last", instead I chose to embrace Nike and "JUST DO IT"!