I love wolves. And not in the “oh-they-are-cute-so-that’s-my-favorite-animal” kind of way. I wanted to be a wolf biologist for a long time and maybe in another life. During college I got accepted for an internship at a wolf facility and had to turn it down. I’ve been to Yellowstone numerous times to see them in the wild and now my goal is to one day go out there and photograph them. Hearing them howl in person is hypnotizing. I even have a small wolf tattoo that I absolutely adore.

I’m afraid of sharks. I will not swim in the ocean and if I do (I went snorkeling in Hawaii and have gone surfing once in Pismo, CA) I stress out about sharks the entire time. I find them fascinating but only with a large sheet of glass separating us.

When I was little, I was terrified of elevators. I would not go in them. I was terrified of it stopping and getting trapped inside. I guess you could say I’m slightly claustrophobic.

I have to have a real Christmas tree. I love how they smell so I will always have a real one. But I actually have more than one tree that I put up during Christmas and those are fake.

My grandparents used to take me camping every year. Starting from when I was 2 years old all the up through high school. Because of them I’ve been to the entire western half of the US + Canada. Camping and traveling are two of my favorite things to do and besides the trips with my grandparents, I’ve been to Ireland, Monaco, France, Italy, Mexico and a handful of states on the Eastern side of the US.

I love reading – mainly psychology, space and history books with fiction (sci/fantasy fiction, romance and historical fiction) thrown in when I need to lighten things up. If I could read all day, I would and I’m a fast reader.

My husband and I went to the same high school but we didn’t like each other and didn’t meet again until four years after we graduated.

I have TERRIBLE allergies. Spring is beautiful but unfortunately I have to enjoy it inside. I’ve had allergies my entire life and can’t really enjoy the outdoors in spring without suffering.

I LOVE chips and salsa. You’re supposed to eat them until they’re gone right?

I studied business and marketing at Cal Poly. San Luis Obispo was a beautiful place to live and those four years were some of the best of my life.

I have a horse. She’s a sorrel quarter horse named Bambi. Dream come true to finally have a horse and I love to hang out at the barn a few times a week with her.

I am fascinated by space. Space is something we have only just begun to explore and I think there is life out there but not as we know it. I’m also fascinated with the science of space and how hard it is to wrap our minds around sometimes.

I absolutely love to be in the water. I am a great swimmer and can tread water for a really long time without getting tired. I’m not afraid of drowning and can hold my breath for an above average amount of time.

My favorite meal is breakfast. I love coffee, eggs, toast, mimosas…everything to do with breakfast I adore. My only complaint is sometimes I have trouble deciding what to eat!

I don’t really like horror movies but I somehow have seen a lot of them. I don’t like being scared and my imagination runs wild after I watch one and I end up jumping at every sound in the dark. If I watch them, it is during the middle of the day and I have to watch something light and fluffy afterwards.

I am a terrible speller. The school I went to decided that spelling and grammar were secondary to creativity and writing a good story. I have to say that’s why I love writing so much so I can’t really complain. That’s why spell check exists!

I have a really good sense of direction. I can read a map very well and have only gotten lost once (in Florence, Italy). I enjoy reading maps and when I was younger I used to enjoy drawing them.

My favorite breed of dog is a pit bull. They are the best dogs EVER and just love to snuggle and love you. I’ve had several in my life and known tons more. They are gentle and loving and extremely misunderstood.

My socks never match. This drives my husband crazy! I have very colorful socks but I rarely can find their match so I just pick whichever two socks I can grab first. Between my dog and the dryer, I have yet to figure out which one is the bigger culprit for making them disappear.

I love to write. I’m always working on some novel. I have yet to finish one but one day I will! I did finish a short story once in high school and it won first place, so that was exciting!

I used to hate cats. I have always been a dog person. If someone had told me years ago that I would have a cat I would have laughed in their face and never would have believed them.

I enjoy filling out forms. When I was younger I liked to pull the survey/subscription cards from magazines and fill them out. I would never send them but I enjoyed the process. I don’t do that anymore but I still enjoy it when real life hands me a form to fill out.

I’m weirdly good at darts. This was discovered in college. I kept winning and the only thing I can think of was when I was younger my grandparents had a dart board that I used to enjoy playing with. After that I didn’t play for almost 20 years…apparently my skills didn’t get rusty.

I can’t roll my ‘R’s. It’s pretty amusing to watch me try. Ask me sometimes, I might just humor you.

I really wish I liked hummus. I have tried so hard to like it. I have literally tried every single variation they sell at the grocery store and dipped everything from pretzels to carrots to smearing it on sandwiches. Nothing makes me enjoy it. The crazy part? I like chickpeas.

I used to be lactose intolerant. I couldn’t have any milk products or anything that even had milk in it, like bread. That also happened to include chocolate. My force of will overcame that reeeeeal fast. I just could not live in a world where I was incapable of eating chocolate. I have since grown out of it and could not imagine giving up cheese and yogurt…mostly cheese.

I LOVE spicy food. Bring on the heat. Sriracha on all the things! Anything I can apply heat to, I will do it.

I consider garlic a mandatory ingredient. I sometimes put an entire head of garlic into my dishes. I seriously cannot get enough of the stuff. Don’t worry, I won’t breath fire on you during your photos ????