It all started when I took a last minute trip to Mexico and decided to give island camping a try.  I don't know what got in to me, but camping solo on a deserted island seemed like a good idea... until the America's Most Wanted-looking Mexicans showed up on my shore in a beat up old fishing boat with long steel spears.  Surely they were going to rape and kill me and leave me for dead in the desert-like mountains and since only two people knew I was on the island, my family would never find me.  There's a long rescue story that goes along with this, but the point is this particular trip is what jump started my need for travel. And not just boring museum to museum travel. I'm talking about last minute jaunts to exotic locations without planning anything but the flight itinerary and more often than not, extending my trip an extra few weeks so I could explore some more.

                     I was fourteen when I first left the country, twenty-four when I went on my first Round-The-World trip and haven't stopped traveling since (just turned the ripe age of thirty!).  As I mentioned on the homepage, I've been to 26 countries and can you believe it, but I've never been to Canada?! Too cold and too close for me right now. I will do that once I have kids.  Speaking of which, no kids here, but I do have an amazing husband who I'm incredibly grateful to share my life with. I also come from an amazingly close-knit family who I adore and look up to and would call each one of them my favorite people in the world.

I grew up in Cromwell, Connecticut and moved to Chicago in 1998 for no good reason, really. I graduated from Northwestern a few years later, got hooked, and now call the Windy City my home.... though, I'm currently living in Arizona with my husband (Chris) while he gets ready for the baseball season in Spring Training.  We are pretty much gypsies during the baseball season and have a year full of positive adventures coming our way, now and we are incredibly grateful for our family and friends' love and support!