I am the quiet one – brown hair, blue eyes – the dreamer with a ready pen.   I am a work in progress.  I am not who I was five minutes ago, not yet who I’m going to be.  I am a writer, a horsewoman, a teacher, an idealist, a vegetarian, a lifelong unschooler with unconventional ideas.  I am Scotch, Irish, Cherokee, and stubborn.  I am loyal and indecisive.  I live and breathe words.  I wish on stars and see God in a grain of sand. I am passionate about too many things.  I am constantly in awe of the beauty of the world.

What I Do:

I teach horseback riding lessons and run a small barn in the North Georgia mountains.  I muck stalls, mend fences, ride, train horses, conduct camps and clinics, organize shows and events, write educational materials, brainstorm, and introduce children to the joys and responsibilities of riding.  I hope to pass on the rich lessons that horses have taught me – patience, compassion, responsibility, work ethic, commitment, sportsmanship, leadership.  I currently make very little money.  I am partially okay with this.

I write, every chance I get and not nearly often enough.  I dream of publishing and lately I have begun to pursue this dream a little more seriously.  I invent worlds, and learn to live in this world within the covers of my journal.  I meet friends weekly for a creative writing group and have become a diehard advocate of National Novel Writing Month.   It goes without saying that I read just as voraciously.  Some books I read over and over again, for the sheer love of it.

I play mounted games, or fast-paced relay races on horseback, on my twenty-something Arab mare.  I jump on and off of a running pony and lean down to snatch a tennis ball from a bucket on the ground, even though my knees are beginning to protest the idea.  I jump, and ride cross-country every chance I get, and hope to get back into three-day eventing.  I choreograph elaborate dressage routines to music and ride them in costume.  I have taught my horses to bow and to play soccer.  I am trying to teach them to fetch.

In rare spare moments I like to take photographs, practice yoga, bake, cook yummy and wholesome vegetarian food, listen to music, knit, watch movies, go to baseball games, garden, and paint model horses.  I am applying to college (as a VERY non-traditional student!) where I have grand plans of studying English, psychology, equine-assisted learning and alternative therapy.  I spend entirely too much time on the internet.

Things I Like:

Stars, children, big ideas, music, peace, J.R.R. Tolkien, natural horsemanship, Irish Gaelic, cats, organic produce, Coldplay, the ocean, photography, magnetic poetry, desktop publishing, chocolate, strawberries, chocolate-covered strawberries, the color blue, Earthsea, laughing until you cry, lightbulb moments, sunrise, sunsets, mimosa trees, the local Starbucks, craft stores, hiking, mythology, earrings, clicker training, Renaissance faires, Harry Potter, positive thinking, Breyer models, butterflies, Cavalia, fireflies, going barefoot, full moons, gel pens, random acts of kindness, creativity, friends, handwritten letters, tea, Barbara Kingsolver, epic stories, running, dancing, comparative religion, Narnia, mountains, and unconditional love.

“If you ask me what I came here to do, I will tell you: I came to live out loud.”

   ~ Emile Zola