Birmingham
Life has thrown me a surprise party. I am a born Michigander who never imagined I’d marry a Texan and then raise children in the South. I am here for the celebration!
I grew up in a small lake community in southeast Michigan. After graduating from the University of Michigan (Go Blue!), I moved to Washington, D.C., to work as a management consultant for a global consulting firm. There, I met my future husband. Nick was a radiology resident in the US Army and we connected over faith, craft coffee + cocktails, fitness, and food. We married three years later. Our journey in military medicine took us to Texas, Missouri, and finally to Alabama for his civilian fellowship and job.
My family has had the privilege to call Birmingham home for the past two years.
I continue to marvel at the natural beauty of the topography. Rolling hills are lush and green, despite the heat. The vibrancy of orange and red trees in October is amazing! I can see the sun sinking over Appalachian foothills or Vulcan’s famous rear (if I squint very hard through binoculars) from my upstairs window.
I love the diverse activities of the area, like hiking at Red Mountain or Moss Rock Preserve in the morning, enjoying fine dining at a James Beard Award Winner’s restaurant for dinner, and then singing along to Shrek the Musical at the intimate Red Mountain Theater.
I love the abundance of family-friendly activities, such as listening to story time at the library, admiring rose gardens at the Botanical Garden, or feeding the largest koi fish I’ve ever seen at Aldridge Gardens.
I love the availability of delicious food and beverages, coffee at Filter, special occasions at Helen / Chez Fonfon / Hot & Hot Fish Club / Garden & Galley / Cafe Dupont, and family night out at Little Donkey.
Combine all three with the friendliness of so many in town, and in just two years I feel very connected. Needless to say, the Magic City has been the best present ever!
My husband, Nick, and I with Frank Stitt at Chez Fonfon // My family (Nick, me, Ethan, Anne)
Mom
My husband, Nick, and I have been married for nearly eight years. We lead full lives with children 20 months apart. Our son, Ethan, is four years old, and our daughter, Anne, is two-and-a-half years old. As a family, we love cooking/baking, reading, volunteering at church, and exploring. We also have two large cats (16 lbs each!) who demand lots of attention (and food).
I imagine my experience in motherhood as a French Braid. At the top and woven into my motherhood journey is my faith. I braid in strands of time as a military medical spouse, including months apart from my husband during peak COVID as he was deployed to set up a temporary hospital to treat COVID patients. Additional strands include my path from the paid workforce to staying home with my children. I thrived in high stress, high stakes roles in global management consulting and hospitality, and I never thought I would leave. I braid in strands of experiences living in the Midwest, East coast, South, big city, suburbs, and rural country. These experiences cross over one another to create something beautiful.
Austin, Texas (visiting the Capitol building) 2017
Collective
As a child you would often find me with pen in hand, scribbling away in my Secret Garden journal hidden under my mattress, writing poetry, addressing letters to pen pals in Germany and Canada, or penning my first fiction stories about my look-alike American Girl doll, Julie. Once I entered adulthood and my vocation became technical writing and teaching, my creative writing waned.
However, after the birth of my son in 2019, I was desperate to reconnect with myself. I also desired to preserve moments in time I knew I’d forget (toothless smiles and belly laughter and uneasy steps). Thankfully, I found an online cohort of creative mothers pursuing creativity in the margins and felt myself slowly begin to bloom. I enrolled in writing workshops on poetry, micro-essays, creative nonfiction essays, and identifying my purpose in writing. I began using nap time and early mornings to write—pages in my journal no one would see, essays and poems shared with friends, and finally posts on my new blog. Returning to writing has reawakened a core part of my identity, and my life is richer and fuller because of it.
My family finished our military commitment two years ago, and our long-term plan is to stay in Birmingham. We love the area and the people. I look forward to sharing my experiences in motherhood, unplanned relocations, and discovering our wonderful city with other parents.
Jefferson Monument, Washington, D.C. 2015 // My husband and son by historic Route 66 in Rolla, Missouri 2019
