Copy editor, writer, self-taught photographer, book artist, calligrapher, masters swimmer, working vacationist, slow travel advocate, wannabe polyglot, Franco-, Italo-, and overall Europhile, bona fide California girl, Berkeley born and raised, UCLA alum, absolutely Oaklandish, Nikon faithful, Lensbaby Composer pro, a sucker for sweets and even moreso for cats, not a dog person, but thinks corgies, pugs, and pomeranians are the cat's pajamas, can still laugh aloud at Seinfeld reruns she’s seen a gazillion times and counting and loves Larry David, but not like that, believes Indian cuisine to be the best available, is routinely mistaken for ethnicities she’s not and actively encourages a kama’aina myth when in Hawaii for the local discounts, dreams of seeing the Seychelles, taking a year to explore Italy and another to tour the many outposts of the once mighty Venice before teleporting to Ancient Egypt to meet Queen Hatshepsut and Egypt’s other legendary grande dames.