I grew up in Southern California, which is a real shame because too much sunlight is my kryptonite. I got my Bachelor's in English: Creative Writing and a Certificate in Technical and Professional Communications from CSU Long Beach. While taking a completely unnecessary (for my major) science fiction class there, I met my future husband. He wore baseball caps, smiled a lot, and drew pictures of me.

Immediately after undergrad, I got accepted into the best ever graduate program. UCR's Palm Desert Low Residency MFA program for Creative Writing and Writing for the Performing Arts consumed my life in the best way possible for the next two and a half years. We moved around a lot, chasing inconsequential jobs and reasonable rent prices (which don't actually exist in SoCal). I thought I was meant to be a police dispatcher for a while, but after all the effort involved in finally getting hired as one I only lasted six weeks. It led me to my volunteer work on the suicide crisis lines, though, so it definitely wasn't a waste.

I married that cute guy from my science fiction class on March 14, 2015. Not one to wait when I know I want something, it only took us a few months to decide to have a kid. Since I'm so lucky, the pregnancy turned into the hardest thing I've ever faced with a bad case of hyperemesis gravidarum (with some gestational diabetes thrown in for flavor as well). If my baby girl ever asks why she doesn't have any siblings, I can just point her to my blog posts on how horrible HG is, and how unsure I was that I would survive it.

We have a cat who is a total cuddlebug, and are the type of parents who love their fur babies as much as their human babies.

I post book reviews on my blog, and I'm still working on that long game of getting novels and stories published.

I've totally embraced the mostly-paleo, strength-training-centric pillars of the NF philosophy. As a member of the women's Academy, I spend ridiculous amounts of time on the Facebook group, encouraging and being encouraged by all the fabulous women there. I'm also a Tyrus recruit in the Rising Heroes program, helping to battle the nefarious shadow organization that encourages us all to be lazy, eat unhealthy foods, buy things we don't need, and forget to live an active and engaged life.

I use Erin Condren Life Planners and color-coded pens (of course!). If I'm not making lists, then I can guarantee that my stress level is inching ever higher, because getting things out on paper is the only way I really feel organized and together.

Mostly the Avengers stuff, but who doesn't love Jessica Jones? Awesome female characters are a particular love of mine. The intersection of gorgeous men, kickass women, excellent writing, and action sequences has a special place in my heart.

We've got space in our new backyard to start growing things. Eventually I want to have berry bushes, strawberries, various squash, lettuce, garlic, onions, and other yummy vegetables and an herb garden. We're starting small with a sage plant that survived the move, and will hopefully expand to some easy-to-grow stuff like zucchini soon. My love for gardening comes from my grandpa, who worked and taught in sustainable agriculture and passed on a love for Nature to me before he died in 2001.

Large ones, preferably. I'd like a Bernese Mountain Dog and some huskies, and my husband leans more toward labradors and maybe a rottweiler. I also adore pitbulls, since they tend to be such enthusiastic cuddlebugs.

How else do you get the custom built-in shelves with glass cases for all your books, plus a hidden tower room and the perfect living room and kitchen for entertaining large groups of people? Besides which, it would be so much fun to have my hands on all the steps in this process.

After getting laid off from a technical writing gig in the oil industry, I needed a paying job that would keep me from having to move back to SoCal where the population density and weather were determined to band together to suck the life out of me. I heard about iFixit through the grapevine and started my research. I've never put so much thought and effort into a cover letter and resume draft before. Rather than continue with tech writing, I chose customer service. I love solving problems for people, being helpful, and having small, distinct tasks to complete throughout the day to keep a sense of constant accomplishment going. Customer service (when worked for a good company) is a perfect fit for me. I fell in love with the CS team pretty quickly, and the rest is history.

Laptop Keyboards - Specifically when my baby performs a successful sneak-attack spit-up and my keys start sticking.

Disorganization - I get a sense of zen from everything having a proper place.

Grammar, Syntax, Etc. - !!Literary Nerd Alert!!

Anything Someone Thinks I Can't Repair - Because who doesn't love proving them all wrong?