I am a native Chicagoan back home after 9 years in St Louis. I like to think that I am a juxtaposition of opposites: I have a dirty job, but like sparkly, pretty shoes and dresses; I am a midwestern girl through-and-through, but the quicker the pace, the better; and I consider myself a pacifist, but can be prone to road rage.

I like cold weather, tights with wool skirts, live music, funny people, curly hair, scary movies, cookie dough, beautiful photography, well-written books, Arrested Development, trashy magazines, hoodie sweatshirts, knee high boots, goat cheese, The Office, and cute dresses.

I can't wait to enjoy the summer, the city, and some fantastic people!

Having sacrificed my 20s to my career, I might be having some sort of delayed adolescence. But, I continue to toil in the trenches.

- doing 8 things at once
- walking around book stores
- making homemade baked goods
- working hard
- buying gifts
- kissing
- not being grossed out
- talking too fast when i am nervous

My favorite books: The God of Small Things, anything by David Sedaris, Dirt, The Interpeter of Maladies, anything about arctic exploration or mountain climbing, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters, A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius, every blog written by an articulate gay man (I am not sure what that says about me)

Music: The White Stripes, The Raconteurs, Jack Johnson, Tori Amos, Yelle, The Brazilian Girls, Lily Allen, Spoon, Fallout Boy, Panic at the Disco, PJ Harvey, the Old 97s, Yael Naim, Young Love, Michael Franti, Metro Station, MIKA, Ani DiFranco, Ben Lee, Fiona Apple, Johnny Socko...should I be embarrassed of some of this list? Probably. Am I? Not really.

Movies: Boogie Nights, almost any documentary, all teen movies (since i went to an all-girls high school, I like to pretend that American co-ed high school is actually like it is in the movies), foreign films that I see at film fests and never remember the names of, most Judd Apatow productions, the Planet Earth series...Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Boys of Baraka, Adventures in Babysitting, Goonies

Food: Cheese, Olives, Wine, and Bread

- my family
- my friends
- my dog Howie
- my microscope
- high heels
- laughter

The strange obstacle dreams that I have, why they don't make Underoos for adults, diet coke, The Super Bowl Shuffle, and goofy stories, why the best tv shows get cancelled (Freaks and Geeks, Undeclared, and Arrested Development) while those hideous sitcoms with Charlie Sheen and Jim Belushi somehow go on, year after year

Making the trek home from the suburbs back to city and possibly catching "This American Life" depending on the traffic/how late I work; planning on relaxing after a long week of commuting, but being talked in to drinking wine or martinis and hanging out; enjoying the conversation, the wine, and the walk around the city; being grateful that I didn't go to bed early; stopping with my brother to get late-night tacos for him; and then finally getting home to my dog and my pjs.

Someday, I aspire to give up my career in medicine to bake and frost cupcakes. Oh, and I want to get a tattoo of a glomerulus, my favorite thing to look at under the microscope.

If you don't take yourself too seriously, you wear cute boy-clothes, you're the punky QB known as McMahon, or you tell funny stories.