I'm an intelligent, creative, laid-back girl and a dichotomy of sorts. Old-fashioned values with liberal morals. Lusty but demure. Opinionated but kind. I'm adventurous. I like to try new things. I find beauty in the strange and unusual and I appreciate people's quirks. I love the arts and I'm rather crafty. When I can, I prefer to make something (or buy it second-hand) instead of buying new.

I work full-time (& then some) as the contract management system administrator for a local Fortune 500 company. Most days I love my job & the pay and benefits are nice, so I feel truly blessed.

I'm also a full-time mom to the world's three most charming, bright and amusing children. Again, very blessed.

I really enjoy language -- reading, writing, poetry, song lyrics, learning foreign words and phrases, talking & getting to know others, telling funny stories to make people laugh, studying etymology, and onomatopoeia.

One day I want to live in a farmhouse where I can grow peas, tomatoes and peppers to make yummy salads, compost the scraps, collect rainwater, host foreign exchange students, install solar panels, host "dirty 30s"-themed summer backyard parties (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M7bexVuBvY4), sit on the porch to read or write, nap outdoors, and dance barefoot to The Smiths in the mud during thunderstorms. Not too far of a drive from the city though -- I enjoy museums and concerts and such far too much to give those up entirely. :)

I really hope to get to travel more in the future as well. Right now as a single mom of three children ages 7 & under the budget's too tight to indulge in that sort of thing, but I fully intend to do more traveling in the future as they get older.

Skeeball. (I'm actually probably not really good at skeeball. More like fairly decent, but I feel really good when I play skeeball so that counts for me.) :) Making analogies. Explaining things to people in a way they've never considered before. Making people feel comfortable. Assembling furniture. Folding things into thirds. Typing (106 wpm). Flying cheap dollar store kites. Talking my way into discounts and freebies. Singing along to Jeff Buckley songs. Onomatopoeia. Making people laugh. Hugs & kisses.

Don't underestimate the value of any of the aforementioned skills.

Books: Anything that gives me a powerful emotional experience or that engages me and transports me to another time or place. Sometimes I read non-fiction but the majority of the time I prefer novels. Some favorites include: Memoirs of a Geisha, The Hunger Games series, The Count of Monte Cristo, Ender's Game, Jane Eyre, Agatha Christie mysteries, Lady Chatterley's Lover, and anything by Scott Westerfeld (especially Peeps & The Last Days, and the Leviathan trilogy).

Movies: 300, Amelie, The Big Lebowski, Billy Elliott, The Dark Knight, District B-13, Go, Juno, Last of the Mohicans, Legends of the Fall, Lord of the Rings, Monty Python, Office Space, Pan's Labyrinth, How to Train Your Dragon, Rat Race, Star Wars, Mel Brooks movies, old Lon Chaney (Sr.) movies. My favorite movie ever would probably have to be Napoleon Dynamite. I am a sucker for a good impression of any character from that movie.

♪♫ Music ♫♪: Animal Kingdom, Bat for Lashes*, Bjork, The Black Keys, Chromeo, The Cure, Elliott Smith, Final Fantasy (Owen Pallett), Fleet Foxes, Garmana, Hot Hot Heat, Joanna Newsom, Junior Boys, kent, Klaxons, Mew*, Kings of Convenience, Minus the Bear, Passion Pit*, The Pains of Being Pure at Heart, the Presets, Radiohead, Ra Ra Riot, Sigur Ros, Silversun Pickups, Smashing Pumpkins, The Smiths, Tori Amos, Yeasayer*, reggueton
*Bolded because it's really, really awesome if you know any of these.

Food: falafel, enchiladas, pico de gallo, good soups, tiramisu, warm chocolate pudding cake, toasted ravioli, empanadas, creme brulee. I'm mostly vegetarian, but I really don't care what you eat. Just don't hate all vegetables - that's seriously annoying.

TV Shows: Merlin, The Office, Legend of the Seeker, How It's Made, True Blood, Gordon Ramsay's Kitchen Nightmares, So You Think You Can Dance, Red Dwarf, old Doctor Who, All-American Girl (Margaret Cho) and Off Centre. (Anyone else remember that show?)

Heroes: Noam Chomsky, Katharine Hepburn, Josephine Baker, Mahatma Gandhi, Leonardo da Vinci, Perle Noire, Ohio state senator Nina Turner http://video.msnbc.msn.com/jansing-and-co/46706450#46706450. Anyone who stands up to injustice, discrimination or conformism and lives what they believe and is truly and completely who they are.

Favorite Quotes:
"It is absurd to divide people into good and bad. People are either charming or tedious." - Oscar Wilde
"Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet and the winds long to play with your hair." - Kahlil Gibran
"The animals of the world exist for their own reasons. They were not made for humans any more than black people were made for whites, or women for men." - Alice Walker
"If I'm going to sing like someone else, then I don't need to sing at all." - Billie Holiday

. friends & family, of course
. that pure, clean, happy feeling you get when you've had a particularly satisfying day though you can't quite pinpoint exactly what was so wonderful about it
. my memory foam pillow
. Aleve (I get bad tension headaches)
. Internet (I could survive without it but wouldn't like giving it up)
. music (life would be horribly tedious without good music)

. The visual display of complex information.
. Biomimicry.
. Odd ball instruments (marimbas, theremins, double ocarinas, water organs, hang hang drums). I have a glockenspiel & a feadog. I'd really like to own (or at least be able to play) some of these others, too.
. Essential oils and herbs. Religion & spirituality.
. Mitakuye oyasin. (literally: "all my relations." It's a Lakota Sioux prayer of oneness and harmony with all forms of life.)
. Bonobo apes & baboons.
. Why is there no mouse-flavored cat food on the market? And why is some "lemonade" made with artificial lemon flavoring and lemon dishwashing liquid is made with real lemon? (Yes, I know citrus oil cuts grease. What I don't understand is when did people decide putting artificial chemicals in foodstuffs is A-okay??)
. If Febreze eliminates odors, then how does it maintain its own fresh scent?

I love drawing on skin. I used to doodle on myself during class when I was younger. By the end of the school day I'd have an entire mural going from my knee to the top of my foot. It was mostly out of boredom, but I really like the way it feels to draw on skin. I kind of miss having an excuse to be bored enough and sit still long enough to do this. If you let me, I'd draw all over you. :)

I am terrified of the monster with eyeballs in its palms in Pan's Labyrinth.

Oh, and I love lolcats.

you're looking for new friends in the area, have similar interests and would like to chat, have advice on cool places to go in the St. Louis area, or want to add me to your group of awesome friends. I moved to St. Louis a few years ago but still looking for a niche of friends to hang out with from time to time. Most of my true friends either have recently had children & have little time to hang out, or live an hour or more away. So I wouldn't mind expanding my circle of local friends! :)