I'm just a girl...

Hello all!
It's Becky! I decided to give Justin a break from blogging and take this opportunity to tell you a little bit more about me.  And for those that know me well, they know I love to talk and I love to tell a good story. I will try to keep this short (but feel free to print this off and read at your leisure :).

I grew up in the northern suburbs of the Twin Cities.  Being the oldest of four kids ( I have a younger sister Andrea and two younger brothers Chip and Tim) I was a natural born leader and delegator ("That's right, Mom said you were suppose to wash dishes, not me." :)  Despite the normal sibling rivalry we are all still very close, perhaps having one bathroom for six people enforced that, but I can say I truly enjoy spending time with my family.  

My mom and dad, married almost 40 years, had a tremendous influence on me as a child and still do to this day.  Not only can I thank my parents for the family uni-brow (okay that's just my dad) but they passed onto me their sense of humor, gift of gab and the importance of treating  people with compassion and respect.

As a kid I enjoyed playing Barbies, riding my bike , playing school, reading and going to the family cabin where I could work on my tan.  Also, I was bound and determined to become a published author by age 13... and so I would write story after story after story. My great novel has yet to be written though.

I played the flute for a couple of years and was horrible at it. Played volleyball and fast pitch softball through junior high and high school. And I went to camp, the one I now run, for a week every summer.

During high school and into college I worked at Discovery Zone.  (An indoor fun center for children ages 2-12 that offered hand eye coordination games, tubes, slides, ball bins, and more!) I worked there as much as I could so I could afford the finer things in life...like my first car, a 1985 Plymouth Reliant.  Best $500 I ever spent!

I graduated high school in 1995 and in 1999 earned a BA in Communication from the College of St. Benedict/St. John's University.  I had planned on going to college to become an Elementary School Teacher (which still crosses my mind from time to time) but everyone and their sister was going for that degree and Communication seemed a perfect fit- you got to talk all the time! (No worries though I can listen too!)  In college I did dabble a bit in stand up comedy but I hung that up years ago- I just didn't want all the fame, the fortune and the jet setting lifestyle. Besides who wants the paparazzi following them around ALL the time :)

So after college I wasn't sure what I wanted to do.  And so I spent a year doing odd jobs-everything from maintenance at Caterpillar Paving Products for a few months (I  must admit I rocked the steel tipped boots), to working at an advertising agency to being a Production Manager at Spooky World.  Yes, you read right Spooky World.  Sadly, it's no longer in existence but back then you could find me driving around on a golf cart managing the haunted houses and the haunted hayride. 

For the last 13 years I have been working for the American Diabetes Association where I work with youth programs. The biggest part of my job is being a Camp Director where I spend four weeks out of the summer running camps for kids ages 5-16.  It's one of the most challenging yet greatest jobs I can imagine.

Some other things about me:

Things I love:
Kids. I love how they remind you how to see things as if it's for the first time, to have fun, to play
The sound of laughter
The smell of a campfire
"Hole-in-the-wall" restaurants
Foods that you can dip (I love me some dipping sauces!)
Sitting in the sun reading
Going to my parents cabin
Camping and canoeing (when I get the chance!)
Being in the outdoors- it re-grounds you and makes you appreciate the small things in life 

Things I dislike:
Mice
Carrots
Diet Pepsi
Parallel parking

And as for the future:
Since I was about eleven I always planned on having five kids.  I just assumed this would happen...ok maybe having five kids was a bit out there but at least four! Almost every job or volunteer position I have held in some way has involved working with kids.  So to be honest, I can't imagine not raising a child. I can tell you, if I were presented with the opportunity to become someone's mom, I would spend the rest of my life proving my worthiness.

Thanks for reading!
Becky