I am a longtime freelance writer, having published numerous articles, columns and essays over the past 20+ years in the Dallas Morning News, as well as a few in the Dallas Observer, Dallas Child, the now-defunct Dallas (and Houston) Family, the Austin American-Statesman, and D Magazine, among others, with many of the articles dealing with children and family. (And unlike many bloggers, I do have a journalism degree!) I am a newspaper junkie, not only writing for them, but one of my top five pastimes is drinking coffee while reading the morning paper.  Unfortunately, less and less people feel the way I do about newspapers, and I realized that if my work is going to get read, I’d better jump into websites, blogging, and writing for corporate e-newsletters.  It's been a "learning adventure" but a fun one.

I have two daughters, Emmie and Allison, ages 13 and 17.  One is into sports, piano, percussion, guitar, singing, Girl Scouts, and perfecting her texting skills; the other is into dance, singing, acting, drill team, sleep, and finding new ways to dress like the Kardashians. My husband Andy, who is pretty much an all-around great guy, and two dogs, a Cavachon named Luke and a toy poodle named Ben Arffleck, round out our crazy household.