For as long as I can remember I have loved to write.  When I was in grade school I wrote poems and stories. I started writing in a diary in 2nd grade when my mother, also a writer, gave me a Five Year Diary.  She planted the seed early!  The other seed she planted was an interest in nutrition and healthy eating. She used to grind her own flour for fresh baked bread, get milk at a local dairy farm, and make nasty tasting concoctions in the blender every morning which she called "Pick Up Drinks."  We had a small vegetable garden and 3 plum trees in the back yard.  I grew up eating fresh, "real" food and learning about the health benefits.  As a teenager I started doing my own research on nutrition and fitness.  I was running, swimming, and cycling all through high school and college and considered a college major that combined psychology and physiology, but ended up going straight psychology.  My fascination with people and human behavior has always pulled me in that direction, and after working for three years after college I went back to school for a

Masters in Social Work.  

​

My husband, Art, and I met in the restaurant business and always dreamed of having our own restaurant.  We both have an entrepreneurial spirit and a willingness to live on the edge and outside the box in order to pursue our dreams.  After working as a counselor for about three years, I gave birth to our first child, Taylor, and left my job in order to stay at home with her.  Three and a half years later we had another daughter, Lauren, and I was looking for ways to work from home.  I tried a variety of things, and stayed busy with volunteer work in our church, schools, and community.  All the while I continued to write, and

the hunger for a writing career grew stronger. 

​

Fast forward to the girls' teen years and my husband and I decided it was time to pursue our restaurant dream.  Knowing what a huge commitment of time, energy, and money it required, we had put it on the back burner for many years.  We spent two years preparing for it through market research, brainstorming, and planning.  We found two investors and two cooks and opened a fast-casual Mexican restaurant called Cumino's.  The food was fresh, authentic, and delicious, and we soon had a loyal following of regular customers.   Unfortunately we were under-prepared for the challenge and experienced problems with the finances, the location, and some of the people involved.  We ended up having to close it much too soon, and it was heart-breaking.  

​

I continued to make the salsa and share it with friends, and I got many requests for it.  When I decided it was time to launch my own blog, my daughter Taylor helped me put it all together and come up with a name.  My idea was to create a website that combined my three passions: food, nutrition/wellness, and writing.  We decided the name should include the word "salsa" ... and "Spoonful of Salsa" was born.  It has been one of the most fun, creative, and interesting projects of my life and continues to "feed" me and my passions.  My intention and mission is to uplift and empower women to discover and live their passions.  The blog features "food" for the body, mind, and soul, all of which need to be fed and nurtured if we are to experience wellness.  When we have health and vitality we are able to do more, give more, and live well. 

​

The blog became the foundation and launch pad for my first book, Spoonful of Salsa: Learning to Savor Every Season, which was published on Amazon in August 2020.