Things That Make Us is a blog about the little moments, the big moments and all the stuff in between.  A bit about the things that have (to date) made me:

I grew up in California and Arizona before moving to New York after college.  My boyfriend and I are moving to London in the fall!

I went to school at UC Berkeley (go bears!)

All of my parents are psychologists.  Like, all of them – my mother, my father, and step-parents included.  Extend it further and you get my boyfriend’s parents, both of whom are, you guessed it, psychologists.  We figure this makes us either super crazy or super sane.

When I was fifteen years old, I began writing my newspaper column, Out of my Mind, for the Modesto Bee.  It eventually became nationally syndicated with McClatchy Newspapers.  I wrote it for six years, ending with a thank you note that made me cry a little.

I’m a big fan of Wimpy Wellness, or living the healthiest life with the least stress about it possible. I like to maximize wellness while minimizing the effort put into it (after all, the healthiest kind of life is a happy one, right?) with things like easy product switch outs and one of my favorites, delicious green smoothies.  This is what I look like when I drink ‘em:

I speak German, which I think is one of the most fun languages ever.  Also, a German accent is almost always guaranteed to make me laugh.  This was problematic when I lived there.

My boyfriend Zack and I have been together for more than four years, which is pretty much forever.  I still like him though, so I’m not sure what’s up with that.  This is Zack, hunting for coconuts on our trip to Colombia:

This is Zack killing a coconut.

This is Zack after drinking fresh coconut water.

Also, this is what he looks like when he’s imitating a butterfly.  Just because.

Together, we adopted two of the cutest kittens ever.  It’s very very hard for me not to post on them every day, so please admire my willpower, and thank Zack, who told me there’s already a blog for that.  

Bella has body dysmorphia:

And Littles has a drinking problem:

But we love them anyways.

I love to travel, and do it as much as possible.   Thus far, I’ve been to every country in Europe (I spent about three years in total bumming around), most of South America (including getting stranded on a beach in Brazil), north Africa (I visited Egypt on my own, where I was the only woman on a 24 hour bus ride, and with my dad, which was, needless to say, a lot more relaxing), and the Middle East (my wonderful father took a trip with me to Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel as my college graduation present).  High on my wish list:  India, South Africa, Bali, and Cambodia.  I’m also excited to revisit a lot of the places I’ve been with another person – solo travel is amazing, but having adventures and new experiences with another person brings a whole new dimension to trips.

On my way to a Berber camp in the Sahara Desert.

Lookin’ so boss (and representing Cal!) in Cairo.

Hangin’ on a fence post in Quito.

My boyfriend and I live with two awesome roommates, whom I love and adore.  I’ll be writing about their goofiness often, like their deep thoughts on Kool Aid and living the thug life.

My favorite song is the theme song from the Land Before Time.  It makes me cry every. single. time.

I’d love, love, love to hear from you.  To me, writing (on a blog, in a book, in a newspaper or magazine) is a conversation.  I’ve never been one of the writers who would be content having my great works discovered twenty years after I died – to me, it beats a lot of the point.  So send me emails, write comments, use airplanes to drag banners past my house. It’s all awesome and super appreciated!