I have been shooting photos (mostly of our vacations) for almost 30 years. I recently made the switch to digital photography. I have a high-quality digital point-and-shoot camera and bought a digital SLR with a very long lens before our big trip to Africa last summer. I have an entire bookcase full of photo binders (prints and slides), but it is filling up more slowly now that I can save an entire binder full of photos onto a CD. And now that Brian is able to burn his videos onto DVD, I can include my photos on the same DVD as a "slide show" with music. See more of my photography on the Travel page and the Photos page.

I have been collecting depression glass for about 20 years. I collect 3 specific patterns/colors. Anchor Hocking's Royal Ruby and Emerald Green (plain square plates and bowls with a sunburst pattern in the center) and Manhattan in clear (concentric circles). I have most of what I want of the red and green (other than occasionally replacing breakage), but still need to complete the set of Manhattan. We use the dishes on a regular basis-the red and green set a beautiful table at Christmastime.

Fitness

After dancing for about 35 years, I hurt my knee about the same time my long-time teacher quit. I had just started taking step aerobics and found the lower impact easier on my knee (completely healed now, but I still find the reduced impact easier on the ol' bones and joints). Some of the step routines are every bit as complex as a jazz dance number. I also found the weight and ab routines most step instructors include in the classes really helped me develop strength I'd never had as a dancer. So now I'm hooked (but not obsessed).

Gardening

We started getting into gardening in a small way when we lived in Orlando. We learned about what would grow there from our neighbors and we wanted to be sure our yard looked as nice as theirs. We kept it up when we moved to California and had fun finding out which of the same things would grow there and what new plants were suited to California's Mediterranean climate. Now that we're back in Miami, we're relearning about tropical gardening (last time we lived here, we just grew whatever was already there and didn't die). Now that we're settled in our new house, our next project is to do the landscaping here. We have several plants in pots waiting to go into our new yard. We're hoping to get the landscaping done this spring/summer. We joined Fairchild Tropical Garden (www.ftg.org/) and have taken several gardening classes through them. A couple of years ago we attended the Orchid Festival there, and found ourselves tempted into buying a couple of orchids: Brian selected a red one and I chose a purple one. We already had a white one we got as a gift the previous year and managed to not kill it--it even re-bloomed the next year. We were emboldened by our meager success. Two years later, the red one is still alive and re-blooms each year. I'm afraid I didn't do as well with my purple one. RIP. And the original white one appeared to die, but came back and bloomed beautifully this year. At this year's Orchid Festival, we purchased 2 new ones: a beautiful pale yellow with purple veins to replace the dead purple one, and a striking red and magenta one called a "Charlie Brown" (no idea why). We'll see if I can keep these alive!

We first saw Jimmy Buffett at the Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1974. His Floridian attitude and Caribbean rhythms really hooked me. While his popularity on the radio has waned over the years, his CDs still sell well with parrotheads of all ages. His current CD ("License to Chill") is his first number 1 CD ever (mostly due the line-up of popular country stars he recorded with this time). Frankly, I prefer his more island-oriented sounds. Check out www.margaritaville.com for everything Buffett.

Work

Freelance Graphic Design

I have been freelancing as an art director/graphic designer for the past 17 years. When I first started, we were still living in Orlando and I had a lot of contacts there and kept really busy. Many of my clients continued to send me work after we moved to California, but over the years as people changed jobs, hotels were sold, agencies lost accounts, etc., most of those clients have fallen by the wayside. I built up a small client base when we lived in Miami which has been recently supplemented when I inherited some of Brian's web clients when he got a full time job.

Now that we are back in Orlando, I hope to renew my contacts and rebuild my business (while maintaining those clients I'm currently working with).

I am working on a website for my business which I hope to launch some time this year.

Samples: View my mini-portfolio (.pdf)

Past Jobs

Prior to beginning to freelance I worked for over 9 years at Robinson Yesawich and Pepperdine (now MMGY Global) as an art director handling the design work for a variety of hospitality clients including the Walt Disney World Dolphin, Lee Island Coast (Lee County, FL Visitor and Convention Bureau), and the Grand Cypress Resort. Before we left Miami in 1986, I had been freelancing there a couple of years. Prior to that I was Art/Creative Director at Parsons Advertising, a small ad agency specializing in real estate clients.