about
I started out in help desk & teaching Microsoft Office to the technology-challenged in 1997. From there, I learned what "FTP" and "HTML" meant, made a little intranet, some online company newsletters, uploaded a few weekly files and eventually found myself with the title of Web Technologies Instructor & a few Macromedia (now Adobe) certifications (Instructor, Dreamweaver Developer, and Flash Designer).
In 2004, after the famous dot-com bubble burst, I decided it was as good a time as any to pack up and puruse my lifelong dream of living abroad. I signed up for the best TEFL Certification program I could find in Prague (Czech Republic) and boarded a plane at the end of May 2004. I spent 3 years teaching English, traveling, learning a lot about myself & the world, and making some wonderful new friends before returning to the States (and technology) in July 2007. When I returned to the States, I never planned to stay - my intention was to take off again, perhaps to Thailand or somewhere in South America... but fate intervened (aka a whirlwind romance with my now-husband) and I wound up in Los Angeles for 2 years, specifically, in Santa Monica. While I could never learn to love, or even like, Los Angeles, it brought me that much closer to the place I now call home and the city that I hope will be our last stop, Seattle. Truly. I'm a Northern girl - I adore Seattle and this city's weather was a welcome change from LA. That's right, too much sunshine drives me batty.
I still ocassionaly do some freelance online training or make the occasional website, but right now I'm content to focus on my son, my favorite domestic pursuits and reconnecting with my creativity.
I like Japanese trip-hop, French electronica, and rap in foreign languages. My favorite movies are sci-fi / action / horror / have lots of car chases and movies adapted from graphic novels or video games - some of my favorite movies are The Midnight Meat Train, Hanna, and Drive. I do not do "chick flicks."
In Prague, I had started the official Prague Stitch 'n Bitch. (That means I knit. I'm nothing if not well-rounded.) I also love sewing, Chef tasting menus, good coffee (hello, Seattle!), red wine, and raw milk. I do 99% of my "grocery shopping" at Farmer's Markets, I make my own everything from scratch and am fantasizing about getting a couple of chickens by the end of next year.
I am probably the only person in the world who had moved to California and STARTED to eat meat again. After 21 years of abstaining from the red stuff, I've now eaten veal, foie gras, and sweetbreads (at a 3 star Michelin restaurant in San Sebastian, no less - they were amazing.) There's no going back to my vegetarian ways, I am fully recovered.
I believe, firmly, in bagging my own groceries.
I am obsessed with yoga, Gwyneth Paltrow, the color burnt orange, wasting hours upon hours making playlists, long train rides for no reason other than the ride, road trips, Autumn, rainy days, the Pacific Northwest, languages, world travel, taking lots of photos with my Sony a100 DSLR (probably the best gift I've ever gotten) and Hipstamatic. To name a few. I have an irrational fear of zombies and spend quite a bit of time plotting my family's escape route, should Seattle ever be taken over by them - though I adore post-apocalyptic zombie movies/tv (see: The Walking Dead).
Lastly, I'm a very loud home birth advocate and plan on going back to work as a postpartum doula in the next couple of years. I think it's a fascinating mix to find in one person - birth and technology. I hope that I can help to change people's perceptions and preconceived notions about home birth and all that "hippy dippy" birth stuff.
Oh, and before you ask, no, that's not a typo and no, my parents weren't trekkies - It is Nichelle with an N, but you can call me Nikki.