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Wow - What can I say? Not much has happened in 25 years... Hehe...
Well, first of all, I should report that I haven't gone by the name of Lisa since I was 14. It was too confusing having a nickname that didn't match up with the birth certificate. I moved to Seattle after the 9th grade and went by my given name, Mary Elizabeth. Since there was actually another Mary Elizabeth in my tiny Catholic school class, I took on the alias, Libby, and I've been that ever since.
After high school, I went to the University of Washington and got a BS in Zoology. I also met my husband there and married him in 1991, the summer before my senior year and his first year of grad school. I worked as a researcher and a waitress! while he got his PhD in fisheries science, and then we moved to the middle of nowhere in New Mexico to start a tilapia farm in 1995, the year our first son was born. (that was a wild year)
I stayed home with my son and had another one almost three years later. When my youngest was 4, I went to work at the University of New Mexico doing Program Evaluation for public health programs. (Since I was their person in the southern region, I got to work out of my home and be with my kids!) Soon after, I went back to school at the University of Washington through their distance education program for a Masters in Public Health. I joined a local non-profit in 2003 as their program evaluator. While working there, I met my now business partner, a very geeky MIS coordinator. A few years ago, we decided that my research and evaluation background and his IT expertise would somehow marry well, so we started our own consulting company for IT systems evaluation. It's been nice not punching a clock, especially since my oldest son has been dancing competitively. That factor also led to my homeschooling both of my kids, since travelling for competition caused them to miss so much school.
In 2005 and 2007, Jordan danced for the US in the British Open in Blackpool, England. That got me out of my comfort zone and onto an airplane bound for Europe. It wasn't that romantic, but it was exciting, and at least I now know that I can travel abroad without dying.
So, we are still here in the middle of nowhere...literally... My voter registration card lists my physical address as "4 miles north of Cotton City." In our region, when you buy property, you have to "fence out" all of your neighbors' cows. So I live in a little island surrounded by cattle on a farm full of fish in the middle of the desert. Hehe.. Actually, we live in an old volcanic caulderon on top of one of the countries largest geothermal aquafers. (that's why we moved to the middle of nowhere) We use the boiling hot water to grow our fish. (yes, we cool it off a little first) Too bad God didn't put the geothermal aquafer right outside of Scottsdale, where the dance studio is..
Actually, my mom moved to Phoenix a few years ago to be near us, so we spend about half our time there, and half at home. It's a nice deal. It's only a 4 hour drive to her house.
Jordan and Connor are now 13 and 11. We have three dogs and two horses. Two dogs are Akitas (outside) and one is an Italian Greyhound named Francesca (inside). I just threw my husband a 40th birthday party this weekend, and I'm not really looking forward to mine next year. I've been working less and less, lately... I really like home schooling my kids and spending time with them. Man, they get more fun every year!
Liz Landrigan has been talking me into getting a facebook. I told her I'd do it as soon as I was done with all the birthday hubub, so It will probably be done in the next couple of days. She is pretty much the only person I've talked to from St Louis since I left Memphis in 1985, so this is pretty cool!! Oh yeah, speaking of Liz, she was my maid of honor 17 1/2 years ago. She flew all the way to Seattle to be in my wedding, and then I dropped off the face of the earth for 17 years! Yay! And here we are!
Man, this little box says I've only used half my space! And I just went and looked at other profiles and noticed that I'm like the only blabber in the whole class! And...O.M.G. Pat Abbott like totally looks the same. Come on, people!
