What I do.
A native of Richmond, Virginia, I started the Purple House site in 2008. Why the Purple House? Well, I painted my house purple, and thereafter it was referred to as the Purple House. The moniker stuck. In fact, I had to put up new siding a while back and purple was no longer available, but even though the house is now a lovely shade of sage green, everyone still calls it the Purple House. It's purple at heart, at any rate.
What I do. For my paying gig, I do Web development, design, and publications for local County government. I also do freelance Web design and development—if interested, contact me. In the remaining portion of my waking hours, I love to cook, garden, stand on my soapbox spouting enthusiastic opinions, read, write, scritch my wonderful pup Rowan and cat Sera behind the ears, cook some more. I'm also studying herbalism. For more on that, visit my Earth Kind Herbal learning blog.
My background is in the arts. I studied theatre performance and fight choreography at VCU and have worked in theatre as actor, choreographer, producer, writer, and director. In 2006, I founded and directed the first burlesque troupe in Richmond, Nouvelle Burlesque, with sell-out performances of both a New Year's show and our epic opening show Déshabiller, with musical direction and arrangements by Samson Trinh, an incredible group of the most wonderful dancers you could ever hope to work with, and of course emcee Slash Coleman. I also have always loved music and have had the honor of performing with Samson's big band in the Nouvelle Burlesque productions, as well as singing with the Turko-Balkan folk music ensemble Balkanize. In 2007, I acted in the independent horror film Keepsake from Stormcatcher Films.
Things are quieter now, and I'm still always up to my armpits in projects and pursuits—they just tend to be more home- and earth-centered. This site is a place for sharing thoughts and stories, favorite new discoveries (yes, I admit, I am prone to speaking in superlatives), and of course lots of (gluten free) recipes. I am a big advocate of the locavore movement, voting with my dollar, learning how to do it myself, supporting the local community, and asking lots and lots of questions. I also enjoy long walks on the beach. But I think I prefer the mountains.
Welcome to the Purple House. Come on in.
Copyright © 2008 Purple House