All work and no play...
There aren’t enough hours in the day to do everything I really enjoy, but here’s a sampling of the other ways I’m involved in and around the vivacious Missoula community.
Clark Fork School
Being the mama of two kids and a born-and-raised Montanan with Big Sky in my blood, I’m passionate about getting kids outside and teaching them the value of the unparalleled place we call home. Clark Fork School is a place-based preschool and kindergarten nestled in the Rattlesnake Valley which does exactly that.
One or the other of my boys attended CFS from 2012 to 2019 and I was deeply involved on the Marketing Committee, Auction Committee, Fundraising Committee, and Strategic Initiatives Committee, in addition to volunteering in their classrooms.
In April 2017, I was voted onto the Clark Fork School Board of Directors to serve a two-year term, which ran from June 2017 through June 2019. In May 2018, I was invited to serve on the Executive Committee as the Board Treasurer.
From June through August of 2018, I served as the Interim Finance Director as the school transitioned to a new Executive Director.
Montana Wildflower of the Day
After a good, long hike up Spring Gulch in April of 2015, I came home with an iPhone chock-full of wildflower photos. Two things occurred to me:
1. Nobody would really get much out of scrolling through yet another Facebook album of meaningless photos.
2. I felt like a crappy Montanan because I couldn’t name all of the flowers off the top of my head.
On a whim, I decided to mete out the photos one at a time on Instagram, naming each and providing a little informational tidbit until I ran out of pictures. Over the course of a couple weeks, the little project picked up steam. By the end of summer, I had posted 86 wildflower photos.
The next spring, friends asked when I’d start posting the Montana Wildflower of the Day again, so I did. And the spring after that, too. If you’d fancy a look, you can find me on Instagram under the handle @wildmontanaflowers.
The Yoga Fitness Center
Like so many good San Francisco residents, I took up a Yoga practice almost as soon as I moved there in 2003. After moving back to Missoula in 2007, I began studying with the wise and remarkable teachers at the Yoga Fitness Center, Missoula’s first Yoga studio.
My mentor, Serena Early, took me under her wing and, after several years of practice and study with her, she decided that I was ready to teach. I began teaching a regular Sunday morning Vinyasa Yoga class in 2009, and currently also teach the noontime Yoga Lunch Break on Tuesday and Thursdays.
The Yoga Fitness Center closed its doors in 2019 and, since that time, I’ve taken a step back from teaching to consider when, where, and whether teaching yoga will continue to be part of my practice.