TSuda

So happy to have discovered swap-bot and the groups that have so graciously welcomed me. I enjoy playing with paper, scissors, glue(s), paint (acrylic, oil, water) and just being messy. I love collage, mixed media, spending hours just positioning paper, tacking down and celebrating with a little YAY when it all comes out just so. I love to scour flea markets and antique fairs, sifting through baskets, bins and crates of old papers, letters, magazines and all sundry, turning found treasure into objects 'd art. I also love to play around with beads, sometimes they go into jewelry, and other times they go into mixed media creations.

My hobbies also include cooking of pretty much any sort. Basically, I cook so that I can get out of doing housework. I'm an avid baker and celebrate having conquered the science of sourdough during the COVID19 pandemic, churning out more loaves than I knew what to do with and, in turn, sharing with whoever was willing to take bread off my hands.

When it comes to dream jobs, I live mine as Collection Coordinator at a small/midsize library in the northern suburbs of Chicago. I also serve as Reader's Services Coordinator, have been a Book Club leader for over 20 years and am a Reader's Advisory Specialist. Favorite authors include Anne Tyler, Ottessa Moshfegh, Bryn Greenwood, Paulette Jiles, Kate Morton and so many more. I love fiction of any kind, my reading habits are all over the place. I just love good, well written fiction, and delight in audiobooks as well.

A career highlight was hosting Garth Stein (The Art of Racing in the Rain) in 2019 for a week of programming and events AND having a picture with Garth and my English Lab, Captain. It's been said of me that when I talk books I make people want to eat them because I make them sound just so delicious.

I married my high school sweetie, my husband of 42 years and counting. I have three grown children, and two grandchildren, ages 15 and 13, who are all the pride of my life.

I have two cats, James "Hobie" Hobart (named for a character in the book The Goldfinch) and Cozmo (named after Cozmo's Moon in my favorite film ever, Moonstruck). I am also "owned" by my English Lab, Captain Daniel Christmas Paws, age 4, who we adopted when our daughter moved from a house in the burbs to a 680 SF high rise in the city. No complaint, I fell head over heels in love with him the first time I saw him and have been plotting to steal him since day 1.

Other favorite things include kayaking, walks in the woods, being in nature, crafting for hours on end, being with the people I love, film, reading, enjoying live music and laughing my ass off with friends and family. I love good wine, good food and conversation for days.

Thank you for letting me share with you and CHEERS to the creative life!