By Madeline Otten
Correspondent
Where do you live?
- “Not too far from the Historic Village of Palmyra on a wonderful country road with great neighbors.”
How long have you lived in Fluvanna County? What brought you here?
- “We moved to Fluvanna County from Charlottesville almost four years ago. My husband wanted more room to grow his vegetables and chickens.”
Tell us about your family –
- “I live with my husband (farmer Dan as we call him) and have two awesome kiddos. A teenager and a 7-year-old. I have a large extended family that I see as often as possible in Charlottesville.”
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
- “So many things… a chef, an artist, an architect and a teacher.”
What was your very first job?
- “Scooping ice cream at Chaps on the downtown mall.”
What do you do for a living?
- “I own and operate a creative reuse center called the Scrappy Elephant.”
What do you like to do in your spare time?
“Now that I am a small business owner, I don’t really have spare time, but if I can find some, I play games with my family or paint silly pictures of animals and flowers.”
What is one food that you could never live without? What is one you can never bring yourself to eat?
- “I could never live without cheese and I can never eat pork after my grandparents had a giant pig roast with my sweet pig Petunia.”
If there was a zombie apocalypse, who are three people you would want on your team?
- “I would definitely want my husband because he can grow food and kill animals to eat. My daughter for entertainment and Tiffany Hadish for entertainment as well. She would keep us all laughing through the fear.”
What are your three favorite movies?
- “Goonies – because it is the best movie of all time.
The Departed – I don’t know why, but I have always loved gangster movies and this one is just so good.
Eat, Pray, Love – I’ve seen it countless times and read the book even more times. I think I read it at just the right point in my life and it inspired me to go on an adventure.”
Which is better – a novel or a movie?
- “That really depends, but in most cases the novel is better. You lose a lot of details in a movie.”
What fictional character do you wish you could meet and why?
- “Wonder Woman- have you seen her?! She is not afraid of anything and doesn’t take anyone’s crap.”
What is the best piece of advice you have received?
- “Believe in yourself because you can do anything you set your mind to.”
What pivotal decision helped to shape your life?
- “Quitting my teaching job and opening up the Scrappy Elephant. I have worked harder than I ever have in my life since opening the Scrappy Elephant, but it has been worth it to see people having fun in the studio, happy about donating their materials and knowing they won’t end up in the landfill, and happy about saving money and buying great art and craft materials.”
Tell us about a way you have changed over the years.
- “I have become a lot calmer. I used to get angry over every little thing but time (and a lot of meditation and yoga) has mellowed me out a bit.”
What has surprised you about your life?
- “I never thought I wanted kids, but having kids has been the best thing that has ever happened to me.”
What’s one thing you still hope to accomplish?
- “I hope to make the Scrappy Elephant even bigger, perhaps even open another one in another place (or more?:) so that more people learn to donate their unwanted materials instead of throwing them away and more people learn that shopping second hand for art and craft supplies is awesome (for the environment and their wallets) and also learn that making art is stress relieving and soul soothing.”
Tell us about your proudest moment.
- “At one point in my life I lived in a small town in Ghana and taught English. While there I raised money from family and friends, did a ton of research and found computers for sale in Accra, found a way to buy them, get them back to my town, and get electricity hooked up to the school in order to build a small computer lab so that students could learn how basic computer skills. It was a lot of work, but it was worth it seeing the students so happy.”
Where is your favorite place to travel to and why?
- “Smith Mountain Lake because it always means relaxing with my family, swimming, kayaking, playing games, watching movies and eating too much food.”
When you are having a bad day, what do you do to make yourself feel better?
- “Lock myself in my studio and paint.”
What is one thing the COVID-19 pandemic has taught you?
- “That is really important to find time for self-care. You can’t help anyone else if you yourself aren’t centered and grounded. It also taught me who and what really matters in this world.”
What quote or saying do you connect with most?
- “The secret of health for both mind and body is not to mourn for the past, nor to worry about the future, but to live the present moment wisely and earnestly.”
It helps me stay in the here and now and focus on the moment and who I’m sharing it with.”
