Hello and thank you for visiting Girl by the Lake!  I hope you find my recipes yummy, my photographs inspiring, and my love for vino and decor entertaining!  I’d love to get to know each of you better, so how about we share some personal facts, ok? Good.  I’ll go first:

• I currently live in Chicago (I’m a recent transport from the Big Apple, where I lived for a little over 3 years)
• I’m originally from Knoxville, TN
• I chose my college based on location: the beach
• I grew up cooking with my parents, grandmother and friends
• my grandmother (who shall be called Mimi from this moment on) is a crazy-good, southern cook
• yes she cooks with Crisco
• and she puts an additional cup of sugar in store bought orange juice
• she puts it in fried chicken too
• I stress bake
• I love a good challenge. And if that means attempting my grandmother’s strawberry cake over 5 times before I get it right, then you better bet that happened (I’ve also made a headboard and love using power tools…understand now?)
• I think vino is fun
• I also think home decorating is fun too…this includes some fixer-uppers and DIY projects

Thank you again for stopping by, and I sincerely hope you visit often!