Chilihead's About Me Page

Hey there. I'm Chilihead. Or Melanie, if you prefer. There are so many Melanies out there blogging, though, that I find it's just easier to call myself Chilihead. You can e-mail me at askchilihead AT gmail DOT com.

Why Chilihead?
Many years ago, my husband and I were driving to New Mexico and stopped for lunch at a chain restaurant. On the table was a spice called Chilihead. It was the exact color of my hair and my husband started calling me that. When I was in high school I was occasionally called Chili because of my red hair. When I started blogging and was oh-so-concerned about anonymity, I chose Chilihead as my alias.

What's with the Groucho glasses?

Growing up Groucho glasses were a huge part of my family life. We had a family picture taken with the glasses. We bought Christmas ornaments that were Santas with the glasses. The glasses always made us laugh.

A few years ago my family was taking a picture for our Christmas cards. As a joke I passed out some Groucho glasses and we took an extra photo wearing them. That turned out to be our Christmas card that year. It's still my favorite photo.

The glasses have turned out to be a great way to protect my family's privacy online as well.

What's with the juggling mom?

There are times when I think I was born in the wrong decade. I grew up in the 80s. As much as I liked layering and baggy clothes, I loved (and still love) a retro look and feel. I love the Romantic idea of the 20s and 30s. I love the look of the 50s. When I saw my juggling mom I wanted her enough to contact the illustrator, Larry Jones. His work is copyrighted and for use by permission only. He has no idea how grateful I am to have my juggling girl. I love her.

Interests

I love, love, love to read. I'm a bit of a book snob and I've been known to completely skip a book solely on the grounds that it was part of Oprah's Book Club. I also love watching old movies, going to new movies, shopping,eating out, and spending time with my family and friends. And I like to knit and sew; I find a real sense of accomplishment when I see something I've made with my own hands.

Most of all, though, I love to laugh and make people laugh.

What else?

I have a husband I adore and two beautiful, hilarious children. We've worked hard for what we have and we don't find it necessary to sacrifice family for more stuff. My husband is home every night in time for dinner and has always been the one to put the kids to bed so he can squeeze out as much time with them as possible.

I have both a BA and MA in Technical Writing. At the time I was studying, my major seemed perfect for me. I was extremely detail oriented and I had knack for explaining things step-by-step. Now, having lived a little and tried more creative avenues, technical writing seems a bit boring. However, it still stimulates my mind because of the research involved. It's come in pretty handy while writing Blogging Basics 101 too.

My dream is to make a million dollars blogging, have minions, and rule the world with a velvet fist. I think it's doable, don't you? I'd settle for the minions.