I was born in Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania on September 27 , 1966. Here you can see me with my father on my first Easter. This picture is one of my most favorite things in the world! Click here to read some words of wisdom from my father.

Here's the whole family. Just the four of us. As you can see, I'm slightly older in this picture than the one above. My parents (Gus and Janet) met in high school and got married soon after graduation. From there, they moved to Pearl City, Hawaii, where they lived for quite awhile! (Even before Hawaii was a state!)On September 25, 1961, my sister was born. She was named Paris Dawn Malone. If you noticed, her birthday is right around mine. The best part is that my father's birthday was September 28th. My sister and I were birthday presents for my father. My mother, who's birthday is August 14th is the "odd man...er, woman" out!

However, as I got older, I didn't think it was very fun having to share my birthday with two other people since we always had one party on the 26th of September. The "neutral day." But, I soon got over my disappointment and realized that it was kind of special that we all shared a similar birthday.

My childhood was rather uneventful. I spent it in Mechanicsburg doing normal things like riding bikes, playing with matchbox cars, drawing, and one of my favorite things, reading Hardy Boy books!

After numerous visits staying with my Aunt and Uncle in Plymouth Massachusetts, I decided that New England was in my blood, and after high school graduation, it was New England where I would head. After a brief stint at a Central Pennsylvania Business College earning an associates degree in graphic design, I headed to my beloved New England to start school at the University of Rhode Island where I earned a B.F.A. in printmaking.

After graduation in 1989, I hung around Providence for awhile before moving to Chicago on my birthday, September 27, 1990. I had two suitcases and $100 in my pocket and was ready to start a new life in the Midwest. My bestfriend from college, Michael, had moved to Chicago, and pleaded with me to move out to join him. Soon afterwards, my father died, and I needed an "escape" from reality, so I moved to Chicago. Looking back, maybe I shouldn't have, but I felt that this major blow needed to be met by something joyous. My father would have approved, and I know that he would have been excited for me to move to "the big city" in the Midwest.

I can hardly believe that it will be eighteen years in September that I have been living in Chicago. I miss my New England, but I truly feel at home here and am looking forward to more years of excitement and enjoyment in the city of Chicago!

I have been working as a web designer now since 1998. I've had a variety of jobs as a freelance web designer and among dot com companies like Organic, Inc where I worked on the Target and Chrysler accounts. I also worked as a Technical Consultant through Leapnet at Sears in Hoffman Estates helping to redesign their web site under the usability team.

After the dot com bust, I returned to work at Locke Lord Bissell & Liddell (formally Lord, Bissell & Brook) as a web designer and a graphics coordinator. My projects included working in SharePoint to develop their intranet to become more user friendly, and customizable by each user. I also worked on building the Information Center portal pages and maintaining their links database. For the Marketing Department, I worked on various print projects such as brochure designs, client alerts, program advertisements, invitations and specialty material for various practice areas. I also worked on various HTML newsletters and invitations as well as updating and maintaining attorney biographies on the company website. I continue to work on freelance projects and am looking forward to picking up more clients.

After being laid off from the law firm in the spring of 2009, I milled about in unemployment hell - following leads from lackluster temp and placement agencies that never followed through, and some phone screenings hearing that my "experience" wasn't up to phar. (GHEEZ - What a blow to the ego and to my self-worth as well.) Fortunately I was then able to get back to my beloved Northwestern University (where I was employed in the mid-90s) working at the Kellogg School of Management. I had tried several times to get back to Northwestern while at Lord Bissell, but after coming sooo close to being hired after NEMEROUS interviews and project presentations was met with "This position has been eliminated" and "We're going through some re-evaluating of the department right now." The road to Kellogg was peppered with some uncertainty as well, where I was hired first as a freelancer, then a temp, and then offered full-time employment. Honestly, I couldn't be happier to be where I am right now! I truly love the work that I am doing, and I greatly appreciate the acknowledgement of my design work that the department has shown me. I LOVE the team that I'm working with and I couldn't ask for a better work environment!

I truly love the work that I'm currently doing and find the web an exciting opportunity where people can market themselves, learn and gather information, and be entertained.

Oh, and if you're interested, below is a somewhat recent (September 2008) picture of me that was taken at our friend's lake house that we visit monthly. It is my retreat from a lot of things, and...there's water which is a big thing for me! I love water, to be by it, on it, near it, in it! And there's another pic of me on the stoop of my house with the fall decorations!

You can also take a gander at my resume to see more of what I've been up to, take a look at some of my work, see some of my personal sites I've designed for vacations, or find out more information on what I can do for you in designing your website.