my first ever blog post!

My name is Elle, or so it’s been since college though legally it’s Laura.  I grew up in a Boston suburb with my brother, Patrick, my two fabulous parents, and an aunt who has been my “fairy godmother” ever since I can remember.  I don’t come from a huge family but they’re all I could ever ask for!  My boyfriend, Rob, lives in San Francisco, which I like to think is convenient because we both love to travel!  Lastly, I have the most incredible group of friends I could ever ask for.  I’m truly thankful for the life I have!

It took me 26 years to figure out what I wanted to be when I grew up; 18 of those in North Andover, Massachusetts, 4 years at Boston College where I got a B. A. in Communications/Broadcasting, followed by 2 more years where I begrudgingly worked in marketing & wondered what I was doing  with my life.  At that point, I found a reason to move somewhere totally new!  My college roommate, Kim, coaxed me down to Chapel Hill, North Carolina.  On September 11, 2004, I headed south & landed myself at the University of North Carolina… working in cancer research administration?!    Not quite what I went to school for, but it was a blessing in disguise.

At the age of 26, I grew tired of having an unhealthy relationship with food, exercise  & never being satisfied with my perfectly healthy body.    So, I made a few small changes that ended up changing my life.  (Tell me more, you’re thinking?)   By eating more home-made, wholesome foods, paying a little bit of attention to portion size and reassessing the calories associated with my social life, my concentration slowly shifted from thinking about food & how imperfect I was 90% of the day, to other more important things, like work!  With that, I began to love food and  myself, including my imperfections.  As an athlete & naturally health-conscious young woman, nutrition has always interested me but this one change inspired me to take it further.  I decided to pursue a career as  a Registered Dietitian to help others develop a happy relationship with food & themselves.

And thus I began 3 years of nutrition prerequisites.  While continuing to work full-time at the University, I took 7 classes, one per semester, until I could finally apply to UNC’s Master of Publich Health Nutrition program (and U. Washington in Seattle… purely just in case)

This past August I began the MPH Nutrition program at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. I’m currently enrolled in the Coordinated Program which will make me elligble to take the national exam 2 years from now!  I’m eagerly anticipating being a Registered Dietitian (R.D.) in December 2012 and focusing my career in clinical nutrition therapy (and blogging!)

The largest source of inspiration for creating nutritionella has been my friends, both those that have encouraged me to write and those technically-savvy, with blogs of their own.  Friends have told me for years that I should be a writer, which excited me until I sat down and realized I had no idea what I would write about.  I suppose they had read pieces of mine from college and beyond on topics that inspired me; relationships, social situations, whatever my emotions were tied up in at that time.  Thankfully, I’ve discovered nutrition, health, wholesome eating and inspiring happy & healthy minds & bodies are things I can write forever about!  As for the blogging thing, I’m not the most technically savvy but a few friends of mine have blogs which a) I love reading and b) have inspired me to start my own!  So, thanks to you friends who have inspired me, one way or another, to get to this place.  I want nutritionella to be a space for readers and I to share knowledge, experiences and ourselves to inspire healthy minds & happy bodies!