Who is Chrissy?

Hi, I’m Chrissy, as I’m sure you can tell by the title of the blog. I have a bachelor’s degree in geology, plus a few years under my belt from grad school with an economic geology focus.

Currently, I work in an environmental lab testing water or aqueous samples for various contaminants. My hobbies include painting my fingernails (and anyone else’s I know who wants it done), reading, enjoying time with my dogs and family, and exploring my area from the city to the desert and forests.

I lived in Kansas City, Missouri for the majority of my life, though as an adult I’ve moved all over: Florida, Georgia, and South Carolina, mostly coastal cities and in Illinois just outside Chicago about 45 mins where I attended grad school. My husband and I made the choice to move westward, and landed in Reno, Nevada where we are now. 

I’m so happy we’re here because I can drive an hour in just about any direction and end up in the mountains, at a lake, in the desert, so many places.  I seriously never imagined that I could go to the Grand Canyon and it would be less than a day’s drive from me.

A little about why I’m doing this whole blog thing. I have always liked rocks, color, and nature. Once I figured out that there was so much color in the world from plants, flowers, rocks, sunsets, shells I wanted to see more and know more.

I recall picking up rocks as I went places that seemed important to me and sliding them into my pockets to take them home. Fast forward to about 11 years ago, walking down the stairs into the basement of the college building that held the geology department. There was a display of rocks full of colors ranging from pastel pinks to black to bright turquoise blue to dark emerald greens and a full display of nothing but garnets, my favorite mineral of all time. I was completely hooked on geology and finding those rocks myself. 

In the Midwest, you mostly find fossils and sedimentary rocks like sandstone and limestone. Living here in Nevada, I have so much more around me. Garnet, malachite, azurite, obsidian, granite, quartz just to name a few. I’m beyond excited to start this adventure and I hope you are as well.