Growing up in a family of scientists and engineers I was told firmly that my ‘day dreaming’ phase would end. Soon, I’d be entranced by the inner workings of the periodic table and spellbound by quantum physics. But I loved living in the lands I created. Oh, the creatures that stopped by were inconceivable! Frank the chain-smoking shark, Svetlana whose heart must always go on. Marcus the Viking who’d never stopped looking for his one true love.

Alas, it soon became apparent that I wasn’t going to win a Nobel prize for services to the atom.

I love Princess Bride, Naked and Afraid (where I’d never be a contestant), I sob through Undercover Boss, Secret Millionaire—any show where the little guy makes it. I’m a card-carrying member of the Buffalo Bills mafia. Showjumping and equestrian eventing are my crack. I like ironing, hate peas, and adore donkeys. I play a mean game of Scrabble (I think). I eat nothing with legs and believe wine goes with everything. I’m an expert at finding new and inventive ways to avoid exercise (my hair hurts). I live with the Fake Gordon Ramsay in California and hail from New Zealand (head toward Antarctica and when you hit Australia, hang a left).