She's from Green Bay but has none of the native Packer fascination nor is she a sports enthusiast of any kind.
One of the people influencing her at an early age was her high school French teacher, but not about speaking French. Her first semesters at UW-Madison were not her cup of tea. She was seriously considering transferring to another school entirely. And then, she, like so many of us, found landscape architecture somewhat accidentally, and the rest is recent history. Even so...
On her way toward her degree in landscape architecture, she took a summer abroad through the UW-Milwaukee architecture school in France. I think she preferred France to architecture. She has cats that are like dogs (cat people will get this). Lydia's cats are excited to see her when she gets home. They answer to their names. They like to cuddle with her.
She likes old stuff: old buildings, her interest in architecture comes from wanting to understand architecture and construction history more than architecture as a design profession (lucky for us). She is interested in the framework and outdoor spaces of old cities, hence her fascination with Europe. In her spare time, she likes to shop for antiques and vintage clothing.