Toni was born in a small suburban community in northern Indiana and grew up living in the same home for 18 years until she moved away to study history at a small liberal arts college in the area of northwest Indiana called "The Region". While there, she was in the band, competed in speech and debate (and qualified for nationals in impromptu speaking), ran the campus's go-kart race for three years, and participated in intramural bowling (fat lot of good it did...she still thinks bowling 100 is a great game!).
After college, Toni moved to Indianapolis, where she met and married Troy. She had a brief stint in retail management, but ended up (like so many people do) in the insurance industry and earned her Indiana life and health license.
Toni has always loved history and sometimes thinks that maybe she was born in the wrong century. A lover of regency romance novels (*pst....please keep that a secret!), a writer of letters (the kind you mail in an envelope with a stamp) and with a desire to actually ride in a Conestoga wagon, she thinks that maybe the 19th century passed her by. Incidentally, that wold also explain her love-hate relationship with technology (her office desk is decorated with a computer mother board that her hard work set on fire!).
Toni has always loved music. Despite her lack of rhythm, grace and coordination, she excelled at marching band and still enjoys watching marching music today. She sings whenever she can including in the church choir, in the shower, in the car, and while she's holding on a phone call. Occasionally, she looks longingly at her clarinet, but for the sake of the hearing of her beloved husband and pets, has declined to pick it up and play.
Toni's ideal vacation is traipsing across a battlefield with a personal guide, hearing about the fighting that took place and asking questions that make the events come to life. She also loves living history events where she can indulge her desire to interact with history. Her favorite places to visit include Antietam (Maryland), Shiloh (Tennessee), Spotsylvania Courthouse (Virginia) and Colonial Williamsburg (Virginia).
To learn more totally useless trivia about Toni, read on!
My favorite ice cream flavor is: Mint chocolate cookie.
If I'm on the Green Mile, my last meal would be: Lamb of some kind....mmmmm.....lamb.
My favorite class in school was: I loved my Jeffersonian/Jacksonian America class in college, but I can't recall a history class I didn't love.
The class I dreaded most was: Until college, any class that required me to speak in front of a group of people.
My most embarrassing moment was: The high school marching band always video taped our shows so that we could watch and critique our performance immediately afterwards. During one football game, the video camera the band used broke, so the staff asked if any of the parents had taken video. My dad offered a video tape of a marching band performance. Unfortunately, as 220 of my fellow band mates watched, my dad zoomed in on me and for the next 7 minutes, all anyone saw was me marching my show.
My first job was: Taking box scores and writing headlines in the sports department of a local newspaper
My favorite mode of travel is: I don't discriminate and it depends on my mood. Rail, air or a good road trip...there is room for all of them!
My favorite season is: Christmas season! And I love autumn: beautiful colors, football, marching band, bonfires and s'mores!
My favorite scent is: I love the smell of a morning just after a rain.
My favorite Girl Scout Cookie is: Thin Mints (especially when frozen)
If money were no object, I would work as: A history tour guide on battlefields and at historic sites.
If money were no object, my ideal vacation would be: I would love to do a river cruise through Europe, but I don't like locks and dams, so that may not be as relaxing for me as it sounds!
If I came upon a time machine and it would transport me to any time and place, I'd set the dial for: Regency England (the time of Pride and Prejudice and Wuthering Heights).
If Hollywood made a biopic of my life, the role of Toni would be played by: Drew Barrymore. Mostly because she's Troy's Hollywood crush and I can't disappoint him!
If I decided to be on a reality TV show, you'd probably find me on: The Amazing Race. I love travel, can read maps and have the ability to remember a few important words in any language (and I can drive a stick).
My guilty television pleasure is: Every Thanksgiving, I am up at 9 am when the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade steps off near Central Park (My sisters and I have all marched in the parade, too!)
My most useless “talent” is: Tell me where you are and where you want to go, and I can probably find you an Amtrak route to get you there (or as close as the train comes).
One of my most common sayings is: Well, on the bright side, at least....
Coke or Pepsi? Coke
Chunky or smooth? I like chunky, but don't dislike smooth.
Morning person or night owl? Night owl, definitely.
