I'm a bit of an sentimental hoarder and if you've sent me a card or a letter at some point over the last ten years, I have it in a box with every other note I've received. 

I volunteered at a religious Pregnancy Support Center for a few months in college. It was there that I realized that I'm pro-choice, and not really that religious.

I don't usually set new year's resolutions but I already have a few for 2016. One of them is to start speaking Spanish again.

I used to speak Spanish pretty well.

I also used to play the piano, pretty well. I quit that, too.

I am incredibly emotional and have a great deal of empathy. It's one of the qualities I like most about myself, even if it means I can oftentimes be found crying over new stories and tweets about people I have never met.

I seriously stress myself out about doing things that are outside my comfort zone, but once I stretch and do them, I never regret it. I'd like to do a few things that scare me more often.

What are some things most people don't know about you?

Photo by Sarah Gatrell.

At least once every summer and fall, my brother and Rob and I try get together at the lake for a fire. Summer is always fun, but I'm totally into fall campfires. A few weeks ago, we made some turkey chili, grabbed a couple of blankets, and headed outside for a cozy dinner by the fire.

I don't know if there's anything more comforting on a chilly night than a bowl of, well, chili! There's just something about the way it takes all day to simmer away on the stove that makes it feel so special. My brother and I came up with our own recipe and I'm going to be making it all fall and winter long.

Sean usually builds the campfire while I finish up the food inside, but since the chili is pretty low-maintenance, I decided to help him outside and see if I could learn a thing or two about building a fire. Here's what I learned, in case you are ever in need of a campfire but without the help of an Eagle scout:

• Keep buckets of water or, ideally, a hose nearby. Spray down the edges of your campfire circle and any trees or bushes that are within close proximity to the fire pit.
• Start small. Begin with thin, dry branches no larger than the size of your pinky finger. Use newspaper or dry leaves to get it started.
• Move on to larger pieces of wood, this time the size of your thumb, twice that size, and then to the size of your wrist. Make sure you let the fire catch up before moving on to larger pieces of wood.
• Once you get the fire going, don't be afraid to let it die down so you have a good bed of coals to work with--this is especially important if you're going to be heating up food in a pot, like our chili. If you're doing hot dogs or s'mores, though, you'll want to keep some flames going.
• When you've decided that you're done, spread the fire around with a large stick and spray it down with water until there's no more smoke. Don't ever leave the fire unattended until it's totally out and you don't see any more embers or smoke.

Don't forget to visit the La Crema blog for my turkey chili recipe! 

This is a sponsored conversation written by me on behalf of La Crema. The opinions and text are all mine.

Photos by Sarah Gatrell for Freckled Italian.

This morning I went to the Levine Cancer Institute for a blood test and a session with a genetic counselor. In two weeks I'll know if I tested positive for a BRCA2 mutation.

I've had several people ask me how I'm holding up; how I feel about getting the genetic testing, and I have to be totally honest even if it sounds ridiculously optimistic--I've been looking forward to this, and I'm almost excited to hear how the blood work comes back. My counselor said something to me this morning that had already been on my mind for a while: knowing that you're BRCA positive doesn't mean anything except that you're more well-informed about your health.

For as long as I can remember, I have been deathly afraid of needles. The past few times I've had blood work done, I've walked so slowly and carefully that you'd think I was on my way to an electric chair. I usually have to lie down, and I toss and turn a few nights before, losing sleep over the anticipation of a simple couple of seconds. This time, however, I just didn't worry about it. I feel fortunate to have the access to a test that can give me potentially life-saving information. (Watching my mom recover from major surgery certainly helped me gain some perspective.)

So if my test comes back negative, I'll continue along with the same risk that most other women have. And if it's positive, we'll just go from there. But we'll know, and that's really something.

“For any woman reading this, I hope it helps you to know you have options. I want to encourage every woman, especially if you have a family history of breast or ovarian cancer, to seek out the information and medical experts who can help you through this aspect of your life, and to make your own informed choices...

I choose not to keep my story private because there are many women who do not know that they might be living under the shadow of cancer. It is my hope that they, too, will be able to get gene tested, and that if they have a high risk they, too, will know that they have strong options.

Life comes with many challenges. The ones that should not scare us are the ones we can take on and take control of.”

— Angelina Jolie, "My Medical Choice"