Mitzi was born in Charlotte, NC in 1972. She was born into a creative family and spent her childhood being taught various skills from needlework to welding. Her family fostered her artistic growth and self-exploration in the arts.

Her mother fiercely defended her when she was brought into the elementary school for multiple parent teacher conferences where the staff wanted to correct her interpretation of the sky being above the earth. Mitzi always felt the sky was a magical place and after receiving her BFA in Fine Arts with a painting concentration she went on to flight school where she earned her commercial pilot and flight instructor ratings. She flew for the magic and the view, and when she wasn’t driven to fly big metal like her classmates, opting to stay in smaller corporate and cargo aircraft, she was nicknamed Littlebirdmitzi and it stuck.

After living in Florida and traveling the country for some time, she returned to make her home base on family land that had been in the family since the original land grant in the late 1700s. Over the years Mitzi worked as a set designer, graphic designer, muralist, illustrator, decorator, and even an antique lamp restoration painter. Mitzi and her husband wanted to share the magical land with others and create a space to foster inspiration, and so began Abide-A-While Acres, an enchanted venue for workshops, celebrations, photography, film making and whatever they feel led to pursue.