Friendly, smiling, curious, positive, ecstatic gal in search of the sublime in the everyday, up for the adventure, always ! Into finding the cool spots and secret places, sharing experience and insight, finding home and new perspectives e're where I ramble. Committed to growing and feeding community with every move I make, I find solace and inspiration in the trying-trying for compassion, collaboration, communication, radical honesty, vulnerability, in the manifestation of beauty, and of magic !~ I revel in the weird, the wacky, the newness, strangeness of it all. I get high on the subtle and overt expressions of being a singular experience in a huge, messy, wonderful world !

The journey I'm on now entails hitchhiking across the US of A, a big ol' smiley face from Oregon to Maryland (Southern route). I love thumbin' it for the intimate ways I get to connect with folks I may not have had the opportunity to meet otherwise, for the kindness I inevitably receive and am able to give in unprecedented quantities, and for the extreme growth and learning curves I experience when swinging myself out of my comfort zone in this particular way! I love hearing peoples stories, and hope to get a good sampling of some realities outside of my own while seeing some unknown and miraculous corners of this great and grand piece o' land along her sinuous byways !

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

Couchsurfing is so important! When I travel I wanna meet folks who are really living where they're at, find out what makes them passionate about their community, town, bioregion! Opening your home up to a stranger/potential friend takes some bravery but, in my experience, is always incredibly rewarding. Couchsurfing challenges me to see people as the complicated and delightful individuals that they are outside of my preconceptions, and affirms my belief in humans and humanity at large!

Interests

DIY everything, gardening and farming, permaculture, perennials, tacos, learning/teaching ancestral skills, crafting, gettin' cozy, playing music, rollerskating, co-creating, fermenting stuff, plants/plant medicine, making art, biking around, disco dancing, climbing trees, climbing mountains, sitting around campfires, cooking good food, living simply, hanging out with kids, reading about good food, trying new (good) food, drinking beer, dancing, road tripping, sleeping outside, meeting you !

• diy
• dancing
• dining
• drinking
• debating
• dessert
• doing
• diggin
• delving
• dabbling
• deepening
• delighting
• dreamin

Music, Movies, and Books

I have pretty diverse music tastes, but what can be certainly said about that is that I'm real into a whole lot of it and am of the opinion there's a tune for every occasion, and an occasion for every tune. Yesterday I found occasion to listen to first Death Grips (very noisy and aggressive synthy hardcore yelling) and shortly thereafter Gillian Welch (bluegrass/americana tunes n croones), so there you go.

I also read a lot (I've got a librarian for a mother)! Ursula K. LeGuin is one of my favorite authors across all genres, and she is perhaps a perfect representation of what I love most in fiction- imaginative world building, dynamic n real characters, makes ya think and shift yr consciousness in radical and subtle ways! I also read non-fiction about all sorts of subjects I'm interested in at the given moment. I love the Foxfire collections for the vital stories and homesteading and subsistence living skills therein I'm aimin' for.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Here's some: Sailing around Sweden's archipelagos in the late summer-sun setting over the ocean as I scrambled on the rocks and enjoyed a fresh caught meal with family; jumping into the freezing cold alpine lakes deep in the Cascade mountain range in my home state of Oregon; rambling through the rainbow laden misty jungle on the fair island of Kauai, trekking through the land o' the trolls and massive glaciers high in the misty mountains of Norway, hanging out n giggling with some lovely old ladies in rural Transylvania digging up potatoes with a horse powered plow!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can show ya how to spin a pizza in the air, or I could facilitate a dope dance party (any time, any place) and teach ya some moves from my extensive repertoire; we could make fresh cheese together, or forage a wild snack, or carve a spoon. I've got some knowledge of herbs, edibles and foraging, and am always looking to learn about plants outside of Cascadia (the bioregion I'm from!). I'm constantly getting inspired and setting intentions for skill building and general self improvement, perhaps we have some overlap? :

-Get better at playing the fiddle (old-timey!) and harmonica (I've got an G, A, and C with me!), sing more
-Woodblock carving, widdlin'
-Learn about first peoples lifeways, context in the places I travel
--Learn regional stories and folktales; connect with my more recent familial roots in the southern part of the United States, the culture created in the places where my ancestors settled after they immigrated from Europe; recognize and learn about the first people's history and lifeways past and present on the land I walk thru
-Alternative building and natural building (BIG intentions here!)
-Run more (lets hit a trail!)
-Be able to do 30 pushups in one minute by July 20th
-Get way better n more fancy at two-stepping and waltzing

What I Can Share with Hosts

I'll bring some good beer over and entertain ya with my endearing wit while I cook you up a lovely meal in return for your hospitality. There's a good chance I'll clean your kitchen. Maybe we can go for a bike ride n check out some stars after? I'll toot out something noisy on the tin sandwich n we'll chat about how radical and wonderful the universe is, gosh darn it, and suddenly it'll be like we've known each other forever...can't wait to meet ya!

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Romania, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland

Countries I’ve Lived In

Sweden, United States