CURRENT MISSION

Learning to live simply and love radically.

ABOUT ME

We are a young married couple living with our fantastic affectionate cat, Charlie. We are laid back with spurts of eccentricity and laughter. At home, we are always looking for reasons to invite people over for a good meal and genuine conversation. When exploring, we search out the farmers markets, non-touristy landmarks, and the restaurants known only to locals! We love sharing our corner of the universe with others, and would love to learn about yours!

PHILOSOPHY

Chris: A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort.

Elise: Don't try to rid the world of evil. Just try to take a bucketful in your lifetime.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As hosts, for now. We'll live vicariously through your adventures, if that's okay with you.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Elise: My college housemate, Heather, is an avid host and surfer and introduced me to my first "couchsurfer" staying at our apartment. It freaked me out at first (aren't you taught to say "no" to strangers??), but our surfer was actually very nice! 4 years later my husband and I decided to open our house up to other couchsurfers in hopes that they, too, are lovely people looking for world travel and world community. Heather would be so proud.

Interests

Chris: music composition, percussionist, theological conversation, controversial movies, coffeemaker extraordinaire, marathoner

Elise: singer-songwriter, learning new languages, locavore in training, hoarding cookbook/food blog recipes, working with at-risk youth, beginner gardener, Do-it-yourself wannabe

• cats
• diy
• concerts
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• flying
• movies
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• classical music
• guitar
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Chris+Elise: Mystery Science Theater 3000, foreign films, the Godfather, anything Scorsese or Tarantino, Dr. Strangelove, Arrested Development, The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, N.T Wright, Douglas Adams, Ingrid Michaelson, NPR, Jon Foreman, Bach, Mumford and Sons, Josh Garrels, Derek Webb, Sandra McCracken, Beck, Radiohead, and the Beatles

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Chris: hearing "The Pines of Rome" played live by the Philadelphia Orchestra. It was amazing. The floor of the Academy of Music Concert Hall shook, and that's not an exaggeration. It was classical music as loud as a rock show.

Elise: I faced my phobia of flying and flew 19 hours to live and serve in New Zealand and Fiji for five months. I also spent a week in Chiapas Mexico doing manual labor with the local townspeople. I'm still afraid to fly, though.

Teach, Learn, Share

Elise loves to cook and swap recipes. Chris likes to talk about the ins and outs of classical music composition and composers of all eras. We'd love to have a jam session with you if you have a guitar or kazoo. We're a well rounded bunch.

Countries I’ve Visited

Canada, Dominican Republic, Fiji, Ireland, Mexico, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, United States

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