CURRENT MISSION

It's Not Impossible!

ABOUT ME

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My philosophy is to follow my dreams and to make things happen. My dreams- to have a fulfilling life helping others and making changes, to always be learning and creating, to have a successful career, wonderful friends and an amazing family, and to travel the entire world. So far, so good. :) Life is for living and I try to really live each day to the fullest so that when I'm 92 I can sit on my porch in my rocking chair, drinking lemonade with stories to tell.

I'm originally from the Midwest and growing up here instilled solid roots and values. After that I spent a few years in Venice Beach, CA and I left my heart there. Following this over 100 couches were my home during a 2 year rtw trip and then I settled in Washington, DC for a bit, London for some spectacular years and now Atlanta, although I get beach fixes in Miami and city fixes in NYC through work travels for my wonderful company.

I'm a photographer, writer, musician, and traveler. You can find my work here: deepict.com I also adore animals and enjoy nature and quiet, but can just as easily be spotted in the front row of a rock concert. :) I grew up playing soccer and various sports and still enjoy going on a nice hike in the woods or watching a college basketball game.

Career wise, I've spent a few years as a Civil Rights Investigator for the Government which was very fulfilling. I also worked as both a Directors and Officers Insurance broker and underwriter which isn't nearly as nerdy as it sounds; box seats to Laker's games, researching and analyzing fascinating companies. As of now, I'm working as a broker by day, and by night I focus on writing, photography and other soul nourishing ventures. I host photo exhibits where I sell my works to raise money for several amazing non-profits I believe in and support.

I try to find the best in people, places and situations. My travelers mantra: "Life on the road is always a breeze, if you're laid back and easy to please."

I am also friends with many different types of folks. How can you learn and grow if you don't embrace differences? My favourite peeps range from 5 to 90 (two of my best friends are 5 and 90- seriously, I play ninjas and pirates with Ben and drink wine and watch "Ellen" and "Jeopardy" with my counterfeit Grandma, Jackie), ladies, gents, yellow, purple, pink, tall, small, I love you all!

"The art of growing older is learning to live younger." -Deena

As for all the rest, I'll guess you'll find out when we meet.

PHILOSOPHY

"I would like to live about three hundred years. I think I have ideas enough to keep me busy that long." ~ T. Edison

"I hope that my achievements in life shall be these - that I will have fought for what was right and fair, that I will have risked for that which mattered, and that I will have given help to those who were in need... that I will have left the earth a better place for what I've done and who I've been." ~C. Hoppe

"I think in song lyrics and see the world as photographs." -Deena

"There are no strangers, only friends who haven't met, yet."

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from your safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover."- Mark Twain

"Be Happy"- http://www.dhamma.org/en/art.shtml

"LVE LIFE= the vanity plate I used to see each morning on a lovely corvette when I parked my car at the office in LA.= Live Life. Love Life"

"Deepict- Visual and literary representations extending far past the surface." -Deena

"I love you when you bow in your mosque, kneel in your temple, pray in your church. For you and I are sons of one religion, and it is the spirit."-Khalil Gibran

“Never underestimate the power of dreams and the influence of the human spirit. We are all the same in this notion: The potential for greatness lives within each of us.” -Wilma Rudolph

“Our task must be to free ourselves by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature and its beauty.” -Albert Einstein

“Go out, go out I beg of you and taste the beauty of the wild. Behold the miracle of the earth with all the wonder of a child.” -Edna Jacques

"Nature is man’s teacher.
She unfolds her treasure to his search,
Unseals his eye, illumes his mind,
And purifies his heart;
An influence breathes
From all the sights and sounds
Of her existence."
-Alfred Billings Street

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Hosting, surfing, organizing cs events and parties, meeting up for coffee, welcoming newbies.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

*********April 25, 2007 UPDATE: So, I did it, left the job and the states behind for a while and I'm traveling the world for a year!!! Roughly 34 countries over the span of 15 months and so far it's been amazing! My last day of work was March 10th, and then I went to four islands in Hawaii for 18 days, spent a week in Dublin and have been in Paris for 5 days. How incredible it is to be seeing, and learning and experience the world each day, after years of being behind the desk. I've dreamed about it for years and life is for living- the job will be there upon my return!! I'm doing a lot of it by visiting friends that I know around the world, and by making new friends through wonderful couchsurfing.com!! ******************************September 24, 2007 UPDATE So far on this trip, I've gone to 24 different countries and the following cities: Dublin, Galway, Paris, Brussels, Delft, Amsterdam, Barcelona, Madrid, Seville, Casablanca, Marrakech, Cannes, Nice, Cinque Terre, Venice, Muenster, Essen, Frankfurt, Hanau, Munich, Zurich, Florence, Rome, Napoli, Sorrento, Capri, Palermo, Catania, Taorimina, Athens, Santorni, Ios, Istanbul, Bucharest, Bran, Brasov, Sofia, Smederevo, Belgrad, Dubrovnik, Mostar, Sarajevo, Zagreb, Plitvice Lakes, Budapest, Bratislava, Vienna, Krakow, Prague, Cesky Krumlov, Ceske Budjovice, Domizliche, Munich- where I am now for Oktoberfest!!! Then I'm off to Frankfurt, England, Scotland, China (in Nov.), India (Dec), Frankfurt, again, Egypt and Africa (Jan-Feb), Malaysia, Indonesia, Aussie, New Zealand (Feb-mid April) and maybe Brazil, Chile, Argentina..... :O) Why stop! :) THANK YOU! THANK YOU! THANK YOU! TO ALL OF MY KIND, BEAUTIFUL, GENEROUS, WONDERFUL, AMAZING HOSTS! I FEEL SOOOOO FORTUNATE TO HAVE BECOME FRIENDS WITH ALL OF YOU!! WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW MUCH YOU ALL MEAN TO ME, AND HOW PERFECT YOU HAVE MADE MY JOURNEY, THUS FAR. XOXOXO
******September 29, 2010- Since the last update, I went to the UK, China, Vietnam, Cambodia, Thailand, Singapore, Australia, NZ, crossed 22 states in the US, ran off to India for 5 weeks before starting a job in the states, and settled into Washington DC from Jan 2009- Aug 2010. Now I'm in London hosting lovely couchsurfers, working on a book about my travels & doing photo exhibits. :)

Interests

TRAVEL- of course! Music, concerts, photography, movies, piano/synth, the beach, art, journalism, research, soccer, books, analyzing and investigating concepts and theories, philosophy, architecture, satire, kitties, interesting, intelligent people, guitar (teaching myself), Karmann Ghia convertibles, Vipassana, Amma, Sahaja yoga सहज, languages (I know a little of a lot, grazie mille!)......., there are always a million things that I'm interested in/learning about/researching. I LOVE to learn about the world around me. People fascinate me. Nature, animals, design, other cultures..... Sporting events- I luckily used to get to go to Lakers, Kings, Clippers and Dodgers games for "work" :) can't complain about that! Good restaurants, FDR, investing and the stock/real estate markets. There are way too many things that interest me. I am never, ever bored and I only wish I had more time to do all of the things I want to do and learn all of the things I want to know.

• animals
• arts
• writing
• books
• architecture
• design
• photography
• beauty
• concerts
• festivals
• oktoberfest
• ballet dancing
• civil rights
• chocolate
• wine
• coffee
• yoga
• walking
• partying
• drinking
• movies
• traveling
• investing
• music
• guitar
• piano
• opera
• hiking
• camping
• surfing
• scuba diving
• snorkeling
• sailing
• sports
• basketball
• boxing
• soccer
• teaching
• journalism
• languages
• religion
• beaches
• lakes
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

Movies: Once, The Fall (if you're a traveler, you MUST watch this- it's the most beautiful film you will ever see!), Mary & Max, Vanilla Sky, Ferris Bueller's Day Off, Memento, Saving Mr. Banks, Ghost World, Rushmore, Rocket Science, Being John Malkovich, Wristcutters- A Love Story, Barney's Version, August Rush, Little Miss Sunshine, Blue Valentine, Lord of the Rings, Office Space, Blade Runner, Lost in Translation, Adaptation, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Romeo & Juliet (the soundtrack and camera work more than the actual movie), cheesy 80's movies with Molly Ringwald or John Cussack, Millions, Stand By Me, E.T., Walk The Line, Fried Green Tomatoes, The Terminator because I watched it all the time with my brothers. I'm really picky with movies and generally don't like a lot of them. If it's a weird indie or analytical movie that makes you think, or a smart, sarcastic comedy, I'm good to go, otherwise I probably won't be too impressed and will be somewhat annoyed that I wasted the time. I also HAVE to know how long a movie is before I watch it. Ok- so a have a few issues with movie watching, but one of my majors was Communications- Electronic Media, so maybe I'm entitled to my particular tastes. ;)

Music: woxy.com/"97X Bam... the Future of Rock & Roll" Silversun Pickups, TV on the Radio, Andrew Bird, Yann Tiersen, Yo La Tengo, The Antlers, Other Lives, The Real Tuesday Weld, Natty, Angus & Julia Stone, Bon Iver, Radiohead, Doves, Yeah, Yeah, Yeahs, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Jeff Buckley, Ben Folds Five/Ben Folds, BEIRUT!!!, Gogel Bordelo, Twilight Singers, Ryan Adams, Beck, The Frames (love this band), John Butler Trio, The Ramones, Thursday, Kenna, Explosions in the Sky (one of my faves!), Sigur Ros, Okkervil River, Sufjan Stevens!!!, Death Cab, Damien Rice, Ben Harper, Bob Dylan, Afghan Wigs, Cursive, The Cooper Temple Clause, Bright Eyes, Cat Power, Interpol, Kasabian, AM (check him out.....good friend here in LA and he's amazing, KCRW loves him!), The Shins, Mogwai, Aqualung, Bob Marley, Bran Van 3000, Beto, The Dandy Warhols, The Decemberists, Benzos, Ours, Talkdemonic (very indie, and very, very amazing!), Sia, U2 (who doesn't?), some Dave Matthews, RHCP, Stars, Badly Drawn Boy, Jack Johnson, Woodie Guthrie. John Williams, instrumental movie soundtracks for some random reason. I've been really into beautiful intrumental music lately! It's been inspiring me to write more new pieces. Too many bands. I'm obsessed..... Victor Wooten is a bad ass bass player! James McMurtry for his poetic questioning. Indie*Alternative*Rock*Punk*Emo* Classical*80's*Funk*Reggae*Jazz*weird songs from the 20's, 30's and 40's covered by Jeff Buckley.........

Books: Tales of a Female Nomad (Rita is a dear friend of mine), The Fountainhead, Jane Eyre, Tuesdays With Morrie, The Alchemist, Harold and the Purple Crayon, Phaidon's Portraits, Eat, Pray, Love; The World Atlas, One Planet, Inc. Magazine, Oxford Countries of the World.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Walking across a volcano in Hawaii..... Petting tigers in Thailand..... Seeing Saturn from the top of Mauna Kea at the Observatory.... Writing music and then playing it live.... Sleeping in a Wat while being hosted by Monks deep in the mountains of northern Thailand...... Throwing snowballs off the Great Wall of China...... Red carpet movies at the Cannes Film Festival 2007..... The red sun setting over Istanbul.... York Abbey..... The Acropolis... Hiking past rice terraces with local Yao tribal women in the South of China and having lunch with them..... The karst topography of Yangshao........... Sleeping under the stars on a ferry in Greece.... Partying it up Morrocan style with the famous Morrocan Idol.... Tearing through the streets of Marrakesh in the back of a vintage Rolls Royce... All of Rome.... Drinking pints and pints while wearing homemade liederhosen at Oktoberfest and then jumping on a trampoline all night :)...... Parties in the Hollywood Hills...... Ankor Wat..... Wandering into remote villages near Hoi An, Vietnam and giving gifts to the villagers...... The road to Hana in Hawaii.... The long-neck Karen tribe in Mae Hong Song... Queen's Day in Amsterdam.... Playing with and riding on an elephant in Pai.... The Terracotta Warriors... Riding a bicycle through Pingyao, China.... Santorini by day and night.... Playing the piano for a restaurant full of tourists in Sorrento.... Extreme Sky Riding in Ohio... The Opera in London and Vienna.... The Philharmonic in Vienna at the world famous Musikverein.... The Ballet in Prague.... Watching the Slovakian Philharmonic while sitting on an ancient wall in Dubrovnik, Croatia... Lake Ohrid, Macedonia and it's 200 Monasteries... Hiking up Franz Josef Glacier in New Zealand... Exploring ancient Aboriginal caves and art in Australia... Mastering chop-sticks... Learning to make dumplings in China, Thai dishes in Thailand, and pizza in Italy... Black water rafting under the glow worms of Waitomo Caves in NZ... Hiking through LOTR volcanoes in NZ... Staying on a farm with 1500 sheep in NZ... Snorkeling with sharks and sea turtles in Hawaii... Scuba diving in Waikiki... Camping at the top of Haleakala Crater... Snowmobiling across an Icelandic glacier... Trapeezing through the air in London... Playing with Thandi, the cheetah, in South Africa... Couchsurfing through 34 countries in 15 months!

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you some useful photography skills, can offer rtw travel tips and can show you how to make a delicious chocolate mousse :)

What I Can Share with Hosts

My smile, hard work ethic, easy going demeanor and sense of humor. I can also sing and dance but I don't perform for free. The money that I make goes to charity and I refuse to perform in North Carolina.

I can teach you photography. We can do a lot but let's just be friends and figure out how it flows. Organically.

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Cambodia, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guatemala, Honduras, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Macedonia, Malta, Mexico, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Peru, Poland, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Romania, Serbia, Singapore, Slovakia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States, Vatican City State, Viet Nam

Countries I’ve Lived In

Colombia, France, Peru, South Africa, United Kingdom, United States

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