CURRENT MISSION

Cultivate community through food and dance movement

ABOUT ME

I run a local, organic food project called Edible Alchemy (www.ediblealchemyfoods.com) in the city. We live in an awesome artist's collective in Pilsen with an amazing rooftop garden. I perform fire dance, hula hoop, burlesque, and multi-media veil dance all over the US.

follow me at @gaea_lady and come take a class!

things I like:

organic vegetables!
co-ops
plants
my cats
community
art
being too busy all the time
canning- jams, jellies, and pickles!
riding bikes,
laying and looking at stars,
contemplating: stars, the universe, plants, why we do things at all, the meaning (or lack thereof) of life, the utter unimportance of things, the utter importance of things,
painting,
drawing,
dancing!,
listening to music,
knitting,
talking,
watching the stars,
meeting new people,
traveling,
colors,
textures,
watercolors,
water in general,
plants and soil,
papermaking,
dyeing,
cooking.

i am a vegetarian, but eat fish at times.
i am super busy with a million projects.
i am married to an awesome man.
i dance with fire.
i have the best cat in the world, named eleven.

PHILOSOPHY

To respect and appreciate all life, to live in the moment, and be the change you want to see in the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I hosted surfers for a year or two before surfing myself in 2008 all over the Mediterranean and Europe.

Currently, I live in a collective that embodies many of the themes both Couchsurfing & Burningman embody.

I love traveling, though haven't gotten to in a while, and love to meet others from other countries and places, hear their stories, and learn from them.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

i've had amazing experiences through couchsurfing. i love participating. it's become a bigger part of my life than i ever thought would happen.

In a way, it's connected me with the amazing 'tribe' of people that I now hang out with- many of whom aren't Csers, but believe in the same principles as CS.

ive made so many great friends and seen so many great places and learned so many great things through this organization :)

i am learning a lot about how people host and what different preferences people have... also stereotypes people have about surfing.

all in all it is a wonderful expereince to meet people from the area that you are traveling in. it is priceless, and i have made so many great acquaintences.!

couchsurfing is amazing.

Interests

organic and local food / cooking /vegetables
art /drawing and painting /watercolors
urban farming / dirt / compost
traveling / love / community / other cultures
DIY / fermenting things
cats!
dancing / hula hoops / fire / performance / costuming
bellydancing / yoga / meditation

• cats
• fish
• arts
• performing arts
• diy
• burningman
• dancing
• ballet dancing
• dining
• cooking
• recipes
• vegetarian
• organic food
• yoga
• running
• meditation
• gardening
• traveling
• socializing
• knitting
• painting
• drawing
• music
• jazz
• fishing
• surfing
• communications
• medicine

Music, Movies, and Books

glass animals, saul williams, radiohead, random rab, bassnectar, beats antique, prefuse 73, caribou, animal collective, gorillaz, led zeppelin, the beatles, the knife, radiohead, the talking heads, paul simon, bob dylan, devotchka, the fleet foxes, the black keys, cat power, scissor sisters, dance music, air, grizzly bear, pentaphobe, battles, girl talk, the foals, cat stevens, the arctic monkeys, and way more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

( i once saw a man shove a sheep into the luggage hold of a bus.)

i traveled eastern and western europe, turkey, and morocco by myself (for the most part.)

I helped to start a really amazing food co-op here in chicago.

Teach, Learn, Share

teach:
gardening
dancing: hoopdance, bellydance, ballet, modern, burlesque...
sewing
guacamole making
urban farming/ gardening
foraging
plants as medicine
cooking

learn:
regional cooking & recipes
more forms of dancing
about other cultures
plant lore/identification
brewing
basically everything

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love to cook and will cook you a great meal :)
I can give you a private dance lesson in the medium of your choosing during my stay: ballet, tap, jazz, modern, hula hooping, bellydance, veil dance, fire dance, etc. (please don't be creepy about this. but let's dance!)

Countries I’ve Visited

Albania, Bermuda, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, Croatia, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Montenegro, Morocco, Netherlands, Spain, Turkey, United Kingdom, United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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