CURRENT MISSION

travel till the world feels small

ABOUT ME

Guess I'm a pretty grounded girl who is passionate about traveling, turning strangers into friends and seeking out unfamiliar experiences. Nothing makes you learn more about yourself- and others- than scaring yourself silly, finding yourself in an uncomfortable situation or taking on a seemingly impossible task. As Myla Kabat-Zinn put it, "Each difficult moment has the ability to open my eyes and open my heart."

Interested in anything that gets my clothes dirty or my heart pumping. Rock climbing, backpacking, snowboarding. Hitch hiking throughout Southeast Asia. Photography. Reading.

After losing- and finding- myself during a recent escapade, I worked at a wilderness therapy program in Utah for about a year, before returning to Thailand to work at Baan Dada Children's Home. Basically just trying to fund the adventures and journeys to come, might take six months, might take two years.

PHILOSOPHY

Your world is as big as you make it.

The greatest risk in life is to risk nothing.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Until recently I had yet to host someone, namely because I've been virtually homeless since graduating school, wandering around the country and living out of my car- college somehow fit into all this. I've been the bum on my friends couches, floors and yards for far too long. As soon as I have my own couch/floor/yard, you'll be the first to know, but right now I live in a teeny little house with about 5 more people than it already wants to hold. But over the past year or so my old roommate and I have hosted a few wonderful couchsurfers.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Met up with fellow CouchSurfers in northern Thailand to climb Crazy Horse Buttress. Ended up spending a perfect, incredible, unforgettable blur-of-a-weekend together.

Interests

climbing, reading, photography, cooking, bonfires, music, snowboarding, stars, hiking, trees, camping, the moon, playing, clouds, biking, the ocean, surfing, sailing, snow, music. new places.

• photography
• cooking
• clothing
• reading
• traveling
• music
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• sailing
• snowboarding
• rock climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

Don't watch a whole lot of movies and never TV. Love all kinds of music... to name a few: Still Time, Tea Leaf Green, Buju Banton, Jacob Miller, Ben Harper, Mason Jennings, Rebelution, Kings of Leon, Phish, Wilco, The Strokes, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Brother Ali, Allman Brothers, the Beatles, the Band, Bob Marley, Fat Freddy's Drop, etc.

Love to read everything: nonfiction, adventure, novels and biographies. Some favorites (I've never really done this before): The Last American Man, The Wild Trees, Dharma Bums, Mountains Beyond Mountains, Maiden Voyage, The Face on Your Plate, Little Bee, Eiger Dreams, Breaking Trail, In Search of Captain Zero... Some favorite authors not yet mentioned: Zadie Smith, Michael Pollan, and many, many more.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Lived, learned and played in New Zealand for six months... long enough for me to be sure I want to end up there.

Lived in my tent for many-month stretches a few times. Long enough for me to have trouble adjusting to sleeping in a bed. When will they come up with yard surfing?

Traveled around SE Asia for three months. Lived at an orphanage in Thailand for a month and a half, came back two years later for another round. Can't exactly put into words either experience sufficiently.

Teach, Learn, Share

“Listen to the mustn'ts, child.
Listen to the don'ts.
Listen to the shouldn'ts, the impossibles, the won'ts. Listen to the never haves, then listen close to me... Anything can happen, child. Anything can be.”

~my man Shel

Countries I’ve Visited

Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Costa Rica, Germany, Laos, Mexico, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Viet Nam, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

New Zealand, Thailand, United States