First and foremost, I try to be a decent human being. I'd like to think I'm successful most of the time.

I spent my childhood in rural Tennessee, USA raised by Yankee parents who had moved there to get "back to the land." That same desire has been pulling at me ever more forcefully as I get older.

I've always enjoyed travel, and experiencing ways of living that are outside the dominant "consumerist" cultural norm. My adult life has been pretty itinerant, as I've moved between states and regions following work and relationships. My husband Scott (https://www.couchsurfing.com/people/gringo.patiperro) and I have been married since 2012, and have continued to move around as first one of us, then the other, finds a new (usually temporary or contract-based) job.

Now we've returned to the US after a 2.5-year stint in New Zealand (which was fabulous!). My mother-in-law and her partner are at the point in their lives where they need some help with daily tasks and errands, so we've been helping out with shopping, cooking, cleaning, and various home maintenance projects, with the long-term goal of moving them into a smaller, simpler home that will allow for more independent "aging in place." Being back in Scott's childhood home and living with his mom is a bit of an adjustment (ahem, *understatement*), but everyone is trying to be adaptable and we're getting some good perspectives on what we want in a future home and community.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

We've hosted whenever we're in one spot long enough to set up a guest room/area, as meeting travelers breaks up the day-to-day routines and reminds us of the whole big world that's out there waiting.

Scott and I started hosting travelers at our home in the San Francisco Bay Area in 2011. We'd both traveled quite a bit in the pre-Couchsurfing era, and have had some amazing experiences staying with friends or friends of friends in various countries. The people we hosted in California helped inspire and shape our travel itinerary for our extended honeymoon through Morocco and Europe, followed by a five-month job in Ecuador. We stayed with some fantastic hosts in Spain, and got lots of good tips from other folks we communicated with online during our trip. We've also made it a point to surf with or get together with local hosts whenever we move to a new place, just to get some insider information and make some non-work friends. Getting involved with the CS community makes any new place instantly feel more like home.

Interests

Cooking and baking, eating(!), gardening/permaculture, hiking, backpacking/trekking, kayaking, sustainable living, tiny houses, minimalism, climbing trees, napping in hammocks, poking around tidepools, snorkeling, desert stargazing, riding trains, blowing bubbles, catching lightning bugs, soaking in hot springs, flying kites, skipping stones, stealth camping, staring into campfires, people watching, making friends with every dog I see, smelling flowers, spotting wildlife, road tripping, wandering for wandering's sake.

Although my primary work experience as an archaeologist has been in North American prehistory, I've never been good at specializing, and am fascinated by cultures and history the world over. How people interact with their environment is particular topic I'll rarely get tired of, especially innovative forms of agriculture/land management (past and present) and sustainable living.

• dogs
• wildlife
• cooking
• recipes
• baking
• gardening
• traveling
• kite flying
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• snorkeling
• snowboarding
• rock climbing

Music, Movies, and Books

Music: Anything with thoughtful or clever lyrics and a catchy beat. Extra points if it lends itself to being sung loudly (if not always entirely tunefully) in the car. Favorite artists that have stood the test of time include Stevie Wonder, the Indigo Girls, Green Day, Black Eyed Peas, and the Old '97s, and pretty much everything in between. Lately I've been seriously digging Audra Mae and Chadwick Stokes.

Movies: Too numerous to list. I'm not nearly picky enough or cool enough to go seek out just the latest quirky/ foreign/ independent films. Not to say I don't necessarily enjoy those, but I'm pretty entertained by a lot of fairly mainstream stuff as well. Intelligently crafted comedies and epic action/adventure seem to be the ones I'll watch over and over. Examples: Raising Arizona, The Big Lebowski, Indiana Jones trilogy (a professional requirement), Lord of the Rings trilogy (a New Zealand requirement), other big heroic journey/epic sagas (Star Wars, MCU, Jason Bourne...), Shaun of the Dead, Office Space, Zombieland. Also, in complete contrast to everything above, Pride and Prejudice (movie and book).

Books: Again, too numerous to list. Both fiction and non-fiction, with a bent toward historical and environmental interests. Some recently read or re-read and enjoyed- Sapiens by Yuval Noah Harari; Lost Connections by Johann Hari; Desert Solitare by Edward Abbey; This Changes Everything by Naomi Klein; Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver; How to Change Your Mind by Michael Pollan; Killers of the Flower Moon by David Grann; the 5 Song of Ice and Fire books by George R. R. Martin (haven't watched Game of Thrones yet- I want the last 2 books!); The Martian by Andy Weir; Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed a live volcano in Chile, up into a clear sky that was a deep royal blue, stretching out over the curve of the planet. Then afterwards sitting by the hostel pool with my new friends, saw the glow from the crater illuminating the night sky just below the Southern Cross. That was a good day.

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm always up for a recipe exchange! Part of what Scott and I like to do on our travels is collect local recipes, so we would love to host/surf with people who also like to cook, and would like to show us how to make their favorite food. We've been attempting to master at least a few dishes from some of our favorite cuisines, and I can confidently say we make amazing NY-style pizza, Singapore noodles, chile verde tacos, and saag paneer. We are happy to cook for our hosts, too. We eat everything (and I do mean everything!), but if you have dietary restrictions/preferences, we can easily adjust.

Countries I’ve Visited

Andorra, Argentina, Austria, Belgium, Belize, Canada, Chile, Denmark, Ecuador, France, Germany, Guatemala, Italy, Mexico, Morocco, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom, Uruguay

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ecuador, New Zealand, United States

•