CURRENT MISSION

be happy, live happy, love happy, dance happy

ABOUT ME

My love for traveling started after my first trip to Japan, and I have been wandering ever since. I like to be outside and do outside activities, but to recover from all of the fun activities, I enjoy staying in to read a good book or watch a movie. Often I am found dancing or singing around in my kitchen. When I am stressed out or hungry I get grumpy (just a warning). However good food cures everything. I love to cook and I love to eat. I think that boredom is a state of mind, thus I don't believe that anyone can be bored. Ever. There is sooo much to do in life!

PHILOSOPHY

Do at least one thing everyday that makes you happy, and try to live in the moment. My goal in life is to have an adventure every day (even if it is small). Appreciate the people in your life, share your joys.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Meeting new people and sharing experiences, hosting, and surfing!

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have met so many wonderful people through couchsurfing and I hope I continue to meet so many more! Since my couchsurfing journey began, I have hosted many people who became fast friends, who I have since visited in their home country. Every day the world becomes a bit smaller! :)

Interests

Outside, nature, environment, swimming or anything that involves water, traveling, reading, skiing!!!!, insects, mountains, FOOD. I love to be outside, go for a bike ride, run, hikes, backpacking, kayak, canoe, ski, beach, mountains, lakes, rivers, orchard, farm ect. A lot of my thought-space goes towards food: what am I going to eat? what am I going to cook? how am I going to cook/bake it? how could I change a past recipe? where am I going to get my food? what can I grow myself ect. I also think about traveling a lot. A great day is getting up to go for a hike (packing a great lunch), preferably to a lake, so I can throw in a swim to my day, and if there is snow higher up why not bring the skis along. The perfect end to the day would include making dinner (complete with dessert) and ending the day curled up with a good book/a movie/or practicing an instrument (although playing badly!). The more people involved, the merrier. I also enjoy laughing. My family and friends are all so amazing and important to me. They amaze me and leave me awestruck every day.

• insects
• books
• singing
• dancing
• environment
• dining
• cooking
• running
• partying
• drinking
• shopping
• politics
• reading
• traveling
• guitar
• cycling
• hiking
• backpacking
• canoeing
• kayaking
• surfing
• skiing
• swimming
• languages
• beaches
• lakes
• rivers
• mountains

Music, Movies, and Books

I love music, of most genres (although German death metal isn't my favorite, sorry), my music taste depends on my mood so in a day I can start with some poppy/electronic dance then shift to bollywood then classical, jazz, then alternative, country.......you get the picture.
At the moment I frequently listen to:
Bastille
Saint Motel
Tallest man on earth
Shovels and rope
Lake street dive
Of Monsters and Men
Shakira
Macklemore
Taylor swift
Cat Stevens
Mumford and Sons
Bon Iver
Animal Collective
Ke$ha
Dixie Chicks
Enrique
Edward Maya
Favorite composer: Debussy, and I always love Pucinni

Movies: not going to lie, I watch a lot of romantic comedies and happy movies but I enjoy everything, but I have nightmares for days after any sort of horror/thriller movie. Some of my favorite movies are: Secondhand Lions, Juno, Spanglish, Born into Brothels, Pride and Prejudice(both versions), Chocolat, Motorcycle Diaries, just off the top of my head.

Books: I love to read. I try to back and forth between reading purely for entertainment and reading to further educate myself, so I have eclectic taste. I enjoy books about food production/the environment/travel memoirs/historical fiction/historical romance. My all time favorite book, is Siddhartha, by Herman Hesse.

Other favorites (to list a few):
Sweetness and Power by Sidney Minz
Anything by Carl Hiaason...hilarious
Life of Pi
State of Wonder
Gaijin
The Kite Runner
The Fountainhead
To Kill a Mockingbird
The Night Circus
India Black-A Madam of Espionage Mystery series
Holy Cow
Enthusiasm

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

1.) First time I saw the Himalayas on a pilgrimage in India (Char Dham). Took my breath away. Ganga puja at Haridwar was also amazing (same trip). lights/candles.people.worship.ganga.singing.wow.

2.) 2011 Northwest Conference swim meet with my college swim team. Everyone put everything they had into their swimming and into their team mates. We didn't win(we got really close), but we sure felt like we were on top of the world. Plus there was an all conference dance party on the bulk head afterwards, what's not to like about that. My heart was soo happy.

3.)Back country skiing with my dad in the Northern Cascades of Washington State (I love this place!) with a new pair of skies in a perfect day in June. Good company, good times, good views, good food (duh), good skies!

There are soo many more, I could list so many!

Teach, Learn, Share

I love learning new things especially about food or new places. I currently have a guitar and shamisen (I think maybe a keyboard also) and I would love to learn more about any of those instruments. I love learning about farming, insects, the environment, politics, good books, or anything really.

I love teaching people how to cook and I would love to show people around the area I live in and teach them any of the limited languages I know (to whatever extent I can). Also, I think swimming is really important, and weather permitting, I would love to teach anyone new to swimming, how to swim!

What I Can Share with Hosts

I can always share a meal, and as a rule, I always make a point to shop and pay for at least one home made meal and drinks when I visit.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Cambodia, Canada, China, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Dominican Republic, Ecuador, France, Germany, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Kyrgyzstan, Mexico, New Zealand, North Korea, Norway, Portugal, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Thailand, United States, Uzbekistan

Countries I’ve Lived In

Ecuador, India, Japan, United States