CURRENT MISSION

To enjoy life, travel and stay happy. And find a unicorn and befriend it.

ABOUT ME

I'm determined to find a unicorn in my lifetime. I love humor and laughter. I can find humor in almost anything. I'm cheerful and positive. Laid-back and easy-going. Let's see, what other cliche phrases can I use... :)

I love traveling and hope that using this site will enable me to do more of it. I'm becoming a much more outdoorsy person. Although I grew up in Oregon, I never did much beyond occasional camping. I visited the Olympic Peninsula earlier this year and it hit me like a ton of bricks - why the hell aren't I outside all the time? The Pacific Northwest is beautiful! I'm wasting my opportunities in this region! So now I'm hiking and stocking up on gear to backpack and camp more.

I have an awesome soft coated wheaten terrier. He's radtastic. I'm a huge fan of the Oregon Ducks. And I'm a bit of a Geek, which I'm quite happy with. I have a handmade jewelry business, love me some crafty schtuff.

PHILOSOPHY

This is getting deep. Well, I suppose the thing I believe in the most is happiness. I place great importance on my own happiness and that of those around me. Happiness can mean different things for everyone - but I feel that if you ensure that you are happy, you are living a successful and fulfilling life.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

I am interested in surfing and hosting. I see myself most immediately reaching out to folks in the Olympic Peninsula so I can realize my dream of trying to make it up there every couple of months.

I'm open to have people from any location, any culture, any language, stay with me.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I don't have any couch surfing experience, but one of my friends has surfed and hosted before. She recommended it to me, so here I am!

Interests

At home, I read a lot or write (I write romantic fiction). I love TV, movies and music. Lots of funny stuff. My favorite bands are Gogol Bordello, The Black Keys, Midtown and Four Year Strong. Plus a gazillion others. I like to hike, visit the coast (only an hour from my house!), go to the pub, drink beer. I LOVE beer and Oregon is a damn great place for beer enthusiasts.

• culture
• writing
• books
• education
• ethics
• beer
• drinking
• pub crawls
• movies
• tv
• traveling
• homebrewing
• juggling
• music
• hiking
• backpacking
• camping
• surfing
• anthropology
• business
• communications
• teaching
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Oh dear lord this list could go on for days!
Movies: I love tons of genres, but I could watch Step Brothers, Anchorman, EuroTrip, Super Troopers and Sex Drive on an endless loop.

TV: Psych, Trailer Park Boys, Arrested Development, Family Guy, South Park, Top Gear, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Archer, The Inbetweeners, An Idiot Abroad, Workaholics, Criminal Minds, SNL, Little Britain, IT Crowd, Kids in the Hall...the list goes on.

Books: Anthropology texts, ethnographies, history and mythology books, Harry Potter, romance novels (gotta love happy endings) educational stuff about politics and social issues, true crime (specifically about serial killers).

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

I did a five-week archaeology dig in Southern Italy. It was my first international travel experience and my first dig. It. Was. Incredible. I could talk and talk and talk about it! I'll just leave you with this: holding the remains from someone in their life from 2,000 years ago, in your hands? Pretty damn powerful. Which also leads me to ammo for long discussions on the ethics of archaeology and anthropology.

Teach, Learn, Share

Share:
-Procrastination, which leads to success. I'm pretty awesome about successfully procrastinating.
-Anthropology and archaeology. This is a subject I'm VERY passionate about and will hopefully, eventually, move toward in my career and life. I have a crapton of anthro books at home, which would make great perusal material for any surfer!
-How to be awesome while still driving a minivan. I could teach a class in that.
-Effective usage of social media. That's a professional passion of mine and I use it in education as well as for authors.
-Romance writing. I'm happy to defend the romance genre. *rolls up sleeves* Let's do this!
-I'm going to start learning ASL in Oct '11, I hope to become fluent eventually.

Learn:
Am I really supposed to limit this? Erm. There's a LOT I want to learn.
-homebrewing
-backpacking skills
-other languages
-juggling
-how to lessen my attachment to material possessions
-ways to be more awesome
-a good stand-up comedy routine

Countries I’ve Visited

United States

Countries I’ve Lived In

Italy, United States