I did all the growing up I care to do on a farm in Northern Colorado. I am a designer...of fliers, of engagements, of buffet tables. I design because great design is discovery and I always wanted to be an archaeologist...or an astronaut.

I am intensely fond of typography, symphonic cello, and stracciatella gelato. I detest bad line-breaks, bean soup, and writing my own bio.

Oh, and I'm going to change the world.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

I've only been "official" for a couple years, but I've been couchsurfing for much longer. I tell my mother that I'm staying with friends (and co-workers that I have friends staying with me), and it's always been true by the end of a few days.

MY TOP COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCES:

* 45 minutes off the Transchaco highway in the middle of the night my first day in Paraguay realizing that I truly did NOT know Spanish, and grateful that with Jorge and his family, I didn't seem to need words at all :)
* Hitching a ride to the airport with Clare in South Africa and realizing that with me in the car, she was "seeing" the townships that surrounded her comfortable neighborhood for the first time.
* Coming "home" to home-made whole-wheat veggie pizza with Devidas in Portland.
* The comforting familiarity of gallopinto and asada with Lenin in Managua, and the complete foreign-ness of realizing I was talking to someone my own age who had literally lived through a revolution.

Interests

My "work" (which is really my passion) is a conflagration of social entrepreneurship, international development, cross-cultural collaboration, holistic capital, learning, community organizing, creative expression, etc. etc.

I'm intensely interested in people, in relationships, in nature and the world. I love the outdoors, music, light.

• writing
• design
• cooking
• recipes
• massage therapy
• meditation
• music
• outdoor activities
• archeology
• entrepreneurship
• languages

Music, Movies, and Books

Favorite recent reads: Bel Canto, The Diffusion of Innovation, The Long Walk, White Man's Burden, Mountains Beyond Mountains, The Fountainhead, The Poisonwood Bible, Finance for the Non-Financial Manager.

"Top played artists" include: Ben Folds, Imogen Heap, Itsakh Perlman, Ingrid Michaelson, Bob Dylan, Verdi, Amos Lee, Adele, and Pavaratti

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Standing in the centro with 50,000 Paraguayos for the inauguration of their first democratically-elected president.

Teach, Learn, Share

TEACH/SHARE:
-love to cook and bake
-maté/tereré :)
-auto body work
-basic massage therapy
-meditation

LEARN:
-languages! (Portuguese, Mandarin, Arabic, French)
-new recipes
-cello

Countries I’ve Visited

Argentina, Belize, Bolivia, Brazil, Democratic Republic of Congo, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Honduras, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Nicaragua, South Africa, Tanzania, Turkey, Zimbabwe

Countries I’ve Lived In

Canada, Paraguay, United States

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