CURRENT MISSION

To Maintain a Fuller-than-Full Life.

ABOUT ME

I'm originally from Columbus, MS -- although I have spent most of my adult life out of the country. Living abroad and traveling across the world defined my definition of a "global citizen"...and I can't seem to get enough of the process!

I like long periods of time overseas to spontaneously take up residency where I want and travel when I like. I'm not much on the standard one week holiday, so I've consciously managed to arrange my life so this is always a possibility. I've spent a large amount of time solo in other countries, meeting the locals and living out of my backpack. It would be an understatement to say these experiences have shaped the course of my life. Needless to say, I have trouble sitting still for very long.

I love being in new places - the perpetual challenge of being a stranger in a new land. I love the challenge of new languages and understanding the intricacies of culture; I find the challenge of reading maps and "figuring out" a place beyond thrilling. The amount of freedom, both personally and physically, one receives in these situations is my addiction in life (along w/ chapstick!).

However, as much as I love far away lands, a huge part of my heart is still in Mississippi, with an awesome family and wonderful friends. Although over the years, I've become very much "not Southern", in so many other ways, the further I go, the more I am.

Right now, I've recently relocated to DC for 2 years while I work my first years as a Nurse Midwife at a Birth Center and a Family Nurse Practitioner. My love of international medical work will only be amplified with the skill set that I'm gaining now. Another move is not far away.

PHILOSOPHY

This quote sums up a big portion: "If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world." J.R.R. Tolkien

In a nutshell: stay open, embrace challenges, go-explore-see-experience, say YES and always trust the process. Things always work out in the end.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

As long as I'm free and available, mi casa es su casa. I work really odd hours (birth!) so you likely will be pretty independent on your comings and goings.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Couch surfing has sustained me on many travel adventures. CS and always being available for a lift to/from the airport are ways that I am paying back my own "karmic travel debt". I'm a big fan and often tell strangers about the concept. Check out this recent news article where I set out to educate my small hometown:
http://www.cdispatch.com/lifestyles/article.asp?aid=11700

Interests

I'd like to consider myself a "Yes" person, meaning there isn't much that I'm not up for learning, experiencing, seeing or places to travel to. I keep myself broad and my life full of a huge variety of interesting people and things. That being said, the constants in my life are travel, cultural studies, cooking/lifestyle/health (big Weston A. Price fan), biking, dogs, gardening, farming, sustainable living, painting and building/renovating small places. Oh -- and I have a dream of building my own treehouse one day.

• dogs
• culture
• dining
• cooking
• beer
• working out
• gardening
• news
• reading
• traveling
• knitting
• painting
• cycling
• backpacking
• surfing
• cartography
• cultural studies
• languages
• medicine
• nursing

Music, Movies, and Books

These days: Lots of books on midwifery!

The ones I always recommend to people: Shantaram, This Common Secret, The Birth Order, Committed.

As far as movies, I'm too cheap to pay full price at the movies, so I hardly ever go -- but Hotel Rwanda, Constant Gardener, the Devil Came on Horseback,Motorcycle Diaries, Earth/Water/Fire series ...and of course, The Notebook, for the girly side of me.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

My 35 years so far have been jam packed w/ many such things. I am blessed. (and I don't say that lightly).

Off the top of my head: sailed around the world, befriended Archbishop Desmond Tutu and his wife, Leah, was pick-pocketed and chased the asshole down to get my wallet back in Italy, cried with many families as their loved ones passed away as an ICU nurse, paddled the Milford Sounds in New Zealand, rode a camel for 3 days in the desert in India, lived with Aboriginal communities in central Australia, raised and slaughtered pigs, loved some really amazing people.........and the list goes on.....

Teach, Learn, Share

I'd like to learn more about having an international career and maintaining normalacy. I've wanted to learn how to brew my own beer, knit and biodynamic garden. I'm constantly on the hunt for more Spanish training and need more people to teach me about herbs and natural medicine.

In exchange, I could teach a few things about gardening and canning, making jelly and jams, international work and rural development. How to live off a tight budget and make a dollar go a LONG way. Soon, I'll be able to share how to deliver a baby!

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