CURRENT MISSION

To protect the world from a plastic boat invasion

ABOUT ME

A born and bred New Yorker, I run a business making organic skin care products. I'm also a trained professional wooden boatbuilder and spending time on and around boats is my favorite thing in the world. I bake whenever I can, and I love learning to speak new languages. My life is a complete picture of opposites and often chaos, but somehow it all works. I absolutely love a good adventure.

PHILOSOPHY

Plan, plan, plan, but you've got to jump off the cliff at some point and ultimately, life will take you where you're supposed to go. You have all the tools you need to get you through life. It's just a matter of finding them within yourself.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

Fantastic! If I ever lose faith in humanity, I look on CS and remember how much human goodness exists in the world. How wonderful for so many people to open their lives to strangers!!

Interests

Wooden boats, the beach, anything having to do with water, great books, supporting local food efforts, sailing, new adventures, friends both old and new, hot chocolate.

• books
• skin care
• dining
• chocolate
• coffee
• running
• boating
• scuba diving
• sailing
• snowshoeing
• business
• languages
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

I love me a good movie and I often read cookbooks before I go to bed. These days my bedtime reading consists of business plans, small business books, and ingredient research, but I love being able to constantly further my business knowledge.

Just finished reading "Land of Love and Drowning", by Tiphanie Yanique. Wow...amazing. Now onto "The Hundred-Foot Journey" by Richard Morais. Only 40 pages in and it's already a beautiful story.

Music: old school 60's and 70's (my parents were hippies and the Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Judy Collins and Carole King were all staples in our house). I also love folk and rock singer/songwriters of today--independent musicians. Anything that makes you want to get up and dance.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Climbed the Great Wall at sunrise.

Scuba dived with sharks in the South Pacific.

Traveled to Easter Island and saw the heads for myself.

Woke up at 4am to watch the full moon setting into the waters over Maui.

Snowshoeing through Tuolemene Grove in Yosemite while the snow fell down around us

Teach, Learn, Share

I can teach you Chinese or how to build stuff or how to make cookies that come out just right. My life is a constant circle of learning and teaching. One minute I think I understand something and the next, someone is showing me a new level of it that I never knew existed. As a child I was fearful of not always having the right answer, and now I love discovering new things, even if I look like a fool in the process.

What I Can Share with Hosts

I love sharing stories over a meal or a hot cup of coffee: where you've gone, the mishaps you've made, and the people you've met.

Countries I’ve Visited

Antigua and Barbuda, France, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Puerto Rico, Thailand, United Kingdom, Virgin Islands, British

Countries I’ve Lived In

China, United States