CURRENT MISSION

To survive parenting

ABOUT ME

We're a wife, a husband and two kids. There's a lot going on, but we try to keep it casual.

We're pretty clean people, and by clean I mean that our house doesn't have corners full of years-old dust, but you could easily find (recent) clumps of dog hair if you look under the couch or something. I'm only noting this cuz we've had some pretty yucky (by our very forgiving standards) CS experiences, so I'm just saying - if you're a kind of person who generally cleans your house like once a month, we're cool with that. Come stay with us or host us at your place! If your definition of clean is that there's a pathway from the front door to the filthy toilet and moldy fridge, please please do us both a favor and request to surf with somebody else and deny our request to surf with you. Thanks SO much for knowing yourself enough to make this call. I know this might sound kinda bitchy, but that's not how it's intended. We've seriously been hosted in literal filth, and it was just so, so, soooooo gross. I mean, real gross. If you're still reading this, I just hope the fact that I'm still writing about it says something about how really truly gross it was. Just...yuck. That's all I'm saying about it. Just real gross. I'm stopping now. But it was gross.

PHILOSOPHY

I'm not really a "personal philosphy" kind of gal. I just try to be nice and usually expect that that'll work out in everyone's best interest.

And we're normal clean, as mentioned above. Not obsessively clean, but seriously - we've seen some filth out there, and we weren't thrilled. I'm just saying. We can be very messy. The mess is clean.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

My vision (insofar as CS is concerned) is to link the CS community with the non-CS community during times of need, such as the families displaced from their homes during the July 08 fires here in Spokane. Breaks my heart to know that families are sleeping in gymnasiums and eating crappy food when I know there's a huge network of CS hosts out there who would gladly support these people at what must be a horrific time for them. So, that's where I'm coming from.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We've hosted and become friends with many people through CS.

Beyond CS, we've had people from all over the world stay with us - usually friends of friends. We're hostaholics.

Interests

Mountain & road biking, xc skiing, snowboarding, extreme momming, writing, backpacking, casual photography (my camera doesn't actually have any buttons aside from the 'take a picture' button, but I'm decent with perspective and composition) and good food. And more good food.

• writing
• cooking
• cycling
• backpacking
• skiing
• snowboarding
• trail running
• backcountry skiing

Music, Movies, and Books

Right now I'm digging Girl Talk, Cake, Cut Chemist (intro'd to me by my husband, so I definitely don't take credit for knowing who that is) and Mika (alright, Daniel again).

I haven't read a book in 2 years, but I look forward to doing that again someday, perhaps when the children are in college or something.

Daniel obsessively listens to audio books. Like, all the time.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

Our first snowstorm in Nagano with pink lightning and booming thunder. And the next summer we watched a HUGE storm come roaring up the Nagano valley. It was amazing, and a tree quite near us was struck by lightning. Incredible!

Teach, Learn, Share

I'm a pretty good writer (if I may), and I can organize, plan and facilitate your entire existence if you let me. I have an alphabetical list of 41 prepositions memorized from 31 years ago living in my head. It's pretty handy, and I'm willing to share.

Daniel can fix any bike on the planet, and he's incredibly witty. He also loves to talk politics and argue religion. I'll fix snacks.

Countries I’ve Visited

Brunei Darussalam, Canada, China, Costa Rica, France, French Polynesia, Hong Kong, Macao, Malaysia, Mexico, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand

Countries I’ve Lived In

Japan, Nepal, United States

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