CURRENT MISSION

I travel, I write, I take photos.

ABOUT ME

I travel, I write, I take photos.

Californian by birth, traveler at heart. I’ve been obsessed with words since I realized that having a book meant I’d never be lonely and addicted to travel since my parents stuck me on a plane by myself at 6.

I’m a full-fledged Francophile, aspiring street art photographer and semi-professional beach bum. My twenty-something goals include rollerblading a marathon, skydiving over the Great Barrier Reef, and learning a third (and maybe a fourth) language. I love sunshine, yoga and real butter; I hate being late, misplaced apostrophes and bottled water.

I have a degree in journalism from California State University, Chico, where I played lacrosse, perfected my keg stand and threw up diamonds as a proud Alpha Delta Pi.

I believe in daring to live the life you dream of living, and so I quit my job in high-tech PR in 2010 to blog, soak up the sun and parler Français on the French Riviera. Once I had my fill of pains au chocolat, I moved to Australia in 2011 and drank far more lattes than recommended in hipster Melbourne. After exploring the street food carts, temples and tropical beaches of Southeast Asia, I decided to pop home and I'm currently figuring out what's next.

One of my best travel attributes is that I can sleep anywhere, as long as I have my eye mask and ear plugs. I clean up after myself, I eat pretty much anything, I love animals: basically, I'm a pretty chill houseguest.

[A USA road trip is in the works for summer 2012!]

PHILOSOPHY

Say what you mean, mean what you say. Kill them with kindness. Write it on your heart that every day is the best day in the year. The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good people to do nothing. Do the best you can, and then to hell with it.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I've only CouchSurfed once so far, but it was a brilliant experience: I made a couple of good friends (and we ate frog legs!), and met plenty more awesome people at a CS meet-up. Looking forward to the day when I stop traveling and can start hosting :)

Interests

I've spent the past two years living and working abroad: first in Nice, France and then in Melbourne, Australia. I absolutely fell in love with both France and Australia, and I can speak French and my accent is now often confused for Australian. I love exploring organic markets, searching for street art, drinking good coffee, baking alcohol-infused desserts, reading a good book or a glossy magazine, shopping for one-of-a-kind or vintage jewelry, napping on the beach and simply sitting in the sunshine. I do a lot of yoga, particularly Bikram, and try to keep active by walking, running or bike-riding whenever possible.

• animals
• arts
• books
• street art
• dining
• coffee
• desserts
• baking
• yoga
• marathon
• running
• walking
• drinking
• shopping
• technology
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• cycling
• scuba diving
• skydiving
• wakeboarding
• swimming
• lacrosse
• journalism
• beaches

Music, Movies, and Books

My taste is extremely eclectic: always open to try something new! Romantic comedies are definitely my movie of choice, but I also love TV-on-DVD: never get sick of Friends, Sex & the City or Mad Men.
My iPod is "trendy hipster": Sia, Cold War Kids, Mumford & Sons, Adele, Regina Spektor, Kate Nash. I love throwing on cowboy boots, cracking open a cold beer and listening to country music (Luke Bryan, Taylor Swift, Carrie Underwood, Blake Shelton, Kenny Chesney are definitely favorites). I also love to work out or get ready to hip-hop (Kanye West and Jay-Z always make their way onto a playlist), and always blast top 40 when I'm driving.
My favorite genre is probably historical fiction, particularly about the WWII era. Recent favorites: Unbroken and In the Garden of Beasts. Also love British chick lit classics: anything by Jane Austen or the Bronte sisters.

One Amazing Thing I’ve Done

In the past year, I've bought a one-way ticket to Australia, donned a fancy fascinator for the Melbourne Cup, sky-dived over the Great Barrier Reef, drove across the Nullarbor, went swimming with sea lions and dolphins, got scuba certified in Indonesia, did yoga every day for a month in Bali and went wakeboarding in Halong Bay. So, pretty much, this entire year has been nothing short of amazing.

Countries I’ve Visited

Austria, Czech Republic, France, Germany, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Spain, United Kingdom

Countries I’ve Lived In

France, United States