ABOUT ME

I live in Portland, Oregon and I have a very strong affinity for this city. I moved here in Sept 2004 for graduate school and am still in the process of trying to finish my masters degree. It has been challenging to do so because I found my niche in social work and have been working with teen parents, babies, toddlers and doing parent education for the past few years.

When I'm not working, I am practicing how to be an urban farmer. I want to grow lots of vegetables and fruit all the time, every year. This last year I had a very successful round of garlic, onions, tomatoes, greens and strawberries. The carrots did not turn out so well.

I also enjoy going out on the weekends and eating breakfast at the many amazing breakfast establishments in Portland. I enjoy having adult beverages and going to see good music.

One of my fav things to do in Portland is to ride my bike around, especially during the summer when the rain is gone. Biking in this city is fun and easy and I am really excited about the prospect of gettig to bike in other locations that I travel to, in other bike friendly cities.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

Once I have finished with this upcoming 2 week trip, I would love to offer my home to others to stay at. I live in a great house with 2 good friends and we are all very good at giving and respecting space, but also welcoming and can cook a damn good meal and take people out to see the best parts of Portland.

In my house, my 2 roommates and I have our own rooms. We have a nice big couch/futon that folds out into a full bed. We are all generally gone by 10am in the morning and return by 5-6pm. We are quiet morning people when there are couch sleepers! We recently had a friend stay the night with her dog and even the dog slept without a peep!

I live in a very busy and fun neigborhood in Portland. There are lots of coffee shops, bars and shops nearby as well as quick access to the bus.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

I have limited couch surfing experience in this particular setting, but have stayed with friends and friends or friends in the past (literally, on the couch). I feel that I am really good at reading people's cues, personalities and can adapt to a lot of different settings!

Interests

Biking, cooking, gardening, adult beverages while socializing, reading, writing, travel, hanging out with toddlers, picnics, trips to the oregon coast, camping, road trips, live music, spending time with friends, building community in any way possible, being a doula, chatting with people about childbirth and supportng women in that process, drinking good coffee, eating good food, photography (I recently got into this and I am having a lot of fun. I am particularly talented at taking photos of vegetables I grow in my garden)

• dogs
• writing
• photography
• education
• dining
• cooking
• breakfast
• coffee
• drinking
• gardening
• reading
• traveling
• socializing
• music
• live music
• cycling
• camping
• surfing
• teaching
• social work
• road trips

Music, Movies, and Books

This is a huge question. But, typse of movies I enjoy are independent films and documentaries, I do like mainstream movies of the funny nature. Some of my favorite films are The Life Aquatic, Lost in Translation, (I do like Bill Murray a lot), Wes Anderson films, any documentary. I don't watch TV at all, but I recently got into the True Blood TV series and I do say, I enjoy it.

I tend to stay away from films that are really violent, sexist, racist, etc.

I love love love reading and always have a book that I'm working on. I recently read a few Carson McCullers books that I adored (The Heart is a Lonely Hunter). I also just read Michael Pollen's In Defense Of Food and I really enjoyed that as well. I have recently beenm trying to read more books written by african american women working class women. Hmm, I did read the Harry Potter books and I loved them. And I'm proud of it. I really enjoy Dave Eggers books and any McSweeneys publications. I enjoy F. Scott Fitzgerald books, John Irving, bell hooks, Rita Mae Brown, so many more.