CURRENT MISSION

Finding balance in all things.

ABOUT ME

Leslie and I (Jacob) have an amazing 7th grader who loves basketball, bike riding and computer games. We live in Portland, Oregon and have been here for about 15 years. A couple of years ago we realized that we needed to shake things up a bit and decided to start saving for traveling the world. We spent six months in Europe and the Middle East last year and now we are saving to go around the US.

Leslie and I both blogged about our travels: www.notesfromasabbatical.blogspot.com (leslie) and www.somethingwonderfulwillhappen.tumblr.com (me).

More about us...

We don't smoke and are vegan (meaning we don't eat any animal products - meat, cheese, eggs, etc) but we don't mind if you do - we just ask that if you do stay with us that you don't cook meat in the house.

Leslie enjoys writing and creating art - she has a blog that tells all about our lives over the past few years (http://pdxmenagerie.blogspot.com). She enjoys vegetarian/vegan cooking and meals with friends, hiking, reading and animals of all kinds.

Jacob enjoys playing music (mainly guitar and upright bass). He also enjoys working with wood and recently built a guitar with a local luthier in Portland (http://guitarbuilding.tumblr.com)

Vaughn loves to play basketball. When we traveled, we took our basketball and found places to play in almost every country we visited. He also loves designing basketball shoes.

PHILOSOPHY

If we treat strangers with kindness the world will be a better place.

Why I’m on Couchsurfing

HOW I PARTICIPATE IN COUCHSURFING

We love the idea of community and we are interested in hosting and staying with people who live in different places in the world.

It's refreshing and wonderful to see a group of people who are hospitable and trusting. We like that. :)

We currently have a little house and would be happy to host. We met so many people through CS while traveling last year and we are excited to host again and repay all the wonderful kindness shown to us on the road.

COUCHSURFING EXPERIENCE

We haven't hosted much but have been floored by all of the kindness of people that we've stayed with on our last journey.

Interests

Lutherie (guitar building), playing music, cooking, creating art, interesting conversations, being outdoors, camping, reading, writing and other creative endeavors.

• animals
• arts
• writing
• cooking
• cheese
• vegetarian
• vegan
• reading
• traveling
• blogging
• music
• guitar
• outdoor activities
• cycling
• hiking
• camping
• basketball

Countries I’ve Visited

Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Portugal

Countries I’ve Lived In

United States

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