My great loves in life include breathing mountain air, late bike rides on balmy summer nights, the sun on my face first thing in the morning, letterpress & other charming technological throwbacks, the novels of ... [more]

My great loves in life include breathing mountain air, late bike rides on balmy summer nights, the sun on my face first thing in the morning, letterpress & other charming technological throwbacks, the novels of Haruki Murakami & Jeanette Winterson, textures and patterns, rollerskating on smooth (dry) blacktop, cruising down snowy slopes, avocados, excuses to get fancied up, magic little details like moss & lichen, good strong coffee first thing in the morning, and long meanders through the wilderness as often as I can carve out the time...

Favorite adventures of late include the southern half of the John Muir Trail, fishing for lingcod and rockfish from a sea kayak while gray whales were breeching nearby, arriving at the stunning beauty of the glacial meltwater lake below Mt Anderson in the Olympic National Forest, and waking up to witness the summer solstice sunrise from a snowy camp site below Elliot Glacier on Mt Hood.

I take a lot of solitude, but equally enjoy time and space with quality people. Life is short and precious; I prioritize sharing it with those who inspire, challenge, and amaze me. Socially I tend toward one-on-one interactions versus crowds.

My various adventures in working life have included hiking in the wee (pre-dawn) hours through the Coast Range doing field surveys for endangered birds, providing services for homeless and displaced youth in shelters and group homes, crafting raw sauerkraut and blank books for local entrepreneurs, slinging sheet metal in a fab shop, doing a literature review on trauma healing as a research assistant, and more hours than I can imagine nurturing other people's kids in summer camps, day camps, and other childcare settings. Whew! After all that, I've finally (happily) found my calling in natural medicine and recently launched my private practice after finishing four years of grad school.
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