A bit on some great SE Portland services.

From Karen Hery at The Sunnyside Swap Shop.  I’m always grateful for the mention.

DC

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I don’t know which is more common: making New Year’s resolutions or breaking them.  When I look back at the major changes I’ve been able to make over the years, every success I’ve had has been with some really key support along the way.

Let’s face it, if we could easily make the change we need all on our own . . .  we already would have done it.

So I rely on friends to see me through.  I think most of you reading this could agree that I have a very broad definition of friend which has served me well and I hope, by the end of this email, will be serving you well too.

In the eat better, exercise more, hurt less and enjoy our lives to the fullest effort, there are no shortage of ways to get there . . .  just a shortage of hours in the day and dollars in the bank to help get us there.

Whether you need an affordable place to work out, massage, accupuncture and medical care that is as effective as it is frugal, a great source for healthy food that stretches your food budget, or even a path to fertility that doesn’t match up with college tuitions . . . this is a well rounded list of Roost Sponsors who have become great friends along the way for many of us.

I’ve enjoyed celebrating the one year anniversary with Dan Caplan, the man behind our super local health club, the Green Micro Gym.  Tucked between the Side Street Tavern and a little clothing store just off Belmont on 34th, his main floor of weight machines and loft full of cardio equipment is in it’s second winter.  Everything’s going great and, thankfully, still not crowded even in the peak of the January exercise fever.

There is no slick advertising campaign going on to drive up the cost for those of us already lifting, spinning and treading.  Sponsoring teens at The Roost and good old fashion word of mouth is all Dan has used to fill this “club for the rest of us” as he likes to call it.  This is a get right to business gym.  He knows we don’t have all afternoon or evening to socialize at our health club like we maybe used to B.K. (before kids).  This is the kind of place you can come and go at your own pace with great support from him as the owner and a long time personal trainer.

Want to see a certain piece of equipment added to the mix . . . ask.  Need to adjust your workout to some new needs you didn’t used to have, he’ll understand and have suggestions.  If you need a personal trainer to stay motivated- there are five great ones to chose from and surely one who is going to be a good match for you.

The $100 joining fee can be shared by two people (paying on the same card) and monthly contributions are $36 for one person, $66 for two.  Tread around long enough on the cardio equipment (most of which feeds electricity back into the grid) and you can earn some of that back in $10 gift certificates (no additional purchase necessary) for some great businesses on or near Belmont.

My only request is that you stay off the rowing machine while I’m there because our Roost sponsor masseuse, Dana Buhl, and I fight over it every time we get there at the same time.  But the nice thing about our tug-of-war is . . . when Dan isn’t there to show me how to best row . . . Dana is.  She’s been my “body mechanic” for several years now.  If you need someone to really listen to what hurts and gently get you back to a better place, I can’t think of a better person to recommend.  She has discounted rates for Swap Shop families and for anyone who walks or rides to her top of the Victorian house studio on 30th between Belmont and Hawthorne.  If our current weather pattern holds, you might even get some vitamin D on the way.

If you time it all just right, you can get out of your massage appointment and just keep walking to Brion Oliver’s front porch on Salmon and 24th to pick up your monthly assortment of well sourced organic food at better than grocery store prices.  Anybody reading this who is guilty of bad snacking habits (like me) may find that Our Community Pantry food orders are a great cure for bad calories.  Brion takes the time to figure out where the freshest organic nuts, dried fruits, easy grains, quick snacks of seaweed and more are all around the planet and goes out of his way to support local providers and vendors.  The locally made ready-to-eat beans are my favorite – heated up faster than kids can start whining and one of the quickest, healthiest lunches I eat.  They are available weekly and the rest once a month in quantities you can munch on all month long and still have a few bites left by the time his next email comes in to remind you it’s order time again.

We have Brion’s passion for well sourced food to thank for the fact that our money is going more directly to small growers and producers, less to buidings, overhead and food conglomerates so you can get better food from well treated people at lower costs.  If you are ready to give something new a try, On-line orders for this month are due by noon this upcoming Friday.  Whether you delight in good food stewardship or just need to get business done . . .it’s shopping you can do from your computer late at night and a bag of groceries you can pick up with your kids still in the car.

Sometimes a good workout, a paid or gifted massage and some healthy food just aren’t enough.  The fear of a down-the-road trip to the ER or even the cost of a basic doctor’s visit to sort it all out is financially daunting.  The most accessible and flexible option I’ve found for everything from that issue that just cropped up to the really chronic stuff is the combination of services at The Herb Shoppe on Hawthorne.  If this is the year that you are determined to grow your own knowledge of herbs for you and your family, hop on line to find out about their free evening lectures that go on almost every week in the back of the shop.

For what ever ails you, just 5 minutes talking to their staff in person or on the phone and you can have options for all sorts of medicinal teas, tinctures, salves and capsules patiently prepared - not only for your unique symptoms but also for the most likely ways for you to take your medicine.  Dr. JJ Purcell and our own co-op member Dr. Jeniffer Curtiss are full service medical providers with traditional and alternative forms of treatment to offer in full hour appointments (not 15 minute fly bys) for very reasonable rates.

Sometimes we need something so unique, we don’t even know where to start looking.  Whether the word fertility inspires you to read on or makes you think the next paragraph coming up is not for you . . . there is one thing for all of us in the description below for co-op member Reyni Racklin’s upcoming fertility yoga series.  Just take the words yoga, fertility and reproduction out of her class description, insert you most pressing life issue instead and ask yourself how many of the things being offered would make a difference in your life.  In our most trying times we aren’t so sure someone else will really understand and we can’t always see how a journal page or a bit of seaweed or that weird funky stretch or a room full of other people chatting is going make it all better.  The best thing I’ve learned to do is try something new each year long enough for it to sink in and shift my life around.

So here is is . . . the fertility yoga class description for a March – April class.  May you find your next life step in it. . .