Tag: gratitude
PORTLAND LIFE: SNOWY DAY STEWS
SNOWY DAY STEWS
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It’s really cold outside. Are you ready?
Here are three warming stews to keep you nourished and comforted in the cold of winter! They are PACKED with flavor and can be made plant-based.
Click below or through the photos above for recipes!
POSOLE – A Mexican stew with hominy and pork or tripe.
AFRICAN PEANUT STEW, MAAFE – A West African stew made with chicken or beef, veggies, and peanuts.
MINESTRONE– Italian soup made with beef or pork, pasta, beans, and veggies.
PORTLAND LIFE: HAPPY NEW YEAR!
HAPPY NEW YEAR 2024!
ANNUAL YEAR IN REVIEW COLLAGE
As 2023 comes to a close, we want to send thanks for your continued support! We have helped you find your dream home or your new chapter home and helped you sell your home. You have sent us your friends, and family to help with their real estate needs. We are ever grateful and are so lucky to have you in our lives!
THANK YOU!
GET YOUR GROOVE ON IN 2024
WITH THIS CHILL AND FUN PLAYLIST!
SCAN BELOW OR CLICK HERE
PORTLAND LIFE: HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM US TO YOU!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS FROM US TO YOU!
It is a magical time full of rituals, alchemy, traditions, and tons of sugar! Every year at this time here in Portland, folks gather to celebrate many holidays including Hanukkah, Solstice, Christmas, Kwanza, and more! Friends and families gather to bring cheer to the darkness and celebrate the return of the light.
We all have fun holiday traditions from walking Peacock Lane to going to Zoo Lights to watching Adam Sandler sing the Hannukah song. Some people have dinner and work holiday parties, galas, holiday happy hours, and cookie and gift exchanges. While others commit extra time this year to volunteering, and drawing attention to charitable organizations. Maybe you have an annual sock party, or trim your tree to old holiday classics, or have an all-month holiday movie marathon…whatever it is you do this season, we wish you a merry time!
PORTLAND LIFE: JOIN US IN SHARING WARMTH AND JOY
JOIN US IN SHARING WARMTH AND JOY
PORTLAND LIFE: THE ART OF GRATITUDE
THE ART OF GRATITUDE
This month we focus on gratitude. A time to give thanks and acknowledge the abundance we have in our lives. At Living Room Realty, we have eight core values, one being abundance. This value states that we: “appreciate and value what we have in order to create true generosity.”
Write someone a card, just because…
One way we show gratitude and honor abundance is to write cards to our friends, family, and clients. Sometimes it is a short message, but we want to send it anyway. Who doesn’t like getting a little card in the mail – a message of kindness, friendship, or thoughtfulness? As Thanksgiving approaches, consider incorporating card writing as a holiday activity for the whole family. Some of our favorite local cardmakers are WATERKNOT and EGGPRESS.
Loving Room Fund Spotlight: Rose Haven
Rose Haven and Living Room Realty have been partnered since 2019, yet “the haven” has been a sanctuary for women and children in Portland since 1997. It all started when a few volunteers went under the bridges and into the streets to conduct a survey, asking women what they needed. Overwhelmingly the response was a safe place to go, where they could make healthy relationships, and meet their basic human needs with dignity. 25 years later, we are still offering programs based on our guest self-defined needs, and now welcome anyone marginalized by their gender. However, the needs in Portland are more critical than ever before.
According to the 2022 Multnomah County Point In Time Count 5,228 people are experiencing homelessness in this county. Since 2019, overall homelessness has increased by 30% and those living completely unsheltered (outside in tents, cars, or on the margins) has doubled; and we know these numbers are low due to the logistics of the count itself. The communities we serve are even more vulnerable to homelessness, especially as a result of gender-based violence. 69.8% of transgender people, 66.7% of gender non-conforming, and 59% of women experiencing homelessness also had a history of domestic violence. 43% of those reporting a history of domestic violence were also currently unsheltered. On top of that, we know the housing market has been red hot, making affordable housing a real challenge.
Rose Haven’s mission is to provide day shelter, resources, emotional support, and community connections to women, children, and marginalized genders experiencing homelessness and poverty. Our vision is a community where everyone has safety, stability, love, health, and home. 5 days a week they are serving up radical hospitality, offering the following services:
- Meals
- Showers and restrooms
- Clothing and supplies
- Laundry
- Safe Mailing Addresses
- Onsite clinic
- Technology lab
- Wellness activities
- Onsite community partner connection
- Community celebrations
- Advocacy support for financial aid, emotional support, and resource referral/navigation
As we celebrated 25 years of compassionate service in Portland, we also expanded into our dream home. After years in a church basement and adapting to an outdoor service model during the pandemic, this was truly a celebration. On March 8th, 2022 we opened the doors to our new home for the Haven, a 10,000 sq. ft. facility designed with a trauma-informed lens at 1740 NW Glisan St! Much of this growth is because of the support from the Loving Room Fund. Since 2019, Living Room Realty has contributed a total of $142,900! In 2022 alone, your efforts raised $61,777. Your gifts matter. In 2022 you helped Rose Haven served 3,523 of our neighbors experiencing poverty, offering the following services:
- Bus Tickets: 18265
- Clothing Shopping Visits: 4036
- Emergency Outfits: 8250
- Outdoor Supplies: 5431
- Hygiene Supplies: 7864
- First Aid Supplies: 331
- Pet Supplies 670
- Diapers: 695
- Coats: 947
- Meals: 39670
- Laundry: 390
- Showers: 2994
- Storage Area Use: 355
- Computer Lab: 309
- Art Therapy Classes:370
- Nurse Visits:2027
- Wellness:601
You also helped with emergency financial assistance. Here is the breakdown of bills we paid from 2022:
- Gas Cards: 266
- Monthly HC Bus Passes: 204
- Emergency Transportation: 38
- IDs: 207
- Eye Exam and Glasses Vouchers: 18
- Emergency Medical: 83
- Rental Applications: 36
- Utilities: 102
- Storage: 61
- Phone Payments: 290
- Education & Employment Fees: 120
The work is far from over though. We will be implementing a Mental Health Advocacy Program in 2023 that will bridge the gaps in mental health services to a population currently lacking accessibility. We all need to work together to heal people, and heal Portland.
Learn more about Rose Haven on their Website www.rosehaven.org
Grateful
For normalcy in the age of chaos. For familiar walks in a relatively unchanging nature. For the prospect of group health care. For the largest closing of the year landing in one of the slowest months. For December sun. For continuing hope…
A Thanksgiving Toast
Looking back on this year through a gracious lens, I have a big, fat appreciative heart. First, my family and I are healthy. It’s been a ridiculous year…and it feels strange that I can confidently acknowledge most people feel that way too. Some of us have faced health problems, personally. And most of us at least know people who have gotten ill or passed this year.
Nineteen years ago my dad passed away, and one of the things he always reminded me was “Son, your health is numero uno. You can’t do anything without it.” So when I look back on this year, and I recognize the good health my family and I have had, I’m grateful. And while I recognize this, in the same beat, I painfully see (and not fully know) the struggle some are facing right now.
Thanksgiving is my favorite day of the year. Favorite because I usually spend it with a great group of family and friends. On this day there are few obligations, no work to be done, and food and drink to be had. And sometimes forgotten, but always the most important, there are blessings to be counted. Every year, whoever I’m with, I read aloud an editorial that was written in the New York Times in 2009. It’s called “A Thanksgiving Toast”. And every year, I pull myself together to read it strongly, boldly, and proudly. But by the end, I am falling apart, vulnerable, and open.
Nobody could have predicted the year we have had this year, privately as individuals, but also collectively. And if we look for it, maybe there are some sweet, new blessings we get to experience because of the unexpected year we have had.
Gratitude, Hope and Giving
As the sun begins to set on the most unpredictable, challenging, and strange year ever, I am filled with gratitude for my best friend, teammate and wife Sarah, our home and our health, as well as my family and friends, the kickass community of brokers at Living Room Realty, and, of course, all of my clients. I look forward to this time every year to reflect on what brings me joy and harmony, health and resiliency, and to recharge in anticipation of a new year and a fresh start.
2021 is sure to deliver welcome and much-needed change, but we need to continue to work together to meet our collective challenges. I’m hopeful that we do that and continue along the pathway that was forged through the tumult of this year. May you and your loved ones find health, safety and comfort in the days ahead and I hope that we can all see each other again soon.
Every month, I match and donate 100% of my marketing budget to organizations fighting to end racism, providing access to housing, promoting human rights & preserving civil liberties. This month, I proudly donated to NAYA – the Native American Youth & Family Center, now in its 46th year serving the Portland metro region.
NAYA’s mission is to enhance the diverse strengths of native youth and families in partnership with the community through cultural identity and education. As a vibrant community center serving members from 380 tribes, NAYA is youth-centered, family driven, and Elder-guided. Learn more here: www.nayapdx.org
Exploring NW Portland – Hoyt Arboretum
With spring peeking at us and the need to keep our social distance I wanted to share one of my favorite places with you. When I moved to Portland 19 years ago I explored this city like it was Atlantis, I wanted to take it all in and didn’t want to miss anything. After about a month of exploring I found myself at Hoyt Arboretum, what a dream. The Wildwood trail quickly became one of my favorites for a run or a slow morning stroll.
The arboretum is a curated museum with over 6,000 trees and more than 2300 different species from over 170 families, including 67 rare or endangered species. The collection was designed in 1930 by horticulturist and landscape designer John W. Duncan and I think if he could see how his vision has come to fruition he would be proud, it’s a very special place. If you live nearby I encourage you to take some time to connect with nature here, trails are still open though the visitors center is closed. If you don’t live in NW explore your local parks and trails, we’re fortunate to live in a city that has preserved the ability to connect with nature in some way in almost every neighborhood.
Please take care of yourselves, if we’re all socially responsible now we can get back to life as we knew it sooner rather than later. I’m sending love and gratitude out into the world and hoping the best for us all.
Home Town Proud
Small town kids grow up together, and stick together like family; we trust each other and have a bond that lasts a lifetime. David and his family had decided to move back to the Portland/Vancouver area for his his wife’s job and be closer to David’s mother. I am always honored to be chosen as someone’s REALTOR®, it’s an additional bonus when we’ve grown up together. We went back and forth about the difference of Oregon and Washington, the schools each area had to offer their three beautiful boys and the congested commutes to avoid. We looked at many homes, and I do mean many! Soon they had their mind set on Camas, though they knew how competitive the homes were because of location and highly ranked schools. It wasn’t long before I could see them starting to compromise with other areas in Washington. After viewing 6 homes outside of town, I eagerly pushed them back into Camas for our last showing of the day. I knew they were tired, and this home was out of the way.. after all, we had seen this house before so why was I pushing them so hard to go back? The first time we viewed the home, we had already fallen in love with another one that just wasn’t meant to be (thanks a lot bidding war). I had a feeling in my gut to view it again when I was out touring on my own, and decided to put it back on our list. As we all walked in, the feeling of “home” rushed over us. The layout is what David wanted, the master bath and closet were what Sam wanted, and the fenced backyard that peeked over to the friendly neighbors was perfect for the kids. As I handed over the keys on closing day, I glanced over with a nostalgic smile realizing some things never change.. Class clown, David was still at it! Congrats my fellow Pirate! I have no doubt you’ve chosen the perfect home.
