Reasons to live in Spokane, WA

In order only as they come to my mind and not by priority or top reason. I just read a challenge to come up with such a list and I am happy to do so. I spent years wanting to move back to Portland then just a few months ago we were offered a transfer to get ourselves back there with a salary and all. You know what I did? I cried! Not tears of joy either. I still love and adore Portland but my heart is here and for so many reasons, I will probably have to keep adding more to the list. So here goes:

1. Traffic. We simply don't have it. Even when people here start thinking there is traffic it is nothing absolutely nothing!

2. Easy to get around.

3. Fast to get around, I recently forgot about an appointment downtown. When I got the "are you coming?" call I jumped in the car and rushed down to arrive only 15 minutes late and I was able to park right outside the office. Can Seattle or Portland offer this, I don't think so!

4. I can go to a park and enjoy the quiet more often than not. There are certain parks that are often busy but so many green spaces exist where you can find peace and solitude.

5. Hiking and biking is easy and right around the corner almost anywhere you live.

6. Cost of housing is WAY lower. I can live in the neighborhood I want to live in and I am not confined to a tiny space.

7. Pride. In the past 3-5 years Spokane has really begun to appreciate itself. I am proud to live in Spokane.

8. Loving Spokane shows you really are an individual and independent thinker. It's easy and trendy to love Seattle and Portland, it takes a true individual to see what a gem Spokane really is.

9. Spokane is not pretentious and does not really have a really specific identity. For example, we all know what a Portlander looks like, we all know what Seattle ite(?) looks like. I for one don't know what a Spokanite looks like and the freedom in that is huge. Not following me? Well, think about conformity and peer pressure here, we all subconsciously give into it on some levels. The peer pressure and conformity in Portland for example is on display in shows like Portlandia. While the pressure leads to some great things, cycling, eating healthy and looking out for the planet, it is pressure just the same. In Spokane I love it here, but I don't identify with it so I don't feel any conformity or peer pressure. If you don't get me here you never will, sorry.

10. on a lighter note, cheap and plentiful golfing, I know I just started but I am excited to get into it!

11. Also, cheap and plentiful snowboarding, although I haven't ridden on years. :)

12. The garbage goat, yes really.

13. Great public Schools

Advance Ashiatsu Pictures

Finishing Day.

I'm feelin a little emotional as I prepare to head home. Mostly I am truly exhausted. It was a wonderful week. Wonderful women. A fantastic passionate instructor and a beautiful technique that can only get better and better with time. I won't be surprised if I find that in no time at all my hands may get an early retirement. :). Book yourselves now. I have no doubt my passion and excitement about this treatment will call people to my table. You won't regret it.
~M

Advanced Ashiatsu. AMAZING!!

I don't even know how to describe it. Watching is amazing, receiving is amazing, giving is, well you guessed it, amazing. The moves are fluid and strong. Deep and smooth. They will not only penetrate fascia and muscle tissue but definitely create an incredible transcendental experience.

I really enjoyed ashi before. Now I feel passionately about it.

The instructor, Jeni Spring loves what she is doing. I mean really LOVES it, with an abundant sort of energy that offers itself to you. I know I will be going home with some of that energy and passion, we all will, and then I will share it with you,

This is hands down, or feet down I should say, the best workshop I have ever taken. I love the energy that every one of my fellow massage therapists brings to the class and I would enjoy spending one on one time with any one of them. That in itself speaks volumes. Jeni's passion and teaching style are both relaxed and calm as well as bold and intuitive.

I am definitely working with an elite group of passionate and like minded women and I feel very blessed to be here! Gina, Dannette, Michelle, Sandra, Lindsey, Amy and of course Jeni, thank you for such a great two days, I look forward to tomorrow.

Tomorrow we get to blend all we have learned into a smooth flowing dance of barefoot massage that is sure to melt anyone.

I can't wait!
~M