Submitted By: Gienie Assink, Springfield, Oregon   When my second son, Elijah, was a few weeks old, I had a minute to realize I was overwhelmed by the abrupt addition to my life.  Nine months is enough time to prepare a room, but nothing prepares you for a new baby! After […]

Submitted by Kay Helbling October is National Breast Cancer Awareness month. Each time I pick up groceries I’m reminded by the checkout clerk with their request for “rounding up my purchase amount and giving the loose change to cancer”. So few pennies for such a huge cause…and then, the pennies […]

By Your Personal Trainer, Olivia Rossi, RN, MSN, ACSM We are surrounded by food. It’s everywhere–at the movies, at the mall, at work, at the airport. It’s available, convenient and it’s usually pretty tasty. The problem is that it’s often not healthy. In choosing foods that are prepared by others, […]

By Evergreen, All of my household plants have died. My friends only buy me plants that are resilient and need little care. I accidentally killed those plants as well. So this week I decided to try those paper Magic Trees. What could go wrong? All you have to do is […]

Photo by Abbie Storm. St. Johns Bridge, Portland. Send photos to

There are a many people who are crazy about yoga today. One reason is that it makes them feel better and in good shape. The different poses and postures make their body healthy. So if you want to keep your body in shape, this might be the best exercise for […]

Submitted by Kay Helbling   Look at the big moon daddy! I remember my sister saying those words as the brilliant orange harvest moon hung in the sky over our North Dakota farm. It was fall, and fall was all around us—trees turning color and pumpkins being harvested. Those harvest […]

By Erika Weisensee By the end of October, tens of thousands of Oregon students will vote in the ’08 political election. Most, of course, are well below the required age of 18, but that won’t stop them from casting their votes for President, U.S. senators, representatives to Congress, and Oregon […]

By Olivia C. Rossi, RN, MSN, Regular exercisers will tell you that they keep exercising because it makes them feel good.  We do know that exercise has a positive effect on mood.  The evidence can be found in brain chemistry or, more specifically, neuro-chemicals or transmitters that affect mood.  I […]

By Cathy Rae Smith, Founder of Culture Magazine Though it is a delight to live in an era when women no longer suffer the rigors of corseting oneself within a whisper of fainting away, there still remains the timeless lure of glamour. Happily, Ralph Lauren’s fall collection blends the appeal […]