Sometimes it’s challenging to get up a little extra early for our weekly PEERS meeting… but today was not one of those days. We were expecting THREE guests today, we actually had FOUR and they were each worth getting up for!

Our first guest was Chama Bovee of La Petite Beauxo. She brought some fresh-from-the-oven goodies for us, and was even kind enough to make them GF. Her biscotti and breakfast muffins were fragrant and delicious… I’m sure we all wanted to have her as our personal chef to wake us with such tasty aromas each morning. 🙂 Chama caters private events using local and organic ingredients whenever possible, bringing wonderful food to you and your guests.

Jessica Beauchemin, of JessBFit, is a certified personal trainer – whom I actually passed on her bike, while I was in my car… made me think, “Yea, I should ride my bike instead.” Like our masseuse, Amy, Jessica will come to you in your home or office to work with you in a space that is comfortable and convenient. She is also available for two classes at EcoFusion Fitness: Yoga for Newbies and Punk Rock Aerobics! You can follow her on facebook here to keep up with all of her awesome activities.

Our third guest, Courtney Hall, is the manager of mortgage lending at Citizens Bank. A good mortgage lender can make a huge difference when buying a home. As we climb out of the popped housing bubble and our market stabilizes, learning from mistakes and being smart with our finances is something Courtney can help with. Citizens Bank mortgage loan officers have extensive knowledge and experience in the industry; as well as process, underwrite, and fund most loans locally.

…four guests might not sound like much, but when your regular group is around 25 people adding four new faces is very exciting! Karrie Wuerch is a returning addition to Corvallis, after spending some time in Seattle, as the Director of Physician Recruitment and Relations at the Corvallis Clinic. Her position brings the most highly qualified doctors and specialists to the Clinic team, strengthening our community and quality of life.

Our group speakers today were Elaine Forrest of Simply Home Professionals LLC and Amy Peters of Carefree Massage. Elaine is a licensed general contractor here in Corvallis. She specializes in stripping wallpaper and color consultations. She took us through our impressions of different colors – how they make us feel and gave us info on the pros and cons of each color for the various rooms in your house. Every color is good at bringing out a positive emotion or response, but how you use that color can effect that response. Red, for example, is bold, rich, makes you hungry, and can add interest to a room… too much red and your room feels hostile, oppressive, and dark. Many people think that white walls open up a room, but Elaine shared that effectively using colors will actually do a better job while adding life and interest to your home.

Amy gave us a demo on her daughter so we had the chance to observe what we could expect when getting a wonderfully relaxing massage from her. First “rule”: Don’t dive right in to the muscle. A quality massage has a looming pre-requisite, trust, without trust Amy will not be able to help a patient’s muscles and body relax and start healing. Sometimes gaining trust can take a few sessions so Amy makes herself very aware of her patient’s medical conditions (that would effect or be effected by massage), where they carry their stress, past injuries, and their preferences – like if they prefer the massage chair or table, mild or strong smelling oils, music or not. Needless to say we were all jealous of her daughter… just laying there all warm, getting a relaxing massage at 8:00am. Many of the PEERS members have used Amy’s services, as well as brought her into our offices for 10 minute chair massages for our staff, always with rave reviews and repeat appointments.