Our House

Our house, is a very very very fine house...

We even have two cats that hang out in the yard, sometimes... when it isn't raining, which hasn't been a lot lately. I wish I had a pretty summer picture to show you, but our place is nice even in the winter. We have a cute front yard------------------------
and each of us has our little space.








Which brings up the question, who lives here anyway? There are 8 residents at 111o W 27th. Most of us know each other from the Made with love cafe, but we are trying to branch out a little, and we have had a few people stay with us who we know from other parts of our lives too.


So here are the current house-owners (TIC members):



Me, Valisa Higman


I am happy to be back in the Northwest where the rain makes everything lush and green. I am working right now at a performing arts center called The Shedd Institute (www.theshedd.org). It's not a bad gig. I am learning a lot about how non-profits are managed in the real world. As a development assistant I am learning about grant writing, fund-raising, audience development, and all sorts of other little things that just need to get done for the daily functioning of our music school and venue. Outside of work I spend my time doing art (www.valisahigman.com) playing ultimate, doing yoga climbing (indoors until the weather changes) and cooking. I also spend a lot of time enjoying the company of my sweety, Sean, and my kitty Miss Malia P Wassie. I am looking forward to spending a lot of time outside this spring!


Mr. Brian Basor
Our resident botanist, Brian spent last summer as a field biologist, which kept him far from home. We are happily seeing more of him these days as he is working for a company that researches organic foods something-or-other, taking care of their database and just working really hard in general. Brian spends a lot of his free time in Cottage Grove, about 20 minutes away from Eugene, where his girlfriend has a beautiful piece of property where she runs her own plant nursery and landscaping business. Brian is happiest flitting about amongst the trees and ferns and all things natural. He is a great handy-man around the house, and is also a really good person to have around when you need help on the computer (he wrote a program for me so I could load new pictures onto my website without learning html) or when you are sick and want to know what kind of herbs will make you feel better. He makes teas and tinctures from local plants, and also makes some killer kim chi. He has many other talents that I won't list here, but if you ever have a question, just ask Brian.


Laura Smith aka Lali aka Laura Lee Laroux.

Lali and her dog Cassie reside in our converted garage. Converted to a fashion design/sewing studio that is. Laura Lee Laroux and her label "Dress to Kill" are already a fixture in the Eugene community. She has designed everything from roller derby uniforms to prom dresses, and has headlined fashion shows here as well as in Bend, Salem and Portland. Despite her happening career Lali finds time to advise me on my work wear (I have a tendency to dress a little too counter-culture for my job), and to work part time at a consignment store where she also sells her one of a kind creations.

Jesika Feather

She is the Mama-To-Be, and though this takes up a lot of her time and thoughts right now, there is so much more to say about her. She is a fantastic writer. Lucky kids around the country get to read her stories when they take standerdized tests. Not only does she write for tests, she also teaches high-risk teenage moms in a local non-profit called Looking Glass. She also has a great laugh. And a great smile. And she gives great advice. And she is really good at cleaning the kitchen floor. Basically, she is destined to be a really wonderful mommy.

Benjah Brubaker:

This is the Daddy-To-BE. He works for this amazing non-profin in Eugene called White Bird. He started out as a crisis worker, counciling and helping people find resources. He now is also part of the CAHOOTS team. This is a pseudo-police force that the cops and local businesses and private residents can call when there is a situation that has the potential to develop into something harmful or illegal. They are used when there are problems with say... mentally ill people, or really intoxicated people. It helps the cops out, because they aren't really trained to work with psychos like CAHOOTS is. Besides that Benjah likes to keep up on poitics, and he is into medicinal plants and meditation. He also enjoys music and dancing... so much so that he has a tendency to throw his back out by dancing too hard. Really his crowning acheivment in recent months has been the expert training of my cat Malia. He has her shaking paws, giving high fives, jumping through hoops and over Cassie's head. Its quite the performance.

Stay tuned for bios of our three renters (Crystal, Lisa and Kath), various houseguests, and pics from our frequent dinner parties. :

Also, soon to come ................. Baby!