Woodard Lane Cohousng

Russo/ Stiritz Family

Cj Russo and Robin Stiritz have been together for 10 years, married for 5. We have two small dogs.

Robin: I am passionate about deep, quality friendships, laughing and playing together, and spending time alone to read and meditate. I love to sing, dance and be in nature. It is important to me to be of service to others and so love my work as an acupuncturist and traditional Chinese herbalist. I love to learn new things and explore my creativity. My animals bring me much joy and teach me much about life. To know myself and grow along my spiritual path and with others is essential in my life. I am passionate about Cohousing. To have connection, friendship and sharing of oneself and resources in my neighborhood makes sense for me personally and globally. Being a part of Woodard Lane cohousing will allow me to live more sustainably and practice recognizing the oneness of all beings in a broader way.

Cj: It is important to me be involved in and give to my community. I have been working on creating cohousing for 10 years, and creating Woodard Lane cohousing since 9/04. Being a part of Woodard Lane cohousing for me means reconnecting with the experiences of community I had growing up in Philadelphia. The commitment of WLC to a lighter impact on the environment supports my personal values of sustainability. I love to be out in nature hiking or on my bike to connect with spirit and the quiet place inside. One of the ways I express my creativity is making digital videos of people, events or celebrations. I have been teaching high school for about 8 years. I have taught math, special education, and for the past 5 years I have taught a little bit of everything at an alternative school.

Liv Monroe

Personal Profile: I am a fearless, free, female with 60 years of experience.

Family Profile: I have two grown sons with great girlfriends, an ex whom I like lots, two nieces, a sister and brother, in-laws with kids and grandkids, a multitude of cousins, aunts and uncles. My parents died in 1988 and 1992. Family is important to me. Both of my sons live in Bellingham. Dane, aged 28, loves parcour, gymnastics, and Angie, aged 25. Ty is 23 and will graduate from Western the summer of 2007.

Friends: My friends are important to me too. I am part of the Violet Femmes, five women who raised their children together and hope to share in the rewards of grandkids too. I enjoy getting together with several other friends of many years, as well as getting to make new friends.

Career: I have spent my adult life as a professional citizen and a traveler. After raising kids and working to develop Options, the local alternative elementary school where I still volunteer, I began teaching Nonviolent Communication which is my current passion. I lead workshops, classes and practice groups. I also volunteer for the Dispute Resolution Center.

Hobbies/Interests: I love walking and talking with friends, hiking and camping in the mountains, dancing, studying psychology and philosophy, and presently working together with others to build Woodard Lane Cohousing Community.

What brings me the greatest joy: I find joy in one on one connections and laughter. I love growth, dialogue, honesty, understanding, and hanging out with family and friends, including a special love for children.

Why I became a part of Woodard Lane Co-housing: I want to live in a community with others who also want to grow and get to know each other deeply. I like the people involved, the close to town proximity of the land, living in a small space and yet having room for large dinner gatherings and dances, owning less, and sharing things and resources.

What I bring to this community: I bring skills, interest, patience, and energy for human relationships, organizing, raising children, seeing the bigger picture, problem solving, and listening. I enjoy both thinking and doing, particularly thinking out loud and doing with others.

David, Eva, Zach and Mia

David and Eva, both 43, have been working as acupuncturists/herbalists in Seattle for more than a decade.

David is currently studying to obtain a certificate in Clinical Nutrition so that he can focus more on his passion with functional nutrition. Eva is a fluent Spanish speaker and would like to try to find a way to incorporate that into her work with their upcoming move to Olympia. Zach is six, is currently in kindergarten, and is very interested in Star Wars, animals and dinosaurs, circuses (and performing them) and movies of any kind. Mia is going on 1 ½ and is quite social, gets into everything, and can be extremely stubborn along with being extra cute. Emma is our 14.5 yr. old golden retriever mix. We’re giving her a 50/50 shot of making it to Olympia.

As a family of four we feel ourselves becoming very nuclear and losing touch with our community. We don’t want that to happen and feel that moving into a cohousing community will give us the opportunity to engage and interact and live and work with others in a way that will maintain and balance the cohesiveness of our family within a larger community. We look forward to not having to travel 30 minutes to have dinner with our friends, to spontaneous and easy gatherings and to our kids being able to walk out the door and play with friends. We also like the idea of living in a smaller town where we can feel a little less hectic and slow down a bit. We’re very excited (and a bit scared) about the opportunity to live at Woodard Lane Cohousing, and look forward to being around other individuals and families that appreciate the benefits of living in community.

Personal Profile: 35-year young woman of European decent and ever evolving…

Family Profile: Me and my two cats (Fezzik and Inigo) live here in the northwest, having moved here from Boston, MA in 2000. My younger brother, Owen lives in Nepal; my mother, Docey, travels worldwide about 9 months out of the year (while being based in Indiana) and my father is in San Francisco, CA. I separated from my life partner of ten years this past winter and I am currently flourishing in relationship with my girlfriend, Melissa.

Friends: I am honored to have created a critical support network of love and kindness. My friends and chosen family are a wide range of people within reach and others scattered across the globe. I am truly blessed.

Career: I am the Training Manager at the Dispute Resolution Center of Thurston County. I teach mediation, conflict resolution and communication skills. It is my passion and purpose! I have volunteered with the DRC since moving here and have been on staff for the past two years. My decade-long career before this was focused on providing advocacy and support for crime victims.

Hobbies/Interests: I paint, doodle, craft and be artistic daily. I also love to move: run, dance, practice yoga, hike, swim, surf, you name it. I am an avid learner and always taking in new experiences, information and joy. I often jump in on projects just to learn new things. For the past several years I have volunteered with the Black Hills Pride Foundation, distributing $ to Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender students in our area.

What brings me the greatest joy: I find joy in connections, with myself and others. Being present, breathing and holding life lightly are important to me!

Why I became a part of Woodard Lane Co-housing: Family ties are important to me and I have experienced lots of family manifesting in my life, both biological and chosen. As an extrovert, I thrive off living with lots of other people around, many of whom become family. I find that the inspiration, creativity, care and kindness I experience and share with others brings richness to my life that I seek out. I want my community to offer me and receive the daily richness that comes from conversation, doing tasks together, eating together, supporting one another and sharing resources.

What I bring to this community: I have strong social and communication skills and thrive off building connections among people. I am strong and able bodied, able to follow direction well and like working outdoors. I enjoy creative projects and am a skilled visionary. I teach intuition and self-defense classes, while primarily enjoying yoga, dance and running myself. I am an excellent cook, while I avoid baking. I also bring my love of kale!

Margie Schubert and Jim Anest

Family Profile: Jim and Margie have been partners for eight years and were friends for many years before that. We independently came to Olympia in 1972 to attend The Evergreen State College, in its second year of existence.

Margie has 3 children: Delphine is now 30 and works with teenage refugees in foster care. Maile is 27 and working for Drugstore.com in Bellevue. Avery is 20 and in his second year at Macalester College in St. Paul, MN.

Jim has 2 children: Molly is 21 and a senior at Western Washington University. Ryan is 17 and a junior at Capital High School.

Personal Profile, Margie:
I grew up in Oregon, Maryland, and Colorado. After graduating from TESC I lived in Idaho for a year before returning to Olympia to work at Blue Heron Bakery for 10 years. After Blue Heron, I worked in a futon and furniture store for 10 years, and since then I have worked at the Dispute Resolution Center in downtown Olympia as staff support, and more recently assistant training manager. Family and raising kids has been the most challenging and rewarding part of my adult life.

Some of the things I do for fun are yoga, massage, singing harmony, writing poetry, sewing, and kayaking on the Puget Sound. My biggest passion is for being in the wilderness- hiking & backpacking, rafting, cross-country skiing, or snorkeling. Two of the most interesting things I’ve done are living in Nepal for a year, and rafting the Grand Canyon. I also get a lot of happiness and support from my women’s group of more than 20 years. I am concerned about the political, environmental, and spiritual health of our world, and how I can be more effectively engaged. I have always preferred living in larger than nuclear family situations and I look forward to living in this co-housing community.

Personal Profile, Jim:
I grew up in Spokane. After graduating from TESC, I went to law school in Chicago, and have traveled throughout the USA and Europe. I am 56, curious about nearly everything and especially the patterns that connect that everything. I became a widower in 1994 and most of the past 14 years has been devoted to fathering.

Hobbies and Interests: I enjoy kayaking, playing the piano, hiking, reading, thinking, and conversation with friends. I love warm salt water and Rumi Poetry. I am fascinated by the process of moral development. I am particularly interested in the work of the contemporary American philosopher, Ken Wilber. I believe that we have only begun to express our potential to live together responsibly and in mutual respect. We have much to teach and much to learn from one another. I have lived in intentional community for large portions of my life and for the most part enjoyed it.

Employment: For the past 20 years, I have been a policy planner in shoreline management with the Department of Ecology. I have worked in the legislature as a staff attorney and as a lobbyist. For 6 years I practiced law in Olympia.

A little information about Jean is coming soon!

A little information about Josh, Kate & Arwen is coming soon!

A little information about Heather is coming soon!

A little information about John, Joann, and John is coming soon!

A little information about Peter is coming soon!