A Special Mother’s Day Edition of Girl’s Day!
Saturday May 8, 1-3pm at Crossfit Portland
Bring your mother to Girl’s Day! Take the opportunity to let her experience what all that crazy nonsense is you’re always so excited about! If your mom’s doesn’t live in town, bring a mom-like figure. And guys you don’t get off the hook either. Have your mom sign up and come, too!
An introduction to CrossFit Portland, with a focus on women and the challenges we face in trying to make positive changes in our lives. Come prepared to workout. Girls Only! Registration is required to attend you can sign up online. Space is limited, so hurry up and register! (Have your mom register, too!)

Ladies Night Out!
Saturday May 22 8:30 till whenever at Crystal Ballroom
Come dance with us Saturday May 22 at the Crystal Ballroom! “Jai Ho!” is the Ultimate Bollywood and Bhangra Dance Party hosted by DJ Prashnat. There is a dance lesson at 9pm and then dancing gets started at 10pm. But don’t worry about knowing what you’re doing, you can come to just have fun! Cover is $5.
We’ll meet at the gym at 8:30pm to carpool, otherwise we’ll see you at the Ballroom!
Check out one of DJ Prashnat’s previous shows and dance parties.

Girl’s Day Jan ‘10 from CrossFit Portland on Vimeo.

He’s at 10 episodes now. You can find him at his website, robbwolf.com, or on iTunes. If you’ve never heard Robb speak, he is hilarious, interesting, and fascinating. He could make snail watching sound interesting. It’s all great info and awesome tips. If you’re interested in really getting serious with your Paleo, this is an excellence source of info. Enjoy!

“Why You Don’t Look Like a Fitness Model” is a great example of her passion and a message every woman should hear and know.

[pic from Stumptuous]

How were you introduced to Crossfit? My chiropracter in Virginia told me about the Crossfit he goes to. So before I moved out here, I did a little research and found Crossfit Portland. I stopped by for a visit the day after I got to town.

Favorite WOD/lift: I like to do 1RM lifts to beat my old max weights and I can see improvements.

I have always wanted to Compete in a triathlon, learn to crochet, live in another country, make a souffle, climb a mountain…the list could on and on…

1 word people use to describe me: determined

Outside of the gym I like to Drink wine and watch/critique reality shows with my friends

Something nobody knows about me or would be surprised to know about me: went scuba diving in Lake Superior while it was snowing, brrr

Favorite physical activity outside of Crossfit: running

Favorite place to eat in Portland: haven’t eaten out much since I’ve moved here, but I really like Burgerville smoothies…sorry not Paleo =) …oh and Toro Bravo has great Tapas!

Song that gets me pumped up for a workout: 80’s/90’s hairband classics

Proudest accomplishment: finished 2 marathons

Girls Day
Our first Girl’s Day of the year will be January 23 from 12-2pm. Our focus will be rowing and it will be tons of fun! Remember you don’t have to be a member to come and have fun with us. Bring your friends, mothers, sisters, and daughters! All you have to do is sign up on the website. Note: The time has been changed to 12-2pm.

CrossKnit First Friday Craft Group
Are you crafty? Come be crafty with us! We meet on the first Friday of every month at Julia’s Café on NE Broadway and 21st from 6:00-9:00ish. You can bring any kind of craft as long as it doesn’t involve too much equipment or space.
Note: We won’t be meeting in January due to the holiday. See you in February!

Ladies Night Out!
February 20 come join us for a special Valentine’s Day Potluck! We’ll be getting together for good food and friends. But don’t bring dessert! We’ll be making a special paleo dessert together. ☺

Raw Strength Tuesdays
Don’t forget the ladies up at Crossfit Fort Vancouver! Ladies night is the first Tuesday of every month from 7:30-8:30pm. Lauren always has fun things planned, and it’s a great time to generally be goofy and ridiculously girly.

This is just a sneak peek, there’s more coming in the year. Can’t wait to see you there!

“January 1” to start anew. (Though you don’t HAVE to start on Christmas.)
I also watched two great films over the break. Food Inc. and Obesity in America. They are similar documentaries, but focusing on slightly different areas of our food system and culture. These films compounded my desire to make good quality food choices, both in the type of food as well as where it’s coming from. I definitely recommend you watch them when you get the chance.

Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!

Are you a crafty crossfitter? The first Friday of the month we will be meeting to craft our hearts out! Come if you already craft or if you’ve always wanted to learn. You can even come just to socialize! There is coffee, tea, and food. Please do bring money to purchase something, since Julia’s is kindly letting us hang out there! We will also be a hop skip and a jump away from Twisted, one of the best knitting shops in Portland, if you find you are in need of supplies. Or a good yarn fondling.

Where: Julia’s Cafe, NE Broadway and 21st
What: Bring anything that is decently portable and small. Knitting, crocheting, beading, a computer, or anything small is good.
When: Friday December 4, 6-9pm

Note: We will be meeting at Julia’s Cafe, instead of Costello’s Cafe.  Julia’s is a couple blocks away and is way less crowded.

Head on up to the Couv tonight for some great raw strength action! At 7:30 the boys get out and the girls have fun! It’s different every time: gymnastics, olympic lifting, houla-hooping, who knows!

Where: Crossfit Fort Vancouver

When: 7:30-8:30pm

See you there!

(pic from Amazon)

I would definitely recommend checking out his website if you haven’t. The book looks great as well. Karen Z had a great idea. She got two copies of the book. One for herself and one to lend to others if she thinks they would be interested, or to answer questions about why she eats the way she does or what is that whole Crossfit thing anyway.

(pic from elana’s pantry)

We have recently discovered a great site for gluten free cooking. If you haven’t seen it yet, head over to Elana’s Pantry for some great recipes and ideas about baking and cooking. Note that these are not Paleo. Some of the recipes are, but a lot aren’t. However all are gluten free and most are dairy free.

Also note that Elana mostly uses agave syrup as her go to sweetner. There is debate about the use of agave, but to her credit she addresses that in a blog post. Definitely check it out. She has a Thanksgiving menu, too!

Happy cooking!

Picture from Pure Dance

Girl’s Day is an introduction to CrossFit Portland, with a focus on women and the challenges we face in trying to make positive changes in our lives. Come prepared to workout. Girls Only! Registration is required to attend. You can go to Crossfit Portland mainpage, click on “Store”, create an account, click on “Workshops” and then register!

Bring your friends!
October 24!
11:30am-1:30pm

At this Girl’s Day we will be working with the Crossfit Total, which comprises of 3 weightlifting movements. The backsquat, press, and deadlift. We’ll have three groups available to meet everyone’s interest and experience. Safety, Brave, and CRAZY!
We’ll also be talking about what makes strong, healthy women, and how weightlifting is essential to that equation. Don’t worry, it won’t make you “big” and muscly!

Check Out our past Days!

Are you a crafty crossfitter? It’s our first CrossKnit!
The first Friday of the month we will be meeting to craft our hearts out! Come if you already craft or if you’ve always wanted to learn. You can even come just to socialize! There is coffee, tea, food, and music to be had. Please do bring money to purchase something, since Costello’s is kindly letting us hang out there! We will also be a hop skip and a jump away from Twisted, one of the best knitting shops in Portland, if you find you are in need of supplies. Or a good yarn fondling.

Where: Costello’s Travel Cafe, NE Broadway and 23rd 6-8pm See you there!
What: Bring anything that is decently portable and small. Knitting, crocheting, beading, or anything small is good. Bringing your sewing machine, not so much.

Yesterday we concentrated on our pullup strength and setting goals. With all the new friends it was easy to find a partner to help us attain our goals. All the ladies did a great job with the Fight Gone Bad styled WOD.  Shannon, Lael, Heather, Beth, and Lara did a great speaking about their Crossfit experiences. Thanks for sharing! Check out the video and see if you can count how many strong women we have!

Girls Day Sept 09 from CrossFit Portland on Vimeo.

Don’t forget, our next event is Crossknitting at Costello’s Travel Cafe on October 6. Check the Events Calender and Activities page for dates and descriptions of upcoming events.

Ingredients
Slaw
olive oil
apple cider vinegar
ground mustard seed
whole cumin seed
celery seed
poppy seed

Directions
Slaw – Trader Joe’s has a great broccoli slaw all ready to go. But I’ve seen premade slaws at all of the grocery stores. Or you can take the long way and shred your own cabbage or broccoli.
It’s up to you on the ratios and amounts of everything. You want a 2:1 ish ratio of vinegar:oil. I also will just grab a pinch or two, or handful, depending on how much I’m making of each of the spics. I will usually mix the vinegar and oil and spices altogether. Then pour the mixture over the slaw and mix it well. You can eat it right there, or put it in the fridge for later. Or if you like your slaw nice and saturated, like I do, it will be good the next day. Because of the oil, you’ll want to take it out of the fridge a little bit before you eat it, so the oil will thaw.

We hope you’ve been having a fantabulous summer, enjoying the weather and getting some great WODs in! Rochelle and I got nice and rested (mostly) and now we’re ready to kick Crossfit Portland Girls back into gear! We’ve got tons of great activities and get togethers planned. We can’t wait to see your smiling faces!

Our first event is Girl’s Day, September 19 at 11:30am. For newbies, Girl’s Day is an introduction to CrossFit Portland, with a focus on women and the challenges we face in trying to make positive changes in our lives. This event is led by Rochelle Hagnas and is always a little different every time. You never know what we’re going to do! Come prepared to workout. Girls Only! All girls are allowed, you don’t need to be a member of Crossfit Portland. Bring your mothers, sisters, daughters, and friends! Girls Day is free, but registration is required to attend. You can sign up online, space is limited!

You can check out past Girls Days here.

Be on the lookout for other great events and opportunities coming up! You can check the Girls Blog for updates, recipes, info, and more! Work it GIRLS!

Erica rocks the backsquat!

Congrats to Heather who just graduated yesterday, ready to join our nurses!

Until then, have lots of fun doing summertime activities and make sure to say hi. Otherwise we’ll miss you.

Jenn has done some amazing work since she’s been with us! She’s already accomplished a lot and has more on the horizon! She is too cute and wrote a letter to Crossfit to explain her feelings. We can’t wait to see what else Jenn will conquer!

An Open Letter to Crossfit

Crossfit, have I told you lately that I adore you? I love that you have given me confidence, strength and passion for something. You make me want to be a better person, not just physically but mentally and emotionally as well. You have that special something that makes me want to be around you, even on your bad days, I still can’t get enough of you. Many, many nights I go to sleep thinking about you and how we can be better together. Sure, I’ll admit it; sometimes I get a little obsessed with you. You are getting very popular and I can easily spend hours reading all about you and how you have changed the lives the others. I even find myself getting angry at those who say negative things about you. You are so misunderstood, especially by those who feel that you have to be in amazing shape already before they even introduce themselves to you.  I know that you are not prejudiced; you don’t see size, age or gender as an obstacle. You are fully capable of adjusting yourself to fit the needs of those who want to be in your presence. All you require is the willingness to succeed and persevere.

Can you believe we have known each other for nearly two years already? We’ve been through so much! There was that time that I thought I we should break up, only to shudder at the thought of reverting back to my old ways. I know to some, it doesn’t look like you have influenced me very much. Oh how wrong they are! If only they could have seen me then. We have so much more to achieve! You have changed me for the better and I thank you.

Always in my heart,

Jen

In the spirit of the athlete profiles for the Crossfit Games, here is my (edited) profile:

Jen Sloan aka Sloandsteady (it’s part of my name, get it?)

Age: 37

Height: 5′3″

Weight: too much

Date of Birth: 9-7-71

Place of Birth: Seattle, WA

Started CrossFit: July 2007

Lives in North Portland

Deadlift: 240 (10/08)

Press: 105

Front Squat: 155

Clean and Jerk: 105

Max pull-ups: none YET

(Okay, I realize those numbers look askew when I put them in black and white, but I am a major work-in-process.)

Favorite WOD: Anything that includes double unders and strength

Favorite Lift: Deadlift (obviously)

Least Favorite Movements: Burpees, pistols, handstand push-ups (oh, so many)

Current goals: A Pull-up whether it be kip or otherwise and losing body fat!

Ingredients
2lbs Ground Meat
2 eggs
Almond Meal
1 Bunch of Parsley
1 Onion
Worcestershire Sauce
Spices

Directions
Finely chop the onion and parsley. Beat the eggs in a separate bowl. Put everything in a bowl and mix and have fun! Use your bare hands! Use probably 1-2 cups of almond meal. I didn’t measure this, just threw a bunch in until it looked good. Same with the Worcestershire. Spice wise I used garlic, cumin, coriander, cayenne, and salt and pepper. Put a little bit of olive oil in the pan, throw it all in and cook until done.

Let me know if you come up with any variations!