inMagazine Spring 2016

in Magazine Community | Life | Family

Spring 2016

How Bemidjian Are you?

TAKE OUR QUIZ TO FIND OUT!

10

Get healthier skin

with

these DOS AND DON’TS OF SKIN CARE

AERIAL ARTISTS ZERO GRAVITY FITNESS AT BABE’S PLAYGROUND

+

Bemidji artist Jessie Marianiello finds new life in Uganda

Larisa cooks a romantic meal for two for under $50.

You can too!

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 3

inMagazine A BEMIDJI PIONEER PUBLICATION

1320 Neilson Ave. SE Bemidji, MN 56601 218-333-9200

Staff Editor Jillian Gandsey Creative Director Abby Randall Design Lead Danielle Carty

Consulting Committee Designer Designer Circulation Business Reporter

Mollie Burlingame Chris Johnson Amanda Reed Larisa Severson Maggi Stivers

Administration Publisher Editor Advertising Director Business Manager Circulation Manager Customer Service Supervisor

Dennis Doeden Matt Cory John Svingen Tammie Brooks Tim Webb Eve Rongstad

To Advertise 218-333-9200 inmagazine@bemidjipioneer.com

Questions and Feedback Email inMagazine at inmagazine@bemidjipioneer.com Volume 3, Issue 2

Copyright © 2016 Bemidji Pioneer inMagazine

All rights reserved. Although some parts of this publication may be reproduced and reprinted, we require that prior permission be obtained.

in Magazine Community | Life | Family

How Bemidjian Are you?

OUT WHO THE NUMBER 1 BABE IN YOUR LIFE IS

10

Get healthier skin with these DOS AND DON’TS OF SKIN CARE

AERIAL ARTISTS ZERO GRAVITY FITNESS AT BABE’S PLAYGROUND

+

Bemidji artist Jessie Marianiello finds new life in Uganda

inMagazine’s mission is to be Bemidji’s and the surrounding area’s local lifestyle magazine. We strive to enhance the quality of life for the people of the Bemidji area by informing them about all of the amazing people who live in our community. Our concentration is on everything local: fashion, food, health, and most importantly, unique individuals and stories.

ON THE COVER

Spring 2016

TAKE OUR QUIZ TO FIND

Larisa cooks a romantic meal for two for under $50.

You can too!

08

Above photo by Jessie Marianiello

Take a zero-gravity tour of Babe’s Playground with reporter Kyle Farris.

The cover photo was taken by photographer, Jillian Gandsey.

We strive to maintain a high level of integrity as an inspiring, local media presence for our readers and provide advertisers with a high-quality, effective marketing medium.

Read the award-winning inMagazine online!

Visit www.bemidjipioneer.com, then click on inMagazine near the bottom of the page.

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Spring 2016

CMYK / .ai

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facebook.com/inMagBemidji

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20 26

inside Spring 2016

Features 08 Jessie’s Joy

07

Bemidji artist Jessie Marianiello finds new purpose helping families in need in Uganda.

20

Herings’ journey: The H2Odessy

26

Access to aerial arts in Bemidji

34

A look inside

Betsy and Kent Hering share their story of biking cross-country to raise money for a safe drinking water charity.

Join staff writer Kyle Farris as he shares his experience attempting to defy gravity at Babe’s Playground.

We’ve partnered with local realtor Dick Phelps who gives us a sneak peek at a featured home.

14 33

In this issue

06 07 12 13 14 17 18 30 32 33 37 38

How Bemidjian are you?

Homemade candles Beginner gardening Lawn care in style: Profile Chocolates Plus Chattin’ with Dan Carlson in health: Skin care Wellness with Wendy Larisa cooks dinner for two Spring cleaning Where is it?

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 5

How are you?

Tally up how many you have done, said, or do and see where you rank! °° Attend Beaver hockey games regularly. °° Wear orange or camo attire daily, starting Nov. 1st – Or all year. °° You’ve used weird pronunciations of Bemidji. For example: Buh-Midji or Brrr-Midji. °° Refer to the roads as “new 71” and “old 71” instead of saying “Bemidji Avenue.” °° You know the real Paul Bunyan and Babe the Blue Ox reside in Bemidji. °° You’ve used Lake Bemidji as a parking lot. °° Give directions using North, South, East or West °° When someone says to meet at “BV,” you know it means Buena Vista. °° The No. 1 babe in your life is an ox. °° You enjoy hot dishes (not casseroles). °° Saying “goodbye” takes at least 20 minutes, if not an hour. °° Attended at least one, if not all, meat raffles. °° You spend one summer weekend watching people paddle around in dragon boats. °° You measure distance in minutes, not miles.

0-5 Not Even Close

6-10 almost there!

11-14 Jackpot!

time to visit paul & babe.

needs more flannel.

you are a true bemidjian!

6 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

CANDLES DIY: Homemade soy candles

By Jillian Gandsey & Danielle Carty What you need: • Wax, preferably soy • Candle wicks • Candlemaking pitcher

(Something to melt wax in)

• Candle scents, or essential oils • Container for candle • Skewers, chopsticks (We used a pen) • Hot glue gun • Scissors

Making our own candles turned out to be a lot easier (and less messy) than we predicted. We love candles and fresh spring scents, so we figured it would be more beneficial and cost-effective to make and be able to customize our own. And who can turn down a DIY project with friends?

Note: If you use soy wax, you’ll want to use wicks that work with soy wax. We used soy because it burns cleaner and the candles last much longer.

One: Make sure your candle container (We found ours at McKenzie Place) is clean and your hot glue gun is warm and ready to go. Glue the wick to the bottom of the container, getting it as centered as possible. Roll the wick onto a skewer (or a pen, like we used) to hold it up and keep it straight when you pour in the wax.

Two: Pour your wax chips into the candlemaking pitcher. We had a two-pound bag and used about one pound for each candle and had a little leftover.

Three: Place the pitcher on the stove and melt the wax, stirring occasionally. Once melted, add your scent. We used NOW brand essential oils.

They both were very strong citrus scents, which is great for spring.

Four: Once the wax is liquid, pour it into your candle containers. Hold the wick tight so it doesn’t become crooked in the wax.

Five: Let the wax harden. It will take a few hours, depending on how large your candles are. Once it hardens, cut the wick down and enjoy!

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 7

Jessie’s Joy

Bemidji artist finds new life in Eastern Africa

By Bethany 8 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

Wesley contributor

Photography courtesy of Jessie

Marianiello

Joy brought Jessie Marianiello to Africa – and now Jessie is spreading a different kind of joy throughout the Ugandan village she now loves.

Last August, Jessie embarked on a mission trip to Bukibokolo, a village in the Bududa District of Uganda, where she met Joy, her 12-year-old sponsor child and taught photography to a group of 14 kids who became known as her “Camera Crew.”

She bonded not only with those children but also with their mothers and grandmothers, many of whom had been widowed by disease and malnutrition. She met a group of women who banded together to pool a small amount of money so that a new widow could take out a low-interest loan to cover the costs of her husband’s burial.

“They just come together because nobody has anything,” Jessie said. “I was like, ‘I can do something with this.’ I just felt like it had been put in my hands.”

That was the inspiration for what would become The Joy Collective, the nonprofit Jessie has founded to further open opportunities to the children and women who live in the village.

“I’ve never felt more comfortable anywhere in my life,” said Jessie, who plans to permanently move to Uganda by the end of summer. “... I’ve felt like I’ve been looking for home for a long time now and now I feel like, ‘Finally, I’ve found it.’” *** A Bemidji-based artist, Jessie has long been traveling the world photographing and painting stray animals. She and her fiancé, Carl Bratlien, had planned to buy two motorcycles and travel from the Arctic Circle down to the bottom of Argentina as part of her stray-animals project.

“There was one point … where I said, ‘I know this sounds really weird, but I can imagine us starting an orphanage somewhere.

I don’t know where but we’ll know where it is when we find it,’ and he, without missing a beat, was like, ‘Yes,’ and we both felt it,” Jessie said.

In November 2014, Carl died in a motorcycle accident in North Dakota. inMagazine readers were first introduced to Jessie that following spring, when she shared her grief journey in hopes of helping others struggling through their own difficult circumstances.

“When he died … I totally gave my life to God. It was all gone and I wanted to be used for whatever I was supposed to be used for,” Jessie said. “ … There always was this quiet unspoken prayer. Even though I never would have verbalized it … I was searching.”

Last spring, she heard about Hands of Action International, a Bemidji nonprofit that

does mission work in Bukibokolo. Hands of Action International founded and supports a growing school there and implemented a children’s feeding program through the school that provides students with what is too frequently their only meal of the day.

“It’s very rural (there), very poor … But it doesn’t matter what the weather is like, those kids will walk and come to school,” said Jenn Anderson, who founded the nonprofit in 2009. “... In the morning you can hear the kids singing from all over the mountains.”

By the end of the first year, 189 students were enrolled and now there are 550.

“It’s just so cool. The kids are so grateful,” Anderson said. “... They have developed a musical program and they are trying to preserve their culture so they have traditional dances, performances and singing. … They’re learning English now too which is really cool because English is one of the main languages in Uganda. In order to do business, you really need to know English.”

Hands of Action International – now co-led

by Anderson and Jennifer Kovach, who joined in 2011 – has also implemented a women’s program there through which dozens of women are compensated for sewing and beadwork. A selection of their work can be seen at the Least of These, a gift shop located at 310 Fourth St. NW in downtown Bemidji. The shop supports Hands of Action International by selling fair trade items and hosting a make-and-take art studio.

“Our whole mission for Hands of Action International is to empower people … to use their time, power and energy to be the change they wish to see in the world,” Anderson said. “(Jessie) is one of those success stories. She just said, ‘Bring me to Africa with you and then I’m going to take off and do my own thing.’

When she said she was going to move there, I pretty much already assumed (so).” *** On a Hands in Action mission trip last August, Jessie was the group’s photographer, documenting its work and experiences, but she also taught photography to local children, teaching them about light and perspective.

“We had this language barrier but it didn’t matter, they totally got it,” Jessie said. “I donated cameras … and for one night they each got to do anything they wanted with it. … I just wanted to see the world through their eyes.”

After two weeks, Hands of Action volunteers left but Jessie stayed another week as the village quieted and settled back into its daily routines.

“People knew what had happened to me and that I had lost my fiance,” she said. “It’s amazing how, in Africa, people have lost so Spring 2016

inMagazine | 9

much, death is so common, but it was amazing how present and empathetic they would be. It was really beautiful – and I don’t think I could have understood their losses without having suffered my own loss.”

She was encouraged to meet with a woman whose husband had recently died by suicide.

“She had a breakdown,” Jessie said.

“They have six kids and you can’t afford to have a breakdown. You don’t have time, you don’t have food, no matter what happens, you have to keep going.”

Jessie met with the widow for about an hour.

“She doesn’t speak any English so I don’t know that we spoke anything together, but whatever we exchanged 10 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

was complete and beautiful,” she said.

“We shared tears together, we laughed together.” *** The Joy Collective is a two-pronged initiative. The kids’ project will provide scholarships, education, and mentorship programs; the widows’ project will focus on agriculture, education, and micro-lending opportunities.

Families there survive on a single meal a day, with many women skipping food altogether a couple of days each week so their children can eat just a bit more, Jessie said.

The women have not only buried their husbands but also their own children, having succumbed perhaps to malnutrition or malaria.

“(A woman) might have six to 12 kids of her own but a lot of times half the kids have died. Most of (the) widows have lost six kids, not as newborns but as 2- or 3- or 6-yearolds,” she said. Children could also be abandoned or orphaned so the women frequently care for other children in addition to their own.

This past winter Jessie returned to Uganda for five weeks. Using a translator, she met individually with a dozen widows to hear about the supports they would find most beneficial.

“Though I went there with the intention of just gathering information, I realized that these women were feeling hopeful and excited. I realized I couldn’t wait

For more information on the nonprofits, visit TheJoyCollective.org and handsofactioninternational.org

another six months to get started,” Jessie said.

Since the region is composed of farmers, The Joy Collective is starting with an agricultural program immediately. Jessie has contracted with a Ugandan woman who specializes in regional agricultural techniques and nutrition. She will visit the village and provide education and training to the women in Jessie’s pilot program.

“We’ll be gifting them with seeds for things such as tomatoes,” Jessie said. “These women are only eating posho and beans, which is corn meal and beans. … Right away we’re going to start getting them more nutrients and teaching them

agricultural techniques.”

They also will learn business skills, to help them learn how to sell their crops at market.

Jessie also has hired a local villager as her field manager. He will visit the widows at least twice a month and help bridge the communication divide, as there is no electricity in the village, much less cell reception or Internet.

As the program grows, Jessie envisions welcoming new groups of women, each with its own ambassador.

“Then, if we send them for education somewhere, she would go and then bring it back to the entire group when she returns,” Jessie said. ***

In naming The Joy Collective, Jessie thought back to Joy, the young girl with the piercing brown eyes and radiant smile who first drew her to Africa.

But it also was important, Jessie explained, to zero in on the quest for joy rather than hope.

“When you are in despair you are reaching for hope. The only reason you’re reaching for hope is because you are in that place of darkness,” Jessie said. “It’s good but it’s not quite right. … You can reach for hope but it’s really about getting from despair to the whole opposite side of the spectrum, to joy. Yeah, you might go back and forth a few times but that’s why we’re there, to support each other.”

Spring 2016

·

inMagazine | 11

You can

it!

Gardening for beginners No summer’s pleasure surpasses the satisfaction of growing vegetables or flowers.

Constant changes and challenges in the process mean a no-boredom workout enhanced with fresh air, sunshine and a total escape from the stresses of employment or the demands of family.

Gardening comes with tasty produce to eat, flowers to enhance your home and a feeling of accomplishment, an “I did it” sense.

Starting small will give you experience and reduce the chance that it will all go fakakta! A small bed, a container garden (no workout here!), or a small raised bed (if soil might contain harmful substances such as petroleum distillates or lead from house paint) will not overwhelm you while you are learning.

Get advice; talk to an experienced gardener, read online basic information from a university extension source local to your state, or go to local gardening workshops. Getting fabulous ideas from magazines suggesting plants and gardening advice for California does not work in our climate. Choose easy

12 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

annuals like zinnias, marigolds or wax begonias. Green beans or lettuce give a quick reward.

Plants need three things: 1. Sunlight; 2. Soil to provide them with nutrients and a support medium for their roots; and 3. Moisture in a timely and appropriate way. Hint: A water supply near your garden saves time, your back, and helps remind you to water!

Investigate your spot.

For vegetables you will need a sunny spot with six to eight (preferably more) hours of sunshine. With flowers there is a bit more leeway because some do well in shade.

Light needs of plants must match the growing condition. A flower requiring shade will burn up in hot sun but for vegetables to produce, sunlight, not just filtered light, is needed.

Soil should have lots of organic matter. In a bed, dig in compost or composted manure. (Noncomposted manure will lead to a lot of weeds!)

Loose, friable soil allows the roots to grow easily and to take up nutrients more readily. A container garden using a container mix will require periodic additions of fertilizer dissolved in water.

Most plants require an even supply of moisture. Minerals and nutrients are dissolved in water so rootlets can absorb them allowing the plant to

photosynthesize them and grow.

Choose seeds and purchase plants that fit your space and the light requirements. After frost danger, plant according to instructions in 8-10 inch prepared, weed-free seedbed, allowing room for the plants to spread and grow.

Water plants with half strength fertilizer solution and seeds with plain water.

After seeds have germinated and plants are in the four-leaf stage, weed, and then mulch a couple of inches from plant stems with dry grass clippings (no weed killers!) or last year’s ground-up leaves to reduce weeds and keep roots cool and moist. Mulch transplants also. Water deeply, lightly fertilize periodically, and then wait until surface dries before watering again.

Weed, water, and have pride in your accomplishment.

Cathy Peck has loved plants since she could toddle in her mother’s garden.

A Master Gardener since 1984, she has killed many plants but grown more.

L

SIMPLE WAYS

TO IMPROVE YOUR

One of the best things about the dawn of spring and the return of warmer weather is the chance to get out of the house and get some fresh air. For homeowners, this is the perfect opportunity to get a start on improving the quality of your lawn.

••Aerate.

N

When the yard gets heavy usage, it’s easy for soil to become compacted, which makes it hard for air and water to reach the lawn’s roots. That can eventually make for a less-than-appealing lawn. So if your yard is the place to be come the warmer months, aerate in the spring to loosen the soil and make it easier for the lawn to withstand the months ahead.

••Stop weeds at the start.

••Remove debris that’s piled up.

Weeding is one of the most time-consuming parts of maintaining a lawn. Weeds can proliferate throughout the lawn if not addressed in a timely manner. Once weeds take root they can become a nuisance, so it’s best to treat weeds before they even have a chance to sprout. Apply a pre-emergent weed control product as soon as possible in the spring and then reapply it about three months later to ensure weeds are eradicated. That equates to much less tedious lawn maintenance during the season.

Debris has a tendency to infest a yard over the course of the winter months. Fallen branches, stones and even trash can accumulate in a yard, putting those who spend time in the yard at risk of injury once the warm weather returns. For instance, bits of twigs and pebbles that are blown across the yard during a windy winter can be embedded in the yard, making the yard less of a haven and more of a hazard. Once the grass is dry enough to walk on, walk around the property and remove any debris that’s piled up over the last few months.

••Wake up and water.

No matter how harsh the winter months might have been, spring is a great time to restore the property around your home. Caring for a lawn can take less time and effort than you think. Enjoy some fresh air while utilizing these easy lawn improvement tips.

Watering in the early mornings saves time and energy in the long run by fostering a tougher, more drought-resistant lawn. If you water early in the day, less water will be lost to evaporation. Limit watering to a few times per week, and less if you have had adequate rain. Avoid watering at night, which can expose the lawn to bacteria and attract insects.

••Mow when the lawn is dry.

It’s not adviseable to mow the lawn when it is wet. The mower blades can become clogged and coated with wet grass clippings, necessitating stopping and starting the task. Another thing to consider is lawn diseases spread more readily through wet clippings. Stick to mowing when the lawn is completely dry.

Commercial & Residential

218-209-5626

Fertilization • Weed Control • Hydroseeding Landscaping • Irrigation Installation and Maintenance In the Bemidji area, contact us at

(218) 751-5296 or 888-652-LAWN or check us out online

www.sunshinelawnandlandscape.com Spring 2016

001377723r1

Landscape & Lawn Care Spring Clean-up & De-thatching Aeration • Overseeding Fertilizing • Bobcat Work Top Soil • Class 5 • Mulch Weekly Mowing

001381284r1

Grounds Maintenance Professionals

inMagazine | 13

in

style

Profile

Q&A Sheri Ramirez with

Photography & story

by Jillian Gandsey

Sheri Ramirez operates the Blue Sky Boutique, which was run out of the Rail River Folk School in the summer of 2015.

While the vintage boutique is going through some rebranding and relocating, Sheri has been loyal to thrift shopping and vintage clothing since middle school. We sat down with her in her home to talk about everything from her shop to her relocation from Los Angeles to Bemidji.

in: Where do you shop to find all of your vintage?

SR:

Primarily, thrift stores.

I try to take small road trips.

I try to plan it out. Of course, with four kids, well three at home and a two-year-old, it’s hard to plan it all out and get it all situated. I hit The Salvation Army and Goodwill and the church thrift stores.

All of those kinds of places and it’s really a lot of hunting, rummaging through and sifting. You walk in. You scope out everything. You hit all the main areas. I have an idea of what I’m looking for.

14 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

in: How often do

you visit each spot?

in: Certain style period in history?

in:

SR: Ideally, I would

SR: Definitely late ’60s

SR:

love to probably go back at least once a month. It’s hard. Here in town, I’ll go to some of the thrift stores and the church shops here.

For a while there I was going every week but that gets kind of tiring. Then you’re looking at the same stuff all the time and more and more vintage is so hard to find in your typical thrift store. It has been picked over. So that makes it hard to find, but when you do, it’s exciting.

in: Do you look online at all?

SR: I look online. I look on Etsy. Usually it’s kind of for myself. If I have a particular item like vintage bell-bottom Levi’s; I love that. And those are very hard to find usually. But I’ll go online if I can find a good deal on them and they’re my size then I’ll try to snatch them.

in: Is that what you’re wearing today?

SR:

Yep and a threadbare India blouse.

in:

Do you remember where you got it?

SR:

No. Probably one of my searches. It’s been awhile since I’ve had this one that’s why it’s just… It’s a go-to. I just love the rainbow threads through it. That’s one of my favorite things about it too, and the bells.

and early ’70s. The music has a lot to do with it.

in:

Who are your style icons from that time?

SR: What’s funny is

probably more the men than the woman of the era.

I think of Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, Robert Plant and of course Stevie Nicks back in the day. She had great clothes. Even Joni Mitchell, Joan Baez. Gloria Steinem, for sure. If I wanted to put on more of a professional look, it would be Gloria Steinem.

in:

What’s always in your handbag and with you?

SR: Let me tell you, this

has been an ongoing thing that’s been haunting me.

This needs to cleaned out.

Usually the basics. Usually it’s a lip balm and at least a couple handkerchiefs in there. I’m a granny, handkerchiefs kind of gal.

My nose is always running out here. The weather is always changing and my nose doesn’t know what to think of that. Probably some sort of toy or bottle. Mom stuff. Never is there a comb or brush when I need one.

in: You’re originally from Los Angeles?

SR:

Yep. Born and raised there, my husband and I. Our first three were born there and we’ve been here, it will be nine years in August, so eight years.

What brought you to Bemidji?

“ Express

yourself.

It really is a tool just to say, ‘Hey this is part of who I am.’ And it changes.

It evolves just like we do as people.

Be mindful of what you’re buying too. Be a mindful, conscious consumer.

“

Freedom, I guess in a sense. Not being able to be bothered by our neighbors and have nature.

Really. It’s kind of like, you see in the cracks on concrete, the flowers are always trying to grow out of the concrete and it was just starting to really feel that way. Why we moved from the warmest place in the U.S. to the coldest place pretty much in the U.S. It’s OK. It’s worth it.

We still haven’t figured out an escape plan for winter yet but that’s another dream. Definitely miss the food out there. Miss the culture. The ocean is a big one. Lakes just aren’t the same as beautiful as they are. So much more grounded here. People are so much more kind.

Freedom is kind of a deal because we’re able to be more ourselves here. It’s not so fast-paced and everybody’s trying to keep up with everybody in L.A. and not just with their cars.

in:

Most customers buy stuff from your Etsy shop?

SR:

Yeah. It’s funny because, here I am, from L.A., and then I have people I don’t know from L.A. buying from my shop.

Because out there it’s almost impossible to find it on your own at a thrift store. You have to go to the vintage shops where they’re charging you outrageous amounts of money.

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 15

“You walk in. You scope out everything. You hit all the main areas. I have an idea of what I’m looking for.” in: What’s your fashion philosophy?

SR: Have fun, No. 1. Don’t be afraid of it. Express

yourself. It really is a tool just to say, “Hey this is part of who I am.” And it changes. It evolves just like we do as people. Be mindful of what you’re buying too. Be a mindful conscious consumer. I can’t stress that enough but I’ll leave the documentary makers to take care of the fashion industry and what they’re doing to us. It really doesn’t get talked about enough and there are some great documentaries about fast fashion and why people should probably shop and thrift stores more, buy second hand and of course shop local.

in:

What’s the craziest item you’ve found while looking for vintage clothes?

SR:

I can’t come up with anything because what’s crazy for someone else isn’t crazy for me. I’ve been wearing vintage clothing for quite some time, since probably eighth grade. On and off really because I went through those phases, too, where I thought, “Oh no I have to start shopping in the malls.” It’s that whole fitting in thing and I thought, you know, it’s so costly to buy stuff from the mall and the quality just isn’t there anymore. It’s always fun to find something that’s just unique, whether it’s for me or not I could find that early ’60s mod dress that I know some girl out there is just going to die for and it’s outrageous colors and patterns.

That’s what’s fun about having a shop. I’m not just shopping for me, I’m shopping for other people.

Momma wants me.

·

Bad. 001364880r1

For all Your Real Estate Needs

218-766-5263

rphelps@century21dickinson.com 16 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

001334980r1

Richard Phelps

318 Beltrami Ave NW Bemidji, MN 56601 (218) 444-4367 • www.kelseysjewelry.net

Keeping the Tradition with

Chocolate

By Maggi

Stivers staff writer

Photography by Danielle

Carty

Chocolate is often incorporated into several holidays — Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Halloween and Easter — to name a few.

“We just got done with Christmas, which is our biggest holiday, just because it’s a long holiday. (For) Valentine’s Day, we have to start a little bit early, but it’s just an intense couple of days of sales and then Easter is a couples weeks of steady sales,” Janelle Hart, owner of Chocolates Plus, said.

To accommodate for the Easter holiday, Chocolates Plus makes several, similar Easter-themed items each year.

“We do make a lot of same things that we have been making each year just because it becomes a part of a holiday tradition. If we quit making something, we hear about it,” Hart said.

Typical Easter chocolate candies include a variety, including those that focus on the religious aspect of the holiday and those that don’t.

“Lots of molded items like suckers and the chocolate bunnies. Things that can easily go into an Easter basket,” Hart said, “suckers that say ‘He has Risen’ or crosses because we think it’s important that we have those, too.”

Chocolates Plus also prepares prepackaged items including a chocolate covered chow mein noodles in a nest filled with jelly beans.

“They make a great hostess gift. If you’re going somewhere for Easter dinner, you could just set it on the table and then everyone could pick off it,” Hart said.

To create new treats, the Chocolates Plus staff sometimes turns to the Internet for inspiration.

“We’ll go Pinterest sometimes and then we’ll modify it so it’s not an exact duplicate of what we have seen. We kind of give it our own spin,” Hart said.

Chocolates Plus will begin to fill their shelves with bunnies around the beginning of March since the Easter holiday falls on the last Sunday in March this year.

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 17

Chattin’ With...

DAN CARLSON

By Matt Cory editor Photography by Maggi

Stivers

Sharks.

Even the word sounds ominous. (Admit it, you’re playing the theme from “Jaws” in your head right now.)

Sharks conjure up images of fins gliding above the surface, with razor sharp teeth below; of Robert Shaw frantically trying to fend off “Bruce” and failing, bitingly. There I go referencing “Jaws” again.

I admit, I’m a bit of a shark-ophile. I’ve been obsessed with sharks ever since the summer of 1975 and that aforementioned movie. The flick inspired countless trips to the school and public libraries, poring over countless stories and photographs. My office today is ordained with shark posters, stuffed shark toys, figurines, shark bottle openers, shark books. . .

Sharks, sharks, sharks.

Is there a better week than Shark Week? No. Sharks, sharks, sharks.

There’s Makos, Tigers, Bulls, Hammerheads, Black Tip, White Tip, Nurse sharks and the biggie, the Great White.

But I’ve never been in the water with sharks. Don’t worry, it’s on the bucket list.

So I was excited when I learned about 18 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

Dan Carlson, who, along with wife, Michelle, has run The Dive Depot in Bemidji for the past 15 years.

The Dive Depot offers certified instruction in scuba diving and snorkeling, as well as equipment and travel experiences to area lakes and even to diving hot spots like Florida, the Caribbean, Cozumel, Mexico and Roatan, Honduras.

Originally from Lancaster, Minn., Carlson found and fell in love with diving while in the U.S. Navy after high school. I sat down recently to talk to him about diving, and specifically diving with sharks.

Dan tells this funny story before our interview officially starts, about a time when he was diving in Florida with a group that included two teenage girls and they encountered a reef shark.

“It may have been that shark or another in that area that when we first hit the water and, made the splashing noise, one girl said started screaming “There’s a shark, coming right at you, coming right at you” and I looked down underwater; it came from behind me and it went right between my fins. The girls were going “Are we getting back in the boat” No, I said, ‘Let’s go diving.’

in: How long have you been diving?

DC: 25 years now. in: What got you into diving?

DC: I’m originally from Lancaster, Minn., right up on the Canadian border. Right after high school, I joined the Navy and I was fortunate to get stationed in Hawaii So, I was stationed in Hawaii for three years, three of my six years. And that’s where I really started diving. in: How many times have you dove or been in the water when sharks are present?

DC: Diving in Cozumel, we see a lot of nurse sharks there; so those will be more docile, they aren’t free-swimming, typically sitting in a spot. Then diving in Hawaii, there are lot of sharks around, but the whole time I was there (in the Navy), I never saw a shark. I was on dives where people saw sharks and even had a buddy signal to me that he saw a shark, but. . .

Diving in the Florida Keys, we saw sharks down there, mostly reef sharks. Probably 100 or more times (he’s been in the water with sharks in the area).

an excitement of seeing this animal in its habitat, and I don’t see sharks as a threat. They are not accustomed to eating something that’s blowing bubbles, making all kinds of noise. They don’t go after scuba divers. And so for me it is really thrilling to see something like that; it’s thrilling to see a large animal like that — being able to experience that and to see them, they are just incredible to watch. in: When you are taking people on diving trips, what kinds of things are you instructing them if there are sharks in the water?

DC: The most important thing, and what I really stress in my classes, is good diving techniques — having good habits... of keeping your hands in, because they are really ineffective underwater anyway; kicking nice and slow with your fins and having good buoyancy control, where you are just floating in the water. If -Dan Carlson you have bad buoyancy control and are used to using your hands, you look like something that’s in distress in the water. If you don’t have the good skills, you can appear to be prey in the water; something that… and that’s going to attract and it’s going to trigger a feeding instinct in a shark. The most important thing is having good habits.

For me, it is an excitement of seeing this animal in its habitat, and I don’t see sharks as a threat.

in: Have you ever come across the Bull Sharks, the Great Whites or Makos?

DC: In Hawaii, they would have been around, there’s more variety of sharks there, but I just didn’t see them.

Different places we go, they have the shark-feeding dives. I am not a fan of those. I don’t promote them, I don’t go on them. We have had people go on those, but it is a very structured dive; and I am not a fan of associating food with divers. For me it is training a shark to associate food with scuba divers. Florida did it for awhile, people started getting bit, and then they banned it. And I am up here in northern Minnesota going “We don’t feed bears.”. . . There are some places that are doing it right and educating people intelligently about the sharks but there are still a lot of places that are gonna open up and charge hundreds of dollars for not a well-run... There are places in Florida that will charge you $500 a person to go out and see a shark. in: What was the first shark you saw?

DC: It would have been around 2000. For me, it is

in: How do people react when seeing a shark? What have you seen over the years?

DC: I’ve seen the full range — of people being reckless: ‘I’m going to go up and touch the shark,” which I wouldn’t do. I’ll go look at them, but I’m not going to provoke them or something — to people telling me they will not go scuba diving because of sharks. And an interesting note, it’s diving history now, is that one of the biggest impacts to recreational diving when it was really getting going in the ’70s, and was becoming more and more popular, and then the movie “Jaws” came out. It had a huge impact that people did not want to go diving because of that movie. in: Overall, you’ve had positive experiences with sharks. No trepidation about diving with them?

DC: None. I look forward to capturing a shark on video, catching a photo or video. I guess I don’t seek them out, where I am paying extra to make sure I am seeing a shark.

·

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 19

Herings’ Journey:

20 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

the

H2Odessy

by Matthew

T

o most people, 5,300 miles would be a long journey in a motor vehicle, let alone pedaling tricycles.

But that’s just what Kent and Betsy Hering did, though, to raise money for a safe drinking water charity.

As an added bonus, the couple was able to see what is best in America, from the settings, to the food and especially the people.

The Herings’ journey by tricycle took place from April 5-July 31 last year, beginning in San Diego and extending through much of the southern United States and along the East Coast before ending in Bar Harbor, Maine.

The Bemidji couple already had experience with longdistance cycling; they took part in a ride dubbed the Underground Railroad from Mobile, Ala., to Niagra Falls, N.Y. in 2014.

“We learned a lot on that ride. One thing we found with riding with a group is trying to go the pace of the group took a bit of fun out of it for us and increased the chance of injury, so it was important for us to go on a route that allowed us to listen to our bodies,” Kent said.

“So, that’s the way we did it, we would stop if we were tired, if we needed to take a day off we would do so.”

Planning for the long trek across the country began in November 2014. As part of their adventure, the Herings decided to raise money for safe drinking water

Liedke staff writer

through an organization called WaterAid. By the time spring closed in, the couple had titled their adventure the H2Odyssey and had a goal of raising $10,000 for the charity.

“We are doing this because one child dying of a waterborne disease is too many and one child dying every minute doesn’t have to happen. Together with your help we can change this,” said the Herings’ brochure they created.

WaterAid is an organization that works in 26 of the world’s poorest countries and helps communities set up and manage practical and sustainable water, sanitation and hygiene projects.

With a mission in mind, the Herings also had to develop a method for traveling across the country — and a route.

“We wanted to go on routes that were established by the Adventure Cycling Association. They screen all of the routes and try to find the safest ways where you can cycle,” Kent said. “They keep you out of these situations like where you get to a river crossing and the sign for a bridge might say ‘No cycling allowed.”

“We knew that we didn’t want to take just one of the routes from coast to coast, so we decided to start in San Diego and make it to the other corner of the country in Maine,” Betsy said. “We ended up utilizing five of their established routes. The key was always being able Spring 2016

inMagazine | 21

to keep our options open. Our goal was to enjoy ourselves.”

As part of their planning, the Herings also developed a way to allow both of them to keep from getting injured as well as becoming too fatigued. They played “Leapfrog.”

Betsy would ride in the morning until about noon while Kent would get a leisurely start to his morning and meet up with Betsy’s location using a truck.

After breaking for lunch, the two would switch, with Betsy going ahead and SAN DIEGO, CA setting up camp for the night while Kent April 5, 2015 would pedal.

The couple had prepared spots in advance to stop along the way and had an arrangement that if Kent didn’t get to a certain point by 6 p.m., Betsy would go back on the path and see where he was.

“It was necessary since we knew cell phone coverage wouldn’t always be reliable,” Kent said.

The Journey

After months of planning, the couple packed up their truck and headed southwest from their home in Bemidji. After days of traveling through the western United States, the couple got to pedaling and eventually made their way through the Lone Star State.

“I got to finally experience a night ride in the desert in western Texas and it was beautiful,” Kent said. “As we kept riding, we liked to be spontaneous.

We didn’t have a list of places where we wanted to go.”

“When we did get into town, though, we would always ask people about the best restaurant,” said Betsy. “We listened to people and I think the kindness from the people we met on the road was the best part.”

One woman in particular helped the couple on one of the more exhausting sections of their trip, according to Betsy.

“I was climbing this hill and this car came up behind me and a voice came out saying ‘You’re almost there, keep it up,’” Betsy said. “So at the top of the hill the lady driving the car came back with water, fruit and snacks for us. She said to us, ‘You’re crazy, but it’s a good kind of crazy.’”

“Looking back, we never met any bad people. For nearly four months, that’s pretty impressive,” Kent said. “We really saw a beautiful cross section of America from a people standpoint.”

Another noticeable was the food.

“We saw the cuisine change, like when we were riding by the crawfish farms in Louisiana. When I started seeing grits being served in places, I really knew I was in the South,” Betsy said. “It’s one of the 22 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

“We decided to start in San Diego and make it to the other corner of the country in Maine ...Our goal was to enjoy ourselves.”

-Betsy Hering

things you take away, you start to see what makes the states. You see what makes Louisiana, Louisiana, you see what makes Maine, Maine.”

As for their favorite foods along the journey, Kent preferred the dishes served in Louisiana while Betsy enjoyed those Maine lobsters. The couple even were able to eat home-cooked meals, too, thanks to an organization called the Warm Showers Community.

“Warm Showers is where you open your home to fellow cyclists and they open their homes to you,” Betsy said.

“We got to stay at some of those places and they were great. They also featured some really good cooks.”

As they closed in on Maine, Betsy described how many plants around them on their ride always seemed to be in bloom, “We were chasing spring.”

“As we went across the country, the overall feeling I

came away with was just how big America is,” Kent said.

“It takes a long time to drive across the United States, but when you’re pedaling it, you get that feeling even more.”

When they finally arrived in Bar Harbor, site of Acadia National Park, the couple decided to spend some time and ride in peace and quiet without having to worry about traffic signals.

“At the end of it all, we were pretty anxious to get back,” Betsy said. “The drive back was pretty peaceful and it just amazed me how many miles you cover in a day. There was certainly a lot to attend to when we got back, too.”

“In the beginning, we had to believe we could do it, and when we finished, we couldn’t believe that we did it,” Kent said.

The duo raised more than $10,000 and the couple plan on doing more rides in the future, albeit a bit shorter.

“We’re looking at the MS ride across Minnesota and are also planning for a week long ride in Colorado to raise money for children in India who were rescued from human trafficking.”

For more on Betsy and Kent’s ride through the states, visit www.betsyandkent.com.

·

Algodones Dunes, CA April 10, 2015

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 23

“Looking back, we never met any bad people. For nearly four months, that’s pretty impressive. We really saw a beautiful cross section of America from a people standpoint.”

-Kent Hering

PHOTOS

ONLINE

Look for more photos of Betsy & Kent’s H2Odessey at www.inmagazine.areavoices.com

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Access to

aerial arts in Bemidji Babe’s Playground offers classes for everyone

by Kyle

Farris staff writer | Photography by Jillian Gandsey

Day One: “I’m not sore at all.”

Day Two: “The shampoo bottle got heavy.”

Day Three: “How did I get in the shower yesterday?”

It took two hours at Babe’s Playground, a new fitness studio here, to steal a few days of my youth, to give me a sense at 22 how I might feel at 82. I visited on a Tuesday, and it wasn’t until Friday that I started to regain functionality of my arms and legs, that I stopped shuffling around the office with the same plodding pace as masked killers in bad movies.

It’s not that I’m a stranger to a challenging workout. It’s just that I had never hung upside down, like a possum from a tree, from these long and strong silk ribbons 26 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

that drop down from the ceiling. I had never twisted my hanging body into a pose called “The Gazelle.” And I certainly had never danced up and down on a sleek metal pole, if you can call what I did dancing.

Babe’s Playground, tucked at the corner of Third Street and Beltrami Avenue, is a place for firsts. The secondfloor studio opened in early January to people who want to get into better shape, people willing to bend their bodies and grow their comfort zones, and pay to do it.

“I don’t know of another place like this,” said owner Blair Treuer, who opened the studio after stumbling into a pole fitness class several years ago. She said no fitness studio she has seen brings together all the workouts that

Babe’s does.

There’s pole dancing and pole fitness, aerial silks and aerial hoop, antigravity hammock and strength and conditioning, to which the usual rules of gravity apply. And coming soon: ballet.

“It started as a fantasy,” Treuer said. “It was a gamble, and I don’t even like gambling quarters.”

Businesses like Babe’s are gaining popularity nationally as people trade dumbbells for yoga mats.

Babe’s at first glance is more circus than gym, a place where people tie themselves into pretzels, spinning their way through hoops and around poles, striking poses that should be impossible.

“I promise,” Treuer said.

“It’s easier than it looks.”

So sweatpantsed and sneakered I came to

my first class one night: aerial silks, taught by Chad. All the instructors at Babe’s seem plucked from motivational workout videos, all in excellent shape, all so positiveminded it starts to rub off a little.

Chad showed the class how to tie the silks into knots that can cradle the body. From the cradle, you can stretch into poses named after animals, hang upside down awhile, do midair crunches. It’s about as fun as crunches can get.

“Nobody will get hurt today,” Chad said as I dangled head first from a knot I hoped I had tied right. I wondered if Chad thought my name was Nobody, but his arms worked the room like tentacles, tightening knots, supporting

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“Maybe the first class is awkward. You go to the first class, though, and everybody’s at the same place. It’s just natural.”

- Michaela Willer

dismounts, steadying a wayward reporter.

Silks was fun, like levitating, like being 5 again and showing off on the monkey bars. At hour’s end, I felt I hadn’t done much but tie and hang and hope.

“You don’t feel like you just worked out,” said Julie Kaiser, who has been going for months now and talked to me about a week after our class. “But I bet you were sore the next day.”

In our class of mostly 20-something women, she and I were the exceptions.

Kaiser is 53. “Older,” she said. “A bigger gal.” She’s tried a few different classes at Babe’s, hooked on the aerial arts since she started taking pole a couple years ago.

“The progress is so much slower and harder,” said 28 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

Kaiser, who also goes to a conventional gym. “I’ve thought many times: What keeps me coming back?

“Small steps, incremental progress. I want to keep getting it.”

Kaiser’s family history is riddled with arthritis and back surgeries that haven’t yet touched her. Back when she started pole, she couldn’t lift herself off the ground.

“This keeps me strong and hopefully young,” said Kaiser, who plans to enter pole competitions. “It’s a great thing at my age and my size to do these things I never thought I would.”

The pole work here is nothing like you’d find at other dimly lit establishments. A lot of it involves wrapping your arm or leg around the pole for support, then doing a modified crunch or stretch. Only occasionally was I self-conscious about what I was doing, was I aware that a photographer, my partner on the story, could blackmail me with a press of her finger.

“Maybe the first class is awkward,” said Michaela Willer, who is 25 and a pole veteran by now. “You go to the first class, though, and everybody’s at the same place.

It’s just natural.”

Absorbed in my pole work as I was, I didn’t get a chance to look around the rest of the room. Willer was maybe tops in the class, though. Her moves made me feel a little bad about mine.

“I was not an athlete whatsoever,” Willer said. “I would go to the gym and just run or whatever. Now I take a lot of personal pride in the mental transformation, of seeing

“We wanted it to be intergenerational.

We believe in this.

We want to enrich lives.”

- Blair Treuer

things and thinking that I’ll never be able to do them, and then doing them.”

Among the people I met, pole was the big thing, what got them interested in the aerial arts at all. Treuer started in a pole class and taught one before opening Babe’s.

That’s how Kaiser and Willer got to know her, and how they heard about the new studio.

“But we knew pole wouldn’t be enough,” Treuer said.

“We needed more.”

Hence the other classes. There’s circus arts for kids, antigravity hammock for mostly older adults. There are beginner, intermediate and advanced levels.

“We wanted it to be intergenerational,” Treuer said. “We believe in this. We want to enrich lives.”

She has a gleaming vision of young and old, of those who are fit and those who are getting there, all doing this stuff, together. So Babe’s opening day was hard for her.

“Nobody came,” Treuer said. Now people at the salon tell her what a great job she’s doing.

Classes are filling up, enough so that Treuer is looking for classes to add. People who come once, she said, almost always come again, hooked.

Having dangled, having Gazelled, having worked a pole in ways difficult to explain to my grandma, I can understand this.

It’s a strange thing to feel one day as if you’re levitating, and then hours later as if you can’t walk, and for that descent to feel like progress.

·

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 29

in

health

Top 10 Dos and Don’ts of

Healthy Skin Have you ever heard the saying “You are what you eat”? That could not be truer than with our skin. The health and appearance of our skin is often a direct reflection of what we consume, but it’s not just the diet to consider. There are other factors that contribute to healthy skin as well. Looking in the mirror can be the first step to recognizing a problem in the diet, but the next is taking a look at your entire lifestyle.

Dos...

1 2 3 4 5 6

Eat a well-balanced, whole foods diet full of skin super foods, omega 3s, vitamins and minerals.

Drink plenty of water! Be sure to get the recommended eight glasses a day and choose foods such as watermelons, strawberries and peaches, which are naturally full of water.

Be sure to eat some sort of fermented food such as yogurt, kefir, sauerkraut or miso to keep the gut bacteria in balance.

Make sure to get plenty of antioxidant rich foods, such as green tea, berries, tomatoes, green leafy vegetables, pomegranates and kale. These antioxidants are your first defense against aging skin.

To fight wrinkles be sure to get an appropriate amount of healthy fats. This would include avocado, nuts, seeds and oily fish.

Add supplements when unable to adequately consume probiotics, healthy fats, or vitamins and minerals.

30 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

7 8 9 10

Always wear sunscreen, yes even in the winter, the diet can only go so far, some protection is needed on the outside as well.

Add yoga or other stretching to your exercise routine. Yoga helps the body eliminate toxins, reduces stress and improves circulation — all important things for skin health.

Sleep!

Make sure to make sleep a priority.

Reduce stress. Stress shows up on the face instantly so practice breathing exercises, meditation or find some other way to decompress when you are feeling overwhelmed.

Skin Super Foods!

Turmeric Chia seeds Salmon Tomatoes Berries

Green Tea Green leafy vegetables Avocado Sprouts

Olive oil Pumpkin seeds Pomegranate Carrots

Don’ts...

1 2 Don’t smoke!

3 4 Don’t suntan.

5 6 7

Stop eating so much added sugar!! Excess sugar is linked to a variety of health concerns and can promote wrinkles and inflammation in skin. First place to make a change here is with sugary beverages.

Limit (or eliminate) processed and junk food.

If it comes in a box, it’s processed. Not ready to make that drastic of a change, then start easy by making a rule to only buy foods with five ingredients or less.

If you smoke now, make it a priority to quit.

Monitor your caffeine intake. Try replacing afternoon coffee with hot teas and warm lemon water.

Enough said.

ROOM RENTAL

Don’t go to bed with a dirty face. Throughout the day our skin has been exposed to countless chemicals, bacteria and dirt.

Washing that off at the end of the day gives our skin a chance to breath and relax. Follow up with a moisturizer and a good night’s rest and you will wake up refreshed and one step closer to your perfect skin.

supplement recommendations or to create an individualized skin care diet just for you, contact Jessica at Core Health and Nutrition to schedule a free consult.

Limit alcohol intake. Alcohol can dry out our skin and cause blotchiness. It also can impede our decision-making process, causing us to do things that are harmful to our skin such as smoke, not wash our face, eat processed sugary foods, etc. Making a healthy selection, such as choosing red wine, and moderation are key here.

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Don’t overdo it in the product department. It is important to use the right products for your skin, but too much can be problematic.

For more skin care advice,

Take shorter showers and turn down the temperature. That scalding hot water that we all love to stand under on a cold winter day is stripping our skin of its natural protective layer.

mention this ad for

8 9 10

Don’t sweat the small stuff. Try to reduce your stress by not worrying so much about everything. Recognize the things you can handle right now and deal with those, leave any other worries for another day.

Jessica Carter is a registered and licensed dietitian and the founder and president of Core Health & Nutrition, LLC. Jessica earned a master’s degree in nutrition and dietetics from Eastern Michigan State University and a bachelor’s degree in biology from Bemidji State University.

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GEORGE W. NEILSON CONVENTION CENTER

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 31

When you take the time to make yourself a priority, you will have more energy and health to take care of everything and everyone else. When balance is restored in your life and you feel healthy physically, emotionally, spiritually, and mentally, you will radiate happiness, joy and a genuine love of life. The people in your life will notice. Most important, you will notice. You will be able to look in the mirror and love that person staring back at you.

How can you make yourself a No. 1 priority?

Here are 12 foundations for successful transformation that you can begin working on today: 1. Create a Vision Board or Bucket List 2. Love Yourself Unconditionally 3. Develop and Grow in your Faith 4. Seek Out Ways to get Intentionally Quiet 5. Go on a Clutter-Diet

(tangible, mental, & emotional)

6. Move Your Body, Be Active 7. Find and Have Fun With Your Passions 8. Live Your Life On Purpose 9. Pamper Yourself Without Guilt 10. Treat Your Body Like A Temple (inside and out) 11. Practice Gratitude Daily 12. Seek Out Ways to be Charitable 32 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

W h e r e d o yo u fi t i n to you r bu sy l ife?

We live in a very busy, fast-paced world. Often, we feel like our lives are spinning out of control. We have work, family, friends, church, volunteering, sports and other extracurricular activities that require our time, money, and energy.

We say “yes” more than we say “no.” Our bodies are begging us to slow down and make changes, but who has time for that? Stress shows up as high blood pressure and cholesterol, insomnia, headaches, constipation or diarrhea, unexplained aches and pains, exhaustion, inability to focus, skin problems and more.

I have an important question for you. On a scale 1 through 12 (1 being the highest priority, 12 being the lowest priority), where do you fit into your busy life?

What or who gets the most of your attention? Rate the following areas: Home Spouse Church Children School Pets Community/ Volunteering

You Work/Career Friends Extended Family Sports/ExtraCurricular Activities Vehicle/RV/Boat, etc.

What number did you give yourself? If “You” doesn’t have the number “1” in front of it, it’s time for change.

It’s not selfish to make yourself the No. 1 priority in your life, it’s selfish not to. It’s important to find a way to make yourself a priority in all of your relationships — at home, work, school, church and community.

Wendy Kay is a Certified Life Coach and Owner of Wellness with Wendy LLC. She is the author of “The Unfair Affair – How to Save and Strengthen Your Marriage, or Move on with Confidence, After Infidelity” and is also a writer and blogger. She’s currently working on her next book, “Passport to Clarity.”

My mi ssion sta tem ent is: “Together we will practice how to ‘live life well from the inside out’ so we can have the inner strength, confidence, and courage to handle the expected and unexpected BIG things that show up in our lives.”

For more information on the 12 foundations, along with inspiration, motivation and encouragement, please “like” my Facebook page and join the Resolution Revolution going all year long today: www.facebook.com/ mywellnesswithwendy.

Remember to always live your life well from the inside out.

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Larisa Severson inMagazine committee member Photography by Danielle Carty

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 33

Featured Home

A look inside inMagazine worked with Dick Phelps of Century 21 Dickinson Realtors to find and feature this beautiful family home on a twoacre lot located at 2687 Forest View Dr. NE in Bemidji. The home was listed for sale at Century 21 in late February.

With five bedrooms, three full bathrooms and one half bathroom, this home on a wooded lot is designed for a family with growing children.

Upon entering is a spacious

34 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

living area complete with a fireplace and the master bedroom and another bedroom off to the left.

Realtor Dick Phelps said that’s an important aspect of homes built for families.

“Remember that the younger the child is, the closer they want to be to mom and dad,” he said.

“The older they get, the further away. So this house is designed to accommodate that.”

The current occupants have

Photography by

Jillian Gandsey

used the bedroom near the master suite as an office. The master suite features a walk-in closet and full bathroom.

The kitchen has real hardwood floors with granite countertop, skylights and half walls, which allows air movement throughout the living area and kitchen. The cabinets were custom made for the home in Bemidji.

The dining area is close to a door that leads out to a deck, which is partially covered. The

deck area in the front of the home is also partially covered.

Occupants would have the luxury of dining at the table, breakfast bar in the kitchen or outside on the deck.

Near the kitchen is a half bathroom, which is large enough to also be used as a laundry room.

The area leads out to the attached garage and the home features another unattached garage.

Down the hallway are two bedrooms and another

full bathroom.

“I love the concept here,” Phelps said about the bathroom. “The builder had two daughters who both came in (the bathroom) and they had their own separate area.”

A towel and linen closet was installed between the sinks.

The basement hosts a huge open family room area, more bedrooms, a bathroom and plenty of storage.

“When you look at it, it’s a gigantic sectional, but it looks tiny,” Phelps said. “The original

owners had foosball table, air hockey.”

If you head left of the family room, there’s a desk built into the wall, storage area under the stairs, a bedroom and another room that doesn’t have an egress window in it.

“This could be used as a bedroom. It could be used for storage. It’s set up as a bedroom but it’s just not egressed. We legally wouldn’t count it, but now we’re talking six bedrooms.”

·

Spring 2016

inMagazine | 35

To view more of this home and others go to www.century21dickinson.com

Your One Stop

Country

Garden Center

GREENHOUSE Garden Center & Gifts

Annuals • Perennials Stop out and meet the Shrubs • Trees • Soils new owners & operators Mulch & More!

Lee & Janee Hill

Basket Parties on April 1, 2 & 9, 2016 Call to Reserve Your Spot!

Spring Open House April 30 - May 1, 2016

49274 US71, Bemidji, MN 218•751•0534 www.countrygreenhouse.com 36 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

Spring Cleaning CHECKLIST LIVING ROOM

KITCHEN Clean microwave and oven.

Wash cushions, seat, and sofa covers.

Clean dishwasher and appliances.

Clean throws, rugs, chairs, and tables.

Wipe down pantry.

Clean TV and electronics.

Scrub down fridge.

Declutter, and toss unwanted items.

Organize and toss expired foods.

Vacuum, mop, sweep floor; clean under furniture.

Clean kitchen sink and under the sink.

Clean walls and fixture.

Wipe down walls, and wash garbage can.

Clean windows, blinds, and curtains.

Clean stove top, kitchen surface areas, and floor.

Dust electronics, shelves, decor, and other surfaces.

LAUNDRY ROOM

BATHROOM Clean medicine cabinet and storage.

Clean washing machine.

Trash expired items, and declutter.

Clean/vacuum dryer vent.

Clean shower, tub, shower curtains, and walls.

Clean behind the washer and dryer.

Clean toilet, surface areas, mirror, and floor.

Organize laundry supplies.

BEDROOM

OFFICE

Clean mirrors, windows, blinds, and curtains.

Discard any old clippings, junk mail, etc.

Organize closet and drawers, and declutter.

Dust printer, computer, desk phone, etc.

Deep-Clean mattress, wash pillows, linen, and comforter.

Clean out and organize desk.

Vacuum, mop, or sweep floor; clean under furniture.

Organize files on computer.

Clean furniture, walls, and fixtures.

Clean furniture, walls, and fixtures.

Brightoutlookcleaning.com

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Bemidji 218-751-4081 • Park Rapids 218-732-3468 Spring 2016

inMagazine | 37

38 | inMagazine

Spring 2016

1. Dragonfly is located outside of City Hall. 2. Bemidji State Park Sign located at the enterance of the park.

3. This emblem is on the front side of Northwest Technical College near the enterance. 4. The turtle is part of the Outdoor Program Center sign in Diamond Point Park. 5. This mural is located on the intersection of Irvine and Third Street Northwest on the Bemidji Woolen Mills building.

5 Can you identify what these five objects are and where you can find them in Bemidji?

4

Where is it?

3 2

1

The Old Schoolhouse Shop Local - Support Local Businesses! Thank you, Bemidji, for your support!

2335 Monroe Ave SW Bemidji MN

Located: 1 mile south of Bemidji on #197 and 1 mile west on Carr Lake Road SW & Co. #11

Open all year 10 am – 5:30 pm

218-751-4723

Diane Halverson, owners of L-R: Katie Meulebroeck, Lois Dale, ter, and Katie is Diane’s daugh Lois’ is Diane e.

The Old Schoolhous for over forty years. ess busin the d owne has y famil daughter. The

Art Supplies • Picture Framing Handcrafted Gifts • Large Selection Reasonable Prices • Original Artwork Also at The Old Schoolhouse…

Diane‛s Dance Studio 50th Anniversary Reunion Dance Show

Saturday, May 28 - 10 am - 5:30 pm Former Dancers invited to visit & perform. Watch Facebook for details.

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Zoomer’s Rod Shop

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Since 1966

Ballet•Jazz•Tap•Pointe•Liturgical Classes offered ages 3 to adult We encourage dancing families!

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(L-R) 1932 Ford 5 Window Coupe and 1932 Ford Roadster.

Back L-R: Katie Meulebroeck, Terry Halverson (owner), Diane Halverson.

Locally owned appliance and Lawn Care Specialist Selling Made in America Whirlpool® Brand Appliances

418 Beltrami Ave Bemidji • 751-2420 ®

Spring 2016

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MORE CARS AVAILABLE!

inMagazine | 39