This week, Tori Torrisi shares how she decided on moving to Glens Falls after a few fun filled years living in Boston, how many layers of wallpaper she found while renovating her old city home, and her hopes for the future of wellness in Glens Falls (she’s the Clinic Director of Capital Area Physical Therapy!) - read it all below!
Tell us about yourself!
My name is Tori Torrisi and I am a physical therapist, certified athletic trainer and the Clinic Director of Capital Area Physical Therapy in Queensbury. I absolutely love my job and feel so fortunate to get to work with such an amazing team of clinicians who I also consider some of my closest friends. I live in Glens Falls with my husband Ryan and our two rescue kitties Edward and Piper.
I grew up in Clifton Park, the youngest of 4 siblings and had an amazing childhood spent mostly outdoors. Despite being the most rebellious of the bunch and my major issues with authority (sorry mom), I was always observing and learning from my family. My work ethic is 100% from my dad, my empathy for my patients I learned from my mom, and my value for the pursuit of knowledge comes from my sister Jess. I have always had some really big goals and feel comfortable taking risks because I know if something ever goes wrong, I have my family supporting me and rooting me on.
From a young age, I always wanted complete independence and control over my life (again sorry mom) so at 17 I moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida to start my undergraduate education on a rowing scholarship. During that time, I won an NCAA rowing championship, got my bachelor’s degree, and graduated with honors as a certified athletic trainer at Nova Southeastern University. After graduating I moved to Boston with my boyfriend (now husband) Ryan Simpson and was able to attend my dream school, Boston University, to become a Doctor of Physical Therapy. Living in Boston was an amazing experience and we both fell in love with city life. Our days were a loud chaotic whirlwind of late nights in dim basement bistros and long days in old libraries fueled by massive amounts of caffeine. Every day was crazy, hectic and fun.
On Life in Glens Falls
Ryan and I decided to move back to this area to be closer with our families and we stumbled upon Glens Falls while on our way to Granville to go cherry picking. Up until that point we had been looking for homes in Saratoga Springs because we missed the walkability of Boston. After strolling around downtown and looking at the beautiful old homes which surround the city, we knew we would end up in Glens Falls. We bought a beautiful old Victorian that seemed sturdy and well-loved but in need of some work. Over the last 7 months with the help of our friends and family, we have been fixing up our house and it has been pure joy to see our vision of the house come to light. We tried to include period appropriate details with some fun funky touches. This house has got some serious personality (how many homes have pink flamingo wallpaper!?).
The best part about living in Glens Falls is the atmosphere. I feel like we are in this little bubble filled with amazing people, beautiful old architecture, and great local businesses. I wish more people knew how awesome the restaurants are here! This is coming from someone who loves to eat. My personal favorites are Farmacy (get the Shishido peppers!) and Morgan and Co.
A Perfect Glens Falls Day
My perfect day…well it would be Fall (the best season of the year) and would start with a run through our neighborhood so I can look at all gorgeous houses. Then, I would sit on my front porch with some fresh hot coffee and a book to lazily read all morning. The day would have to include some sort of fall event like the Balloon Festival or apple picking at Hicks Orchard. Our friends and family would rendezvous at our house then walk downtown for dinner and drinks at Farmacy. If you get the ice cream trio there, don’t let the server tell you the flavors and then you can try to guess them! They are always unique and it’s fun to see who guesses the closest. After dinner, my friends would roll me home (because I inevitably ate way too much) and we would watch a movie (or Gilmore Girls) together!
On the Past
My favorite Glens Falls memory is working on my house with one of my best friends Danielle Kiser. We painstakingly peeled wallpaper and spackled my foyer for more than 5 hours at a time. I am fairly sure my walls are at least 50% spackle now! It sounds miserable and kind of was but in a silly, sleep deprived, fun way. We would literally just lay on the dirty floor after hours of peeling wallpaper and start cracking up because there was yet another layer of wallpaper! 5 in total! I think those delirious hours of laughing uncontrollably at nothing are part of the reason we are such close friends now.
On the Future
This community is very wellness oriented. You see it reflected in the people running, walking and biking daily and in the local businesses may of which are healthcare facilities. I would love to see more collaboration between different medical practices so that we can better serve the community. I recently joined a group of like-minded women in healthcare to work towards that goal by hosting monthly meetings. We brainstorm ideas to help our more complicated patients, discuss marketing and business strategies, and will hopefully resume giving wellness workshops once it is safe to do so. Our boss-lady group includes, Danielle Kiser who is a registered and licensed dietician, Carly Samach who is a licensed clinical therapist, and Hillary Williams who is a fellow athletic trainer and licensed massage therapist. They each offer a totally unique perspective which has helped me grow as a clinician and makes me feel more connected to the community. I would love to see our group expand so Glens Falls can have a more connected healthcare team.
There has not been a single day that I regret moving to this community. I am so grateful to live here and am excited to be more involved in community. I really hope we can resume community events soon and I encourage everyone to support downtown Glens Falls businesses. If we want our community to stay nice through this pandemic we have to work together. I’ll be at Fitfest this year so if you see the Capital Area PT table come say hi to me! I can’t wait to get to know my fellow Glens Falls neighbors.
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