Iva Jean Launches the Rain Cape

I quit blogging on still dottie a little over a year ago and I've got some exciting news for those of you still paying attention. We've launched our first product over at Iva Jean - the Rain Cape.

Designed to protect you from the rain with the style and personality you bring to every other aspect of your life. The Rain Cape provides a stylish and functional solution that works on and off your bike, proving that you are more than a cyclist.

Continuing a legacy of timeless outerwear products produced in the Pacific Northwest, the Rain Cape was designed and made in Seattle, a place more than used to a little rain.

On Sale Now - ready to ship September 1, 2011.

copenhagen cycle chic

this is why i want to move somewhere dense, urban & flat. may is bike to work month & i've joined in the game; our work assembled a team of 8 taking the group health challenge. the problem with biking to work (or anywhere for that matter) in seattle is that it's a pretty intense ride, up hill for a least half. i end up lugging my clothes & make up with me to work in a huge backpack & needing to clean up once i get to work. i wish i could luxuriously ride into work in my pencil skirt, heels & purse - ohhhh to casually bike to work.

copenhagen cycle chic has some of best pictures of the bike culture in copenhagen, denmark. i want to go.

a single tear fell...

she's gone. in our two years together i'd never figured out whether she was a boy or a girl; in fact, it had never really mattered. she was mine & we went everywhere together, but last night, as we said goodbye, it was clear that my girl was going to miss me.

i spent yesterday cleaning out my car (finding campfire roasting sticks, my michigan license plate, a frisbee, a putter & the jumper cables i never knew i had). it was time to turn it in. i drove up to 170th & aurora ave n where the car dealer (ugh, i can't handle car salesmen) took my keys, wrote down the mileage & my vin #. i signed the paper & called gmac. it was over, it was official: i am now carless. i caught the 358 express into the city; i fell asleep on the bus & woke up at the same time that lake union came into view. i knew then, that my bus adventures would be far more adventurous than those as a driver. goodbye malibu maxx, gmac & commuter traffic.

breaking up with gmac

today marks two weeks without using my car. it's been liberating, relaxing & not as difficult as i thought it would be.

for the last couple months, i had noticed that the only real purpose my car served was driving to work & the occasional trip to target or the mountains. don't get me wrong, i drive my car a lot, often to places that make more sense to get to via bus or walking. i will also openly state that i drop about $500/month on my car (car payment, insurance, gas). in my opinion, $500/month is way too much to spend on getting to work & going places within walking distance.

i blog for the firm i work for. we have always had a green focus in design, and in the last year taken our involvement to the next level. our firm became carbon neutral, bought a hybrid for the office (to encourage public transportation to work) & encouraged staff leed accreditation. carbon neutral is a huge buzzword right now & there are many large green movements in the design industry (fashion, architecture, retail, automobile, etc). i was on the sightline institute's blog, researching for work when i noticed that one of the authors (family of five) decided to go carless for a year. it really inspired me, so i put away my car keys, got a bus pass from work & have been riding the bus ever since.

there are so many benefits of being carless (something my parents & gmac rep are completely miffed by). no traffic, no gas money, no carbon emissions, as well as more time to think, read, listen to music & people watch (in my personal opinion, the best part of public transportation). now it's time to finagle my way out of the lease that haunts me until august!

another carless resource; carla saulter writes for the seattle p.i. "bus chick, transit authority."