On good bike clothing investments

This post is on good investments and a lesson on not-judging things from online stores called “Leather up” and from Lee, the mom-jeans superstore. Don't judge ugly, un-trendy online stores, K?

I’m super-duper glad that I bought this pink leather motorcycle jacket last July on clearance for $79. I (sit at work and read every fashion magazine and blog) had the foresight to know that dusty pale pink would be a trendy color and this jacket, being from a motorcycle super-store, was the bomb for bike riding. I got caught out in the rain so many times in this jacket that the snaps got a little rusty. And it has amazing pockets inside and out. Having motorcycle people compliment your jacket also makes you feel tough and strong. Good investment.

These jeans are yet another pair of my favorite new Lee brand mom jeans (I have navy, gray and black and that still costed less than jeans I typically buy.)  I am wearing these jeans in a 6, but I think I would be better in a 4 which means they are vanity sized, which is another wonderful element to their greatness. And they're $24.

Vans hemp palisades are slightly on the nautical-boat-shoe trend, but they’re also a comfortable skippie slip-on great for casual times and bicycle riding. And dog-walking. I do a lot of dog-walking. I actually saw an older woman in my neighborhood wearing the gray ones and they looked awesome and that’s why I bought my first pair, the turquoise ones, which are now beat to death. Black ones are fresh for this spring & summer. 

Last year's turquoise vans hemp palisades, back when they were fresh. 

Looks like my Linus was fresh back then too. Aw.

We can’t shut up about this mild winter, but one last word about this mild winter: I got to have my ankles sticking out this whole time. Some trend-related influence (mental illness from working in the garment dist) had me requiring a little bit of ankle-skin to show at all times and this mild winter helped me get through it without catching pneumonia.

The Julie Demographic

I know I'm a big fat target audience for tons of stuff and I'm good with that.  I'm a young woman. I'm white. I'm college educated. I blindly subscribe to the idea that Apple products are it. I require things to be cute. I identify as a liberal and a feminist. I fit into categories and I'm fine with that. Market to me, baby.

I'm happily and enthusiastically participating in these SVA students thesis project. 

I found out about this project from Dmitry's blog. He somehow found out they used his #BikeNYC portraits to plot out their target audience. Funny I'm all up in their target audience and of course I'm flattered, excited and down.

I don't know all the rules exactly just yet, but I know I'll be tracking my bike rides for two weeks starting Monday and my patterns (created by my bike rides) will be drawn in pink.

Here's me today wearing pink lipstick, pink pants, pink gloves and rocking my pinkest bicycle.

Girls on my commute

My lipstick is MAC Full Fuchsia and it is no coincidence that it matches my shoes.
A lot of people have been finding my blog when searching for the sold-out limited edition MAC Party Parrot lip color and they/you should know Full Fuchsia is very similar.

I was so happy to have two girls, one of which I knew, and the other who I met at a stoplight, on my commute this morning. I get sick of seeing just dudes.


Kim make me feel so un-ambitious in my sensible flats. She has on legit heels, cute skinny jeans and a no-nonsense helmet. Something tells me she handles daylight savings better than most.


These are all good signs that this week is going to be alllright.

Girl-Power Weekend on My Horizon

It’s International Women’s Day and I’m not doing anything extraordinary, I didn’t even know that holiday existed or that it was today, but I am wearing a dress, I ate a cookie and coincidentally I’ve got a fantastic girl-power weekend lined up.

Friday night a gang of us are seeing our hero, Bridget Everett perform at Joe’s Pub. Hero!

Saturday I’m going to the Women in the World Summit at Lincoln Center. I am expecting to get to see Meryl S. and Hillary. The forum I most look forward to is titled The Digital Lives of Girls and it will be moderated by Chelsea Clinton. I hope she’s finally ready to accept my offer of friendship.

Saturday night, my tightest gang members are going to this dance party event at MoMA. It’s a performance by CHERYL and it’s like a dance party surrounding the Cindy Sherman exhibit.
I took in the audio on the Cindy S exhibit last Sunday so I could learn-up and not worry about cutting-loose at Saturday night’s event.

Sunday I have a Lady date to bike & brunch with my Arkansas friend Katie! Since I have two bicycles in my possession right now, I can offer her a private NYC bicycle lesson. I’m going to teach her how to ride a bike to get brunch.

It’s really hard to keep them under wraps, but I have two super-fun announcements coming up. It’s killing me a little bit.

Oh! I can show you this. It’s an interview about me. Me, me, me.

Negligent Lipstick

Today I wore this glittery shrug from F21, puff sleeve chiffon blouse plucked from the American Apparel warehouse sale, J Brand skiiiinny leggin' jeans and H&M pumps with studs all over the heels. And vans sunglasses.


This lipstick is Revlon Super Lustrous in Temptress and it's from that bag of freebies I'm working my way through.
I like this shade and formula, because it's sheer and I can apply it in that negligent way busy ladies love - fast, not-really-looking, messy- it works. Since I'm not riding on pink tires right now, I feel like I need to compensate with pink lipstick and super-girly clothes. 

First bike skirt on Viva

I wasn't sure about riding this bike in a skirt, so I wore opaque tights and a long (to me) skirt. I think it went fine. This bike can go so fast - it's crazy. Crazy scary a little, but you don't have to go fast you know? You can take it easy. But I made it home about ten minutes faster than normal. Which was crazy!

Outfit details: Mackage coat, H&M orange pleated skirt, gap booties, dalmation sweater vest is from some cheap-o shop. L.A.M.B. neon pink quilted handbag, bern watts helmet, viva urban deluxe bicycle. Vans cat eye sunglasses.

This is a silly comment on this bike, but it's something wonderful to me. I really like the pedals. They're not pink, but they small and tidy and they don't snag tights!

The Mom Jeans of My Dreams

I used to sometimes sneak into JCPenney and grab some Levi's on the cheap. After the Ellen debacle, I decided to speak up for my love of the JCP. Wednesday night I was killing time and made the unexpected discovery that Lee Classic Fit Straight Leg Jeans are the jeans of my dreams.

They had tags from hell on them and I kind of thought "If these fit, it means I'm an old lady for real in the gross way" but they fit and my booty looks sexy-

So now I've gone online and ordered additional colors.

They fit like Judi Rosens! For 1/10th of the price.
Super high waist, straight leg. $24.

The website is full of NIGHTMARES so only look at one this little link. Don't click around!

Get your mom jeans and go.

ps- If you don't have a badonkadonk, disregard all of this. 

New Bikes, New Tricks

Saturday morning I left the house at 6am to grab coffee and vol. at PP. 

It was rainy and I had to wear a backpack because this bike doesn't have a rack situation...yet.
At the store, they tried to give me some fugly rack but I'd rather suffer than put ugly accessories on this bike. I'm also never trying to put a front basket because it's just too beautiful and tidy up there. 

Sunday I got wise and put this L.A.M.B. neon pink satchel with short handles on the short handlebars of this bike and it went much better than the sweaty-back-inducing backpack of Saturday.

I also put my lock on like this and I'm not in love with that placement.

Despite feeling lazy throughout this weekend, it was actually big and full. 

1. Volunteered at the Planned Parenthood. Pretty uneventful shift. That's a good thing!

2. Rode the new bike to scope out exactly where but I'm still not sure I'm going to hold my Bike Month Ladies event. Save the date coming soon! 

3. Gave Matt a haircut. 

4. Rode the Viva Bike to MoMa to meet Josh, the sweetheart who runs the best John Waters fansite.

5. Took in the magnificent Cindy Sherman exhibit and utilized the audio tour. 

6. Sewed a bunch of my old necklaces. The Martha Stewart ones. 

7. Rode the Viva Bike to meet Matt and friends for our anniversary dinner. 7 years! 

I'm so happy there's a giant Cindy Sherman banner that I get to see every evening on my ride home because I never ever make this red light. 

She's so fresh and bright, she sticks out. 

Sticking out at Astor Place Saturday in the foggiest fog. 

Clear Raincoat Friday

Friday night I got pretty rained-on coming home. My waterproof eyeliner (MAC Penultimate) stayed through, though riding with raindrops pinging my face was quiet miserable. Soaking wet shoes too!  I came home to a surprise package at my doorstep. Thanks, Wynn!


I made a messy crazy little video. My hair isn't wet but the rest of outside of my raincoat got drenched.
   
Wynn is my play-brother who lives in Nashville. Inside the box was a Gloria Steinem Fan Club Care Package.

The clear plastic rain jacket debuted on the commute Friday morning. I think I look like a flight attendant today with my neck scarf and navy jacket.

The errand-man at my office warned me that he was playing hookie, so I was dressed to run errands with flat shoes.

Sidenote: I am not cut-out for all this errand-running because I end up in stores like Claire’s Boutique buying cute belts. 

Slightly Awkward Bike Outfits

These pants look much better (they're high-waist flares) without the ankle straps pinning them around so they don't get caught in my bike chain.




Helmets don't always look the coolest, but who cares! Brain injuries aren't usually sexy either.


Ooh! I got The Laundress fabric fresh spray to fight my paranoia that I smell like a tail pipe.

Open Love Letter to KM

I saw this pic of you from this morning and I was like “Oh, my god, my bike is so cute!!!” A white bicycle with pink wheels is just the cutest fucking combo and I’m so glad I’ve got you. I don’t think I can ever live with black tires again.

I’m hard on you, and I do resent whoever dropped the ball on your rust-proofing, but I love you so much. I’ve been hard on you and I take you for granted and riding that tester bike has really made me see what a good thing we’ve got going. I really do love you.

It’s shallow to say I love you partly for your looks but that’s the truth. I love your simplicity too. I really am glad I can keep my (usually my right) hand in my pocket and bring you to a complete stop and you don’t have wires and brake handles up front. I really like that about you. I love how I’ve got so much cargo space on  you. We can shop and pick up cool stuff out of the trash if we want to. We can go to Whole Foods and get a couple bags of groceries and it’s all good. We don’t even have to plan ahead. Lock, stop, shop, roll home.

It’s unbearable to think about getting on the bus and/or the subway anymore. I’d rather be with you in the cold and the rain than have to put myself through public transportation.

Stay in one piece the best you can and please don’t get stolen or run-over and I’ll be true to you.
I might even give you a bath this weekend.

Here's the full bicycle/work outfit of the day - outside & inside.

Semi-prepared for a rainy day

I swear up-close my tights didn't look this intense. 
I looked at the forecast and dressed in a way that would tolerate being rained on. Layers of light jackets and tights because they dry quickly. -No wet jeans. I have clear garbage bags in those panniers :)

Here's my tripod/glove for self-timer trickery.


After work, I parked my bike at the Ace Hotel, which I knew had nice bicycle parking from that Levi's event over the summer. I went to get a sandwich at No.7Sub but I had no idea they have no seats. It's a grab & go spot. So I walked over to a church and sat on the steps and ate my delicious sandwich. I had the Filet o' Fish. Loved it. 

Then I went to the offices of TA, where I attended a meeting on the planning and social networking needs of NYC Bike Month, which happens in May. They showed us this very cute new website. I think it's safe to say that everyone at the meeting does Bike Month all the months, but May is a great time to introduce new people to the loveliness of the bicycle life. I'm happy I got to see a bunch of my Bike NYC friends. I couldn't hang out afterward because I had to get home to walk Bonnie-dog. 

My slightly rainy, night ride home tonight was very pleasant. I'm really happy I have use of the East Side Esplanade again. It was closed for construction for a while. I'm talking East 60th - 78th Streets.

Here's a pretty montage.


I didn't even have to put on a garbage bag!

That Bicycle Fit Diagram

Here's that diagram. I couldn't explain this speaking so I had to draw it. 
Saying something nice: Those freakin' chromoly tubes are amazing over bumps. If I do buy a bike in the future, I will not overlook the goodness of them. This bicycle is also very lightweight and even though the handlebars are wider than my Linus, it's easy to maneuver this light guy into the storage closet where it hangs out while I work.

Monday I rode the Nirve bike. I'm trying to feel better about it after my exhausting ride around Central Park last Sunday.

My coat is Jordache vintage. Gap jeans, dolce vita pax boots. Headband and gloves are from K-Mart. 

Valentine's Day Pussy Bow

I looked like a little old lady of the 1960's today in my heart-printed pussy bow and glasses.  Advanced Style is rubbing off on me.


I love this blue blouse - Those are hearts, not polka dots. I of course found it at a thrift store in Arkansas. It has those wonderful Made in U.S.A. tags you don't see much anymore.

I got the new TOMS ballet flats in pink suede and they are really sturdy and fantastic bicycle riding shoes. They have a really serious sole for ballet flats. Non-skid supreme. 

Yes, I had to ride my girlfriend, Kate the Bicycle, for Valentine's Day. The pink tires had to be out for the holiday!

Tonight we ate a heart shaped pizza and Matt passed out super-early. We stayed out late last night at out weekly The Bachelor watch party. Yes! We totally hate Courtney and we're disenchanted with Ben, but we can't stop watching. Can. Not. Stop!

I'm Going to be Fair and Maybe Organized

I'm reviewing a bicycle and I'm reviewing what I wore today.

Here we are on our morning commute. 

Part A. What I wore.
Basic Denim button-up shirt; I feel sloppy in this, so I dress it up with suspenders

And a silk necklace I made.


My faux fur was benched for a while because it smelled so nasty from exhaust. Bastard trucks! 
It was a gray day, so I went with my bright white bern helmet. J Brand jeans, Gap booties, Kate Spade bag has to be worn because I forgot to bring a basket for this bicycle. 


Part B. The Bicycle.
For every negative thought I write here about this bicycle, I'm going to write a positive.
I want to keep everyone in suspense until my official review comes out in Momentum Magazine.

First, the bad news: This front logo thingie is peeling off.


Great news that will be repeated again and again and again because I can't get over it- This guy takes bumps like a freakin' cadillac. I don't really understand why, but when I go over bumps, like that nasty patch in Times Square, this bike feels very comfy and doesn't jar. I have to stand up a little and brace myself on my Linus those bumps are so bad.

This guy is smooth. Yes, I think this bicycle is a guy. A young man, not just a boy.

I also loved putting it in the low gear going around Central Park and passing the heck out of some other bikes.

But I need a basket. The handlebars are too light to carry even this small handbag without being a little loosey goosey.  But it's silly and dangerous to carry your handbag on your handlebars anyway.


Some people have real problems and I'm glad I'm not one of them.

Insides & outsides

Getting dressed in the winter is hard because you have two different outfits. You've got your outside look and your inside look and they have to sort-of make sense. 

Green coat is vintage, Jeans are from that spot in the mall where everything is stretchy and under $20, booties are from Forever21, Leopard fingerless gloves are from K-Mart. Bern Helmet. Forever21 polka dot blouse. 

I love that little toto dog running through. When I ride through the park to go to work, the unofficial "off leash" time for dogs is still going on. 

Black coat is vintage, jeans are J Brand, flats are H&M, black tee & belt probably also H&M. 

New Fyxation Hot Pink Pedals

I have a sweetie boo boo honey child at Fyxation who sent me these new Hot Pink pedals to go with my outfit bicycle. I love 'em.

I like big pedals. You don't have to pay that much attention to "land" your foot on it. Especially if you have crazy shoes on.

Pussy Bows are all in the news lately and I gave pussy bow and suspenders on Tuesday.
Full force.

I'm in a fitting room, not a bathroom, and I learned that no one bothers you when you shop with your helmet on. 


Jacket - vintage, sweater - sample, jeans - hoochie girl store at the mall that doesn't have a real sign, just a banner, booties - Gap. Polka-dot blouse - H&M, suspenders - Claire's Boutique. 

Gosh it's cold

These cold days suuuuck, but what can we do? Layer-up and cover-up.

I've not been wearing scarves much it seems. I just get too darn hot. That little bit of icy air on my neck helps a little when I get the back-sweats.

I got a more season-appropriate carabiner to keep my keys clipped to my basket.
When they're not clipped to my basket- the carabiner holds my lights and keys together for quick and easy access. 

I got this at a hole in the wall key-cutting spot.