one big blog about bike related things

(Quick snippets from not so interesting thoughts and things i've come across: aka a blog that is not about the passing of recent pop celebrities, but might bore you with the rampant discussion of bike related things. I do talk about drinking here too.... that may be some incentive to keep reading.)

So, you might have heard me mention my squishy knee issue that i've had for the past six/seven weeks or so. Well, I finally listened to friends, family and complete strangers and bit the bullet and went to go see a Doctor about it. And, just as I figured, I had burst a bursa (say that three times fast) sack in my knee which had caused the area to become inflamed and fill with fluid, henceforth the "squishy". Last Wednesday the doctor drained it and removed about four bloody fluid ounces from my knee, shot it up full of cortisone and sent me on my way. Well, a week plus later, I still don't have the greatest range of motion in the knee... but I've been armed with some exercises (thanks Molly) and many an ice pack after activities to keep the swelling at bay. As well, after doing things like playing soccer, CrossFit workouts, climbing or bike riding... I've been rubbing the area down with some icy hot. I've learned on such occasions that I should wash my hands right afterwards and not go do things like use the restroom. Let me just say, there are some places on the body that don't need to be both icy and hot at the same time.

Speaking of bike riding, this week I was most pleased when I placed third in the Women's Division at PIR this past Monday. I'm not going to really dwell on the fact that was not the PIR World Championships, or that it was just after a huge stage race weekend or the same night as the start of the short track series, I'll give myself credit that there were some good quality racers out there (17 of us, across all categories) and I preformed well and will continue to do so (I hope) regardless of who else shows up. I feel like sometimes there are the other really fun popular races that everyone loves to go to and talks about and those are the ones I hardly ever do. For example, PIR was a pretty hot topic back at the beginning of May when that was the only race series going on (and I didn't do it then due to other obligations), but now there's the Tabor Series, and Short Track and well... PIR goes on all summer. It was so last last month. Oh well, I was never worried about being popular. Also, I'm not a climber nor a mountain biker... so, if it's short flat and fast, that's where you'll find me.

that's me in the light blue helmet and orange jersey

And, since I filled you all in on our awesome new bike kits for Bridgetown Velo, I'll also let you know that this week Caroline, over at Little Package, put the finishing stitches on our new caps and I spent several evenings this week screen printing our BTV logo on the side of them. Screen printing so many things by hand over and over can be a little repetitive, but the hats turned out really nice and I can't wait to see everyone wearing them. Caroline did an amazing job responding to everyone's requests for custom sizing, bill and band choices etc. In fact, she told me upon picking them up, that as far as local biking celebrities go, the hats were well blessed since she was assisted by John Howe Team Beer Spokesmodel in cutting them and Luke Scheybeler, co-founder of Rapha, in pressing and prepping them. So, that's pretty cool... especially the Rapha connection. Luke, who apparently is a friend of Caroline's, is the creative director of Rapha. Rapha is basically like the Tom Ford or Ralph Lauren of cycling fashion. Their touring jerseys and other apparel items are sharp looking and not for the thrifty, take for example their $3,500 custom made three piece cycling suit.

new Bridgetown Velo cycling hats

Speaking of biking as well, this past weekend Portland celebrated their first in a series of three Sunday Parkways events. Sunday Parkways is basically the city shutting down roughly seven miles of city roadway to motorized car usage to make it family friendly for other modes of transportation. Despite rain showers and it being on Father's Day, the event was a success bringing in tons of participants on bikes, roller blades, skateboards and their own two feet in North Portland. I greatly look forward to the next one happening in North East Portland in July.

Sunday Parkway riders enjoying the rose garden

And well, this is turning into one big blog about bikes isn't it?

Coming up next week is the first (in what I hope to be an annual occurrence) called the Portland Tour De Franzia!!! To celebrate the start of the Tour De France I decided to get my friends together for a traveling bike party in which we will dig out our best spandex, dust off our bikes and ride from house to house drinking the lifeblood of France... wine! However, this is a depression folks and half of my friends are unemployed, so instead of a bottle of 1963 bordeaux, we'll be drinking a 2009 Chanti out of our bike bottles. Courtesy of Franzia, the low budget max capacity lifeblood of budget conscious champions everywhere! Seriously, is this a great idea for a party or what? Wine, bikes, and exercise! Wowee! Feel free to have a tour of your own... I mean, the real Tour starts on the 4th of July and goes to the 26th, that's 21 stages of drinking you can do. Don't delay, start training today!

And, while we're at it... can I talk about something that bugs me? Asshole cyclists. Asshole cyclists bug me. As if the roads weren't dangerous enough for us two wheelers as it is... some riders just make it worse. Take for example, the ass hole cyclist who comes up from behind you and doesn't announce it. That's the unwritten rule with commuting, if you're gonna pass someone, do it to the left, and ring a bell or shout out a warning. One morning this week I was on my way to work when some "dude" whips out to the side of me and doesn't/didn't say any thing. Honestly, he scared me a little. I naturally assume that when "dude" rides, his goal is "beating everyone on the road" (which, I'm not going to lie, is my goal too). Sure, you can say that maybe I'm a little bitter that this guy passed me - but when I pass people, I "announce it", I want them to know they're getting passed (but not in an ass hole kinda way, more like a friendly competitive bike commuter way).

So, when this guy passes me, I decide to be a friendly ass hole right back and make him feel not so good about himself and his slyness. As a result, I match his quick pace and stick to his wheel the whole remainder of my ride. It didn't take long for him to notice I was there, he could see my shadow and he glanced back once or twice. Normally when you're "commuter racing" it's a mutual good sportsmanship thing to share some friendly glances, smiles or banter at lights. But no... not this "dude". He was pissed that he passed me and didn't lose me. At the light he didn't even look back. Basically, I tail gated "dude" till I peeled off to make my turn to my office... and when I passed people that he had passed, I shouted out "on your left!" to them. Granted, they'd already been startled by the "dude" enough as it was, but I tried to at least let them know they were getting passed again.

some people really hate naked people...

So recently you may recall me talking about Portland's participation in the World Naked Bike Ride, how it's first big year it maybe had 500 people, then the following 800, and then last summer 2,000... well, this past weekend broke all records as over 5,000 people (in varying degrees of nakedness) rode through downtown Portland. I'm sure if you do an internet search of naked, bike, portland, you'll find tons of videos and photos of the event - who can let a photo op like that pass by? - but out of all of them, this one in particular rose to the surface.

Apparently, a man stood on a corner of the street with his video camera and repeatedly yelled to the cyclists "get raped you degenerate scum" and then posted it on youtube with a not so friendly note attached.

(warning, there maybe some nudity and a foul word here)

From DivineFellowship on YouTube (no, I’m not making this crap up.)

“Culture vandals took to the streets tonight to express their hatred for Christian culture and the moral culture their parents believed in, and their ancestors built up carefully over many centuries. I felt impelled to preach to a mass of degenerate or misguided Whites I came upon in Portland, Oregon who were riding naked through the streets on bicycles. I’ve learned to keep a camera with me, because what I’m seeing of the collapse of Gentile culture is astounding. A silly naked man standing next to me natters to me that “our civilization is based on mutual respect.” (I don’t appreciate having to have a conversation w/a naked man. I consider his nakedness extremely disrespectful!) But our civilization is based primarily on MORALITY. And the whole point of his nakedness, and the crowd’s, was to show DISRESPECT for the moral culture around them, and they disrespected everyone in town. We have a moral culture that took aeons for their ancestors to create. At the time of this event I assumed it involved mostly heterosexuals, and found it heartbreaking. This coincided with a week of so-called “gay pride” events. Apparently this parade was organized by some perverts with the ruse that it was to ‘protest too many cars downtown.’ I don’t know how running around naked makes any point about the austerity, self-abnegation, and discipline required to renounce the automobile, so that’s basically insane. Clearly it is an excuse for some young people to have a thrill, and others to get turned on by being sexual exhibitionists, and others to mock the religious values of their grandfathers and grandmothers, and for gays to tear down moral restraints, generally.”

What I love about this guys thoughts is that even though the ride had nothing to do with the fact it was also "Pride" weekend here in Portland, he had to throw the "gays" in there when talking about morality. Naked Bike Ride is a bike related event that coincides with Pedalpalooza, a two week long festival to celebrate bikes in Portland. In fact, all over Portland on June 13th you could find naked bike riders and it had nothing to do with Pride. I love how he feels ashamed that "white heterosexuals" would behave in this manner, like public nudity belongs to the racial minorities and the gay. Really, this kinda stuff makes me just want to bang my head on the wall.

L'Chaim

Last evening as I was riding my bike home from work... i stopped at an intersection on Burnside and waited for the light to change. While standing there admist the rush hour traffic, my eyes wandered up to a billboard on the other side of the intersection. I'd seen these ads before, for some type of tequila named Hornitos, at various places over town, and even though I'm not a big liqour drinker - the ads have always struck me. I'm not quite sure if it was the photography or the models they chose for the ads (think more urban and edgy women. Arty and punky with tattoos as opposed to "pretty white suburban sorority girls or Vegas hookers"). Regardless, something drew me to these ads and made them stand out. So, I sat there and contemplated...

And then it struck me.... it wasn't so much about the models, the photography or the brand that drew me to these ads, .... it was the typography (I am a graphic designer after all). The word "Mischieve" written in a nice decorative swash induced script appealed to me because it just happened to be the very same typeface I had chosen for my own recent tattoo. So I stood there... glancing from the billboard to my inner arm, from my inner arm to the billboard checking the type, looking at the e, i, and v while a huge grin spread across my face. I am such a dork and I love it.

Anyways, to celebrate popular decorative typefaces and spotting them in usage aside from your own, I give you the story of my most recent tattoo, written back in March. As well, if you're interested in the Hornitos ad campaign and their target demo, you can read about that here.

"So, recently I've made some off handed comments about spending more time than normal looking and fonts and perhaps asking around about decent places to get ink done in th Portland area. And well, after the idea sitting on my brain for a few months, the urge finally took over and so Wednesday evening I went over to Blackbird Tattoo Studio on Killingsworth (where I didn't have to pay a deposit nor did I have to reserve a time slot weeks in advance, :) and got some new ink. Like every permeant marking one chooses to get on their body, you should take great care and consideration to figure what you want and where you want it. I already have two tattoos hidden away and hardly noticeable on my left ankle and honestly, I've been josin for something a little bit more "out there", yet... at the same time still reserved. As a result, I chose in the inside of my right arm.

Now, I knew what I wanted and where I wanted, but personally, being a graphic designer and all - type style matters deeply to me. So, I spent a lot of time on one of my favorite type sites, veer.com, and found a font named Affair that I absolutely fell in love with. Now mind you, by no means am I really a "scripty font" type person, but I loved how this type style was simple, yet elegant, decorative but so easily read and lendable. The swashes and ligatures themselves are practically art without ever having to spell anything to start with.

The type was designed by Alejandro Paul, who teaches graphic design and typography at the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He has worked as an art director in prestigious Argentina-based studios, handling high-profile corporate brands such as Arcor, Marta Harff, Morph, SC Johnson, Danone, and Movicom. He has walked away with awards from several design competitions and is also a typeface designer for T26. He is one of the founders of the Sudtipos project, the first Argentinean type foundry collective. Alejandro describes Affair as being "a party full of swash characters, ligatures, and ornaments. By default, it’s simply an elegant yet readable display face. Dress it up with alternates, and it becomes irresistibly attractive, in styles from glamourous to over-the-top. Hundreds of alternates, tons of swashy endings and ligatures."

To me, "affair" accurately visualized the feeling, and emotion I wanted to portray with my chosen tattoo word. Even though I'm an illustrative designer, I like how anyone can add their own imagery to a word. Text alone, leaves your tattoo open for interpretation and lets the viewer, bring their own experiences to mind.

So, without further fan fare.... I present to you my tattoo:

so I hear you got a new tattoo?

Where is it?

What... you can't see it?

Ahh... I see!

Personally, I chose the location as somewhere I would see it as I am engaged in activity. The word 'Live" itself is pretty self explanatory. I'm a big fan of the phrase "carpe diem" and that's how I chose to see and live my life, but... I feel as if getting "carpe diem" as a tattoo is a little too cliched - and well, I don't really know latin as a language. So basically, it'd be like getting chinese characters inked on me when I don't know Chinese nor am I Chinese. All in all, it's just not me. And, as far the tattoo placement goes, just like symbolism, I'm not really trying to mystify anyone... there are no hidden meanings. I want the viewer to be able to walk away with a heightened sense of positive energy as much as I do from looking at the tattoo. But yeah, basically it's about living your life, seizing the day and doing what you want with the unknown alloted time you have on this earth. Don't hold back. Love like you've never been hurt and dance like no one is watching. Don't regret anything that made you smile. If you're gonna eat a cookie, eat a big fucking cookie. Have your cake and eat it too. Don't put off for tomorrow what you can do today. Make hay while the sunshines. When it pours, jump in the puddles. When it snows make a snowman. Then when it freezes, go ice skating! Remember, you will never be here again. And, as my hebrew friends would say... "L'Chaim".... "to life!" Make it happen folks... live!" -March 27th, 2009

NOTE: Speaking of Alejandro Paul’s typefaces, his new one called Adios, just popped in my email box this morning. Described as an ornate and artful balance between classic calligraphy and contemporary tattoo art, the type face Adios lends itself to creativity. With over 1,470 characters, it's ornate swashes, ascenders and descenders allows a beautiful interplay of strokes and combinations, while avoiding overlaps or conflicts.

Field Report...

So, a few weeks ago I achieved a goal of mine when I summited a true "glaciated peak". Not only was this a big deal for me since climbing these are generally more difficult than taking a hike up a grassy hillside somewhere, but it also allows one to join in a highly respected club here in Portland that has a stature of limitations for those they allow in, the main one is sumiting one such peak. Time and time and time again a glaciated summit has eluded me, but this past Memorial Day Weekend, the summit of South Sister, located just outside of Bend, Oregon at 10,363 feet, was mine.

me on the summit

This posting is not about that climb. If you must know, it was clear, sunny, calm and I had a great time with my friends in the snow and sunshine. We spent the time building snow walls, setting up camp, making food, climbing up mountains, petting dogs, taking photos, glissading down mountains and also falling down them (thanks to inadequate snowshoes carrying me and my 40 pound pack full of gear in slushy soft snow). No, this isn't a post about that.... it's a post about a bag I bought at the last minute before the climb, having to be one of the best $30 last minute purchases ever.

Prior in my climbs, I have my massive pack that I use to bring all my gear to base camp. I can fit pretty much everything in this pack, a two person tent, down sleeping bag, hard boots, crampons, ice axe, shovel, stove, water, food, more food, and a supply of cold weather clothes. In fact, this pack is so big... that it easily carried everything that I needed for a two week stint on the Appalachian Trail back in college. However, when you've got all that gear (tents, food, sleeping bag, etc) safely nestled at base camp, the idea of taking a massive pack up a steep long dangerous climb seems a little ridiculous. Sure, it'd be great to just go and climb to the summit without a pack... but really, one needs to bring with them water, food, the 12 essentials, extra clothes, camera, etc, and even though that may seem like a lot, it's not enough to fill a large pack. As well, one could easily put all those "summit ready" items into a "daypack" but most "daypacks" are too big and bulky and heavy to cram into your main pack to start with. What I needed was a summit pack. Small, lightweight, easily compressible and just big enough and sturdy enough to carry all the things I needed to the summit with out extra weight.

That's where I stumbled upon the REI Flash.

Coming in three various sizes (I got the smallest, the 18) the flash is a lightweight (10z) ripstop material daypack that easily converts into a stuff sack for usage in your large pack. With a top loading entry, it's easy to get your stuff in and out quickly without hassle. As well, inside the pack is a hydration-compatible sleeve with an exit hose port and internal pockets for small items. The shoulder straps are lightweight and durable with sternum and waist straps that make for a close fitting cinching silhouette. An added plus were the external daisy chains and tool loop which personally extended the amount of gear this bag could carry quite seamlessly.

I had read prior reviews which raved about the pack... but thought that if one thing was missing, it was some kind of cinching system (shock cords) for the daisy chains to secure more gear to the outside. Thinking about this and not having much time for shopping before my trip, I thought about what I had laying around the house. Being a biker, especially one that gets lots of flats... I have an ample amount of tubes sitting in my "lobby" waiting for patch repair. Seizing the opportunity, I cut one of these tubes up into strands and weaved them through the daisy chains and bam... instant lashing straps for external gear carrying.

This is my flash pack in where I had used the bike tubes lashed through the daisy chains to carry my crampons.

my friends with their massive packs...look at Liz, she doesn't seem that excited about carrying that pack up a few thousand some feet.

Anyways, it wouldn't surprise me if that after the trip... my climbing friends all went out and purchased this great little summit pack. It's great as well for an airport carry on, stuffing in a larger bag to then take out and use for carrying groceries or small adventures, and I highly recommend using the daisy chains to expand the amount you can carry. And, just as I reused old bike tubes for lashing straps, look around your house and see what items you have that can have other purposes beyond their initial intention.

As well, if you'd like to see the complete album of photos from the climb, you can take a look at them here.

I've been called squishy recently waaaay too many times.

Just a quick little blog to let you know what's going on in the world of jenn levo!

So, recently several nights a week have been taken up with bike racing at Portland International Raceway. I love racing here as I love the flat and the fast, but recently in the open women's division we've been plagued with an alarming amount of crashes. Two Mondays ago, June 1st, I was in the final sprint to the finish when out to my left, one girl lost control of her bike and crashed it into the back end of another rider... taking three women overall out of the race. Crashes happen in fast sprints like this, it comes with the territory; but in this case, it took this rider at least 15 minutes to regain conciseness. Normally the injuries are road rashes and cuts and scrapes and broken bikes, but Kmac from Team Ironclad went down and went down hard. The ambulance came, she came to, and ended up at the hospital with brain and collarbone injury and a tube down her throat. As we speak, she's making a really strong recovery and it's been great how people in the Portland bike racing community have pooled together so many well wishes and raised money for her.

Anyways, so if all of us women racers were not already shaken up about that event as it was (I know it kept replaying in many of our minds and caused us to question why it was we do what we do), everyone who braved their fears enough to make it out to PIR the following monday night, got to witness the joys of yet.... another crash in the women's field. This time, in the second lap three riders went down in a botched effort to move to one side of the track to let the mens pack through. In a classy move, the remainder of us all stopped, got off our bikes and assist in helping the girls off the track and regained ourselves. The remainder of us, that was, except for two women who after the crash happened - turned around, looked at everyone stopping, and kept on riding.... doing the remainder of the race by themselves. That's ten laps folks. That's winning all the prize laps and the top two spots. That's not cool in my book. It'd be one thing if they didn't notice we were not following them, but 12 other girls on your tail are kinda hard to miss. Also, what's the point of racing if you've got no one to race against?

Regardless, on both nights of racing at PIR I was pleased with my performance. True, some of the girls who were in crashes probably would have placed ahead of me, but an 8th place finish on 6.1 and then a 3rd in our final sprint this past week (which because of the two other riders finishing early meant I got 5th) I'm not too upset about AND, I can look at myself in the morning. I really want to finish out the month of June and have a strong standing in the series standings, but currently, I'm also facing some knee issues (see below) which may hinder that from happening.

Speaking of bikes, for the past several weeks, downtown Portland was awash in seediness as our annual Rose Festival took to the waterfront. I hate festivals like this with a fiery passion (I also hate parades, fireworks, amusement parks, you get the picture - I'm pretty much not an American) I will have to say that I am most pleased with how our Mayor, Sam Adams, chose to ride in our parade. Unlike other cities where the Mayors sit back all comfortable in a large convertible, this is Portland.... our Mayor rode his bike!

Also in bike friendly related news, today in Portland kicks off our two week celebration of bikes and bike related things... Pedalpalooza! With over 203 events with more being added to the master schedule everyday, there is bike related fun to be had all over town... and most of it free. The highlight of each years Pedalpalooza, in my own humble opinion, is Portland's time to shine with the epic World Naked Bike Ride! Last year I took place in this event and it was seriously some of the most fun I've had on or off a bike all year. Everywhere you looked, naked naked naked people! You couldn't help yourself but to laugh at the absurdity of it all. And, to give you an idea of how many naked people we're talking about here... think in the upwards of 2000 riding at midnight through the streets of downtown Portland! Thats more naked people riding a bike than you can shake a.... um..... stick at! So, if your a PDXer or in town for the weekend, the ride is SATURDAY night! And, if you have any questions you should check out this little link here.

Personally, I'd love to ride in this years ride... but I'll be off in Seattle treating myself to this show at the Triple Door. What? You've never heard of Brandi and the Silver Traveling Ghost Show? Hmm... well maybe you've seen them when they play under this more familiar name.... Which reminds me, I've got fifteen minutes to finish this up and run across the river to see her play at the Aladdin Theater tonight.

Also, for the past six weeks or so I've been suffering from a slight knee issue which I refer to in the technical medical term, as "squishy". Yes, my knee is squishy. It started out as a direct impact between my knee and the hard ground when I got taken out by two players in a soccer match. It hurt like a mo'fo then... I iced it, it wasn't 100%, but in true jennlevo fashion, I kept playing. Then a few weeks later I went and I climbed a mountain. Shortly afterwards I heard a pop and the next thing I know my knee is filling up with fluid, thereby making it squishy. I've been to my doctor whom has referred me to another ortho doctor, but at this present time other than my theory that I ruptured my bursa sack, I know nothing other than I can't feel a bone and it's squishy. In fact, because it's doesn't "hurt" persay... I've still been biking, climbing, lifting, playing soccer, and pretty much everything else I normally do on it. However, at last night's indoor soccer game, I learned this strategy probably wasn't the best idea as today I'm a hobbily ice pakin pain med takin mess. I know that by Monday's PIR races the knee won't be "better", but I just don't want it to hurt like it does now. I'm fine playing dumb, racing, and then icing... which is not a good idea, but I can also be stubborn like that. One thing jennlevo does not do well is "take it easy" or take time off. I'm hoping that a weekend away in Seattle doing nothing but hanging out may be the best medicine for me. Keep your fingers crossed.

Anyways, amuse yourself with this... I've been called squishy recently waaaay too many times.

Okay, off to see Brandi. Ya'll have a good one.

tiny is good

So recently I received some sad and familiar news, that my current roommate and friend Steph, was going to move out of our tiny little two bedroom apartment. I say familiar, not because she's moved out before, but because in the year and a half that I've lived in my little Portland adobe, I've gone through four roommates. All of them have said it's not me... but after four of them, I start to wonder what I'm doing to drive them away (haha - just kidding!! well, maybe not). Most of the roommates have moved out in order to move in with their "significant others" or most recently, just to go to a place with a little more space, but it leaves me wondering if I just didn't clean the bathtub enough. 

Many a friends have suggested that I move out and find another place, and I could... but every time that I sit down and compare notes on what I'm looking for in a place to live, I see that I've got all those things right in front of me. My apartment has beautiful hardwood floors, natural light, a fenced in backyard, parking, close to public transportation, bike routes, bars, cafes, and grocery store, plus it has style, character, and allows me to have my dog. True, it is a bit more spendy than I'd like, but it's in a trendy part of town so you're gonna pay a bit more for that. As well, it's a bit tiny, but I like tiny. 

For the past ten years since I've moved out of my parents place and went to college, I've been living in small apartments. Small apartments physically allow you to have only so many belongings. For me, this a good thing. A hoarder and pack rat by nature, I enjoy the challenge of purging myself of belongings and learning to let go of items. (In fact, I even went to therapy once (or twice) because I was afraid to fall back into my childhood habit of filling every inch of white space on my walls with posters).

Living in a small place, you have to keep it clean. You have to stay on top of "clutter" and the things you absorb, collect, or buy. I hate that so many people get huge houses with massive rooms and then have to go shopping to buy "stuff" to fill the space. Personally, I enjoy getting rid of things to allow myself more "space". I relate the "buying stuff" mentality to folks that always have the TV or radio on in the background of what they are doing, you know... to fill the space. When you think about it, our lives are already filled with so much crap that occupies our time and our minds, we really need to simplify. We need to learn to be okay with less, to appreciate the white space, to be drowned in the sound of quiet. This, is one key reason why i like keeping it small.

Many of you might have heard about the 100 thing challenge. Last year, blogger Dave Bruno challenged himself to limit  the amount of "objects" or things he owns to just 100 items. Many, when learning of this, joined in with the challenge and asked themselves what 100 things could they go without. It's interesting to see what items made the cut and what ones didn't. For most, away went the cheap trendy clothes, mementos, give-aways, the three different sunglasses, the five different bottle openers, the six pairs of hats - and what stayed were the functional, useful, and normally more expensive and well thought out purchases and beautiful items. 

When thinking of the things I own and the things I plan on purchasing that fill my tiny apartment, I normally keep in mind the 100 thing challenge. I ask myself, is this an impulse buy? Is this this something I plan on using for a long time and will it last for a long time? What purpose does it serve? Do I have something else already that does this same thing? Does this item serve that purpose better, more efficiently, work better, look better? Does it inspire? Can I get rid of something else because I've purchased this item? When it all comes down to it, I strive to own items that are both functional and beautiful. Well designed and made to last a long time. Sometimes, this means that the items are more expensive to start with, but knowing that they will last for a while, I won't tire of them and they serve a purpose in my everyday life... helps guarantee them an honored spot on my shelf or in my closet. It's a question of short term affordability vs. long term value. 

Honestly, whenever I go back home to Ohio to visit my parents, I almost have an anxiety attack about how much stuff they seem to have collected over the years. True, they're in their sixties and have lived in the same house for about 35 years and I know how things collect over time, but every time I come home it's as if they've just gone out and bought more and more stuff with out ever getting rid of anything. They go out "antiquing" and buy little trinkets that serve no purpose other than to sit on some shelf and collect dust. It makes them smile, and I'm really happy they enjoy shopping together for "old things" but time and time again - all I see is another thing I'm going to have to "go through" at some sad point in time. In fact, I'm pretty sure that as I type, they're in the process of building another barn to hold more of their "stuff". The way I look at it, if I were in my sixties, that's almost thirty years ahead of me to whittle down the amount of things I own, at that rate... I should have perfected the system of simplification and ideally I should be living in a cabin in the woods with one set of silverware, a chair, and a coffee pot. 

Sure, I still have clutter (don't look under my bed). I still have things I can get rid of, I have more coats and bags than I can use at one time, and by no means am I rising to the 100 Things challenge anytime soon... but just asking myself these questions before I buy "stuff" helps me whittle my collection down. 

Oh, and if you haven't already watched this little video called the "Story of Stuff" it will greatly change the way you look at what you buy and what you fill your house with.

EDIT ADDITION: it's almost as if the New York Times has been reading my blog!