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I wear layers. On this day, I wore a lightweight denim dress over leggings and boots. Added a warm cardigan for the ride in. When the weather warmed, I lost the cardi and the leggings and was good to go (I can never remember to take the ‘after’ photo)!

**************************************************************************************The dress is longer than it looks here, I promise! Layers are the answer to all of my current wardrobe weather issues. You?

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1970′s gym teacher seemed the only appropriate look. Stowaway jacket by Rapha, shorts by Gap, old ass Chucks by Converse and socks by my awesome sister who knows me well. By 9am I had lost the jacket and socks and was cool and comfortable.

Fashion crisis averted. Those kids did not mess with this. Nor did cars.

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Every Wednesday night in the Fall, New Orleans has Harvest the Music. This is a free concert in Lafayette Square to raise money and awareness for Second Harvest Food Bank of New Orleans. The concerts feature great musicians (Irma Thomas, Blind Boys of Alabama, Dirty Dozen Brass Band, and more) and this week was no exception. I had been looking forward to it since they made the announcement: Trombone Shorty! For those who don’t know, Trombone Shorty is a local star who is good looking, a great singer and a killer brass player.He in gaining recognition and fame far from New Orleans as well. A free show with him is a gift.

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Clearly, I rode my bike to the concert as parking is a total bitch downtown. Riding home in the night air, a bit cool and windy, was the perfect end to the evening. Finding friends at the concert and dancing outside was the perfect way to spend a Wednesday night.

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New Orleans, if you haven’t come out to Harvest the Music yet this season, hurry! There are a few left and it is the best thing in this city right now.

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Last friday was Park(ing) Day. I have always wanted to participate, and this year I got to! New Orleans had 5 sites, run and organized by The Green Project, Bike Easy, Transport for NOLA and many others. They were set up from 8a-6pm, so stopped by before work.

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The one I visited just happened to be in front of one of my favorite places, La Divina Gelateria. They are friendly, shop at the market and make AH-MAZING gelatos (peach prosecco is my fav!). I grabbed a coffee and took it to eat in the street outside. It was so fun.

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Thanks to everyone who helped make this a fun way to start the day. I loved the looks on the drivers faces as they passed by! To taking back the streets!! Hurrah!

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(The faces above are how we feel about cars!)

Did you celebrate Park(ing) Day? How was it?

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Late last week, Sugar and I had a night on the town with my good friend (and co-worker) Kelly. Working at a farmers market, I very rarely get to wear heels (or even dress pants), so I was excited to even get the slightest bit dressed up (business casual means something entirely different at a farmers market!). Even dressed up, Sugar and I looked good together.

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We went to the One Book One New Orleans kickoff party, sponsored by the New Orleans YLC. This was at the African American Art Museum in the Treme, across town from me. The weather was awesome, so the ride was enjoyable and fun.

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We stayed, listened to a brass band, had some free food and drinks and mingled. Then we were off again!

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Next up was Culture Collision, an event put on by our local NPR station, WWNO at the Museum of Art. We got there just in time for the cocktail party in the Sculpture Garden, which is not normally open at night. Again, we had some free food and drink (donations were given, of course!) and listened mingled while looking at the amazing sculptures.

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All in all it was a killer fun night. We criss-crossed all over the city, laughing and being ridiculous on our bikes. I also met a man.

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With the weather changing, I could ride and not look like I just spent hours in a barn before deciding to go out. Anyone feeling this way about the weather change? Surely I am not alone!

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First, she was craving a croissant so we stopped by Croissant D’or.  I went in for breakfast, while Sugar waited outside enjoying the fierce winds that were blowing.

Don't worry; I saved her a bite!

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Next up was Bourbon Street. Always an interesting ride, even at 9am! Sugar was interested in a job, so we stopped so she could inquire within.

job-searching in this economy is tough!

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Unfortunately, they thought she was a little young, although she has all the right curves.

A little down, but still kicking ass, we headed back to the office. All in all, a good morning!

How was your morning?

Scary thunder and lightening!

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We are being dumped on by Katia currently with flood warnings all over the place. When the rain is insane, I ride the bus for a few reasons: 1) it is drier, 2) riding through puddles here is dangerous as they could be an insanely large pothole. Flats or wrecks in the rain are no fun.

potholes will attack in New Orleans!

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Today started nice enough, but I knew it was coming so I took the bus to the office after lunch. The wind was getting crazy and the thunder was rumbling. Rain boots, a dress and an umbrella was all I needed to get home dry(ish) and stylishly!

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After my stop, I took a rest at my favorite pizza joint for $5 pizza and pint while watching folks go in and out of the neighborhood bike shop, Mike the Bike Guy (who is awesomely cool).

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Beer in hand (no open container laws here!), I stopped by and said hello to Mike and company, then walked home in the rain. A few puddle jumps later and I was home and drying off.

What do you do to make the best of a stormy day? Do you ride even through flood warnings? Do share!

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Here is New Orleans, we are in Hurricane season (also known as the rainy season). It rains every single day. I am not talking a drizzle, but a good downpour. Sometimes it lasts all day, sometimes just 20 min.

Because of this, I am often caught in the rain on my bike. In this heat a rain jacket makes you so hot that you end up wet with sweat, so I just go for it. If I am headed to the office, I bring a change of clothes; headed home and I just go (I have taken to keeping a towel just inside the door for these occasions).

Monday I had to pop into the office for about 1 hour, so I thought I would be safe. Wrong. Just as soon as I left it started. The kind of rain that floods our sinking streets in 5 minutes, making the never-ending potholes invisible. Thankfully, I was on a street I know well so could avoid most of the potholes, although I hit 2 that nearly shook my brains out.

The worst part? I was wearing a light colored flowered dress. It was like a wet t-shirt contest the whole ride home. Yikes. I won’t make that mistake again, as I got many yells of …ahem…appreciation from other weary rain soaked travelers.

I am sure that once it cools off I will start wearing rain gear, but for know I prefer to cool off in a good summer storm. Anyone else just ride it out in the summer rain?

*This photo does not do justice to just how completely soaking wet I was. Not a dry stitch of clothing on me!

Y’all this is out of control. Bike sales are increasing like crazy but cyclists are still seen as an anomaly. Because I ride a bike, people think I am fun or funny. Bike paraphernalia decorates my walls and clothes. Don’t get me wrong, I love that cycling is a bit of a sub-culture and that I feel like part of a club (a club that drinks beers and looks good); but I wonder when people will start taking cycling seriously as a way to stop this environmental and health death spiral?

I simply don’t understand the societal disconnect. If you are worried about our environment, ride a bike. If you are overweight and looking for a cheap way to get into shape, ride a bike. Broke from gas prices? Ride a damn bike. Be more than just talk; do something. I am ok with baby steps: transition to a smaller car for the family, try taking the bus once a week…just do something. Until then, quit complaining about how the big companies are ruining the world; they exist for a reason, because their product is in demand. How can we hope for lowered gas prices AND more careful drilling? Boycotting BP but still driving your SUV is not saying Damn the Man. You know how you damn the man? Stop participating in the problem. Get our of your car and on your bike (or the bus or a nice walk or the subway).

LA was freaking out over “Carmageddon“, but does anyone care when the bike lanes are blocked due to delivery trucks, sidewalk renovations or valet signs? Nearly every city has a parking requirement for business zoning, but rarely is bike parking thought of*. I don’t know the numbers, but would assume that the difference between money spent on roads and money spent on bike infrastructure is vast. Yet I see cars with anti-drilling stickers on them all the time**. I want cycling to be more than a cute hobby with t-shirts and mugs and wall hangings. I want it to be ordinary. I long for the day when this and other cycling blogs are moot because everyone does it and it is nothing special. There is hope: Ray LaHood is a big supporter of cycling and is working hard to make things happen. However, it is going to take more than that to really make a difference. People need to take cycling seriously and see it as a method of changing our world, one pedal at a time.

Until the change is mainstream, let’s keep encouraging others to get on a bike. Let’s work our hardest to make it accessible. Let’s ride like it is an ordinary thing because for most of us, it is. And that is a beautiful thing.

* Some cities, such as San Francisco are requiring bike parking and I salute them for it!

**considering I live in the heart of the Gulf oil spill, there may be a disproportionate number here.

This Monday I had a meeting in the French Quarter, then another in the Marigny area. I decided to take advantage of my ride home to do some exploring and eating and joyriding. After riding a bit in the Marigny neighborhood. I stopped by Shiro’s Cafe to grab some lunch (after realizing that my go to, Cake, was closed). Great atmosphere, yummy lamb gyro and a beer later, I took off riding again.

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Through the French Quarter in areas that I rarely ride in, as most locals avoid the Quarter like the plague, I found some streets blocked to cars during day hours! I had no idea, and was glad to see how pedestrian friendly it is (Could also be that too many tourists, drunk from hand-grenades and walking around like it is Disneyland, led to this decision…).

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The CBD had some amazing graffiti that I have wanted to look at more closely, so of course I took a ride over.

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Got home just in time for a summer thunderstorm to lull me into a nap. Great day!