Um. Less than a week.

I haven’t ridden my bike since the 2^nd of June because I had to ship it up North. Eek. Not good. I’ve been running, but then my right knee started aching, so I’ve been doing lots of walking and stretching……. We’ll see. Great start. But all shall be well. :)

I did, however, have two rounds of icecreamamazingness yesterday. First at Beals in Old Port, Portland, ME with a fabulous cousin on break from her job at summer camp. Then in the evening with three different kinds of Ben&Jerry’s at my dad's cousin's house. Ahhhmazing. :)

I also wanted to share that over 100 people have donated to this cause & cycling trip, including four businesses, several strangers and many many friends and family. Far more have contributed in other (equally essential) ways, and I just want to say thank you thank you thank you to each and every one of you. This has been a surprisingly humbling and meaningful experience for me. So. Thanks. :)

I'm in Maine. Loving it. Can't help but wonder how my life would have been different, how I would have been different, had my family stayed in Maine instead of moving to Iowa when I was six. But, minus the fact that I didn't have a meadow or horses or a forest right by my house in IA like we had in Maine, I'm glad I grew up in Ames...I think I might be a tad homesick. But I'm so glad to be here. :)

"On the shortness of life"

*This was written June 10th, but not put up until this a.m.. Yes, I'm a slacker."

Well, after many sad farewells & see-you-laters over the past few weeks, I’ve finally gotten my bum out of DC and am now sitting in a dear friend’s house in Boston. My bike has been shipped to Portland, ME where I’ll be picking it up this weekend, my bags and boxes-o-stuff have been sent home, and I am getting pumped up for one final week of visits with old friends and family, some good rides around the town where I was born, and hopefully some time reflecting on a rocky shore. I was getting ridiculously nervous about this whole “cycling-cross-country” thing until a friend pointed out that there’s no danger of getting shot or left behind or sucked up some chocolate river pipe never to be seen again if I have a hard time keeping up or if I really really need to take a break. So I’m just trying to remember to breathe and take it one day (or mile) at a time. All shall be well. :)

Several people have asked me why I decided to do this bike trip for affordable housing this summer, and what made me leave an organization that I really care about… and I’ve been pondering this a lot. I could have stayed on track, continued working at my job, become a manager, worked overseas again, gotten my Masters and built a really solid career in international development. I would have an area of expertise, a steady, modest but reliable income. I’d be making a difference and a contribution etc. But something has been off for a while. I’ve noticed that I’ve been a bit preoccupied with mortality and the shortness of life recently. My mother has said for quite a while now – How you spend your days is how you spend your life. And I know for a fact that I don’t want to spend my life staring at a computer screen, commuting to work, living in a place so plastered in concrete… I was talking to my current host and high school friend about this a couple nights ago, and she passed along an essay that Everyone should read. It was written in or around AD 49 by Lucius Annaeus Seneca, and is entitled “On the shortness of life.” Here’s the opening. Remember. This is AD 49. Seriously.

The majority of mortals, Paulinus, complain bitterly of the spitefulness of Nature, because we are born for a brief span of life, because even this space that has been granted to us rushes by so speedily and so swiftly that all save a very few find life at an end just when they are getting ready to live...It is not that we have a short pace of time, but that we waste much of it. Life is long enough, and it has been given in sufficiently generous measure to allow the accomplishment of the very greatest things if the whole of it is well invested. But when it is squandered in luxury and carelessness, when it is devoted to no good end, forced at last by the ultimate necessity we perceive that it has passed away before we were aware that it was passing. So it is—the life we receive is not short, but we make it so, nor do we have any lack of it, but are wasteful of it…so our life is amply long for him who orders it properly. …
The part of life we really live is small.

Just about every paragraph of this essay revealed a hidden tree branch of wisdom that smacked me in the face as I skimmed through for the first time. Ow. Not a new message, but more relevant for me these past few years than ever before. And it also reminded me of something my ex-manager said at SPW – that nonprofits (especially) tend to operate from this perspective of starvation and shortage. It’s about scrounging together, limiting and restricting much of the work we do and the vision we have…and was the first to pose the question for me, what would it look like to work from a perspective of abundance? Not in order to slack off or be wasteful, but to open ourselves to all the possibilities? It seems it’s similar for individuals – we live our day-to-day lives from this worldview of somuchtodosolittletime, we focus on what we lack, on what we can’t have, and feel trapped/disappointed/disillusioned by The Way Things Are... But we have more of a choice than we think we do. Not always, but much of the time. Moral of the story: I highly recommend this essay, but won’t be held responsible for any massive life changes you make because of having read it.

Anyways, this is becoming a bit out of control, so I’ll stop my ranting here. I’d love to hear your thoughts…especially around ways that you’ve been able to balance the need for security (paying for insurance, for example) with being free to live the life you want to live, and with making a contribution to the world…

As they say at All Souls UU in DC: Go in peace, return in love.

Julia.

T Minus 27 Days - Ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!

Okay. Done freaking out. ... kind of.

So, I had the realization today, for the 2504023rd-to-the-nth time that life changes constantly and there's really nothing I can do about it...there isn't ever going to be a time at any point in my life when things won't be changing... Ya just have this idea growing up that things will settle and be stable when you graduate high school... when you graduate college and have a job...when you've had a job for 20 yrs... when you're a grandparent... Eeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen (that's a buzzer). Wrong. So the moral of the story is that I need to learn how to just set a goal and work towards it while still chilling out and going with the flow....to figure out how to create a plan and enough of a security net for myself while still being in the present... This bike tour will be a good meditation on that, I think.

I've basically only got $150 to go towards my fundraising target, so you're still welcome to donate if you haven't already and are still interested. :) (www.bikeandbuild.org click on donate and select my name from the drop down menu). I have been so humbled by the generosity of strangers, friends & family... there are no words.

Today was my last day at SPW. Again, there are no words. It's been a crazy, life-changing experience.

I'm thinking about going to Nepal with SPW after the bike trip. Y'all think I could raise another $6500 before October 1st?

So many options for bad April Fools jokes...

I could make some silly jokes re my bike trip right now: that I've had an injury, decided to move to Nepal instead, that I've given up bicycles and taken up kickball. But I'm not going to do that.

I've got my bike. It's shiny and red. I'm calling it "My Gentle Giant" because it's a Giant brand bike and it's also what my old housemate called me back in my college days. I'm trying to think of a shorter nickname for it. Let me know if you have any clever ideas. :) Maybe Gigi?

My official fundraising total as of April 1st is $2067. I've sold tshirts, hosted a raffle, stood around with a sign at farmers market, written letters, made a facebook event and am prepping for a massive yard sale of most everything I own. I'll be selling my dear "old" Pandora (my first DC bicycle), too...probably in May. Sigh. She sure opened a box-o-trouble, eh? I hadn't ridden a bike in years before I got Pandora last August. Now here I am, quitting my job with no solid plan to pedal across however many states...Craziness. And I really don't like being uncomfortable, so I'm not sure what I've gotten myself into. :P

I've assigned various groups of folks in my life to different states:
DC friends are taking on Montana at 725 miles (thanks guys)! My dad's side is taking on New York. Mama Bear's clan is sponsoring Minnesota. Old I-O-Way family friend folks are sponsoring North Dakota. Little Cyclones, Hawkeyes, and childhood friends are covering Illinois, Indiana, and Idaho. The list goes on.

The nice thing about breaking out the route like this is that I'll have a massive list of individuals to think about throughout the trip who made it possible (saddle sores and all) and on those tougher days will remember all those people out there backing me up. I can tell even now that that will be a powerful source of energy and comfort. I get goosebumps thinking about it.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you.

In other news, I was in a coffee shop this morning and a guy turned around in line and said, "Wow, your hair is really messed up." I told him that it was pretty much always messed up. He started laughing and said "April Fools". Got a real kick out of it, he did. Then he said I was actually really pretty. I asked if that was a joke, too. Then wished him luck with the rest of his holiday pranks. I hope his other victims were April Fools fans, otherwise he's probably been slapped a few times. A man his age really ought to know better than criticize a young woman's appearance at 8am on a Wednesday, holiday or not. People are weird.

With that, I'm off to make a snack. Much love to you all.

P.s. I have a few tshirts left! Let me know if you're interested! :) <3

T SHIRTS! :)

Well, hello hello! No, I did not fall off the face of the Earth, quit Bike and Build or break an ankle. I apologize for the silence. But, to make it up to you, I have some lovely news:

A very talented friend, Mr. Rick Kitagawa, has designed a couple shirts to help me fundraise. Super cute and perfect for Valentine's Day…and for every day if you're so lucky to have that special bicycle in your life year-round. <3 style="text-align: center;">

All shirts are $20 each, at least $4 of which goes towards my fundraising efforts (the more shirts that are ordered, the more of each price will go towards my trip! Meaning, if we sell 90 of them, over $10/shirt will go to the trip...only 15 shirts and it's far less...).

Men & Women's Ts are printed on American Apparel Ts. See size info and colors here:
Men: http://www.customink.com/styles/american-apparel-jersey-t/15000
Women: http://www.customink.com/styles/american-apparel-girly-jersey-t/30000

Toddlers sizes (2t, 3t, & 4t) are on a brand called Rabbit Skins Ts and are available in either design in red. If there's lots of interest, we can maybe look into other color options, too: http://www.customink.com/styles/rabbit-skins-toddler-t/140400

Want to order one? Or two? Four, you say?

Well, just email carpebicycle@gmail.com with your:

1. Design (kid or squirrel!)
2. Size: men's women's, youth (S, M, L, or XL - women's sizes run small, p.s.!) or toddler sizes (2t, 3t, 4t)
3. Quantity of each
4. Color (see colors available for each design and shirt style) If you have your heart totally set on another color, write me a poem, and maybe we'll be able to work something out.

So…..Get out there and spread the bicycle-love!! Please feel free to forward far and wide. They don't have to live in DC - anywhere with a mail box works for me. :)

Carpe Bicycle!

<3>

p.s.See some of Rick's other stuff! : www.Risk.Etsy.com , www.MonkeyandSeal.Etsy.com

Happy Holidays!

Happy Holidays! :) T minus 7 hours until 2009 here in the nation's capitol.

There's no big news to share yet... Well, that's a lie. I'm going to be an aunt...but that's not really bikeandbuild related. Except that around mid July I may be blissing out too much to ride. I've never been excited about a baby before. Not this excited, at least. Congratulations to me! and, you know... my big brother and his adorable lady love. :)

Just wanted to put something up before the end of 2008.

Love and hugs and New Year kisses to all.

Be good tonight.

<3

Hug Chain

wow. so i just got home. it's after midnight and i'll be up in about...oh...6 hrs to get ready for another day at the office. but i made over $350 tonight, and i just wanted to thank EVERYONE in any way connected to the gathering at Toledo Lounge this evening. Seriously. Thank you thank you thank you. i will have more details soon. But i just wanted to say thanks to everyone. :) Y'all amaze me.

i also just wanted to say that one of the most fabulous things happened this evening! we started a hug chain at the front of the bar and it traveled all the way around and back to me within about 10 minutes' time...probably less. i've read that we're supposed to be getting several hugs a day in order to stay happy and healthy, but i think a whole lot of us go days without even one...totally made my night.

spread the love, y'all. <3 julia.

p.s. sadly, in my excitement i forgot all the little tickets with peoples' contact info (i've got the winning ones) so if you know someone who was there, please thank them for me! :)