Warning: Discombobulated Driver!

I recently got my car out of insurance jail. This is probably not what you think. It is not the impound lot where your car goes when you get a ticket for driving uninsured. Although that may also be called insurance jail.

I purposely put my car on an insurance storage plan. In other words, my car was still insured should one of my neighbors choose to hit it or break into it, or should my building fall on it; however, I could NOT drive it. I even had to give them my odometer reading.

I rarely drive these days. I live 2 miles from my job, I take public transportation most places I go during the week or I walk. I found myself driving my car once or maybe twice a week and sometimes not even once. I decided I should figure out how much it was costing me to own this car I never drive. Approx. $225 a month, when all gas, maintenance, insurance, etc. was added up. And that doesn't even include a parking fee, which I am now paying at $75.00 a month.

So, I embarked on the great Zipcar experiment. I stored my car on November 17th, 2010 and got a Zipcar membership the next day. From then until January 27th, 2011 I did not drive my car. If I needed to get someplace I rode public transportation, rented a Zipcar, or rode with someone else. i kept track of all money spent, including gas split with my sister to go home for the holidays. And it was MUCH, MUCH cheaper than owning my own car. Even with the small amount I was paying for storage insurance, I spent far less on transportation than what it cost to maintain and own a car.

And I lost 10 pounds.

And I got to drive some pretty fun cars.

And I rode the train, which is by far the most comfortable way to travel I've ever found.

Good Shoe Project aka Copy Cat Project

Warning: Soap box post to follow, read at your own risk.

Why do we copy stuff? Why can't we come up with our own ideas? Why can't we figure out how to help the world in our own way?

Today I got an ad in my e-mail from Payless shoes. I LOVE Payless shoes. I know they are inexpensive and not the best made shoe out there, but their wide width shoes fit my wide feet better than any I've found anywhere else.

But I was really disappointed when I got this today: the Good Shoe Project.

You may be thinking, "ummm, hello Angela. Isn't World Vision and Airwalk and Payless joining together to bring shoes to shoeless children in Central America a great thing?"


YES, it's a great thing they're doing. I wish they'd come up with it on their own.


Many of you know my obession with TOMS Shoes. TOMS Shoes mission is to put shoes on the feet of shoeless children. Sound familiar?

Here is a classic TOMS shoe:

And a new "Hope Shoe" from Payless:

They couldn't even come up with their own show design? I remember from marketing class about price points and offering different qualities of product for different price points, but this is changing the world we're talking about here. Do we have to compete here too?

It leaves a bad taste in my mouth to see our American consumerism and capitalism bleeding over into charity and the Christian mission. Both TOMS Shoes and World Vision are clear about their mission to make a better world, but copycatting is not the way to go.

Payless, Airwalk, and World Vision your cheap knock off of the TOMS shoe isn't really doing anything for me.

Proverbs 3:9 days "Honor God with everything you own; give him the first and the best." If we have the opportunity to give what is in my opinion a better made TOMS shoe to a child in need should we opt for the cheaper Payless Hope shoe?

Because I'm usually an optimist and because I really do want the barefooted people of the world to at least have an option to put on a pair of shoes, I hope that your Good Shoe Project does well and puts shoes on the feet of lots of children.

And I hope they don't fall apart too quickly.

Family . . .

is awesome. I've had two opportunities in the last couple of months to spend the weekend with the fabulous women in my mom's family and in my dad's family.

I'm so thankful to have a family so rich in character and diverse.

They are wonderful.

I love them.

The Barefoot Princess

At one time in my life my nickname was the "Barefoot Princess". I received this nickname by, you guessed it, not wearing shoes, or going barefoot as often as I could get away with it.

I truly do not like to wear shoes.

However, by choosing to live in the cold, wet, rainy NW I wear shoes more often than not. I usually take them off as soon as I walk in my house, and probably wear flippy's more often than the average Portlander, pushing the limits of Spring and Fall weather.

But today I'm choosing not to wear shoes at all. All day. No shoes. In honor of all the people in the world who don't have shoes to wear. You can find out more information about my pledge here http://www.onedaywithoutshoes.com.

(Weeeelllllll, okay, I did stick a pair of flippies in my purse just in case I need to go in a "no shoes, no shirt, no service" establishment and I did use them once for about 15 minutes while in Seattle's Best.)

Observations from today:

1. Asphault and concrete look smooth, but they're not. By the time I walked the 4 blocks from my house to the MAX station, the bottom of my feet were already raw.

2. Portlanders are so desentitized to wierd people/stuff no one even blinked/noticed my bare feet, which was slightly disappointing since I worked hard at painting my toenails.

3. I'm a vain creature (see observation #2).

4. By the time I got to work, my feet where cold, wet, dirty, and my toes were numb.

5. It's really hard to get warm when your feet are cold. Actually, it might be impossible.

6. I found myself choosing my walking route according to where the sun was shining to keep my feet from being SO freezing, stinking cold.

7. I'm a wimp. After I rode the MAX home from work I put flippies on for the rest of my evening. It was a compromise. I really wanted to put actual shoes on. I wanted my feet to be warm again.

8. There is nothing princess-like about being barefoot when it doesn't involve walking through warm sand or across cool grass.

My 8 hour experience being shoeless is nothing compared to the many people in our world that don't have shoes. My feet were washed, lotioned, and warmed up at the end of the day and I know that going barefoot didn't really change the life of any shoeless person. It changed mine. My prayers for God's grace and mercy to provide for the poor and suffering will be a little more earnest, informed with the memory of my cold, raw feet.

Movin' on up

Well we're movin on up,

To the east side,

To a deluxe apartment in the sky.

If you're friends with my new roommate you'll note that she also used a reference to "The Jeffersons" theme song on her "I've moved" cards. I'd like to say I'm sorry if you feel as if you've been inundated with "Jeffersons" references. The thing is, we both came to it without the influence of the other. I'm not sure what that says about her and I or maybe what kind of commentary it is on our culture as a whole.

For me the connection came when I was home over Christmas and my mom's sister Judy said, "Well, Ang, it sounds like you're moving up." I don't think she meant to reference the Jeffersons. Or maybe she did. Either way, since that moment in my parent's living room, when I think of my new apartment I hear the Jefferson's theme song in my head.

. . . but it's been a REALLY long time since I've seen that show and my memory of the melody is fuzzy at best, which means I've had a fuzzy half-hearted, really couldn't sing it if I wanted to, version running around in my head for a month . . . and it's getting annoying.

But I LOVE my new place. And I'm getting closer every day to being completely unpacked.

Of course, this move didn't come without sacrifice.

I miss my old place.

I miss my old roommate.

My cat misses her playmate Max.