Its hard for me to believe that we are already at the end of the year! Green and Chic has seen many changes in 2009.  Since the store is only fifteen months old now, major changes are typical and I don’t see it ending anytime soon.  To not evolve is to parish or fail.

The year started out pretty slow which is common for online stores just starting out.  There were times when I though about giving up and focusing on my full-time day job.  Running Green and Chic and working was kicking my butt to say the least, and I had a tough time managing both.

Around the same time, personal health challenges forced me to slow down a bit.  I could no longer ‘do it all’ as I initially planned.  It felt like the blog and store was coming to a screeching halt at that point.  As time went by and I was able to manage my time better, and business slowly started to pick up.  I found out what changes I needed to make on my website and marketing efforts.  Executing these changes is not easy to say the least, but change is always exciting. Relocating this past September brought on a whole new set of challenges, but I am so glad I made the move from the Bay Area (where I was born and raised) to Portland, OR.

I would like to take a moment to thank everyone who supported me this past year, and I’m looking forward to what 2010 will bring.

Happy New Year!

Photo by: LeeBrimelow

As a mother of four, Mary has a deep interest and concern for the state of our world, and for preserving it for the future of our children.  As a freelance writer, she enjoys researching and writing on topics of health and green living, so that she can learn as she helps to spread the good word!

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Biking to work used to be such a foreign concept, but nowadays you see far more people using this mode of transportation. What you may not realize is that jumping on a bike to get to and from work can help to clear your head, make you feel physically better, and reinforce your commitment to be more eco-friendly.

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Photo by Declan TM

In the seventeen months Green and Chic Blog has been in existence, I have written a few posts that has stood the test of time.  These are still the most searched and visited posts since I started blogging.  I recently edited  a few of these posts to give them a bit of a “face lift” for my new readers.

“I have a headache!” – A word about perfumes was one of my first posts in the “Chemicals to Avoid” series. I wrote this post out of frustration due to constant exposure to artificial presumes, scents and fragrances that gives me terrible migraines.

Petroleum jelly possible cancer risk is sort of a controversial subject because we don’t know for sure if petroleum jelly actually causes cancer, but there are other good reasons to avoid products with petroleum jelly and mineral oil.

Alternatives to fabric softeners Did you know that commercial fabric softeners is one of the most toxic household products used today?  This post goes into why that’s the case, and what you can use as a safer (and cheaper) alternative.

Out of these three, is there anything that stands out to you? I will continue to revise some of my older posts in the coming weeks so stay tuned via RSS or email.

Photo by: D’Arcy Norman

Local. Used. Eco-Friendly. Less

These are the four words I keep in the forefront of my mind when shopping. From clothing  to food, if its not local, used and/or eco-friendly, I wont buy it.  Here’s how I apply “less” to shopping:

Less
First and foremost, I try to focus on buying and acquiring less.  I’ve learned the hard way that having less is more economically and environmentally friendly, especially if an item is not built or manufactured for long-term use.   Though its beneficial from a financial standpoint, for the purpose of this post, my focus is environmental.

Here are a few common items that we don’t need to buy, that only ends up in the landfills.

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Marc Jacobs coat purchased new at 80% off the original retail price.

Previous posts in this series:
Eco Fashion: What is it?
Eco Fashion: Do it yourself – Organic Fabric
Eco Fashion: Do it Yourself – Yarn
Eco Fashion: The Cost of Eco Fashion

For me, shopping for used clothes is the most enjoyable type of shopping there is (and I’m not a huge fan of shopping in general despite my love of clothes). Though the clothes may or may not be made from organic fabrics, buying used is still eco friendly for obvious reasons.  (Even though the coat in the photo above was purchased new at a consignment store, most of what I buy is preloved.)

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Downtown Berkeley BART Station.
Photo credit: hortulus

For a variety of reasons, we will be selling one of our cars in the next few months.  Many of you have probably already taken this step eons ago for a variety of reasons, but in ‘09, I am ready to take the plunge.  I have been reluctant to do this in the past because I’m so in love with my 15 minute commute to work by car as opposed to the 1+ hour commute on three different modes of public transportation just to go seven miles across town.

We will still have one car between the two of us so we will have to get used to planning our  trips more. Thankfully he works entirely from home, so the car will reside there most of the time.  The good news is, we will be relocating in the next several months, hopefully to a neighborhood with a decent transportation system and certain amenities within walking distance (local grocery stores, cafe’s etc).  Though we live in the San Francisco Bay Area which offers some of the best public transportation around (at least in California) we happen to live in an neighborhood where its not that great.

For the time being while we are still here, we will share the one car so that I can get to and from work in a reasonable amount of time – at least some of the time, make it to doctor’s appointments so that I wont use all of my PTO (personal time off) at work from using public transit, and still be able to combine trips on occasion (grocery shopping + work, etc).

I wish biking was an option, but my paralyzing fear of traffic even crossing the street, the killer Berkeley hills with narrow winding roads, and limited vision in my left eye that mostly occurs when my body tempeture rises (long story) makes it unsafe for me.  There are some serious weekend warriors that take over the streets up here during the weekends and I hope to be one of them some day.

Keeping with the theme of Green and Chic, I will say that one of the reasons why we are giving up one car is to help reduce pollution and waste.  Though we will still have the one car, it will be driven much less.  Once we move, the usage will continue to go down.

Over time, I will blog my progress here  if I can keep these posts interesting!  If I don’t have much to say, I will just Tweet the updates.

I discovered this great blog from Kim Woodbridge of Antisocial Developement through one of her weekly blogrolls entitled Green LA Girl – Car Free Monday’s .   This series showcases women who decided to be car free in Los Angeles of all places.  Thought I’m not quite ready to start biking again, this blog is still very

I will be putting my car up for sale in the next month or two.  Wish me luck in this economy!

Photo credit: Goodnight Photography

Before a few weeks ago, I had no idea what “tagged” meant, but Ross from Will it Change You? decided to honor me with it. I’m not used to talking about myself on this blog much, so this is a bit of a change for me.

(Lets see…six things about me…)

1.  I have a tattoo on my right ear.  Its something I decide to get three years ago (my first and only tattoo) almost on a whim.  Despite what my mother would say if she knew it was real, I haven’t regretted it, and I actually forget that I have it most of the time – unless I see someone staring at me.

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For the first time in I don’t know how long, I had a little downtime while stuck in a hotel in the Portland area due to unusual weather over the weekend.  I had some time to think about my website and the blog that’s attached to it.  I pondered what this blog means to me, my readers and where do I see it going.

When I first started this website and blog, I had no idea where it would take me. My goal was to have an online store; or at least try my hand at it for a bit to see how it would work out long-term.  When I was told by numerous people that blogging would help promote Green and Chic, I started to think twice about the whole thing since I never blogged before, or read blogs for that matter!

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I have heard time and again from friends and acquaintances that New Year’s resolutions don’t work, so why bother?  These are the same people who plant their seeds (the resolutions), but don’t water, feed or make sure that it has adequate sunlight to grow and produce.

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