The Evolution of the Bicycle!

Copenhagen Wheel - when your looking to be green NOT exhausted!

Anytime you step on the brakes, the generator collects power that it stores in an on-board battery. A sensor in the wheel’s hub can tell when your ride becomes strenuous, like when you’re heading uphill. The sensor then triggers an electric motor that boosts your forward pedaling power. The next time you hit the brakes the cycle starts all over.

But this next-gen bike doesn’t stop at regenerative braking and electric helper motors. A Bluetooth connection in the wheel can speak to an iPhone that fits snugly into the mount on your handlebars. From there it feeds you all kinds of information through an app, including map and traffic info, heightened pollution alerts, speed, distance, fitness data, etc.

I am pretty fascinated by this.  I wonder how this will change normal commuting!?   

Would you purchase this for your daily commute?

Coming Post: Another Chicago "HOW TO"

Last weekend I ran several errands that included groceries at the farmer's market (the best one I've ever been to, the crepe I had might have skewed the results), a bridesmaid dress alteration, returning a dress to Banana Republic, and a lovely trip to Joann's for some material for DIY projects I have lined up for the wedding!

I took some photos for my soon-to-be sister-in-law's curiosity and will post them in the next couple days! Ric I am always thinking of you!!! Pictures involve the Chicago transit system (my livelihood depends on this lovely metropolitan staple), the farmer's market, and fun things I saw along my route!

But to peak your interest in my wedding planning land I have been reading several blogs to keep me motivated and on the right track in building a ceremony and reception that is truly and uniquely Nolan and me! We keep, scratch that, I keep thinking of new RAD ways to entertain and awe the crowd when it comes to our event. I must say that Nolan has done a great job of keeping me grounded (popping my bubble) on more than one occasion! This in the end, has and will save us some moola! Something I am (more so in the future than now) grateful for.

To read the most recent post that has done a great job of putting things into perspective please read this post by The Offbeat Bride. She keeps you thinking of that balance we all strive for in life and in event planning, while some of the comments reiterate her truthful depiction of achieving balance of attaining those oh's and awe's everyone wants at their wedding and keeping it about what's important, your marriage and sharing it with those who matter the most to you!

Emerald City

This is going to cover two topics today, in brief: "A year in Chicago" and more in depth "St. Patty's Day in Chicago."

A couple weeks ago marked a year that Nolan and I drove from our home, the West to explore the the Midwest. We have officially been here for 1 year and 3 weeks! The year flew by, what with the big move, new jobs, Nolan's new career move onto the river, our engagement, and the meeting of new Midwest friends and several introductions to soon to be family for both of us. We are truly blessed to have found one another and can't imagine a more exciting or better time in our lives than where we are right now!

That being said, we still have a great time exploring the city, St. Patrick's Day was NO exception. Chicago is filled to the max with fun green celebrations including, green beer, a green dyed Chicago river, a downtown parade, the South Side Irish Parade, and several small celebrations around the neighborhoods. This last weekend was in the 50's, twenty degrees higher than last year, proving to be much more of a pleasant experience!

This year Nolan and I celebrated by walking around, seeing the Chicago River and having some drinks at a few of our favorite watering holes.


The dying of the Chicago River is a fun event, no matter your vantage point, but I do have to say, last year's was pretty dang cool! (soon see last year's pictures below) This year we were walking along the streets closest to the river and finally planted ourselves on the Wabash bridge.


We were close enough this year to see the dye boat speed beneath us. The dye begins as an orange powder and reacts with the water to turn a florescent green. The day is full of nonsense! It's a great time to do some people watching!




According to Wikipedia, "Bill King, the administrator of Chicago's St. Patrick's Day committee, stated that "the idea of dyeing the Chicago River green originally came about by accident when a group of plumbers were using fluorescein dye to trace illegal substances that were polluting the river". [14]

The United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) outlawed the use of fluorescein for this purpose, since it was proven to be harmful to the river.[14] The secret ingredients used to dye the river green today are claimed to be safe and not harmful to the thousands of living organisms that find a habitat in the Chicago river. In 1966 environmentalists forced a change to a vegetable based dye to protect the thousands of goldfish that populate the river.[c[14]]"