Below is a new article I wrote for BeE Woman magazine.



Before the words “organic” and “sustainable” had entered the mainstream, 32-year-old Joanna Notkin wanted to find a way to bring eco-friendly cushions to living rooms around the world. While studying textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design, Notkin noticed that natural fabrics were not really all that natural—but rather, filled with pesticides and toxic chemicals. “Isn’t there a way to design things so that when you’re done with them, they’re not necessarily garbage?” she wondered. Out of her determination to develop a product that could be both natural and 100 percent biodegradable, the idea for Looolo, a sustainable textile company, was born.

With lofty goals and some money she’d saved from a part-time job as an oyster shucker, Notkin started the company in 2004. Having made many of the products by hand, she offered a mere five pillows and two blankets as inventory in her booth at the Toronto Design Show, her first trade show.

As sustainable materials started to catch on with the public, sales began to climb. “It was not easy starting a company with a big agenda,” Notkin recalls. “My ideas limited me as far as materials, color and expense.” She searched every corner of the globe for the best organic yarns, finding sources in Switzerland, Australia and Vermont. Because Looolo’s pillows, blankets and scarves are made from natural materials and zero-impact dyes, they’re 100 percent biodegradable and can be disposed of in a composter. Even the company logo—a looping, interconnected “100%”—reflects the company’s commitment to sustainability. From the design and manufacturing to the products themselves, everything at Looolo Textiles is achieved through a sustainable process.

Determined to continue to help make the earth a better place, Notkin is now looking to expand on her vision. Recently, she received a prestigious business grant for women entrepreneurs from Eileen Fisher; this year, she plans to launch a new line of products designed from an eco-polyester, including accessories such as place mats and small zippered pouches due to hit stores this summer and double her sales revenue.

“As a designer, I was never settled with the fact that all the things I was making were one day going to end up in a landfill,” Notkin recounts. “Ten or more years ago, the seed was planted that I wanted to design something more meaningful.”

Heather Walpole, is a freelance writer based in Oceanside, Calif.

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Click here to view the entire piece.

About a week and a half ago we were riding in the car on our way to Los Angeles, the radio was tuned to its usual NPR. Thomas was driving so my thoughts were drifting back and forth from radio to imagination as I watched the Orange County scenery coast by. A report came on talking about teens who use a native Mexican plant as a hallucinogenic. I perked up a little when I heard the plant name, Salvia. "We have that," I say quietly.

Thomas jerks his head toward me with such force the rest of his body and the car follow in turn. "We do?," he asks nearly veering off the freeway.

Sadly, honey, it's not the right variety. It flowers.

Even though we have the world's largest television and full surround sound, I think I might want to go to the theater to watch the new X-Files movie. It doesn't come out until July 25 but I am already excited! As an added bonus the movie poster is really nice.

... well at least from the top of your car!

I'm very grateful to a loyal reader who when presented with a perfect opportunity took a photo that touches my heart.

OK, OK, here's what I really look like when I go to Jazzercise class.



HA! But, apparently I am on the cutting edge of cool over here. Jazzercise and other aerobic workouts like it are making a resurgence and they're doing it in the mecca of all things cool, New York City. New York magazine recently ran a feature about Eighties-inspired fitness classes happening all over NYC. Author Sarah Bernard spells it out, "Just as bat-winged sweaters and pegged pants are reappearing on runways, classic cardio burns from the eighties are back in fashion, too. The primary appeal: They’re simple and they make you sweat."

And, I swear it's tons of fun to wear a purple thonged leotard.

Apple filed a federal trademark infringement suit against the City of New York and their GreeNYC campaign. GreeNYC created a logo that is being used on bus shelters, hybrid gasoline-electric taxicabs and even Whole Foods shopping bags. Apple says the logo looks too much like their logo and people may confuse the two.

Apple is claiming the GreeNYC mark will "seriously injure the reputation which [Apple] has established for its goods and services."

"This well-known city is using its new design in a variety of contexts that have absolutely nothing to do with Apple Inc.," New York City claims.

What do you think? Is Apple overreacting? Or has New York City bitten off more than it can chew?

I've bridged the treacherous path to becoming a writer. Today my first article was published! BeE Woman, the first woman’s magazine devoted to personal finance, politics and lifestyle, asked me to write their initial blog entrepreneur profile, in which I interviewed Lynda Keeler of Delight.com. Click here to read the article.

Study finds that 12% of IKEA furniture assembly ends in divorce.

On this most super of all Tuesdays, I hit the poles. As promised I took along my camera and documented my experience for the Polling Place Photo Project.

Heading out to vote in the primary election should be the top priority for Americans, but taking photos of your polling place should be the second priority for designers. In a campaign called Design for Democracy the AIGA - the professional association for design - is working to “demonstrate the value of design by doing valuable things.” Working with different government agencies to redesign the voting experience, the AIGA hopes to improve the interactions between US citizens and their government. Designers across the country can contribute to the cause by documenting their voting experience and submitting photos to The New York Times Polling Place Photo Project.

"The Polling Place Photo Project is a nationwide experiment in citizen journalism that encourages voters to capture, post and share photographs of this year’s primaries, caucuses and general election. By documenting local voting experiences, participants can contribute to an archive of photographs that captures the richness and complexity of voting in America."

New reports are surfacing that 35% more iPhones have been sold than have been registered with AT&T or the specially selected European carriers.

John Oates on theregister.co.uk reports, "Apple says it has sold 3.7m iPhones in total. AT&T says it has sold 2m iPhones, and European operators are believed to have sold between 300,000 and 400,000 handsets.

Which means there are either 1.3m iPhones being used as bookends, or an awful lot of people have gone to the trouble of unlocking the devices to run them on different networks."

Who's doing that?



Click here to see the full article.

An economic stimulus plan that won't stimulate me. The main stipulation to getting a check from the government is having received a paycheck. I unfortunately have not had a paycheck in over four years. No stimulation for me. (Besides, I don't think it will boost the economy they way the government expects.)

Read more, here.

Comedian Mark Malkoff decided to call up IKEA Paramus to see if he could move in while the apartment he shares with his wife was being fumigated. Shockingly, IKEA said yes! His wife, on the other hand, is staying with family in upstate New York.

This week he moved in to one the 'homes' in the upstairs showroom. Customers come and visit him, he makes people take off their shoes before entering his home and it looks like he's generally having a really fun time!

Mark is posting videos on his website: Mark Lives in IKEA

Thanks Jennifer!

Have you seen the studies by Spanish scientists that say beer is better than water? Well, it's better after exercise anyway. Beer replaces lost calories and helps prevent dehydration. Oh, and those tiny bubbles even help quench thirst.

I'm in love. What a better way to motivate me to walk the dogs?

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Click here to view the entire article.

Last night the news shifted to a less menacing tone. The winds are coming off the ocean now instead of from the hot, dry desert. The smoke was still heavy in the air and ash was covering my black shirt like a nice, thick layer of dandruff.



I was out and about getting the news on the street from my neighbors. Even though the air was not safe to breathe, everyone was sort of wandering out of their houses to talk to other people. While chatting to my neighbor we were watching an adorable hummingbird flitting about. He would dart from the feeder to a branch, then zip around the yard and back again. Sympathetically my neighbor exclaimed, "I wish I could get tiny dust masks for all these little birds!"

This little guy needs one too!



Everyone has been carefully navigating the yucky ash and soot, well everyone except Lola and Henry. They were just happy I let them outside for more than 30 seconds.



This morning the sky seems more promising than it has in days. I can see shadows on the ground and the sun is not an eerie sight.



I don't know if things are really any better, as we have not turned on the news today. I know many of the fires continue to rage out of control, and my cousins in Orange County may need to evacuate by this evening. We would be happy to take them in to our home if need be, but there are no south bound freeways open! Southern California, especially San Diego, may be sunnier because of wind direction but not because the threat of devastation is over.

Yesterday was a stressful, eerie day. We had our evacuated refugees with us all day and we were all wondering what would happen next. Will they still have a house? Will our house be in danger? When will we be able to go outside and breathe fresh air? We were all pent up inside the house watching the never-ending news reports. The sky was orange and ash was beginning to accumulate on the patio and plants.





Getting out of the house became the top priority. Marsha and Don have some friends in San Clemente and they promised they had clean air to breathe. Around 4:30pm we hopped in the car to head north. Thomas had work to do so he stayed behind, really he had the house, TV and dogs all to himself.

The air did not clear as quickly as I thought it would. The sun was behind enormous black smoke clouds for nearly all of the 20 miles up the coast. Shining through the clouds was a big pink fireball that reflected hot on a gray ocean. Unfortunately by the time we arrived in San Clemente the fire clouds had joined us hiding the sun behind growing fingers of smoke.



The moon was fighting to stay in the sky.



We took photos and tried to enjoy every last ounce of daylight and oxygen.



We were just relaxing and trying to let our minds escape the stress put on us by the fires, until Thomas called. His report: a kid in our neighborhood, apparently without a brain, snuck down to the canyon behind our house and lit a fire. A FIRE! THE KID LIT A FIRE NEXT TO OUR HOUSE! AT THE BASE OF A EUCALYPTUS TREE! Honestly, what kind of idiot does something like this? There are countless fires burning all over Southern California, especially our county, and this seventeen year old kid decides it would be a good idea to start a new one!

Luckily for us, our neighbors were outside and happened to see him doing this. They yelled at him, he ran off. Our neighbors called the fire department and thankfully there was a truck to come put the fire out. I'm surprised they had a rapidly available truck and that all the trucks weren't on the front lines of the major fires. The neighbors were quickly spraying the fire with garden hoses, but Thomas said that just within a matter of minutes the flames were quite high and growing. The police and fire department arrived shortly after and extinguished the rest of the fire. Hopefully somebody filed a police report!

So really there was no escaping the reality of the fires last night. It didn't leave our minds for a second. Between the smell in the air and the other refugees sitting behind me at dinner, constantly on their cellphone asking about Rancho Santa Fe conditions, the conversation never steered fully away from the devastation.

After dinner we hit the road, even though we wanted to leave the house we were all anxious to get back home. Halfway through our drive, in the middle of desolate Camp Pendelton, ash began raining down. High on a hill rising up from the freeway was a new fire and fresh flames licking the night sky. Marsha snapped a few pictures from the backseat and we kept on our way. We made it home safely, sat down and started watching the news again.

We were just about ready to head to bed when we heard that the evacuation notice for Marsha and Don's neighborhood and been lifted! Within a half an hour they had all their displaced belongings back in the car and were apprehensively on their way home. Their house and surrounding area did not sustain any damage from the fire!

The Witch Creek, Rice Canyon and Camp Pendelton fires are still burning today. We have hot weather and some sun, but the smoke continues to lay heavily on the horizon. The fires are not more than 15% contained, so we are not in the clear yet. That news will hopefully come soon.

The City of Philadelphia is in the midst of a homicide crisis. The murder rate increased nearly seven percent from 2005 to 2006, and the deaths in 2007 are trending to top 2006. A whopping 90% of the deaths are results of handguns. This led my favorite design professor to devise an anti-violence poster campaign to hang in bus shelters around the city.

With the campaign, designed pro bono, Frank Baseman wanted to bring in-your-face-attention to the growing murder rate and rampant handgun possession taking Philadelphia by storm.



After raising donations from local donors and businesses, the campaign was ready to hit the streets. Philadelphia thought otherwise. A mid-level government officer deemed the campaign too "intimidating," refusing to let it run in the bus shelters. Because staring down the barrel of a 2D gun is much more frightening than the fact that the city has become one of the country's most deadly cities.

Since that absurd decision, the story has been picked up by the Philadelphia Inquirer and National Public Radio. Now the poster is reaching a broad audience but not the intended audience.

Philadelphia needs to wake up, stop worrying about posters being scary and start worrying why its streets are scary. Shouldn't they be figuring out why its citizens have such easy access to handguns?

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Read more:

AIGA: Where Is the (Brotherly) Love?

NPR: Anti-Crime Posters Shed Light on Philly's Problems

Philadelphia Inquirer: Needed: Sponsor for a message of peace
A display too lurid for Murder City?