INTRODUCING............ us.

What happens when 5 women who love fashion and eco-friendliness (is that a word?) come together? An eco-fashion empire is built, and the world becomes a better, more stylish place for all of its inhabitants.

Well, not really, but that sounded really cool when I was typing it.


Hi, I'm Melissa, and I am the owner and head designer of Mountains of the Moon Eco-Fashion, an eco-conscious clothing line. I live in Chicago. I really like soy lattes, my dog Leary, anything creative (you should see what I fashioned out of my boyfriend's old Guns N' Roses t-shirt), live music (the non-sucky kind), short dresses, staying up much too late for my age, travel and pretty much anything lemon-flavored. I also like to write, so, ya know, why not start a blog? Everyone else is doing it, and I would definitely jump off a bridge if everyone else was doing it. Wait. Hmmmmmm.

All that said, yay! Welcome to the "smart. sustainable. style" official blog! Way back in 1998, when Mountains of the Moon was just an eco-twinkle in my eye, in those beginning stages when I had little more than a sewing machine set up on a cardboard box and some sketches on scratch paper, way back when I didn't even know how to turn on a computer, I never would have imagined that ten years later, I'd have a clothing line made completely of eco-friendly materials that would be carried world-wide, an incredible staff of intelligent, creative, fabulous women, and a real live blog. I don't think the word "blog" really existed back then, so the last part doesn't count. But you get it.

Starting today, hopefully rather frequently, the GLOMOTM (Gorgeous Ladies of Mountains of the Moon - remember GLOW? Gorgeous Ladies of Wrestling? Never Mind.) will be tantalizing your peepers with thoughts, ideas, eco-tips, jokes, stories, product reviews and random babblings. Because our motto is "smart. sustainable. style," we will do our best to focus on topics that are smart, sustainable and/or stylish (duh). We hope that you enjoy this glimpse into the exciting (slight exaggeration, but again, it sounds good) lives of a team of eco-friendly fashion design company co-workers/women of the world.

Before I end our very first blog with something incredibly witty and thought-provoking, let me introduce the BSITW (best staff in the world). They are totes obvi the coolest chicks evs, and yes, we like abbrevs (feel free to contact us if you have any good abbrevs, btw).

Morgan Rainwater - Oh, sweet little Morgan Baswell Rainwater, remember when you used to kick the boys' asses at video games and He-Man/Thundercats showdowns? My how you have grown, all adult-like in your brand new house with eco-friendly cleansers galore, and, like, all married and with pink and dark blue hair and everything. Morgan is my little sister, she is stunning inside and out, and she has been on the MotM Team since day one, doing everything from addressing catalogs to fulfilling orders to co-designing to running Wholesale Accounts to mopping the office floor because it was really grossing her out (eco-OCD seems to run in our family). She lives in Indianapolis with her hubby Josh and her 20 pound killer dog Isis who eats organic dog food, thankyouverymuch. She also teaches psychology to high school students. Major. Morgan resides in Indianapolis. There is more than corn in Indiana.

Rachel Lowen - Rachel is a jack of all trades, but in a really sexy way. In other words, Rach wears a lot of (organic, recycled, incredibly stylish) hats. She is not only the Fulfillment Manager for MotM, but she also works as the Project Manager for the well known Shoe-Gaze band Umphrey's McGee (just kidding about the Shoe-Gaze part, they are actually Two-Step, with a little Boy Band thrown in), has many important roles at Major Music Events (like completely organizing Artist Transportation, which is not an easy feat), teaches Hebrew School, and also helps us exhibit and model. Not bad. Rachel (also known as Eco-Rachel) is also quite the writer, as you shall soon see. Rachel lives in Chicago.

Kari Saul - We like to refer to Kari as Superwoman. She is a really, really hot mom to two little ones, who are undoubtedly going to grow up to be the coolest people in the history of the universe. Kari handles heads up the Customer Service department here at MotM, so if you e-mail or call, she will most likely be the one who will take care of you, and yes, she does accept bribes. Kari, like Rachel, also works for Umphrey's McGee (we prefer to keep things incestuous with these Chicago-based companies and all) as the Fan Liaison, so let me tell you, this woman knows customer service. Kari won't turn away a glass of good organic red wine. She lives in the Chicago area as well, because, let's face, Chicago is totes awesome.

Corinne Witzel - Perhaps you've met Corinne at one of our vending booths. She is what is known as an Eco-Warrior, but she doesn't have one of those mean warrior faces or anything. She is actually one of those people who you gawk at for 5 minutes with your mouth dropped and then say something like, "You should be a model," but it usually comes out with a stutter or burp or something because she's real purdy and you get thrown off. Coco is a soon-to-be-MILF, although it takes everyone a good hour to even realize that this chick is 8 months pregnant. It's amazing. Anyhoo, Corinne has been working in our vending booths for three years now, and the past two, she's taken on the arduous task of completely running our Bonnaroo booths, which is probably one of the most intense experiences you can have (think 90,000 people + hot, hot summer sun in southern Tennessee). Corinne is currently transitioning into our new Wholesale Accounts Manager, which will become her perma-gig in August when Morgan goes back to teaching full-time. (Never fear though, Morgan will take on one of our other 52.789 positions on a part-time basis). Corinne's daughter Halen, who will arrive in just a few weeks, is no doubt going to join Kari's kids in the Coolest-Person-in-the-Universe club. Coco lives in Louisville, y'all.

And that, my friends, is us! Stay tuned, as the life-changing, thought-provoking closing comments I promised earlier will come in our next blog entry (um, or maybe the following one). Either way, check back often. There is lots of Mountains of the Moon smart-sustainable-stylish nonsense coming to a computer near you very, very soon.

xoxo,
Your Friend,
Melissa Baswell, aka DJ Eco-Melly-Mel, aka the one who designs the clothes, and like, stresses out a lot.

Look, neat!