Well, yesterday was Fat Tuesday, the end of Marti Gras, and 'la fine del carnevale'. The past couple of weeks I've been reading lots of other expats' blogs from Italy during the crazy celebrations and it definitely made me miss all the festivities from our time there...confetti all over the streets, constant parades and special markets, and the super good fritelle that everyone scarfs up before giving up sweets for Lent.
So for a "Happy Lent" post, thought I'd bring out some photos from last year's celebration...
It actually doubled up as a fun birthday present for me too, as we took the train from our apartment in Florence with a couple friends to one of the most famous city hosts of Carnival in the world...
ahhhh, Venezia.
Where else can you walk past costumes like this? Some made of bright tulle, some of black and white NEWSPAPER!? (yep, the guys in the 3rd photo)...
...or wander down an empty alley and cross a bridge to find this costumed man standing by his gondola. Seriously, no one else was around. Felt like he was a scarecrow or something. But, he waved. He was real. We visited the shop of the mask-maker who was the artisan for all the masks on Eyes Wide Shut, and watched him at work, then happened upon an open-air theater production outside the Doge Palace...
...and had to peek around a zebra and a squid to see.
Then discovered the new life the city brought on at night...wearing a mask of my own, enjoying full on club party in St. Mark's Square with a live DJ, dance party, lights on the church, and finding strange costumed doormen in alleys guarding entrance to private masked balls.
This year, we just had our regular Tuesday night community dinner...but cut into a fun Marti Gras King Cake for dessert. I wasn't the one to find this scary fellow in their slice. But all the luck to Kelly, who did...she even got a crown to wear made of tin foil.
I don't think I'd want this jacked guy near my mouth. :) So that's a good photo to end on, eh? HAPPY LENT!
view from my hotel room • Glue Network display • mural beginnings
So this last week was a sudden (but very fun) plunge into my new position with Jedidiah. I was invited at the end of last week to join the team in Las Vegas for the MAGIC Tradeshow, and by Monday I was flying out to sin city. I actually flew out with a few other guys headed from St. Augustine who were visiting the show, and even met a couple more people on our flight going out for the same thing, as it's one of the bigger fashion tradeshows around.
As soon as I touched down on Monday evening, I took a taxi to the Las Vegas Convention Center and met about half of the crew as we immediately got to work setting up our booths for the kick-off on Tuesday morning. It wasn't until about midnight (3am Florida time) that we were able to have a bite to eat, and since it was officially February 17th and my birthday, we celebrated over greasy fries and other variations of Vegas diner-style food. Quickly passing out in my king-sized bed with 4 feather pillows high in the Riviera, I only got a handful of hours of sleep as unfortunately my body was still in EST when I woke up promptly at 4:30.
Jedidiah booth
After a chai and a couple coffees I was set to go - good thing as the day never slowed down. I was thrown right in learning the ropes, meeting with one of the Florida accounts, showing the new summer and fall lines, and watching the other reps at work. It was so fun just being in the hustle of it all, and especially meeting most of the Jedidiah team. The expanse of the brands represented at this event was overwhelming, and I enjoyed walking around talking with other people and making some new acquaintances.
scenes from the tradeshow
Each day there was a new DJ spinning loud beats throughout our entire section of the convention, and the people-watching was never-ending entertainment of fashion craziness. Our booth SL8 20745 gained a lot of attention, mainly due to the fact that we hosted a live-mural painting throughout the 3-day show. The 24'x8' piece was quickly transformed into a colorful masterpiece by 6 talented artists, including Joshua Clay, Blaine Fontana, Serge Gay, Tommii Lim, Kelli Murray, and j.shea.
working on the piece
This event was put on by The Glue Network in collaboration with Jedidiah to be auctioned off and raise money for the Las Vegas chapter of Stand Up for Kids, a non-profit that helps keep kids off the streets. By day 2, it had already sold for $15k, and we were excited to learn that MAGIC asked for us to host another one like this at the next show.
display at show • view from Ghostbar • event flyer
On Tuesday and Wednesday nights a big group of us went out to dinner after the really long days inside the show...and both nights a dessert was brought out with a candle followed by "Happy Birthday". It was rad to have my one day extended into several, plus Chris planned a small get-together with friends after I got back on Saturday too. A few of us went to the club, Rain at the Palms on Tuesday night for a big party put on for all the S.L.A.T.E. and Street vendors of the tradeshow. And on Wednesday night we headed back to the Palms and hung out at Ghostbar up on the 55th floor overlooking the strip listening to DJ Switch + Diplo rock the tunes. Pretty amazing!
finished mural
Thursday we all pulled it together for the final day. The artists made the finishing touches to the mural, and Starbucks was kept in business as we packed up the booths well into the evening. The rest of the California crew headed back to San Diego that night, and I stayed one more night until my flight on Friday morning. It was actually super nice being able to order a dinner in, and fall asleep at a decent time high above all the craziness of the neons signs and loud noises on the street.
Now back in low-key St. Aug Beach, this weekend as been all about sleeping, relaxing, sleeping in, catching up, and getting ready for the week ahead...
...and did I mention sleeping? Yeah. A full 13 hours last night.
Another talented film maker, is Dustin Miller, of FLESH PROFITS NOTHING. He's won awards for some of his personal projects, and he's worked with To Write Love on Her Arms and most recently with the upcoming longboard surf film PICARESQUE. He just returned home to his lovely wife and super cute kids after filming the last bit of that film in Costa Rica last week.
Here's his most recent reel featuring a montage of his work:
I know that a lot of people in St. Augustine are graphic designers because they're byproducts of the amazing program of Flagler College (my alma mater)...but our friend, Jared, just happened to drop by our city one day with his rad wife, Anna, loved it, moved into a beach house for a while, and started making friends. We actually met them at a slip-n-slide party one afternoon several years back. Yep, about 10 of us, in the side yard, pouring dish soap on our stomachs and taking the plunge down the puddles on a plastic tarp. FUN TIMES. Anyway, they now go back and forth between here and Atlanta...always with a ton of his computer equipment in tow as he stays busy with his freelance company, Swing from the Rafters. We like to say that the company should be named "Old Paper & Birds" because of his old press letters and collage-style methods...but either way, I really enjoy his work.
Next, is a pharmacist-by-day, photographer-by-whenever-he-can (and newly engaged) James Davis. He's done a few photo shoots for Rosa Loves in the past as well, and everytime I check out the new stuff on his site, I'm even further impressed. Lately, it's been a lot of great portraits of friends...check it out! I Hate James Davis (no, I don't, but I'm not the one who named his site).
Another fellow Flagler Alum and graphic designer *slash* artist, Andy Luce just migrated north to Chi-city. I'm surprised he was able to stay thawed out long enough to put together his new portfolio site, Visual Armory. But I'm very glad he did...because it rocks!
So this was just a sampling of the community that surrounds me...although so many are involved with great projects that are just more difficult to showcase in a visual way on this blog. I'm sure there'll be more notes to come...because it seems as though my community is ever-growing, and I'm more inspired all the time.
We now interrupt the originally scheduled follow-up post "i have awesome friends :: part 2" for some special news...
I'm really excited to tell you that I'm now the Florida rep for Jedidiah Clothing. This will take over more of a full-time roll next to my other new venture. For the past few months I'd been hopeful about this, and I'm really glad it all came together!
I've mentioned this company before in a few posts, and now I look forward to helping contribute to what this group represents. In their own words: "JEDIDIAH is a humanitarian based fashion brand aspiring to cultivate change through creativity and passion. Established in the spirit of giving, their clothing balances artistry and detail to produce pieces that seek truth and meaning in our lives...Fusing the Beauty of Art with the Fabric of Clothing for the Greater Good".
non-profit partners: Love Light & Melody • Invisible Children
Founded eight years ago in San Diego, California, Jedidiah has continued to grow and create unique clothing with their talented team of artists and designers...and at the same time, has given back time, resources and money to worthwhile organizations around the world. They support non-profits like Invisible Children, Surfaid International, Compassion International, Love Light & Melody, among others. They are a big supporter of Surfing the Nations, the group I worked with in Bangladesh. A portion of their revenue goes back to these partners, and through a line called the Hope Collection, even more profit from each piece is donated (as of the end of last year, over $216,000 have been given)!
Jedidiah : Who We Are
What I really like about them is that they are such a culturally relevant company, supporting artists, musicians, and athletes like surfers to help promote an image of positivity, hope, change, and love. They even just launched a new Community Project Series ("People Buliding Community Through Clothing") where people can get involved by answering questions each month on the website that inspire designs, that then are voted on by the online community and sold to support a featured non-profit partner. This month's question is ""What do you thirst for?", inspired by the Hope Collection Partner, World Vision.
To date, World Vision has helped provide clean water and improved sanitation to more than 10 million people, worldwide. Nearly 8 million people in the West African nation of Niger lack access to safe drinking water, and more than 12.7 million have inadequate or nonexistent basic sanitation. Through the Niger Rural Water Project, World Vision is working to prevent disease and death by providing access to clean water and sanitation, as well as hygiene education.
We all thirst for something, whether it be a basic need for food, shelter, water, or basic care, or a desire to see justice in the world, or to do something bigger with our lives. At your core, what drives you, what moves you, and what do you thirst for? At the end of the month, the story with the most votes will be used to inspire three t-shirt designs. The design with the most votes will then be printed and 40% of the sales of the Community Collection tee will go toward World Vision's efforts in the Niger Rural Water Project.
Watch this short video to learn more about the community project and sign up to be part of it!
So if you see a little VW bug zipping around the panhandle with Jedidiah's next season's sample line in the back seat...give me a wave, honk, or throw me a shaka...then find a local retailer and spread the love!
**note to those reading through email subscription: you have to click to the online post to view videos (and each one is worth the few minutes to view, I promise ♥) **
I just love my friends.
Through the years I've found myself saying over and over how blessed I am to have such a great community of friends surrounding my life...and how so many of them are super creative. Seriously, we sit around all the time and wonder how we got to know such a large cluster of imaginative people, working on amazing projects around the world, and who are lovers of humanity (and how they all ended up being here in St. Augustine for at least a period of time).
You know how "they" say that there is about 6 degrees of separation from you and anyone else in the world...well, with our friends being spread out so much, and involved in so many projects, I really think I'm probably at least down to 4 degrees solely on that account.
I've never really bragged about most of them before, mainly because the nature of my blog was more focused, but now I think it's a good time to talk about inspirations in all forms...a lot of which, for me, come from my friends.
The first, which I have written about before a few times, is ROSA LOVES, the non-profit Chris helped to start along with our good friend and designer, Mike Fretto. Changing lives of individuals around the world through something as simple as t-shirts. There's a lot of exciting things going on already this year...a story just wrapped up (sponsoring 30 children in a new Child Development Center in Bangladesh) and a couple more are in the works. The local recycled bicycle project, Simple Machine is going strong, and a new friendship was formed with another world-changing & people-loving company, Growers Alliance Coffee, which I interviewed last month.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the ROSA LOVES Newsletter :: and take a look at a new short video for the Simple Machine story put together by another friend, Eric Hires:
So yeah, Eric, the guy that did that last video...he's pretty much a nomad. We have quite a few nomad friends...ones that if we haven't seen or heard from them in a couple of weeks, it probably means they are working on a boat in Alaska, hitchhiking cross country, taken a seasonal job with Oxfam, working for a couple months at a villa in Italy, or shacked up in Indo somewhere for a while. But they always come back...just not for too long. My friend, Diana, is another free spirit, always somewhere new, working on a new project, running out of money, and never seeming to care. I just love that! They all add to our ever-growing international address book...as last year, we had friends doing things in Cambodia, Vietnam, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Vanua (still not 100% sure where that is :)), France, and all around the US. All my nomad friends are very inspirational to me: either making me feel more grounded if I'm feeling too up in the air, or challenging me to go with the flow when I'm planning things too much.
When Eric's not out running red lights on his single-speed, he's making some videos. Here's a visual of one of his recent nomadic adventures sailing from the Outer Banks to Puerto Rico this past December:
The next is my good (and very tall) friend Russell Brownley, who travels around the world filming awesome documentaries with his company WUSS PRODUCTIONS. He has a great heart for people, and most of his projects focus on humanitarian efforts around the globe. I'm always amazed at each piece he releases. He was in Bangladesh with me last fall, and is working on putting together a film about the project going on there. I included the teaser in my posts about that trip.
Check out the montage of his recent projects to see what he's been up to:
I couldn't mention Russell, without mentioning one of the big projects he was involved in, a civil rights film created by another friend, Jeremy Dean: DARE NOT WALK ALONE. Winner of numerous prestigious film festival awards, Dare Not Walk Alone explores the importance of our city of St. Augustine during the civil rights movement in the 60s, including a journey through Dr. King's impact on our small town (which most people never even hear about). Their site does a better job at explaing:
Hailed as "a triumph of outrage and empathy," and described as a "powerful slice of roiling American history" by the Los Angeles Times, Dare Not Walk Alone tells "the greatest civil rights story never told." Set to a soundtrack that flows from gospel to hip-hop, the film places the heroic struggle for civil rights in the context of current conditions in a place where those struggles were fought, a place that epitomizes what Barack Obama has called "the gap between the promise of our ideals and the reality of their time."
This amazing film was just released on DVD, and you can order it on Amazon!
Watch the trailer for the film, and look for screenings around your area...or organize one yourself!
I probably should stop there before 'part 1' gets too long. But, seriously, lookout for the next post...lots more creativity to come!
So this update is long overdue, but I'm finally going to write a bit of news on my whole job/career/life transition. I know that since we moved back from Italy last summer, I've been hinting at some changes, but have yet to really give any details.
I guess that most of this started when we moved back from Europe...because after being in Italy, completely enjoying the time there, and seeing a dream actually happen...my mind began to really shift to a state of finding what I'm passionate about. Up until that point, I'd been at least content in my career, but it was becoming more and more clear, that it wasn't where my heart was. So I asked myself what I loved doing, what I did when I wasn't working, and what I like to spend my time on. I narrowed all my jumbled thoughts into three main things: travel, helping others (humanitarian work), sustainable living.
Luckily, these three concepts seem to work together quite well, as there are many volunteer- and eco- based travel companies and tours that already exist. I toyed around with several ideas with moving towards working in this field and starting a business of my own. This was all in brainstorm stage when the opportunity to go to Bangladesh came up. Of course, I was super excited to be a part of that, and on my way back, I knew that combining travel and helping others was exactly what I wanted to do. It's what I feel most passionate about, called to do, and alive while I'm doing it.
Indo Jiwa
In being proactive for this change to happen, even without knowing exactly what was going to fill the gap, I started to take steps to bow out of my real estate career. During the couple months after I returned from Bangladesh, I transferred my client base to other agents and had everything set up to continue as an inactive licensed agent, and now (as of Jan 1) work on a referral only basis from my past database. In that same time period a couple of opportunities came up and, with the help of a few friends, good connections, and a lot of email correspondence, I am now the US promotion and booking agent for Holidays with Purpose, a volunteer-travel & surf-charter tour company.
some of the projects and people
Started by a couple from Australia, Holidays with Purpose is based in Nias, Indonesia, and offers 10-day surf charter tours around the islands aboard their boat, the Indo Jiwa. Between scouting out the best surf breaks, travelers also help in different community empowerment programs set up throughout the islands. Through LeapIn, the non-profit sector of this company, many projects have been put in place to help the Indonesian communities, from dental aid and healthcare, clean water and organic gardening projects, to new construction, child education, and even surf/extra-curricular workshops....any of which, you can choose to be a part of during a tour.
the surf
I'm really excited to be a part of what this company is doing. There is so much potential I feel, to get more people involved in travel like this...and so I'll be doing what I can to spread the word here in the States (as currently most of the customers come from Australia and New Zealand). So now, I'm just doing some web marketing and will handle bookings. I hope to join them on a tour when the season starts this year in April...then I'll be able to promote it with first-hand experience! Although this isn't all that's on my horizon, I'm going to end this update here and promise to write more on what's coming up later!
Here's a small video to give you an idea of the projects that HWP is working on:
For more info, here's the skinny:
Holidays with Purpose 2009 Season Offering 10-day surf charters from April 6 - Oct 30 Special Early-Booking Discount until Feb 28 - $1999
••• for booking inquiries: email me at go@holidayswithpurpose.com •••
Also, I'm just getting HWP set up on the social networks, so check us out and be our friend! MYSPACE • FLICKR • TWITTER • FACEBOOK
Hopefully, there will be more exciting things to come this year with HWP...videos, newsletters, updates...I'll keep you posted.
I love to travel and look forward to seeing more of the world, while trying my hardest to not get caught in the American-dream rat race. I want to be used to help others and am inspired by people who are dedicated to meaningful living. My life has taken me to places around the world, including moving to Italy with my husband for a year. The future is exciting and this is me just learning to enjoy the journey.
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