Gaia Community: Michele's Blog

Silver Swell our new line! Whoohooo!

http://stoked.gaia.com — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 22:44:15 GMT

See everything at the shop ... and the Silver Swell Site!

Silver Swell Fine Silver Jewelry

organic designs ....

totally inspired by our love for surfing, and the sea!

Handmade Fine Silver and other goodies!

See everything at the shop ... and the Silver Swell Site!

Silver Swell is the beginning of our dream to bring together our own handmade jewelry made from Fine Silver as well as some other cool things. We hope to convey our love of the sea, surfing, and all things in and around the water that we love so much. Marla and I are the designers but we will also be including other accessories from some very talented friends. We hope you enjoy them. We hope they remind you of this beautiful planet with an emphasis on the sea!

Tags: Jewelry, Surfing, Ocean, Sea, Nature, Silver, Fine Silver, Family Business

Make Giant Images with your own little printer .....

http://stoked.gaia.com — Tue, 26 Jun 2007 19:33:15 GMT

So cool - The Rasterbater!

Tags: art, images, printing

Wake Pros on the Flowrider

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sat, 26 May 2007 23:35:19 GMT

We just happened to be in Orlando to try out the Flowrider at Adrenalina in mall. We were surprised to see Wakeboard Pros Parks Bonifay, Shane Bonifay, Daniel Watkins and Brett Eisenhauer show up for two sessions. Thought you might like to see them in an entirely different water form. The girl you see in the video works at the Adrenalina shop, she rides this thing every day and she totally rips!!

Wakeboard Pros on the Flowrider

Tags: wakeboarding, wakeskate, wake, Parks, Bonifay, Shane, Watkins, Brett, Eisenhauer

Coastal in May 07

http://stoked.gaia.com — Thu, 24 May 2007 23:23:53 GMT

Coastal the Month of May

Tags: surfing, wakeboard, wakeskate, skateboard, florida, beach, surf

We started a new Wakeboarding Club for South Florida

http://stoked.gaia.com — Fri, 11 May 2007 20:52:51 GMT

Wakeboarding has been very poorly represented in South Floirda. We're getting organized with the intention of better communication and more organized FUN TIMES wakeboarding and wakeskating. Here's the new site - blog!

Tags: wakeboard, surf, wakeskate, coastal surf and ski, florida, watersports, surfing

Board Wax Art

http://stoked.gaia.com — Fri, 06 Apr 2007 10:00:09 GMT

Found this on a few sites, just wanted you to see the technique … bet you never realized that waxing a board could be so artistic. Love the retro boards on these blogs.

“Pretty easy, actually. I didn’t have basecoat, so I just used warm water wax to draw the initial lines. Works fine up here cuz the water’s so dang cold. Then, I just very lightly rubbed the flat part of the bar over the whole deck in circles. It really only sticks to the lines, mostly and leaves small traction bumps between. Get ARTSY!” - Sissy Fish Blog

Tags: Surfing, Surf Wax, Art, Coastal Surf and Ski, Florida

Volcom Bowl South Florida

http://stoked.gaia.com — Fri, 30 Mar 2007 21:20:37 GMT

Boca Raton, Florida … Wednesday Night … all the south Florida surf shops meet to bowl with Volcom as the host. Prizes to be won, bowling balls roll and beer is consumed: We have photos in our photo gallery!

Tags: Volcom, Bowling, Surf Shop, Florida

James and Tony

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 12:03:14 GMT

Owning a surf shop (with your whole family) is really amazing. Not only being near the boards, the beach, the whole vibe that fills the shop everyday ... that's enough to make you happy to go to work ... but there's more. The people. We have friends we've made via Coastal Surf and Ski, wonderful, quality, humble, stoked, adventurous, FUN people.

Tony ... we love you ... his spirit is so beautiful, his love of people, his respect for the earth, his passion for surfing, his total stoke. James is pictured here in the Arctic hanging out from the ship he’s been traveling on, filming the amazing beauty all around. We can only imagine what this felt like … we’re counting on you bro to tell us everything!!

We're not only about Surfing, we're a full-on Wakeboarding shop and we're big into longboard skateboarding and Skimboarding. You have to understand, this is a lifestyle, these are passions and when you have the privelege to share a passion with someone it's just SO energizing. Anyway, my message today is go visit your local Surf Shop and/or Wakeboard Shop and pick up the Vibe, and bring some of yours to share as well.

More stuff on the Coastal Blog! And of course our site!

Tags: Adventure, Friends, Surfing, Wakeboaring, Skateboard, Skimboard, Fun, Ocean, Family Business

Turning 50!

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sat, 03 Mar 2007 11:50:52 GMT

Everyone gathered at my youngest son's house for a carrot cake and tacos. Nikki, my 3 year old granddaughter was so excited, she decorated the cake, opened my gifts for me and was utterly joyful about the whole evening. It was a fantastic night.

This morning, I woke up early to drive to a business meeting and as I was grabbing my coffee for the road and I looked down at the gifts and cards on the kitchen table from the night before. I was struck, for a moment I just stared at the table .... at the greatest gift in the world!

Gratefulness overflowed, I was given the most coveted, meaningful, perfect gift anyone, anywhere could ever want. On 4 different cards, laying open on the table I saw "I love you mom/grandma" ...... and I know they really mean it.

The rest of my life is the icing, that's just awesome isn't it.

*This is a picture of Gerritt and Morgan my two sons! Coastal Blog - Check it out!

Tags: love, family, children, grandchildren, meaning, rich

Whats new?

http://stoked.gaia.com — Mon, 26 Feb 2007 18:28:28 GMT

Your body cannot heal without play. Your mind cannot heal without laughter. Your soul cannot heal without joy.

OMG ... you have to check out John Butler Trio if you've not heard them go to our Coastal Blog and check out the Music Video on the right menu ... oh how he moves the soul... oooh ahh!

Tags: surfing, surf, ocean, waves, music, strength, power, water, sea, John Butler Trio

Yoga for Surfing ... or all watersports

http://stoked.gaia.com — Wed, 24 Jan 2007 21:46:57 GMT

Beautiful! Chris is an awesome teacher, great surfer ... very passionate about surfing and the sea. Check out our new class: Yoga for Surfing Class

Improve your surfing, wakeboarding etc or just get the benefit of Yoga made for watersports of all kinds. Our friend and the instructor, Chris Christoff, has been studying Hatha and Jnana yoga for over 5 years. Chris has a B.S. in Kinesiology from Michigan State University and is a NSCA certified personal trainer. When not instructing Yoga or peforming yogic massage Chris’s passions are to ride the waves or skate the streets.

The classes will be held at Coastal Surf & Ski, we’ll be clearing the floor, plenty of room but class sizes will be limited. Any Monday and Saturday from 6:30 pm to approx. 8:00 pm. Pay by the class if you like $15 per person. for 75-90 minutes.

Yoga for Surfers, or all involved in any watersport, is a 75 minute multi-level hatha yoga (purifying body/mind thru asanas or “poses”) class specialized towards surfers needs. The class will include 4 phases systematically designed to give participants a completely balanced workout .

Phase 1: 20 minute heating routine. Challenging standing strength/balance poses desgined to warm-up the entire body and increase participants proprioception (awareness of spacial enviornment.)

Phase 2: 20 minute mat routine. A ground series designed to strengthen and condition the entire “core” including abs, waist , lowback, and a challenging arm balance sequence.

Phase 3: 20 minute gentle hatha routine. Traditional and non-traditional lying/seated poses done without any resistance of bodyweight allowing for optimal breathing and relaxation to occur.

Phase 4: 15 mintue shavasana (corpse pose): Included in this relaxation phase is a Jnana (wisdom) component which includes concious music and/or discourse allowing participants to enter higher states of awareness.

Tags: Yoga, surfing, wakeboarding, skateboarding, watersports, water ski

A New Blog for the Shop

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sat, 13 Jan 2007 01:31:01 GMT

I set up a new Wordpress Blog for Coastal. I've gone through so many blog softwares and I'm really happy with Wordpress. Decided to grab the free one and host it with them ... this is new for me, I'm a control freak with my apps and code and layout .. Web 2.0 is starting to suck me in. I think I'm just getting tired of doing all the work. Code is really a drag most of the time.

Tags: website, blog, surf shop, wordpress, web developer

Brands rule .. what's going on?!

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sat, 23 Dec 2006 14:37:03 GMT

Here's my recent post to our Coastal Blog:

Once upon a time, a company that wanted to associate its brand with a certain strain of popular culture would sponsor an event, or advertise in a magazine that catered to the people of that culture. Now .... brands are the culture. In the 60s we did not use TV to tell us who we were and our movement was REAL ... it actually came from inside of us. Sick of the War and the status quote we (the hippie boomers) did almost everything different! Man, I long to feel that and see that shared passion again. The excitement of doing something that has never been done and really attempting to change the world for good. We weren’t sheep!

Sadly, today I see a lot of people doing and being exactly what the big marketing machine dictates. Kids acting like what they see on TV, not dictating who they are, allowing media and greedy companies to tell them who they are.

Here’s the cycle - marketing goes out and looks for and studies the few trendsetting kids (or goes to Japan to study little japanese girls on the street) then they go back and make their products and media to copy and exploit what they saw on their marketing field trip. Kids watch the media, adopt it and basically feed the behavior right back to the media on all the reality shows and MTV specials. Guess who profits from it all? It’s a big downward spiral for the rest of us. Big companies profit, society sinks and for the kids it’s a loose-loose proposition.

DON’T buy into it!!! Where are the protests, where is the authentic life ... throw out your TV and try to interpret life in an atmosphere of ‘actual reality’, It’s cool to have stuff if YOU want it it’s cool to be free, just make sure you know who YOU are.

peace - michele

Tags: surfing, surf, ocean, waves, courage, strength, power, water, sea, branding, brands

Carveboard Skateboard

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sun, 26 Nov 2006 21:39:53 GMT

I started skateboarding back in 1975 ... my first year of college. I would freak out my teachers skating down the sidewalk to class. It was fairly new then, the boards were stiff, heavy and the bearings were not uncased so we had to constantly clean the wheels .. what a pain. Anyway we just got the carveboard at the shop and I tried it out in the back parking lot. Awesome. It's amazing, it's so easy to "carve" just like surfing and snowboarding. Anyway .. love it!

Tags: skateboarding, wakeboarding, snowboarding, surfing, carveboard, skateboard, surf shop

Custom Al Merrick, Channel Islands Boards

http://stoked.gaia.com — Wed, 15 Nov 2006 19:50:22 GMT

Gerritt's artwork glassed-in to some Al Merrick, Channel Islands Surfboards. Just came in the shop today, they really came out great!

Tags: Al Merrick, Channel Islands, Surfing, Surfboards, Coastal Surf & Ski, Wakeboards, surf shop

Spiral Jetty - Earth Art

http://stoked.gaia.com — Wed, 01 Nov 2006 15:40:39 GMT

How totally cool is this .... Spiral Jetty

The official site is here.

Tags: art, earth

Interesting ... Green Products Site

http://stoked.gaia.com — Tue, 31 Oct 2006 20:25:54 GMT

5 Limes is a site where you can "Find, Review & Share eco-friendly and socially responsible products and services that are making this world a better place"

Tags: green

Freeschooling

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sun, 01 Oct 2006 16:08:18 GMT

I was asked by another zaadzster the following .....

"Maybe you can leave a message in this blog and leave me some tips for my adventure as a teacher….what should I know about communicating with children? How can I help them discover their potential for doing great things? What can I share with them?"

Here's my rant ...

Teach your kids that they do not need you. You are there to encourage, guide, love them, but you are not them, they need to learn how to survive without you. That’s the whole purpose we have as parents and teachers, to have our students not need us, to be able to stand on their own and run forward.

Teach them HOW to learn, how to know what they love and what they have natural talent and passion for. Teach them to do what they love. Teach them that falling down is the greatest lesson, all the greatest fall and learn a go on. Teach them to think for themselves, take chances, to be creative in how they accomplish a lesson.

Tell the whole class “I want you all to be able to do THIS buy the end of this class" …”okay class now how are we going to do THIS”? Strategize with them, they will learn how to learn. They will learn that the world will not tell them how they are called to live only THEY can do that. They must learn to think and act and be confident in themselves.

Sorry to end this rant on a sad note but let’s look at it as a warning. I don’t see self-reliance in most children today. I see people who are living a fear-based life, always looking for someone to tell them what to do. I see frightened sheep; we need to raise courageous, kind, bold, compassionate, strong leaders and learners!

I Freeschooled my sons here's a brief definition:

Freeshooling Is living life in an instructive mode. Freeschooling is not being locked in a house, exactly the opposite it’s being free to learn anywhere, in any way, from anyone you choose! Freeschooling is learning on the beach, in your house, in a museum, taking a class, joining a club, visiting a business, traveling both in real life and taking virtual trips via the Internet and journaling your travels. It’s reading, writing, acting out, experimenting, listening to tapes, videos or talking to an expert about anything you wish to learn and become excellent at or maybe not even go that far with.

Right now if you, an adult, want to know how to do something how do you approach it? I hope you first go out and get all the info you can on that thing .. lets say you want to know more about Florida Architecture because Florida’s Architecture is beautiful to you, you may want to become an architect who specializes in this region’s architecture. Do you look for a college class perhaps degree in this or do you do the following?

1. Get and read every good book and magazine you can find on the subject
2. Visit the buildings both historic and new that are designed in this style
3. Google the hell out of it and follow the multiple leads that come from that
4. Find someone who is considered the best Florida Architect and contact him/her and visit them if they will allow and most will.
5. From steps 1-4 20 more actions will present themselves. Follow them.

Your done, you’re on your way, at the end of step 20 start doing it, actually at step 5 you can start designing, you must take steps and fall and take more steps.

Okay I just outlined Freeshooling. At the beginning of each year decide what you’ll learn and then go learn it. It’s simple, and it’s not simple, because it takes all of you to accomplish. So does a happy life.

Tags: education, school, kids, learning, freedom, teaching, homeschooling, unschooling, homeschool, children, parents

My Son's Wife My Friend & My Grand-Daughter

http://stoked.gaia.com — Sun, 29 Oct 2006 00:28:30 GMT

Today is Nikki's birthday. Funny, I'm remembering more my feelings this day 3 years ago about my Son's Wife Marla than I am even about Nik (my grand-daughter). The whole Mother-In-Law thing has always made me cringe! The way I see it, Marla is my friend, she is the girl who joined paths with my youngest son and she loves and cares for the little boy I adore. It's fantastic!

What put me in awe 3 years ago today was how she shared the birth of their first child with Mike and I. How generous she was to allow us to be there, to hold Nikki hours after her birth, and sit in the room with them as they met this little human God gave them. I felt so much love for her that morning, I thanked her, I admired her generous spirit. That day was unreal!

To this day she shares her with us. And now she shares Riley, their 2nd daughter too. Of course you may say, after all she is YOUR grand-daughter, your son's daughters. I don't see it this way. I don't own anyone, not even the children I gave birth to. I'm privileged and honored to be welcomed as a part of their lives so much of the time. To be welcomed to the birth is the greatest invitation I've ever been offered. That's just how I see it.

Marla and Morgan are fantastic parents. A big part of this joyous time is just watching.

This is a picture of Nikki ... we went to Disney World in Orlando and inside one of the shops she dressed up like a princess, Sleeping Beauty to be specific. She believed she was her .. Oh man, it was amazing!

Tags: children, imagination, kids, joy, grandchild, love, daughter-in-law, son, friends, birithdays, honor

Eric Clapton last night in Miami ... Awesome!

http://stoked.gaia.com — Tue, 24 Oct 2006 22:00:12 GMT

The first and last time, before last night, that I saw Eric Clapton was in 1974 in Washington, D.C.. I was in High School. He was waisted, so messed up that his show was terrible! We were mad, we paid .... what $20 each and he did not perform!! Imagine, $20 bucks!

Anyway .... last night we drove down to Miami to see him and WOW was it awesome! He is an amazing guitar player, and the rest of his band is really incredible. The place was filled with Boomers and the vibe was so great! Gerritt, our oldest son came and he loved it proving that the music is what it's about.

I love concerts, I've seen so many in my life, I love it, I love it! Anyway if Clapton comes to town, go for it, his show is sweet!

Tags: