Back in August Catch The Cuteness Ran with the Seals, at the Marine Mammal Center. While we were there we adopted this little guy! How cute is he?! 
I'm a little bias with this place since I used to be a volunteer way back in the day. Every little bit helps to assist in marine mammals rehabilitation. If this little face melts your heart as it did ours check out the Marine Mammal Center and make a small donation.
The center is also designed to educate so swing on by! They give fabulous tours! And meet the patients, from a distance of course.    

This morning I woke up, walked to my favorite little bakery for my cup of coffee and felt fall in the air. It's a little chilly out there. California chilly. So here's a view I'll share. Grab your cup of coffee and take it in. San Francisco can be quite lovely can't it? How can an artist not be inspired?
Today I'm going to take in all inventory and begin preparations for the next Market. This time we will be going to the Alameda outdoor market! Onto meeting more amazing people who stop by that love the ocean..and also shrimp n lobster. 

We prepped until midnight only to get up at 5am for an early start to the Market. I always wondered what these vendors did in the morning. I definitely got my answer. This is hard work! 

I think my mind numbing moment was how to pitch the tent. I know I'm an outdoor person, but this tent was all Greek to me. Good thing Lauren had a serious instinct with that sucker, plus she's Greek. 

Here's a pic of our evening Explorer load up. Silentely I think Lauren and I were going, holy crap we've got to get up early! Huge thanks to Laurens brother who let us borrow his wheels. I love people that support Catch The Cuteness! 

We did our best to make the booth festive and inviting. For our first market, I think it was a total success. My favorite moment was a kid pointing at the Cowfish while looking up at his momma saying, "I know why that fish is called a Cowfish!" It was by far the cutest most wonderful successful moment. 

My apartment has blown up with CTC apparel! We're getting ready for the Jack of all Trades Market, this Saturday in Jack London Square, Oakland. 

This is our first booth. We really don't know what to expect. Sure we've got product, but there's clearly so much more than that to get people to visit. We're squeezing out all our creative juices to make it look awesome. 

The good news is the weather is going to be perfect this weekend. I hope I'm not jinxing it right now, but the weatherman predicted the upper 70's. That's T-shirt weather! CTC T-shirt weather. You'll find me wearing the cowfish.  

Swing on by for early holiday shopping! 
               
                          Click here for information on the event!

Do you know why I like Sylvia Earle? It's because I love the ocean and the wonderful beaches connected to it. Sylvia protects the ocean.

Growing up I was fortunate enough to have a dad that loved to fly. It was his obsession and luckily for all of us he too loved the ocean. My mother called our plane the magic carpet. Back in the 80's and early 90's we'd fly over untouched beaches and land on dirt runways. We loved going to places that people couldn't get to. And the shells that would line those beaches!! Millions! Walking the beach then was living a dream.

We'd have the perfect birds eye view as we flew over lagoons. Some immaculate and others, let's say, an exposed "drainage" pipe with a slick, didn't look to hygienic for those swimming near by at the four star hotel. It was easy for us to say, "oh hell no!" and move along. It was clear for me then, that the ocean was an easy way to dump waste. My mother reiterated her disgust as she spoke over the planes engines that filth like that would make us sick. I still see her pointing out the window, saying "look!." She was outraged. 

My mother used to live in Florida in the 60's. She loves talking about the little beach she used to walk on that was covered in shells. All different shapes and sizes, not to mention the colors! It was a treasure box of goodies. She naturally called this beach, Shell Beach. 

A few years ago she returned to her beach. I remembered how excited she was to walk those same steps she did in the 60's. But she returned disappointed. Her face was one of disbelief. Shell Beach didn't have one shell on it. They just disappeared. 

Last year I was fortunate enough to go to Morocco. I was walking along the rolling dunes of the Sahara. I couldn't believe where I was! I could hear the oceans beauteous rumble in the distance and taste the salt in the air. I wanted to run into the ocean free! But when I walked over the final dune what I saw broke my heart. Here I was in the middle of nowhere and yet everything that washed ashore was manmade, mainly PLASTIC. There were a few crumbled bleached out shells, the kind you poke with your toe and move on. I didn't need a birds eye view to see the damage.

Sylvia Earle is the Muhammad Ali of Marine explorers and conservationists, she's giving us the one-two-punch for us to be active in protecting our fragile ocean. Glamour magazine just voted her one of the top inspirational women of  2014. Take a peek here. Isn't she a beautiful inspiration? The thing is, I think she's just getting warmed up. 

If you are curious about Sylvias foundation, it's called Mission Blue. And please, I highly recommend watching her documentary, it might change the way you think about fish in general. Right now It's streaming on Netflix. I'm not gonna lie I got a little choked up when she went into the Japanese Fish market in Tokyo. You could see the emotion on her face.

I know my story is long today. I didn't mean for it. But I couldn't help but ponder the situation. The world is changing. I'd hate to say, "back in my day" while referring it to wildlife, even if it's a simple shell. 

Let's protect our oceans. I support Mission Blue.  

Here's a behind the scenes peek at how we get our organic onesies silk screened. The whole system was completely new to me, so when I got the tour I was blown away by all the work it takes to create my cute little images. 
Check it out! 

It's all about artist working with artist! 
I was so happy to have found them through mutual friends in San Francisco!  

I'm not gonna lie, I'm a little scared! A year ago, if you asked me where I'd be, I never thought I'd be making a wimpy thumbs up at my silk screener. 
That's Nancy to the left, she's my go to gal, and runs the show. During a print, I'm in constant contact with her, she's a champion for answering my questions, which I generally have a tun because again, this is all new! 
The learning curb is steep, but you'll see, one day I'll do the double thumbs up.