CAF San Diego Triathlon Challenge

One of my favorite events of the year is the ocean swim I do at the CAF SDTC at the end of October.  The SDTC takes over La Jolla for a whole Sunday.  They have swimmers swimming 1.2 miles in La Jolla Cove, bikers tackling the notorious Torrey Pines incline during their 44 mile trek and runners looping around La Jolla in their 10 mile run.

If you are on a relay team, like I am every year, you only have to endure one of these amazing feats, but if you are a triathlete then you are taking on the biggest challenge of doing all three of these! I find that amazing in it self, but what is even more amazing about CAF and this triathlon is that a lot of these competitors are challenged athletes, missing one or more limbs.  Now that is inspiring and something to appreciate.

My favorite things about SDTC are the pictures, the moments, the accomplishments and the supportive atmosphere.  New records are made, new personal best times are had (I was able to shave off a good 5 minutes of of my time from last year!!), and new stories are told.  It is great to be apart of this event and I am so lucky to work for the title sponsor of this event, Aspen Medical Products.

Aspen Medical Products and CAF have been working together for a very long time building awareness and funds for challenged athletes through the San Diego Triathlon Challenge.  This a cause that is very close to a lot of us and has become a company wide en devour.  We fund raise, we hold luncheons, we get to know CAF staff, we get to know challenged athletes, we participate in relay teams, we volunteer, we walk in the 5K walk, we take tons of photos, we provide, we ride, we swim, we run, and we support.  Aspen makes this a weekend event and gets everyone together for one cause that couldn't be more empowering to me as an athlete.

I was so excited to have my boyfriend, Jimi, my Uncle Jeff, and my younger cousin, Jenna, join me for my morning swim and be my support group.  Mom and Dad followed along with a play-by-play from my uncle, and I received encouraging texts from my sister, Lily, and friends!  Seriously so blessed to have such a great group of people in my life!  Thank you all for your support, whether you came out to cheer me and the other athletes one, had words of encouragement, or donated funds through me in order to support CAF.  It all makes a difference and it made for a great event and a great swim!

P.S. I was super lucky the water was warm enough to go in with out a wetsuit...free as a bird with a suit and rash guard! Here are some great photos from my Uncle Jeff!

CAF Swim start from top of the hill

Jenna and I pre-swim

Me surfing a little wave in at finish

Jimi, Me and Jenna after my swim

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The Latest Design

I finally finished my sterling silver earrings for the WOW Fun-Rasier Auction at NAC on Saturday, May 12th.  I am excited to see how they will do! 

Here is how they turned out.  

Plus, a little sneak peak on some new packaging and postcards that I just got in, along with my new business cards! I am also really excited to start using these!

Enjoy!

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Dolphin Fundraiser

Hey Guys!

So Sunday is my very first Catalina Relay actually racing! I have an awesome team and am super excited and nervous about the whole thing! This race is going to kick off a fundraiser I am starting for dolphins all around the world. The info is below:

My boyfriend, Jimi and I will be wearing hats for this race that I have created to jump start my fundraiser to help organizations save dolphins from over fishing and extinction all over the world. Its all about preservation and conservation.

The whole reason I started this was because of the film "The Cove." If you have not already seen it - rent it, netflix it, WATCH IT! It is extremely sad, but it is the kind of knowledge that we all need in order to save some of our favorite creatures to paddle with so they can still be here in 50 years.

This project is not for profit for myself but as a fundraiser for 4 different organizations that are trying to help dolphins survive. Each hat is going to be $20.00, $2.50 is for the raw cost of the hat and $17.50 goes to the organization the hat represents.

The four organizations are as follows:

Save Japan Dolphins - the main organization represented in "The Cove" lead by Rick O'Barry - also a strong believer in freeing all captive dolphins...food for thought...
www.savejapandolphins.org

OPS - organization for ocean preservation and producers of "The Cove"
www.opsociety.org/

Save Taiwan Pink Dolphins - yes pink dolphins! They are only found in Taiwan regions and are endangered!
taiwansousa.blogspot.com/

WDCS United Kingdom - Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society United Kingdom and their efforts to protect their dolphins and whales - you can even adopt a dolphin!
www.wdcs.org.uk/

Jimi will be racing for the Save Japan Dolphin and I will be racing for Save Taiwan Pink Dolphins on Sunday! So if you want to check out the hats, find out more about the organizations or are interested in donating to any of these organizations by buying a hat come find us or contact us!

Thanks for your time and have fun this weekend!

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Campaign

So last week after seeing The Cove for the first time I really wanted to figure out a way to incorporate saving dolphins into my everyday life.

After watching the it the second time and a long discussion with my boyfriend, Jimi, it finally came to me...creating something that is inexpensive to make but has lots of artistic character, and quality in that fact that it is handmade. The main fact is to get the message out there, to educate, to get people to ask questions and to raise a little money that can be donated to dolphins all over the world.

My Idea

Since paddling is my biggest past time and where I am most connected with the ocean and dolphins I of course immediately felt this would be the place to start since most people who paddle feel a special connection with the ocean and its creatures.

Everyone wheres trucker hats, they are inexpensive, perfect for paddling workouts and have the perfect black canvas for art.

All of the hats are going to send a message about 4 different organizations that support dolphin conservation and protection.

These are the organizations:
OPS - produced The Cove and are major players in protecting our ocean from further deacy and protecting the dolphins in Japan that are being slaughtered or going into captivity
Save Japan Dolphin - Rick O' Barry's campaign to save teh dolphins in Japan and the dolphins in captivity all around the world
Save Taiwan Pink Dolphins - headed by Wild at Heart, it is an effort to save a special species of dolphin off of Asia's coastline that are endangered
WDCS United Kingdom - Their goal is to save their pods of dolphin off the Northern coast from further population decline

I have 12 design ideas so far and the hats are ordered. There is more to come soon!

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