Happy Mothers Day!

“My daughter and I LOVE our rings!! We call them our ‘power rings’. I told her that since seaglass is something that has been “broken” and tumbled by the sea and comes out even more beautiful, that she can use it as a touchstone for when she goes through tough times. She has already used that thought, and the power of the ring, to get through something tough this week.” – Amy, Plum Goods

Mother’s Day is special around here. It is a reminder of what brings us into this world and inspires us.
I am blessed, as a designer, to get to be a part of your story in a small way. Well, I just love that. It warms my heart every time.

A message of love to moms from David Pu’u and Ocean Lovers

Today, Mother’s Day, I will be in the shop and I will get to see some of you who are bringing mom in to pick out something nice. I can’t tell you how wonderful that feels for me! Thank you for that.

- Donna von Hoesslin (Pu’u) , Designer, Owner, Ocean Lover

Today We Turn 10! Looking Back on a Decade of Betty Belts.

It’s really hard to believe it’s been 10 years.

All month long I’ve been posting images from the Betty Belts vault on our Facebook page and it’s been interesting looking back at all the cool things we’ve done, with people we love. I begin to realize, I could write a book about it all…

Team Betty in downtown Ventura 2008. From left, Sierra Partridge, Jeanette Ortiz, Mary Osborne, Bo Stanley and Hailey Partridge. © David Pu’u

Team Betty on the boat to go surfing in Bali. © David Pu’u

I am joyfully grateful to still be here, inspired and making beautiful things to express one’s love of the ocean. I want to extend a heartfelt message of gratitude to all of my mentors over the years, to my lovely surfing and ocean-loving ambassadors “Team Betty”, to my wonderful retailers, to my extended family in Bali who have grown with me over the years making ever better products and to all of you who wear and love my belts, jewelry and accessories and spread the aloha everywhere you wear them.

Me and some of our staff in Bali. I am sharing photos from home on the iPad.

I am especially grateful to my husband, David Pu’u, who from the start was always there (I hired him for our first-ever photo shoot)… even long before we became an “item”… mentoring, capturing iconic imagery, inspiring me, helping to cultivate a brand, a lifestyle we love and live. David always understood what my deeper goals were in having a positive effect in our world.

David and I on a trip to San Francisco, a place that provides a lot of inspiration.

Here are some images from that vault. Some of my favorites over the years. There are many more where these came from… Hopefully I will get to publish that book and share them with you one day.

Mary Osborne in a very early Betty Belts poster, 2003… photo: David Pu’u

Sierra Partridge of Team Betty © David Pu’u

Hailey Partridge in a shoot for Hobie Girl, wearing Betty B. One of my all-time favorites from our first year of making upcycled surfboard resin jewelry.

Jeanette Ortiz wearing the Compassion necklace. © David Pu’u

A favorite of Jeanette Ortiz modeling one of my red carpet sea glass necklaces in a tidepool on a private California beach.

Me in the Betty Bus, an old favorite from the image vault, circa 2005.  © David Pu’u

An ad we ran in 7Sky, a European magazine 2010.

FLOW Ventura 2012 Begins Tomorrow

I’ve been too busy organizing this awesome event to write about it yet!

But today is the last day to sign up for the conference. We have a few spots open still if you want to come.

http://www.flowventura.com/

Saturday is the last day to sign up for FLOW Jam, the Sunday Fundraiser for Blue Ocean Sciences.

FLOW: triiibes 2012 Retreat is a meeting of entrepreneurs, linchpins, artists and community inspired by the example set by Seth Godin, an author and blogger who driving new marketing ideas in the digital age.

At this 3rd Annual Global triiibes Retreat, we have assembled an impressive group of thought leaders from multiple disciplines to speak on the topic of FLOW, and how this concept of mindfullness and presence can effect great change in both business & our personal lives.

We invite you to bathe in the beauty of the Pacific ocean while we open your minds to science, communication, technology, spirituality, innovation and just plain fun!

Speakers include Blue Ocean Sciences, Ocean Futures at Patagonia, Opus Novum, David Pu’u, Dr. Ed Brenegar, Bragg Health Insititute and many more!

As Seth himself has said: “I’m delighted that so many people are realizing how easy and powerful it is to surround oneself with people who will egg you on. Projects large and small are being spawned, but far more powerful, I think, is the psychic energy and encouragement you find when you discover that others are doing what you’re doing, that they’re walking the same road.”

The ocean is our sanctuary. We hope that through this gathering of great minds, with the flow of the sea as our soundtrack, we can set our collective neurons firing to invent new solutions for her preservation and new paths for our own creative futures.

Register Today

On Sunday night, get yourself ready for an amazing evening of food, friends and great music as tribes Ventura welcome you to FLOW Jam, an interactive experience of art, learning and laughter as we wrap up the conference sessions with local musicians and some very special guests!

Santa Ana Morning on PCH

I picked David up at the airport this morning before dawn and we drove up the coast back to Ventura. He is just in from a 3D water shoot with National Geographic TV.

We stopped at the beach and ventured out into the howling Santa Ana winds to snap a few pictures. Me with my iPhone and David with his Canon 5D Mark 2.

Sand and water blowing in 60MPH gusts. Beautiful Day.

Santa Ana Wave PCH

Offshore Santa Ana blasting into a backwash wave collision. Three power forces slamming together.

David Pu'u scopes the scene on a Ventura County beach

Beach Sunrise at Mugu Rock, Ventura County

Meeting Icons, a Designer, a Luau and Art: A Day in the Life of Betty

Wow, it’s not every day the founders of Surfaid International walk into your shop.

What an honor it was to meet Dr. Dave and Randall! Surfaid has been one of my favorite orgs to give to over the years for the amazing work they do preventing Malaria and especially after the Tsunami in Indo. David and I, along with Robb Havassy, attended the SA Fundraiser in Malibu last night. I got to meet Donovan Frankenreiter and his beautiful family and hear him perform for the first time in more than 5 years. They sounded just brilliant! What an amazing day to be followed by another amazing day: today. Read about this here on David’s Blog.

Donovan Frankenreiter and his band performing at Surfaid International's Behind the Palms Fundraiser in Malibu

Robb is in town to do a phenomenal show together with David tonight at a truly amazing location, The Stoneworks Gallery. David wrote about it here. There will be a Luau in the garden tonight, complete with roasted pig, mai tais, tikis and hula. And I will have a Betty Belts table set up to offer my ocean-inspired adornments (including sea glass jewelry and my upcycled Surfboard Resin jewelry and plumeria flower hair clips to add tropical style. You should come! Details below.

But first, I will be at the Stewart+Brown Sample Sale, selling my samples and seconds at my table there. We are truly blessed to have these places and people in Ventura, an international organic fashion designer who makes absolute gorgeousness. I wore a Stewart+Brown dress to the event last night and got stopped twice about it. : ) Want to come? 955 East Front Street, Ventura, 93001 from 12-5.

And tonight, the Luau! At 300 Ventura Avenue, corner Park Row (entrance gate on Park Row). 5-9 Includes Feast and Entertainment in the garden $45 at the door (bring cash). After 9pm free entrance to see the art and gather around the fire. Questions? 805-643-5431

Don’t miss this blog David wrote this morning on this very subject!

Onward!

Giving Thanks

Winter Morning Love in California by David Pu'u

Gratitude is something I feel more than ever now. Just an example:

Last night my production manager (who is like family) in Bali and I had a “meeting” across oceans. We chatted and shared pictures via online messenger and email with our respective smartphones. It allowed us to be so close, as if we were sitting together in her family compound where she houses the Betty Belts Bali headquarters.

We discussed numbers, financials and timelines, but we also laughed a lot and even shared cat pictures…  and  I am grateful for the connections like this, for the connectedness… I haven’t been back to Bali in over a year, but I am grateful that my business can still work due to  new technology wedded to a faith in my people there…

Connectedness is easier than ever now… with family, friends, business…

I couldn’t have said it any better than Seth Godin did today  here:

“… celebrate two things:

The people in our lives who give us the support and love we need to make a difference, and…

The opportunity to build something bigger than ourselves, something worth contributing. The ability to make connections, to lend a hand, to invent and create.

There are more of both now than there have ever been before…” (read rest of Seth’s blog here)

And this slideshow I created a while back says it all too.

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Thank you for being here and being authentic and being you.

May you find connectedness in all aspects of your life and enjoy the bounty it offers you.