Tag Archive for 'travel'

Good Obsessions in Costa Rica

Published
by
Shirley
on August 6, 2008
in Uncategorized
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Howdy Folks! Rowan and I just got back from Costa Rica last week, man it was difficult to get on the plane back to H-town. We spent 7 awesome nights at Playa Guiones, which is located on the North Pacific side of Costa Rica. The last two nights we stayed at a tennis & surf camp in Tamarindo.

I decided Costa Rica would be the best place to satisfy my new surfing obsession and my 30th b-day. We signed up for surf lessons at Innocent Surf School. Ru & Gem are the kick ass owners of this establishment. Jack is another instructor at Innocent and we had the pleasure of surfing with him our last day. By the seventh day Rowan and I were soooo incredibly tired, but luckily Jack had enough charisma and enthusiasm for all three of us! We had so much fun learning how to surf that we’ve convinced ourselves we need to live by the beach!

Rowan and I shared our experiences starting up K-Claw with Ru & Gem, and now they are scheming up plans to offer Innocent Surf School apparel from rash guards, t-shirts to bikinis. I know these two will succeed, they have such good energy about them.

Playa Guiones was a wonderful place to visit. There were a lot of ex-pats living in the area and friendly locals. I chose this place because it was less touristy than other beaches in Costa Rica. I didn’t want to shop, bar hop or do organized trips… I just wanted to sit in a hammock and surf all day long.

We met a lot of cool and interesting people during the surf lessons. Netysha left her job on Wall Street and decided to surf for two months and write a blog about her experiences, Surfing Nosara. I totally respect her for taking the time to follow her passion–it takes a lot of courage to do that. Patrick her boyfriend was a hilarious dude that we enjoyed surfing with. He always had a way with words in the water, especially when a set was about to pound us in the impact zone! We also had a little visitor everyday for breakfast, Tico the cat. Since we were in the jungle, we called him our jungle cat. I love cats so Tico just made our vacation more perfect.

My birthday couldn’t of been any better. I was in the water caught a few good waves, saw an amazing sunset and then had a wonderful dinner with eight people we just met. I had the largest grin on my face the whole day, thanks guys!!

Our taxi ride from San Jose airport to Playa Guiones

Our little casita

The big 3-0 celebration!

B-Day sunset

Rowan & Jack sharing Motrin for aches & pains!

Me & Gem

Ru in front of the shop

Tico being a naughty jungle cat

All smiles

Yeah~all in all it was a pretty sweet trip. We are definitely going back :D

The K-Claw Start -> Part I

Published
by
Shirley
on May 15, 2008
in Uncategorized
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I was an unemployed college grad who just left London after a three month stint as an au pair.  My girlfriend, Jennie, met me in London and we planed a little Euro trek for a month. Amsterdam was our first stop.

Jennie and I went to the Flying Pig Hostel—the Downtown location, and all the dorm rooms were booked for the next two days!  They suggested their other location—-The Flying Pig Hostel in Noordwijk, situated 30 minutes out of Amsterdam, right on the shores of the North Sea.  So off we went to the beach hostel.  It was sooo awesome.  The rooms were clean and we met some really awesome funny people.  The place had such a laid back vibe….. staying by the water always has that calming effect on people!  After our two days at the beach we headed back to the downtown hostel for some night life…….

It was open musician night at another nearby hostel….and that was the night I met Rowan….in the Red Light District of Amsterdam! Yes folks you can’t possibly find your true sole mate in some sleezy bar, but in the Red Light, anything is possible J

Rowan and I ended up talking so much that he never got on stage to perform.  He had a little travel bass guitar.  He’s quite the musician, but that’s another blog entry. Rowan was traveling the other side of the world, running away from mad  Orangutans in Sumatra, teaching English to little Taiwanese children, you know the norm!

He ended up in the Netherlands to find work.  As an Australian he was allowed a work permit for a year.  During our conversation I learned Rowan was a ninja graphic designer who designed websites for Billabong Australia, winning best website in the world award…..twice no less!! Who doesn’t want to add that to their resume?  He designed the whole fashion edition for RALPH Magazine (same as MAXIM for us)  and did some pretty smart advertisements.  Anyway the list goes on and on!!

I had a great time with him, but Jennie and I were off to Italy the next morning. I told Rowan if he gets tired of the city, he should head over to the beach hostel.  It was such a great place to get away from the crowd and get some head space. Believe me–you would want some head space after spending a few nights in the Red Light J

So to make a long story short, I had to fly out of Amsterdam to get back to H-town.  Jennie and I decided to go back to the beach hostel and chill for three days before I had to go back to reality. Lucky Jennie still had a month of travelling on her own.

Guess who was at the hostel?  Yep, Rowan was there and we spent three awesome days together on the beach!! 

I know your wondering, what the heck does this have to do with K-Claw’s start…. well a lot of our brand is who we are, and you need to know our history to understand our brand’s start!!

Stay tuned for Part II J