Saturday 24 December 2011

Rocking around as a Christmas Tree



At the YWAM Christmas shindig each year we have a costume competition and this year I won thanks to some home-made stilts and battery powered fairy lights. Kodan's snowman was epic so I was lucky to just take it - check out all that paper-mache! The Naus family came as the Grinches after the judging had already happened - they were amazing too and arriving a little earlier would have been real game-changers! YWAM laid on a mechanical bull to great comic effect...





Friday 23 December 2011

And their finished products!


I ended up doing three sessions at Namtec instead of the planned two, and seven hours instead of two. It was sweet to be able to do the extra session so they could see their projects through to completion. Their designs were awesome, they seemed really proud of what they'd made, Jocelyn said she was really pleased with how the programme went and hopefully we can do it again!

Wednesday 23 November 2011

Designing Decks at Namtec

A while ago Boris hooked me up with a youth support officer called Jocelyn from Namtec in Nambour who runs a programme for youth who have trouble staying in school. They run alternative classes in an attempt to engage the teenagers and get them into anything productive rather than just skipping school. Jocelyn asked me to come in for two weekly sessions and run a class for the youth to design and make their own skate decks. It's been ages since Create2Skate and what they're doing is sweet so I was keen to get involved.

Yesterday was the first session in which I helped them hash out a few designs and decide on their final layout, colours and materials. Three girls came and one guy who left quickly, obviously not keen on being the only dude. Two of the girls enjoy art so were pretty into it and one was less keen and got a bit bored after sketching out one idea. I tried to keep them engaged and pushed them to consider all elements of their designs, encouraging them to look through the books and magazines I'd brought for inspiration and reference.

The girl who seemed least keen found an image in a book and ended up doing the most bold and striking design which was great and I found it easy to compliment them all on what they had come up with to make next week.

After an hour and a half it was time for them to go and I asked Jocelyn how she felt it went and if it had been what she expected. She told me that normally they don't all stay for the whole session, someone usually goes for a joint and doesn't come back. And for them to remain engaged in an activity for that long with no dramas was really unusual.

I'm stoked.

Wednesday 16 November 2011

More love from Starbucks


SUP SUP SUP

Starbucks are awesome. Did you know that? They are giving Boardstore 5% of all purchases made using a Starbucks card in their Mooloolaba branch from now until the new year! So legit.

Now I already know you go to Starbucks Mooloolaba. It's like YWAM SC's second blue room. I can't walk past the place without seeing someone having a "one on one" there. And I know you SC skaters are way classier than you want people to know and sneak around with Flat Whites pretending they're Redbulls. So I am asking you please please please don't pay with cash or eftpos! You can get any amount put on a Starbucks card and pay with that instead and then we get cash! COLD HARD CASH!

And if you are frequenting a different coffee establishment, please consider switching to Starbucks for a spell. You're planning on meeting up with someone to catch up on their life and all their comings and goings? Why not choose Starbucks Mooloolaba for their friendly laid back atmosphere and their awesome choice of business partnerships? Going away drinks? Starbucks Mooloolaba. Birthday party? Starbucks Mooloolaba. Wedding reception? Starbucks Mooloolaba. Secretive courtship non-date? Say it with me... Starbucks Mooloolaba.

Here is an example of a conversation you can have with your friendly Starbucks Mooloolaba barista:

"Hi, I'd like a Supremo Chai Latte on Soy with a shot of Espresso and extra syrup with a rasher of bacon in it"

"That's not at all disgusting and will be $6.95"

"Sure, can I please put this cash in my hand onto a Starbucks card and pay with that?"

"Absolutely, you must be friends with Boardstore, how very on the ball of you!"

"Yes we love Boardstore, they're the best most yo dizzle skateshop in the whole of Australia and straight after I drink my franken-chai I'm going to go there and buy all my Christmas gifts!"

"Great idea, me too."

The end.

Thanks guys, we love you!
Claire

Friday 11 November 2011

Getting Boardstore out there

Advertising! Come to our store! Please!

Desmond's multi media talents are off the chain. Where would we be without him? And thanks to Kristen, Cody and Morgan for not minding falling down on TV.



Friday 4 November 2011

Me X Sacrifice X Boardstore X Movember


This is Mark aka Geltchy. The bobble-head version.

He and his wife Melissa have three boys. Energetic alliteration pocket rockets called Jye, Jesse and Josh. They have always had a heart for skaters and have been super faithful putting on Skate Church in Coolum and feeding free snags to the skaters at Coolum skatepark. Mark is a really talented artist and graphic designer and set up his own company Sacrifice Industries, one can check out all the pies he has fingers in by going to his website here.

Mark approached me to do a collaboration tee to raise money for Movember. And here it is! $10 from each shirt sold will be going to charity. It's the first time I've had my drawing on a shirt and I'm really flattered he asked me. And everyone Derek knows can have his face on their chest. I'm not sure how he feels about this but we're all enjoying it... Derek can even go double Derek. That won't feel weird at all. Thanks Mark!




Monday 31 October 2011

Burgers, S.K.A.T.E. and Starbucks


I used to have a certain view of Starbucks. As a non-coffee drinker I didn't frequent their shops so it was formed by other people's representation of them and I wasn't really interested in forming my own. I had good friends that worked there and I certainly wasn't anti-Starbucks but generally I thought it was just another big chain taking over the world. I had no idea what values they were trying to implement in their stores but Rob Hensser (our base director), Boris and Derek knew alot more about it than I did. Aside from being coffee connoisseurs they've read the Starbucks story and knew that Starbucks value community and want to be a force for positive action in their neighbourhoods. And so they have been meeting with the big wigs from Starbucks Mooloolaba and it turns out that they are Christians and have been looking for ways to get involved locally outside their stores. Thus begins a beautiful partnership. Starbucks usually works with registered charities which we are not but they really grasp the concept of business as missions and want to support what we do. Huzzah for Starbucks!

Our first outing with them was a couple of weeks ago. We put on a free BBQ and a free game of S.K.A.T.E. and Starbucks brought along free coffee and cakes. We emailed a flyer to a popular skateboard website for them to post up on their forum and we got some interesting responses...


One of the guys goes on to call us "biblestore." It's uncomfortable to be hated but whatever you're doing you're going to get hated on and I'm stoked that of all things, they're hating on us for giving away free bibles. They got the church funded and SBA backstabbing bit wrong but it's pretty rad that people know us for being about Jesus and they're even putting it out there for us. Biblestore. Cool.

Regardless of the negativity Friday night was busy and people were loving the free goodies. The crew from Starbucks were so awesome and friendly. I had a good chat with their manager and she was saying how excited they are to be able to get out of the shop and do something in the community. The comp was super laid back - no PA system, no registration, just rock up and play skate and maybe win $200. It was pretty cool hearing one guy in the middle of a game say "oi watch my coffee!" forget Red Bull, Boardstore comps are way more classy.



Cheers to Desmond for the photos.


Thursday 20 October 2011

And... you're back in the room


My wonderful sister Lisa is expecting my first niece in a couple of weeks! I couldn't be at her baby shower which sucked big time so I made some bunting to decorate it. She loves Sausage dogs. And these colours tie in with the blinds in my niece's room. And I put a leopard print one in there just to remind my niece of me but coupled with the red satin it turned out a bit sexy which is less me and perhaps more than a little inappropriate for a baby's room but then I guess being a little inappropriate is quite me so it works. Maybe.

I skyped into the shower and it was just lovely sitting listening to everyone chat and being able to take part in a couple of games, I really felt like I was there. I'm so excited for Lisa and Dave, please pray for them as they get ready to be parents to my niece!


From Australia...

... to England!

My view - note the food baby*!

*Not a food baby but in fact an actual baby.

Monday 17 October 2011

Making a molehill out of a mountain


I took a day off and hung out with my friend Nikki, her sister and a couple of her mates. We climbed Mt Tibrogargen. No big deal. Actually a lot of it is proper climbing handholdsstretchinghowoneartharewegoingtocomebackdownthiswayholdonmyfootgoeswhere?! so it was kind of a big deal and very fun and very beautiful. Thank God for friends and mountains!


(Click to see what we saw)

Checking in with Boardstore Surf


Boardstore Surf has been open for just over 2 months now and it's ticking along nicely. I still need to get a handle on who our customer is there and what they want to buy but so far there's been no big issues and everyone's being very understanding. We have a few new staff working one or two days a week each including:

Jordy - a young local who recently did his DTS in Bali with my friend Katie and brings an excellent element of high-larity to the shop
Jono - the director of Christian Surfers QLD
Rob - YWAM Sunny Coast's own director and previous Englishman

Jeremy and Ashlee have been writing on their blog about the ministry that they are building up out of the shop which is incredible to see and a privilege to help facilitate.

We had a dedication morning at the shop, it was sweet to have it packed out, Jay shared his heart for the ministry and we prayed en mass for the store, the customers, the locals and the staff.


Jay in the (freshly recovered and recoated) hot seat


Kodan "bounce a coin off my abs" Lynam modelling one of our literally hundreds of Billabong hats


Some of the YWAM SC dads and their baby sons

Monday 12 September 2011

Monday 29 August 2011

A 42km Wet Lap Skateathon for Diabetes research




This is Jordan, his brother and his friends (and me and Dave).
Here's a note from his Everyday Hero page:

"As most of you know my brother Tyler is and has been Type 1 Diabetic since he was 2 years old. He needs approximately 5 finger tests and 3 injections daily just to stay alive.
A cure for him and many others living with this condition would be amazing so I have got together with a few of my mates to skate 42kms on August 27th to raise money for JDRF. (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation)
Please give as much or as little as you can to support this cause.
Any amount is greatly appreciated.

Thank You

Jordan :)"

We gave them free team tshirts and they set off from our Caloundra store to skate to our Maroochydore store and back again, a total of 42kms in the rain which can make any long skate more tiresome and dangerous. Clarkson would definitely have called it a Very Wet lap. Some of them had not even been skating very long at all, I'm sure their calf muscles have really been giving it to them since! The attitude of these guys really touched me and I would love to encourage you guys to give them a big well done in the form of a donation towards their target of $3000.

Here's the link:

Thanks!

Jordan's brother Tyler gives the starting orders

Off in the rain... first slide out was at the first corner...

Halfway at Boardstore Maroochydore - Jordan's in the green helmet in the centre

Arriving back at Caloundra "agh my thighs!"

Finished! Tyler and Jordan stoked as. How did that dude on the right stay dry?!

Mr Fisher


This is Dave also known as Mr Fisher the Art Director at Caloundra Christian College. Mister Fisher is going to be working at our Caloundra store on Saturdays. Mister Fisher draws awesome tattoos. And he bodyboards. And has an amazing moustache. And he got married in June. And he has a passion for the youth of Caloundra that is evident every time a kid walks through the door. He's still working at the school during the week so taking on Saturdays means he's taking on a 6 day week. Please pray for him and his wife Evie, they are super brilliant people!

Friday 5 August 2011

Make that four...


Whilst I was away in England chilling out, Boris and Rob bought a surfshop. I can't leave those two alone for a minute.

The lovely Deb and Chris had been running Old Woman Surf Shop in Mudjimba on their own for 9 years and wanted to move on to other things so Boardstore now has four shops. (By the by Mudjimba is the closest beach to Old Woman Island which is a popular surf spot, it's not that it's a shop for aged ladies. Not necessarily.)

We were given the keys this past monday so all week I've been stocktaking and renovating the store in the hopes of opening next week. It will be staffed by a few people including but not limited to the following couples:

Jay and Tara Heller who are very much involved with Christian Surfers. Tara teaches and is chairwoman of Coolum Girl Boardriders Association and Jay also works in schools. They are two lovely and very beautiful surfers.



Jeremy and Ashlee Hoover worked with YWAM Sunny Coast a couple of years ago and have returned from the USA to see what God has in store for them here. They also are lovely and very good looking.


You don't have to be beautiful to work in Boardstore, this is all just coincidence. Honest. This store will continue in the ministry of all Boardstores - it is there to connect with the boardriding community, to be a positive presence and to share God's love with people.

It's been really hard work this week renovating the store but we had some help from awesome friends willing to give their time and get painty.



Lucy loves stocktake.


Jeremy loves rashies.


When we cracked this tin of paint in the morning, all the boys said it looked like vomit and thought it was disgusting. By the end of the day they admitted they liked it. One of them asked to paint his bedroom in it. Catch up boys.



Kerie has been my partner in crime in designing the refit, she has great taste and it's been so much fun doing a proper project with her. Long are the evenings we've spent in the last year watching Grand Designs and Mary Queen Of Shops. This was our time. When the boys think something is rubbish, we're there to back each other up and tell each other it's amazing. Then the boys come around to it. They're just a bit slower. Ashlee's also come in with some sweet ideas so between us if anything we've had to be careful not to make the shop too beautiful and to maintain a certain level of blokiness.

I'll put up some photos of the finished product. Please pray for our new shop! That we would honour God through it and He would use it for His glory. Please also pray for me as we all know I'm not very good at pacing myself and there is so much to do! Pray that I would chill out and make good decisions about brands and ordering and all that jazz.

Cheers guys!




Those were the days. And these are too.


When I was home last October I started sorting out mum's massive boxes of photos and we had a treat laughing through a few together. This time home I found she had continued on and managed to sort through over 30 years of photos - impressive! The renewed order from chaos enabled me to discover these gems...

Mum - what a beauty.

Dad the stud with the chops

Lisa concentrating with biccies on hand

And me. Not much has changed. Except the thumb sucking.

I've recently been introduced to Irena Werning's work. She takes old photographs and recreates them with the subjects as they are now. Such a sweet idea, I'd love to try it sometime.