Family, Holidays, Snow, Skiing, & Work

I wish that our life was like the title and in that order. As we all know, our priorities usually get screwed up along the way. This is not a bad thing but in reality we all work too much - but is this a bad thing when you really love what you do? We really love what we do - making Tessa Clogs and introducing them to the world one customer at a time - but I know that we do get stressed around the holidays. Wish it wasn't so but it is. So our cure for the stress - go skiing.

Wednesday was a good day this week. We got up early, shoveld out the bunker, got the kids pointed in their direction, we turned off the phone and put a sign up - WENT SKIING BACK AT 11AM - and did as the sign said. This is not something that we like to do but when you live in a ski area and you just had over 10inches of the lightest champagne powder - sometime you just got to say - lets go skiing. With the resort being open over 30 days so far, this is only our 2 day up. Did I say - It was a good day.

We took the bus in from our humble abode here in Minturn and the driver had Peter Tosh cranking on the bus. The perfect tunes for a powder day - just jamming Jamaican reggae. Our legs are weak and we were only up there for about 3 hours. We skied back home to Minturn - It was a good day.

We also need to share - we have the best employee working with us - Elisabeth. Whether you call us on the phone or stop in and say hi, there is a good chance that you will run into her. She is off the boat from Sweden living in the valley with her American husband and 2 of 3 kids. Imagine living in a foreign country, speaking a new language and working - I know that it would be impossible for most of us. We want to thank you Elisabeth for working with us and to let you know how much you are appreciated and loved.

Peace

Tessa Clogs in Houston, TX

Wow - sorry everybody for not getting in here for the past month. We know that everybody is busy so that is no excuse but we have done a little traveling selling Tessa Clogs. Has anybody ever driven from Colorado to Houston Texas - if you have not, I'll tell you it is a LONG DRIVE. We were in Houston the second week of November selling Tessa Clogs at the Nutcracker Market inside the Reliant Center. It was our first real time in Texas and you folks down there are SO NICE! A great big hug to all of you in Houston that treated us so nicely. I guess we will need to go back next year for another visit but we still think the best place to buy Tessa Clogs is at our store - Swedish Clog Cabin in Vail, Colorao.

Just to share with all of you that love Tessa Clogs - the most popular for us in Texas was by far any of our animal/cow hides. They just would not stay on the shelf. Otherwise it was pretty much a toss up with all the other styles that we brought. So if you are walking in the southern part of Texas this winter and you see a pair of clogs on some feet, they just may have been purchased at the Nutcracker. So we hope to see all of you ladies back in Houston next year!

Cheers

Winter is around the corner!

As I sit here listening to the radio about the horrible wild fires in CA, it is difficult to believe that we had about 10+ inches of snow in our yard on Sunday. Now - I love living here and would not want to live anywhere else, but sunny southern CA always sounds wonderful around April when we get our late snowstorms and all you really want is Spring to come when you have had 6+ months of snow on the ground. So our hearts go out to those in CA where the wild fires are burning.

Our weekend consisted of play and work. Saturday started out beautiful and we headed a half an hour south to spend some time rock climbing. Two of the four ladies (Mamma and the littlest where close by "thing finding") in my life, harnessed up and made it up the 5.7 checker board rock. As a father, it is wonderful to show the love that I have for the outdoors, pass this on to our girls and see the love that they also have in their eyes. Cheker Board is such an appropriate name for this 70+ foot climb - climbing is not a muscle bound activity, but one of delicate balance looking at each move to make it further up the rock. As our day progressed, our shorts and t-shirts were a bad choice for this day. We should have know better and brought more clothes - but we knew the car was close by. Saturday night the snow moved in and Sunday was spent cleaning the house and playing in the snow.

A few photos of the tribe while we were out on Sunday having fun in the snow.

Vail Valley Charitable Fund

Do you want to feel like a local? Do you want to be able to walk into our local pub and feel like the bar stool has your name on it? Do you want to know the feeling of skiing the first line and tracking up the powder here on one of those incredible blue sky 15" powder days? As we all know, wearing your Tessa Clogs around already makes you an honorary local but maybe you want to do more.

Well how about donating to one of the best causes here in the Vail Valley - the Vail Valley Charitable Fund. The Vail Valley Charitable Fund (VVCF) helps people who live and work in Eagle County who have overwhelming financial needs due to medical crisis. To date, the organization has assisted six hundred individuals and families in Eagle County, and has raised and dispersed more than $5 million dollars. For 7 years, the Vail Valley Charitable Fund has published the Vail Undressed Calendar, which features locals amidst the beautiful settings of the Vail Valley. This years theme is "Made in Vail". And - well - we were asked to participate this year - and - well - yes - we had to "undress". Now, as you can see, we are not showing the original photo for the month of April 2008 - BUT - if you want to see it - you are going to need to purchase the calendar. The calendars are for sale at the store for $14.95 plus tax - if you want us to ship it - $20 includes shipping and you can get an autograped copy. Besides seeing Mr. & Mrs. Clog - you can see some other local's - you may have heard of the folks that are Mr., Mrs. & family January - Ryan, Trista and Max Sutter. Yes - Ryan is the one that showed the world that us men in Vail are keepers. It is so great that we have 13 months of volunters for this great cause. Please, give us a call, purchase a calendar and be a TRUE LOCAL.

To order - you can call us at 800-476-7410 - we will have it available on our web site soon

thanks for your support

Climbing Clogs & Marimekko

I wanted to show everybody our new Tessa Climbing Clogs! We do not think that they will get you up Everest but they will let you have fun on the local crag.

The marimekko clothes that are in the photo are getting low on supply. If the outfit interest you, please call or email us as soon as possible.

We just had the folks out from Omaha - Grandma and Grandpa - thanks so much for all the help, hugs and love. We actually got them on bikes riding from Minturn to Vail. A great time was had by all.

Ciao

Sorry - you need to get on our case

Hello Tessa Clog Readers

Come on - get on our case if it is over a week and you are looking for more gossip or plain old information about our little moutain valley. Please give us an email or phone call and tell us - write in your Blog!

We wish we could give you all some great reason for not typing in awhile but the biggest is that we are working on some new Tessa Clogs. We will keep you posted but we need to keep our mouths currently shut being that our ideas continually get copied.

The leaves are changing here and I would say that are peaking right now. We also had our first little snowfall for the coming winter. Golly, it is such a gorgeous area that we live and every now and then I need to remind ourselves how blessed we are to be here.

We have been also working on new adds for upcoming publications. Here is an out take between shots that we have included here. I guess it is a picture of the Clog Dude with one of his bosses - Little Clog Dudette #3. Besides Tessa Clogs, at Swedish Clog Cabin we also carry clothes, food, books and gifts. Little Clog Dudette is wearing a line called Me Too from Denmark. It really is SO CUTE! In the background on our garage, is a bag from Marimekko. This garage in the background is over 100+ years old! There are very few places in our valley that can boast this - heck - the town of Vail started in 1962 and Lionshead (the section of Vail where Swedish Clog Cabin is located) was built in 1972. So when you do come to visit the Vail Valley - you need to come also to our small town of Minturn to see the real history.

We are also trying to get some last bike rides in before the snow is here for good. If you are the cut off wearing, waving at all cyclist, love for life rider - then you are the type of bike riders we enjoy. We need to metion to our fellow casual bike riders - clogs are some of the best footwear to have on for riding. If you are trying to get somewhere in a hurry, then you really are probably not our fellow casual bike rider, but if your ride is about the journey, then you need to put a pair of clogs on for your next bike ride. The rigid platform helps so much with the pedalling (a bike geek of ours refered it to something like the power transfer not being lost - blah blah blah).

Oh - we are headed to Houston in early November for the Nutcracker Holiday Market. So if you are in the Houston area, please stop by and say HI.

Cheers till next time

Ethics, Love and Mountains

I got to get this off of my chest - business ethics. Don't you wish everybody played fair? If the world was small like it is here in the mountains - where the butcher, the baker and candelstick maker actually are alive and well - we would all work together in harmony. Maybe small communities work out their problems being that they need to or economics will impact those that play fair with support and those that do not with little support.

Many business schools offer electives in business ethics and responsibilities but only in the last few years have these electives turned into a mandatory core course. It is amazing to me that schools have to teach our future leaders ethics - is this not something that we should have been taught from early childhood?

Tessa Clogs is based on family, faith and love. We will always believe that people deep down are kind and generous. We will never touch the line of questionable business ethics. We may have to close for an hour or two to ski with family on 6 inch plus powder days :-)

My reason for venting about business ethics is recent events that have happened in our small business world of clogs. We are sending out to those that have stepped on this ethics line, a brochure from a near by school with a course that will be mandatory (I guess I will not be able to force a class on anyone but maybe the clog buying public can) on business ethics. We will leave all of you hanging on this thread but also leave you with photo from time with the family and our love of the mountains.

Peace

new Red Pink Pirate

Check out our new Children's Red Pink Pirate! We personalized this one for a customer - this clog can also be made in Adult sizes!

We want to make sure that you know that our hand painted Tessa Clogs are painted here, at Swedish Clog Cabin, our store in Vail, Colorado. Besides personalizations we can also do some custimation on colors with our current designs. Unfortunately, we do not have the time to do any complete custom designs, but if you see a style that you like but want to tweak the colors a little bit, just let us know and we can see what we can do.

We are big bike riders here at Tessa Clogs. We each commute via bike at least 2 times a week. We would highly recommed a pair of Tessa Clogs for your commute. The rigid wooden soles gives great support and will keep your bike commute smiling.

We sure do want to thank everybody over the years making Tessa Clogs one of your favorites.

Dual Citizenship and Fall Trip

We just got in the mail today an American Passport! After living in the USA for 16 years, Tessa has gone through the process of becoming a citizen. The U.S. Citizen Ceremony was incredible and we would highly recommend everybody to watch sometime.

We are still working on getting postcards out to every store possible in carrying Tessa Clogs. Spread the word and make sure your favorite retailer calls us to find out more information.

Life in the mountain update - snow in the high country (above 11,000 feet) last night. The mornings and nights here have the feeling of fall. It should be any day that we will start to see the first leaves change. As you may have read, our weekends will be free (free is a relative term with 3 kids and trying to get clogs on everybodys feet) with our local Minturn Market ending soon. We are hoping to head down to southern Colorado and take a climbing trip in Ragenhild - our 89 Dodge SportsMobile. The kids love getting on the mountain as do Mamma and Pappa. Thanks for tuning in!

Welcome to the Clog Blog

Hello all Tessa Clogs fans! We are starting up our blog to keep those that are interested, informed in what is up to date at Tessa Clogs, life in the mountains and our lives in general.

Currently, summer in the Vail Valley is slowing down with all visitors starting to head back home. With the little bit of extra time, we have been working on a wholesale push to promote Tessa Clogs throughtout the USA. If you have a favorite store in your home town, please let them know about Tessa Clogs!

With the end of summer, it is also the end of our - Minturn Market. In our little town of Minturn, where our warehouse is located, we have a Farmers market every Saturday. When you all make it to Colorado, you need to stop by Minturn and check out our funkly little town. Some of you may remember a show called Northern Exposure - well that is the best way to describe our little town.

Email, Call or Write us a line to let us know what you want to hear in this blog. Our main thoughts are to keep all of you aware to what is new in our lives and Tessa Clogs.

Thanks for reading