Clog Blog

Valentines Day and other Random Thoughs

2012-02-02T11:39:00.000-08:00

We are getting close to Valentines Day - many of you know the date but for those like myself it sometimes may be cloudy and needs to be remembered - February 14. The photo here is a bit old - 5 years ago - we were in Salzburg Austria in a bar dug into the side of the mountain - Felzenkeller. As I was looking for a picture of the two of us this photo brought back so many memories. It was a whirlwind of a trip to Sweden, a leather shoe show in Italy and a side trip to Austria. Very dificult travels through the middle of the night but all in all some excellent times were had. It was nineteen years ago we met in Vail and made a choice to have a family, life and business here in the mountains of Colorado. Tessa - thanks so much for the wonderful times had and to the many more memories that we will create in the future. Jag älskar dig, stor kram och puss.

Valentines Day presents - not sure how many men will be reading this blog but ladies, feel free to print out, email or just let your spouse know that you want a pair of Tessa Clogs. Don't forget - not only do we have Tessa Clogs but all the great clothing and gift items would be a perfect surprise. OR - buy and treat yourself - if you are happy you will effect all around you - Tessa Clogs will make you happy and smile :-)

For those that read our blog - we will give free shipping in February for those that type in - februaryblog

Getting back to Valentines Day and letting those loved one know that they are loved - I love this picture of our family take recently at the Grand Canyon - Thanks for reading

Happy Holidays!

2011-12-27T16:20:00.000-08:00

Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Good Kwanzaa, Happy New Year, and praise to any and all Snow Days. We are open for skiing and having a blast. The snow is a bit on the low side for us snow farmers here in the mountains but we are having as much fun as possible sliding all over it.

If you have never been to Vail to visit us - this holiday period at the end of December is a great time to come out. Take a peek inside our front door; our shelves are filled with smiles and bright colors to make everyone's home a little like our home here in the mountains. Not only are Tessa Clogs perfect for every day but for me after a hard day skiing, getting the ski boots off and a pair of Tessa Clogs on is happiness for my feet and soul. We could make any place home, but have decided that home is here at 8,000 feet and our souls are happy every day we are playing in the mountains and wearing what we love and produce - Tessa Clogs.

When you do come to visit say hi to Hana. She has been helping us out since last June. She is a student at CU in Boulder and has been a wonderful help. If you have any question or need any help, Hana is over qualified to help. Plus - if you have any chemical engineering question - she can answer that for you also. Hana - thanks so much for helping us out and everything that you do.

Hugs to all - Plan your vacation to Vail - plan your visit to Swedish Clog Cabin - get yourself a pair of Tessa Clogs and live the life at 8,000

Hip Ski Towns: Vail, Colo.

2011-11-28T07:44:00.000-08:00

How fun is this to see - on MSN.com and Bing Travel - Vail is mentioned as the hip place to go skiing plus Swedish Clog Cabin is one of 2 places to check out when you get to town - HOW FUN IS THAT

from MSN.com / Bing Travel

Which gets more celebrities, Vail or Aspen? Hard to say, though the better bet is Vail — it gets more of everything as the country’s largest ski resort. That goes not just for the 5,200 acres of pistes but for the shopping, which encompasses hundreds of stores, including such specialty purveyors as the Swedish Clog Cabin, which sells unique, imported Scandinavian goods and hand-painted Tessa Clogs. Spas are nearly as numerous; those in the know exfoliate and relax at the Arabelle or Aria Spas. Snowshoeing, cross-country skiing and fine dining — try the excellent Larkspur Restaurant — round out the area’s allure.

Need more ideas on things to do in Vail? See a full list of attractions.

HOW FUN IS THAT - hope to see you all in Vail!

Running with the Waterboys and Spirit

2011-10-19T12:44:00.000-07:00

I love to run - great way to get some cardio exercise and to clean up the cob webs in the head. It is always tough to get out the door but once you do, the run usually comes easy. Last night was the same, it is dark, cold and not looking forward to it but still forced myself to get the shoes, tights and head lamp on. Last night I actually grabbed our old Walkman as I headed out the door and see an old cassette of the Waterboys inside. This great band hailing from Ireland, Scotland and the UK was true motivation as I running up the trail from our house. Feeling pain, cold and wondering why the hell am I out here at night running by myself in the dark with a head light on - well this song says it all

Man gets tired - Spirit Don't
Man surrenders - Spirit Won't
Man crawls - Spirit flies
Spirit lives when Man dies

Man seems - Spirit is
Man dreams - the Spirit lives
Man is tethered - Spirit free
What Spirit is Man Can Be

thanks for reading

Fall, Tessa Hand Me Downs & Clogs

2011-10-10T07:06:00.000-07:00

This fall, get yourself a custom pair of Tessa Hand Me Downs. We create our Tessa Hand Me Downs from recycled jeans, colorful scraps of fabrics, beautiful ribbon, embroideries, paint and lots of imagination. Our jeans and clogs look fantastic together. It was a crazy summer with our retailers and also us having such great sales on Tessa Clogs and our Hand Me Downs. We are busy stocking up and creating more new designs for our clogs, straps and jeans.

Check out our new Tessa Ribbon Straps. These amazing Ribbons Straps are on a leather backing and will dress up your new or old Tessa Clogs.

Our Ultimate High Clogs and Sandals have been a great success this summer and going into the fall we have them available in 5 great colors: Nut, Black, Jean, Light Pink and a vibrant Red. Pair them up with our Ribbon Straps - just fabulous. - Thanks for reading!

Business and Pleasure

2011-10-04T17:30:00.001-07:00

After taking a quick peek at our Clog Blog - I notice that sometimes I do not even mention Tessa Clogs. Maybe that is because we try to revolve our life around family, play time and work. We truly love what we do and believe me, if you ever see us, our family is a walking billboard for Tessa Clogs. What brings us true joy is having this love and passion shine through in others that decide to make T
essa Clogs part of their lives. Melissa and Cory where married this summer and as you can see - her clog choice was perfect. With Cory's direction, we painted up a custom design featuring a Windmill. Just LOVE THEM - Melissa and Cory - thanks for letting us be a part of your wedding! Big Hugs!

We are always trying to conquer the world and get Tessa Clogs carried

at your local hipster, Scandinavian, fashionista boutique. So, for those of you that can not travel to Vail to get your Tessa Clogs, please, let us know your local store that should be carrying us. We love the idea of buying local, buying small, helping out the butcher, the baker, the candle stick maker and the Tessa Clog maker. As we

all know, it still is tough out there, if you can, do buy local. But, if you can not buy Tessa Clogs locally, well then come visit us in Vail. If that is not possible, you can call, 970-476-8083, email info@tessaclogs.com or check out our web site www.tessaclogs.com.

Alive and Kicking

2011-09-12T11:16:00.000-07:00

I thought the great 80's song by Simple Minds would let you know that we are still here. I know it has been a long time since we have posted on our blog. I remember hearing just the other day that some people are having stress dealing with social media. Unfortunately that is not us - we probably need to have this stress issue which would then help us get blogs and facebook postings out.

What is new with Tessa Clogs, Swedish Clog Cabin and the Manning's - well it has been a busy summer. If you had a chance to be at the Falsterbo Horse Show this year in July - you will have seen our Tessa Mimmi Clog booth. We were in Sweden from around the middle of June to the middle of July. This is the third year we have been at the Falsterbo Horse Show, it is a wonderful place to see the worlds most beautiful horses and best riders. Plus we love the

great reception that our customers give us in

Sweden. Tack

Being an American married to a Swede, I love spending the summer time in Sweden. A Swedish Summer is the celebration of life - friends & family spending time together outside playing, singing, dancing, cycling, eating and just drinking in the memories.

I love this photo - Petra & Henrik

quality time with family and friends

wonderful dinner celebrating our best friends wedding anniversary - Grattis Johan and Mimmi

Tessa & Mimmi enjoying a picnic night at the beach

New Shipment of Ultimate High and Great Sand Dunes

2011-05-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

We just received a container of Tessa Ultimate High Clogs and Sandals. They look fabulous - check out the photo to the right - Tessa Ultimate High Black Oil Clogs paired with our own Tessa "Hand Me Downs" Jeans. Our Ultimate High has a heel height of just over 3 1/2 inches - with these clogs in your wardrobe, you will swear that these are your most comfortable high heels that you own. We recommend that you take a look at our web site and place your order soon to guarantee you a size - www.tessaclogs.com/ultimatehigh.aspx. Besides the clogs - do check out the hand sewn designs on our recycled Tessa "Hand Me Downs" Jeans - do the green thing, wear fashion made by Tessa herself - www.tessaclogs.com/tessahandmedowns.aspx

Here is another shot of our Tessa Ultimate High in our sandal format. Jeans, skirt or shorts, our Ultimate High will look fabulous however you wear them. Sizes you ask, we have the sandals available from a women's 6 up to a women's 12, so we should have a size for just about everybody.

Besides the business of work we try to be as much involved with all of our children's activities. Well - our middle daughter had a climbing competition down in Albuquerque (which is about a 6.5 hour drive away - long car drive with 3 kids) where we just got back from. It truly was a gorgeous drive this time of year, tons of snow in the high country with the trees and grass in the valleys beginning to go green. On the way down south, we decided a side trip was in order to one of our National Parks - the Great Sand Dunes in southern Colorado.

We are blessed here in the state of Colorado with many National Parks, Monuments and Recreation Areas. If you have time, please, take time to visit these places when you can. It is a wonderful experience to visit these areas and see the history - just wonderful. Getting back to the Great Sand Dunes - I can only imagine that this is what the deserts in the middle east must be like - mountains and mountains of sand - a giant sand box! We made some great memories here and will leave you with a photo to tempt you all.

have fun, do what you love, life is short - enjoy Tessa Clogs

The End is here

2011-04-12T15:18:00.000-07:00

Skiing has come to an end - Vail ski mountain is now closed - a sad time for those of us that like to slide on the white stuff. You can definitely see that the town is a ghost town now. Now is the time to get projects done like cleaning and web site work. Not the most exciting stuff but it needs to get done.

I love skiing. There is nothing better. A ski day is a great day at work, it is a hug from your family, it is that nice bottle of wine, it is hitting that sweat spot on your tennis racket or golf club, it is life. Everybody - have fun, do what you love, life is short - enjoy.

I will leave you with the title from one of my favorite bands - the Specials - Enjoy Yourself, It's later then you think - the years go by as quickly as you wink,

Tessaclogs hits the catwalk in Sweden

2011-03-31T12:22:00.001-07:00

Here comes some pics from Höllviken Sweden were Tessa Clogs were shown off at a Fashion Show at the end off March.

The Ultimate High Sandal looks great with shorts and skirts alike.

Bright Yellow patent in our Moa Sandal and every little princess dream , gold sandals

Ultimate High Clogs in the color Nut

The Ultimate High sandal looks beutiful on and accentuates your legs

Spring is in the air !

Gold Mimmi Sandal a classic for little girls

Mimmi Sandal in silver and green

Swedish Clog Cabin - HQ for Tessa Clogs WorldWide - steps from skiing

2011-03-23T14:48:00.000-07:00

Check out Swedish Clog Cabin - our retail location in Vail, Colorado of our Tessa Clogs - you can get an idea how close we are to Vail's ski slopes - cheers

Magic, Wholesale and Lifestyle

2011-03-07T12:39:00.000-08:00

We or maybe I should say Tessa and Malin went to the Magic Platform Show in Las Vegas and came back from the show with some new customers. We are always trying to spread the word of Tessa Clogs around the USA by going to shoe show but it actually works best for our customers to tell their local businesses. Tell your hip local stores to give us a call so they can begin to sell Tessa Clogs. We always enjoy our customers that are able to visit us in Vail but not everyone can make it out here to visit. So for those that live where I spent my childhood, Omaha, Nebraska, we would ask that there must be some store in the area that needs a wonderful shoe line to sell. So tell them about us here at Tessa Clogs.

At the Magic show we were showing off our new Spring, Summer and Fall 2011 Tessa Clogs. We are very exited about offering our Ultimate High Sandals and Clogs in a range off new nubuck and pull up colors. If you take a closer look at our Ultimate High, you will now see a more refined stylish look with our decorative nails. Another new model to check out is our Tessa Lena High Heel Peep Toe. This model had a great reception at the Magic Show with many orders being placed. This is a great sandal for those that want a high heel for every day or more dressed up occasions. As always, we have our Tessa hand painted clogs in new designs - this is a classic staple that everyone should have at least one pair in their closet. For all of our wholesale accounts, if you would like to try some of our Spring styles or need to reorder for an April delivery, we would need an order by next Wednesday, March 9th. We always want to guarantee deliveries, but the only way we can do that is to make sure that we have a warehouse full of what you want and need. Let us know if you want more information regarding incentives about new orders and also our Tessa Snap Straps trial packs.So please, take a look at your inventory, look at some of our new exciting models and leather and get in contact with us. We would love to help you put an order together. Let us know how we can help.

We want to leave you with a picture take a few months ago by our middle daughter who is 9 years old. It was a cold day skiing but the mountain was absolutely beautiful.

Thanks for reading

FINALLY - A NEW ENTRY, Frustrations, Hair Cut and Magic

2011-02-02T12:50:00.001-08:00

Hello Everybody - sorry for taking way to long to get another entry into our blog. We were hesitant to get an entry in being that we wanted to get the design of this blog similar to our new web site. Well - finally after a few days of work, we were able to make something similar to our current web site.

Speaking of new web sites - after 9 months of part time work on it, we are close to being able to say we like it and are complete. You may have noticed that we have an information side (that has wonderful designs with some slide shows playing) and also our shopping side. After getting the site up live in October/November, we recently noticed that our site visits where less then years previously. But being busy with work and family at the holidays we did not look into it too much. The middle of January after the holiday rush, we sat down and finally noticed that search engines were not finding us! Ouch! After a 12 year presence on the internet and having just about every search engine find us, we were now completely unfindable in the www world. What Happened!

Long story short - accidental decisions that we and our web designer made, changed our old shopping cart address with over 200 pages on it from a tessaclogs.com address to a new address. Makes sense, when we made the information part of our web site, this was now at the tessaclogs.com address and only having 14 pages vs. previously having 200+ pages. We are just venting - change is always difficult with us because of situations above. But if you are not changing and evolving, you will not make it in this world. So, if you are reading this, great, you found us - so thank you.

Hair Cut - probably not a big deal, but I, Christopher Manning of Swedish Clog Cabin / Tessa Clogs of Vail, have had hippie hair for around 20 years. Looking back, it was just easy. I never had to get a hair cut, when I did, usually a friend would trim it up for me. Tessa, my wife, always liked long hair so I never had any reason to cut it. If you knew me in my first 20 years of life, being a swimmer, I always had short hair. Why the change from short to long to short? Well what do all of us guys do, we try to make ourselves attractive to women. If my wife likes long hair, well, I'll just keep it long . After 20 years, I started to think maybe it was not the long hair any more. So, on a bike ride from Swedish Clog Cabin to our home in Minturn, I pulled off the bike path to a local barber. Here is the new doo -

We are headed again to the Platform Shoe Show taking place during the Magic fashion exhibit which is the foremost global gathering of fashion brands and industry insiders. This is the second time we are exhibiting at it. If you are a retail store looking for a fantastic line to bring in to you store please stop by, say hi and while we are at it, we can write up an order of Tessa Clogs for your store.

With the new look of our web site we are also trying to get with it and go social. We are now on facebook and you can find us by search for Tessa Clogs - this is all new to us so if you do not find us - we will try to help you.

thanks for reading -

Desigual, New Web Site, Friends and Family

2010-09-08T11:06:00.000-07:00

Hello Clog World Family and Friends

We just got in a bunch of winter clothing from a company called Desigual. They are having a big push in the USA right now so you may have seen it but if not we are working on getting it on our web site. You can check out the Desigual that we are carrying here. We are using our youngest daughter to show this cute black tunic - the cost on this is $54 and SUPER CUTE as you can see. Desigual carries clothing for boys, girls, men and women - it is hip bohemian Swedish fun. We know - yes - it is from Spain - but with the look - we need to give it an honorary title of Swedish - hope that is OK with eveybody.

We are working on a new web site - take a peek here. We started this project back in May 2010 and will have it up and running in the next few weeks. It is a lot of work but will be worth it. I will ask in advance for patience being that when it does go live I'm sure that we will be having some bugs and problems that will need to be fixed. The hope is to have a more fresh and fun web site that shows the lifestyle that we have and live here in the mountains of Colorado and beaches of Sweden.

GREAT NEWS - our wonderful friends and partners from Sweden - Fam Gullberg - are coming out to stay over the Christmas Holiday. If they get a chance to read this - we need your wish list so get them sent in! In this photo, we see that Tessa and Mimmi do not always work but do take some time to have fun. We will definitely get photos up here on the Clog Blog with the future adventures of the Swedish/American MinturnHoliday 2010-11. Stay tuned

On Labor Day - our family took a couple hour hike up the mountain (round trip it was close to 4 hours) to a place called Fancy Lake. A gorgeous day with great company (besides the little complaining, scraped knees and tears) and beautiful views. This hike is in the Holy Cross Wilderness Area. All girls made it up the hill with LOTS of Jelly Beans for fuel (and bribes). We kept telling the little ones that this is just training for a future trip to Disney World. If I remember correctly - Disney World is a lot of walking so lets get them in shape now or at least for the ski season.

thanks for reading and hope to hear or see from you all soon!

Kids - they will always be little to me

2010-08-26T14:58:00.000-07:00

Another birthday is approaching and we are celebrating it two times this year. Once a week ago with the Grandparents and another time in the very near future for the offical day. Check out this cake - the Barbie Cake - Grandma spent a few hours on this one on a rainy day here in the mountains. I remeber this cake from 30+ years ago when my little sister used to always ask for it. Now my children are asking for it as their birthdays approach. Good thing Grandma keeps those cake pans and barbie dolls.

I know that our 3 girls will continue to grow but I am always going to be thinking they are little and worry about them. It is difficult to let them grow up but the joy of the success they achieve in life is just so fun to watch and experience. AND on the other hand the feeling of their disappointments or mistakes made is sometimes hard to watch and not pull your hair out about. AAA's - you will always be little in my eyes so please understand my tears of happiness, sadness, joy and frustration is just from the love that I have for all of you. Little A - Happy Birthday with LOTS & LOTS of love and big, sloppy, moutain man hugs.

We have 2 New Tessa Clogs Open Toe Sandals in stock now for the end of the summer and the fall months -

* High Heel 2 Strap Cerise Nubuck Sandal

* New Blue Jessica Sandal

The Blue leather on our Jessica is a beautiful full grain leather and a very deep dark blue. We have made a limited supply of these so if you are interested give us a call or order on line as soon as possible.

Thanks for reading and give all those little ones out there a big hug, life is way too short so give lots of love now.

Loyal Customers and our Blog

2010-08-19T07:01:00.000-07:00

One of my best friends (and smartest), Steve H, has reminded me that it is good to stay current and up to date on our Clog Blog.

I know that you have the on-line store but if you can also have elements on your site that change (i.e. clog blog) thats the key for your loyal customers. They will keep coming back. You can even keep the changing elements not so much store bases as to news/activitity in Vail.

Steve - thanks for that reminder and you have been awarded the picture of the day. A little background about our friendship and photo. We have been friends for over 20 years first meeting at St. John's, then being room mates in 1988 & 89 and is the god father of our oldest daughter. We have stayed in touch over the years (Steve - thanks for being the driving force with your emails and calls) and usually get the families together once a year. This photo is from the boys night out celebrating our 20 year reunion up at SJU. Everytime I see it I break out laughing! This photo taken from behind the pine curtain will always remind us of SJU and the H1N1 epidemic of 09. Steve - thanks for the great memories and friendship - we hope to see the family again soon!

For those that read our blog - also a big thank you. I'll keep the camera handy and let you know about the happenings around our Happy Valey here in Colorado.

Back in the USA

2010-07-26T17:06:00.000-07:00

Sitting down to get another entry in our world of "Clog Blog". We just got back from Sweden after spending a few weeks there working and playing. Of course, we get all the way to Sweden and our camera dies within the first few days. Being that it always takes some time for us to get a posting on our blog I thought that I would get some info on here and post some photos later. We did get a photo of our "Sofa Cykel" - it was our main mode of transportation for our kids around town. AND - when ever we needed something hauled or picked up, the sofa came off the flat bed and we then had the perfect trailer. If you are interested in information about the trailer check out the web site - http://www.bikesatwork.com/

While in Sweden - our sister company - Tessa & Mimmi Clogs of Sweden - http://www.tessamimmiclogs.se/ - participated in the 80th annual Falsterbo Horse Show. Tessa and Mimmi were working and having so much fun - long days but lots of fun meeting all the folks that love our clogs. If you have any interest in Horse Show - the Falsterbo Horse Show in the south of Sweden is one to definitly check out. As soon as I get some photos from Mimmi, I will get them posted here.

We are in full summer here in the moutains - almost 80 degrees everyday - hot for us moutain folks but probably a cool comfort for most of you around the world. The weather makes it a perfect time to wear our Tessa Sandal Clogs. Comfort and style what else can you ask for - how about value! When you google Sandal Clogs and compare, Tessa Clogs are quite a bit more affordable then some of the other "designer" clogs.

Thanks for reading and support. We will get photos up from Sweden and more Tessa Clogs as soon as we can! Peace

Tessa High Heel Kate's in stock and Skiing the Bird

2010-05-06T11:33:00.000-07:00

Our High Heel Kate Clog's are back in stock again but flying out the door. This Spring 2010, we have the Kates available in Natural (pictured), Red, Brown Oil, Black Oil, White and Bronze. With the contacts made at the Las Vegas Magic show, we now have more retailers then ever carrying Tessa Clogs. Do call or email us if you are wanting to try a pair of these on and hopefully there will be somewhere fairly close that you can stop by.

It makes me laugh talking about High Heel Sandals in the blog being that as I look out the window it is cold and raining. Just last week, we received another 10+ inches of snow. Spring in the Colorado Rockies is always interesting - snow, sun, rain, wind and anything else you can think of.

Going back to an earlier blog - my Valentines present to my wife and partner here at Tessa Clogs was a gift of 3 days skiing at Snowbird, Utah with no kids. This could not have been pulled off without the help of my Mom and Dad for watching our three princesses. Thanks Mom and Dad! Besides a Valentines gift it was also our 15th year wedding anniversary. We had a fabulous time and I do believe that Tessa was surprised. thanks for reading

Magic - working with your spouse and Valentines Day

2010-02-12T11:45:00.000-08:00

Check out the new logo - pretty cool!

I'm finally sitting down to get something in the blog - maybe because I'm trying to procrastinate something else on my list of things to do. Writing for me is a little hard, I need to be in the mood for it which is not often. Heck - we finally got our Christmas cards out this year after missing folks for the past 3 years.

Coming up - Magic - the foremost global gathering of fashion brands and industry insiders - Tessa Clogs will be an exhibitor here. So things around Tessa HQ have been hetic to say the least. It has actually been so crazy that when I went in for a physical (1st one in 10+ years) our doctor said that I had high blood pressure. Our doctor asked if maybe I have been stressed lately and I said well - we got a big show coming up and I'm a little wound up about that. Long story short - my bp is normal, doctor is happy but it has been a little high this month because of stress.

Getting back to Magic - we are not sure what to expect but are hoping to shoot the stars. Clogs are super hot in Europe this Spring so for those that love Tessa Clogs - we are thinking that buyers accross the country should be taking a look at us and checking out all that we have to offer - Snap Straps, High Heel Kates, Hand Painted Clogs from Vail, Colorado, and on and on. If you will be in Las Vegas attending the Magic show, please stop by and say hi. Even more, how about writing up and order with us!

Working with your spouse with Valentines Day approaching. How do I suprise the wife with flowers and a special gift (more on the gift in a later blog) after just having a rip roaring disagreement about work. Not really sure but I guess that I'll have to flip the switch to husband mode and get out of the stubborn employer my way or highway atitude. So if anybody may be reading this, say another owner/wife of Tessa Clogs - Happy Valentines Day - Jag Alskar Dig!

Also speaking of Valentines Day - don't forget about our Silver Heart Clogs. Yeah, it is already to late to order them for Valentines Day but being late with another gift is always OK.

I want to leave you all with a photo of the family - peace

I missed October, darn, Happy belated Halloween

2009-11-03T12:24:00.000-08:00

Hello all - sorry for not getting a posting here in October - I will make a point to get two posts here in November 2009. What is new - FUR LINED TESSA CLOGS - YES - I'm not sure why we have not made these earlier but we will have them in mid-November. What a perfect clog for here in the mountains of Colorado, the plains of Nebraska or the city of New York. Heck - just buy a pair and wear them where every with anything and everything. That is what I'm talking about.

What else is new, clog guy here just had a 20 year anniversary from Saint John's University. Wow - 20 years - now that I'm in my 40somethings, 20 years goes fast. It was SO MUCH FUN to see old friends and my home for 4 years of my life. What did I take away from this reunion, that life is short, we all age, and have fun while you can. All of us did look different, it could have been hair color, length, girth, lines but the personality and voices we remember are still the same. Us guys, we are bad at staying in touch, we all made a vow that we will do a better job of communication especially in this modern age of technology. Maybe I'll get some of these guys to buy some clogs and read this blog!

I will leave you with one of many memories of my time 20 years ago up at Saint John's University. This is a photo of Saint John's Abbey Church and Bell Banner. The church and bell banner is made of concrete and faced on the outside with local granite. Marcel Breuer (1902-1982) designed this and many of the building at SJU. Probably way too much info for anybody, but this photo was taken after a weekend of great times with incredible friends. Peace everybody -

My Three Little Models and One Big

2009-09-09T22:11:00.000-07:00

I'm throwing up a picture of my three little models and also of my one big model. As you read this - if you have been in our store in Vail, Colorado - you know that we try to have a little something for everbody - young to mature, small to big and quiet to loud. So as you look at the new Mimi and Maggie line that our girls have on, do realize that we also have big girls clothing also. We are working on getting product from the store on our web site but we would always recommend coming to visit us in Vail to see what is new. What a great excuse to go skiing, climbing, sun tanning, and eating in our wonderful town of Vail. Come visit us and then you can enjoy all the other wonderful adventures that our little town has to offer - yeah - that is what you all need to do!

FREE SHIPPING

We just uploaded a discount code to our web site - snow - type in - snow - as you work your way through the check out process for free shipping. Sorry, did I mention that the code is - snow :-)

we only have this code up for the next week so please take advantage of it as soon as you can

For those of you that read and are web design savy - we are looking for some help with a revamp of our entire web site. Send us a line and let us see some of your work and let us know how we can continue to spread the word of Tessa Clogs throughout the world - contact me at chrisATtessaclogsDOTcom - thanks for reading

Clog Guy - Where have you been?

2009-07-27T17:10:00.000-07:00

Funny hats that people wear at party's in Sweden.

Sorry for not keeping update here. Where have we been - you may be asking. We have been busy - the month of June we were working in Sweden continuing to build our brand there. After getting back we have been a little over whelmed. Summer season for us in Vail starts on July 1st and is only busy until labor day. Unfortunately, our blog gets to be put on the back burner when we are running around so today is the day to sit down and get everybody updated.

Sweden was great and folks there are just LOVING our High Heel Moa Sandals (the link at left goes to a fun pair of Purple to show all the style we are talking about). Tessa Mimmi Clogs (are name in Sweden) are currently carried at over 20 stores throughout Sweden! How Cool is that! Besides the selling and manufacturing that was done on our visit, we also worked on a photo shoot and starting planning for our appearance at the Copenhagen Fashion Fair in August (which is happening soon). Besides working we also found time to play at the beach, celebrate some birthdays, went to amusement park and partied like rock stars for all the happenings: Mid Sommar, Hippie Fest, Craw Fish Festival, Mexican Night, etc.

Now in July, you can see us in Vail at Sweden Clog Cabin, in Minturn at our local Saturday Minturn Market and in Vail Village on Sundays at the Vail Farmer's market. So if you can not get to Vail or Minturn this summer, I guess that you will just need to order a pair of clogs through our web site.

thanks for reading

2009-05-22T11:14:00.000-07:00

Tessa Clogs
500 East Lionshead Mall / Vail, CO 81657
http://www.tessaclogs.com/

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Chris Manning
Tel. 970-476-8083
Cell Phone 970-331-8083
Email: chris@tessaclogs.com

TESSA CLOGS IS GETTING HIGH

The Swedish American brand raises the heel on the traditional clog.

Vail, CO May 13, 2009 – Tessa Clogs are introducing the KATE High Heel clog to the USA market. With a 31/2 inch heel, this sexy, high heel, open toe clog is not only super cute but comfortable as well. It is making a name for itself as the perfect sandal from the ski resort of Vail to the streets of New York.

“Our customers have continued to ask us for a higher heeled clog but it is very difficult to find a wooden sole that has the comfort and support that we want it too have,” says owner Tessa Manning. “After lots of searching we finally found a sole that has the look and fit we were after. The Kate’s are the perfect blend of a comfortable traditional clog with the high heel styling that our customers have been asking for.”

The Kate’s are currently available in Black, Bronze, Natural Tan and a Pink Patent. MSPR $129

ABOUT Tessa Clogs: Tessa Clogs have been known in the Vail, Colorado resort area since the mid 90’s. They can be found in select shoe and fashion boutiques throughout the country. Besides being sold in the USA, they are also sold throughout Europe.

# # #

Easter, Last Ski Day, Cancer and Projects

2009-04-29T15:48:00.000-07:00

As I look for photos of what to share, I wonder what do people want to know. I sometimes think that work and life is a little like a Seinfield episode, lots of laughs living daily but trying to describe usually makes no sense or sounds boring.

Normally we would be spending the day on Easter Sunday getting out on the slopes and enjoy the last few days the moutain is open. Well, this year, Easter Sunday brought with it RAIN. If you have ever skied in rain you know that these days are not usually very fun ski days. We went up the day before in the same conditions and came down the moutain absolutely soaking wet inside and out. So, being that we did not want to deal with this again, we decided to have a relaxing Sunday spent inside eating, decortaing Easter eggs and working on our annual family Easter Egg hunt. Our hunt is a little like a scanvenger hunt being that you need to work your way around the house, finding clues that lead to more clues until you can find the actually hiding location of the BIG EGG filled with candy. So we do not go around looking for hard boiled eggs but act like a detective to find a paper mache type of egg that is loaded with candy. The kids LOVE this.

Last Ski Day - a great day. Family time spent sliding. When you look at old photos of skiing, you tend to always see families together. Skiing really is a family activity. I can not descibe in words the feeling of euphoria that one gets spending time together outside in the snow. It is life changing and Tessa & I are proof of that as we made our way to the mountains years ago and have not looked back. The last day was absolutley packed with partiers but we kept our space from them as we stayed on the other side of the mountain. Our last run of the ski year, picture this, fresh groomed snow that looks like cordoray, no one around, skiied the entire way down to Lionshead and did not see a sole. Just the 5 of us smiling and wishing that the season wasn't ending today.

We just finished working on a cancer awareness Tessa Clogs Snap Strap. We made this for a local charity event - First Descents Ball. First Descents provides whitewater kayaking and other outdoor adventure experiences to promote emotional, psychological and physical healing for young adults with cancer. What is beautiful about this organization is to bring the love of the mountains to those that are dealing with cancer. Check out there web site that I linked above. 25% of the sales of our Tessa First Descents Awareness Clogs is being donated back to First Descents.

Peace and Hugs to all

the End is Near

2009-04-10T08:42:00.000-07:00

I'm not trying to be biblical but our ski season is near the end: last day to slide is Sunday, April 19. If you go back to past April posts - this is always a sad and happy time of year. This season brought many GREAT MEMORIES (friends visiting, some incredible power days, our kids starting to rip it up on the mountain, etc). We always hate to see the lifts stop running, but, if you are energetic there is always skiing to be found, you just now need to earn your turns (hike up with skiis to get the turns on the way down).

With Ski Season ending our Store Hours will be shortened. If you do not get ahold of us, just leave a voice mail and we will get back right away to you.

Thanks to all of you that came out to visit us at Swedish Clog Cabin in Vail this winter and all of you that made orders on line. We do appreciate it. For those of you that stopped by our store that live in Europe, you can still get more Tessa Clogs from our partners over in Sweden - Tessa & Mimmi Clogs.

We just LOVE our Kask hats and everything about the company. If you own a Kask hat you know (your in the club so to speak) what we mean. If you take a peek at our site with our Kask hats we are running out and do not plan on getting more until next ski season. So order now otherwise you are going to have to wait.

It is a little sad and I do not have the entire story, but our ULU Boots - , which we just love and WAS based in Paonia, Colorado has been bought by the Merrell Corporation. I do not think that they have any more operations in Colorado which is really too bad. With this said - we have all of our ULU Boots on sale for 30% off.

Great News- we have two new employees at Tessa Clogs - Patti and Ana. Next time you call you might be talking with these great ladies and they will be happy help with your questions. You may also want to check out our New Tessa Clogs, we have made a few Snap Strap packages. You buy one Tessa Clog and you get your choice of 3 Straps. Pretty Cool - again if you are not familar with our Tessa Snap Straps check out our high quality video (HA!) below.

Hasta

Carolina - thanks again for your wonderful help!

2009-03-18T12:00:00.000-07:00

If you have called us here this winter there is a good possibility that you may have talked with Carolina. She just left us on Monday to head back to school in Argentina. Wow - we are really going to miss her. Besides the wonderful job in the store, on the phone, working on the computer to manage our web site she is just the nicest person one could meet and have the opportunity to know. Carolina - if you are out there reading, we miss you and hope that your path in life will bring you back to Vail next year. Cheers to all of your future endeavors!!!!! Love Chris & Tessa

We have put some new Tessa Snap Strap Clogs on our web site with a package price. Check them out - NEW Tessa Clogs. Here is a sample of the ones on our web site. It is a photo of our Brown Oil Victoria Snap Strap that includes 3 straps! Just a recommendation to those that are thinking about ordering Tessa Clogs - read our blog. The previous entry has some information about specials that we are offering on our web site. Sorry - I am not going to make it easy for those of you that have not been keeping up with the blog - heck - I can not believe that we have 2 entries in our blog within one week. What could be next - maybe we will get our Christmas cards out - I guess we can call them Easter Cards this year! Hugs to all - Carolina - again - thanks for working with us this year!

Peace!

Overwhelmed, Thank You and Free Shipping

2009-03-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

Does anyone ever feel overwhelmed at times? Wow – I just started typing different words in to search engines and see that there are LOTS of different companies selling clogs. Overwhelming, Wow! We do understand that there are many choices where one can buy clogs, we want to personally thank all of you that have bought Tessa Clogs either here in Vail, at one of our many retail partners or on line. THANK YOU – we really do appreciate it. I’m not sure if this photo is really appropriate but I am giving a toast to all of you that have supported us over the years. Plus – you maybe have wondered what I look like – (I’m the guy on the right and my good friend Johan is on the left).

Other news – Huggalugs – these things are the coolest. Plus the owners who live in Australia are the most down to Earth people you can meet. We have only talked with them on the phone but it would be so fun to meet them and their family. Huggalugs are leg and arm warmers for kids (then even fit small adults!). With the fun colors, they are such a great compliment for boys and girls. With a skirt, with a short sleeve “T”, heck, I was even thinking these may be perfect for biking in the morning when it is cold. They are such a fun compliment for your kids wardrobe.

If your reading and thinking about ordering something, type in – pripps – (just the 5 letters – pripps) when you come to a screen that is labeled DISCOUNT CODES AND GIFT CERTIFICATES and you will get free shipping. I have set this up until the end of March. For those out there that do not know – Pripps is the name of our 12+ year old Bernese Mountain Dog and also the name of a beer in Sweden.

We want to leave you with a image that we thought was funny. One of our kids crawled into our kennel and of course the others wanted to join too. Shamus, our 4 month bernese, wanted to join in too but he could not get the door open. So - lets just try to crawl on top. Peace, Hugs and Good Times to all of you that are reading.

Friends and Vacation

2009-03-04T12:08:00.000-08:00

Mentally - we are back to work now selling Tessa Clogs like crazy - or at least trying too. Ski season here in Vail is a little slower so hense we are not selling Tessa Clogs like we have been in the past. SO - give us a call, buy some clogs!!!!

Above I mention that we are now mentally back at work - I say this because one week ago our close friends and partners in Sweden, Fam Gullberg, had to head back to Sweden after a 2 week vacation here in Minturn, Colorado. While they were here we were on vacation also (at least it sure did feel like it - good company, good food, good times and also a few bottles of wine were had). How nice it is to feel like your on vacation when your at home. For two weeks, we balanced family, work and play so well and we already miss it. To Johan, Mimmi, Emma and Måns - we really miss you guys and had such a WONDERFUL TIME when you were visiting. We so look forward to seeing you in the summer!

What is new at the Swedish Clog Cabin / Tessa Clogs. We have some new styles for you to check out: Peace & Hope, Victoria and Carolina. I like all of them but really enjoy our new Peace & Hope design. With the stock market tanking, friends and family loosing jobs, loosing houses, bad times everywhere - it really is a time for peace and hope. Here as we look at our numbers, unfortunately we are down. There is not much that we can do about this except to keep preaching the word of clogs. Our family has been dealing with the down turn of the economy with getting out on the skis and spending quality time together: laughing loudly while the grins go ear to ear. Keep smiling and having fun. Hugs from Colorado!

Thanks For Being Patient!

2009-01-25T12:21:00.000-08:00

Hej Allihopa (hello everybody)!

I've mentioned it before, Life and priorities - family, work, religion, free time - the way we prioritise life is probably different then most folks. Take our blog for example, it is not hard to sit down and type but I always wonder who wants to read about our normal every day life relating to work and family. With these feelings of our average lifes, I will put off blog entries thinking that other work/family/free time issue may be more pressing. Today, Sunday, January 25, I was able to spend a little free (ski) time (between getting kids back and forth to climbing) with an old friend that mentioned he reads our blog and was able to keep up with what is happening with the Manning's. After hearing that somebody is reading (and having a college buddy tell me he also reads our blog BUT we need to get a new entry in) I decided to put this to the top of my things to do.

So - if any family is reading this - well the belated Christmas Cards I was hoping to get out as Martin Luther King cards - will just have to wait for the Valentines Day Christmas Family Cards - so it is (and do not hold your breath becuase it would not suprise me if it ends up to be July 4th Family Christmas Cards).

First off, we need to let everybody know how they can help the economy out. Spend some money on Tessa Clogs :-)

If you have been thinking about buying a pair of Tessa Snap Strap Clogs - now is the time to do it. For all Snap Strap orders now and up till the end of February:

buy one Tessa Snap Strap Clog - get a pair of extra straps for free (equal or lesser value)
buy one pair of snap straps - get one extra pair of straps for free (equal or lesser value)
please just write in the order notes "i read the clog blog" to receive your free straps

Other news with Tessa Clogs - we are working hard again for getting some more sandals ready for the spring and summer time. If you have some ideas of a Tessa Clog that you would like on your feet this summer, let us know, you never know, maybe we can make it up. Today, we have just added some sandals to our web site that are not available yet but we are taking pre orders on them.

Since we all talked in September - we have been on the road selling Tessa Clogs in Kansas City and in Houston. We welcomed a new addition to our store - Carolina from Argentina. She is GREAT. We also had an addition to our family - Shamus - a 3 month old Bernese Moutain Dog - what a cute handful this guy is. So it looks like the Minturn Manning's future lodging options may be limited. We do promise that we will have him trained soon but understand in the mean time we are cleaning up a lot of puddles.

Like almost everybody here in the USA, we have also had our share of challenges this winter but by no means problems just big inconviences. We know that we are in for a long winter metaphorically this year but hope that the sun will come out sooner then later. Life is short, we are going to keep are skis waxed for this long winter and just try to keep smiling.

peace and hope for 2009

Achilles and Wasp Stings - ouch

2008-09-23T12:56:00.000-07:00

Hello - I know that it has been awhile. I hope that all of you readers are doing wonderful. Here at the Swedish Clog Cabin - I and Mrs. Clog are having foot / leg issues regarding stupid accidents with bicycles and wasps. I am now almost 4 weeks into an achilles tendon issue - I'm feeling better and better each day but still not 100%. My funny accident relates to a chainring (picture here) rolling accross my ankle. Doing too many things at once (carrying kids backpacks, scooters, and bicycle) I thought that I could roll my bicycle forward while also carrying everything. Well, somehow my bike started to fall but I managed to keep it rolling forward. While this happened, my foot/ankel somehow got under the chainring and I pulled the bike chainring right over my ankel. Not a big deal at the time, my mind was thinking I'll have a few puncture marks where the chainring went into the ankle but big deal. The big deal was where the chainring went over my achilles, it CUT IT. OUCH - I am just so happy that it was only about 30 to 40% that I cut. After 4 weeks I feel that I around 75 to 80% heeled.

Mrs. Clog was stung on the foot this weekend by a wasp. She was sitting on the couch and as she got up she screamed in pain. OUCH - What was that? As we looked on the floor we see a wasp laying around. Immediately we put ice on the bite and we thought all was OK until the next day. It is worrysome when you wake up and see that your foot looks and feels like a red, welted, itching like crazy football. We didn't worry too much at this time but the swelling was starting to move up into the ankle. After calling the hosipital it sounded like she was having an allergic reation but unless we see the swelling moving more up the leg we really did not need to go in. We could not believe that the nurse said it could take up to one week before the foot is normal again. What - a little wasp bite - just amazing. The bad thing is - we have a photo foot shoot tomorrow. We have called to reschedule and hope that it will not be a problem.

So that is the new news here in Lionshead.

Last weekend, if you happened to be visiting us at Swedish Clog Cabin in Lionshead you may have noticed the beautiful car parked out in front - a older Mercedes race car used in the 50's (I believe). If you love old vintage European Race Cars it was your Christmas in Vail last weekend. The Colorado Grand (http://www.coloradogrand.com/) finished their rally in Vail and parked their cars (over 70 cars on display) all over Lionshead.

I think the family favorite were some of the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" style cars from the 30's. I think the following picture is a 1936 Delehaye 135 S Competition. Some of the cars that were on display: Alfa Romeo, Mercedes, Ferarri, Jaguar, Bentley, Osca and an Austin Heeley. If you love cars like this you need to check out the following site - http://www.autotourimages.com/galleries.htm and click on Colorado Grand 2008 to see some of the images.

Other news - Swedish Clog Cabin/Tessa Clogs will be in Kansas City at the Holiday Mart October 23-26 and we also will be in Houston at the Nutcracker Market November 13-16. Come visit us, try a pair of Tessa Clogs and then buy a few pairs for yourself and loved ones :-)!

thanks again for reading

Flowers and Inspiration

2008-07-29T19:56:00.000-07:00

You may wonder sometimes where does Tessa get some of her great ideas. Well, she gets it from our natural surrondings every day. With the wild flowers just going off at their peak a few weeks ago, we took the family out for a short distance (but time wise around 4 hours with the little feet that joins us) hike. Along the way we took many photos of the flowers and tried to name them all. Good thing that our oldest, Axelina, had her flower book from her godfather (Hi Steve Holm!) with so we could name all the flowers we saw. The fun thing about our hike is that it is right out side our front door.

What is new here at Tessa Clogs - We just got back in a shipment of our Closed Back and Flex Clogs. They are made for us in the south of Denmark and the quality is FANTASTIC. I'm not sure how long we will have them in stock so definitly check them out and order yourself up a pair as soon as you can.

The end of July and here in the mountains we still have snow!? With our warm days here (mid 80's - I know that some of you folks are thinking mid 80's that is not hot) we have been thinking already of the coming ski season and so have some of our friends. If any family are friends are reading book your accomadations soon here in Minturn being that the house is filling up :-)! We were wonderfully suprised to hear that we have some of our closest friends from Sweden coming out to visit this winter so we are already looking forward to that.

Thanks again for reading and order your Tessa Clogs!

Chris

Tessa Clog Sandal Season

2008-06-26T13:44:00.000-07:00

Howdy All - it is Tessa Sandal Season right now! Before the snow starts flying here again in Vail you need to check out some of our new sandals at Tessa Clog SANDALS.

We just got back into the states after a one month design working sesion in Sweden. Of course we found some time to spend with family, work and also play.

Sorry for not keeping up with the blog. It is difficult for me to sit down and type. Is anybody reading? HA - probably not when I do not update this site very often. Please get on my back if you want to hear more and I haven't posted in awhile - my email chris@tessaclogs.com and tell me to get to work.

It is the middle of summer now and I think like most Americans - I'm a little bit worried what is going to happen with our economy. Besides everything that is happening what troubles me the most it that our dollar is just not worth what it was years ago. Tessa Clogs are all manufactured in Sweden, and the cost for us to make and ship them to our warehouse here in Coloardo has gone up more then double! We are going to try and hold out a little bit longer keeping our prices steady but it is getting difficult. So if you have been on the fense about purchasing some Tessa Clogs - I would recommend buying them sooner then later.

Besides our Tessa Clogs, we also carry some CUTE clothes from Me Too and Mimi & Maggie. Please email or call us if we can help pick out some clogs with an outfit to go with it. I have to say - my models above did a great job! Thanks again for reading

the Empty Chair Lift in our Yard of Snow

2008-04-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

463 inches = 1176 centimeters = 38.5 feet = 11.7 meters = snowfall in Vail to date – this is BIG TIME snow for us – not sure where it ranks but it must be somewhere in the top of biggest snow years for us

April 11 = 25 degrees = 13 inches fresh = the best powder days ever in April – this is 13” + 6” from Thursday, April 10th + 6” from Wednesday, April 9th + 10” from Tuesday, April 8th – we had a big cold snowy week! After skiing just a few runs on this unsuspecting Friday, I walked into the office with the biggest grin, Tessa was headed out the door with skis almost immediately after seeing the “grin”. She came back with the same ear to ear grin – a good day.

April 12 & 13 – the Best weekend ever skiing with the family – Tessa and I skied down to Minturn 2 times on Saturday, the first time, just us, skiing some of the best powder ever through evenly spaced Aspen trees, the second time was with our two oldest kids (8 & 6) – smiles all around – skiing to Minturn is nothing “extreme” but it is a demanding back country run (meaning if you get hurt, tough luck you better take responsibility for your own actions – nobody to sue for all of you litigious folks) that leads from Vail Mountain almost to our house. Now for you folks that are saying we shouldn’t be taking our kids down something like this, get a life and take the training wheels off. They skied great and were asking to ski it again!

Sidenote
It takes lots of time and patience to get your kids to ski. Many folks that we know have thrown their kids in some type of ski school or club. We haven’t really ever put them in any of the ski clubs being that they: one – do not want to be and two – they enjoy skiing with us and we are taking the time to go with them. If you love to ski and have the love and respect for the mountains, spend the time with your kids, bite your tongue on the slow learning curve and enjoy the time. We all know that time just flies and I am just so happy to have spent this time teaching our kids and watching their love for the mountains grow.

April 13 = 45+ degrees = closing day = sunny, best closing day ever – We skied with the entire family including our 3 year old all the way down the mountain from the very top! At the bottom of the mountain, we enjoyed one of my best beers (a homebrew Swedish Lager) while the kids ate ice cream and we all sat in the sun watching the closing days activities. This moment was such a nice, kick back, relaxing time going over old memories of past closing days.

Closing day is literally a holiday / funeral here at ski resorts. I do not know how to fully convey the idea but it is a little bit like Christmas and maybe the funeral that your best friend would want you to have for them – a celebration for life. Everybody is happy and sad at the same time and are all partying in our own way and sharing time together. The talk of all the locals is of the closing days we have witnessed and will hope to witness. . The happiness of a beautiful day changing to sadness knowing that the season is finished BUT changing back to hope with the fact that we will be riding the lifts in less then 7 months.

A beautiful moment that I witnessed on closing day – a Grandpa, a Grandma, kids and grandkids on top of the mountain at closing time. It just happened to be that this family grew up in Vail and one of the kids used to race with the U.S. ski team. This is what I’m talking about, sharing time with the family and celebration of life. It is a moment that I will be looking forward to in the future – sharing a last run of the season with our grandkids (it makes my eyes water as I’m listening to Jack Johnson playing the guitar on my speakers in the background).

Sidenote 2
Funny thing here living in the mountains – you better like snow because we have snow this year from November and I don’t think we will see our yard here at 8,000 feet until May this year

I love my wife and kids and especially happy that they enjoy the lifestyle that I crave. Living in the mountain is by no means a picnic but I wouldn’t give it up for anything. Picture this, today, Monday, April 14, the thermometer is creeping up from 20 degrees this morning with the full on sun just creeping over the mountains to our little valley. Not a cloud in our blue sky (blue really is not the right word – it is such a deep blue that it almost has a “purplish” hint to it) – it will be just an incredible day. I am working today but I can guarantee that around lunch time will be spent outside playing somewhere.

Ps – sorry to everybody, we got a little bit behind on work this past week – again it was a holiday week here in Vail :-) we are hoping to get caught up on everything this week

Peace

Tessa Snap Strap™

2008-03-11T14:39:00.000-07:00

We have been working long and hard on our new Tessa Snap Straps™.

Sorry for not posting for such a long time.

Life is revolving right now around family and work. We at Tessa Clogs have been spending A LOT of time working on our new Tessa Snap Straps™ (developing, producing and marketing). It is such a COOL IDEA - you can have one pair of clogs and a few diffent straps. By being able to change the straps on your clogs, you are able to change the look. It is just SO MUCH FUN!!!

Click on the video above to get an idea of the concept and please feel free to call and/or email to ask us more about our Tessa Snap Straps™.

We hope to in the next few days to get many more strap options up for everybody to see. What is difficult to show on line with our Tessa Snap Straps is all the options possilbe. We can make just about any Tessa Clog® into a snap strap. If you have any idea of a clog that you want and some straps that you want and do not see it on line, please let us know. We can make it.

We would love to get a pair of Snap Straps on your feet and would hope that we can get our Tessa Clogs available for you locally. The best way for Tessa Clogs to keep growing is for you folks to keep spreading the word. Let your local stores know about our brand and to ask them to bring us in. That way you can try your Tessa Clogs on locally and support these vendors.

Thanks again for listening and we do apologize for being late with the blog this month, oopps - it looks like we missed February 08 entry so we will need to do a double entry this month - stay posted

Life is short, HAVE FUN NOW

2008-01-25T09:15:00.000-08:00

Carpe Diem - Sieze the Day - Make Your Lives Fun -
Being here in the mountains of Colorado, sure does not mean that we are not in the rat race just like everybody else in the world. We are just like you - waking, eating, getting kids ready, working, stressing, paying bills, trying to save money (for the car that just broke down, for the kids, for ?), thinking what are we going to do for supper, clean (well don't stop by our house being that this is not at the top of our priorities) getting kids to sleep and starting the whole process over again. BUT - in that mess of priorities we are finding time to play and smile.

Yes - that is what I'm talking about - smiling and making sure that we are having fun becase life is short.

Why am I ranting on about the above - well a lady from New Jersey was in the store the other day and we got to talking. Just like us, they are busy with the same stresses above but with the added pressures of communting to THE CITY - 1.5 hours each way. Ouch. Sorry, I do not think that I could do that but I know many folks that do. The reason for bringing this whole subject up of HAVING FUN is that this lady thought that our grass was looking a little greener here in Colorado. Maybe it is, Maybe it is not. All I could say was - HELL YES - I love living here but I would be trying to have just as much fun where ever I was living.

So next time we are all bumming out on our lives, take a minute and do something that a kid would do. Put your arms out and fly like an airplane, make a funny face, take a trip out to see us in Vail, get some personalized Tessa Clog service and maybe even some face shots on the mountain.

Now - it has been a cold and snowy January, it is one of the biggest snowy January's that I remember (Tessa and I have been in Vail since 91). The photos here are some FUN TIME skiing back to Minturn. Click on the photos, I think that you will see some smiles in those faces. If you get a message when your trying to give us a call, we may be out getting some SMILE TIME.

Cheers

Family, Holidays, Snow, Skiing, & Work

2007-12-14T16:15:00.000-08:00

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

2007-11-25T13:55:00.000-08:00

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!

2007-10-24T07:04:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-17T11:55:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-08T12:38:00.000-07:00

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

2007-10-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-31T07:18:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-24T15:12:00.000-07:00

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

2007-08-22T14:09:00.000-07:00

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