Does the modern girl want a Barbie doll or a bratty girl with a Paris Hilton attitidue? The sales show that the traditional image of a California blonde with big bust and tiny waste is a bit over the top these days, or perhaps, just too common to draw interest on the supermarket shelves. Not to mention the generation of moms & dads who purchase the products for their adoring adolescent daughters, the kids themselves now emulate a brat with attitude. Multi-colored hair and larger lips, ethnic mix and various colors of skin, plus clothes that are flamboyant, more reflect what America is about these days. So when the creator of Bratz was taken to court by Mattel, his former employer, for coming up with this successful doll after he left the company, a recent trial awarded Mattel earnings for the design.
Many big corporations come from California, and many are located at or near the beach. Here’s the latest from today’s press releases we found of interest:
Skechers is bummed. SKECHERS USA, Inc., based in Manhattan Beach, California, designs, develops and markets footwear (shoes) for men, women and kids under the SKECHERS name, as well as under several uniquely branded names. So when Robert Greenberg, Chairman and CEO of Skechers learned of the refusal of Heelys’ stockholders to consider acquisition by this shoe firm to acquire all the outstanding shares of Heelys Inc.’s common stock for $5.25 per share, he said the company was prepared to negoitiate further. Manhattan Beach, a laid back beach town near Los Angeles, loves their casual sneakers almost as much as their surfing waves. Celebrating the beach trendsetting style, Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach is ideal for those who want a cool place to stay.
San Francisco Bay Area’s Evocative was named one of the fastest-growing private companies in 2008 by Inc. Magazine. Offiering colocation and managed services, Evocative’s rapid 190-percent revenue growth over the period demonstrates the national and local market demand for solutions that helps businesses control the costs and performance of their infrastructures to protect business services from downtime.
Los Angeles Hall of Fame Beverages, Inc. Completes Initial Shipment of Atomic Dogg to Spencer’s Gifts Stores. Spencer’s Gifts reached an introductory agreement to carry the Company’s Atomic Dogg energy drink line to select stores in Spencer’s growing network. The successful partnership forming with Spencer’s complements the Company’s recently announced agreement with Destileria Serralles, Inc. (“Serralles”) to distribute the Company’s products to thousands of retail locations in the Caribbean. Hall of Fame Beverages, Inc. is the California-based manufacturer of the Atomic Dogg™ energy drink line and HydroPower™ functional water brand. Founded by Hall of Fame tailback Jim Brown, Hall of Fame Beverages is an emerging and innovative lifestyle company focused on the development, production, distribution, and marketing of non-alcoholic beverages under its signature brands.
I just got an email from my girl & guy friends about a beach bonfire party tomorrow night. I checked the email again and within 1 minute, I received another beach bonfire invite. It’s so easy to have cheap fun when you’ve got da’ Beach! From Northern California’s cool, misty beaches to Central Coast’s Oceano & Grover Beach, down south to OC’s Huntington Beach and San Diego, the bonfires are blazing this summer. Why? Cheap entertainment. Staycations (stay at home or close to home vacations) are keeping people closer to their houses. But why not make the most of the evenings at the beach? Evite’s an especially fun way to get a grip on the replies for a party or event. Some of the posts from this San Diego bonfire and volleyball event are a blast. Read the comments posts.
What a different year at the California beaches! When the economy tanks (California unemployment officially is veering toward 7 percent but is probably much higher), people hunker down–and they go to the beach. There’s a lot of good news about this picture, for beach shops and tourism, that is. While people seem to be staying closer to home in general, and spending a lot less on hotels this year, the hotel industry has held strong with beach hotel prices garnering mid-100’s to well over $500/night for a room. Take a drive along the 1000-mile stretch of California beaches to see what a down cycle looks like. What you’ll see are crowds–literally swarms of people and cars. It’s as if things have never been better. Of course, those of us who have lived and breathed beaches most of our lives, there’s a saying that can explain this fury. “When things get tough, go to the beach!”
There are only a handful of nude beaches in California. A lawsuit over the right to not wear swimsuits at the embattled nude beach at the 3.5 mile-long San Onofre Beach between San Clemente and Oceanside is supposed to end up in court Aug. 20 because the California Department of Parks and Recreation ordered nude sunbathers to put on some clothes by Labor Day or
face being ticketed as much as $360. Huntington Beach resident / attorney Allen Baylis has been sunbathing nude at San Onofre for over 35 years and will join the fight to keep one of the few remaining coastal beaches for nudists. Trail 6 leads to a tucked away beach where nudists hide away so they don’t flaunt their stuff in front of the general public. Baylis and other nudists sued the Parks & Rec department, which says says complaints are growing about the nude sunbathers at the increasingly popular park. There were over 2.5 million visitors last year, and only 82 tickets for lewd behavior issued in a five year period. That averages 16 per year, or one ticket for every 156,250 people.
Good nudists vs. bad behavior. We’re not guilty, say nudists who point to a parking lot a mile away where many of the tickets are being issued. They believe that the trouble at a parking lot is being used to confuse the issues about nude sunbathing and other general behavioral issues that occur at more isolated beaches and parking locations. They say it makes it appear that there’s trouble at the nude beach, which they say is pristine and quiet. Friends of San Onofre Beach, the Naturist Action Committee and attorney Baylis contend that the state failed to hold a public hearing on the new order.
While the number 8 is considered the lucky number and the Olympic Games were launched on 8-8-08, numerologists warn that too many eights aren’t necessarily a guarantee of prosperity. The number 8 of itself is a money number. But too many 8’s can overburden and complicate. The number 8 can work to your advantage on Aug. 17, Aug. 26. They are both “8″ days, too. Numerologists say - green candle for money - white candle for pure place- light those candles and meditate on what you want. What we believe is what we manifest. Re-program the thought. “I pay my bills with ease and I always have extra money.” 15 minutes per day to believe it and reprogram themselves. Secrets you have hidden will be revealed in the month of 8. If you believe in the numbers and follow them, numerologists say that the Olympics could be a mixed bag, financially, because they were launched on a day with too many 8’s.
I went to the Cali Beach the other day and was wind-swept with a cool breeze on a perfectly sunny day. The skies were blue, the sand was toasty and the air was absolutely perfect. Ocean temps were around 68 to 70 degrees.
I saw many teens soaking up the rays and asked three girls what they thought about summer over half-way gone. (I got this idea from my neighbor who just told me she bought a gazillion glue sticks on sale at Walmart for her 2nd grade class in Long Beach she’ll be teaching in just a few weeks upcoming.)
“We’re sad,” the really sweet girls from Fountain Valley told me. All with long brunette hair, they could have been triplets for all I know as they answered questions together in one mindset. I thought they were so great, I made a video of their comments as I talked with them.
Having grown up in the Midwest–Liberty, Missouri–to be precise, I always felt out of place in a town that seemed so isolated and land-locked. While some find the hospitality and comfort of the center of the country to their liking, I just never quite found my niche. So as I stand at the beach, I can say that this is where I feel the happiest.