Life is Good. In fact, it’s pretty great.
By Happy on Oct 26 Filed In Activities, Events, Food & Beverage, Live Music, Uncategorized Add a Comment
Ever heard of the Life is Good brand? They’re the creators of those great t-shirts and gear featuring stick figures Jake and his dog Rocket doing things that people enjoy. The designs differ, but every garment has the words “Life is Good” inscribed underneath the illustration. Based in Boston, MA, it’s an optimistic brand that’s made strides nationally in the adventure/camping gear market with franchise retail stores all over the country.
The Life is Good brand puts on these family field day style festivals throughout the year in San Francisco, Boston, Toronto, and St. Charles. Last weekend, I had the pleasure of rounding out the series with them in St. Charles, MO. The events are free admission, but they accept donations on behalf of Project Joy and Life is Good Kids Foundation, which “supports extraordinary charities that create a lasting positive impact on children facing unfair challenges, including the trauma of violence, poverty, and loss.”
At each of the Life is Good Festivals, there are classic field-day games and activities, like frisbee toss, beanbags, tug-of-war, arts and crafts, and more. Sweet Leaf Tea was there (of course) along with our friends from Pepperidge Farms and Clif Bar, handing out tasty snacks in exchange for donations. There were also live musical acts, including PBS’s Steve Songs, Erin McCarley, and Brett Dennan. If you haven’t heard of them, check em out — they’re pretty darn good.
The overall theme was ‘optimism’ — something that we can all be inspired by. Everyone that came to the fest left feeling it. That’s what their brand and their charity programs are all about. It definitely felt great to help out for such a worthy cause. Plus, I think its important to take a step back from time to time and play like a kid. Life is too short to take it so seriously, no?
Thanks to Bert, John, Nick, James, and the rest of the Life is Good Team — well done, friends.
Life is good.
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- Art for All MURAL in progress
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- Art for All MURAL, completed
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- Steve Songs
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- Erin McCarley
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- Brett Dennan
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- The Sweet Leaf Tea Booth
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- Our friends from Clif Bar
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- Family fans
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- Happy Happy Joy Joy
Halloween ATX
By Happy on Oct 23 Filed In Activities, Austin, Texas, Events, Live Music Add a Comment
It’s no question that Austin knows how to party, especially when it comes to Halloween. Here are a few ‘staff picks’ from your friends, the Sweet Leaf Tea’m:
- Do512.com / Dos XX / Sweet Leaf Tea / Tito’s Vodka present ‘Halloween at the Graveyard’ (TOP PICK)
Saturday, 10/31 at 7PM
Do512.com HQ (2208 S. Lamar)
Join Dos Equis and Do512 for the biggest party of Halloween. Non-stop entertainment, including music, dancing, interactive animation art, stilts, fire, electricity, photo booth, custom screen printing, and all kinds of spooky madness. Complimentary Dos Equis and Sweet-o-Titos. Gourmet sanwiches for sale from Short Bus Subs
RSVP / Info: http://do512.com/event/2009/10/31/dos-equis-and-do512-present-halloween-at-the-graveyard
- Flip Scene’s Halloween Bash 2009 presented by Cherrypeel.com
Wed 10/28 at 8PM
The Mohawk (912 Red River)
Get ready to kick start Halloween weekend with your best costume, and head out to Mohawk for Flip Scene’s Halloween Bash presented by Cherrypeel.com. The lineup includes five time Austin Music Awards winners The Black and White Years, recent ACL Festival performers L.A.X. and The Bright Light Social Hour. The lineup also includes Learning Secrets, Neiliyo, and DJ Markus (w/ a K).
More Info: http://do512.com/event/2009/10/28/flip-scenes-halloween-bash-2009-presented-by-cherrypeel-com
- The Zombie Prom
Saturday 10/31 at 9:30PM
The Highball (1142 S Lamar Blvd)
There are plenty of Zombie Marches, or Michael Jackson Dance Parties, or dozens of other excuses to dress up like a zombie throughout the year. But we’re still going to make you dress as a zombie on Halloween, the one night that you can dress as literally anything you want to, if you want to come to the best Halloween party in town – the Zombie Prom at the Highball.
More info: http://www.thehighball.com/events/zombie-prom/
- White Ghost Shivers Halloween Ball
Saturday 10/31 at 9PM
The Mohawk (912 Red River)
WHITE GHOST SHIVERS HALLOWEEN BALL of… FANTASY~~ Got FANTASY? GET MYSTIC as WGS and The Mohawk host this night of Magical Feats and Mythical Beasts, Mystic Lands and Ethereal Jams! Join the Demons, Hobbits, Goblins, Warriors, Gnomes, Creatures, Witches, Warlocks, Fairies, Sprites, Knights, Maidens and Wizards for an Austin Halloween night tradition. What is your fantasy? Conjure up your imagination and display your true WILL and MIGHT! Get inspired with Heavy Metal, Willow, Legend, Dark Crystal, Wizards, or Labyrinth. Costumes, as always, a must! Enter the gates from the flowing Red River on the wings of a Dragon or galloping steadfast on a shimmering Unicorn. Stare into the Lion’s eyes and witness the Labyrinth of Delights that is The White Ghost Shivers Halloween Ball of… FANTASY~
More info/tix: http://www.transmissionentertainment.com/event/white_ghost_shivers_halloween_party/
Mint & Honey to the Rescue!
By Guest on Oct 23 Filed In Activities, Food & Beverage Add a Comment
Guest blog post by, Lee Bender
Why I Skate:
June of 86, I turned 7 years old and received my first skateboard for my birthday. From that day on, I was hooked. After moving around a bit, I landed with some sort of roots to be planted, in Fort Wayne Indiana. I spent my high school years there, still skateboarding and leaving town every weekend with friends to “skate and destroy” the next towns over the horizon line.
After graduation, I was gone. Philadelphia one weekend, Santa Cruz the next. I started a life on the road, usually finding a place to stay for a month at a time with newly acquainted friends in whatever city, working at the local co-op grocery stores checking groceries. Fast forward a good 8 or 9 years of traveling all four corners of the country and more, skating everything I could, pinching pennies and dining on ramen when I needed. Me and a few close friends were making it happen. Then tragedy struck.
Ch-Ch-Ch-Changes:
On my birth day in 2007, I was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis. My entire vision of what I thought to be important shattered in a matter of 5 seconds as I caught my breath to realize how serious this might be. Some things needed to change and I really needed to step back and see what I had been doing to myself and what I needed to do to change for the better. The old adage “you are what you eat” came to mind and I quickly tried every other “diet” imaginable. Now being as active as I once was, I was by no way over weight. I had just lived out of gas stations for one millions miles and that can’t have been a good thing. At this point in 2007, I had been vegetarian for 12 or 13 years, so the diets I’m talking about were the “gluten free” diet, the “eat right for your blood type” diet and so on. Basically, I was left to eat flavorless cracker/wafer things and I was by no means happy with this. The diets eventually ended while all along, my girlfriend who still stands beside me through this was eagerly trying to get me to quit drinking sodas. I was one of those addicted Americans following blindly that 44 ounces of this stuff was okay as a daily ritual.
Why Sweet Leaf Tea:
Fast forward 18 months from then and I had started to gain a little weight. I’m 6 foot tall and when diagnosed, I weighed 175 pounds and in those 18 months, my metabolism had slowed a bit due to being basically inactive and I had gained nearly 20 pounds. Never in my life had I weighed over 185 pounds so this really shook me. In March of 09 I made the decision to quit all sodas and shortly after, I decided to quit drinking anything that contained high fructose corn syrup. Not being one to brew my own tea or really even a tea drinker, I was left with water and juices that are too costly for me. While I was doing pretty well on these new fluid restrictions, on my birthday, June of 09, while camping in northern Arizona with some friends, a drink was brought up in conversation. I had been telling some friends this or that about my intake and my friend Cindy had a Mint and Honey Sweet Leaf Green Tea. She had me try it and now it’s my new drink! It’s filled with all organic ingredients and real sugar instead of the chemical nightmare the government allows us to consume (high fructose corn syrup). It’s refreshing and readily available at most grocery markets and some corner stores. This is my real life testament to a product I have no ties to what so ever. I emailed sweet leaf to thank them for making a healthy alternative to the other teas and they asked me to write something about my life and choices as to why I drink Sweet Leaf Teas. So again, thank you April and everyone at Sweet Leaf Tea. You’re wonderful!
Note from SLT:
We did offer him a case of his fave, Mint & Honey along with a tea-shirt to do a guest blog for us. I was very interested in his reasoning for becoming a consumer and fan of Sweet Leaf Tea. We here at SLT have a team that rides in the MS 150 annually and are happy to keep riding for folks like Lee. Change can only come about for people living with multiple sclerosis if we keep charging forward. Lee, you are more of an inspiration than you know! Thank you for the post and writing from your heart Lee.-April Riggs
Granny & the pirates!
By Van on Oct 22 Filed In Events, Live Music, Uncategorized 1 Comment
Alright, so this past weekend we got a chance to get out and about to one of the best music festivals on the west coast! Right off from San Francisco, located smack dab in the heart of the bay, the Treasure Island Music Fest was kind enough to grace us with VIP & a truly awesome lineup! We had a chance to see performances by everyone from The Streets, to the Decemberists, Girl Talk, The Flaming Lips, MGMT and so many more talented artists.
PRE-DAY ONE: It’s unbelievable to see the sight I’d witnessed the day before the start of TIMF. As I drove through SF in the morning, I made my way back out to the East Bay to witness something truly epic. The pirates at Treasure Island were seriously up to something. I knew it when I first got onto the bay bridge, and it seemed like the clouds were surrounding Treasure Island. This was unlike any fog I’d ever seen. It really felt as we were driving through the clouds. The event was really set up under the perfect cover.
DAY ONE: As Mike and I made our way onto the island, we noticed traffic was really non-existent. The music didn’t go on until 12, though we made it there shortly after the gates opened around 11am. The VIP lot was empty. There may have been 20 cars in an enormous lot, which made it feel like a vast desert. Trub’s and I even came across a couple wrecked cars and I had to take a photo. 
We did chill out a bit and meet a few friends in the lot before meandering our way over to the gates.
The music started, and we were right on time. As we approached the gates we witnessed the masses pouring off the shuttles onto the island. It actually took no time at all to get through the line and into the fest. Thankful for the Treasure Island Fest iPhone app, I knew exactly who was playing, and when to catch my favorite artists. Truby and I decided to scout out the area and see where all the “cool” went down. We actually made it to a booth that was giving away free American Apparel shirts, and they were screen printing custom t-shirts. Well, the sign said free. You just had to sacrifice about 2 hours of your time to stand in the line.. All in all, being the beginning of the first day, we felt it rather worth it. Besides, how often do you get to design your own shirt?!
While I was stoked to see MGMT, I’d seen them before. Hands down the best act was The Streets. They were phenomenal. If you have heard their albums, you know the originality they bring to their tunes. HIGHLY recommended live act. 
The albums are great, but their connection with the crowd in a live performance is what drew me in and kept me going! Enjoying their performance in ‘da VIP was rather epic.
DAY TWO: Stumbling in after a long night, we decided to spend more of our time exploring the various elements of the festival. Being 2 dudes, we skipped the ferris wheel. There were some really creative carny games and surprisingly enough they were quite fun! I really got into the hat toss, and easily walked outta there feelin’ like a champ.
We spent a while over there and bounced back over to VIP. While $7 for a beer probably wasn’t in our best financial interest, it had to be done. Over the course of the 2 days, Mike and I must have made a few hundred new friends. Always with that question “what do you do?” out there, I heard rants and raves about Sweet Leaf Tea. So many people kept telling me how much more awesome TIMF would be with an awesome Sweet Leaf Tea presence. This is definitely an event to consider in coming years.
Music-wise, Girl Talk and The Flaming Lips KILLED it! They were phenomenal and completely had the whole place bumpin’! Girl Talk totally made it feel like one giant party! As the night came to a close, the sky was lit up with fireworks and confetti. It was such an incredible sight to end the night with the San Francisco skyline..
Be sure to check us out in Golden Gate Park on this Sunday for West Fest! It should be quite a spectacle watching 3,000 guitarists jam to Stairway to Heaven at this FREE festival! Come get your SWEET LEAF TEA fix!!!
MS Bay to Bay Cycle Tour Blog Post
By Vieve on Oct 21 Filed In Activities, Events Add a Comment
On Saturday October 10th, the LA Marketing Team participated in the yearly MS Bay to Bay Cycle Tour. This event was voted “Best Cycling Event” for the past three consecutive years by the readers of Competitor magazine. The Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour (formerly called the MS 150 Bike Tour) is a memorable, cycling experience featuring fully-supported routes along the beautiful Orange and San Diego County coastlines! Now in its 27th year, the Bike MS Bay to Bay Tour is truly Southern California’s Premier Cycling Event and this was our second year participating. This year and last, Sweet Leaf Tea was able to donate product to this great event, much to the joy of the participants and volunteers. We set up a sampling station in the Lifestyle Expo area and also provided Sweet Tea to the VIP Tent/Lounge area and for the after BBQ party! What tastes great with BBQ than Sweet Tea?! We’re on the move here in LA this fall with great community events such as this one and more to follow!!…Stay tuned…..
