Oceans 4Ever

OK, so we’re a little squirrelly and excited today. Can you blame us?

Happy World Oceans Day!

We’re busy baking chocolate cakes with BLUE frosting, wearing blue and calling/emailing/tweeting friends around the world who love the ocean as much as we do – or soon will.

In our first of two WOD posts today, we’d like to announce a very special project cooked up by Little A, herself, along with a wonderful new ocean friend named Melissa.

We’d like to announce the Borsa Bella Oceans 4Ever Wristlet Collection, for Gulf Birds.

This project was tossed around last winter, when the ladies of O4E went on a bit of a buying spree in order to attain the absolute best and most attractive gadget bags for our shiny new Christmas electronics.

We came across Borsa Bella Designs, and after we had Melissa custom-make a few pieces for us, a light bulb went on and we asked her if she’d like to help us raise some money for oceans’ futures. She liked the idea.

But then the bulb dimmed again as we all got busy in the new year.

And then April 20th arrived.

As the impending doom was foretold and then started to unfold in front of the world, we squirmed, cried and paced, like all ocean lovers. Alexa was upset like a child and like a conservationist at the same time; it was tough for a mom to find the right words with which to frame this experience for her.

Then we got back in touch with Melissa. She felt just like we did, so we got to work.

Long story short - hundreds of fabric swatches later, after much back-and-forth about which bag style, what lining, what color, and tons of Alexa’s-fave-fabric-is-discontinued-oh-nos, what was originally one bag is now three, and you ladies (sorry guys, we make NO apologies!) now have that most-important ingredient of every facet of your feminine lives: a choice.

Proceeds from the sales of these bags will go directly to the International Bird Rescue Research Center for the ongoing and future efforts by this organization to support sea birds in the Gulf and around the world, as well as other wildlife that is affected by spills and other environmental concerns.

Gulf birds are obviously devastated and face catastrophic threats to their habitat and their ability to survive into future generations. BP is financially responsible for funding ALL of IBRRC’s current bird rescue, rehabilitation and clean-up efforts from this oil spill. But when clean-up done, the much-in-need birds are the ones who will be left holding the bag.

We hope you’ll hold one, too.

Watch for our dedicated page for this project; more details shortly on the bags, the birds, our wonderful partner, and the IBRRC’s efforts.

In the meantime, subscribe to the IBRRC blog and stay up-to-the-minute on their bird rescue and rehab efforts in the Gulf. While you’re at it, wish executive director Jay Holcomb a congrats for his 2010 Ocean Heroes Award, just announced today by Oceana. 

Now, let us know what YOU”RE doing to celebrate World Oceans Day!

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Happy World Oceans Day!

Are you wearing blue today? We are! We’ve been saving something to share with everyone today, on World Oceans Day, that we think embodies the spirit of a true ocean lover.

Recently, Alexa received a package in the mail which contained something magnificent and vivid yet very fragile (just like the oceans). Also in this package, which came from our dear Christie, of the Nerdy persuasion, was a letter.

This letter could also be exhibit A in a Child Encouragement 101 class if one existed. Thank you, Christie, for caring about oceans, about others who do, too, and for taking the time to encourage a young person.

Everyone – O4E hopes you take the time to share your passion for the ocean with a young person today. Trust us, you could make a huge impact – on the child, and hopefully ultimately the future of the Big Blue.

Dear Alexa,

I hope you like this gift I made for you. I thought that with your love of the sea, you might want a piece of it that you can take with you. I walked up and down the beaches of Florida to find these treasures!

The two teeth are fossils that are over 10 million years old! Way back then, bony fish like the ones that we have today hadn’t evolved yet. All of the fish were sharks!

And, as I’m sure you can imagine, all those sharks had a lot of teeth. When they fell out, they sank, and the minerals from the sand they landed in slowly replaced the cartilage, turning the teeth into rocks.

In the center of the necklace is the skeleton of a sand dollar. They’re flat creatures related to sea stars and sea urchins which like to burrow in the sane off our beaches. It’s very fragile, so be careful with it!

When I saw it, I was reminded of an old story. Once upon a time, there was a big hurricane that hit Florida. The next day, thousands of sand dollars were all over the beach. They weren’t dead yet, but they would be soon.

People stopped and stared, but one little girl ran onto the beach and started throwing them one by one back into the water. She was doing this for a while when someone finally asked her what she was doing.

“They can’t live on the beach,” she said. Didn’t she realize, they asked, that she could never save all of them? That she would save so few, it would almost make no difference?

“It made a difference to that one,” she replied, throwing another into the sea.

You, my dear, have her spirit. Don’t ever let anyone discourage you – you are going to make a big difference in this world.

Sincerely,

Nerdy Christie

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