It was a brisk morning in Southern California. The sun had just begun to peer over the waves as it splashed its colorful display across the sky and water. It was her first day of Dawn Patrol since her last visit to the Pacific. 

With a surfboard in hand, she braved the cold morning with the crucial help of a morning cup of coffee. As she enjoyed the simple aroma of her morning beverage, she set up her spot on the beach and painstakingly put on her wetsuit. 

After a few sips, she was emboldened to brave the morning waters. She walked the fifteen feet towards the water to see what the Pacific had in store for her but, as she neared the water she had no idea of the mistake she had made...Until she turned back towards her newly established post, only to be met with dark black eyes peering at her from a phantasmal white face. 

The bird had descended swiftly, towards her drink. She breaks into a run, attempting to match the speed of this newly-discovered enemy. It was too late. In a blur of feathers, it kicked the cup over, spilling its contents onto the sandy floor then dunking its orange beak into the remaining coffee. 

The bird's cruelty was made fully apparent as it let out its haunting call, resembling laughter. This defeat was a hard one to take, but the day was not a total loss. As she paddled out into the morning waves she joined the chorus of laughter of her new formidable adversaries. 

...as they finish up their inventory count and get caught up on orders from vacation. So I'll pretend to be Matt with a sports-inspired meme from the best coach in college basketball to get us all through the day.

Happy New Year, Crusaders!

So, here goes my final blog post for this cycle...As many of you know, my wife Jen is a new flight attendant. The upside is we can fly for free, but one of the downsides is that when we do, we're always on standby and never 100% sure if we will get on the flight. This means that you never check your luggage because if you don't make the flight your luggage will get there and have a great vacation somewhere without you.

In the past, we have definitely been one of those families lugging what seems to be half their home with them through the airports. Before every trip I had to constantly go through everyone's bags questioning everything in a futile attempt to lessen the load and inevitably, when we got to wherever we were going we didn't end up using most of it. So, now the new skill has been how to fit everything you may need into your carry on. This entails a lot more upfront work and decisions, as everything you bring has to serve multiple purposes and coordinate.

Jen was flying for New Years this year, so at the last minute I decided to hop on the plane and fly with her down to Santa Barbara so we could be together as 2017 rang in. We were sitting in the San Francisco airport waiting for her first flight when this family of four trudged past us dragging what easily looked like every piece of clothing they owned and looking miserable. I watched her as she observed this and then she looked down at our two little bags and smiled. She looked up and saw me grinning at her and she had to say those three little words she hates the most, "you were right!".

You're probably thinking now, neat Marc but what in the heck does this have to do with belts or life?! The answer is of course, Carry Less and Adventure More! When we focus less on having too many things to go out and experience something, it's inevitable that we're able to enjoy the experience more. It's so easy to fill our lives with clutter, both physical and mental. Carefully choose quality and versatile items and you'll need less of them and you'll have them longer and appreciate them more. I mean, what if your belt had a knife, could start a fire, open your beverage, light your way in the dark and maybe even call for help if you got lost...how awesome would that be?

So, instead of an Amazon review I'm going to tell you something cool I heard over the break from a customer. Just before leaving, we had a mystery return show up. It was a Mission Belt, but the RMA label was for us. I called the number on the label and left a message for the client. She called me back last week and cleared up the mystery. Apparently she ordered one of ours and a Mission Belt from the Grommet for her husband. He has diabetes and muscular atrophy, resulting in limited mobility in his hands, making it difficult to work traditional belts. She told me the Mission Belt was a disaster, he literally got stuck in it and couldn't get it off with its difficult mechanism. On the flip side, he absolutely loves ours and hasn't stopped wearing it! She was trying to return the Mission Belt and accidentally used our return label. Never forget how incredible our product is and what a difference it can make for people, especially in situations like this.

Cheers to a phenomenal 2017!!!!!!!