Wise Walt

Can't Hold Us - Pentatonix

[Official Video] Can't Hold Us - Pentatonix (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis cover)



ALL WITH THEIR JUST VOICES - THIS IS CRAZY!!

Meet Verve's Designer :)

WAY TO GO KEV!!! WE ARE SO PROUD OF YOU!!!

Meet The Designer Behind Verve Coffee’s NorCal Merch Swag

We make no attempt to hide the fact that we’re Verve merch fanboys. The vintage V grid tees (like a lost design from The Venture Bros.), the everyday swag hats, the skate decks, the bear camping mug…our friends and partners in Santa Cruz certainly have a signature look, a kind of NorCal coffee skate/surf casual, if you will. Turns out that look is managed by a guy with some serious surf pedigree: Verve’s Head of Creative is a young graphic designer named Kevin Tudball, who worked for the legendary O’Neill surf brand before getting into the coffee game. We sat down with him (digitally) to pick his brain on what sounds like a pretty dreamy gig: full-time designer, illustrator, and brand manager for a growing specialty coffee company.

Your title at Verve is Head of Creative – what does your day-to-day look like?

My job at Verve encompasses everything from designing apparel and merchandise to directing the overall brand. One day I’m hand drawing t-shirt and info graphics, the next I’m creating marketing collateral to launch new coffees. I work with my team to ensure that Verve has a unique and cohesive voice on the web and in our stores. My favorite days start with a coffee cupping and collaborating with my team, and end with a lot of drawing.

What’s your background? How’d you get involved with coffee and Verve?

I got my degree in graphic arts from The University of Michigan in 2006. Soon after that I moved to California to work for Frog Design Inc. in San Francisco. Two years later I moved to Southern California to work for O’Neill Clothing. During my time with O’Neill I took a trip to Santa Cruz and tried Verve for the first time. This wasn’t my first specialty coffee experience, but there was something different about Verve. The whole experience was fun and engaging. I was immediately hooked. After I left my job with O’Neill I did some traveling in Australia and grew increasingly excited about coffee culture and decided to move to Santa Cruz to start making coffee. I worked for a Verve wholesale account and a year later I applied at Verve. I showed up prepared to interview for a barista position, but the guys had a different vision for me and offered me a dual role as both barista and designer. Two years later I’m Head of Creative and helping Ryan O’Donovan and Colby Barr build their brand! The whole experience has been awesome.

Where do you draw your inspiration?

Most of my inspiration comes from artists involved in the skate and surf scene. Brands like Volcom, Element and RVCA have always made contemporary artists and illustrators a big part of their brands. There is a big connection between Verve and active lifestyle, so I think it’s only fitting to draw from that aesthetic. People like Emil Kozak, Michael Sieben, and Travis Millard have not only inspired me, but have even given me guidance at times. And being in California, surrounded by amazing cities and nature certainly doesn’t hurt.

Your first Verve product was the pirate shirt – can you tell us the story behind that?

Not only was it my first product, I designed it on my first day! I walked into the office and the guys were working on a new shirt for their store opening. They wanted to send it to print that day, but decided to let me take a stab at it. Since I had to move quick I dove into my sketchbooks and paintings and found one that I had made when I was living in Southern California. I had done a series of sailors and pirates, but this one in particular resembled Santa Cruz surf legend Jack O’Neill. While I never intended it to be him, I knew it would resonate with the community here.

Your camp mug is one of our favorite products this summer – what’s next?

Thanks! Glad you like it. We wanted to make a camp mug for coffee lovers. Most camp mugs are too large to use with an AeroPress, which is one of our favorite portable brewers. So we sized our camp mug to work with the AeroPress perfectly. The California Grizzly represents what summer is all about: getting out and exploring everything around you…wherever you live.

Verve has a lot on the horizon with our new roastery and retail space opening in LA this next year. I’ll be creating plenty of new merchandise with that same California spirit. All I can tell you now is that I have some interesting, fun projects on my desk that you’ll see in that new space.

More of Kevin Tudball’s design work can be found on Instagram and his brand new website.

Almost Here!

GO BLUE!!

Milestone Weekend

This weekend has been one of some rather large landmarks.

Friday was our 5 YEAR wedding anniversary.

I passed the 500 mark on my Instagram photo account.

This morning Ryan and I did our longest training run EVER - 14 MILES.

And shoot, we still have half the weekend left! 

Workout Recap - Week 33

Sunday, August 11th – 3 miles with the hubby, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Monday, August 12th – Elliptical for 60 minutes

Tuesday, August 13th – Strength Training (abs, back, arms and legs), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Wednesday, August 14th – Elliptical for 60 minutes, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Thursday, August 15th –  Stationary bike for 60 minutes (17.77 miles), Foam Rolled & Stretched

Friday, August 16th – Easy pace six miles, Foam Rolled & Stretched

Saturday, August 17th– 14 miles with the hubby, Foam Rolled & Stretched 

Eh.... Not the best week (and maybe it is just because I have this morning's run fresh in my mind), but still got all my workouts in. We actually changed up our 14-miler from tomorrow to today because we have a Breakout Reunion Camp Fire tonight and wanted to be able to stay up late without being worried about having to get up early for our long run. Another week down!

Home Run Half Marathon

This morning I participated in Jost Running's Home Run Half Marathon Virtual Race. Ryan and I had a 14-miler on our training schedule for this weekend, so I thought it would be great to be able to kill two birds with one stone (says the vegetarian).

We had quite a few things working against us this morning. First, the humidity. Second, the heat. Third, we didn't get out on the road until 7am (about an hour after I was hoping for). Even so, we still wanted to get out there and conquer our run.

The first few miles weren't too bad. By about mile 4 or 5 I could tell it was going to be one of "those" runs. I could feel that my breathing was off, that my IT band on my left leg was super tight up by my hip, that my calves were super tight when we hit any incline, and that I was already getting dehydrated.

We had to stop and take a couple water breaks (and towards the end I even needed to take a couple breaks so I could try and stretch out my hip). Ryan really kept me going during this run (even if it was just because he didn't want to stop and have his muscles tighten up). He is going to rock his first half marathon - I am POSITIVE of that!

I have to say, I was pretty ticked off most of the run. I was using this as a gauge as to how the Dumbo Double Dare will go in two weeks (Saturday I run a 10K and then Sunday Ryan and I run a half marathon). Yesterday I did an easy pace 6 miles and this morning we did 14. I don't know if it was the humidity, my legs being tired from my run the previous afternoon, the lack of hydration the day before, or what. I just know I really don't want what happened this morning to happen for our half in two weeks.

I HATE HAVING BAD RUNS! I know, I know, they make the good ones feel so much better. I know they will happen - I just wish they didn't have to. It really puts me in a funk for most of the day afterwards.

We forced the smiles, you can't even tell it was a crazy 14-milers,  can you?! 

Anyway, we were able to finish the half marathon distance in 2:25:58 and our 14-miler in 2:35:50. Seems like we were able to keep a pretty steady pace of 11-minute miles (but keep in mind our water breaks weren't timed, so I don't know how much walking through water stations at our race in two weeks will effect our time).

Even though the run sucked, I am glad I stuck it out. I don't think there was ever a time during the run that I wanted to throw in the towel, especially since I was running with Ryan (and obviously my pride was getting in the way and didn't want him to see my give up).

Oh well, tomorrow is another day, and hopefully I will only have good runs from here forward :) [we can all dream, can't we].