The New Year gets off to a gallop! (Don’t you sometimes feel like you need a holiday from your holiday? After re-entry in to home, life, school and work? I know I do!  As a mother of two vivacious, bright and beautiful girls, ages 8 and 13, our holidays were filled to the brim with the Hanukkah celebrations here in Malibu with my close family, the trips to the bucolic vineyards of Napa to enjoy Christmas with my husband’s loving family, and then home again, this time driving our new biodiesel-fueled Grand Cherokee that we had to jump up to Oregon to purchase, thanks to California’s antiquated CARB laws. And then snow called from Mammoth…big storms and the promise of powder- so we were there right after New Years to part of the blissful mountain powder waltz!

All that is just a fond memory, as the thank-you notes help us keep fresh. Now, it’s back to the schedules of a teenager at Malibu High, and her younger sister at Pt. Dume- and my husbands overflowing cup of work in the film production world, and my own…starting a new business: SurfMonk…and trying to faze out of the last one I have run for 20 years (ish )Food Inc.

Why did I imagine changing gears in mid life? Well, my earlier incarnation as a event coordinator and caterer just needed to evolve- FOOD INC EVENTS, has been and still exists to this days- we have produced events for the most demanding creative companies like Cirque Du Soliel and Nickelodeon, and most recently, Obama ‘08 Campaign , to name a few…but the pressures of the service industry, along with the fact that you exist just waiting for someone to call telling you that they need you for an event- and then you jump into action….I just  wanted to change my business model.

I have always wanted to learn about production, mass production. And one night, over dinner, my brother Matt, (who is my partner in SurfMonk) and I started reminiscing about our youth, growing up in Malibu, on what was then the raucous Topanga Beach, and we fondly remembered a robe that we all called the ‘Bunny Robe’, made for all the hot surfer locals by a fabulous bohemian goddess…named Bunny- out of terry cloth, and roomy enough to change in and our of you wetsuit or bathing suit under for before or after surfing. That was last year.

Cut to: SurfMonk is shipping worldwide- tomorrow, we ship out our third re-order to Princess Reema Baandar’s 13 day spas in Riaad, Saudi Arabia, another reorder to the Post Ranch in Big Sur, and of course, our favorite Malibu ‘go-to’ shop, Planet Blue. Next month, we ship to St. Tropez, 10 stores in  Japan, and getting ready to go regional with Whole Foods/ Whole Life Stores. Of course, we’re in high end surf stores like Clout and ZJ Boarding House too…but the cross-over appeal of a robe that you don’t need to tie and that feel like cashmere wash after wash…it’s catching on!

What is SurfMonk? We’re an eco-fiber pull over robe- for lounge, spa, and home. We do full and short length robes and accessories out of luscious Turkish woven bamboo/cotton terry velour blend. Bamboo is a sustainable resource, naturally anti-fungal and antibacterial, also known as ‘nature’s air conditioned’ fabric for it’s breathability. We make them sweatshop free here in Los Angeles, where they are also organically dyed.  

In addition to our adult full length robes- we do robes for baby and kids- babies for 1 and a half- kids small fits three year olds and last to six-, then kids large goes from six to nine. (In most cases!) Kids go crazy for the robes…they just live in them- ask my sister Vanessa Alexander, whose most delicious son Leo just loves it.

How much free time do I have to live the Surf Monk philosophy that you’ll find on our website? Not as much as I’d like, to be quite honest. But this morning, I did take time out to enjoy a paddle to the point, caught a few inside waves at Mystos, and on the way home, had two dolphins come within feet of the tip of my board, followed by two low flying pelicans, who seemed to look me in the eye, and reminded me of a favorite poem I’ve remembers since my teen years: