Saved by the Bell (Lake Minnetonka Edition)

So sitting here on this gloomy afternoon, I started to think what if Saved by the Bell took place here in Minnesota and in fact was based around kids growing up near Lake Minnetonka.

So I started to think, what, if anything, would be changed from the original teen sitcom. Reminder to all those who don't watch the show religiously - The TV series followed the exploits of several students along with their principal at fictional Bayside High School near Los Angeles California.

Below I took a shot at rewriting each characters short bio if they had in fact been at Lake Minnetonka High we'll call it.


Zach Morris
Zach is often called "Z Mor" from his friend A.C. Slater. Even though Zach's family is wealthy, his family does not live right on the lake. Zach's father holds down a steady job as CEO of Best Buy Corporation. Zach is your classic ladies man on the lake, he doesn't like to do anything active on the water (wakeboard, wakesurf, fish) because it takes him away from the girl of his dreams Kelly Kapowski.

Kelly Kapowski
Kelly is your standard Midwest gal, works hard in and out of the classroom. She is captain of the dance team and holds down a steady job at the local speak easy - Maynard's. She has been known to flirt with both Zach and A.C. but in the end chooses Zach because of his lack of water sports giving him the ability to spend 100% of his time with her.

Lisa Turtle
Lisa is the trend setter of the group. Was the first to listen to Avicii before anyone else had heard of him and knows that people follow her lead in trends. Her family is large and owns the local Malibu dealership - Minnesota Inboard. With the endless supply of wake boats, she tends to have more friends than she can keep track of. But she always welcomes her friends on the boat, even if Screech is bugging her.

Screech Powers
Samuel "Screech" Powers is the nerd of the group. Always like taking pictures and videos to put up on his blog called Livin' the Lake Life. He films all of his friends fishing, wakeboard or Lisa just laying out in the sun. He loves being by the water but hates getting in (he can't swim) which has caused him to choose his college carefully. He ends up going to University of North Dakota because what he calls "a lack of flood threat". He continues his creepy ways by trying to get a job at Minnesota Inboard for the summer with Lisa, he is unfortunately not hired.

A.C. Slater
Slater is the water guy of the group, on the swim team at school and runs a wakeboard camp during the summers. Originally from Orlando, FL his family moved up to Minnesota when his father got a job with Lifetime Fitness. A.C. tries to be the ladies man that his buddy Zach is, but just cannot compete. He settles for Jessie Spano because of her athletic background and willingness to be the all time spotter for his wakeboard camp.

Jessie Spano
Jessie is the know it all of the group. She tries to always do the right thing, but sometimes gets caught in the wrong place at the wrong time. On her way to visit Kelly at Maynard's, she stops by Big Island on her jetski and is talked into getting onto Lisa's boat with Zach and A.C. - she drinks alcohol for the first time and goes wild doing jello shots. She wakes up the next day on the boat with A.C. cuddling her. She then realizes that she loves A.C. even though he is on the swim team.

Now that you have all the background of the characters of Saved by the Bell - Lake Minnetonka High, hopefully we'll see this show back on the air with the new twist.

Think this whole thing is a joke? It is, but quite entertaining to read on a Monday afternoon.

Until next time - peace, love, and lake,

Arnie

The Variety of Beauties on Your Boat

The time is almost here, the weather is warm and now we are just waiting on the temp of the water to get a little warmer so we can jump in, wakeboard, waterski, tube or whatever. I can't tell you how excited I am to get out on the pontoon with a cold beer and sit and float for hours on end. Us at Lake Life have all our new products ready for the year and can't wait to see crews of people rocking them on their boats.

Which got me thinking about the standard boating crew, usually when you’re out on the boat there are 5 different types of boaters as I see it.

1)Captain Guy

Captain Guy is the dude that usually owns the cabin and the boat, so he drives it, tries to act responsible and usually overreacts when someone touches the hotdogs on the grill when he is cooking them.

2) Go Hard Gerard Guy

This is the guy that is wicked active and wants to do everything on the water. The crazy guy that wants to water ski with a ski on one foot and a wakeboard on the other. And get on the diving dock and play "King of the Hill" while others just want to sit and fall asleep.

3) Lazy Guy

The sit around, BS and jump in the lake every 20 minutes Guy. This is the category I fall into for sure. Every once in a while I will get ambitious and toss on the wakeboard but it usually ends in me taking a huge digger phelps and then I usually retire for about a month until I can mentally recuperate.

4)Indoorsman Guy

This is the guy that usually is a big gamer, avid television show watcher back home and just likes coming up to the cabin to chill with his buddies. They typically are terrified of getting sun burnt so they are constantly applying the 100 sun block that looks like toothpaste when they put it on. I have one friend, who will remain nameless that was putting sunscreen on while it was raining...Safe to classify him as "Indoorsman Guy."

5) Complainer Guy

This guy rarely get the invite but when does, the ski boots are too tight, it’s too hot, it’s too windy, I’m hungry, my beer is warm. This is everyone’s least favorite guy and "Captain Guy" usually regrets inviting him on the car ride up to the cabin.

So as we head into lake/cabin season, hopefully your crew has a good mix of boating styles in there and try and figure out which one you are.

Love,

Kurtzy Beauty

Can You Believe This Weather?

Wow! This weather has been absolutely ridiculous, we've been setting records all over the country in the past week or so. This last weekend, (St. Patty's Day was awesome), felt a lot more like a summer day than a mid March chilly day.

So this week, I just wanted to make something clear very clear...

It is time to start celebrating Lake Life! So open up those cabins and get the boat out of storage because we might just see a record year with getting in the water! But please make sure you check the water before you jump in because it sure will be cold for a while.

Sorry to keep it short this week but are wicked busy over here getting ready for April 1st. Got a whole slate of new shirts for you guys (and gals) this year and we could not be more excited.

Til next time - peace, love and lake,

Arnie

Oh What a Weird Winter We’ve Had...

Just so we are being honest, as I sit and write this, I am outside in shorts and flip flops on March 11, 2012 – this is far from normal but what has been normal with the weather for the last six months? Just to recap the events of this winter:

1) There was no epic snow fall this year – not one. The Metrodome stayed in tact but that did not help the Vikings out at all

2) We had a brown Christmas, I for one am not too fond of brown Christmas and this year just didn’t feel like Christmas without the clean white snow on the ground

3) No snow emergencies in most of the Twin Cities – in 2011 both Minneapolis and St. Paul set records for most amount of snow emergencies and this were was the exact opposite of that

With that being said, I am in no way complaining about this year’s winter. But being in Minnesota and the Midwest for that matter we really appreciate all 4 seasons because of that dreadful winter that we have every year. But this could be a different year.

Enough about the winter – let’s talk Spring and Summer. As we could have 70’s this week, we might see the boats go in the water as early as they ever have. Which means more time on the water, which we can all appreciate. But the Spring, which is a great season is really frustrating to me, it is a time, like the fall where it is too cold to be on the boat, but not cold enough to snowboard or play pond hockey.

But this year I am going to take a different approach, I am really going to appreciate the Spring for all it has to offer. From washing the car outside, to getting off the treadmill and out of the gym, and finally seeing girls around town in more than sweats and UGG’s (not that I don’t like that look, just saying it’s nice). Summer will undoubtedly come, and we will have one hell of a summer, but this year I ask everyone to join me in appreciating Spring. Don’t just go through the motions until summer, because you’ll miss plenty of enjoyable things. So please – enjoy the Spring!

On another note – as many of you know we will again introduce our monthly exclusives starting April 1^st and will continue that tradition until October of this year when we’ll feature our Winter lineup. And I must say, we have not been more excited for a year then we are for 2012. We will have many improvements to our designs, our shirts and our website. You’ll be seeing these changes roll out in the next few weeks as we get closer to April.

But until then, enjoy the beautiful weather that we are seeing and get that boat ready to drop in the water!

Until next time – peace, love and lake.

Arnie

Mustache Respect

Being a guy during November is amazing - turkey, football and mustaches.

As Movember comes to an end we say good bye to the mustaches on all the men around the country and the world. Movember is a great time to be a man, when you have an excuse to grow that upper lip hair and let it flourish.

As we bid farewell to the mustache magic we look back on something that is understated - mustache respect. I am not taking about someone skipping a chirp to let that gross mustache slid, I'm taking about a level of respect that has not been seen since the peak of mustache. During the month of having a mustache, I have experienced many times of mustache respect - but here are my top 3.

1. In the elevator a guy like me usually gets the cold shoulder, the bump into or the look down. But during a mustache period I receive smiles, laughter and a good hearted "opps, sorry bout bumping into you"

2. When I pass by another beauty with a mustache I usually am the one to judge but when I am rocking the upper lip instead I receive a good shooter gun point (not the one from movies, more like a hey man sweet 'stache'

3. A simple smile from a nice old lady and church - I remind her of her son (from 1974).

It is sad to say, that I will not be extending my upper lip decoration into December. With respect for my family and my girlfriend I will be saying good bye to the mustache.

Don't forget if you've got your mustache still rockin' email a photo to Movember@lake-life.com for a chance to win a Lake Life goodie bag.

Until next time.

Peace, love and lake,

Arnie

Top 5's with 'superfan' Andrew David Pierce

We haven't had many blogs lately, mostly because we were busy taking the docks out of the water... which is sad. But we finally have delivered on a promise from this summer, so without further adieu, please help me in welcoming Andrew Pierce to deliver his Top 5's.

Top 5 lakes you love to visit
1. Bass Lake – home to the Pierce Family Cabin (Merrifield, MN)
2. Gull Lake – home to Dutch Cragun
3. Lake Superior – home to the Edmund Fitzgerald
4. Lake Michigan – 2nd greatest lake
5. Crooked Lake – high school hangout

Top 5 reasons you don’t live in Coon Rapids
1. cost of living is too high – it’s like a mini Maple Grove
2. ashamed to show my face now that my middle school flexed arm hang record has been broken
3. my better half does not want to take a park & ride to work
4. Grand Slam Sports closed, need to reside closer to laser tag options
5. my parents claim I’d “cramp their style” if I lived less than 25 minutes away

Top 5 ways you spend $5
1. McDonald’s dollar menu-naire
2. convenience store sunglasses
3. 1 hour of parking downtown
4. redbox movie, box of reese’s pieces and a whatchamacallit bar
5. tin of grizzle biscuits

Top 5 Christmas gifts you’ve received
1. my first suit
2. Nestle Turtles candies
3. ‘Blood, Sweat and Beers’ DVD
4. iPod nano with name engraved
5. U of M tailgating chairs

Top 5 songs on your iPhone right now
1. The Head and the Heart – Lost In My Mind
2. Trout Steak Revival – Ground Beneath You
3. Cults – Go Outside
4. M83 – Midnight City
5. Fleet Foxes - Mykonos

Top 5 reasons you love summer
1. deep v-necks
2. cargo shorts
3. sunglasses with croakies
4. Keens
5. wearing pro-fit baseball hats backwards

Top 5 things you’ll be doing this ‘off-season’
1. repainting basement
2. winter lake life at the Pierce cabin
3. baking all kinds of bread
4. organizing the 1/2 level upstairs
5. wearing under armor/performance fleece around the house

Top 5 quotes
1. “Knowledge is power - it grows just like a flower.” – David Liebe Hart
2. “He who dies with the most toys, still dies.” – a No Fear t-shirt I had in 7th grade
3. “Round up the usual suspects.” – The Usual Suspects
4. “You know what they say about assuming…you shouldn’t do it.” – Andrew David Pierce
5. “Don’t mess with the best, don’t fool with the cool, ‘cause the cool don’t fool with you.” – Gandhi

Top 5 sports rivalries
1. Vikings-Packers
2. Gophers-Sioux (Hockey)
3. Gophers-Badgers (Football)
4. Twins-Brewers
5. Duke-North Carolina

Top 5 reasons you love Lake Life
1. the lids
2. the classic long sleeves
3. the entrepreneurship
4. the custom desktop backgrounds
5. the lifestyle

We thank Andrew for all his contributions and knowledge he has bestowed upon us. Even though he doesn't have an entrepreneurial bone in his body, he does wear t-shirts from time to time - which makes him a great resource.

Until next time - which will hopefully be sooner rather than later.

Peace, love and lake,

Arnie

Is it really mid August?

Looking back, I've realized that there hasn't been a blog post since before the July 4th weekend. A lot has occurred since that first day in July, and it is far to much to discuss in just one sitting. So we move on.

It's a common thread, but summer in the Midwest goes by way too fast. It's already mid August and before we know it snow will be falling from the sky (a tear just rolled down my face). As the summer moves on, I have said it before but this is a good opportunity to just let summer slow down. Enjoy everything you can outside in this beautiful weather; go to the lake, sit on the patio for happy hour, just anything to be outside.

While this summer has seen it's ups and it's downs, it really has been an amazing summer overall. We've gotten some shitty weather here and there but it seems that most weekends the stars aligned and we got a lot of sun, calm lakes and hot temperatures. So being August 14th and halfway through the 'last' month of summer, one can only hope for an Indian Summer. Now if you've heard the Brooks and Dunn song, you'll want to take a listen but for those who have no idea what I'm talking about read this:

An Indian summer is a meteorological phenomenon that occurs in the fall. It refers to a period of considerably above normal temperatures, accompanied by dry and hazy conditions, after there has been a killing frost.

If that doesn't sound like the best September, I do not know what will. So as I sit here at the lake with the bugs taking over, I will listen and hope that we too can join Brooks and Dunn to enjoy an Indian Summer.



Take care of yourself, until next time.

Arnie