Growing up in Colorado, Boulder’s Mall Crawl was always the craziest bash of the year. Thousands of revelers would descend on the Pearl Street walking mall in the most whacked out costumes and mental states imaginable. The event morphed into more of an annual riot than a party and the cops put the brakes on, shutting all the roads into town and descending on the mall like Tiananmen Square. Fast forward to 2009 and the planets seemed to align as a Saturday Halloween, nearly full moon and new batch of college kids had cops and the media in a frenzy about the return of the Mall Crawl.

While the fears proved unfounded and every one remained relatively tame, the streets were once again packed with throngs of great costumes and thought I’d share a few gems.

Tired of getting hated on for strapping in to your board at your local nordic hill? Finally a group of flat grand warriors has banded together to take up the flag for the much aligned sport of cross country snowboarding:

It probably doesn’t have as good of a chance making it in to Sochi as Stand Up Paddleboarding, but it’s solid training:

As deadlines align our calendars with little activity other than carpal tunnel taxing typing, the bountiful supply of energy drinks in the office are a god send for keeping the fingers flying. But not necessarily for the kidney and the sanity as you struggle for sleep after 15 super juices.

So while there’s a time and place for hyper filled caffeine jump starts, it was with great interest that I cracked a new beverage that came across my desk. Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda is a fresh on the scene soft drink company out of Denver that uses natural flavoring, packs a peaced out name, and comes with the added kick of kava, the South Pacific plant/beverage used in ceremonies to calm stress, anxiety, and insomnia, and is a large part of the island culture. And after getting down with Mary Jane I may have to make it a large part of mine. While not as soothing as a trip to the South Pacific, Mary Jane definitely lives up to the “relaxing” in her name.

While it’s still hard to find, Mary Jane’s is making in roads in California in 7-Eleven stores and Colorado, Oregon, and Kansas and can also be purchased online at www.relaxingsoda.com.

“In today’s environment, stress is a constant,” said Creator/CEO Matt Moody. “We created Mary Jane’s Relaxing Soda as an alternative to alcohol for people who want a healthy, natural and legal way to relax and unwind. The degree of relaxation is surprising, and we’re proud to be the first to deliver a Kava-based soda that masks the typically bad flavor of Kava naturally.”

Not that we’re opposed to alcohol, but MJ is definitely worth a try

Spy Optics and TransWorld held a celebratory barbecue on Wednesday, August 5, for the seven winners of Spy’s Bootcamp contest. Bootcampers were selected from the brand’s retailers across the U.S. and Ca

nada, as well as one consumer entry winner, and were put to the test all week long with surfing, moto riding and wakeboarding lessons. On the last day, Spy brought their crew up to TransWorld’s headquarters in Carlsbad, California, and held an award ceremony to congratulate them on a job well done. Check out photos from the week-long event at Transworldbusiness.com.

Here are some photos from the barbecue:

TransWorld's Lauren Machen and Nick Hamilton.

The Spy Van

Spy's Ashmore B with Australian team rider Wade Goodall

The lovely ladies of TW: Melissa O'Brien and Holli Koriath

Ball Park Franks provided the food. Thanks guys!

Endeavor Snowboards Managing Director Max Jenke is on an Asian safari visiting factories and taking in all that’s new on the production front for their upcoming line. Look for interviews and profiles of the factories Jenke visits to follow on transworldbusiness.com and follow all his adventures on Endeavor’s blog.

Aaron Levant from Agenda kind of showed me up on this one. Not only did he get invited to the super exclusive party at 225 Forest last Thursday night (I came in on the more serious and sober tour Friday morning at 9:00 am), but he also posted his coverage before me. Anyway, it’s still definitely worthwhile to add a few more photos from the new Hurley/Nike 6.0/Converse retail space in Laguna Beach.

The Hurley heavies: President Bob Hurley, VP of Branding/Marketing Adrian Nyman , and CEO Roger Wyett. It's hard not to look happy when you're posing in front of that two-story Dalek piece that centers the store.

If you’ve got four minutes, check out the time lapse video of Dalek’s piece being created.

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