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The Penguin or the Egg?

Honestly, at times I just cry after attempting and failing to do the business online must do’s. The very things that every video seems to make look so easy, but for reasons unknown do not happen as easy for me. I feel like I’ve had to trouble shoot every single thing. At times I let the frustration get the best of me as I wonder, “What was I thinking? I’m not cut out for all this. I’m not equipped to handle all this….” etc. Worse thoughts, fears, and worries that don’t serve me beyond practicing how to console myself.

Like a penguin, at some point, often times faster than I think, I do get up, and I waddle on. I think about penguin parents and their feet not equipped to walk and hold an egg. I think about the pressure and anxiety over knowing that just a few seconds on the ice could mean death. How do they keep standing, balanced, and huddled while starving?

I know that sometimes it takes everything to make something beautiful, like a beautiful penguin chick…. Ohhh kay, so I’m being overly dramatic. This shop is not a living baby. But through it I hope I am making something beautiful. I hope to give, not just take from this world. So far it’s been frustrating, anxiety creating, and debt drowning, but it’s also not without some rewards.

I created a Surrounded By Penguins Instagram account when I decided to embark on this venture. I met some really awesome people, some I’ve chatted on Instagram. Some time ago, Diana, the creator of the Pico_Space_Adventures Instagram and I started messaging, shortly after we begun messaging she wrote that she would support my business once I got it all going. I actually didn’t think she meant by buying something from the website as soon as possible. But incredibly, that is what she did. So far her purchase has been my only sale. I am delayed with posting about it. Ecuador was approaching at the time and I had to pull product off the site due to a bank change that would happen while I was in the Galapagos. But believe me, I treasure that she bought this tank. Especially since she purchased it before the shop was on any social media, so it wasn’t just a simple click to the shop. She had to have a lot of intention and commitment to buy.

Because she did, we learned that emails were not being sent upon ordering. I hope that is all fixed now. Fingers crossed. It better be as now we are finally integrated with Facebook and Instagram! I think I finally managed to upload and connect products from this website to the SBP Instagram and Facebook. Well pending approval of the “It’s okay to be a Little Blue” collection.

Completing this task pushed my emotions, but we managed, thank goodness. Now, back to reviewing pictures and designing! Can you believe I need to work on Holiday designs already? Since it takes so long to get the products and it takes me a while to design products, I need to start right away. Wish me luck!

Fiordland Penguin Couple beach waddling Tank Top

Little Blue is here to remind you…

I couldn’t help it! I know I just posted about the 2 new Fiordland Penguin products but I’m on a role. It’s 3:33 in the morning, I’m hungry, my eyes are heavy and I have a long early day today but I’m thinking of my best friend. It’s too late to return call back so I’m making this long awaited product instead. All I gotta say is break ups are hard and I feel ya my friend… I really really do…

We all feel a little blue sometimes and as crappy as that might feel, it’s okay to feel a little blue. I think it’s also good to remind people of that too, after all we’re all in the same colony together. I feel bad not calling my best friend back but I’m hopeful that the Little Blue line I’m working on helps people connect to each other however we all feel. Surrounded By Penguins feels it’s important to be reminded that however anyone feels, it’s okay. It’s important to connect, feel comfy, and just breath. That’s why we thought the best product to start with for this line would be a hoodie. The ultimate in long sleeve keep safe and warm everyday snuggly comfort. Just image that you’re under a penguins brood pouch and no matter the weather, you will be safe and warm.

Little Blue Penguin Reminder Hoodie

New Adventures, New Products. But First!

We just got back from Ecuador and it was amazing! We’re super excited to review and create new products from so many of the birbs we got to photograph, but first I needed to do some justice with the designs I’ve created from adventures we had before we created Surrounded By Penguins.

We wanted to make products that were affordable for as many people as possible. We want everyone to feel as if they are helping the birbs. So we made a postcard featuring once again our favorite Fiordland Crested Penguin couple! Problem is, shipping cost more than the post card itself! So it is more practical to add postcards (and stickers) as a bonus addition to your order. If you only want to purchase postcards I suggest buying a few. For every postcard added to orders, it brings totals up to only 5 cents per a postcard to ship (to the US). This makes getting a postcard more worth your while. When I order these, I’m going to buy several and send some out to a few lucky friends. When’s the last time you received a postcard?

Fiordland Penguin Couple Postcard – Care To Waddle with Me?

Next up is our notebook! I’ve been needing a sketchbook journal! I love to practice my penguin cartoon art drawing during lunch but my current journal has been full for so long that I’ve been needing a new one. I think the couple on the cover of this notebook, along with a penguin asking me what’s on my mind can get me to write and draw without inhibition. The dotted pages will be new to me, but I’ve been wanting an excuse to try dotted pages to see if they work better for me. I don’t like lines getting in the way of drawings but I did want somewhat of a guide to help with drawing alignment and keeping sentences in appropriate rows.

Waddle’s on your mind, love? Penguin Couple spiral Notebook

Keep checking back for more of your soon to be favorite products!

A Day in Perris… Meeting the Sand Penguin Family

Have you ever heard of sand penguins? Not African penguins or other penguin species that you can find waddling on beaches and other sandy areas, but actual magical sand penguins. These penguins are so rare that only a few picture of them have been seen on the internet. From the first time we found out about them, we became obsessed with a need to meet them.

Well we were in luck! Our recent visit to Perris Lake lead us to a wonderful beach spot where Sand Penguins magically appeared! Once we heard of the special appearance the race was on to meet them before they disappeared into their mysterious hidden nesting grounds in the sea.

No time to pack neatly! Come on everyone lets go! The trek was harder than we thought it would be… Having no time to figure out how to best roll the wagon, we dragged across the beach until we saw some Seagulls.
Excuse me, Seagulls. Can you tell us where we might find the sand penguins? Squawk! Set up here, yeah set up here, they’ll come to you! Squawk! Yeah! They will come to you.
Zippy: What do you think, Sippy? Should we set up here?
Sippy: I am not so sure, Zippy. There’s something about those Seagulls that I can’t quite put my beak on. But I suppose this is just as good as any other place here, so lets set up.
Once set up, everyone agreed that the location was beautiful. Beautiful but no sand penguins in sight.
*Just then… A flock of Seagulls came into view* Huh. What’s this? What are these Seagulls up to?
Whoa! What a flurry! I can barely tell what is going on!
As the Seagulls passed, only one remained… “Squawk! Hello there penguins and friends! March along there towards the water where all the other Seagulls fluttered. There among the sand and sea, you will find what you seek.” And so a small party of brave penguins set out to the shoreline. They said bye to Seagull as they made a u turn over the sand penguins and back towards the other seagulls. Bye Seagull!
With not more than a wiggle and a waddle. They saw that a few of the sand friends and small penguins were already at the shore line. Huh, how did that happen? And wait… Is that what we think it is?
It is! And a baby sand penguin at that! And look there are others! And the small penguins are even guarding.
Sippy: “Hello family! And hello new to us sand family!”
Look at all them!
With the magical sand penguins arriving and the visiting penguins making their way, the seagull took their leave. “Thank you, Seagull! I hope we see you again soon!” said the visiting penguins. “No problem. I am sure we will meet again. Take care!” the Seagull responded
Wow! It seems like we’re late to the party! We better hurry!
Mippy: Wait a minute, I forgot something!
What’d you forget, Mippy?
Mippy: “A kite! To fly so that we can signal thank you to all the other seagulls.”
Fantastic, Mippy! That’s a great idea!
Finally, we made it! Time to have the a sand party of royal proportions!
Some friends even came on a sand raft!
All the friends learned so much about each other. The sand penguins are royalty made of magic. They help to protect all beaches, even when they don’t form into penguins. They love when people play in the sand with them, but they don’t like when people liter on them because it’s dangerous and disrespectful.
The sun was starting to set. It was time to get going. Jack wanted to stay with the sand penguins. Not ready to leave the beach, Jack lagged behind.
Come on, Jack! They all encouraged Jack to come back.
Jack: But I don’t want to leave! What if we never see the sand penguin family again?

Sand Penguins: Remember Jack, and everyone, we are everywhere a beach is, be it by a lake, sea, or ocean.  We are all around and sometimes even come home in your shoes.  Don’t forget to keep the beaches and sand clean, when everything is pristine that’s when we sometimes visit.  We saw you picking up liter and that’s why we showed, so keep up the good work.  Keep on having fun and in sure, some day soon we’ll sea each other again! Get it? Sea. 
Jack sighed… Okee. I guess I’ll go then and keep helping to clean the beach in hopes that we’ll see you next time!

They all said their farewells and thank you’s until it was almost too dark to sea each other… Get it? Sea. Until next time sands penguins, until next time…. Oh! And seagulls too!

They’re almost here!

On June 22nd, 2021, I placed my first sample order with CustomCat. I believe I designed and ordered 2 male sized shirts, 1 plus size feminine cut shirt, and 1 onesie. I was attempting to get a variety that would give me an idea of what type of printing I might like as well as show me how the graphics look on fabric. I am hoping no editing is required but seeing how I’ve never done this before, I figure that I might need to re-edit some designs. I am not sure if some of the small embellishments in my edits that I started to over think regarding the little blue penguin will show and need to be corrected. In my head, thinking of these things and remembering all the little details and learning lessons regarding editing photos, it might be easier to make the images more cartoonish. I see for most prints on shirts that is what is being done. A lot of picture manipulation to get the image to be more of just a umm, what do they call that? A graphic image vs the real life photo? It does seem that these days color graphics are more popular than actually photos, maybe?…. I plan on having a wide variety of styles to offer, with still using the photos we took. That part is so crucial for so many reasons (see the About page if you’re interested in knowing why).

I might receive my package as early as later today! I’m excited and nervous. Cost and time being a factor, I really do hope I can roll out the designs as is, but I don’t want to push out poor quality either.

I still need to do certain things revolving around taxes before I can even open up shop, mainly formally letting the county I live in know that they can now take their cut from my sales for taxes. I hope I’ve done the rest. *thinking* 🤔 Nooope… I still have to do a few additional things. I keep telling myself, “It’ll all get done, sooner or later. Take it easy and go at your own pace. This isn’t a race.” It’s not like I have to get to the breeding grounds pronto to find a mate. 😂 Talk about pressure. Suddenly I’m wondering if a penguin could beat the world record holder for the fastest eater of hotdogs in the same set time, of course in fish instead of hotdogs.

I also need to find some way to automatically donate a portion of the profits of the sales. I would like for a percentage of the sale to automatically go to an organization, but it seems that might be impossible right now without creating a campaign. So far it seems like the best method might be to keep track and donate a lump sum every month or so. I suppose that because I’m in the negative monetarily, it might be best to do the book keeping to know how much I could consider profit. That’s probably wise for not just the start of the business but maybe throughout the existence of it. But at the same time, automatically not seeing that money forces me to work with what I got. The attitude of, “I won’t miss it if I never had it.” I also want to make sure that some of each sale does make it to a more than worthy and needy organization.

If anyone knows of a way that can automatically make a percentage or dollar amount of a sale go to certain organizations, please share. If possible, I would also like an option that allows people to round up their total or donate extra to the cause at check out.

As of right now, Surrounded By Penguins is looking into joining the Dollar Donation Club. They are on an amazing quest to remove 1,000,000 pounds of ocean plastic! Specifically aiming to remove ghost nets by tagging them so that sailors and islanders can pick up the nets for proper disposal. These nets are extremely harmful to ocean life. I remember hearing specifically about the uncuttable blue ropes people kept finding on ocean wildlife. I thought about how impossible it would be for anything to free itself from that type of rope in any condition or environment. I don’t mean to be depressing but I feel that I need to do some good in the mist of all the harm I contribute to our world. Too often it may seem as if the little we can do makes no impact, but at the Dollar Donation Club reminds us, $1 can eliminate 30 credit cards worth of plastic removal from the oceans! That is about 150 grams (over 5 ounces) of plastic in weight and over a flat area that covers 5,457 millimeters (almost 215 inches)! That’s actually a lot if you think about it.

Check out the Dollar Donation Club at www.dollardonationclub.com

Thank you all! Please wish us luck!

In Gratitude and Squawk’s,

Executive Penguins

Island fever

Surrounded By Penguins had a dinner meeting last night regarding future travel. We haven’t even put up the designs we have so far, but we already need more images for merchandise and other creations. I’ve heard this is typical. Right now, we’re waiting for some quality control samples to come in! It’s been a long time coming and yet, it seems like it’s all happening so fast. I’ve heard that before. I hear many lines in my head from people that have shared their experiences. Most of which are true. People aren’t kidding when they say, for about every 1,000 images 1 is useable. Good thing we had a past trip to Australia and New Zealand so we had some images already but not having “Surrounded By Penguins” in mind, even less than 1 image per 1,000 is usable. Lol. I could go on about all the truths but I’m already digressing.

Seeing this bookshelf while waiting to register my car made me home sick for the islands. Guess I should had registered a boat instead of a car. Lol.

What Surrounded By Penguins had a dinner meeting about last night was *drum roll please* the Galapagos Islands! Let’s hope it can happen this year come October! I am sooo in need of swimming with the penguins. I think some under water shots could make really cool looking merch.

Of course this place had no Galapagos Islands books.

Athletic Penguin

Athletic penguin
byu/citrus-fiend inpenguin

Check out this amazing Penguin that’s got more hop than waddle! Did you expect that?!

I watched and thought “No way is that penguin going to go over the rail, surely this cutie will being going around as African Penguins have the attitude to do something clever like that. Maybe under? No! It’s in slow motion! The pengies gonna do it! Air penguin!”

Now I know that penguin’s can be taught a lot of tricks and I do believe that if it was not for them being aquatic birds, people would take them in as pets, but I really didn’t expect an African penguin to jump like that! Over a rail! The same kind of rails I used to grind on when I inline skated and skateboarded (yes, I did both).

Anyone know where this majestic athlete is housed? Just curious, you know, for a friend. Not for kidnapping purposes, I promise. ;oP

Athletic penguin
byu/citrus-fiend inpenguin