The first baby steps of Beach Butlerz training are in the books and our journey can now begin. Friendships between the butlers are blooming quickly this spring, but no credit should be given to the rain. We are all looking forward to the warmer weather this summer. This weekend was filled with training and becoming familiar with one another. So far, so good.

We started off the weekend by meeting at a small local business in Avila Beach called Mind Spa. Nancy Soderberg, owner of Mind Spa, welcomed us with open arms into her recently remodeled and gorgeous studio. It sits atop other beach front businesses and overlooks the Avila promenade as well the beautiful Pacific Ocean. After becoming completely jealous of Nancy's studio and a short round of introductions and handshakes, we dove right into our training.

In the conception stages of this new business venture, Cecile and Michael DeMartini (owners of Beach Butlerz) envisioned the butlers being social networking gurus. They created a blogging platform and made it available for each butler to easily access and use. Facebook and Twitter accounts are also up running. To make sure that the butlers do an excellent job, the DeMartini's lined up some training time with international publicist and social networking efficency expert Starr Hall. Starr gave us a rundown on the "do's and don'ts" of social networking. She gave us several tips on how to make our presence known on the web and ways to boost our own personal profiles, not only Beach Butlerz. She brought an energy to the room that put us all at ease. Her small frame was overflowing with confidence and humor which made listening to her presentation very enjoyable as well as informative. After her powerpoint, we gathered out on the balcony of Mind Spa for a quick brainstorming session and then ended with lunch. All of the butlers enjoyed some sandwiches and salads from Avila Beach Grocery & Deli and then went home. Not me, though!

I was selected to stay a little bit longer and try out some of the services offered at Mind Spa. Nancy was eager to explain, show off, and let me try out her Neuro-Wave Technology. You can read a little bit about the Neuro-Wave here. I'll try my best to paint a good picture with my words, but honestly... you should just try it for yourself.

So, I walked into a small room much like you would for a massage. In front of me was a bed that looked like something you might see in a hospital or retirement home. The foot of the bed was elevated and the back was reclined sort of like a chair. I sat and the bed and instantly fell in love. The soft memory foam like mattress was beyond comfortable. Nancy explained what would happen, but I'll let you hear her speech when you go get yours. Next came the headphones playing the soothing sounds of a didgeridoo. Here's a link explaining what a didgeridoo is. The coolest thing about this whole experience was whenever the deep bass from music was playing in the headphones I could feel the bed translating the sound into vibrations. The louder the sound... the more vibration. They were synced perfectly! To make things even more relaxing, the bed rotated. No, not like an Austin Powers bed. The bed rotated in a circular motion and tilted forward, back, and side to side at a very slow and relaxing pace. After rotating in one direction for about fifteen minutes it changed and went the other way. After 30 minutes on the Neuro-Wave I was feeling amazing. I thanked Nancy and almost shed a tear walking down the stairs and out the door of Mind Spa.

Sunday's training was a bit of a different format. It didn't feel like training at all to be honest. We brought all of the Beach Butler gear out to the beach for the first time. We set up our pop-up tent and the advertising began! Our logo was bright, clear, and crisp for everyone to see. After getting all set up on the walkway just above the beach near the small childrens park in Avila, we started taking some pictures for the website.

I'm a "photographer"... sort of... so of course I brought my camera along and snapped some shots alongside Michael. I even stepped out from behind the lens and posed for a few pictures today (very rare!!!). We had a tough time fighting the wind, rocks, and getting all of the beach goers out of the background of our shots, but we had a blast. I took the boys on a seperate little photoshoot near the pier and we stopped at a swingset on the way back to homebase. I was able to get a few great shots that we will be posting on our Facebook page and our website soon. To end the photoshoot we set up a small human pyramid on the beach. I'm curious to see how that comes out.

After a weekend full of new faces, new ideas, and new photo's I am ready for summer to be here. My last blog entry was basically a few paragraphs of me complaining about the rain. After great training from Starr and a relaxing session with Nancy I feel a bit better about what I've written this time around. I hope to keep everyone updated on Beach Butlerz events and other gigs going on around the central coast. I can't wait to see everyone out at the beach in the coming months. Keep your eyes posted for special deals, weather reports, and food reviews.

Until next time... stay dry! :)