Rhea's Bucket List

Rhea in Lolli swimwear. Photo by Allan Nadel. 

Rhea, our Swim and Surf Ambassador, works as a freelancer like me, so I can relate to her summer goal of going totally off the grid. No email, no cellphone, no blogging. For us, it's close to impossible, but it's exactly what we need to reconnect with the great outdoors. Nothing ruins the feeling of being wild and free like the *ding* of the email alert. I'm so thrilled she's ready to try rock climbing—fingers crossed next time I'm out her way she'll teach me how to cross-step and I'll teach her how to pull some gear.

What's on your summer bucket list? There's still time to scribble down some goals, take a picture of your list, and upload it to Instagram. Tag @dirtbagdarling and #growyoungbucketlist and you'll be entered to win a rad shirt from Element Eden!

Get Fed: Healthy DIY Energy Bar Recipe

Photo by Rhea Cortado

This is a guest post by Surf and Swim Ambassador Rhea Cortado.

I love the energy bars at the supermarket, but they can add up to be expensive, and I don’t like that the second ingredient is often brown rice syrup, which is used as a binder to get all the dry ingredients to stick together.

I use dates, banana, honey and coconut oil as the glue. Honey and dates are sticky and have a lot of sugar so it satisfies a sugar craving, but it’s the natural kind of sugar that your body will be burning in a jiffy while you get sweaty. This recipe offers volume (whole rolled oats), the right amount of fat and crunch (nuts) and some sweetness (dates)—it tastes like a bowl of cereal in portable snack form.

It's also super-customizable to your preferences. If you don’t have flax seed meal and cacao nibs, no big deal. If coconut’s not your thing (I don’t know how we can be friends), or if you prefer walnuts instead of pecans, just make sure that the volumes are the same proportions when you make a substitution. 

Ingredients after the jump!

Introducing Our Surf And Swim Ambassador: Rhea Cortado

Dirtbag Darling's newest Ambassador Rhea Cortado. She knows how to live out of a van, so she got the job.

The newest Dirtbag Darling Ambassador to join our ever-growing team is Rhea Cortado of the Surftorialist, DD's newly appointed surf and swim expert. You can read all about her HERE.

When I say Rhea is dialed into everything surf and swim, I mean she is DIALED IN. Whenever there's a new swim designer on the scene or a snippet of women's surf news floating around, Rhea is sure to have heard of it first. She knows how to live out of a van or a suitcase, makes salty hair look dinner appropriate and if there's a beautiful break out there, she's probably surfed it. Best of all, she's the kind of girl you want as a friend. Welcome to the team Rhea!

DIY: Shell Mobile by The Surftorialist

Photos by Rhea Cortado 

This is a guest post from Rhea Cortado of The Surftorialist. Read more about her here!

Materials:
-Shells
-Driftwood
-Other flotsam and jetsam you want to put in there (I used rope scraps that I found on the beaches south of Hossegor, France and a souvenir glass buoy we found in the fishing village Bermeo in Spain.)
-Thin craft string to use for hanging the shells
-Thick rope to hang the entire mobile from the wall
-Hook in the ceiling of the wall
-Electric drill with a 1/8-inch diamond tip
-Glue gun

Girl Gone Wild: Rhea Cortado

 I met Rhea during a summer party thrown by Insight at their Venice Beach store last year. I was there with a friend who worked at Surfer, so I figured I'd be listening to surf talk all night (not that I mind, but I was in need of a little girl talk that night). Luckily, the two of us got to talking by the bar and I realized girl talk could be surf talk, too! We chatted about our experience, the boards we wanted and, yes, her really cute shoes. By the end of the night, we were having so much fun we decided to go to another location to continue our chat. It's been a few months since then, so I emailed up my long-lost friend so she could share some of her ocean-based wisdom with you:

My name is Rhea Cortado and I live in Venice Beach, California. I'm originally from Watsonville in Northern California where I grew up learning to love the beaches and redwoods of Santa Cruz and local, farm fresh produce.

I'm a scatterbrain and can only comprehend today, in the present. I’m also a writer as an occupation and can only work for a very efficient five to six hours in front of the computer before I hit a wall and have to go outside and do something active.

I admire women who make their livelihood by pursuing their passion and love it so much that you can feel it, energetically from them. I like to call it “palpable stoke.” I love women who have palpable stoke. I also love women who are self-confident, independent, totally happy, alone but not lonely.

When I have a weekend off from working, I usually spend it surfing and sunning at the beach in the morning until I reach physical exhaustion and then trying some new cooking experiment for dinner and dessert with my favorite girlfriends and/or my boyfriend. 

My favorite place to spend time outdoors is the beach because I love the water and someone told me that the ions released when water crashes is scientifically proven to be relaxing. Even just walking on the beach or walking around mountainous areas where you can see the coastline in the distance feels like everything will be all right with the world.

Surfing has taught me patience, discipline, humbleness, payoff for work and commitment, and that whatever was bothering you in the parking lot doesn’t matter anymore when you’re floating out in the middle of the wild ocean. 

One luxury item I always have with me is my Shiseido sunscreen while I’m outdoors. And a Hermes bracelet my sister gave me for when I’m doing the city girl thing.

This fall I'll be in the southwest of France cooking up a storm as the in-house chef for Surf Sistas and Big Friday surf camps through September and October.

One thing I'd love to learn to do is commit to a yoga practice because I like how there is a spiritual and physical component to it and I always feel refreshed after class. I'd also love to learn how to get over being scared of falling from tall heights because I would love to get out to the desert and learn how to rock climb!

My favorite piece of advice for living a healthy lifestyle is to care and pay attention about what you put into your body. Many ailments and illnesses originate from poor diet. And take some time for yourself every day—whether it’s preparing your own food, doing something active outside, having a crafty creative hour or book-and-hammock time. Your work life will be more productive and your personal relationships more mutually rewarding when you’re a happy, mentally and physically well-balanced person.

Thanks Rhea! If you want to see more of the radness Rhea's putting out everyday, check out her blog TheSurftorialist.com. 

Images by Allan Nadel and Kate Czuczman