Hi everyone!

First and foremost, I want to thank everyone for their sweet messages since the last update- a lot of you were super understanding of the tariff situation and sympathized a lot, I almost started crying with how kind everyone has been, haha!

I want to start off this update with (another) thank you because despite all the challenges with this project, you all have been so nice. It truly has been tough for me not just on a small business level due to all these new changes, but also on a more personal level the past year and a half or so.

I want to share that even recently it has been really tough on me because my dog, Milo, has recently passed away due to a cancer that spread to his liver/spleen at 10.5 years old. His health declined really rapidly in the span of a month and he passed away in his sleep in my room last week He was really struggling with rapid muscle weakness and incontinence, and it's hard for me to even type this out because I really, really miss him.

Here's a cute photo of him. We always had to gently wipe away the lil crusties covering his nostrils due to his condition, we were actually in the middle of it when we took this photo of him. He was a grumpy grandpa and for some reason always had beef with my dad's shoes/feet, but he absolutely loved cuddles and kisses. He'd take that over treats any day. Rest in peace and cuddles, my sweet lil' pupper. ❤️

Onto other business!

I'm also excited to share that production for Moocha Latte is currently in the works. It will start this week and estimated to be done in late August to early September, of which afterwards it'll also undergo the CE safety testing which will take an additional few days. Once all this is done, it'll be shipped out by boat which takes roughly close to another month due to shipping fees having increased an enormous amount in the last year, so the expectation is that I'll get Moocha around September. 

It feels good to finally have this going on with Sailor Moo being the last to get produced. My aim is to have all plushies with me before the end of 2026 and hope that there won't be any more surprises along the way when it comes to shipping, haha. 🤞

I will continue to ship out as many packages as I can since I had to take a little break due to my dog's sudden passing, I'm slowly forcing myself to keep going and working on things. If I haven't responded to your email yet, please expect a response soon, my apologies!

🇺🇸  How can I get my rewards earlier? Can I opt to pay for the tariffs so I can receive my rewards sooner?

Absolutely! Since tariff costs have increased since July 24th, it's been a massive dent in my fulfillment plans since I'll be paying for these costs out of pocket  on top of also compensating for the upgraded shipping costs that is mandatory in order to be able to ship out the pledges (for more information, please see this update).

This means that shipping will take much longer than anticipated for USA backers, so unless you're fine with covering these extra expenses so you can get your rewards sooner, unfortunately I'm going to have to ask you to wait a bit longer since I cannot guarantee when I'll be able to ship them out. 🥲

If you don't mind covering the tariff costs, send me an email to [email protected] and I'll send a screenshot with the exact amount that needs to be paid. We can discuss it further from there.