I’d rather be skydiving – relaxing edition

This weekend was the first official non-skydiving weekend of the year. At first I was looking forward to it, then come Saturday morning I have to admit I was a bit bummed. Sure, I got to lounge around and catch up on some much needed relaxation, and laundry, but I was really wishing I could be in the air.

It’s been a few weeks – which until this point, is the longest period of time I’ve gone without a skydive. Though I’ve felt plenty of adrenaline lately, none of it is nearly as freeing as exiting the otter.

There are no plans for a winter trip in my immediate future…I’ve adopted this whole live one day at a time philosophy, and honestly I’m loving every second of that. Even talking with the family about Christmas plans makes me uncomfortable – it seems just too far away to worry about right now.

I do love that skydiving has taught me how to do this. For those that may not know it, this sport goes beyond just jumping out of airplanes, packing up and doing it all over again. There’s so much to learn about yourself and the life you want to live, if you’re open to it. In the recent weeks off I’ve had a chance to really sit back and absorb all that I’ve learned from skydiving and the surrounding community. I’ve been blessed to have met so many incredible people who, whether they know it or not, have taught me about myself too.

Though I still haven’t learned how to comfortably sit and do nothing. It’s during those times that I really, truly miss being in the air. Hmm…maybe I will start thinking about a winter trip after all…any suggestions?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Relative Work

Whoa, it’s been a while. I’m sorry for that! Life has been busy, to say the least.

Things have picked up at work, and it’s unfortunate, but by the time I get home and do those things that need to get done, I can’t seem to find the time to write before I pass out on the couch.

Life has definitely gotten in the way of all things skydiving. But of course, I’ve spent the last 1 and 1/2 years letting skydiving get in the way of life, so I suppose it’s about time that it reversed itself a bit.

One thing I’ve decided to do, come next season, is to make the rest of my life more of a priority than it has been. Sure, 200 skydives in a season sounds great, but not only is my wallet screaming about that, so is my family. So it’s time to make relative work, of a different kind, more of a focus.

Sometimes I think that my parents assume I only have time for them on rainy days…how is that fair? It’s not. To them, or to me.

If this sport has taught me anything, it’s that living in the moment is critical. I spend so much of my time looking to the future, but in skydiving, if you do that, you’re bound to stress yourself out about possible malfunctions or worse, take away from the skydive by letting your mind wander. That’s not only as waste of a skydive, it’s dangerous.

Waste is a good way to describe how I feel about the time I spend obsessing over my next trip, my next skydive, the next big thing. It’s a waste of that moment that I could be spending with friends, family, or even just improving my writing and my work.

As I’ve said before, there’s more to life than skydiving. Sure, it’s a way of life for some, it’s everything. And there’s nothing wrong with that. But something that my friend Norman Kent once told me has stuck – you need to embrace the type of skydiver that you are. Some people have more opportunities than others to skydive. Some of us have pretty strict careers that only allow us to be weekend warriors of sorts (refer back to my post on what type of skydiver are you to get a glimpse of what I tend to think are the standard “types” out there). Some of us are bound by the money in our bank accounts, while others have responsibilities that may keep them on the ground more than they’d like.

But for me, I’ve decided that it’s not so much about responsibility as it is about having a fulfilling life. No one thing is enough for me. There’s a lot to Ashley. I guess that means in order to be satisfied, I need to have a multi-faceted life. Variety is the spice of life, as it goes. And I’m living proof of that.

This past weekend I did something I never thought I would – I missed the last day of the skydiving season at my new home dropzone and spent it with my family. The weather didn’t play very nice, in the end, but fact is, last year at this time, I never, ever would have made that sacrifice.

Though truthfully, it didn’t feel like a sacrifice. It felt like a need. And coming back to Chicago after a weekend with the people who put me on this planet and made me who I am today – those people who likely passed down the adrenaline junkie traits that drive me to skydive in the first place – I felt fulfilled.

So when you hear me refer to “relative work” don’t think I mean in it a bad way, or in a “I’d rather be skydiving but I have this family obligation” way, it’s my way of saying I’ve got other important things going on…and that my friends, is a good thing!

Love and blue ones!

Ashley

Halloween at the Dropzone

Let’s see here: skydivers love to hang out after a day in the sky drinking it up on the ground – any reason for a party is a good one, right? And of course, what better reason that Halloween?

This is one day of the year where it’s totally acceptable to dress up in a funny costume and go out in public. It’s the one day of the year you legitimately get to be something that you’re not.

But for me, I dressed up as exactly what I am…let me explain.

We went out to the dropzone on Saturday, even with high winds. Gusts weren’t really in the equation, but the uppers were in the 40s. As I’ve mentioned before, I’m not a fan of the winds, so I grounded myself. That is, of course until the DZO and his wife wanted a second sunset load full of freeflyers and confirmed that the winds had calmed significantly.

All I have to say, is thanks Carolyn for making me go!

Then I packed up, or rather, trash packed up, and morphed back into the wind pussy that I am.

Yep, I went as a wind pussy for Halloween.

The party was small this year and people were a bit hesitant to get their costumes on, but once Andy came strolling in as one of the yip yip martians, the rest of us followed suit.

The food buffet was yummy and I even joined in on the party with a tequila sunrise or two, a rare occasion for me!

Thanks to Greg Drogaline for being the party photographer for the evening.

So what did y’all do for Halloween this year?

Blue skies!

Ashley

Winter Travel Time

Winter is fast approaching here in Chicagoland, and it’s about time to start thinking about a winter trip. Last year, as some of you might recall, Rick and I made a trip down to the Everglades boogie in Clewiston, FL. This is where I encountered lots of skydiving milestones like my first cutaway, my 100th skydive, my first shot from a closing pin ice luge, my first skyvan jump…the list goes on.

I was recently asked by a reader, “what is the best dropzone to travel to in the winter?” That’s a tough question to answer…I guess, it depends on what you’re looking for.

Let me elaborate.

Last winter, aside from the Clewiston boogie, we visited a few other dropzones in Florida and fell in love with Zhills (aka, Skydive City). The vibe is great, they have an Otter and a PAC, and they have everything you need right at the DZ. Everyone is so friendly, and it definitely lives up to it’s reputation as the friendliest dropzone in Florida. Though we didn’t attend, I hear the annual Christmas Boogie is pretty lovely.

I’ve also been lucky enough to visit other warm-weather dropzones like Skydive Carolina that have an incredible vibe. Everyone there was so willing to jump with you! Southern hospitality at it’s finest.

If you’re looking to head West, I do have to admit that I don’t have a whole lot of experience in this area, but I can tell you that Elsinore is pretty incredible. We were there for Chicks Rock at the beginning of October, and the otters were turning (as was the skyvan, for that weekend). For a Midwesterner, skydiving between the mountains was a pretty incredible site. I was also amazed with how friendly every was there (notice the trend here…if the staff and jumpers are friendly and welcoming, there’s a much greater chance that I’ll love jumping there. It adds to the experience more than you might think). Of course, I might be a bit bias as I was able to do a little bonding with Ms. Melsinore outside of the DZ before heading home…you may recall the Carls Jr. run in.

Anywhoosits, those are my recommendations for sure. Though I’ve yet to travel there, I’ve heard nothing but great things about Skydive Arizona as well. We’ve tossed around the idea of the Puerto Rico boogie, though it just might not be in the budget this time around.

I’d love to hear any other recommendations all you other jumpers have for winter travel. After all, though I’ve traveled at lot the last couple years, my experience is still pretty limited.

On another note, there are lots of end-of-season / Halloween parties going on this weekend at dropzones around the country. Very excited for my first Halloween at CSC, with a costume contest and $20 jumps for those who decide to jump in costume. I will be taking advantage of that!

If you’re not in the area, here are some other events you might consider checking out:

• Halloween Carnivale – Skydive Arizona: 10/29-10/31. Skydive Arizona goes huge for their Halloween event! Good jumps, good party and a FREE MIRAGE RIG to the best costume! They’ve got Otters, Skyvans, a DC3 and a balloon. They’ll have some kick ass load organizers too…one of my favorite chicks will be there (enjoy your trip Mel).
• “One Dirty Halloween” on the Farm – Skydive the Farm (Georgia): 10/29-10/31. 2 Otters, costume contest, charity raffle, load organizers and more!
• Skydive KY grand opening: 10/30. Skydive KY was asked by the airport to start the skydiving business again. Awesomeness!

Happy Halloween everyone!

Blue ones!

Ashley

Chicks Rock 2010

Five days in Southern California, delayed flights coming home, early morning for catching up at the office….needless to say I’m a little drained today.

But, that won’t stop me from giving a recap of the Chicks Rock boogie! Though I ask you to give me a little compassion on my writing skills as they aren’t up to par with only half a sleepy brain at work.

Anyhow, the 5 days we spent in LA were a blast! We showed up to the boogie on day 1 (Thursday) with high hopes to get in a handful of jumps while my aunt, uncle and cousins (the reason we were in  LA to begin with) were all at work. Well, though we could see the blue skies, this nasty system sat over Skydive Elsinore and kept us on the ground.

So, we tried again on Friday. One jump and weather rolled in…so we headed out a little early.

Saturday the weather played much nicer and we were able to do some more skydiving. I was even able to get onto the sunset all-girls tracking dive with Melanie Curtis (aka, Melsinore). Which, can I just stop for a moment and say, what a cool freakin’ chick! Not just because she’s a totally badass skydiver and swooper, but because she has every reason to be arrogant and full of herself and she’s about as far from that as you can get! She did her best to include so many different girls on the all-chick jumps throughout the weekend (must say, I felt pretty great having her ask me to join the sunset tracking dive) and I’m amazed at how many names she was able to learn in such a short event. On top of that, when we ran into her randomly at the Carl’s Jr. by LAX, she didn’t hesitate to stop and bullshit with us for 10 minutes or so. And that girl knows how to throw a pretty great event!

Throughout the weekend we ran into people we’d met elsewhere, lots of badass skydiving chicks, mingled with the ladies at Blue Skies Mag and some of my favorites (read: Kelly and Gail) over at Infinity. The vibe was very chill and everyone was so friendly. I even heard a story on the packing mats that if you’re going to have a cutaway, Elsinore is the place to do it — apparently they’re quick to retrieve your main, freebag, and even you if you land off. That’s always comforting to hear! Definitely a place I’d like to visit again soon.

Needless to say we had a great weekend (aside from the intense heat that I wasn’t used to, but that’s an entirely different story altogether). Wish I had more than the one video to share, but my pictures from the nigh swoops didn’t come out, so you’ll have to live with that.

Hope everyone had a great weekend!

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

The New and Exciting

One thing I’ve come to see in my short time in the skydiving world is that skydivers are the ultimate live-in-the-moment creatures. This is something that I love, mostly because it’s taught me how to live in the moment more in the other aspects of my life…which, I think, makes life more enjoyable.

But of course, playing that devil’s advoate role that I love so much, we can’t forget about the other side of that, the one where we have a tendency to seek out the novel…to only really enjoy the things that are new and exciting.

On the surface, that doesn’t sound so bad, but when it comes to things like progression in the sport, being ADD (ooh, look, shiny new wingsuit, I want to try that) doesn’t bode so well for your desire to improve those freefly skills.

Think of it this way, you can’t bitch and moan about not sticking that head down when you only practice it every two months because your attention is constantly drawn to other elements of the sport. It takes practice, and determination. Muscle memory can’t be built without regular repition, so unless you’re a natural at everything you do, this tendency to trail off can harm your progression in skydiving…heck, in any sport really. For anyone who has been paying attention, can you tell this is a mini-lecture to myself?

I’ve noticed my tendency to be distracted by these shiny skydiving objects too. Going back to my first few months in the sport, freefly showed it’s pretty little face and pulled me away from RW. Then came camera flying, then wingsuiting – and it’s only been a year and a half…so you can see how this could carry out in my skydiving career. Ha!

The good thing is, when it comes to skydiving at least, no matter what you’re doing in the sky, every jump teaches you the art of manipulating the air in order to do the things you want as you’re falling toward the Earth. Each skydive gives you roughly 3,000 ft. to practice your canopy skills. The key is, taking advantage of these opportunities, by living in the moment and using every second to your advantage.

Which brings me back to my first point, that skydivers are some of the best when it comes to living in the moment. Wow, this came full circle. Not sure I started out with that plan, but that’s where it’s ended up. This was going to conclude with a life lesson, and I think it still can — one that’s geared mostly toward the skydiving community and it’s this: live in the moment, enjoy each and every second while you’re doing it, and be sure to take advantage of the time you’re given. But, don’t let your need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.

Ohh…check that out. Maybe it’s not so skydiving focused after all. “Don’t let the need for novelty ruin what you’ve spent so much time building.” — that can apply to any aspect of life, relationships, career, sports…you name it.

Hope this was as an enlightening of a post for you as it was for me.

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Movie Monday

As you’ve likely heard me say before, Mondays are bad for me. They’re the busiest day of the entire week at the office and most of the time I’m trying to catch up with chores at home from being away all weekend.

The former still applies, however having kept close to home this weekend I was able to find a little spare time to put together a couple of promised videos – from the Work Stinks! Boogie and Jump for Diabetes (about time, right?)!

So, while I bust my butt at the office, you can take some time on your Monday to enjoy the highlights of two of my favorite skydiving events every year.

Jump for Diabetes 2010

Work Stinks! Boogie 2010

Blue Skies!

Ashley

How Skydiving Changed My Life

This is one of my favorite columns in Parachutist Magazine and one of those things I make time to read in every issue. Some of these people have incredible stories of how they got into the sport and how being a skydiver has completely changed their lives.

Looking back over the year and change that I’ve been a part of this sport and a part of the community, I can add myself to that list of people who feel like their lives have been completely turned upside down since skydiving entered their life. I can also say that my life has changed for the better, and in some ways, I feel like it saved me.

Though my story is sort of ho-hum when you look at those featured in Parachutist, so instead of submitting to the magazine, I thought I’d share right here on the blog .

For those who have been following along since day 1, this may not come as much of a surprise, but for those who have picked up in the middle, you might pick up a thing or two about my journey in this crazy world of skydiving.

________________

Skydiving has changed my life in so many ways, it’s hard to know where to begin. I suppose I’ll start at the beginning (that would make sense…right?).

In my early 20s all that mattered to me was my career. My friends from college were scattered across the country and none of us were making enough money yet to visit each other, so rather than spend time building a new life, I spent it behind a computer, working my way to the top. My efforts did not go unrewarded. Promotions happened frequently and I earned my position in social media marketing through hard work and dedication to my company and my clients.

No regrets there. I worked hard for my successes and am proud of where those efforts have taken me. But something was missing. I wasn’t passionate about my life. I got up in the morning because I knew I had to in order to get ahead, in order to pay the bills, in order to save enough money to take trips to see my friends that I missed so dearly. I worked hard to find myself again, blogging about life and the “adventures” I had meeting new people and traveling for work, but in the end, these corporate trips were not sufficiently scratching the itch that the travel bug was constantly giving me. So 3 years into my career I took my first real vacation, one in which I made my first skydive, and had my eyes opened to what life really has to offer – what it means to truly be alive. It showed me what I was missing, that there’s more to life than getting ahead in the corporate world, that life needs more facets than just career success.

Skydiving presented a new personal challenge, and a new challenge is just what I needed…something to keep me on my toes, something to remind me that I’m alive! It showed me just how strong I am, just how much I am capable of overcoming – it showed me that I can do just about anything I set my mind to. Never did I imagine that I would learn so much about myself in such a small amount of time. Skydiving freed my soul from the confines of those things that are proper in life, the boundaries and the you shoulds that are forced upon you throughout your childhood and into your adult life. Skydiving showed me that you never really have to grow up!

Though it wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, let me tell you that. Skydiving presented some hard lessons along the way too. I quickly learned what it means to not be invincible, that bad things can happen to anyone if you get complacent. These lessons presented themselves in the sky and on the ground. The community surrounding the sport taught me the importance of heightened awareness – keep your eyes and heart open, be prepared for the unexpected, you never know when a fellow jumper might make that wrong turn under canopy, but you might be surprised with whom you make deeper connections. For me, I was able to meet, fall in love with, and get engaged to my best friend and the love of my life because I was involved in skydiving and open to new experiences. I’ve also been able to meet and connect with a number of incredible skydivers with hearts larger than even SkyGod’s ego. Experiences I wouldn’t trade for the world!

Above all else, skydiving has taught me the importance of being a part of something greater than myself. It’s shown me how critical the community around you is to your well-being. There needs to be a sense of trust and understanding with those whom you share the sky. As skydivers, we inherently understand what makes each other tick, our common bond is one that the majority of the world will never understand. I’ve found that this sense of togetherness is strengthened when the community joins to support a cause that goes beyond that of the individual skydiver and truly tugs at your soul. Coordinating Jump for Diabetes this year gave me a glimpse of the immense generosity of the individuals within the skydiving community. It was so incredibly heart-warming to see so many manufactures, skydivers and their family and friends come out to support a cause that is greater than all of us combined. It speaks volumes about the type of people the sport attracts, and further solidifies why I continue to be drawn to the skydiving community.

What all these lessons from the world of skydiving have in common is this: be passionate. Having passion for something, anything (whether it’s skydiving, or tending a garden, or raising a family, or a multitude of life’s treasures) makes life fulfilling. Passion gives you something to live for, it provides motivation, it gives you a better sense of who you are as a person; a living, breathing human being who is on this Earth for a reason. Since I started skydiving little more than a year ago, I’ve found that I live my life with purpose. There are numerous facets of Ashley that I’m proud to admit have all become priority – friends, family, travel, career, new experiences, photography, writing, health & wellness, and of course, skydiving – these are all things for which I have great love and passion. Skydiving continues to teach me about the person that I want to be, and one step at a time it’s helping me get there.

So tell us dear readers, how has skydiving changed your life?

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Jump for Diabetes 2010- what a blast!

Well, I’ve finally recuperated from a long weekend at Skydive Pennsylvania for the 2nd Annual Jump for Diabetes – just in time for another weekend of skydiving .

Let’s start with the juicy details: between raffles, sponsored jumps and generous donations, we were able to raise nearly $10,000 for diabetes research – and donations are still rolling in, so we may even surpass that mark when all is said and done!

I’m thrilled with the amount of people who stepped up to support this cause, from the gear donations throughout the skydiving community, to the incredible team of pledge jumpers who came in from all over the country to donate their time to the cause, to the participants at Skydive Pennsylvania – none of this could have been accomplished without your support.

So a HUGE THANK YOU goes out to all who contributed.

As far as raffles go, we gave away more than $10,000 in donated and discounted skydiving gear, local jumper Scott Diesel was the lucky winner of the PD canopy raffle and there were three happy winners in the Grand Prize raffle.

And guess what – we’re going to do it all again next year! We’re planning the event for Aug 12-14 at Skydive Pennsylvania once again, and we’ve already got 4 manufactuers confirmed to be on site. We expect it to be bigger and better than this year – definitely not to be missed.

Okay, so now that that’s out of the way …let’s talk a little about the skydiving, shall we?

Friday after set up we did the first Mrs. Potato Head jump of the weekend. A group of us freeflyers took it to our bellies in an attempt to put her together in the sky. Best part, she was a diabetic, so Rick had a needle-less syringe to stick in her ear. It was far from a success, with us walking away with zero pieces in place, and one lost piece somewhere in the LZ, but I gotta tell you, it sure was FUN! Thanks to Heather for bringing this tradition to Jump for Diabetes!

We gave away our first piece of gear on Friday too, a freefly suit from EG. EG suits came in from Jersey to attend the event. Thanks again EG, you were a hit at Skydive PA!

Saturday started off bright and early with long spots and off landings. We had a fun 2-way freefly practice jump to start out the day before diving into a weekend of incredibly fun freefly zoo dives, like this one:

Both mine and Rick’s parents showed up for the day which was awesome! My dad even got some great shots of me landing and packing. I’m not used to being on the other side of the camera!

The weather played nice until about 5 p.m., at which point our gear raffle picked up. This is where my dad’s height came in handy, as we were selling gear raffle tickets for $20 a body length, so a number of jumpers “borrowed” his 6’3″ frame to purchase their tickets.

(Grand Prize Raffle drawing, with Skylyn the ticket picker! *Photo by Suji Martens)

Saturday night 4 bands from around the Pittsburgh area showed up to play for us in the hangar…due to the rain. What an incredible party. The beer was flowing and we were even able to have a small fire with numerous smores consumed. Yum!

Sunday started slow because of rain and low clouds until about 3 p.m. This gave us ample time to finish out the raffles before completing the weekend with a couple more fun freefly jumps – starting with Justin’s 200th.

The last jump of the weekend was a 6-way freefly turned into a hybrid, rodeo, backfly, sitfly combo. Was one of the funnest jumps we all had that weekend…guess you had to be there!

I’m still working on a fun Jump for Diabetes video to show the highlights from the weekend, so stay tuned for that.

Thanks again to everyone who did their part to not only make this an incredibly successful weekend, but for making it a BLAST too!

Blue skies!

Ashley

A trip to CSC

As I mentioned last week, all my posts from July have gone bye bye. So I’m working on getting these back up – stat. Though, they’re going to be slightly different, as I’m having to re-write most of them, but for those of you that have kept up, it’ll give you a little bit of a different flavor!

Recently we took an impromptu trip out to Chicago to jump at Chicagoland Skydiving Center (CSC). The idea was sparked by a couple of aspects. 1) It had been a while since we traveled (more than a month…that’s way too long in my book) so the itch was coming on bad, and 2) to visit with Ms. Sydney!

Needless to say, the trip was more than a huge hit!

Upon arrival at the DZ, we were welcomed with open arms. Within the first 5 minutes in the hangar, the DZO approached us, let us know where we could stash our stuff for the weekend, gave us a tour of the facilities, and when we ended up in the North hanger, he even showed us his Velo that just about exploded the day before…14 broken likes, yikes!

Not only that, he organized our first couple freefly jumps together! Hello – a little sitfly action with not only the DZO, but an incredible freeflyer at that! Nice! (Too bad I didn’t realize my memory card was full, otherwise I’d have proof of these first couple jumps…oopsie)!

The hospitality didn’t stop there, we were treated to privelages that you just don’t come across when visiting most dropzones. It definitely left an impression on us.

What else we noticed was that the staff there is huge! They have plenty of people working the desks and enough tandem instructors to give students the ultimate experience – a personal one they will remember! We were even reognized by name, as Lisa at manifest knew ours before we knew hers! Good stuff.

We finished out the first day of jumping with an incredible sitfly with Carolyn, the DZOs wife. She’s got great energy in the sky – check out that smile plastered on her face! How can you not have fun with company like that?!

Sunday we were able to finish out the day with a fun freefly with a badass belly flyer chick. Yes, you heard that right! We sat her upright and threw her out of the plane .

The rolling train ended quick, but as you can see, this girl got skills, especially considering she hasn’t done a freefly in 3 years!

Beyond all that, everyone is just so nice. There are significantly more female jumpers than in the NE Ohio area, and the best part is that all of them are so friendly. The chicks stick together there, support one another – just as it should be!

And you can bet, if you’re just hanging around, someone is bound to come up and chat with you between loads…that’s just the atmosphere there. Very Midwest.

As you can tell, I have nothing but good things to say about this dropzone. They busted out more than 150 tandems in one day, flying only the otter, and they made it look easy. And though it’s a busy dropzone, it has the feel of a small community. Good stuff.

I can’t recommend this dropzone enough if you’re in the Chicago area! Hell, even if you’re not, jump in your car and take a road trip. You won’t be disappointed.

Blue ones!

Ashley