But let’s be honest here, I’ve never been very good at saving. Okay, so maybe not NEVER, but at least not since skydiving came into my life – that shit’s not cheap.

Hubs and I have some major goals in the next couple of years that’s going to take a bit of restraint when it comes to spending as well. So I figure after our honeymoon it’s going to be time to hunker down and stash away all we can to make these goals a reality (it’s true, I really do want to be a home owner by age 30), and with a bit of planning, diligence, and self-control, I believe it’s all completely possible.

So with that, I’m vowing to start small with what I’m calling No Spending January. The main motivator here is that, by cutting back at the first of the year we can save enough to go on that tropical vacation and have enough left over to be comfortable (rather than charge it all and come back with debt up to our eyeballs). Secondarily, however, is the idea that if I can spend money on only what is needed for survival, then I certainly can keep that up for the long haul. And what a better month to choose than January in Chicago when dropzones are closed and everyone is recovering from the holidays.

I’m one part nervous, two parts excited about this challenge. I’m nervous because what if something comes up that forces us to spend money, unforseen circumstances that totally derail this operation? Of course, you can’t let the what-ifs get in the way of the positives, because those always exist. On the other side of the coin, I’m excited to reel in my spending (read: eating out, random trips to 7-11 for soda cravings, a pair of boots I just gotta have…) and gain back some of that spending self-control I had in college, and I know that at the end of the month it’ll feel so great to meet that goal with a little extra in my pocket.

Now, I may have to put up some temporary firewalls so I’m not tempted to head over to Amazon or other online shopping sites that tend to grab my attention during my 10 hours a day behind the computer, but I have every confidence that this will not only be a beneficial exercise, but one that shows me just how much restraint I can have – even when the shiny objects are sucking me in.

Anyone done anything similar? Advice for the online shop-aholic? Mint.com, be prepared to be amazed by the January trends.

Blue ones!

-Ashley

It’s addicting, to say the least.

It is also what inspired me to write this post today. As I mentioned before, time is limited right now between moving, business travel and my wedding in a week, so anything that does transpire here on the blog is pretty much a direct brain dump – not that I have much of a filter anyhow.

So Pintrest got me thinking about things that I love. It also made me realize that simpler is better. I’ve never been one to love clutter, though I sometimes find myself surrounded by it. I guess I could say it’s helping me figure out how to simplify a bit, too.

Below is a list, because that’s easiest, of a few things I’ve learned that I really appreciate in life:

1. Big, bold pieces of art

2. Uncomplicated relationships

3. Basic colors with a splash of brightness (read: black, white, grey and teal)

4. Classic clothing with a hint of delicate detail

5. Yogi tea with a hint of natural honey

6. Trader Joe’s sweet red win ($4.99 bitches)

7. Fall, fall and more fall.

8. Writing with a dog at your feet.

9. Reading quietly

10. Sunshine and skydiving

I think number 10 goes without saying here, but I wanted to have a round 10 – is that a little OCD of me?

Anyhow, there’s not much purpose here other than finding joy in the simple things in life. I’m not sure I’d classify skydiving as “simple” but I would say it’s pure, raw emotion that’s generated through natural body responses – and for most of us, it’s an incredibly freeing experience.

What are some of your favorite things?

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

I’m not sure where the conversation went from there, as I didn’t inquire further because frankly, I don’t really care what people have to say (behind my or my friends backs) unless they’re saying it to my face. Not only that, but the concept is laughable, given that this friend had zero reason to do so (what, with not wanting to get ratings and having started flying camera before 200 jumps anyway…), but it did get me to thinking about the concept of inflating jump numbers.

Skydivers do this for a number of reasons – to speed up the process of getting their ratings (for some you need 100, others 500) or so they can fly a wingsuit or strap a camera to their helmet to catch all the action, both of which the USPA BSRs call for 200 jumps, and is now widely enforced at most dropzones.

That said, what’s it to you if someone does pad their logbook? I mean, say the guy in the plane next to you has 450 skydives, but says he has 500 so he can work toward his Pro rating. Is it that you feel he’s unsafe? Well, if he’s unsafe at 450 jumps then you probably shouldn’t be jumping with him anyway, right? So it’s totally your choice if you want to share the sky with this guy.

And the truth is, you’d be surprised how many people do this. Whether it’s 10 jumps or 100, it happens quite frequently. And so what, they’re only cheating themselves.

It never ceases to amaze me how people – not just in the skydiving world, but in general – can so quickly make someone else’s problem their own. If some dumb newbie wants to “go out of town” and suddenly comes back with 100 jumps to get his coach rating, he’s the one who will have to pay the price, literally, when he doesn’t pass his coach course because he’s not experienced enough.

I’m sure it’s not why you came here this Friday morning, but here’s a little advice for you: focus on yourself, your own skills and your own safety, rather than the numbers in the log books of your fellow jumpers. Worry about yourself and those closest to you, and let everyone else make their own mistakes. Trust me, you’ll be happier in the end.

Blue ones!

Ashley

One of my favorite sayings of one of my wingusiter friends is, “Don’t F$^% it up!” Hearing that just before a flock always puts a smile on my face.

I like to put a bit of a twist on it though, and remind myself not to be afraid to F- it up. Why? Because the fear of messing up alone is enough to make you mess up. Well, for me anyway.

I’ve come to realize this mantra translates well to other aspects of life too. This is the way I look at it, if I can visualize a skydive on the ground, going just the way I want it to, get in the airplane and jump out at 14,000 ft telling myself not to worry about F-ing up, then I can certainly do that in the rest of my life. After all, asking yourself “what’s the worst that can happen?” has a whole different meaning on the ground that in does in the sky.

In day to day life, what’s the worst that really can happen? Maybe your boss doesn’t like some aspect of the email that you sent to your client and he talks to you about it. But, you learned something right? As long as you weren’t a dumbass and leaked information or told someone where to stick it on company time, you likely didn’t do any damage that can’t be undone – and now next time you know.

With skydiving, it’s a bit different of course, because we all know what the worst that can happen is. BUT, if you look at it piece by piece, say, what’s the worst that can happen if you cork out on that head down? Maybe you’ve lost your chance to get it on that skydive, or you bump into someone, or even kick or get kicked in the face (been there) but so what, it’s all part of the sport, and similar to a work blunder, you learned something.

Here’s my point, being controlled by the fear to mess up is just as bad, if not worse sometimes, than being complacent and too overconfident. Just like in all other aspects of life, I’m a big believer in having a sense of balance. When it comes to safety, there’s no room for complacency, but overcoming challenges won’t happen if you let fear stand in your way either.

So, in the air and on the ground, be aware of the risks and acknowledge them, but don’t be afraid to take that next step to tackling challenges and conquering the fear of F-ing it up. Don’t be afraid to ask yourself, “what’s the worst that can happen?” and then be prepared for it.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

If there’s one thing I’ve learned about myself in the whirlwind that’s my 20s it’s that yoga is good for my soul. So is skydiving. These are two things that have continued to hold a spot in my heart, no matter if I’m practicing or not.

Even when I’m unable to attend yoga classes, for one reason or another, my practice hasn’t stopped. The principles of yoga seep into my daily life, and only serve in helping me improve – in all aspects of life.

Progression in a sport like skydiving has a lot to do with overcoming fear (well, for me anyway). Skydiving has this way of throwing the reality of your own mortality in your face. Each jumper has their own way of dealing with this, from acknowledging the fear and consciously leaving it in the door on the way out of the airplane, to using their self-confidence to know that they have the ability to save their own life time and time again. Some even get cocky and complacent, of course this is not the recommended path for continuing in the sport.

Others, have more difficulty acknowleding their own fear – often feeling that it’s a sign of weakness – and therefore experience mental challenges in moving past this fear. This is where, in my life, yoga has come into play. That 10 minute ride to altitude becomes a meditation session, a time to reflect on the fear, visualize your perfect skydiving, and channel the power that lives behind that into your performance – into being your best.

It’s not as easy as it sounds. One thing I’ve found is that practicing yoga on the ground, meditating on everything from skydiving to your other hopes, dreams and fears can help make this practice feel more natural – make it something you crave on the way to altitude.

Of course, being a zen skydiver is just one way to deal with the fear, the butterflies that come along with an adrenaline sport. But, it’s the one that seems to work best for me, so I thought I’d share in the knowledge just a little bit. Regardless, I can’t stress the importance of acknowledging your feelings, whatever they might be, in order to move past the mental blocks and perform your best.

Love and Blues Skies!

Ashley

In a recent discussion with a friend I grew up with, we were talking about, as a kid, how I loved to re-arrange my bedroom. I would ask my parents to help me so frequently, in fact, it bordered on annoyance. Looking back, I think it was a good opportunity for me to take stock of what I had, throw out what I didn’t need, simplify and organize. Sure, those may be beneficial outcomes, but I also think it’s a trait that shines a bit of a spotlight on my psyche. The need for change.

No, I’m not about to wip out my psych minor knowledge and get all shrinky on you here, but it got my wheels turning about how daily actions can provide insight as to what’s going on internally (inside your brain, I mean).

Take skydivers for instance. Jumping out of airplanes provides us a sense of freedom that we otherwise wouldn’t experience in this life. It’s one of the most freeing experiences (for me, anyway), both physically and mentally. How many times have you heard me say that jumping out of an airplane allows me to leave all my stress and worries in the door, because you really can’t think about much aside from what’s happening in the moment. There’s your mental release. And how much freer can you get physically than to be wind surfing at 14,000 ft above the Earth? I can only imagine doing so naked would feel freer (no, I don’t intend on finding out).

There’s something to be said for our need to experience that kind of freedom. Does that mean that most of us have a craving for independence, a sense of freedom in all other aspects of our lives?

I’d have to vote yes on that one. Let’s look at a few examples:

Relationships: Most skydivers I know are either unattached in their romantic lives, or they’re dating/married to a skydiver – someone who gets them.

Career: I can’t count on my two hands how many jumpers I know that have either gone to great lengths to change their career schedules or changing jobs altogether to gain some additional freedom, allowing for a more flexible schedule, whether it’s to jump or not. Even my hand is raised on this one (oh yeah, did I mention that I quit my job a couple weeks ago? A new opportunity came knocking and I’m at a place where they actually allow you to do what you are good at without looking over your shoulder every second. I know, right? What’s that like? Fucking amazing, that’s what)!

Of course, this still doesn’t explain my need for frequent change, but that might be a topic for another day.

So what do your hobbies say about your psychological needs?

I’d be interested to see a study done about this (yes, I’m kind of a nerd like that). Someone has to have inquired about this before, right?

Love and Blue Ones Kiddies!

-Ashley

“Wow, you’re brave!”

“That’s dangerous, don’t you get scared?”

“Aren’t you afraid your ‘chute won’t open?”

You get the idea.

Truth is we are taking risks as skydivers, but they are calculated risks.

Just as with anything else in life, you analyze the risks vs. rewards. With skydiving, you also take a look at the safety factors, like a professionally packed reserve that’s there in case your first go at deployment doesn’t go so well and the helmet on your head with a dytter that lets you know when it’s time to break away and deploy. So, the risks are calculated.

It’s kinda like buying a car with safety features like side airbags and antilock breaks.

Another way we calculate the risks of the sport is taking a look at outside factors like winds, the people you’re sharing the sky with and our own personal setbacks. Each and every one of us has areas that could use improvement, and it’s up to us to determine what we’re capable of without hurting ourselves or others in the process.

I did just that this weekend as I decided to get myself back in the air after a hip injury earlier this season. Sunday’s weather was perfect, and with a 13 mph wind it was just right to set me down gently upon landing. Let me tell you, it wasn’t an easy decision. The last thing I wanted was to get hurt again, maybe worse this time, because I didn’t give myself enough time to heal. However, I also knew that the conditions couldn’t be better for a jittery skydive. Sure enough, my calculations were correct. I tiptoed out my landing and got back the confidence I needed. Can’t wait to get back out there!

Taking an honest look at your deficiencies as well as those of your fellow jumpers is important in the decision to make a safe skydive. I’m a big believer that if your gut tells you not to jump with that person just off student status, or if the winds are just a bit too gusty for your liking, then you should listen to it. There’s nothing wrong with playing it on the safe side, no matter how much of a ribbing you might take for it. There’s lots of life, and skydiving, left to be enjoyed.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

I have a damn good reason for the lack of posts lately – it’s because there’s a lot of change happening right now.

Normally when I mention change in my life it has zero impact on you, my readers. This time, however, the changes will have some affect on your SkydiveChick blog reading pleasure.

That’s all I’m going to say for now. There’s still a bit of work ahead, so I’ll do my best to stay on top of updates, but until all my ducks are in a row this is going to be a bit of a hush hush situation.

“Secrets secrets are no fun…” but I promise you, this one is.

Stay tuned!

Love and blue ones, y’all!

Ashley

It’s not uncommon that they are highly off base and/or something that just isn’t a good fit for my blog. Usually, they are very poorly written and are clearly just PR people hoping to tip the scales for their client.

I do get it. I started my career in PR and it’s since evolved into social media. Therefore, I have a lot of experience pitching both traditional media and bloggers. As a blogger myself, this also means that I have a lot of tips from both sides of the fence on how to go about approaching bloggers.

Let me start by saying that yes, this post was inspired by not only a very poor excuse for a pitch, but also an incredibly useless follow up email in response to a question I sent back (I’ll elaborate shortly), but I am not one of those bloggers who is out there to throw PR people under the bus for doing their job, even if it’s done poorly. I’m fully aware that pitching is usually put in the hands of interns or junior level staff, and sometimes those kiddies aren’t prepped enough to know any better when it comes to poor outreach strategy. Therefore, I have no intention of spewing names and ruining reputations.

That said, I do want to point out what went wrong this afternoon.

I opened my inbox to find an email from a Junior SEO Analyst (which seemed an odd person to be pitching me in the first place) from a global travel company. The email was very short – and by very short I mean two sentences – alerting me to an article touting the top 10 skydiving destinations. Curious about how the “Top 10″ was determined, I wrote him back asking what criteria was used in developing this list, and here’s what I got:

“This would have been put together by our senior content writer, though I don’t know the ‘bullet-point’ criteria she used. In any event, I hope you like and find useful what is there and will share it with your users!”

Oh, I’ll share it alright.

I’m not one to be aggravated by PR pitches, if I don’t like them I’ll ignore them. If I’m interested, I’ll usually write back for more information – which in this case I did and was shot down. Not only was I denied additional information but I was again asked to share his link! Pretty ballsy to turn a blogger’s request for additonal info, after you reached out to her mind you.

All he would have had to do is ask around, talk to that senior content writer about how she developed that story, about how she came to the “top 10 skydiving destinations” (which, btw, I’m not sharing here because it was very poorly written didn’t provide any names or links to the local dropzones, so what’s the point?) and send me a quick note back. Or for the love of Pete put me in touch with her if you’re too lazy to do that! I’m not a lazy blogger, generally, so if I really wanted the info at the very least I could have had a way to find it out.

–end rant–

So, I wanted to provide a few tips here to help all those who might reach out to me, or any other bloggers in the future, so you can be prepared to give us what we might want to see so it’s a win-win for us all. So here goes nothing:

Skydive Chick’s Blogger Tips

* Keep your email short and conversational. Tell me your point up front, provide a link to what you’re talking about and why you think it’s an interest to me and my audience.

* If you have visuals to demonstrate your point, please don’t attach them, but let me know they exist. We skydivers love videos of any adrenaline sport. Yes, I’m interested.

* Keep in mind that most bloggers, myself included, have full time day jobs and blog simply because we love it. I’m not getting paid to do this so be respectful of my time and understanding of my needs in order to utilize the information you’re sending me.

* Be transparent. Tell me who you’re with and why you’re contacting me. Most of us know what a pitch is, so just be honest that you’re pitching us.

* Bloggers like free stuff, both for themselves and for giveaways. It’s true. Reviews and sweeps have proven to generate lots of traffic (which bloggers like too) so it’s something to consider if visibility and high engagement is key for your client.

* Be yourself. You’re more likely to build a genuine relationship with me, and we might be able to have a long-standing partnership if you or your client have content that hits that sweet spot.

* If I’m not interested, you’ll likely never hear from me. If I am, I’ll respond. So please don’t follow up. That’s not going to make me want to cover your story more than the first time around. Yes, I got your email last week, but diaper rash cream has nothing to do with skydiving, sorry.

* That said, pay attention to the content, not just what I’m writing about, but my style and what would really interest me. Bloggers can see right through those PR pros who have only read my last two blog posts.

* When I do follow up, be willing to answer questions and provide additional info – especially if all you sent me was a link. If I’m going to share something with my audience, I want to be fluent in what I’m putting out there.

* If you’re not willing to provide additional information, don’t email me in the first place. Next time, I might just let the world know who you are.

Hopefully this helps a bit. I’m really not trying to be a dick, but it’s not just a waste of my time but a waste of yours too if you’re not willing to work with me and give a little. Team effort here guys.

Any other bloggers with tips they’d like to add, please feel free to chime in.

Blue ones!

-Ashley

Photo by Kevin King http://flickr.com/photos/divemasterking2000

One of the things I love most about skydiving is that it’s a constant learning experience. Even after you master one discipline, there’s always a new challenge on the on the horizon.

I’m a true believer that you can always improve, no matter how good you are at something.

That said, in order to improve, you have to be open to it.

Sometimes our skydiver egos can get the best of us, and rather than taking an objective look at our mistakes and soaking up the knowledge to improve, we throw out excuses to pad our egos.

Sure, nobody likes to cork out their first sit of the year, or be the guy who comes plowing into the formation and takes everyone out. And certainly, no one wants to be the guy who crashes his first landing of the season in front of the whole dropzone (yep, I was that guy this year), but making excuses for these things doesn’t do anything but hurt you, in the long run.

Personally I’ve found that sometimes simply owning your mistakes, acknowledging your areas for improvement, can do more for your ego than sitting around defending yourself while everyone rolls their eyes. So what, you f-ed up…we’re all human!

This time of the year, as we’re all a bit rusty from the long winter months, the learning curve tends to be a bit steeper as we get our wings back. As well all know, muscle memory only lasts for so long, so spring time can require a bit of re-training for those parts of the sport that seemed to come so naturally last fall.

It’s also important to remember that if you are a bit nervous about particular skills after a long period off, it might be best to ease back in with a few easy planned jumps, like 2, 3 or 4 ways. Hell, if you’re really concerned, do a couple solos so you can focus on yourself and get those butterflies out. In the end, no one is going to fault you for being overly cautious and concerned about the safety of yourself and others - especially during the early parts of the season.

Just one more reason to keep the beast that is the skydiver ego at bay – it could save your life.

Blue skies!

Ashley