I want to extend a hearty thanks to my mom for all she went through 28 years ago – and since that day – to help make my life what it is today. Without you, I wouldn’t be nearly as blessed (or you know, alive) as I am!

The tradition of birthdays has always been a bit confusing to me. On the day you are born, your mom does all the work. So why is it that each year you receive gifts? Being born was the easiest thing you’ve done in your whole life and we celebrate it year after year? Mom should get gifts too, right?

But, given that it’s tradition, I’m certainly not opposed to receiving gifts!

This year, all I want for my birthday is for you to donate to a great cause: Jump for Diabetes. What that means is your donations go directly to benefit the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, earmarked for diabetes research. You can donate directly on our site via PayPal or you can email us for mailing options if you prefer to write a check: JumpForDiabetes@gmail.com.

A donation to the cause, to help find a cure for diabetes, would be the best gift you could give me, and the diabetes community, on my birthday!

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

Well, there’s not much new to talk about this week (aside from my top secret mission that’s taking place this evening, but that’s a post for another day), so I thought this would be a good time to provide an update on Jump for Diabetes.

First thing everyone wants to know about is what are we giving away at the raffle?! Well, let me tell you that this year’s prize list is more robust than ever, and I don’t even know where to begin to thank the skydiving community for their generosity. We have more than $15,000 in prizes and discounts to give away. You can find the updated list on our website, or look below.

• 1st Prize: FREE custom main (non-cross braced) or reserve canopy from Performance Designs!
• Taste of Base with Miles Daisher
• x2 – 50% Off Wings Containers
• x2 – 50% Off Cookie G3 Helmet
• FREE Helmet from Bonehead
• 20% Off Vigil
• x2 – 35% Off Vector, plus 15% options from UPT
• x2 – 40% Off Javelin container from SunPath
• Hypoxic Certificates
• Three $100+ Discounts from Ouragan Suits
• x4 – 20% Off Phoenix Fly Discount Certificates
• FREE Freak’n Suits
• FREE Reserve Repack from String Theory Productions
• 35% Off Bev Suit Voucher
• x2 – 30% Off Mirage Systems container
• x2 – 50% Off Deepseed Jumpsuits
• FREE Cypress Maintenance Certificate
• x3 Brian Germain Books
• FREE Phantom X helmet from Square1
• $100 Off SDC Rhythm Tunnel Camp
• $1400 off a complete Aerodyne system
• 2 Go Pro Hero cameras from ChutingStar
• FREE First flight course with iFlock Academy at Skydive Chicago
• 25% Off Vertical Suits
• x2 25% Off Merlin Suits
• FREE Merlin Pants
• $100 Off STF Block Party Tunnel Camp
• 15 Min Tunnel Coaching by Mickey Nuttall ($219 value, use it or lose it).
• Stay Tuned for More!!!!

We are also so incredibly thrilled with how many jumpers have come out of the woodwork to pledge their jumps for the weekend. We have some at both events (Skydive Chicago and Skydive The Farm for those who haven’t been following along) as well as from other states including California,  Pennsylvania, Michigan, Florida, the Carolinas and more. This is a great way for anyone to get involved no matter where you live. Email us at JumpForDiabetes@gmail.com if you’re interested in becoming a sponsored jumper and pledging your jumps to the cause that weekend (July 6-8, 2012).

As I’ve mentioned numerous times before, all proceeds of the event go directly to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation to support diabetes research. Yes, we are an incorporated not-for-profit ourselves, but partnering with the JDRF ensures that the funds go directly to research and gives us piece of mind that we’re contributing to the most ground-breaking science in the space.

If you’ll be attending the events, we’re going to have other amazing things going on as well, from local give aways to a bake sale, t-shirt sale, and more! Stay tuned on Facebook for more details.

Of course, if you’re reading this going, “I don’t skydive so I can’t participate???” well, the answer is no, you can! If you head over to our website: http://jumpfordiabetes.org, and click on the donate link across the top navigation, you can submit donations via PayPal. This is a great way to support the cause and feel good about giving back to the diabetes community.

It truly is a disease that touches so many, and every year I am blessed to be connected with so many who are affected on a daily basis. Let’s work together to find a cure, shall we?

Love and Blue Skies!

Ashley

Hard to believe that the 4th Annual Jump for Diabetes is right around the corner. This will be my 3rd year coordinating the event and I am proud to say that it’s going to be bigger and better than the last!

We recently launched our website http://jumpfordiabetes.org (thanks to our friends over at nDevix), where you can keep up on the latest raffle items as they come in (we all know that’s what skydivers are interested in, free shit, right?), get the latest information on sponsors and participating dropzones, and you can even donate online!

We are so blessed to have both Skydive Chicago and Skydive The Farm on board this year. We’ll be hosting two events, in tandem on July 6-8th to raise funds for the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. If you’re on Facebook and haven’t already be sure to RSVP to our event. You can keep up with the latest updates there as well.

So let’s get to what everyone wants to know about – those gear donations. We’re still over two months out and already we have seen more generosity from this community than ever. It warms my heart to see all the manufacturers who are standing behind us to help find a cure for diabetes. This year we have Deepseed on board with us and they are eyeballs deep in supporting this cause. Huge thanks to Liam and his crew for all they’ve already done! Check out their website and Facebook page. They’ve got some great stuff going on and they’re just plain fun!

Once again PD is all in and the first ticket drawn on Saturday, July 7th after the fireworks at SDC will be the lucky recipient of a free custom main (non-cross braced) or reserve canopy from Performance Designs. Bad ass! And of course, there’s thousands of dollars in free gear and discounts:

• FREE Taste of Base with Miles Daisher
• 2 – 50% Off Wings Containers
• 2 – 50% Off Cookie G3 Helmet
• Bonehead Discount Certificates
• 20% Off Vigil
• 2 – 35% Off Vector, plus 15% options from UPT
• 2 – 40% Off Javelin container from SunPath
• Hypoxic Certificates
• 3- $100+ Discounts from Ouragan Suits
• 4 – 20% Off Phoenix Fly Discount Certificates
• FREE Freak’n Suits
• FREE Reserve Repack from String Theory Productions
• FREE Phantom X Helmet from Square1
• 35% Off Bev Suit Voucher
• 2 – 30% Off Mirage Systems container
• 2 – 50% Off Deepseed Jumpsuits
• FREE Cypress Maintenance Certificate
• 3 Brian Germain Books
• $100 Off SDC Rhythm Tunnel Camp
• And MORE

Donations are still coming in and we will keep you posted on our website as we get more.

If you want to purchase tickets, see Rick or myself at Skydive The Farm, Morgan at Skydive Chicago, or email us at JumpForDiabetes@gmail.com. You do NOT have to be present to win, so please feel free to purchase remotely!

I will be managing the event at Skydive Chicago this year, so if you want to find me the day of the event to purchase, please feel free. If you’re planning to head to The Farm for the event, don’t worry, Rick will be on the ground there, and on the phone with me so all winners will be announced immediately after the drawing.

Oh, and if you want to be a sponsored jumper and pledge your jumps for the weekend to the cause, you can do that from anywhere too! Just shoot me a comment, Facebook message or email and we’ll get you the sheet so you can get pledges.

Thanks to all who are working so hard to make this a great success! We couldn’t do any of it without the unwavering support of this community.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

But, no.

My first move was at age 18, when I trotted off to Holden Hall at Michigan State to join my fellow Spartans for on-campus living. Then, there were a handful of moves to new apartments, trashy college houses, and even one year spent with the ‘rents commuting to school.

After graduation, my offer came from San Antonio, Texas and I didn’t even hesitate. My first cross-country move was exciting. Exhausting none the less, but I was starting a new journey into adult life with an amazing job opportunity.

Three months later, my company moved me to Dallas. A year later, Cleveland was calling for my services, so I packed up for another cross-country adventure.

In my 3.5 years in NE Ohio I racked up 4 more moves before it was time to make the transfer to Chicago, that y’all likely remember from just over a year ago.

Then I got married, adopted a pup, changed jobs (believe it or not, all city transfers had been with the same company…even though I’ve moved on, I look back fondly on the amazing opportunities they provided me in those first 5 years of my career), moved again, had a wedding, went on a honeymoon…it was looking like settling down in the Midwest was going to happen.

Until, well, until an opportunity arose to head back south. That’s right kids, another long move is on the horizon.

Two weeks from now, hubs, pup and I will be packing up and heading to Atlanta.

Leaving Chicago is bittersweet. My family is so close, I’ve rekindled some friendships with a couple lovely ladies from my home town that also reside in the Chicago burbs, and I am saddened to be moving from these people. But, anyone who knows me knows I can’t pass up an opportunity to better my life, and the life of my family.

So, off we go, back to the south for a fun new journey. This isn’t goodbye Chicago…We still have Jump for Diabetes on July 6th at Skydive Chicago, and friends/family, we have Skype, Facebook, email, text, Google+ hangouts, and enough upcoming weddings to keep us in touch. Of course, I’m looking forward to the new friendships that are bound to ensue!

Not going to lie, I won’t be missing the brutal winter, my 1.5 hour (one way) commute to the city, Illinois drivers (FIBS for those who have experience) or the intensity of the city. Time for a little slower pace in my down time.

On to bigger and better things.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

The holidays are always a funny time of year. Some people cherish the time they get to spend with friends and family, others dread it. I’m lucky to say that I fall in the former category.

Since college I’ve always lived hours from my family, who, for the most part, all reside within an hour of each other in the mitten (Michigan, for those of you who are geographically challenged) – weather by car or plane, I’ve been a solid 4 hours away.

The holidays for me has always reflected the ability to head home and spend some QT with the fam. There’s not enough time spent together for burnout. Arguments over the holidays are rare with my family, though most of us tend to let a lot roll off our shoulders, so that helps.

But what am I saying, this isn’t about me.

I want to talk about holiday wishes. Everyone has things they wish for during the holidays, weather it’s the latest, greatest TV on the market to appear under the Christmas tree, getting the chance to kiss that someone special under the mistle toe, or simply that the holidays will be happy and stress-free, everyone has hopes of what this time with family will bring.

For me, aside from wanting a peaceful, wonderful experience with my family and my in-laws (as I wish the same for each and every one of you), my biggest wish is that the JDRF will receive more funding than they’ve ever seen this holiday season.

As most of you know, diabetes research is close to my heart. Jump for Diabetes was founded to help find a cure for this disease that touches just about everyone, in one way, shape, or form, and I want nothing more than to see the JDRF succeed!

This year, I’m asking friends and family, rather than giving presents that may or may not get used, to donate to the JDRF and help find a cure for diabetes. Every little bit helps, and I know most are strapped during the holidays, but giving doesn’t have to just happen now. Any time of the year, a few extra dollars can really help take research to the next level.

So, if you’re feeling extra generous head on over to http://jdrfillinois.org and click that Donate button. In the special instruction, be sure to mention Jump for Diabetes so we can keep a running tally of how much this wonderful community has supported the cause.

Wishing you and yours a very, merry holiday season.

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

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

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

Anywhoosits – as if you haven’t heard this enough already, I’m putting it short and sweet – here are the reasons not to miss this event:

• High Altitude Jumps
• More than $10,000 in gear giveaways
• PD Canopy Raffle
• Onsite vendors including EG Suits and Guaranteed Wellness
• 4 live bands Saturday night
• RED BULL GIRLS
• Food vendors
• Oh, and HELLO – skydiving!

Needless to say, it’s going to be an incredible weekend. We have 10 sponsored jumpers who will be out jumping their asses off for the cause – myself included.

Fingers crossed for beautiful weather!

Can’t wait to see y’all there!

Love and blue skies!

Ashley

So I’m going to keep this short and sweet. Here’s what’s up for Jump for Diabetes:

• We’ll be out at Skydive Pennsylvania this weekend, selling PD Canopy Raffle tickets for $100 and allowing people to pre-register in person, rather than online. Cash or checks made out to Jump for Diabetes are accepted. Pre-registration for skydivers is $30 and guarantees you a t-shirt, goodie bag and raffle ticket for he general raffle (which includes thinks like a FREE Freak n’ Suit, a Bonehead Helmet, a pair of Gatorz, FREE freefly pants from EG Suits and much more)! If you decide to register the day of the event it’s $35 and you’re not guaranteed a goodie bag.

• Grand Prize Raffle Tickets recently went on sale: $5 each or 3 for $10. Find out more here: http://jumpfordiabetes.com/blog/?p=21

Those are the big updates for Jump for Diabetes this week. If you’re interested in purchasing any of the tickets, registering for the event or donating to the cause, email JumpforDiabetes@gmail.com and we’ll get you set up!

Blue ones!

Ashley