Year in Review 2010

Well, it's been quite a year, and sticking with blogger tradition I'm going to do a year in review. I'm a follower, not a leader ;). Only kidding of course.

But first, I have the last Reverb10 prompt to think about: December 31 – Core Story What central story is at the core of you, and how do you share it with the world?

As I've said through most of my posts this past month, the theme of 2010 was definitely learning. I'm grateful for every experience I've had this year that's taught me a thing or two about who I am, who I want to become, and who I want to surround myself with in the process.

Now, let's get on with the 2010 Year in Review...shall we? I tried to include a picture or video from each month. As you can see, I need to start taking more pictures again...

January

This was a month of adjusting and anticipating for me. I'd recently moved in with the first boyfriend I've ever lived with (which turned out pretty well, given that we are now engaged), and I spent the last days of the month traveling to warmer climates for, you guessed it, skydiving (video). This was also the month that I experienced my first cutaway, saving my own life. Pretty fun!

February

I started the month still on our 10 day Florida vacation, skydiving in Z-hills (video). Then it was time to get back to the grind. Finishing out the winter by reminiscing over all the fun things we did on our vacation and editing video.

March

The first half of the month I went up to Michigan to spend time with family I hadn't seen since the holidays and to celebrate my grandfather's 80th birthday. This was when I really realized how much I miss my grandparents by living so far from home. I made it a point to start reconnecting with them on a regular basis. So far, I've done a pretty good job of this each time I head home.

This month I also got the last addition to my skydiving tattoo...for now ;)

April

The skydiving season really starts to pick up as the weather gets warmer. But my boyfriend and I head down to South Carolina for a visit with his aunt and some skydiving action in a new city. We had a great time and came home with an open invitation to go back. Hoping to take advantage of that again this year. This was also the month where I really started to ramp up on the Jump for Diabetes promoting. I did a lot of outreach in my spare time for the event and, having just cut the final check to the ADA yesterday, I can honestly say it was well worth the work!

May

I got a couple offers for sponsors for the Jump for Diabetes. Not only that, I was asked to write a legit review on my blog and I got my first advertiser. This was a good month for Skydive Chick. For my birthday, we headed out to New York to skydive at a place called The Ranch. It was a fun weekend away.

June

This was a huge month for me in terms of skydiving. I started flying a wingsuit, which I haven't done much of in the past 6 months, but I was all about it in June and July! Then I was able to demo a much smaller canopy on a trip down to one of our favorite Ohio dropzones. It showed me that I wanted a 120 square foot parachute...bad. Unfortunately, this was also the month that I lost my grandmother. Though, as we joked at the funeral, this was her way of finally getting my cousins, aunt and uncle from California together with the rest of the family. It'd been too long...I miss them all!

July

This was a HUGE month for learning for me. Between the death of my grandmother and the loss of a couple friends (who, really, turned out to be not such great people after all) I really took a step back to evaluate what's important in life. For the first time I saw myself and the life I was leading. I saw that I was really living up to the spoiled little sister of the family, and that I was doing only what I pleased, whenever I wanted. I made a promise to myself to make my family and (true) friends more of a priority in my life, and skydiving, a little less. It was the first time I said to myself, "there's more to life than skydiving," and truly believed it. I also realized that I'd been slacking on my photography and yoga. At least I was able to re-commit to the latter.

August

Jump for Diabetes was here at last! We raised nearly $10,000 for an incredible cause (it all went to the American Diabetes Association, earmarked specifically for diabetes research). On top of that, people had an amazing time. Even with the rain we experienced, we were able to celebrate, enjoy good times and give away over $10,000 in donated skydiving gear in our raffles. Thanks to all who participated! (video)

September

Labor Day weekend we headed down to the Work Stinks! Boogie in Southern Ohio to celebrate our one year anniversary by jumping out of airplanes. Cool! Not only that, we got engaged on that first skydive. On top of that, we had our engagement photo shoot with Norman Kent. Be sure to check out the video here.

October

Another skydiving boogie, this time in Los Angeles at Skydive Elsinore. I was able to keep a promise to my California family that'd we come out for a visit. Weather was weird, so not nearly enough skydiving happened (video) but it was great to spend a week with my cousins and my aunt and uncle, and make some great new connections in the skydiving world. I need to make this a tradition. Then, we came back for 4 days before the big move to Chicago. The rest of the month was spent getting adjusted.

November

Lots more learning this month. Recommitted to my good friend yoga. Started working out regularly, played lots of racquetball. Skydiving came to a screeching halt when the weather turned sour. We've yet to find a local dropzone that will toss you out of an airplane even in the winter...still looking.

December

This month went by too fast. Between the holidays and the transition from my office in Cleveland to becoming a Chicago staff member I had my hands full. Not to mention planning for all the great things that will happen in 2011, like a wedding and more travel. So much on the horizon.

Here's to hoping that 2011 just keeps getting better.

Cheers!

Ashley