ashleyswan.ca

Get going!

Ashley — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:22:03 +0000

“I beg young people to travel. If you don’t have a passport, get one. Take a summer, get a backpack and go to Delhi, go to Saigon, go to Bangkok, go to Kenya. Have your mind blown. Eat interesting food. Dig some interesting people. Have an adventure. Be careful. Come back and you’re going to see your country differently, you’re going to see your president differently, no matter who it is. Music, culture, food, water. Your showers will become shorter. You’re going to get a sense of what globalization looks like. It’s not what Tom Friedman writes about; I’m sorry. You’re going to see that global climate change is very real. And that for some people, their day consists of walking 12 miles for four buckets of water. And so there are lessons that you can’t get out of a book that are waiting for you at the other end of that flight. A lot of people—Americans and Europeans—come back and go, ohhhhh. And the light bulb goes on.”

— Henry Rollins

Alabama Shakes

Ashley — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:33:13 +0000

Alabama Shakes covering how many more times, made famous by Zeppelin. Apparently Zeppelin’s version was also a cover according to comments on the video. Either way.. this is awesome.

HST – Round Two

Ashley — Thu, 12 Apr 2012 22:27:57 +0000

“Sleep late, have fun, get wild, drink whisky, and drive fast on empty streets with nothing in mind except falling in love and not getting arrested . . . Res ipsa loquitur. Let the good times roll.” – Hunter S. Thompson, Generation of Swine: Tales of Shame & Degradation in the ’80′s

Spent my day watching Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas and reading Bus 375 notes… time well wasted.

P.S… Revelstoked at Tail Gate B.C.

Ashley — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:38:14 +0000

With Tail Gate A.K going on right now I’d say this is an appropriate post! This looked like a ton of fun… add it to the list for next season! Ladies were killin’ it and having a blast by the looks of it, this is what snowboarding should be!

Now that I think about it I was actually in Golden that weekend, looks like we should’ve kept going to Revy!!!

Easter Egg Nests!

Ashley — Tue, 10 Apr 2012 04:20:41 +0000

So I got really ambitious on Saturday and decided to make some chocolate haystacks, basically they’re a whole lot of sugar mixed with coconut and oatmeal. Not a whole lot of healthy going on there! I stole the idea off of Pinterest where someone had done it with chow mein noodles but really who wants to eat chocolate covered chow mein? Actually nevermind…So this is how they turned out! Cute no?

Hope you all had a happy Easter weekend!

Sending some Moss Culture love…

Ashley — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 02:30:30 +0000

So awhile back I wrote this long kick-ass post about a couple of friends new company… then wordpress killed it on me. Sad moment, but I finally got around to reposting it!

MOSS CULTURE

So some of you might remember a couple of years back (oh god has it really been that long?) I lived in this tiny little house with eight other awesome individuals, it was probably one of the most ridiculous adventures I’ve ever had. A lot of partying and hanging out, with the odd moments of drama here and there made for an epic eight months in the 3308 house in Vernon, B.C. Now two of those two roommates have started a new venture called Moss Culture. Jeff Barrett and Chris Saavedra (aka. Panda) are behind the new skate/snow/etc. media site MossCulture.com. Here’s what they have to say…

“Moss Culture is a media and apparel company based out of Barrie, Ontario. Moss Culture is dedicated to continuing exposure of the “extreme sport” lifestyle through online media. We will continuously offer high quality video media and apparel to you. Keep Mossin!”

The Moss Culture Site

The guys have just started out in the apparel world with some new sunglasses & they were kind enough to send a pair out to yours truly. They sent me the coolest pair of ray-ban style shades with polarized lenses and tortoiseshell arms, and needless to say… I am in love. They have a ton of cool color options and two lens choices in the shades, and you can get hooked up with a pair (for $10) through their website or their facebook page. Jeff and Chris are working on a full line that should be coming out in Spring 2012, I heard rumors of flannels and some layering pieces and knowing these two guys I have no doubt that they’ll be dope!

So steeeee!

Thanks guys!

The guys also got together an impressive crew of Ontario shredders for their team and put out a pile of edits this past season. All the edits are available either on the website or on their Vimeo channel. Right now their team consists of: Chris Scudds, Justin Verberne, Adam Leadbetter, Jeff Braun, Jesse Greer, Pat Klacza, Regen Stewart, Sam Pollock, and Chris Mullins. Check out their Crew section for full bios on all their riders.

Chris and Jeff have combined their interest in running a business with a genuine love for the sport of snowboarding, which is something that this industry desperately needs. Too often you see companies advertising “Rider Owned” when really they’re operated by cold corporate drones who could really care less how many pow turns they’re getting in a season. There is none of that fluff here, these guys are legit… just a couple of vagabond snowboarders who are trying to make something out of an awesome idea. The guys took off to Whistler for a couple of weeks last spring to visit some friends, chill, and get some spring shots… you can check em out on their page or hit them up on facebook!

I’m hyped on what they’re doing and I know I’m not the only one! They got a little help from super babe graphic designer, Meghan Hindle who was behind the Moss logo which can be found on the sunglasses (and on the site!) and I’m sure there will be a ton of awesome friend collabs in the future! The guys are all about positive vibes and they have no problem promoting events and throwing out props where they’re due. Their website has definitely become my go-to source when I want to know what’s going on in the East.

So go check out the site… like NOW!

Time Waster

Ashley — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:09:27 +0000

When I opened up my blog’s dashboard tonight I really had no intention of writing anything. Seriously, I was halfway through an operations management assignment and just generally looking for a 10 minute escape from the monotony that has become my last year of being an undergrad. Of course being a student, 10 minutes turns into 15 and then an hour later I’m sitting there staring at something like this or this. But more often than not, my focus eventually wanders to the never ending parade of snowboarding related media sites (I swear new blogs/sites appear by the hour.) This time I focused a little more on the chick shred content but there’s a little bit of every thing thrown in there. Also it’s not just video content or snowboarding content, it’s a mash up of everything really.

Nike Girls Revelstoke Trip - Decent.

Pow lines in India with Caja Schöpf and Lena Stoffel – Cooler Mag’s got the story.

Rugged Riders Take a Skatecation on SBCwomen, honorable mention for the lion cat in the 2nd picture. I want it!

The Wind That I Feel As I Wait – Kevin Charles on bwgmag.com

Yobeat review of Peepshow’s Winter Wars – “Peepshow, as it stands, is a rebel force in snowboarding. It shows girls don’t have to be skittle-colored contest junkies to stand out.” - Nick Lipton (p.s. thank you…)

Carissa Moore’s nike commercial – All I can say is congrat nike, you made a commercial that wasn’t fucking horrible…unlike this one.

Pirate Dog’s Surf Trip

Ashley — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:09:03 +0000

September 1st – Random trip to the liquor board with Ally turned into a week long surf adventure. We just wanted a bottle of wine…

Literally, we were driving to buy some wine to celebrate moving back into our place & to make the unpacking process a little more bearable; when the conversation turned to surfing. I had never gone, and Ally had gone quite a bit while she was living in Nanaimo but either way we were both desperate to go. It was then that we realized… why don’t we just go? I had been planning to drive to Tofino for a couple of weeks already, and it just made sense to do it when we both could go! We had less than a week to make the trip so we decided to go home, re-pack and leave at 6am for Ucluelet. Two girls and my lil aussie cattle dog Kip packed into the car for a two day drive to the Island.

We made it there Wednesday evening, and set up camp at the Ucluelet campground for the next three days. We spent most of our days wandering back and forth between Ucluelet and Tofino.

We usually ended up in Tofino for breakfast at the Common Loaf bakery which had the most amazing breakfast wrap EVER & white chocolate cranberry muffins that were faaaantastic. Then we spent the day surfing at cox bay and just hanging out with the dog on the beach. Day one of learning to surf was amazing, I fell in love. Instant love, I would actually quit life and just surf from this day forward if I had the guts to do it. Maybe after I finish this university thing… Anyways, day two was not so mellow. The wave information went from high to EXTREME overnight and by the next morning we were literally in over our heads…. like 10 ft waves over my head. Yikes.

We went to long beach for about an hour and the rip current was so strong even when I’d walk another 30 or 40 feet down the beach I’d still find myself getting pulled back into it so fast. On top of that it seemed like EVERYONE was out trying to learn at Long Beach and it was just a mess of boards and people flying everywhere. Not exactly the most comfortable spot to keep learning in. So after some debating we headed back over to Cox beach which was mellow and had breaks that I could actually handle. Once again I was in love…

Sadly our trip came to an end all too quickly. On Saturday we had to head to Victoria where Ally and I would be parting ways. She was flying back to Regina that day and I would finish the drive from BC to Saskatchewan on my own (the doggy was still with me though!)

We found one last adventure to do together though… On the way through Nanaimo we brought up the idea of bungee jumping. We initially had talked about doing it in Whistler on the way out but when we switched our route and went on the 97 instead of taking Duffy lake road we decided that it would just have to wait. However, luckily for us WildPlay in Nanaimo had a 150ft bridge jump over a river…

I was so not into the idea at first, like I felt sick at the thought of walking up to the bridge but when I finally got up there and looked down my first thought was “oh it’s not even that far down…” an hour and one game of rock paper scissors I was standing on the edge with a long rubber rope tied to my ankles. I was fine until the very moment I got to the edge, it wasn’t until just then that the “WTF are you doing?” part of my brain kicked in. It really wasn’t that bad… I actually didn’t get the chest pounding rush that it seems like you should get afterwards. I was already trying to decide if I could afford to do it again!

After the bungee jumping we checked out some sweet antique stores and then eventually we made it to the airport, tearily parted ways and I kept going… I planned to drive to Chiliwack that night but ended up going to Merritt instead where I stayed at some cheap place filled with the coolest older couples who were on a Goldwing tour, we had some sweet breakfast chats around a whole lot of motorcycles and I found out there was over 300+ bikes on their ride!!!

Sunday funday, almost a week after leaving Regina I arrived in Vernon where I spent some time with the bestest crew of friends & old roommates that anyone could ever ask for. Pool parties, bbqs, puppy play dates & a whole lotta beach time went down. I really do have the best friends anyone could ever ask for! Thanks for putting up with the dog & I! Love love love.

Sadly, our trip had to come to an end and by Wednesday the Kipster and I were back in our own bed in Regina… but now I’m already planning the next adventure. Chile it is!

Worth It.

Ashley — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 07:08:33 +0000

Lost In Translation

Ashley — Tue, 13 Sep 2011 16:55:55 +0000

Charlotte: I just don’t know what I’m supposed to be.
Bob: You’ll figure that out. The more you know who you are, and what you want, the less you let things upset you.