I wish I was skateboarding in San Diego where I live, however, homework and bad weather have put a serious dent in my skateboarding time. I know how strange for it to be rainy in Southern California!

Until the weather improves and the homework lightens up – I’ll focus on the positive which is all around the world more girls are having fun skateboarding.

Above Léa in Lyon, France.

I know I don’t post as much or as fast as I used to – the struggles of high school academics are real for me – but I’m thankful to all who share there pictures and stories because more girls do skateboard when the see girls having fun skateboarding.

I’m also thankful to have been recognized by Feedspot as one of the Top 30 Skateboard Websites and Blogs for Skateboarding Enthusiasts. How awesome to know that more and more people are seeing that girls can skateboard and that skating benefits girls on & off the board. The determination and balance you learn from skateboarding really do apply to life. Plus it’s awesome to know that people realize there’s no uniform in skateboarding – skate while staying true to your fashion just like Léa and all the other skater girls featured in the blog!

Skate Rising avoided the threat of rain thanks to the generosity of CA Training Facility in Vista, CA.

I’m so bummed that I had to miss it and I’m grateful for the wonderful photos from Mike Moore which capture the joy that all the participants had.

In addition to skateboarding and helping each other skate the girls learned about resilience and donated baby items for the Door of Faith orphanage in Baja Mexico.

What is resilience? It’s the ability to recover quickly from difficulties which is critical to accomplishing your goals. Everyone encounters set backs and then has the choice to let the set back stop them or find a way to continue. For Mulan it was figuring out how to use the weights to pull herself up the pole, how have you shown resilience?

As skateboarders we practice resilience every time we fall and get back up. More girls skate when they see girls having fun skateboarding and all people are inspired when they learn how people demonstrated resiliency, so I hope you share soon.

Back in 2016 I had the pleasure of hosting Flat Stanley. One of the many places I took Flat Stanley was the SkateXS workshop in Carlsbad, CA where we built a deck.

The skateboard went to Louisiana where it found a home with Emma. I was super excited to see that Emma had fun with her board this past holiday season.

As the skatingfashionista I absolutely love the dress. My hope is that Emma and her board have a fabulous 2019.

It would be awesome to see her take the board on adventures. We all start skating somewhere. Having the courage to step on the board might just be the hardest decision we make.

The real lessons of skateboarding come when we keep having the courage to get back on the board. Falling will be inevitable and if you find a love for skateboarding than getting back up will also be inevitable.

May 2019 be your year to challenge yourself to be the best skater you can be. Whether it’s cruising, street, park, downhill . . . keep skateboarding for fun & keep challenging yourself to be your best on and off the board.

After taking a break to refresh, I’m ready for 2019. Before moving on to new posts, I just want to say THANK YOU to everyone who made 2018 a wonderful year.

I love skateboarding and I love sharing skateboarding. Skating and volunteering at events is fun “work”. When I say I needed a break I mean from school. I’m a junior so in addition to classes, it’s SAT time.

To be honest I’m scared. Where will I be in two years? It’s the first time in my life that I’ll be leaving for the unknown. There are endless unknowns from where should I want to go to will my scores be “good enough”.

As someone who’s never focused on numbers or defined her self worth by a number, I find it disturbing that my near term future appears to be all about the numbers. I appreciate that I had my skateboard and could just go out skating with my dad this past holiday season.

Here’s to 2019 – I hope this blog inspires many girls to try skateboarding. It really is liberating to just balance on your board and roll away from everything.

Plus no matter where I end up for college I won’t be going alone because my skateboard goes anywhere and I can always bring it back home to skate with my dad.