Polar bears are cute.

Polar bears are drowning and it's your fault. Stop driving!


As luck would have it, I had the wonderful burden of a janky car situation before our invasion of Canada. Upon returning to the states, and $680 dollars later, my car was up and running. After several days of entertaining Nugget, Esther, and Chrissie (trifecta was flippin' rad), my car was running stronger then ever. After dropping the girls off, I headed home...that's when my luck caught up with me. Call it kharma for being obnoxious at trifecta, or what have you- but long story short;

I was going about 70mph on the freeway when the hood of my car popped up, curled, and smacked my windshield which obstructed my view. I quickly pull to the shoulder of the road (which happened to be the fast lane) and call AAA. I get the insurance estimate after getting my car towed home, and wait for my dad to come home so I can tell him the GREAT news. Needless to say, he wasn't stoked.

Living without my car was shitty the first time around, as it had been in the shop for a week before Canada. This time around, I decided I wasn't going to rely on other people for rides, and I wasn't going to sit around for another week and wait for my car to be fixed.

So instead, I grabbed my cruiser. I skated across the freeway back into town, I skated to friends homes, I even skated at our janky ass skatepark (which consists of shitty wood and an oversized pyramid) for the first time since Freshman year.

I fell back in love with skateboarding. The love I felt before I got my license. I fell in love with cruising. How does that song go? Kick, push, coast..

Now that my car is fixed, I'm making a challenge for myself (one that i hope you'll take on also) to start skating more, driving less. It's fun and it's cheap. Meeting your friends in town for some grub? Skate there. Headed to the park down the street? Skate there. Plan ahead, pack a water, bring a backpack, get off your ass and skate.


Product suggestions: Zip Zingers are super cruisers, they're small, fast, and you can actually skate on them if you need to ollie a curb or something. Plus, they're easy to stop unlike longboards. Or, invest in some large, soft, wheels for your normal board. They'll make the ride much smoother, and you'll totally enjoy skating without having your knees rattle.



-Kristina, OUT!

CONTEST

Greetings earthlings!

Thanks to the awesomeness of Jill over at Skatebarn West, we have the green light to start planning a girls skate comp/jam for this winter. The tentitive date is December 13th and for those of you that "aint know" Skatebarn is located in the humble town of Renton, Washington.

Once again, if you want to donate your time and help us make this event Kim Jong-ill...hit us up! yee

skatelikeagirl@gmail.com
kristinebelinggg@yahoo.com

Speaking of Skatebarn... as a beezy you get to skate for freezy every Wednesday. I'm headed over tomorrow, so hit me up if your down.

oh yeah, watch this video and learn your history.

love kristin

So we made some mix tapes for all you all.

Redmond gals skate jammer

HOWDY

Earlier this summer SLAG held an all-girls skate jam to showcase some of the local rippers in the Seattle area. Chrissie, Muriel, and yours truly attended, among others from Bellingham and other surrounding areas. We snapped a few photos. Backside 180 by Chrissie and a frontside tail by me.

Anywhoo, speaking of contests... we still need some help on putting together a contest this winter. If you are interested in doing sound, judging, collecting prizes, raising prize money, making a flyer, internet publicity, or anythang else...let us know!! kristinebelinggg@yahoo.com

until next time...

SLAG at Artoleptic 2008

Asian Skate Gang!
Originally uploaded by Skate Like A Girl

Artoleptic (live painting, music, arts/crafts! and skateboarding) was so rad. It was the first time I skated with a whole crew of asian girls! We mad sessioned the worst place to skate for anyone learning: the curb next to the Sno Con Waterfront store. Though there was this challenge that didn't stop my Asian Girl Gang from tearing it up.

I drank so much Vitamin Energy water and skated from 12 to 6pm. I was super wired, and a sweaty mess.

We taught about 7 girls to shred the curb. I perfected the shuvit/5050stall/body varial/shuvit off the curb!

We met hidehiko from Low Card.

Thanks Shaina for inviting us to be a part of this. Also big ups to our SLAG volunteers: Christine/Simon, Sophie, and Lanna.

-nancy

AHOYYY.

I'm taking this opportunity to spam yet another website with my filth.
08.23.08 ...as in yesterday :

Moira, Chrissie, Jessie, Esther le molesta, and I met up for what we had hoped to be a productive day of filming. I guess we were productive in that we avoided all skateparks, which is incredibly rare as I proudly flaunt the fact that I am a skate park whore. The first stop on our street conquest were the "portland public ledges"...little did we know that "ledges" meant waxed curbs and tall benches. But hey, when you're super ripper status like Chrissie, it aiiiin't no thang. She threw down a fakie fifty front shuv out, and half-cab noseslide. This spot is located in NE portland. It's actually really fun, undercover, and has a few obstacles such as newspaper bins and concrete blocks that you can move around. Plus, the benches are of that plastic/fake wood material, so no wax is necessary. It's BUTTAH! Definitely recommended for those hot or rainy days. To get there, go toward the Broadway bridge, take the street before crossing it (right onto Benton) and then a left onto Dixon.

Next up- the janky banks on SE Water Way (you can take the OMSI exit and follow water way all the way down until you see them on the left). The run up is choppy, you have to get up a curb first in your run, and the banks are steep. However, they're incredibly fun and you quickly get used to it. I enjoyed it for sure- just watch out for traffic. There are plenty of cars, bicyclists, and buses using both streets.

Before stuffing our faces with huge pita platters at a local Lebanese resturant, we parked on 6th and starke (or somewhere near it) at the "antique ledges". No wax required, just tons of pop. These ledges are basically metal window seats that are insanely slick and probably in every decent skate video known to man. We passed on this session, but just down the street was an array of loading docks. About the height of Chrissie ( 5'1" ha..ha) these aren't too shabby. Decent run up, decent landing. Although I suggest lurking around the block a bit as some of the loading docks will have scrap metal and crappy concrete that will rape your skin. A little bit of patience should bring you to the right ones.

That's three spots within 5 minutes of each other. GET IT GIRL!

-Kristina, OUT!

HATEonTHIS

Hey everyone, Kristin the Ebelinger here...

Just thought I would post a lil video I made a few weeks back of a few slag gals at Bellevue Highland Skateboard Plaza.

And for all you Portland folks, I hate you... there is another new skateboard park in your neighborhood.

Also, I thought I would end my post with some exciting news. SLAG is currently planning a girls skate competition for this winter. If you are interested in helping out or have any ideas, please email me at kristinebelinggg@yahoo.com.

Oh yeah, new stickers coming soon ---->


And I'm out.

Summer 2008! Super Crazy Awesome Part 1

SLAG Summer 2008 Tour aka the Winnipeg Tour was off the hook!

I am so stoked on girls’ skateboarding right now!

Thanks to Elysia (Rugged Riders), Jacqui Comp and her crew at the Manitoba Skateboard Coalition, all the girls that braved this trip and shredded up two countries: Erica Harris (SF), Jessie Haungs (PDX), Kristen Ebeling (SEA), Kristina Narayan (PDX), Esther Godoy (Melbourne, Australia), Chrissie Lathrop (SEA), Beth Nenniger (Vancouver, B.C.), our camerawoman/skater Moira Morel (PDX), and photographer Audrey. Thanks so much for such an awesome trip.

(All the fine ass ladies at Chicks Flip Out!)





So here’s the story. I guess let’s set-up the story for why this was awesome…
1. The fact that Jaqui emailed us (me + Elysha) out of nowhere early in the spring and was like…. you ladies must come to this or else! Like a moth to flame we got our act together and hustled to shred!

(Jessie, Elysha, me (nancy), Jacqui, Moira, and Erica)

2. We started off with a mini-van, and a handful of gals wanting to skate and get footage and it grew.

a. Did I mention that Erica Harris (randomly emailed us) decided to come help us with our Seattle skate camps (out of love for skateboarding), and before this we didn’t really know anything about her except she was a fire fighter?

If I were more paranoid I wouldn’t have invited a girl who could cut me up like a fire line (ask Kristina what it feels like to endure the wrath of Erica) to stay with me for a few weeks. Luckily for all of us I am way too trusting and was like, “yeh come up, and oh yeh, do you want to drive over 3000 miles to skate in Winnipeg?”

b. So we had a crew of gals representing Seattle, Portland, and San Francisco, AND then Esther Godoy who rides for the Element team was like, “Hey, I am Esta, I want to join this skate trip!”
So we were like, “Hell yeh!” And then all of sudden this thing started snow balling.

c. Erica, who is the queen of networking met Beth Nenniger skating in Vancouver, and then the trip became an international all girl skate squad!

3. The girls drove basically non-stop from Portland to my house in Seattle and then through the night to Montana. They hit up Montana, Fargo, ND and all of sudden the SLAG gmail and myspace were filling up with love letters. Guys and girls were like: “You changed our lives, please, please, oh please come back again.” Here's some photos from our myspace.

Not hearing the story until I flew into Winnipeg (I had to go to my cousin’s wedding and couldn’t drive out with them), I was like these girls are heartbreakers!

4. Flying into Winnipeg, I thought I was going to get deported, since I didn’t have a return ticket. "Yeh, so like I am here to meet up with friends to go skateboard your country." I was a bit nervous, but the woman was nice and let me in with a Visa (I have never gotten one to go to Canada before), and I hopped in a cab to meet up with the girls.



When I got to the Plaza, there was a pretty huge crowd watching the girls skate. I got there in time for the advanced skaters. It was super hot, but the SLAG team was tearing it up. I see the girls, and they are skating so hard. I guess Kristina bumped her head hard board sliding a rail, and then got back up and slid it again. Esther, Chrissie, Kristen, and Kristina were hucking themselves and cheering on everyone, including Tamara (Vancouver) and Annie (Montreal). It was so overwhelming to feel the love.



5. I met Jacqui and Elysha! They were pretty much the reason we went to Winnipeg.

6. Most all of our gals placed! Advanced: 1st = Kristen, 3rd = Esther, 4th Kristina, and 5th Chrissie. Intermediate: 1st Jessie, and 3rd Erica.

7. Partied and hung out with awesome girl skaters and saw what amazing community organizing the Skateboard Coalition of Manitoba, local business and the local government officials could do together. They collected so much product, and $3000 in cash to deal out to the advanced skaters! They even had flowers and trophies.



8. Taught a bunch of girls to skate.

9. Drove over half of the Trans-Canadian Hwy. Not die-ing on the sketchy roads in Manitoba and Saskatchewan. Seeing road signs we have never seen before and trying to interpret the meaning. Killing like a few thousand bugs on our grill and windshield. Erica is seriously the champ of cleaning off dragon fly guts!
Saw/was in the middle of a crazy thunder and lightning storm in Regina. Regina was gushing! We were in a grocery store and the power cut out, it got crazy. The Canadian Rockies are so beautiful.


10. Random skate seshes in rest areas. Girls sessioned a few rocks.

11. Cochrane park was super fun! Esther asked a pre-teen boy to switch for his mountain scooter. Kristina was flying over pylon, board sliding like it was going out of style. The girls got in the bowl and road it like a train gang. They were like the Harlem Bowl Trotters!









12. Pulling up into Vancouver at 5 am, with a few girls pulling out their sleeping bags and sleeping on the side walk like bums. Serious.











13. Hanging out at Anti-Social with Michelle and skating her ramp. Getting Nugget to skate, hangout, dance and then drive back to the states with us.


14. There’s so much more, but I am going to end with: the U.S. border customs agent was the best. He was so nice to us.

The end!

Actually more thank you's:

Bob, Cam, Mio, Inn at the Forks, Michelle @ Anti-Social, Nugget, Mark, everyone involved with the Chicks Flip Out comp!, the City of Fargo North Dakota and Dike West Skate Park, Beth’s parents, Skirtboarders, Tamara, Stephanie, and Annie. Christine, Simon and Sigma for making a million SLAG buttons! Michelle (Kristen’s mom for buying snacks), basically there’s a million other people to list.

Girl Only Skate Jam - PDX.

Jessie and crew are busy with summer skate plans, they also have a Girl Only Skate Jam on May 31st. They are moving forward with regular skate clinics at D.O.S. along with other fun stuff. Stay tuned!

A New Place to Skate - SEA.

Nancy is headed off to Atlanta to do a clinic as part of Mondo Homo on the 24th. It should be fun to reconnect with our Georgian friends! Besides that the SGS clinics ended last week. The gals sent us thank you notes! It was so nice. We hope to see them at our camps in July.

We have a fun summer planned with Secret Skate Dates, summer camps, a SLAG Summer 2008 tour with a few ladies from SEA, PDX and SF. We will be headed off to Winnipeg (cross your fingers it works out).

We attended the May SPAC meeting, along with Seattle Center skate park advisory meetings. Really great things happening for skaters in the city. Lots of people working with the Seattle to make more parks... like the lower Woodland Park ... it is opening up June 7th!

Also June 21 is go skate day!

We have lots of exciting things that are happening that we will fill you in on as things get firmed. As always, battling the SLAG site to make it nice, informative and navigate-able. So come back and check in on our progress

Hey YOU, Thanks! - SEA.

Thanks for all of your emails and support! SLAG is currently volunteer run, so it makes it hard to update all the time, have a fancy looking website that is maintained, and all the stuff we really want to do/be in order to get more gals skating! We are currently exploring ways of becoming a program that offers more and is self-sustaining. Who knows, we might go for a 501(c)3?

Let us know if you would like to help make that happen.

Kindergartner Angie learning how to pump tranny at SB. 2008

Clinics & Camps - SEA.

SLAG Seattle is running skate clinics with Seattle Girls' School (SGS) for the month of April. This is only for girls that are attending SGS (sorry). Other than that, we don't have any events scheduled currently except for 2 summer camps.

The older teen girls camp will be at the Kirkland Teend Union Building, and the younger girl camp will be at SGS (opened to all girls). Register online for the Kirkland camp at KTUB or Seattle camp at SGS.

We are trying to plan other skate events, so please check in periodically. If you would like to be on a newsletter, please email us: skatelikeagirl@gmail.com! or with any questions.

Thanks Kyle & Kristin! - PDX.

Kristin Ebeling is looking to start organizing a comp for this summer in PDX. She would like some assitance. Holla if you want to help out with getting the word out, collecting donations, sponsoring the comp or whatever resources you would like to donate.

Also on Tuesdays, DOS says thanks to the ladies with a FREE skate, all sessions! Please say thanks to Kyle! He rocks.

SLAG PDX will host girls only clinics once a month on the last Sundays of the month. 11 am - 1 pm. February 17th, March 30, April 27.

DOS (15 NE Hancock). $10 suggested donation (no one turned away for lack of funds). All ages, all abilities! It's the perfect opportunity to learn in an encouraging, positive environment. SLAG volunteers are there to help you learn! Meet other local girl skaters! Learn new things! Have fun!

Input Please - SEA.

SLAG on the snow was really great. We had so much fun shredding it up with girls. Now spring is here and we are excited to come out and hit the pavement, and maybe go surfing! For sure we have two camps this summer July 7-11 for older teens @ KTUB (Kirkland) and July 14-18 for grades 4-7 @ SGS (Seattle). Register online for the Kirkland camp at KTUB or Seattle camp at SGS.

Also we are sitting in on stakeholder meetings for the new Seattle Center skatepark.
Please attend the public meetings at Seattle Center: March 25, May 8, and June 5 all 6:30 - 8 PM. The purpose of this meeting is for the skaters/public to meet the design team and provide input on their wish list for skateable terrain. This is your chance to directly impact the design – PLEASE SHOW UP AND PROVIDE YOUR INPUT.

Thanks for all the love in our inbox. We are getting notes from around the world! If you have time check out:

Jaqui from Winnipeg emailed us and wants to throw a big skate party in Canada! Check out her crew: Skateboard Coalition of Manitoba

Courtney from Australia emailed about her online girl mag: Explorergirls.

Also, we would like to start a directory for gals all over the world to get in touch with local skate communties. I just got an email from a gal named Nat in Boise, she wants to skate but would like some one in her area to show her. Boise representing? Email us if you would like to be the go to gal for skating in your area.

Thanks for folks that sent in footage and pictures. Unfortunately we weren't chosen to get a mini SLAG documentary made for us, but at least we are re-starting the process of centralizing our visual history! Please keep them coming our way! The stories have been awesome to read!

Last update: want to say THANK YOU to Sid Peterson for all of her support of SLAG! Happy trails to you in your new chapter in life. See you soon!