66 Days to Go

Hey Guys!!  I hope you're all keeping warm and cozy during these cold December days, and gearing up for a beautiful & relaxing Holiday Season with your loved ones.  I know we are!  I'm looking SO forward to taking a few days to recuperate from a very busy few weeks at the salon, and I know Sean feels the same way!

I wanted to take advantage of this little bit of down time to update you all on our progress and preparation for our big trip, which is just a little over two months away (what!?)...

Currently we have raised a total of $3,360.00.  That is simply incredible.  It's been a ton of work but worth every single second.  We still have $2,640.00 to go to reach our total goal of $6,000.00, however even if we hit $4,000.00, we will be thrilled.  There are still a few months left for us to collect donations, (through http://www.gofundme.com/ashleyandsean) and we are confident that we will be bringing an amazing thing to the Balinese Children at our program; the gift of education, and maybe a few other things too :)

A special thanks to our latest donors; Ivana Dojcinovic from Stella & Dot for generously donating 50% of her proceeds from TWO trunk shows, my friend and coworker Melissa Shaver, a friend from overseas with a huge heart - Priti Bodani, Sean's sister Courtney Neal, and my Grandma Shirley & Grandpa Don.  Also a big shout out to all of you who have come out to support our fundraisers; you are all shining stars and we love you so much.

Thank you all so much AGAIN for your continued support.  And if you haven't already, you can "subsribe" to this blog in the bottom right hand corner of this page, and updates will be sent to your email address when we are posting from overseas.

Much love to all of you during this beautiful Holiday Season, and all the best in the New Year.  Take care, eat lots of treats, and enjoy your families & friends!

xoxo Ashley

Here is a preview of the area around the village where we will be staying...

Selamat Pagi

Hey Guys!

It's a cold and snowy Monday morning in Calgary today so I put a big pot of coffee on and decided to catch up on the blog.

Progress

• We have surpassed $3,000.00 in donations :) I will give an official update after our Stella & Dot Fundraiser this weekend!  By the way, you can shop online for this event while still benefiting our cause.  We receive 50% of the profits AND you'll get your package before Christmas.  Just follow this link; http://www.stelladot.com/ts/oolt5
• We completed round one of three for our vaccinations last week.  I cried like a 2 year old, and Sean sat like a rock.  We still have 2 more rounds of Japanese Encephalitis vaccines to go, but then we will be set.  Can you tell this is my least favourite part about travel.
• We have been working hard on learning the language of Bahasa Indonesia so that we are better able to communicate with our students and colleagues.  We actually know how to say quite a bit now, as long as we remember to say "Tolong bisa bicara pelan-pelan" (Please speak more slowly).  Slowly but surely, we are coming along!  I learned how to say all of the most important things first, like; "Laba-Laba Berbahaya?" (Is this spider dangerous?)  "Saya Takut Tikus" (I am afraid of rats) and "Hovercraft saya penuh dengan belut" (My hovercraft is full of eels).  Sean was pretty much finished with language lessons once he learned how to say "Boleh Saya Minta Mie Goreng?" (Can I please have fried noodles?)
• The shopping process has begun.  You guys won't even know who I am; I'm bringing like 2 outfits and that's it.  And no hair dryer.  No curling iron.  I don't think I've planned to pack ANYTHING leopard print.  I'm going to be so out of my element!!

Anyway, I just wanted to send out a quick update and remind you all how much love we have for you. Only 116 days until our departure.  WHAT?!

xo - A

Update - Thursday, September 12, 2013

Hey guys!  Ashley here.  This post is LONG OVERDUE but oh my have our lives been upside down lately!

Sean and I are finally all settled in our new condo.  We moved in this past Sunday and we are truly so incredibly happy here.  It'll be a perfect little home for us until we are ready to really put some roots down in a few years.  It's finally starting to feel like home now that we have things hanging on the walls, incense burning and all of our awesome food cooking in the kitchen every day ;)

We have a few updates to share with you guys as well regarding our fundraising progress.  It's been a very successful summer for us.  We've been continuing with small fundraising projects like collecting bottles and doing yard work for donations, and we also had an awesome fundraiser event at Broken City Social Club in Calgary on July 24th.  The fundraiser itself raised almost $1,000.00.  We were thrilled and so touched to see all of you who did come out to support us.  A special thanks to my friends Francis Catolos and Ariel Nelson who accompanied me in providing the musical entertainment for the evening.  Another huge thanks to all of those who donated to our silent auction; Jennifer and Becky from Diva SalonSpa Southcentre, Lucinda Bareham and Alda Budge from ATB financial, Amphy Calma from Laser Health Solutions, Ivana Dojcinovic from Stella & Dot, and Tobin Dressler.  Without your generous donations, our success would not have been possible.

Below are a few select photos from the event...

As of September 12, 2013, our total funds raised are sitting at $2,950.00.  Incredible.  We are $50 away from being halfway to our total goal of $6,000.00.  There are still 169 days left until we leave for Indonesia, and we are sure that we'll be able to continue to raise money right up until our departure.

Of course, as always, you are able to make direct donations to us by clicking the "DONATE" tab at the top of this page.  Please keep in touch and keep checking back for further updates!

I love you beautiful people so much.

xoxo A

Funds Raised as of June 25th, 2013

Hi Guys!  Ashley here.  As promised, I have the latest figures from our fundraising progress!

In less than two months, we have managed to raise a whopping $875.00 already!  AMAZING!  You guys are ALL so amazing!  Thank you so much for your love and support.  We are at 15% of our goal already and we haven't even done any major fundraising events yet!

What we HAVE done so far, however, is collecting donations from our friends and family directly, done some yard work for a friend in exchange for a donation, and one very successful bottle drive.

Sean and I want to thank all of you who have contributed so far, in whichever way that may be; we are overwhelmed by the generosity of all of you.

Don't forget that this weekend (Saturday, June 29th) I will be hosting a Stella & Dot Jewelry Party at my house with 50% of the proceeds being donated to our fund!  If you're unable to make it but would still like to shop for this event, you can do so here; http://www.stelladot.com/ts/w7jq5

We also have our upcoming Concert & Silent Auction at Broken City in Calgary, AB on Wednesday, July 24th to look forward to!  More info to come on that, but mark your calendars!

Thanks again for your love and support.  We love you all SO much!

xoxoxo

Ashley & Sean

Update!

Hey guys! Guess what!? Only 150 days until our adventure begins! Woohoooo!!! Sean is taking a bunch of our bottles in today and we will update you with a fundraising total later this week! Love you ALL! 

Xo Ashley

Fundraiser Announcement: Ashley Dempster LIVE at Broken City - July 24th

Hey friends!  Ashley here (again...I promise Sean will write someday!  But I'm the one who never sleeps ;) )

We have yet ANOTHER fundraiser to announce!!  On Wednesday, July 24th, 2013, we will be holding a big fundraiser concert at Broken City Social Club in Calgary.  Doors will open at 7, and the music will start at 7:30.  I will be performing, along with another act (TBA) and we will also have a silent auction with some really wicked items up for grabs.  As it's a Wednesday night, we're expecting to wrap it up fairly early (10pm) so that you guys can all go home and get some sleep before work the next day.  But your support would be HUGELY appreciated and we really hope to see you there!!

We won't be selling any advance tickets for this event.  Entrance will be by a minimum $10 donation at the door, and we will have a door prize as well.

If you are unable to make it to this event, but would still like to donate, please hit up our crowdfunding page at http://www.gofundme.com/ashleyandsean

If you're interested in listening to any of my music (if you haven't already) search Ashley Dempster on iTunes, or check out my youtube channel (ashleyconnie).  I will keep you guys posted on the other musicians I end up booking for this event, but I promise you; whoever they are, they will be amazing!!

Have a happy Friday everyone!  We love all of your beautiful faces!

xo Ash

Stella & Dot Fundraiser Party!

Hey guys!  It's Ashley writing to you on this rainy Monday morning.

I have officially launched our first real fundraiser!!  YAY!  And I am super excited about this one because it is something I am super passionate about...jewelry.

I have teamed up with a friend who is a stylist with Stella & Dot (http://www.stelladot.com) and she has offered to host a trunk show fundraiser for us, graciously donating 50% of her profits directly to our cause.  Amazing, right!?

The fundraiser will be held on Saturday, June 29th, at 7:30pm - 10:00pm at my house.  You're all welcome to come and bring a friend or two...there will be lots of treats to go around!

If you're not able to make it to the show, you can still shop online and contribute to our cause!  Visit the online web store event at http://www.stelladot.com/ts/w7jq5 to check it out.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions regarding this event :) I am super stoked!  Hope to see all of your beautiful faces there!


xo Ashley

Wednesday, May 29, 2013

Hey guys!  This is Ashley, but Sean is right beside me...we have both managed to come down with some kind of brutal stomach flu and are both home sick today :( it was a super rough night last night which SUCKED because we were hoping to celebrate, because...WE BOOKED OUR FLIGHTS YESTERDAY!!  It was pretty exciting.  Even though it's still over 8 months away, locking in our flights made this all feel that much more "real" to us.

We found awesome flights through Flight Centre that are able to fly into Bali but depart from Bangkok.  We will be booking all of our smaller domestic flights once we get there (because we don't want to be too tied down to a set plan) but at this point we know we will be arriving in Bali on Sunday, March 2nd and leaving Bangkok on Tuesday, April 1st.  Whatever happens in between is still yet to be decided.

We did, however, choose flights with a 17 hour layover in Hong Kong, China on the way to Bali, and a 24 hour layover in Tokyo, Japan on the way home from Bangkok.  We are going to actually get a hotel room in both cities and do a little bit of exploring, so that will be cool.  From what I've seen of Hong Kong, it will be quite a hit of culture shock before we fly to Bali the next morning.

It kind of blows my mind to think of how far away we are actually going.  Sean has been this far from home before, but I haven't.  Even Europe wasn't this far, and wasn't this different.  We have a total of 20 hours fly time on our way to Bali.  Our longest flight will be 14 hours (Vancouver - Hong Kong)...pretty crazy.

Our fundraising efforts have been going really well :) a special thank you goes out to Brenda for her online donation on the gofundme page (http://gofundme.com/ashleyandsean), to Wanda for her donation, to Marva for her donation in exchange for us doing some lawn work for her, and to all of our friends who donated bottles and cans to our bottle drive and silent auction items for our fundraising concert.  I am in the process of locking down a venue for a fundraiser concert in the next few months, as well as some donation items for a silent auction.  It will be a night of music, food, drinks, and good times all for an amazing cause.

Ashley Fundraising in the Rain

We just want to thank you all again SO much.  Your support means the world to us and we will continue to update you all as things happen.

Lots of love to all of your beautiful faces,

Ashley & Sean

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Hey guys!

Ashley here.

Welcome to the very first post on our brand new blog!  We are so excited that you chose to take a look, and that you are interested in supporting us on our adventure to Southeast Asia in March.

I am writing this post knowing that nobody is going to read it for a while, as we are not planning on going public with this blog until we have a few more things in order.  But I wanted you all to have a little post to come home to when we DO finally get the full site up and running, so, here it is!

I just want to take this time to sincerely thank you.  Yes, YOU.  Whoever you are.  You are here, you are reading this, and we both appreciate that.  This opportunity is a dream for us, and chances are, if you're reading this, you're hoping to somehow help us make this dream a reality.

We are both so incredibly excited to share this journey with each and every one of you.  Please stay tuned.

xo Ashley