Skate America 2014

Back in October, I traveled up to the Chicago area to attend Skate America. This was my fourth time at Skate America — I previously attended the competition in 2006 (Hartford, CT), 2009 (Lake Placid, NY), and 2012 (Kent, WA). Before the new year begins, I wanted to share some of my favorite memories of the competition as well as a few pictures. (If you would like to see more of my pictures, visit my Flickr album.)

What I want to remember...

• The American dance teams finishing one-two in the ice dance competition. Even with Meryl Davis and Charlie White out, Madison Chock and Evan Bates (above) and Alex and Maia Shibutani skated well. I also enjoyed Stepanova and Bukin, the Russian team that finished third. 
• Jeremy Abbott's short program to Sam Smith's "Lay Me Down." Just beautiful.
• Both of Tatsuki Machida's performances in the men's competition.
• Waking up early to attend the practice sessions on Saturday.
• Elena Radionova's joyful skating in both the short and long programs. She was too young to compete in Sochi, but she's making up for lost time now.
• American pair Haven Denney and Brandon Frazier winning the silver medal in the pairs competition after skating an exciting long program to music from The Lion King. It was the highest finish for an American pair in the Grand Prix since 2008.
• Meeting Meryl Davis and Charlie White during the first night of competition. It was the highlight of my trip, if not the year.
• Seeing Gracie Gold, Jason Brown, Elena Radionova, Elizaveta Tuktamysheva, Chock and Bates, and many others skate live for the first time.

And some of my favorite pictures...

Maia and Alex Shibutani 

Jeremy Abbott 

Jason Brown 

Gracie Gold 

Alexandra Stepanova and Ivan Bukin 

Madeline Aaron and Max Settlage 

Samantha Cesario 

Elena Radionova

Elizaveta Tuktamysheva

P.S. I wrote about my trip into Chicago here.

Skate Austin Bluebonnet Open

This past weekend, I attended the 2014 Skate Austin Bluebonnet Open at the Cedar Park Center. I only went for a few hours on Saturday night to see the senior and junior ladies (and one novice man). Two of the ladies in the senior competition — Amber Glenn and Ashley Shin — are the reigning junior national champion and bronze medalist, respectively. They both live in the Dallas area. Claire Untalan, the other senior lady, competes for the Philippines.

It was fun to try out my camera lens, since I haven't had it at other competitions.

Amber Glenn

Claire Untalan

Ashley Shin

All in all, it was a nice way to spend my Saturday night, and it was definitely much cooler inside the arena than it was outside.

Now that the Olympics are over...

How Sammy enjoyed the Olympics

It's hard to believe the Olympics ended almost a week ago. I spent so much time anticipating them and then enjoying them while they were on that it was a bit of a let down once they finished. Since I wrote a preview before the Games began, I thought it would be nice to wrap things up with a post about some of my favorite moments (and yes, most of them are figure skating related).

What I want to remember about the 2014 Winter Olympics:

• Meryl Davis and Charlie White winning the first gold medal in ice dancing for the United States. They are such great ambassadors for the sport, and it was wonderful to see them win with two great performances.
• Carolina Kostner winning the bronze in the ladies’ event. Carolina is a skater I’ve come to appreciate over the last few years because she focuses on interpreting the music rather than racking up points. I was so happy she had a great Olympics after finishing well off the podium at the previous two.
• Mao Asada’s long program. It was so beautiful after her disastrous short program.
• Noelle Pikus-Pace winning the silver medal in skeleton. I think she may have been the happiest silver medalist ever, and her family was super cute.
• Ted Ligety and Mikaela Shiffrin winning gold medals for the U.S. in skiing. I'm glad they didn't "respect" the course as much as some of the other skiers.
• The three U.S. women (Gracie Gold, Ashley Wagner and Polina Edmunds) finishing in the top 10. Both Gracie and Polina showed a lot of promise for the future, and Ashley showed that she really did deserve to be at the Olympics.
• Both of Jeremy Abbott's programs. After he took such a hard fall at the beginning of his short program, I thought his Olympics might be over. I'm glad he got up and skated as well as he did. (And kudos to the crowd for cheering him on.)
• Other top moments: Watching the snowboarders celebrate at the bottom of the hill; seeing Denis Ten win the first Olympic medal in figure skating for Kazakhstan; enjoying all of the Russian culture, music, and dancing during the Opening and Closing Ceremonies; cheering as the U.S. men's hockey team defeated Russia

Only a couple more years until the next Summer Olympics. Rio, here we come!

On being sick during the Olympics

These past few days have been, in a word, miserable. I began feeling sick on Wednesday evening, and by Thursday morning, I was the reluctant owner of a full-fledged cold. Sore throat, stuffy nose, body aches, fever, and chills — I had it all. It's the worst I've felt in a really, really long time. I stayed home from work on Thursday, and when I felt even worse on Friday morning, I had to skip that day as well.

The only bright spot to being sick the last two days is that I was able to watch the entire men's figure skating competition from Sochi live. I would have preferred to watch the dance or ladies' events live instead, but any skating was nice to take my mind off of my dreary state. The competition was not the best skated event I have ever seen, but Olympic pressure has a way of doing that to even world-class athletes. I was happy to see Yuzuru Hanyu and Denis Ten make history for their countries.

I was also excited to receive my figure skating photo book from Blurb in the mail on Friday. I created it using some of the pictures I took at the Four Continents Championships and Skate America in 2012. (Yes, it took me this long to put something together.) One of the best parts of waiting this long to make the book: noticing that I put two of this year's Olympic gold medalists on facing pages. Volosozhar and Trankov and Yuzuru Hanyu, it was nice seeing you at Skate America in 2012.

You can see my figure skating book below:

Figure Skating Competitions 2012 | Make Your Own Book

2014 Winter Olympics: A Preview

The 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia, are finally here! By this time tomorrow, I will be sitting in front of my TV watching the first events from Russia. As always, I'm looking forward to the figure skating events the most, and this year, there is the added bonus of the team competition. I promised a preview of the events, so here we go.

Team
This is the first year for the team competition at the Olympics, even though the ISU has held several World Team Trophy events over the last few years. The concept is pretty simple: One man, one woman, one pair, and one dance team will perform in the short program competition and in the long program competition. Each country can make two substitutions throughout the event (for instance, two men might split the short and long programs, and two pairs could split the two programs). The countries with the most depth and fewest weaknesses will do the best in this competition. Canada, Russia, and the U.S. are expected to take home the medals, but Italy could play spoiler.

Pairs
The favorites for the gold medal are Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov from Russia, who began skating with each other after the 2010 Olympics. If they slip up (like they did at the Grand Prix Final and the European Championships), Germans Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy could take home gold instead. Savchenko and Szolkowy won the bronze medal at the 2010 Olympics but have suffered from inconsistency during the last four years.  

• Other pairs to watch: Qing Pang and Jian Tong (2010 Olympic silver medalists from China), Meagan Duhamel and Eric Radford (2013 World bronze medalists from Canada), Kristen Moore-Towers and Dylan Moscovitch (Canada), Stephania Berton and Ondřej Hotárek (Italy)
• Fun fact 1: Pay attention to the pants! (Trust me — it will be hard not to.) Both Trankov and Hotárek have sported bright yellow pants earlier this season. Both teams ended up winning on the Grand Prix Series, so obviously the pants can bring good luck.
• Fun fact 2: Meagan Duhamel is almost as fun to watch in the Kiss and Cry as she is on the ice. She usually begins analyzing the program the moment the music ends.

Men
This event is all about Patrick Chan and the Japanese men. Oh, and a certain Russian named Evgeny Plushenko. Chan has won the last three World Championships and is truly spectacular when he's on. However, he's also had performances where he's fallen three times and still won. That probably won't work at the Olympics since the level of skating has improved so much. Yuzuru Hanyu of Japan won the Grand Prix Final this year and could definitely play spoiler to Chan's Olympic dreams.

• Other men to watch: Daisuke Takahashi (2010 Olympic bronze medalist from Japan), Tatsuki Machida (Japan), Javier Fernandez (Spain), Jeremy Abbott (USA), Jason Brown (USA), Denis Ten (Kazakhstan)
• Fun fact 1: No Canadian man has ever won an Olympic gold medal. Not Brian Orser. Not Kurt Browning. Not Elvis Stojko. If Patrick Chan wins gold at these Olympics, he would make history for Canada.
• Fun fact 2: Hanyu's good luck charm is a tissue holder shaped like Winnie the Pooh. It even has its own Twitter account: @HanyusPooh.

Ice Dance
This is the competition I'm most looking forward to (my 16-year-old self would probably be shocked). Meryl Davis and Charlie White from the United States are the reigning World Champions and the 2010 Olympic silver medalists. Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir from Canada are the 2010 Olympic Champions and two-time World Champions. Both teams train together under the same coach at the same rink in Canton, Michigan. I'm rooting for Davis and White to win the gold medal this time, but Virtue and Moir are some of the purest ice dancers I've ever seen. May the best pair win!

• Other ice dancers to watch: Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (France), Ekaterina Bobrova and Dmitri Soloviev (Russia), Kaitlyn Weaver and Andrew Poje (Canada), Madison Chock and Evan Bates (USA), Alex and Maia Shibutani (USA), Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte (Italy), Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (Russia)
• Fun fact 1: The short dance this year includes the Finnstep, a pattern dance similar to the quickstep in ballroom dancing. Be prepared for lots of music from the Big Band era and Broadway.
• Fun fact 2: Alex and Maia Shibutani (the "ShibSibs") have their own YouTube channel with some fun skating videos.

Ladies
If you're just tuning into skating for the first time since Vancouver, you might think things look very similar at the top. The reigning Olympic gold and silver medalists (Yuna Kim and Mao Asada) are skating once again and are still considered the favorites for the top two spots. Yuna Kim is the first reigning Olympic ladies gold medalist to return since Katarina Witt, so it would be amazing to see her win again. However, the Russian ladies should not be ignored: Julia Lipnitskaia (15) and Adelina Sotnikova (17) recently finished 1-2 at the European Championships, defeating Carolina Kostner of Italy, the reigning World bronze medalist. I'm also still rooting for my favorite, Ashley Wagner, to pull off the best performance of her life.

• Other ladies to watch: Gracie Gold (USA), Zijun Li (China), Akiko Suzuki (Japan), Kanako Murakami (Japan), Polina Edmunds (USA), Valentina Marchei (Italy), Kaetlyn Osmond (Canada)
• Fun fact 1: Julia Lipnitskaia will skate her long program to music from Schindler's List. Her dress is red, just like the little girl's in the movie.
• Fun fact 2: Ashley Wagner is returning to her long program from last year (Samson & Delilah) after her poor performance at U.S. Nationals.

Get excited! The Olympics are almost here.

Thoughts on U.S. Nationals

It's been two and a half weeks since the U.S. Figure Skating Championships ended, and it's taken me about that long to process all of my thoughts on the competition. This is what I know...

• Figure skating can still make me cry. As an Ashley Wagner fan, I wanted her to skate well, and it was so difficult to see her finish fourth. I'm glad U.S. Figure Skating put her on the team (she deserves it), but it would have been much easier (for her, for other fans, for my nerves) if she had finished in the top 3.
• Jeremy Abbott has been one of my favorite skaters for years, but he never seems to put it together when it counts. He's been brilliant at Nationals in the past but finished ninth in Vancouver. I'm so glad he won the men's title for the fourth time at Nationals, and I'm hoping the best for him in Sochi.
• I'll be on pins and needles watching Meryl Davis and Charlie White (above) skate in Sochi. Both of their programs are absolutely wonderful, and I'd love to see them cap off their season (and possibly their careers) with an Olympic gold medal.
• Gracie Gold has the perfect name for an Olympic figure skater, and her skating is now backing that up. She's on the cover of the Olympic preview issue for Sports Illustrated, but hopefully the SI curse won't hit her.
• Jason Brown makes me smile...and apparently a lot of other people agree (3 million+ hits the last time I checked YouTube). He's a star in the making, and if you take one thing away from this post, you should check out his long program on YouTube.

And that's what I have for now. I'm hoping to write a preview of the figure skating events before the Olympics start. so stay tuned. The 2014 Olympic Games are a little over a week away!

100 Day Countdown

Today marks 100 days until the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. As an Olympic junkie, the closer we get to the opening ceremonies, the more excited I will be. And with performances like this already, I think we're in for a good show in the figure skating competition...

When all else fails...

There is Michelle.



And a camel that's really excited about Hump Day.



Happy Wednesday, everyone!

Four Continents in Pictures

A few more pictures from my time in Colorado...

Skating in Colorado

It's hard to believe that at this time last week, Mom and I were just arriving back in Austin after spending several days in Colorado Springs. I traveled to Colorado to attend the Four Continents Championships, and Mom accompanied me so I wouldn't be lonely (thanks, Mom!). I'm still sorting through all of my pictures at the moment, but I thought I would post a few thoughts before I forget everything.

• I enjoyed visiting a few other landmarks in Colorado Springs while I wasn't at the arena. We went to the Garden of the Gods (above) on Thursday after we arrived and the Air Force Academy the morning before we left.
• It was nice to see the American ladies on top of the podium again. Ashley Wagner and Caroline Zhang did so well skating back to back and finished first and third, respectively.
• It was wonderful to some of the skaters I had never seen before — Virtue & Moir, Daisuke Takahashi, Weaver & Poje, Marley & Brubaker, Agnes Zawadski, Adam Rippon, the Shibutanis, etc.
• I loved the small medal ceremonies held in the concourse outside the main arena. It was interesting to see the skaters interact with each other and answer questions from other fans.
• One of the things I love most about skating competitions is meeting the people seated around me. The woman to my right had been to several national and international competitions, including the last Winter Olympics, while the couple to my left was from Texas (he bought her the tickets for Christmas — what a good husband!). It's nice to talk to people who know about skating rather than boring my family all the time.
• I was rather excited to wake up to snow falling outside on Saturday. It hampered our morning plans a bit, but I was still able to make it to the arena in the car. I was NOT excited, however, to clean the snow off the car; at least it wasn't as bad as in Natick.
• We went to eat at Outback one night, so I asked my mom if she thought the Australian skaters might have tried it too. (Yes, there were skaters from Australia. There was one from South Africa too.)
• One final thought: Feathers on the ice are dangerous. Just ask my mom. :)

Just a few skating pictures for now...

Kittens watching figure skating

This is quite possibly my favorite YouTube video ever.

30 Things to Be Thankful For - Day 18

The fall figure skating season begins tonight, so I thought it was appropriate to give thanks for my favorite sport. I have loved watching figure skating since I was 10 and even had dreams about becoming a famous figure skater myself (these dreams, alas, were never fulfilled). Figure skating has not only brought me so much joy but also introduced me to new music, cultures, and traditions. I love this sport and am proud to consider myself a fan.

POTD: It's the little things

This is the life — watching Worlds on my old laptop during my lunch break. (I left the charger for my Mac at home this past weekend.)

Olympic Fever!

I was talking with my mom earlier today and realized that I hadn't written on my blog in a long, long time. (I was complaining that I don't get to really write anymore — I'm probably one of the few people who would ever say that.) Since my time over the last week or so has been filled with the Olympics, I thought I would write down some of my thoughts.

Figure skating, of course, is my favorite sport of the Winter Olympics. Since I follow figure skating all the time, the Olympics sometimes offer me mixed feelings. I love the wonder and pageantry of the Olympics but usually feel discouraged because my favorites almost never win. It's also strange to hear and read comments from people who never watch the sport any other time. (Everyone is always an "expert.") This Olympics, however, has been a little different. I've actually been happy with all three podiums so far. The pairs competition started things off wonderfully with Shen & Zhao finally winning the gold after four tries. Then Evan Lysacek won the men's competition, the first time an American man has won since Brian Boitano won in 1988 (also in Canada). Last night the dance competition concluded with Tessa Virtue & Scott Moir of Canada winning the gold and Meryl Davis & Charlie White of the U.S. winning the silver. I was a little upset that Tanith Belbin & Ben Agosto couldn't pull off the bronze medal, but other than that, it was a beautiful podium. (Check out the medal ceremony; it has to be one of the most heartfelt ones I've ever seen. Oh, Canada!)

Tonight the women's competition begins. Unlike most years, the U.S. doesn't have a particularly strong female skater, but I'm excited to see how Rachael Flatt (above) and Mirai Nagasu do. The favorite in the competition is Kim Yu-Na (top picture), who is absolutely wonderful. I had the chance to see her back in November, and even though she didn't skate her best there, she really is something special. She also has a huge (and I mean, HUGE) following in Korea and the Korean community. Michelle Kwan was always very popular when she skated, but Kim surpasses even her in that regard. I'm also looking forward to seeing Mao Asada, Miki Ando, Akiko Suzuki, and Joannie Rochette skate.

Besides figure skating, I've enjoyed watching many of the other events and rooting for the Americans. I'm so proud of Bode Miller for redeeming himself after Torino four years ago and Lindsey Vonn for fighting through her injury to win gold in the women's downhill. I was also impressed to hear about Hannah Teter's organization Hannah's Gold that provides cleaning drinking water for a village in Kenya. Apolo Ohno has also been a lot of fun to watch as well.

It's hard to believe that next weekend will be the end of another Winter Olympics. Hopefully someday I'll be able to attend one in person, but until then, I'll have to rely on NBC (and my rogue Russian feeds).

Skate America: The Final Report

I'm sitting in Logan Airport waiting for my flight back to TEXAS (yes, it must be capitalized) and realized that I had never followed up on my first blog about Skate America. While I was in Lake Placid, I was pretty much living and breathing skating, and since I got back to Natick on Monday night, I've just been trying to catch my breath. I have over an hour to go until my plane leaves, so I thought I would write a little bit more about my experience.

Saturday was another full day of skating for me, even though the competition didn't begin until 2 p.m. I spent the morning looking around the town of Lake Placid, which was a slight struggle since it was raining (rain was much better than snow, however, which was what I was afraid I would get). The skating that day covered all four disciplines, and it was wonderful to see Kim Yu-Na for the first time. She far outclassed the rest of the ladies' field, even though Rachael Flatt's program to "Sing, Sing, Sing" was really cute. That day also included two long programs and medal ceremonies. In the pairs competition, Shen & Zhao of China won the gold. In the men's competition, American Evan Lysacek won the gold. The other two men's medalists (Shawn Sawyer and Ryan Bradley) pulled up from way down in the pack to win the silver and bronze medals, respectively.

Sunday was my last full day in Lake Placid. I slept late that morning because I had been up so late the night before. Once I finally got out, I went to Starbucks for my first peppermint hot chocolate of the season (yum!) and then went to the Olympic Museum at the Olympic Center. The competition began at 2 p.m. again that day. The ladies' competition was the marquee event, especially for the many Korean-American fans of Kim Yu-Na. It was crazy to see all the Korean flags and banners and watch as they tried to get her autograph before she even skated (I felt a little sorry for her). The pressure may have gotten to her a little bit because she did not perform very well in the long program. She still won the gold medal because of the huge lead she had built up in the short program. Rachael Flatt, however, was the true star of the afternoon as she landed seven triples in her long program. If she keeps on skating as consistently as she has in the past, she could be the American female skater to watch for this Olympics.

After the excitement of the ladies' long program, the free dance was a bit anti-climatic. The posters for Kim Yu-Na had all been removed from the arena, and many of the fans who had come just to see her left. I still enjoyed the competition and in some ways enjoyed it more because all of the people who had come just to see the ladies skate were gone. Belbin & Agosto of the U.S.A. won the competition handily. However, I really enjoyed the performance of Kimberly Navarro & Brett Bommentre — I love that they skate for the fans instead of the judges' scores.

Sunday night was the exhibition. Even though show skating isn't my favorite, it was nice to be able to enjoy the skating without worrying about taking pictures. (Speaking of pictures, you can see a few of the many I took here.) Luckily, this night's skating ended sooner than the other nights, so I was able to come back to my room earlier.

This past weekend at Skate America was wonderful. I loved Lake Placid and am already planning to visit again soon. Thank you, Mom and Dad, for my wonderful birthday present!

Miracle on Ice, 2009 Style

I am currently in Lake Placid, NY, for Skate America. I left Natick around 8 a.m. yesterday morning and arrived here around 2:40 p.m. after stopping at a mall in Albany for lunch. The first competition of the day was the compulsory dance at 3 p.m. and then the pairs’ short program and men’s short program took place this evening.

Some of the highlights of the day:

• Seeing Shen and Zhao skate a magical short program. I learned later that their score was the highest pairs’ short program score ever. In a word, wow.
• Almost running into Emily Hughes as I was heading for the arena. I think I acted cool and didn’t react too much.
• Finally seeing a compulsory dance competition. I didn’t really know what to watch for, but it was still interesting to see the same routine done by every couple.
• The beautiful costume worn by ice dancer Anna Cappellini from Italy. Click here for a picture.
  
• Seeing Evan Lysacek win the short program (even though France’s Florent Amodio’s program was even more impressive and surprising).
• Overhearing Peter Carruthers' conversation at the restaurant. It almost made up for having to eat by myself.
• Having DSLR envy. People have impressive cameras at this event. I don’t ever remember seeing fans with such long lenses . . . it can be a little distracting.
• Seeing the Olympic rings everywhere around town. I was so excited driving past the Olympic Center.
• The beautiful scenery driving up here.
  

Today I get to see the original dance, pairs' long program, ladies' short program, and men's long program. I'm really looking forward to seeing Kim Yu-Na from South Korea. She's the current world champion and just amazing. Since the competition doesn't begin until 2 p.m., I'll be exploring Lake Placid until then.

This is the (skating) life!

Silver Belle

Almost two weeks ago, my beautiful cat Silver passed away. My family and I adopted her in April 1998, and I named her Silver after Michelle Kwan's silver medal at the 1998 Winter Olympics. Over the last year or so, she had not been feeling her best. My parents tried to help her get better, but she was just too sick.

Since my mom told me the news, I've been thinking about her and remembering all the little things that made her special. I keep remembering how tiny and cute she was as a kitten when she would "do the dinosaur" and chase after any ball we would throw around. When she was a little older, Paul and I would feed her Chicken Express off the breakfast room table. Her hair stuck to everything; all of my clothes had Silver hairs, and certain chairs would always be covered. She loved to climb in suitcases while we were packing but would always hide when we tried to put her outside.

Silver was a loving cat most of the time; she loved to sit in my Dad's lap and spent many nights curled up on my bed. She also was a spitfire at times, as Parker and the unfortunate Buddy discovered.  As she grew older, her quiet moments became more frequent, but she still had spunk. During some of the hardest times in my life, she was always there to give me unconditional love.

In some ways, losing Silver really hasn't hit me yet. I haven't been home in almost a year, and when I was last there, she was still doing fine. Even with my Sammy cat here and Parker at home, I know that Thanksgiving will be a little different this year.

Silver was a special cat. After all, she was my figure skating cat. :)

Broadway Babies & Stars on Ice

Two weekends ago I had an action-packed weekend. On Saturday, April 4 I went to New York with a group from Keefe Tech in Framingham. The continuing education department offers the trip twice a year to people who want to visit NYC for the day to see a Broadway play, shop, or sightsee. I decided to see Guys and Dolls, starring Lauren Graham from Gilmore Girls. I thought the play was good, even if the seats were very tight (my knees touched the seat in front of me!) and I had trouble understanding some of the words (enunciation, people!). I was amazed to learn that Lauren Graham could sing that well.

Before and after the play, I had a chance to look around the area and shop. I made a special pilgrimage to the anthropologie at Rockefeller Center because it was so neat last Christmas, but I ended up not buying a thing. Luckily I found this huge Ann Taylor Loft near the theater later and was able to buy a couple of things there. I also went in the huge M&M store in Times Square, found a small item to buy, and quickly left. That store was way too crowded and a little too touristy for my tastes. I'm beginning to better understand the complaints about the "Disneyfication" of Times Square now. The bus home picked us up a little before 7, so we could make it home to Framingham by 11. It made for a slightly later night than usual, but at least the next day wasn't a work day.

On Sunday I went into Boston in the morning so that I could do some things around the city before Stars on Ice in the afternoon. I parked in the Common garage, so I went over to the Public Gardens to look around first. It was nice to see the first signs of spring, especially since it was such a beautiful spring day. The ducks were putting on quite a show that day. After looking around there and taking some pictures, I caught the Red Line for Harvard Square. I went to one of my favorite bookstores, Harvard Book Store, and ate at Qdoba. After that it was time to head to TD Banknorth Garden for Stars on Ice.

I love watching live skating! Seeing Stars on Ice reminds me of this every time I go. At this show, I especially enjoyed seeing Belbin & Agosto, Kimmie Meissner, and Evan Lysacek (coming off his recent win at the World Championships). Ilia Kulik is always amazing to watch, Yuka Sato is always so cute (in a "isn't she cute" way), and John Zimmerman is, well, just cute. It's interesting to see the cast interact with each other and with the audience. They are such amazing professionals.

My life hasn't been nearly as interesting the last two weeks, but it was nice to relive the weekend one more time to write this blog. Hope you enjoy the pictures!

25 Things About Me

(Borrowed from Facebook . . . my blog looked neglected)

1. I’m named after a character in a book my mom read (Calico Palace). My mom was also named after a fictional character (Richardson’s Pamela). I continued the tradition by naming my cat Parker after the tiger in The Life of Pi.

2. I lived in Henderson, Texas, for the first 18 years of my life. Since then, I’ve lived in 3 other states (Mississippi, Florida, and Massachusetts) and 6 cities (Jackson, Austin, Orlando, Nacogdoches, Boston, and Natick).

3. Long underwear is a now a permanent part of my winter wardrobe.

4. My first memory was telling my mom that I wanted a little sister like a girl in my class at preschool. I got Paul instead (and wouldn’t trade him for a million sisters).

5. I am a huge Michelle Kwan fan and am excited that she has hinted at a return to the ice.

6. I love to watch Dancing with the Stars.

7. My favorite book as a child was Anne of Green Gables (I still love it).

8. I don’t like peanut butter.

9. I would really like to visit Australia.

10. I’m a proud Texas Longhorn, but I appreciate the Aggie band more (military-style marching is so difficult to do well).

11. I was a majorette my senior year of high school.

12. My favorite vacations growing up were our trips to the national parks.

13. I have almost mastered the art of shoveling my car out of the snow.

14. I have Cheerios every morning for breakfast.

15. I love Mexican food (what Texas girl doesn’t?). I just wish good Mexican food was easier to find up here in Massachusetts.

16. My brother and I both broke our arms within a week of each other when we were little. I broke my left, and he broke his right. (Just in case you were wondering, these were two distinct incidents. Mine happened at home, and my brother’s happened at school.)

17. I like a lot of my mom’s music (Simon and Garfunkel, Elvis, Carole King, John Denver).

18. I have a fear of knives and apples.

19. I’ve been told I look like both my mom and my dad.

20. I really like ducks.

21. Burt and Ernie were my favorite characters on Sesame Street when I was younger. We still have Christmas tree ornaments that hang on our tree each year.

22. I’ve actually been to Wasilla, Alaska.

23. My cat Sammy is a great mouse killer (he begged me to put this one in).

24. I love that my brother and I have inside jokes (“Section C!”).

25. I’m so ready for summer already, but since I live in Massachusetts, I’ll probably have to wait until June.