A Normal Weekend

Guess what I did this past weekend?

Give up?

I went to another skating competition! Yup, another one. Thankfully, this one was in Belleville, so there was no travel involved. Unfortunately, the two girls I had competing didn't really do all that well.

This particular competition, Eastern Ontario STARSkate Invitational Championships (EOSIC), is a big one...skaters from all over Eastern Ontario compete in hopes of qualifying to compete at the provincial level. There are always a lot of skaters competing in each level, and competition is fierce.

You can actually feel that the competition level at this event is more intense than it is at Invitational or Club Competitions. And, because this was the first time both girls competed at EOSIC, I think they were a little caught up in their surroundings.

Jillian skated on Friday, and although she skated well, it just wasn't enough to compete at this level. She was happy with her skate though, and said going in that she didn't expect much. She ended up placing eleventh out of fourteen. And, she was surprisingly OK with that...she said she was just glad she wasn't last.

Britteny skated on Saturday, and I was a little disappointed in her skate (not that I told her that). She is normally a powerful skater, with great speed and flow throughout her solo. That was NOT the case on Saturday...she practically walked through her program?!? I was at the boards whispering 'push, push, push' the whole time! So although she skated a clean program - she landed her jumps and her spins were decent - it too just wasn't enough to compete at this level. She ended up placing tenth out of eleven. She too was surprisingly OK with it...so I guess I should be too. I just know that she could have done a lot better, and all I really want is for my skaters to do their best.

This was the last competition of the season for these two - now it's time for them to focus on an upcoming test day.

It's going to be a busy few weeks, but the season is drawing to a close!

Shooting Stars

This past weekend was Shooting Stars Interclub - another skating competition. This competition is also known as interclub, and it's meant to be a FUN competition - and I know that the five skaters I had competing, definitely had a lot of fun.

I had two skaters, Alyssa and Hannah, competing in two events on Saturday morning. When Hannah arrived at the rink, I was surprised to see her right hand all wrapped up?!? She had a little accident at a school dance the night before, and pulled a ligament in her wrist. She was in a lot of pain, and her fingers were swollen and blue, but she was determined to skate anyway!

Alyssa's older brother was at the competition watching, and he told Hannah that 'the pain will end, but the glory will last forever'. Ha! She kind of adopted that as her motto all weekend!

They competed in Shadow Dance, skating the Canasta Tango, and then did their Similar Pairs. They ended up last in the Shadow Dance, despite skating well, but placed third in Similar Pairs! Everyone was really proud of their great finish because the girls actually choreographed their whole program themselves! I let them work on it on their own, and when I gave them lessons, I really only reminded them about staying in unison.

Hannah and Alyssa - after their skate, they're all smiles as they wait for medal presentations. You can't really tell in this picture, but those outfits were BRIGHT green! I heard people watching talk about them :) Alyssa was able to borrow them from her dance studio.

On Sunday, I had five skaters competing in three or four events each - and, they all won medals in two or three of those events!

My little Ella - she is awesome! She is very determined, and isn't really happy unless she gets first...so, she couldn't stop smiling when she won the gold for her Individual Elements.

On the medal podium...
I think I have mentioned on here that I have a boy skater this year - he competed at this competition, and I think his proudest moment was coming in THIRD in the Individual Spiral & Spin Event (he had to do a forward spiral followed by a one foot spin). A third place finish was big because he competed against seven girls!

And, here's a group shot of some of the Tweed skaters that competed throughout the weekend...

Left to right: Madison, Hannah, Amelia, Ella, Leigha, Jamie, Adrianna, Jessalynn and Sydney.

I was kinda dreading this competition - just because it was spread out over two days and with each skater competing in multiple events, it can get a little chaotic making sure they get to the ice when they're supposed to and stuff. But, it ended up going really well - and, the fact that I had Monday off for Family Day was perfect, it gave me a chance to sleep in!

So, that's four competitions down...two to go!

Valentine's Update

I hate to brag...but, I have the best husband in the world!

If you read my Valentine's Day post, you know that we didn't have any plans last night because we had curling. Which, as a side note, was horrible last night - we got destroyed! The other team got five points in the first end...five more points in the second end...three points in the third end...and then we stopped keeping score! No one on our team was playing great (obviously), but we did get a little better as the game went on...it was just too late by that point! But, that is not the point of this post.

After curling, while we were having a drink and chatting with the other team, Curt mentioned that when we got home, he needed to have a few minutes in the house before I could come it? I'm not good at waiting for a surprise, so I was ready to leave as soon as he told me that! I ended up leaving a few minutes after Curt, so he had plenty of time to 'set up' before I got home.

And, when I did get home, Curt directed me to the first clue for a little scavenger hunt...

After eleven clues...going up and down the stairs four times...and getting a few extra hints from Curt along the way, I found this in one of the drawers in my bedside table...


A NEW Sony e-reader! I have had a Kobo for a few years, and love it and use it all the time. I had the original model, and e-readers have come a long way over the years. So, this is an upgrade for me - I now have WiFi, and, it's a TOUCH!

I was pretty comfortable with my Kobo, so this is going to take some getting used to, but I know that I'm going to love it!

A Valentine's Post

I came across this little questionnaire on another blog today, and I thought it would be a good post for Valentine's Day.

Click on the button below to go to the blog 'From Mrs. to Mama' for the original Love Story questionnaire, and almost 300 others!

1. How long have you and your significant other been together?
We started dating in October 2003 - so we've 'been together' for eight years!

2. How did you meet? {What’s your “love” story?}
We met through friends at University. I went to University with Curt's best friend from high school, Isaac, so when Curt would come to visit, we would end up hanging out, but always in a group. I later found out that Curt did ask his friend about me at one point, to see if I had a boyfriend at the time because he was interested in me, however, that friend told him that he wouldn't really like me, so nothing ever happened at that point!

Isaac married my best friend Jeanette, and Curt and I were both in the wedding party. We spent a bit of time together during the weekend of the wedding and got along really well. However, I was scheduled to leave for Africa later that summer, so wasn't really thinking about starting a relationship (I was supposed to be working in Africa for two years!).

Curt and I spoke through MSN Messenger a few times while I was in Africa; I told him that I was having a tough time being there, and he was always very encouraging during our conversations. I ended up coming home after only a few months - and we started dating a few weeks after I got home.

3. If married, how long have you been married?
We were married on July 30, 2005 - we'll celebrate our seventh anniversary this summer!

4. If you are married, where did you get married? Big or small wedding?
We were married in my hometown - the ceremony was at Knox Presbyterian Church, the church I attended my whole life to that point. The reception was at Blue Springs Golf Course, the course I worked at during the summers while attending University. There were about 150 people at our wedding - I consider that to be medium sized :)

5. Do you have any nick-names that you call one another? Do share!
Two main nicknames - I call Curt 'hon' and he calls me 'babe'. Curt has a few other nicknames for me, but they are more of a joke - he calls me 'hollywood' when I wear sunglasses, and 'coach' when I'm going to/coming from the arena.

6. Name 3 things you love most about your honey.
He is encouraging - He is smart and very driven - He is willing to try new things.

7. Tell us how he proposed?
He went ABOVE AND BEYOND with his proposal, and I love sharing our story. I don't think I'll type it all out here though, I have a link just under my blog title to a page all about the proposal, if you don't know the story, check out the page!

8. Is he a flowers and teddy bear kind of guy for v-day, or strawberries, champagne, and rose petals?
Ummm, I don't think Curt fits into either of these 'categories'?!?

9. Are you a sunset dinner on the beach kind of girl, or pop a movie in and relax on the couch?
A sunset dinner on the beach might be nice while we are on vacation, but it's not a reality for us in Ontario :). I'm more of a pop a movie in and relax on the couch kinda girl anyway.

10. Tell us one thing you’d like to do with your significant other one day. If you could do anything? Go anywhere?
Curt and I both want to travel to Africa together, to do some type of mission work. We've done this individually, before we were dating or married - as I said earlier, I've been to Africa, and Curt has been to Romania. I would love to go back to Malawi, Africa with Curt - but anywhere in Southern Africa would do!

11. Tell us what you plan on doing this Valentine's Day.
I'm writing this post on Feb. 8th, but setting it to post on Feb. 14th - so, as of right now, we don't have any plans. It's a Tuesday night, which is the night we have curling, so we'll have to do that.

12. Are you asking for anything this Valentine's day?
Curt and I don't usually exchange gifts for Valentine's day - so, no!

13. Give us one piece of advice of keeping a relationship strong and full of love.
Respect and appreciate each other. Spend time with each other - people often say that this is important, especially when you have kids - we don't have kids, but life can still get really busy, so it applies to us too!

14. Show us a picture of what love means to you.
An old picture, but it's worth breaking it out for this post :)

Skating Milestones!

I have had an awesome week at skating - a week where I realize how lucky I am to be a coach and to get paid to do something that I love, and that can be so rewarding!

It started on Thursday with one of my skaters, Kate - she wasn't supposed to be at practice that night because she had an orthodontist appointment, but she was able to make it for about an hour. Now, I had readjusted my lesson schedule thinking that Kate wasn't going to be there, so I only had about ten minutes to work with her. I was going to give her a short skills lesson, but she asked if we could work on her double toe loop instead, so I said sure and we got to work.

She has been working on her double toe off and on all year - at one point, she was really struggling with it, so we decided to focus on her double loop instead - but over the last few weeks, we switched back to the double toe as it was getting really close. So on Thursday, after about two or three attempts...she LANDED her FIRST DOUBLE TOE!!!

I don't know who was more excited, me or Kate?!? I'm super excited because it's always good to see a skaters hard work pay off, and because this is the first of 'my' skaters to land a double toe!

When I got home after skating, this was Kate's status on Facebook....landed my double toe loop today!!!!!!!!!!! my butt is completely soaked but it was totally worth it! :)

And then yesterday, we had a 'guest coach' come to Tweed to work with our skaters in a harness. The coach uses a handheld harness to help get the necessary height to achieve the rotation of a jump - once the skater 'gets the feeling' of the jump, they are often able to complete it without the harness.

Here is a picture I found online of a coach using a similar harness...
The first skater I had Adam work with in the harness was Leah; she has been working on her axel for at least two years! It's a jump that kids always struggle with, and often spend a long time working to achieve, but it was beyond frustrating for her by this point! She'd pretty much given up on Freeskate by this point actually, I think she was ready to give up and focus on Dance and Skills.

So, she gets in the harness and after a few attempts, starts landing the jump. I'm working with a different skater at the opposite end of the ice, but I was totally distracted and paying more attention to Leah...ooops. It's obviously one thing to land the jump while in the harness, but the ultimate test to land it once the harness is removed. So, when she LANDED her FIRST AXEL I couldn't help but celebrate!!! I interrupted the lesson to give high fives, congratulate her, hug her and tell her how proud of her I was - no one would have been able to wipe the smiles off our faces!!!

She continued her lesson, doing a few jumps in the harness and then a few more without, going back and forth. The best part, not only is she now landing the jump, but she has a beautiful air position! Now that's a comment only a skating coach can appreciate! ha!

Once she finished her lesson, I did a little group lesson with my jumping stars - the lesson included Leah, Kate and another skater, Britteny, who has recently started landing her double salchow. It was a great lesson, the girls and I both loved rotating through skaters - Leah landing her axel, Britteny landing her double salchow and Kate landing her double toe loop!

And, now for a picture of the girls...
Left to right: Leah, Jillian, Kate and Britteny (Jillian didn't have any huge jump achievements this week, but I couldn't leave her out of the picture!)

These girls are normally really goofy, and always giggling, so this picture seemed too serious...so, I told them to be goofy, and this is what I got...
I'm anxious to see if the girls are still landing these jumps when I see them next, which isn't until Thursday?!?!

Golf vs. Football

We've been watching a lot of golf around here lately. Curt and I both enjoy watching, so it's usually on for at least a little while every weekend. These last few weekends though, the tournaments have all had extra appeal, so golf has been on more than usual.

Three weeks ago the tour was in La Quinta, California playing the Palmer and Nicklaus courses at PGA West. When we were in California in July 2010, we played the TPC Stadium Course at PGA West! When I came across the tournament on TV, I knew right away that they were playing in Palm Springs - although we didn't play the exact same course, I could see the similarities in course conditions and the architecture of the homes on the courses.

Some pictures from our round at the Stadium Course...



It was an AMAZING course, but what I remember most is how HOT it was while we were playing! By the time we got to the 17th Hole, appropriately name 'Alcatraz', I was so hot and tired, after hitting three balls in the water, I gave up on ever hitting the island green and didn't play the hole!


Two weeks ago, the tour was in La Jolla, California playing at Torrey Pines. When we were in California in December 2011, we played the South Course at Torry Pines! Because we just played this course a month ago, Curt and I could actually remember how we played while we were there - so, as we watched, we had our own commentary, remembering the shots we made while we played.

Some pictures from our round at Torrey Pines...
While we were playing, there was a crew setting up the bleachers for the Farmers Open - we were surprised to learn they start that so early! This was our view coming into the 15th green!
This was another AMAZING course, although it is a municipal course, and you noticed that at times - for example, players were allowed to wear jeans (I HATE that) and there a lot of ball marks on the greens. Curt played really well...I played HORRIBLY...but, we both just enjoyed the fact that we were playing on a course that has hosted the U.S. Open and an annual PGA event!


And then last week, the tour was in Scottsdale, Arizona playing the Waste Management Phoenix Open at TPC Scottsdale. Now, we haven't played this course, but it's on my bucket list to play there - AND to be a spectator at this event, more specifically, to sit in the bleachers on the 16th hole - also known as the 'Bird's Nest' and the rowdiest hole in golf (fans act more like they're at a hockey game than a golf game).

Unfortunately, Sunday's final round was interrupted by the Super Bowl :( We had a little get together, so once people started arriving, we couldn't really leave the TV on golf.

I was a little nervous about hosting the party - mainly because our guest list grew significantly the night before/morning of the event! I thought we were only going to have five people over, but by Sunday after church, that number had doubled! So, when I started to make chili, I was afraid I wasn't going to have enough...and I worried about the fact that we don't really have seating for that many people. As I stressed, Curt only said 'don't worry about it, it doesn't matter'. And, since we couldn't un-invite people, I just hoped for the best.

I think it went well in the end - one of our guests brought pulled pork, so there was another 'main course' and we didn't run out of chili. There were a lot of snacks to enjoy before dinner, so much that I forgot to put out some of the food we had bought to serve. Some people had to sit on the floor at times, but everyone took turns so I don't think it was that bad. So, once again, I probably stressed about nothing.

I really don't enjoy watching football, but I enjoyed the company, the socializing, the food and some of the commercials!

I saw this image on Pinterest today, and it sums things up nicely...

Sick Day = Blog Catch Up

I'm home sick from work today - nothing serious, just a cold - I could have gone to work, but I have NO energy, so I decided to use my first sick day. It's been a good use of a sick day - I slept a lot this morning, watched Ellen, spent too much time on Pinterest, finally got things cleaned up from our Super Bowl Party (more on that later), and now I can catch up here!

This past weekend was a busy one - I was at a skating competition all day Saturday; and although I only had two skaters competing, they each skated in four events, so it was a full and busy day.

Ella had a good day and skated her best, unfortunately, the judges didn't really reward her for her great skating?!? She came in fourth in her first event, individual elements, and although that is great, she was pretty disappointed with that - she even shed a few tears :( I don't like it when my older girls cry when they get their results, but with little ones, it breaks my heart.

Look at this little cutie, it obviously makes me sad when she cries! This picture is from the end of the day, she was done crying and kinda hyper by this point!
I'm obviously biased, but I really think she should have been second or third - I think the judges mixed up the skaters when they did their marking. I felt like my point was proven throughout the day because the same girl that came in second in this event, competed against Ella in two other events, and she came in last and second last in those events!?!

Ella placed fourth in two of her other events as well, her format elements and team elements. When she got the results for her final event, and found out she was fourth again, all she said was 'AGAIN!?!'

Ella with her older sister, Hannah, who came to cheer for her fellow Tweed skaters.
Keegan, my dramatic boy skater, also had a great day and stepped up to a big challenge - there was only one other boy registered for the competition, and he was two levels higher than Keegan; skaters can 'skate up' in levels, but can't skate down, for obvious reasons - so in order to have the chance to compete, Keegan skated up and had to learn all new elements just weeks before the event! He did a great job, and I'm sure that a lot of people watching wouldn't have known that he was actually two levels lower - the other boy was a lot more 'polished', but judges and coaches are probably the only ones to pick up on that kind of thing.

Keegan finished second in the two events that he had to 'skate up' in - which I think we all expected - and finished fourth in team elements, which he did with Ella.

The other event the kids competed in, a new one this year, was called 'Challenge Elements' - it was another individual element type event, but with a different format. The big difference is the way the kids are marked/rewarded at the end - rather than ranking the kids first, second, third, fourth, etc., kids are awarded gold, silver, bronze or merit certificates. So, all the kids in the flight may end up getting a gold certificate, or some may get gold while others get silver, etc.

I was a little unsure about the event going in, and still have mixed feelings - I didn't like the way the warm up was conducted, but I do like that they get a report card afterwards, so you know exactly how the judges came up with their results. Both Ella and Keegan ended up with Silver certificates, but despite that, they didn't like the event :) It's new, so we'll give it a try at the next competition and see how it goes there!

This is a horrible photo, taken with my phone, but it's the only one I have of Keegan. It's a group shot of everyone from Tweed (L-R: Kristin, one of the other coaches, Keegan, Leigha - Kristin's skater, Ella and myself)
So, that's another competition done for the season - only three more to go!