It's My Party...

...and I'll cry if I want to!

So, today was the big day...my 30th Birthday. I had this title all planned out a few days ago, and little did I know how much I would actually cry on my birthday?!?! Now, for those of you who really know me, you'll probably assume that I was upset because I was turning thirty. I haven't been looking forward to this 'milestone'...I've actually been dreading it! And, I made sure that everyone knew I didn't want anyone to make a big deal of the day.

However, the tears were not because it was my birthday, but because of a rough few days at work. This is a stressful time of year for our clients...they're anxious to get their cheques early, and want to be able to have some sort of Christmas for themselves. Unfortunately, they tend to be impatient and nasty, and they take their frustrations out on us. So, by Friday, I had had my share of horrible phone calls, and I finally just lost it...and cried (it's just who I am).

Luckily, it was Curt's Friday off, and we had made plans to meet for lunch - and it was a much needed visit in the middle of the day! It was great to get out of the office and to enjoy each others company.

After an uneventful afternoon back at the office, it was off to the arena. It was a pretty low-key night; it was our last night for the CanSkate session, so we offered a family skate. And, I have to say, it was a relief to not have to teach a group lesson.

Next, it was off to Pizza Hut with various other coaches, and some of the executive, for a Christmas/Appreciation Dinner for our Program Assistants.

And finally, back to the arena, this time to watch Curt's hockey game - the first of his games that I've been to all season (I used to go to his games every week, this season has been a lot different).

So, it was a busy day, and although I didn't want to do anything special for my birthday, I'm not sure I would have wished for today's events for, either. I would have at least changed the morning at work :) One thing I wouldn't change is the very sweet gift that Curt got for me - he surprised me with a pearl necklace, and a gift card to do some shopping!

Oh, and now that I'm 30, I'll have to let everyone know how I did with my '30 by 30' challenge! That will be a later post.

QFSC is Homeless

Last Friday, after over 60 years of skating at Memorial Arena, the Quinte Figure Skating Club was forced to say good-bye to our facility. Now, I've only been part of Quinte Figure Skating Club for 5 years, but it was still a weird night...and the emotions of those around me definitely had an affect. Some of the coaches I work with have coached in that arena for 25+ years...and some of them did their own skating in that building, too. All of that in mind, I'm sure in some ways, Memorial Arena felt like a second home.


The reason for the sudden closure - apparently there was major failure in the ice plant (refrigeration system) on Wednesday night. Now, this is a really old building, and these things happen...in fact, there had been issues last season; so, over the summer, the city dug up the concrete floor and did a few patch-up jobs, hoping to at least get through this season. But, that's not going to be the case. After the failure on Wednesday night, the refrigeration system was turned off and we were relying on the cold weather to keep the ice for a few days.

In the midst of all of this, construction is in full swing on the Quinte Sports Center - an addition that will increase the center from two rinks, to four rinks. If things had gone as planned, we would have finished the season at Memorial and then moved to one of the new rinks next year. Something we were looking forward to, but just not ready for, yet.

And, because this has all happened so suddenly, we are going to have a few chaotic weeks ahead of us. The city has had to scramble to find ice for us to use, as well as all the other user groups that rely on the Memorial. We only know where we're going to be for the next week, and we're in a few different arenas. I mean the important thing is that we have ice...but, we're going to miss the perks we had at Memorial...our own coaches room and the club room, two rooms we use to store supplies that help us run our program.

Hopefully the kids will all adapt, and enjoy skating in some of the other/nicer arenas in Belleville...hopefully they all find us, and don't show up at the wrong arena! :)

Competition Season has Begun!

So, like I said in my last post, December is shaping up to be a busy month...and this weekend was a good indication of that.

Today was the first skating competition of the year for my skaters...well, my 'older' skaters, anyway. This was an Invitational competition held in the nearby town of Frankford, and three of my skaters from Tweed competed. This was a big one for two of the girls, it was the first time they competed at the STARSkate level, which is kind of a milestone in skating.

Britteny, my first skater of the day, really rose to the occasion...she skated a great program and placed FIRST! This girl is a little jumping bean...this is only my second season coaching her, but in that time, every new jump I've shown her, she's landed on the first day! Spins don't come as easy to Brittteny, but we've been working hard on them in preparation for today, and she went out and did one of the best camel/sit combination spins I've ever seen her do. The best part of the day was Britteny's attitude towards the whole thing...before she skated she kept telling me that she felt ready and knew she was going to do well...and when she finished, she knew she had done the best she could, and was proud of that...it was great. So, the first place finish was well deserved.

Jillian, my second skater of the day, also had a really good skate...probably a personal best. Jillian struggles with her jumps, and unfortunately isn't landing three of the jumps that are required in her level...she has decent attempts at all of them, but they are all under-rotated. But, she chose to challenge herself this year by moving up to a new level anyway, and I'm proud of her for that! Jillian is a natural spinner, and her spins were great, as usual. I was happy when Jillian came off the ice smiling, she was happy with her skate and knew that there was one jump combination that she could have done better, but aside from that, she had done the best she could. Her mom had videotaped her skate, and after watching it she told me she thought she might get third or fourth...I had seen some of her competition, and thought fifth or sixth was more realistic...so we were both surprised when she ended up coming in eighth (last).

And then there is Leah, she was my last skater of the day, and probably the one I was most worried about going into the competition. Leah had a pretty rough 'competitive season' last year...she competed in two competitions and placed last in both. And I knew that was weighing on her coming into this competition...that and the fact that she can't land her axel, a key jump at her level. However, a lot of kids skating at the Preliminary level can't LAND an axel, it's more about having a decent attempt...and Leah's attempt has come a long way in the first few months of this season. Her axel today was one of the better ones I've seen her do, and although she two-footed the landing, the rotation was almost there. She did have a funny little fall in her program...but we laughed it off...she was hydro-blading and she couldn't get on a deep enough edge to make it curve, she looked behind her and realized she was getting close to the boards, and she decided she had to fall to avoid crashing into them at full speed! Anyway, the fall wasn't during anything too important, so it didn't effect her too much, and she ended up placing FOURTH! A fourth I will always think of as third, because the girl who placed first is kind of in her own league...she skates in Quinte, and when I saw that she was in Leah's flight I just kinda settled on everyone else was skating for second. Either way, third or fourth, a huge victory after last years competitions.

It's been a relaxing afternoon/evening, which is always nice. Curt is away at a family Christmas party in Toronto...I had to miss it because Leah didn't skate until 2:30pm, and Curt had to be on the road around 1pm...and although I know the party would have been a lot of fun, today's competition went really well, so it was worth staying home for!

Worst Blogger Ever - Me!

So, as you may have noticed, November was a bit of a write-off for me. I had a record low number of postings, four, which is really embarrassing. It's been too long to try to cover everything that has happened since my last post, but there are a few things I want to mention, for my own sake, so bear with me...I'll try to make this a 'Coles Notes' version.

- In mid-November we had an unfortunate family event, my uncle passed away, which meant a trip home for a few days. Obviously not the best reason to be home, but it was nice to be able to have a few days with family while we all dealt with his death. This was the first time there has been a family emergency, on my side, since Curt and I have been married. It was tough getting the news over the phone, and my poor brother was the one who had to call and tell me, and just being so far away from everyone for the first few days was hard, too.

- While I was home attending the visitations/funeral, my skaters in Tweed had a test day! I felt bad missing it, but I obviously had to be at home. One of the coaches I work with covered for me, and the girls ended up doing fine. Two of my skaters were trying their Preliminary Skills and the Swing Dance, and passed both, and a third skater tried her Swing Dance too, but she will have to retry it at the next test day (that's the nice way of saying she failed, which just seems so harsh).

- Other then those events, things have been pretty routine for the last few weeks. The hours of my new job + skating = not a lot of spare time these days...and what spare time I do have, I'm generally exhausted and just relaxing on the couch! Oh, and I did get to spend a few days on the couch earlier this week, but it wasn't in a good way...I had a nasty cold/sinus thing that knocked me out for like three days, it was rough!

And, now we're into December, which is crazy (the last few months have gone so fast)! And it's shaping up to be a busy month, so I really have to get back into blogging. Here's hoping I can make more time to post over the next few weeks!

A Two Week Blur

The last two weeks have been a total blur! My new job is keeping me super busy, and making for some long days. But, I'm glad to be working, and I'm appreciating the new opportunity. I enjoyed two government perks at my job this past week, and I have to share - first, I had this past Thursday off for Remembrance Day! And second, my original contract was only for two weeks, and was supposed to end on Friday - but, they extended it until the end of January, and gave me a raise with the extension! I had to laugh, because even though it was only a fifty cent raise, it still came after only two weeks, and I had to fight for a raise at the golf course after TWO YEARS.

Three days a week, I get off work early to get to skating - and those are particularly long days. But, skating is obviously still very important, and I couldn't leave the kids stranded. I've been busy getting my kids in Tweed ready for an upcoming test day, and our first competition is coming up soon, too!

Curling has been going well, and it's great to get out of the house and enjoy something together. Curt has been doing really well, and I...well, I have one or two good ends a game :) It's like golf though - in golf, one good shot a game keeps me coming back, so one good end in curling should keep me coming back as well. The beginners luck wore off quickly though, we haven't won since the first week. The second week was a bit of a blow out, but last week we did at least give the other team a challenge.

Last weekend we went to Acton to celebrate Nolan's third birthday - and as always, it was a good time. This was a whirlwind trip - we didn't get there until after 7pm on Saturday night, and left just after 7pm on Sunday! But, it was worth it.

Well, this has been a really boring post...but, that's all I have for now. We're actually just about to head out to visit friends and watch the Amazing Race. Then it will be back to the grind for another week.

Skate Canada International

So, with all the work stuff straightened out, I was able to enjoy Skate Canada on the weekend. I went Saturday after skating, and got there just in time to see the Men's FreeSkate. It was a great event - and Canadian, Patrick Chan, was amazing. He came back from a fourth place finish in the short, and won the event!


Men's Medal Ceremony - Patrick Chan getting his GOLD medal. I know this isn't a great picture, but I wanted to post it anyway - I realized I needed our other camera, with more zoom, and took it on Sunday.

Canada was well represented on the podium - although the second place skater is Japanese, and the third place skater is American, they are both coached by Canadians! The American skater, Adam Rippon, is coached by Brian Orser - and I'm not sure who was more entertaining to watch...Adam, who is an amazing skater with great jumps, or Brian Orser, who never stopped moving during Adam's entire skate! He seemed to walk through the whole program on the ground - he was so into it. As a coach, I loved watching Brian, too.

Unfortunately I didn't get to see any of the Pairs competition, but I did get to see the Pairs medal ceremony.


Pretty proud moment for us Canadians! Kirsten Moore-Towers & Dylan Moscovitch were second, and Paige Lawrence & Rudi Swiegers were third. Two young Canadian teams, who obviously have a lot of potential in the next few years. Oh yeah, and the girl second from the left is a skater from Quinte! A number of our skaters were selected as volunteers and got to do a variety of cool jobs.

I also got to see the Ladies Final on Saturday evening, and there was another Canadian medal! Surprisingly, it wasn't Cynthia Phaneuf who made the podium (she had a disappointing skate in the long, and dropped to fourth. But, Amelie Lacoste was consistent, and won the bronze! I don't have any pictures of the Ladies, the battery died in my camera.

I was back at the competition on Sunday, and watched both events - the Free Dance and the Exhibition. Despite all the highlights from the day before, I think Sunday was my favourite day - I LOVE ice dance!

I think what made it extra special is that Canadians Vanessa Crone & Paul Poirier won the event. The reason that's special to me is because two years ago, while at a coaching clinic, I got to share the ice with these two. The clinic focused on coaching dance, and these two came to do on-ice demonstrations for us. They were really nice, and not all that well known at that point - and here they are, only two short years later!


Ice Dance Medal Ceremony - Vanessa Crone, looking pretty happy, being congratulated by the President of Skate Canada.

One of the things I was most looking forward to, was getting to see Tessa Virtue and Scott Moir skate, live. However, weeks before the event, Skate Canada announced that they had to withdraw because Tessa had surgery - so that was disappointing. But, I did get to see Alexandra Paul & Mitchell Islam skate - a young dance team, and relatively unknown, for now. And they were like a mini Tessa and Scott - in looks and in style. They teamed up in February 2009 and won Silver at the Junior World Championships in 2010, after skating together for only a little more than a year! They were awesome, and placed fourth - amazing for one of their first competitions at the Senior level!

And, although they didn't skate, Tessa and Scott were there - they gave a speech during a presentation to a Canadian judge, she was being inducted into the Skating Hall of Fame.



The exhibition was amazing, and it was great to get to see so many Canadians perform again. It's nice to see the top skaters perform in a lighter atmosphere, and I enjoy when they put on a real show, rather then just coming out and doing another competition like performance.

I got home from Kingston just in time to start welcoming the trick-or-treaters! Maria and Henk & Amy were here for the night too, so we played some games and watched a 'scary' movie. It was a great finish to an awesome weekend.

Rewind to the End of Last Week

It's been so long, and I've been so busy, I don't even know where to start.

In my last post, which was last Wednesday, I was talking about going to Skate Canada International on the weekend, but I had so much happen on Thursday and Friday, too.

Thursday morning I had a job interview for a position with World Vision. They were hiring people to work in the mall for six weeks leading up to Christmas; it's the first time they've come to the mall here, but they come in and set up a 'booth' and try to get people to adopt/sponsor kids. I was really excited when I saw the job posting online, I immediately knew it would be perfect for me. The interview, which was a group thing, went really well, and I left feeling confident that I would be offered a position. So, that added to the excitement of the weekend.

After the interview, I drove straight to Kingston to watch some of the practice sessions at the competition. As I was parking, I got a call regarding another job, one that I had an informal interview about earlier in the week, but that I assumed wouldn't amount to anything because skating conflicted with the hours of work. Well, I was wrong - I was offered the job?!? Total shocker.

Later that night, when I was on the ice coaching, I got a call from the person about the World Vision job, and I was offered the job!

Job stuff never seems to be easy with me :) I was really torn between the two jobs, both had their own positives and negatives, and I stressed over making the right choice. I kept flip-flopping back and forth, and questioning my decision.

Anyway, I went with the second job, which is with the Ministry of Community and Social Services - more specifically, the Ontario Disability Support Program. It was such a good opportunity I couldn't pass it up - I mean, I may finally put my degree to good use!

I started the next day, so last Friday. That was one of the negatives, I started right away so I wasn't able to go to Skate Canada on Friday :( But, having been at the job for a week now, I'm over missing the competition, and I am feeling like I made the right decision.