National Showcase Pictures

there are more, but these are the ones i like:)

Kate's Married!

I'm leaving town...

...and I'll be back sometime Sunday afternoon or evening. I'm finally going to National Showcase, an invitational nation-wide showcase competition. I'm excited, and stressed. I'll do my very best to bring home a medal in the dramatic event. I'm pretty much guaranteed a medal for "extemporaneous" since there are only two of us skating in that event. But I still want to win you know. I think this is the first time...In a loooong time...that I'm going into a competition really wanting to win.
We'll be going to magic mountain on Friday...JK says we can skate that morning somewhere (because she knows I still want to work While down there...and then go to Magic Mountain with my girls and have a blast and get totally wiped out before I compete the next day! That's the beauty about Saturday's event...we want to win and we're going to try our hardest, but we are still arrogant enough that we don't care to spend all our energy at an amusement park right before:)
I have a super busy day ahead of me because I still have a full schedule at the rink but I also have to start packing! oi vey!
So I'll see you all next week. Love Ya!

Just an old pic from dixon may fair that I love.

Death

I hate it. Before last december I had never in my life known anyone who had died. I'm not liking it one bit, not that i expected to, but still....it sucks. A fellow instructor and friend, James Cahill, passed away earlier this week from cancer. He was living in Utah for the last couple of years to be closer to some of his "grandkiddies" (that's what he told us, "before I get too damn old!") Yea James, I bought it. He came to visit us a few months ago. He wanted to make sure he saw every single one of us before he went back to Utah. I thought he was just being the crazy guy i knew him to be. I thought his last goodbye hug was a little long and Jk just told me she thought the same. Damnit James! I think all of us would say that he was funny as hell and just about the sweetest guy you'd ever meet, alcohol breath and all. I found this picture of him on the web...it's pretty good, it kinda shows you what a jolly old guy he was:)

busybusybusy

things are getting hecktic again. i'm leaving for valencia on wednesday...i'm getting up in the 3s...urg. have to make it to the rink by 11am for offiacial practice ice. should be cool though because (thank god) i don't have to work tuesday night and i can get to bed early. then after my 11am practice in valencia, i can eat and sleep and shop if i want to..so should be cool. i skate my dramatic program on thursday and my "extemporanious" event on saturday. we're hoping that tosha doesn't have to skate on friday, because that's the day we all wanna go to magic mountain. which reminds me, i must look up what kind of deals i can get to do magic moutain cheaper. anyway, it should be fun (i hope so). i have not even thought about packing or what i need to get before i leave, i think i'll worry about it over the weekend.
so in other news, i'm on the hunt for a dress. i know, it's been how long since i've worn a dress! how about a skirt even? well i can tell you, prom was the last time i wore a dress and i actually wore the skirt tashe made me for the harry potter party but that was a costume...in day to day life, i quit wearing skirts in high school. so i'm searching for a dress because i'm going to my co-worker kate's wedding in two weeks. eek, only two weeks, that just hit me! anyway, i'm reallt hoping i can find a dress in valencia otherwise, i'm screwed. i have nothing to wear...even if i tried to wear slacks, i don't have a nice top to wear. so i really hope i find something nice, i want so much to have a good time and not be worried about being the "worst dressed," especially since all the skaters and coaches there will be looking so sharp (it's like a rule, skaters always look in style no matter what, except for me of course). i tried looking for dresses online, but i know that's no good. i have to try things on because my body is not normal shaped...nobody's is.
i have a board meeting tonight...or bored meeting, i'm not sure which.
ok, i think that's all the chit-chatting i have for today.and i think i have a lot to do today...so much for the so-called day off, eh.
a biento