"I tell them that actually figure skating is an extreme sport, it's tougher than hockey," said Laraque, after catching his breath during a training session with his skating partner in the Montreal suburb of Ste-Julie. "Figure skaters are mentally and physically much tougher than many athletes."

~ Georges Laraque, Canadian hockey player turned figure skater

Monday, April 18, 2011

Sweeper Moments

Did you know the sweepers began throwing tossies to skaters to be sure they had something to sweep?

One sweeper got so into adult skating she went home and sorted her tossies and brought a bunch of them back to the rink to toss to HER favorite adult skaters!

They were utterly adorable. They all had matching skating dresses/shirts and did a phenomenal job of gathering up all the tossies thrown. They even successfully avoided the Beanie Baby Bazooka. Merry Neitlich's favorite line of the week came from one sweeper who saw Autumn Allison tossing Twinkies and asked, "What do I have to do to get one of those?" Erin Stearns followed suit when a sweeper asked for a Twinkie. "What was I going to say?", said Erin. "I gave her the Twinkie, and she told me I could have the sticker off of it. It was too cute." Another sweeper exclaimed, "I got jellybeans!" 

There was one tiny little guy who got lifted onto the ice and back in to the sweeper box! He had a tiny tantrum in which he tossed the tossies he had collected back on the ice, but all was well.

One sweeper collected autographs from every skater in the Kiss and Cry as she delivered the skater's tossies.

SLC sweepers were the best!




So Much To Post! (Stay tuned for captions)

Blue. Judges clearly enjoying!
Marci's mother's necklace.
She wears it every competition. 
'Nuf said. 

Lisa, Karen & Nina. Great ladies!
I wonder what Leslie is thinking?
No, actually, I don't.
  
Staying in touch or checking results?
Bob Massey's secret life.
Is there enough to share Bob?

Triple Gold tastes sooo good!!
The Black Swan.

Jeff Moxie presented the Champ
Int-Nov Ladies Paula Smart trophy.
Lexi bookended by Fussells!

Host hotel lobby centerpiece. 
In case anyone wonders what my
secret weapon is for announcing. 

Thursday, April 14, 2011

Enough Said.

More Evidence . . .



Heads fanned out like cards.

Hello Peeps!
 
Shelved but not forgotten.
 
Angry Birds have infiltrated AN

My car. And snow.

Wednesday, April 13, 2011

Evidence



The Albuquerque crew

BlingBlade

Foam Weapons. No AN is complete without them.

Where in the World . . . errr, U.S. 

Boy Sweepers!

Wall of Fame

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Here We Go!

AN registration is now open! . . . Jenna W reports that the arena is buzzing with skating friends reuniting, and the energy and excitement is 
palpable . . . 

Shannon K is looking fabulous as always, sharing her amazing smile and personality everywhere . . . Mike C, did everything you packed make it? I am betting it was the tossies that caused the carry-on to go over the weight limit . . . Heads have arrived! . .  Look for Mel G on a judging panel somewhere this week . . . Mike McK is in Utah, so good to have you at AN . . . A practice session is reported to have had music played by a coach. Nice going Coach! . . . Anyone have a good slogan for this year’s AN? Rachel K’s friend offers: "Blood, Sweat, & the smell of E6000." The local news profiled AN this morning, with a brief performance by Kelli Lynn Baker, or was it “Space Girl”? . . . Alexandra D-B’s clothes packing for AN and points beyond ranged from snow pants to shorts, large quantities of flesh-colored items and lyrca . . . she reports that, “It looks like I'm running away from home to be a stripper in either Hawaii or Alaska, but can't make up my mind.” . . . good luck with that . . . 

And in case you have not yet heard, previous AN Masters Jr/Sr Ladies Champ, Natalie Shaby, is headed to Obertsdorf in June for the 2011 ISU Adult Competition where she’ll go head to head with  . . .  Midori Ito! . . . While anything can happen on any given day, Ito still has to skate her program. It's been 20 years since she won Olympic Silver . . . has she been training as hard as Shaby since then? Stay tuned!
Work? Or strategizing . . .
That's a lot of dresses.