twenty-seven

Yuck, that sounds old. Anyway, for my bday this year I planned an Arizonan weekend extravaganza that made it decidedly the best birthday I've had for awhile.

It started with leaving in the first snowstorm of the year and landing in 60-70 degree paradise.

Then led off with seeing Bub and Mike for the first time in a little over a year!!! Bub and I had a ton of catching up to do (I knew we would) so we got a somewhat later start on our first day.

We went to the Phoenix Museum of Art (we like to be artsy fartsy sometimes) and saw some good stuff including a Monet and a lovely American impressionist Louis Ritman. There was also a painting of a gladiator fight that inspired the movie, a famous painting of GW and a huge chalk pastel of a girl in a white dress that was cool. Also saw a collection of mineature rooms (not really made for dolls) that were decorated in various styles, French, Georgian, etc. And what is a museum in AZ without a few desert landscapes and cowboys.

Then we went about three blocks and I had some delicious tacos that had all sorts of new and different things on them. AND we ate outside. In the sun. In February. Belissima.

Then we went home and did preparations for Olympics, Bub made pizza, Mike made his famous homemade guacamole and we had tons of treats. We started the Olympics a little late because we were mixed up on the broadcast time (AZ airs tv like Mountain time does) and then the antenna was a joy to wrangle. Poor Bub and Mike, they only got NBC by putting the antenna on the couch with Mike holding it up. Which he dutifully did the entire first night. We loved the Opening Ceremony and got super hyped for the next two weeks.

Birthday morning arrived and Michael generously made me a scrumptious birthday breakfast. He made crepes for the very first time and did a superb job at it. Topped off with strawberries, blueberries and nutella it was the breakfast of champions.

Next came a hike so that I could enjoy the warm weather, see Arizonan flora and fauna, and just generally be outside for more than ten minutes. I got to see some cactus and I wore shorts on my birthday. Because I could. Because it was warm. (sensing a theme here?).

After the hike we got ready to go see the Gilbert, AZ temple at the temple open house. We stood in line for an hour but it was worth it. That temple is so beautiful!! I think it's bigger than Draper or Oquirrh Mountain. They used the symbol of the agave plant all over the temple. The way the plant grows, the older leaves are on the outside and they support the newer leaves on the inside which could be like generations of a family with the older ones supporting the younger ones and showing them how to grow. The Celestial room has the biggest chandelier I've seen in my life. The sealing rooms are on the top floor and there are many of them, the biggest is supposed to hold 70 people! The outside grounds are quite delightful as well with palm trees and a descending pool that will be perfect for family pictures. We left just as the sun was setting so we got some great pictures.

Birthday dinner was attempted at Oregano's (I've heard great things!) but the wait was too long and we had some Olympics to watch. So I chose Zupas (a wonderful alternative) and we had a picnic on the floor while watching some great Olympic competition. Also, can I just say it was nice to watch with people who are just as nuts about it as I am?

And then we had birthday cake, which was DQ ice cream cake, that Bub and Mike got the Sochi Olympic logo on. OMG you guys, they are so good to me. And Michael tried DQ ice cream cake for the first time in his life and was converted.

More Olympics rounded out a great birthday.

The next day we played Disney Scene It (Bub won) and went to church and then Michael took me to the airport and I flew home. I really didn't want to.

So, No. 27 was pretty awesome. I got out of town, got some sun, saw Bub and Mike, saw Arizona and generally just partied all weekend long. I may need to make this an annual event!!!

Sochi Olympics-week 2

Hey, hey, hey! Another week of glorious Olympics is over-as always, there was a bit of Olympics fatigue in the end, but now I don't know what to do with all this free time. JK. Anyway, here is the second week of Olympic competition as recounted by me:

Day 8
Didn't see a whole lot. They showed a cross country relay that was really long. I went and saw a movie, The Monuments Men, with my friend instead of watching primetime. (Excellent movie, btw). A USA guy, Matt Antonie, won bronze in skeleton.

Day 9
Men's 2 man bobsled. USA Steve Holcomb drove to 3rd place after 2 runs. 2 more to go.

Women's snowboarding cross. So exciting and so crazy. Lindsay Jacobellis was the favorite to win but didn't even make it to the finals. What a heartbreaking sport.

Bode wins a bronze with a tie with another guy. First medal for these olympics and becomes the most decorated alpine skier of USA ever.

First night of ice dancing. Meryl and Charlie got the highest score ever and beat their Canadian rivals for first place. They are just a cut above the rest. I hope they win.

Day 10
Bob is back!!!!!!!! His eyes look a little worse for the wear. Bob thanked everyone for their concern and he apologized for taking the attention away from the athletes all in normal Costas witty fashion. What a thing to have to go through in front of millions of people and become a trending topic on twitter. SO GOOD to have him back though. Just wasn't the same.

Mens' Arials-USA kid who originally wasn't going placed 5th. I think he was 18 and this was his first or one of the first international competitions of his career. What a debut! A Belarus guy won and made it so a Belarusian won in each event both men and women.

Steve Holcomb drove USA two men bobsled to a bronze medal finish. Those BMW sleds must have paid off. And apparently the Germans are mad that their government sponsored sleds are not doing the job in a sport they are known for. Having the German made sleds driven by the Americans are no doubt driving them crazy!

Finals for ice dancing. Russian pair did excellent playing to the home crowd picking Swan Lake as music. Dramatic music and moves, very balletic.

Canadian pair did well, nice job

Meryl and Charlie!! They actually dance on the ice. They are so good and help me actually like ice dancing. Their program was the story of Scheherazade and was also to Russian music. Smart. It was lovely, balletic, and interesting lifts and made it look effortless. They won the gold for USA and I was excited for them!

USA is tied with Russia for medals

Day 11
Women's bobsled-USA has two track stars who have come over from summer Olympics to push for USA. USA 1 is leading after two awesome runs. They are looking to head into tomorrow night, get two more and get the gold. The other USA sled was in third place and could be in contention for a medal as well.

Women's Super G-saw Michaela Shiffrin's Olympic debut-she did well, ended up in 5th, great job for the 18 year old. She is bound to be a phenomenon someday. Julia Mancuso did not win a medal. Tina Maze of Slovakia won another gold. The weather conditions were terrible, rainy and snowy.

Saw the debut of men's ski halfpipe. We had a ton of USA men in the competition. David Wise ended up getting gold in crazy conditions-he did a great job.

So far USA has won a medal every day of the Olympics, hope they keep the streak up.

Day 12
Men's ski cross-France takes gold, silver, and bronze.

First night of ladies figure skating. Yuna Kim does an amazing job but young Russians threaten to take the gold from her. The Americans do ok.

Ted Ligity finally gets his gold in Giant Slolom. He beats the field by more than a second going into the second run. He won and finally won his gold medal in the discipline that he feels is his best.

Day 13
Women's ski halfpipe-was an emotional competition due to the passing of Sarah Burke in an accident in 2012. She was integral to getting the sport included in the Olympics. There were four Americans in the competition and the girl Maddie Bowman, from Lake Tahoe won the gold and did a great job for team USA.

Second night of ladies free skate-just as emotional as the first night. Yuna ended up getting silver, she didn't have enough elements in her skate to beat the 17 year old Russian Adelina who packed the points on with all her jumps. Americans ended up in the top 10 but none were able to medal. Better luck next time. Yuna Kim will be missed in 2018 in her home nation of Korea though.

Day 14, 15, 16 (Closing Ceremonies)
I don't really remember much from these days. More Dutch dominance from the speedskating track. USA gets their one and only medal in short track speedskating in team relay. A silver, because two other teams in the final crash. USA four man bobsled get bronze and they are happy about it. Russian guy gets gold. I think we saw ski cross men's and women's. Just as crazy as snowboard. This sport is maybe just as much about luck as it is about skill. USA women lose to Canada in hockey for silver. They were leading until the very last minutes of the game. USA men lose to Canada in hockey, play for bronze and lose to Finland. Canada beats Sweden for their second straight gold in a row. They showed a 1.5 hour piece on Tonya Harding and Nancy Kerrigan and the 1994 scandal. Holy crap. What a mess. I don't remember a thing about it even though I was alive. Oh yeah, Mikaela Shiffirin got gold in the slolom-she was excellent and led by almost a second after the first run. She bobbled coming down and was able to recover and still win the gold. She will totally be winning more medals in her career. I really enjoy her.

Closing Ceremonies-that projection screen again! What technology. Koreans give a presentation that makes me excited for 2018. More Russian Ballet!! Although I liked the stuff in the opening ceremonies better. Russians poke fun at themselves for the gaffe of the unopening olympic ring in the opening ceremony by re-enacting it. Tribute to Russian writers, and I'm pretty sure NBC edited out some grand piano playing of Russian composers. Tomas Bach, IOC President declared it the Athletes' Games. Misha the bear, as a blow up balloon and his friends, the hare and the leopard, blew out the olympic flame to end the games. The bear was a throw back to the 1980 Moscow games and they even used the same music. It was interesting to get a better feel for Russian culture, pride, and history and was pretty good for a closing ceremony.

Thoughts:
I wasn't as sad to finish the Olympics this time. I wonder why-the winter games don't get me as rilled up as the summer ones do. I also got to watch a lot more of these games because I was by a television.

There are and always will be the naysayers at the beginning of every games. Trying to make everyone freak out about security, unfinished infrastructure, political scandals, etc. Remember how London 2012 was making everyone afraid they hadn't hired enough security?...It's totally the media. They want the news and most likely blow it a little out of proportion. (It does make the country look good though when things go more smoothly than we expect). I don't think this will ever change. From all accounts the games went very well, security was good, the venues were nice, and the Russian people were very hospitable. Good for you, Sochi!

The Medals count-Some people whine that USA underperformed at these games. I have several thoughts on this: I do agree that there were a lot of returning medalists/athletes that we expected would medal but didn't. This just further shows how hard it is to medal, and the crucial fact that one needs to peak in their athletic performance at the exact place and time, which happens to be the olympics. Such a gamble and these people spend so much time working towards it. I also think we need to realize that the winter sports are very much more a country dominated sport. The Dutch and ice skating, Germans and sliding sports, Finland and ski jumping, USA and the extreme sports (halfpipe, etc), Norway and cross country skiing, Austria and the Swiss in Alpine skiiing. I think these Olympics in particular were very much won by the countries that are known for that specific sport. USA has to be grateful that we had so many new sports to compete in. Ha ha. Also, we don't have swimming to rack up our medal count in...It was disappointing though that speedskaing in particular did so poorly. I hope they get back on track. Something is wrong when NO ONE is medaling. Also, we finished second so cool your jets. And lastly, there is something to be said for being the host country. There is just something there that helps/makes it so that the host country is usually in the top three in medals. Team Great Britain did it in 2012, Russia was first in medals and they were predicted to be around 5th. It just happens that way. I think Team USA did a great job and had a lot of new faces as the winners. Yay! That just means they will all be back for more in 2018.

Yuna-Have you ever witnessed something so moving that it made you cry? Heard a song or saw a performance so beautiful that you just had to weep? This was Yuna's performance in her short program for me. She skated so beautifully and effortlessly. Her skating was quiet, delicate, ethereal. The jumps weren't huge explosions of energy but she still showed a controlled power and made it look like they were nothing at all. Ballerina arms and artistry as she moved over the ice. The music was soft but melancholy. Send In The Clowns. I was just taken in during the performance and forgot about everything else. It was so amazing that I was almost in tears at the end. I hardly noticed time passing and wished she could skate forever. It was so hard to explain to my dad who had missed the performance why everyone else was talking about her. She really does deserve the name The Queen.
PS. I also cried at the broadway version of Lion King at the Circle of Life number where all the animals come out. Go see the show. It's awesome.

If I couldn't have Bob's job I'd do Mary Carrillo's. She gets to tour the country making the special interest pieces. It would be so much fun. She got to go to the Russian Ballet and also see how they make the Russian nesting dolls.

I can't wait until Rio. The Olympics will only be 3 or 4 hours (actually it's 5) ahead instead of 12. Then maybe I can watch them live. I did do pretty well on my goal of no social media until after the broadcast. (I really don't want to know the results before I watch, otherwise, what's the point in watching?). I only knew a few of the people who won before I saw it. Although fitting in all of my interneting after 11:30 pm was very tiring.

Saddest USA story-Shaun White. I wanted him to win. I hope he's doing ok. Also the USA women's hockey team. What a bummer. Best USA story-Noelle Pikus Pace winning silver in skeleton. She seems like an awesome lady. Also loved Alex Bliodeadu and his brother. THAT is why I watch Olympics.

I Love Bob Costas.

The Finish.

Sochi Olympics-the first 8 days

Bet you thought I wasn't doing my normal Olympic blogging this year...well I haven't been writing blog posts but I did write notes on my phone each night so now I will post my thoughts/what I saw for the first eight days of competition including the Opening Ceremony. Some posts were written with my microphone so that's why things may be misspelled. 

Olympics opening ceremonies 

                             

-Kudos to Russian technology-that projection display was amazing.  

-I don't know very much about Russian history  especially pre-communism 

-The Russian ballet-we never miss it-no really, I loved the ballet in the War and Peace section  

-Snowboarders are like the surfers of the mountains-gnarly dude! "I liked the ballet, I've never been to a ballet before"

-I bet they aren't going to bring up Anastasia...

-Have you heard there's a rumor in St. Petersburg? 

-Who was the blonde next to Vladdy?

-Where is Bob? 

-Canadian team, always classy

-Bermuda shorts!

-Again with the projection screen!

-Mutha Russia 

-Russian military sing "get lucky" 

-Men's choir sings national anthem and reminds me of hunt for red October 

-Team USA sweaters look like the yarn exploded-not a huge fan but I don't hate

Olympics day 1

Sage Kostenburg wins snowboard slope style coming out of nowhere being first American man to win this event. He's 20 years old and his style is just make it up as he goes 

Snowboarders really are the surfers of the mountain they are always so laid-back and informal

Why are the 15-year-old figure skaters always so good? looks like we can have another upset on our hands by a 15-year-old Russian-Watched some team figure skating Meryl Davis and Charlie White are very good at their sport make me want to watch it when it's on TV

I feel like this isn't enough but I think they space the sports out over more days since there are fewer than the Summer Olympics

Also the three sisters (Dufur-Lapointe) who did moguls two of them made the finals and ended up winning gold and silver they are from Canada-so cute

DAY 2

Saw some speed skating- the Dutch are famous for being good at this-because speed stakin started when they skated on the frozen canals 

Jamie Anderson wins slope style Snowboard an awesome American athlete!

Bodie Miller does not make his gold-medal dreams come true. The course looks wicked hard!

Team USA wins bronze in the team figure skating event! Russia wins gold.

I'm starting to like ice dancing...? But can we rename the "twizzle"?

Meryl Davis and Charlie White are great ice dancers I'm starting to get more into the sport 

So much Russian music going on at these Olympics. 

Yevgeny Plushenko wants to think our dear Pres. for bringing the Olympics...yeah comrade 

Olympics day 3 

The flying Dutch men take 1,2,3 in 500 m with a pair of twin brothers taking 1 & 3-how cool

Alex Bilodeau won Canada's first gold at a home Olympics-saw story on him and his brother who has cerebral palsy and I became a major weeper. Alex was able to come through on the final-round deliver an awesome run and won his second gold-medal with his family there to support him he really is a class act.  

Julia Mancuso takes bronze in women's combined she was so excited to win a medal even though the solemn is not her best sport 

Short track speed skating was as exciting as ever! The American JR Selski was not able to medal and there was also a Korean who gained Russian citizenship so he could compete at the games it was an odd thing to see but the short track speed skating was intense as always

Day 4

Tonight started with the first slope style skiing competition Devin Logan American took silver medal in the something she did a great job

First night of pairs figure skating the Russians crushed it Americans probably don't have a chance of winning

Erin Haemlin takes bronze in women's luge for the first singles luge medal ever for the USA

Mens halfpipe snowboarding tonight unfortunately Shaun White was not able to three peat iPod from Switzerland took the gold with an amazing run

The half pipe had some issues the snow was rather slushy and bumpy could've factored in to his run try to do something trick but was not able to do it feel so sad for him but probably had a lot of pressure on him

Bob Costas was not commentating tonight the first time in 20 years of Olympic broadcasting for him. His pink eye had gotten so bad they finally took him off the air to give them a day recover Matt Lauer stayed in his place hopefully he'll be back tomorrow night

Day 5

Kaitlyn Farrington wins US half pipe gold women's half pipe she beat out three other former gold-medal winners to take the first place she beat Kellie Clark, Hannah Teter and Torah Bright of Australia to win the gold what an amazing event! 

Julia Mancuso was not able to win gold in women's downhill it did and rather crazily when Slovakian and a Swiss tied for first-two gold medals were awarded

Russia one pairs figure skating gold with the team that dominated both nights they did amazing were able to do amazing tricks and dominated the rest of the competition

Bob Costas is still out with his eye infection 

I didn't see any coverage of women's ski jumping last night wonder if they showed any at all because no one Americans did super well still would've liked to seen on TV as it was a momentous occasion for women’s ski jumping competing for the first time in the Olympics

Day 6

First round of women's skeleton to USA women are doing very well and hope to finish on the podium

First night of men's figure skating Yevgeny Plushenko had to drop out because of injuries. So sad to see him go but at least he helped his team win gold in the team event

Jeremy Abbott fell unfortunately, and Jason Brown did a good job but is still young and lacked experience. Patrick Chan did a great job and a guy from Japanese is leading after the end of night one

The biggest story of the night is USA sweeping the podium in ski slope style there is so much talent and America definitely deserve to go 123

Still no bob costas 

Day 7

Noelle Pikus Pace take silver in women's skeleton comes up big after having an accident eight years go missing the metals in 2010 coming back out of retirement and taking silver in this Olympics it was heartwarming to watch, how excited she was and how she excited she was to share it with her family. Another American took fourth just off the podium it was awesome to watch 

Watch men's super combined neither Bode Miller nor Ted Ligity for able to get to the podium. Sad day but they'll have one more chance later on. A Swiss ended up taking first

Men's Long program for figure skating.Neither American was able to medal in this event either. Jason Brown got close but need lacks the experience and the quadruple jump needed. Patrick Chan, my favorite, ended up getting second again. He bobbled a few times on his program that guy from  Japan ended up winning because he is such a strong program on the first night there, had a record score of over 100. There seemed to be trouble all night long. The long program was taking people down. I think people were getting tired also having to compete the next day after they had just on the short program

Also, the commercials are pretty good. My favorite are the United Airlines and TD Ameritrade? (the one that shows the miracle on ice, and Kerri Strug). However I did see a heartwarming commercial by Samsung on youtube that is probably my favorite. 

host cities

I could probably rattle off the Olympic host cities from 1992-2020 for both summer and winter Olympics. I've been alive for all of these, anything before 1988 gets a little hazy. But I could pull a few of those out too. I started making a list of all the Olympic host cities/sites I've been to. Surprisingly it was a few!

Lake Placid-1932, 1980 Winter Olympics
Passed through this place on a family trip back east. I was like 12 so I don't remember too much. I think we ice skated on the rink there. And there really was a lake.

Los Angeles-1932, 1984 Summer Olympics
Didn't really see anything to commemorate these games, but I've been to the city at least!

Rome-1960 Summer Olympics
Does the Colosseum count? The Gladiator Olympics maybe. I also walked by Circus Maximus and could totally see some track and field going on there.

Paris-1900 and 1924 Summer Olympics
Again, nothing to really show Olympics, but I was totally there.

Vancouver-2010 Winter Olympics
I've actually been twice, once before and once after the games. We found the Olympic Cauldron in the city center and took some pics where we attempted some ice skating type jumps. I also got to ski at Cypress Mountain where they held some of the Alpine events during the games. It was pretty rad.

London-2012 Summer Olympics
Watching the games I was totally, "I've been there! I've been there!" anytime they would show a venue. Should have made time to ride out to see the stadium but we ran out of time and it was probably all fenced off anyway. But we did get pictures in front of the official countdown in Trafalgar Square and I bought a Union Jack Olympic pin. Oh, and we did see the medals on display in the British Museum.

Salt Lake City-2002 Winter Olympics
I've ice skated at 7 Peaks where I think they had some hockey. I've skiied at Snowbasin where they had some Alpine events. And I've been to the Utah Olympic Park near Park City. This is where they have the bobsled run (still need to try!), cross country skiing, and ski jumping for US athletes to practice on. AND they actually have a decent museum. Part is dedicated to winter sports/Utah sports in general but another part is all about the 2002 games and has all kinds of paraphernalia. I totally ate it up and needed the highlights dvd to part with. I'm glad that they keep a memory of the games because I think for a lot of cities it just passes away and years later there's not really much to show for it. There were rumors that SLC wanted to bid for the 2022 games but I think they've pulled out. I'm crossing my fingers for 2026 because I can't think of a good place to have the 2024 summer games in the US.

One day I shall witness the Olympics!

some notices

-January has got to be the most fun-sucker of all the months. Having to go back to work/school after all that vacation is the worst. Also I am having cabin fever real bad. I haven't been outside for a good amount of time since I took my bro on a walk when he was home for Christmas. Ufff. I want to see some sunshine, and more than that I want to feel "sunshine on my shoulders." This whole inside all the time thing also makes work a real drag.

-I got released from my calling at church. (A little celebrating going on here.) I totally celebrated by not going to FHE. And instead I went to the Body Flow class at my gym and did some yoga/Pilates and am all kinds of stretched out and sore.

-My aunt totally sent me a card today with Harry Potter Forever stamps just because she thought I would like them. They are seriously cool and I'm not sure if I'll actually use them. Good thing I'll have "forever" to decide. Haha.

-I leave for sunny AZ in 15 days am I am so pumped. Bub, Mike, sun, Olympics, warm, birthday, ice cream cake. Waaahooooo.

-Between Downton, Sherlock, and Midwife I am running out of Tunnel Bear like crazy. British TV go away!

-For some reason I have this compulsion to get books off my Goodreads "To Read" list, so I've been reading a lot lately. But this will be shot when the Olympics start airing because I will be glued to the telly.

-I'm so glad that "crowd funding" is helping the Jamaician bobsled team go to the Olympics again.

Yep.

olympic playlist

Ok, so if you know me, you know I am an Olympics junkie. Well folks, we're 30 days away and the Olympics coincides with my birthday (it's like the Universe wants to wish me HAPPY BIRTHDAY HARRY), and I decided to also visit AZ for the occasion which also holds my sis and bro-in-law, so pretty much I'm going to explode.

Anyway, I've already written so much on why I love the Olympics. But what I haven't shared is my Olympic playlist. I've got a certain number of songs that inspire that Olympic feeling within, some are actually official songs, some were just on commercials during the Olympics, but they are all great. PS. They are all pretty awesome to exercise to. Here goes:

Of course you have to get the official Olympic Fanfare by John Williams. (Think music you hear on NBC when you watch the games). And also you can group this with the Summon the Heroes. Makes me think of strong and noble Greek warriors getting ready to duke it out.

I Believe I Can Fly and The World's Greatest by R. Kelly. The first is merely reminiscent of the Olympic spirit but the second was actually the soundtrack to the Coca Cola commercials from the 2002 SLC Games. (Wait, that may have been Beautiful Day by U2?) All good songs about winning and being the best.

Free by Elliot Yamin-was an actual team USA Olympic song one year, possibly the 2008 Beijing games? Pretty good song by the American Idol Alum.

Dreamer by Chris Brown-also was in the same year. Keeps in the theme of working really hard and being the best.

Sing by Gary Barlow-ok, so this song was written for Queen Liz's Diamond Juilbilee, but as I visited London the same year of the 2012 Olympics it made me get all patriotic for the motherland and it's all inspiring and emotional because Gary traveled the globe to former commonwealth nations to get all kinds of people to sing on it. The 2012 official song was by Muse but it was weird and I couldn't get into it.

All These Things I've Done by The Killers-this was on a Nike Olympic commercial that always made me cry when they showed the picture of Lance almost dying of cancer, haven't watched it since the "confession" so not sure if I'll still cry. (Probs) And look for Oscar at the end.

One Moment in Time by Whitney Houston-not really one I've listened to before but it could fit and who doesn't love Whitney?

Let's have a moment for the Star Spangled Banner-Whitney of course did the best, but Josh did a dang good job too.

Light the Fire Within by LeAnn Rimes-this was the official Olympic song for the SLC 2002 games (also began on my b-day!), it's pretty inspiring.

but

The Ultimate and Most Inspiring Olympic Song goes to The Power of the Dream by Celine Dion. I. Mean. She sang it at the 1996 Atlanta games and it is so so powerful. (You also see a young Bill and Hillary in that link, haha). And then when you watch the youtube video set to Olympic clips...yeah. Celine is a powerhouse and thank you for honoring us Americans.

So that's me little playlist. Bon Appetit.