It's Official

I'm auditioning for the Cavs Girls.

I figure if I put it out there into cyberspace, I won't be as likely to wuss out. I was bound & determined to audition two years ago, but literally 4 days before auditions, Matt was hired at BGSU. I couldn't very well drive 2 hours into Cleveland and the east side from BG (if I would've made it) so I just didn't go. That year three girls I know (including 2 of my friends) made it. Since then they've brought up my auditioning on several occasions. Now that there isn't anything permanent tying us down to Northwest Ohio (more on that later), now is as good a time as any. And with our baby clock that we currently are thinking about, this next season will be my last chance pre-kiddos. I have a tad less than 2 months to get ready. So with this announcement, I leave you with a photo of my beautiful friend Jamie, who is gracing the cover of the swimsuit calendar this year. :)

So a few things:

• The Cavs are in the second round of the playoffs! They swept the sucky Pistons in round 1, and we finally got to go to a game when we went to game 1. :) We went with my in-laws, which was fun! We never get together and go anywhere. Although that'll change later. :)
• The Cavs need to take advantage of this awesome season and awesome team and win a championship. Otherwise I feel it will never happen. This is our shot. It needs to happen.
• I have completed just about 5 weeks at my new job! I love pretty much everything about it. One aspect of it has been really troubling to me but at least this week I found out I am not alone in my feelings on this subject. So that's comforting, but I don't know how everything will be resolved. My assistant is leaving for the summer after next week, which I'm super sad about. But I adore my kids, love the parents and the staff is great. Paycheck's not bad either. For the first time in my life. It's a nice change.
• Matt had an interview with Notre Dame last Tuesday! He nailed it completely, it was over the phone but it is taking a while for them to get back in touch with him. Of course I think about it constantly and his mom and my mom are both asking all the time, but he's so calm & cool. It'd be nice to go there since Darin works there so we'd already have at least 1 friend in the area. I'd have to lave my job but he'd be getting paid pretty close to what I am right now, plus benefits. We've never had a job where we get benefits so that part is bright and shiny for us. PLEASE let him get this job so we finally have some direction!!
• Our best friends, our favorite couple to hang out with every and the "parents" of our puppy nephews got married this past weekend!!! Oh. My. GOD. What a blast!! After our wedding I felt this overpowering feeling of "wow I want to do that again!" (hell I still feel that way, I know quite a few people who want to too) and I didn't expect to feel that way about any other wedding. Until now. :) Great crowd, great party, great friends. Just a total blast. And now they are in Punta Cana for 8 days. And I am Elphaba green with envy. :) I love you guys!
• Speaking of weddings, Matt's cousin is getting married on the 24th so we will be leaving that Friday afternoon with Matt's parents and driving to Minnesota for the wedding! I think it'll be a fun time, we always have fun together and we love weddings. But it will be so tough to top Joe & Jill's. The whole time we'll be like "Where are our friends?!!" So weird. But looking forward to it!
• Crystallettes try-outs are next Saturday. No intention of going. Not even a little tiny bit of an urge. So I guess that answers that. We can always see if time changes anything and if I'm wanting to skate once the season actually starts but if Matt gets this job at Notre Dame (please please please!) then there's no way I will skate at all. But I don't want to anyway.
• My brother Kyle thinks he may have found "the one" in the girl he is presently dating. It's funny because I met and started dating Matt when I was 16 years old and within a very short time I just knew that he was who I was going to be with. 16 didn't seem so young when I was actually living that age, but to now hear my baby brother saying similar things, we're both going "How could he know that, he's only 18!" Kind of hypocritical of us, yes? So it's very exciting, I am really looking forward to meeting this future sister-in-law of mine. ;)

Okay I think I covered just about everything! :)

So, this took a while. {shrugs} Is anyone really surprised anymore?? Hell, is anyone even reading anymore? I really doubt it, lol.

I love love LOVE my new job. Oh that's right, I never posted about that, did I? I alluded to the idea of being up for a job at a daycare. Little did I know, I'd get a call that following Monday from the director of another location of this preschool center that they had a full-time position open as the head teacher and coordinator of their infant program. She wanted me to come in and meet her and have another observation and interview. I was honored that the person I'd interviewed with initially recommended me for such a high position and thought I was way too overqualified to sub (which I am...obvi.) I observed. Did an art activity with the kids, which totally bombed. Meh, not a big deal. How was I to know their last head teacher hadn't been doing much with them and they were more interested in how the fatty crayons tasted rather than putting them onto paper? Loved the teachers, the director took me around to meet everyone (which is where I started to get super sneaky feelings that I had this job already) and then took me in to talk with the coordinator of the pre-k section of the school. That's where I was like "Ooh, okay. So I have this job." It was obvious to me that she hadn't done that with any of the other interviewees. Back into her office. Walked out with the job. Even though I told her I wanted to continue with Sylvan on my schedule and that we could be moving after only 3 months of me working there. Apparently pretty much every teacher from the 2 classrooms I observed in (I'd be their head teacher and {gulp} "boss") came out while I was speaking with the other coordinator and told her how much they liked me and my attitude. She'd never had that happen before and knew that that counted for a lot more than my schedule issues.

So I've just completed my first week. Boy that first day....wake-up call back to what I felt like those first couple of days at Goddard when I worked with this age group. Just absolutely exhausted. "And I have to do this for FOUR MORE DAYS this week??" I adjusted, all is well. I came on a unique week- not sure if it's good or bad yet. We were super low all week. We could normally expect 10 kids and today & yesterday we had 5. So it's possibly good because I got to ease in and get used to the schedule without being overwhelmed by all these 1 year olds. But it could be bad because I'm all happy and "I can totally handle this" but what I've just experienced is not the norm. So we'll see. But yes, getting on great with the rest of the staff, and I LOVE my kids. I'm sad because 1 is leaving after this next week and he was my snuggler this week. :( But it has been nice to have a set schedule and place to BE everyday. Not to mention the paycheck will be VERY nice and very welcome. But Roo is not pleased to be by herself at home all day every day now. But it's so sweet coming home to an extra lovey dovey cat. :) Not to mention my husband, lol.

On the Matt front, there isn't any news for him as far as jobs go. I'm taking that as good news for now as those job postings have just recently disappeared from off the websites. So I'm hoping they are perusing resumes and he'll get a call soon. I mean really, who wouldn't want him? I may be partial though.... ;)

99.99999% positive I am through with skating. By this time last year I missed it. Nationals was over a month ago (hard to believe!) Try-outs are next month. And I have NO interest. At all. I don't miss it one bit. We'll see how that changes once the season actually starts, but I felt like crap just about all the time when I was there. And it ended up so disappointing for me because I COULD skate that program. I'd proved that for so many months, even at Tri-States when skating at Nationals was on the line. And I skated SO well! Even after the program changed, I was doing it really well. But then I started sucking. But the ability to do the program didn't suddenly vanish from my person. It's all in the attitude and mentality and it was NOT a healthy atmosphere mentally to skate in and be a part of. I enjoyed the experience but I'm done.

The new job has opened a few new options for us should Matt not get a job after his BGSU contract expires at the end of June. It's not just "get hired or go home" necessarily anymore which is nice. And less scary. We'll just have to see what happens. But say some major prayers and send job juju to us because he's applied for one in Toledo and that would (obviously) equal total perfection for us. We can then be settled, plant some roots, save money, buy a house and move up the baby clock just a bit. :) Start our LIVES!!!! What a concept!! =OD Big time. BIG TIME. Pray for that for us. Send some good vibe action. :)

Update time!

Hey 2 weeks....that's not awful! :)

I'm all done with skating! Nationals was 2 weeks ago and everything went pretty well. Practices were wonderful, the actual skate wasn't quite as good as the practices had been. But still good enough to win, so we repeated our National title! More exciting, I think, was that our Novice team stepped up big time, delivered an amazing performance and won as well!! So Crystallettes came home with 2 teams as National champs!! The first few days after we got back, I missed it and everyone quite a bit. But now I've had a bit of time and I'm feeling like I'm done with skating. I don't feel an enormous pull either way, but I feel like if I decided to hang up my skates now and be done, I would be satisfied with that. Plus skating with Crystallettes next year probably won't even be a possibility proximity-wise. Which provides me a nice segue...

We still aren't sure where we are going to be after June 30th. Matt has applications in at 3 places at the moment. Any of them would be wonderful to have. 2 in particular would be better for us in the long run but will likely be super competitive to obtain. We both really want the one that is close to us here for quite a few reasons. It's full-time, benefits, within driving distance to BG so we can continue to go to games here, it's permanent so we could plant some roots around here, get a dog, buy a house, and I could entertain the idea of skating again if I feel compelled to do that again. Matt could also still curl with BGCC which is really important to him. The other two aren't too far from Elyria...they are out of state but it's still driveable. Skating would not be possible with those other 2 jobs. At this point I will be thrilled to get anything just to know what's going to happen and we can start planning....but I really REALLY want the one close to here. Matt does too. So if you read this, send positive juju for us! :)

I am also up for a job at a local daycare center. I totally LOVE this place. It's a brand new center, it still has that "new construction smell" to it. But I've had 2 interviews and an obsrvation on Monday morning. I'm just waiting to hear back. I'd just be subbing there for now because th eposition they have open conflicts with my schedule at Sylvan. This week has actually been busy for subbing, but unfortunately only aide positions. I don't know if I'm just missing opportunities or what, but there is just NOTHING available. Subbing is just not cutting it for me anymore. But I'm glad this week has been busy- yesterday was my only full day off.

Matt's busy season with BGSU athletics is basically over. Baseball is just starting so he'll be working those, but he won't be quite as crazy busy as he is during the winter. We attended the MAC Tournament in Cleveland over the weekend. Both BG teams went in as the #1 seed which was SO exciting, but unfortunately the men's team lost in the semis and the women's team lost in the championship game. :( Big bummer, but both will be playing in the NIT/WNIT since they both won the MAC. :) Matt's cousin Drew's high school team won their district championship game on Saturday night though so they play in regionals starting tonight! It was a very intense but very exciting game! He'll be starting at Miami and playing basketball there in the fall. It was quite a basketball-filled weekend!

My high school BFF Sara and her husband Doug welcomed their son Hunter last week on Tuesday, so I got to meet the little guy this weekend!

Coming up we have Jill's bridal shower on Saturday (!!!!)...their wedding is only 6 weeks away, which just totally blows me away! Matt's birthday is on Friday so we'll be heading back home for that as well. And not only is Saturday Jill's shower, but it's her birthday too!! Lots to celebrate!!

I thiiiiiink I covered everything. :)

Are You Ready?!

Yay me, I am getting the chance to post before Nationals! Well turns out it won't be quite as much of an anxiety-ridden experience as I had originally thought. Me getting nervous for practices so much lately turned out to result in the end of my season. I got pulled out of line during our Saturday morning practice, which quite honestly came as a relief to me at the time. Between changing like half the steps in our program recently (God I was SO comfortable before then), my anxiety in the build-up to Nationals, my slight lack of confidence with the changes and me trying to work on my mental game for Nationals, I just wasn't skating very well. The more I focused and tried, the worse it was. It's frustrating to me because I was doing so well and of course no one wants to be the alternate. But the bottom line is that we need the best group out there and I am not doing well enough right now to be in that group. I made it very clear to the coaches that I have been struggling a lot with nerves and that I did NOT want to be the one who messes up and costs us points and potentially a second gold medal. I had a goof at Mids and spent the time between our skate and results terrified that I might've cost us the gold. As it turned out we won by a pretty comfortable margin in the end. Being an alternate might stink, but nothing can feel worse than that, and I'm not comfortable enough with the program since the changes to go and put myself out there.

I'm a total team player...I'm not selfish enough to say "Well I want to go out there and I want to skate, whatever the result/consequence." So that whole practice I'm thinking "This is NOT good, I need to pick it up." And quite honestly if I wouldn't have improved from that point, I would've pulled myself at the end of practice. But the coaches, knowing how I felt, beat me to the punch.

I totally respect the hell out of what they did because they KNOW that I want what is best for the team, not just for Ari. I wish I was able to pick this up quicker, but honestly skating is NOT my niche. It never has been, it's always been something I've had to work at (and that's OKAY), and while I've gotten pretty good over my 15 years in the sport, I'm not anywhere near the level of the girls on my team. More than half my team was on the 2004 senior World team! It's like I'm a minor leaguer playing for the Yankees now. And I've stuck with them all season somehow. It's been SUCH a fantastic season and definitely a huge improvement for me from last year. I spoke to Holly on Saturday, really a convo that lasted all day, and she re-emphasized to me over and over again how proud she was and how much I've earned my spot all season up to this point and worked so hard and deserve to be on this team and that she appreciates that I feel the way I do and can sacrifice my spot on the team for Nationals.

Having these anxiety problems has really come and hit me full force this season- my doc has wanted to put me on meds for it but I didn't want them to have negative effects on skating. Same with asthma and my inhaler...whenever I'd use it, I'd shake like a leaf. Not safe. So this is definitely the right decision for everyone involved. Is it gonna be rough skating off the ice and watching my amazing team skate that kickass program without me? Sure, obviously. But it is WAY better than the alternative. I will be out there with them not physically but definitely in spirit and in heart. :)

Random other quick tidbits: session 2 of Sylvan/NCLB in Fostoria is done! Hooray for having yet another thing checked off my list and more time opening up for me in the future (not to mention my car will be very happy!) Boo to having fewer hours. We also get to pick up the new car tomorrow! Hooray!! I get to work during the day again! Seriously, feeling the heat financially. SO glad that is almost done. Having 1 car blows. Did I ever explain how we got this car? I shall have to later. And one of my high school BFFs is due VERRRRRRY soon with my "nephew" Hunter. If she gives birth while I'm in Maine I will be very super bummed. And yesterday marked the 2 month countdown to our BF's J&J's wedding!! So excited! Another potential job prospect was discovered by Matt yesterday as well. I won't post details but both jobs he is applying for we want a LOT. This newest one is higher up and therefore will be tougher competition to get, but we have friends/connections at both places. Good job juju....please send/vibe it our way! You know what a planner I am so knowing what exactly we will be doing and where we will be next year would be SUCH a relief. Skating & Sylvan might be ending, but March is shaping up to be another busy one, kids!

So NOW it's time to go and defend our title!!! My question to Maine is: Are You Ready??!! :)

Wow, a month!

Okay I'm just going to stop saying "I promise I'll write more" in my posts because obviously, that's never true. :) Here it is: I'll write when I write. Not like anyone is reading anyway. :)

So update time!

Skating has been going well....we are still undefeated (whoohoo!) and I thiiiiiink the last time I wrote we were getting ready for Sectionals in Denver. Well we went there, the altitude was totally fine (yay!) and every practice we had pretty much, I skated great. Novice FINALLY beat Chicago Jazz which had us all pumped and emotional, and oddly enough, I found myself to be strangely calm all day...totally unlike how I am normally am. Well nerves hit the moment we stepped onto the ice in the form of crazy shaky legs. So I didn't skate quite as well as I had in practice. We still won though, and by 5 1/2 points....despite the fact that we didn't get like half of our calls. New judging system lingo there...I won't explain it. But we could've won by 15+ points had we gotten everything called at the right levels. We spent 2 weeks fixing things and then it was do-or-die time for me at Tri-States. If anyone was noticed a lot (in a bad way) by the technical callers (one of whom is a former Crystallette who knows all too well that I've had a hard time in the past) that person would be pulled for Nationals. I actually fully expected to be yanked to be honest....but after a few good practices I actually skated really well. We still didn't get a few of our elements called though, so the next morning those 3 elements were changed. I actually like the new stuff better than the old stuff, but I'm still working on adjusting to it and making it "muscle memory" so I don't have to think so much. Practice tomorrow morning with Novice (which I hate to be honest because all we do is runthroughs usually...that stuff can wear you out quick!) This time next week, I will be in Maine for Nationals! I'm trying so hard to get pumped like I used to but I can't lie: I'm super nervous already. Which maybe is a good thing....

Matt and I drove to Baltimore a couple of weeks ago for Syd & Dave's BEAUTIFUL wedding!!! We had such a great time, the drive ended up being really nice (road trips are fun!!) and it was wonderful to catch up with some old skating friends! :)

Meanwhile, we are now in need of a new car. :( Yippee, right? Matt's car bit it when I was driving home from Tri-States on Valentine's Day. It just died. A half a mile from our apartment. And then I had to pay 30 bucks to get it towed. A HALF A MILE. Thank goodness AAA is reimbursing us, otherwise I'd be pretty pissed. So I haven't been subbing for a few weeks since Matt needs the car for work. I'm hoping we can work something out so that I can sub next week a little bit. I am definitely ready to get back out there.

Oh and I had a nasty cold for 2 weeks. Fun fun! At least it's happening right now and not next weekend though....yikes! :)

Wish me luck....I might not post again before Nationals!

Oh boy...

Does anyone happen to have a confidence chip on them that I could borrow for a while?

Fraser two weeks ago ended up going pretty well. We skated really well and won (and beat last season's high score by a lot) but there were a few elements that we didn't get called. I went into that competition thinking I looked bad and stood out. My mom and member of my old team told me I didn't, but they're kinda biased so I wasn't sure I should rely on that. Then I saw the video of our skate- I didn't look bad at all! A couple spots where I was like "Whoa lady, stand up straighter than that!" So I went into Wednesday's practice pretty confident, skated great, and came out of it so excited. FINALLY I was on the right track. Sunday morning wasn't so great. I only got a few hours of sleep so I suppose that contributed, but it wasn't the tone I wanted to set at our last home practice before Mids this weekend. So now I seem to be in need of a little bit of confidence. I KNOW I can do this. I did it on Wednesday. The part I'm struggling with I'd done just fine all season. I can do it. I just need it to happen soon. Like....this weekend. My teammate and I decided that this weekend, we will be badasses. We will have confidence and we won't let anything get it the way. We will be amazing like we know we can be. I like that thought. :)

So I fly out on Thursday afternoon, but I'm heading to Cleveland tomorrow. I'm flying out with my mom and a few members of her team. :) We have both unofficial and official practice on Friday morning, we're touring the Olympic Training Center with Novice on Friday afternoon, and we compete on Saturday night. I'm excited about going to Denver, I've never been there before! Ooh, and our hotel is amazing! And I have the best roomies ever. :)

So wish me luck! :)