My 2017 Year in Review

Well, I suppose it's time to get going on this thing again...How has this year gone by already?

And what a roller coaster ride it has been...

Let's start by bringing of my 2016 year in review post, shall we? I hit the mark on a few of my goals there. Not too shabby...and of course, some of the things didn't happen.

2017 Highlights, in no particular order:

Returning to skating and competition

I returned to skating at the beginning of the year, and quickly picked up where I left off.

My competition season typically kicks off with the Alabama Grand Prix series. This is a USFS Learn to Skate competition series, for beginner skaters up to Preliminary on the standard track, and Adult 1 through Adult Bronze on the adult track. The intent of the series is to get skaters used to competing and shake off some nerves. The Alabama Grand Prix has 3 events: Blades in Decatur, in Decatur (my home rink), Rocket City Junior Classic in Huntsville, and Blades in Bama in Birmingham. I competed in Decatur and Huntsville but unfortunately had to miss the Birmingham competition. I placed 3rd at Blades in Decatur and 1st at the Rocket City Junior Classic (where I was the only adult in the entire competition 😐). These results led me to win the Alabama Grand Prix series first place medal for Adult Bronze.

In August, I competed at the Scott Hamilton Invitational in Nashville. This was probably the biggest competition I've been to. And of course the highlight was meeting the man himself:

He is super nice and friendly just like I had expected! Please ignore my over-the-boot tights here...my hair and makeup are good though.

After that, I competed at the Peach Classic in Atlanta, held every year on Labor Day weekend. This competition draws a lot of adult skaters I don't see often and we always have a good time when we get together. I would have been able to have more drinks at the party if I hadn't signed up for 7:10 AM practice ice the next morning...what the hell was I thinking with that...One of the highlights from Peach was our bronze team maneuvers event, where I got to play a stern Russian coach! My friend brought this awesome hat that unfortunately, I had to give back. I also borrowed my coach's jacket.

My final competition of the year was an ISI competition that is very special to me. My very first competition was at Wind, Rain or Shine in Decatur in 2007. This made the 2017 competition my 10th anniversary of competing. I got to do something new that I'm both good at and really enjoy: announcing! Then I had the performance of a lifetime to my dramatic program "The Fighter". It's such a shame there was no video for it. My friend I was competing against is a silver level skater, and I knew I had an extremely low chance of winning, but I wanted to put everything out there. I wanted to see what I was capable of when I gave it everything I had. I was so proud. I don't know if I'll ever have another moment like that again, but I certainly hope that I do.

 My 10th Wedding Anniversary

On December 15th, Ryan and I celebrated our 10th anniversary. It was not a grandiose affair but we had an absolutely great time. I got my hair done, and we went to the Galaxy of Lights (a huge drive-thru display of Christmas lights) and had a nice dinner. The big trip is on the horizon for 2018, hopefully!

Visiting Family

I came to Houston in July for my nephews' birthday, as I do every year. I love my boys, and my family so much! We had cake, and a parade, and swimming, and cocktails, and shenanigans. More than a girl could ask for.

A New Job (and promotion 😎)

One of my biggest goals was to finally get a promotion this year, and it happened! I started at the end of June. It is great to have a fresh new start and work with new teams to figure out my role. I have a lot of responsibility, but I will rise to the occasion. I was in a situation before where I just needed to make a change.

My New Friends on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram

You guys have all made my year. Truly. I love all our interactions, and it's so good and refreshing to have conversations with people all over the world and from all walks of life. I hope that one day when the hubs and I are traveling the world, or I'm on the road for a competition, that I will get to meet you. I'm so thankful for all of you.

Other awesome events

I led the drama section at my church's Vacation Bible School again this year. I am very passionate about VBS, and I hope that it showed to the children. It was another fantastic experience. Then there's the Renaissance Feast and the Renaissance Faire, where I found a new piece of music I would like to skate to. VBS and the Ren Faire are highlights of every year! And let's not forget our new holiday tradition: the Handel's Messiah sing-along!

And now, on to the next section:

My Not-so-Great Events of 2017:

Again, in no particular order:

Hurricane Harvey

As many of you know, I'm a native of the Houston area. While I was not in Houston at the time of Harvey, all my family was, and they had to deal with the effects. My grandmother's house got flooded and they are still work on repairing it. It was an extremely stressful time because no one knew if they would have to evacuate or not. I had tears for many reasons over this storm. First were the tears of sadness, seeing everything I had known from childhood underwater. Then, there were tears of joy as I beamed with pride for the city that I will always call home. The whole world got to see what Houston, Texas was made of. This is something that I had always known, but now the naysayers saw it for themselves. People outside the area ask why anyone would want to live somewhere where it gets floods and hurricanes, and this is why. It's the people. The people opening up their businesses for shelter. The people rescuing their neighbors. This is where I grew up. 

On that note, we have friends in Florida and Puerto Rico that are still recovering from hurricanes as well. There are some people in PR that still don't have power. We need to remember them in our thoughts and prayers. 

My Skate Purchase on the Internet (and crappy attempt at fitting)

I had previously written a review of my new skates here, where things seemed to be going in the right direction. I had written that after I finally had a decent practice where I could actually jump for once, and I should have given it more time before writing an in-depth review. What has happened since has brought about a whirlwind of unfortunate events...

The skates are definitely too small and too narrow. That's the bottom line. Even after having the toe box stretched out, I'm still having problems. I'm getting bad toe cramps, and most of the time my feet are numb in my skates. I had been trying to make the skates work, and I did not want to admit I had screwed up and made a costly mistake for the longest time. 

But wait, there's more! I started getting this bad pain in my arch too, and it has lingered on well after I have taken off the skates. It has made it hard to walk and I've been limping around on several occasions. 

We had our dress rehearsal for the Christmas show and I was on the ice for over 4 hours. My feet were in excruciating pain by the time that was over. I could barely do anything in the last hour of the practice. 

I also felt like I couldn't do some of my elements very well, particularly with my spirals. I was afraid to get my leg higher because I feared landing on my face. 

So, here's what's happening now: I'm going to go to the podiatrist with my foot problems, then I'm selling these skates. Once I have enough money saved, I'm going to get a proper fitting and try on several different skates to get the ones that are right for me. No more online skate purchases for me, that's for damn sure! And it's also going to take me awhile to get money together for new skates, so I'm on another hiatus until then 😡😢. 

Plans for 2018

I had been putting off writing this because I've been so upset about my situation with skating. At this point, I don't know when I will be back. I have some bills I have to pay off in addition to saving the money for the skates, and visiting my family. However, I'm now in a much better frame of mind and I'm able to see that there is plenty to look forward to in the New Year. I may branch into vlogging this year as well, if I'm able to get a new computer. I would love to share my videos with you, and I have a lot of great and amusing ideas! 

I'm going to Houston in March, and I plan to see my little brother in Chicago sometime this summer, if not sooner. My husband and I are also saving and planning for a trip to Europe. We don't know where we plan to go yet, but I'm excited for pretty much anything! 

As far as resolutions go, I'm just going to say that I need to take better care of myself. This includes what I'm eating as well as making my needed medical and beauty appointments. I sacrificed these things on several occasions this year but it's something I want to improve on. Once I get my foot fixed, I would also like to go back to my workout classes, particularly Zumba! 

One final reflection: I have been "skating up" and competing at the Adult Bronze level for the past couple of years, even though I have not passed either the Moves in the Field or Free Skate tests yet. I don't have a flip or loop yet either. Pretty much the only Bronze element I have is the sit spin. I think I may hold off on competing at the Bronze level until I have passed the tests, and I still have a lot of work to do to make that happen. So, when I do get back to skating later this year, I plan to compete at the Adult Pre-Bronze level, at least for now.

I hope this post finds all of you well, and wish you a happy and prosperous 2018!

~ Autumn 🍁🍂⛸

My Favorite Nutcracker Programs- with Bonus Content!

Hello everyone! The holiday season is now in full swing! What better way to ring it in than by showing you some beautiful programs performed to music from The Nutcracker Ballet and Suite? For this post, I'm only focusing on singles, pairs and dance programs, either from competitions or exhibitions. There are also some well known productions of The Nutcracker On Ice, and I hope to write about those as well. Here are my top 10 Nutcracker programs!

To start off, I will show you one of my bonus videos. This one is Jeff Foxworthy's "Redneck 12 Days of Christmas". Check out this soundbite:

🤣Well, that was funny! Ok, here's some skating.

#10: Peng Chang and Zhang Hao- Arabian Dance

This performance from the 2014 Artistry on Ice show is a great one! Peng and Zhang skate a more modern interpretation to the Arabian Dance music. Their throws are sky high! I love how he gets to show emotion in the program too, and have his own little spotlight. 


#9: Alexei Yagudin- The Whole Damn Nutcracker Suite

Ah, yes, one of my favorite skaters right here. This was from the 1996 European Championships, early in Alexei's competitive career. If this one doesn't get you in a festive mood, I just don't know what will. All the jumps are right on the money with the music. And the pointy finger dance? Epic.

#8: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov- Pas de Deux

You may remember me posting this in my recent Swan Lake post. Well, I screwed up. Pas de Deux is in The Nutcracker, not Swan Lake. Tchaikovsky composed a lot of stuff. One of the videos was mislabeled and I just went with it without doing my research. I apologize. Anyway, you get to see this beautiful program again! Every time they took the ice, it was magic.

#7: Zijun Li- The Waltz of the Flowers

Here we have Zijun skating to my favorite piece of the Nutcracker Suite. The Waltz of the Flowers is just beautiful. Zijun has such a pretty classical style, and she is definitely an underrated skater. Seriously, check her skating out! She withdrew from the Grand Prix this season due to an injury. I hope she is healing up and we will see her at the Olympics and Worlds!

#6: Meryl Davis and Charlie White- The Waltz of the Flowers

Now we have Meryl and Charlie taking on the Waltz of the Flowers! They have a similar halo effect on me that Gordeeva and Grinkov do. Everything they do on the ice is wonderful and they can do no wrong. Hey, look, we all have biases, and I am well aware of mine. Anyway, this is a lovely dance, very light and airy.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND NOW FOR AN INTERMISSION ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While we are watching all these lovely skating programs, I wanted to throw this in. This is from Lindsey Stirling's new Christmas album. It is an excellent remix on the classic "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy", and I would love to see someone skate to it!

Her costumes and makeup are so amazing in this video too! I especially love the Snow Queen look.


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ AND BACK TO SKATING! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

#5: Aliona Savchenko and Robin Szolkowy- Pas de Deux

This performance from the 2014 World Championships secured a fifth world title for Savchenko and Szolkowy before they retired. This performance is so dynamic, and they have huge twists and throws! I loved their side by side spins too!
And of course there is a plot twist here. While Robin did retire and moved on to coaching, Aliona opted to keep skating with a new partner, Bruno Massot. If you saw their free skate from Skate America last weekend, you will see why I'm glad she decided to stay around. Not only that, but she is freakin' 33 years old! You get it girl!

#4: Ilia Kulik- Op. 71A, Nutcracker Ballet Suite

Here's Ilia's performance from the 2003 Ice Wars. Man, I miss that competition. Ice Wars was my life back in the day! I think they stopped doing it in the mid 2000s, but that was some cool stuff! The World Team vs Team USA. Epic. Anyway, back to Ilia's program. This music suits him and his skating style very well, complete with huge jumps, wonderful spins, and unique choreographic moves all his own.

#3: Mao Asada- Waltz of the Flowers/Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy

Here we get to see one of Mao's early performances of her skating career, back from the 2005/2006 season. This program is so festive and she exudes such joy! You can see the early makings of her legendary career here. That layback spin into a Biellman was so amazing! And my favorite move is the spiral with the hand wave! I love little details like that.

#2: Misha Ge- Pas de Deux

Misha brought down the house with this performance at the 2017 World Championships. It was a truly amazing performance, filled with emotion. At the time, he had planned for this to be his last competitive performance. Luckily for everyone, it was not. He has such versatility in skating style and can turn anything into art. He choreographs his own programs and is becoming a well known choreographer for many top skaters. If they ever do a new Nutcracker on Ice show, I nominate Misha as the Nutcracker Prince!

Well, these were amazing! Now for my #1 program....

#1: Zue Shen and Hongbo Zhao- Pas de Deux

This program is legendary, particularly this performance at the 2003 Grand Prix Final. Not only that, but there's actually good commentary on this one! If you've seen any broadcasts from the USA in the past few years, you will know that is quite a rarity nowadays. Everything in this performance flows so beautifully, and they really captured the essence of the Nutcracker Ballet.

There were a few more performances that I also enjoyed, but they just missed the cut for my top ten. I wanted to mention them here though. First, there is Sasha Cohen's performance of The Nutcracker from the 2004/2005 season. Her best performance of that program was at the 2005 World Championships. Yuka Sato also had a lovely performance to The Waltz of the Flowers, with a perfectly matched dress for the music. You should check these performances out too!

That's a wrap for now! I hope to come back soon with my reviews of the Nutcracker on Ice productions! Hope your holiday season is off to a great start!

Icy Trails ⛸

Swan Songs Part 2: The Swan and Some Funny and Interesting Renditions of Swan Lake

Hey guys! I'm back for Part 2 of Swan Songs! In Part 1, I did a "Ranking the Warhorses" post. Lots of variety and cool programs to look at. If you missed it, you can check it out here. The focus of this post is a little different. There won't be any ranking today, just a display of some beautiful, interesting, and just plain funny programs.

Here's where we are starting off:

Another song often swept up in the realm of Swan Lake/Black Swan is "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens. "The Swan" is a piece from Saint-Saens' larger work, "The Carnival of the Animals". Another fun fact (bear with me, this ties in with the song, I swear!): When I was in 5th grade, I was chosen along with 5 other classmates from my music class to participate in the district-wide Music Memory Contest. We heard a piece of classical music and had to name the title and composer. Our school won the third place trophy!

So, how does this tie in? Well, "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens was one of the songs.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled skating post...

Here, we have 3 programs, in chronological order, or various renditions of "The Swan". You can see the line of influence from one program to the next. Check this out!

First, we have Oksana Baiul's "Dying Swan", her exhibition program from the 1994 Olympic season:

Just absolutely beautiful, exquisite, and amazing. True art and balletic beauty. Her skating is so quiet, and the landing on her jumps so soft.

Next, we have Johnny Weir's short program to "The Swan" at the 2006 Olympics. You can see some of Oksana's influence in his program...

Bonus scene: they scan over Johnny's Angels in the audience. This costume is amazing! No one can touch Johnny in the costumes department, that's for sure. In this program, he combines a strong technical program with some beautiful and amazing artistry, creating a style that is all his own.

He even has one glove to resemble a beak! I have heard that Jon Heder's character in "Blades of Glory", Jimmy MacElroy, was created after Johnny Weir. Check this out:

Yes, it is a spoof, but it is hilarious. One of my favorite movies!

And after that diversion, we have a third program to show in this group. It is Yuzuru Hanyu's exhibition to "Notte Stellata" from the 2016/2017 season. You can see some of Johnny's influence in this program...

Yuzuru is a wonderful and amazing skater. This exhibition shows a lot of his artistic sensibilities. He can also throw down quads like it's nothing. Just a really awesome skater! The vocals are a nice addition to the music, and he has that layback Ina Bauer in just the perfect spot! On a more superficial note, if anyone can come close to rivaling Johnny in costumes, it is definitely Yuzu!

I would be remiss if I did not include the beautiful performance of this young lady, Ms. Alissa Czisny:

She's such a lovely and elegant skater, and I'm sad that she never got a chance at the Olympics, despite her decorated record. I really like her skating style, very quiet and graceful.

And now, to close out "The Swan" performances, I have a really special one for you: This one is from a 2007 Holiday show at Emerald Lake in New Hampshire. Here's Vitaliy Opekan:

This performance is amazing, and the scenery is just beautiful. I have lived in the southern US for most of my life, and have never skated outside. It is a dream of mine to do so one day, especially at the Rockefeller Center in New York City. They do have a little outdoor rink where I live in Huntsville, Alabama around the holidays, but most of the time it's too warm for all the ice to stay solid. I would only want to go if it's below freezing outside, but then no one wants to go...what's up with that? Anyway, all the snow and trees around the lake just look so magical to me. And the decorations....Christmas is my favorite holiday so I am loving all of this!

If any of you have ever skated on a frozen lake, I would love to hear about it!

Now, on to some more cool stuff!

Swan Lake and Black Swan have inspired creative skating in other sub-genres of figure skating:

The first I'm going to show you is the often forgotten art of roller figure skating:

I figure skate on ice, and I have to tell you; this looks hard as hell. Some people find roller skating easier, but I have always found ice skating to be easier. You do have to have better balance for ice skating, but to me, roller skates are so heavy. It's a burden just to do the simplest of things. But then again, I have only used rentals. For what it's worth, I can't do much on rental ice skates either. What I fear in roller figure skating is falling. When falling on the ice, it can hurt, but most of the time there's a little bit of a slide when you fall. That is not the case in roller skating!

Next, we have the Russian synchro team Spartak-Junost performing their rendition of Swan Lake. If you haven't seen synchro, it is really beautiful to watch:

This is a genre I have participated in for a brief period of time. I was on our synchro team for the Christmas show back in 2014. I'm not sure if I will do it again, but I'm not ruling it out either. It is challenging (in good and bad ways) to work with a team in a sport that is individually driven. Seeing synchro on an elite level such as Spartak-Junost or The Haydenettes is fascinating. I think the part of the sychro aesthetic that I enjoy is that it looks like a marching band on ice.

For the final artistic rendition, here's a show I really want to see live. It's Swan Lake on Ice, performed by the Imperial Ice Stars:

This is so dramatic and captivating. It takes all the theatrical aspects of the ballet and puts it on ice. You will even see some ballet dancing mixed in with the skating. There's a lot of really cool effects, like the ring of fire, the flying, and the blacklighting.

Now, on to some more funny renditions...

You will probably recall the Mario and Sonic Wii games they kept showing during the 2014 Olympics in Sochi. Well, they did a figure skating program to Swan Lake! It is performed by Amy, the female hedgehog in Sonic. Here it is.

Great job Amy!

This next one is an amusing and very impressive performance by Victor Baryshevtsev:

Victor is a very decorated skater in multiple disciplines. He was on the hockey team for the USSR in the late 80s, and now coaches hockey skating techniques in the US. He also had some success in figure skating, playing Gaston in Beauty and the Beast for Disney on Ice. He merges both types of skating here, and the results are pretty damn impressive. I'm amazed at the things he can do in hockey skates, like that camel spin and the double axel! The blades on hockey skates do not have edges like figure skates, so I have no clue how he did that.  All the falling and swimming near the end is great!!!

The program I have saved for last is truly special. It also scares the crap out of me a vast majority of the time. Alexei Polishuk and Vladimir Besedin combine figure skating with lots of acrobatic tricks. There's also a lot of blade grabbing and standing on each other, and other close calls with the blades. That's the part that makes me nervous. Anyway, they made this entertaining, and they are geniuses. Also, no one got hurt 😥.

I hope you guys enjoyed this post! I'm going to keep writing the warhorse posts, but I have some additional ideas I'm really excited to share with you! Stay tuned, and I'll be writing again soon!

Autumn at Icy Trails ⛸

Swan Songs: Swan Lake, The Black Swan, and The Swan- Part 1: Ranking the Warhorses

Hello everyone! I have been working diligently on this next warhorse piece in the series! This one is called Swan Songs, because it features Tchaikovsky's "Swan Lake", Clint Mansell's "Black Swan", and "The Swan" by Camille Saint-Saens. In this post, I'm going to use our usual "Ranking the Warhorses" format with "Swan Lake" and "Black Swan", as seen in the "Bolero" and "Requiem for a Dream" posts. If you haven't seen those, go check them out! The second part will feature performances of "The Swan" and some funny and interesting programs I have seen to any of the Swan Songs.

I have combined Swan Lake and The Black Swan because they are so similar. There are often times where the audience cannot distinguish one from the other. One difference I have noticed is that "Black Swan" is a little more modernized, and it combines some of the pieces from the original "Swan Lake".

This took quite a while to pull together, because there are so many Swan Lake programs out there! It's not quite as ubiquitous as Carmen, but still quite a lot. Like Requiem for a Dream, there was also the false flag of montage videos. Just like the other warhorses, "Swan Lake" and "Black Swan" must be subjected to Autumn's Warhorse Music Rating System! Here's how it goes:

1 = Great song, could hear over and over
10 = The pinnacle of awful, overplayed nonsense.

My rating for "Swan Lake" is a 1. I thought "Requiem for a Dream" was my favorite warhorse, but I was proven wrong. There are so many cuts and variations that a skater can do with "Swan Lake", that it never gets old to me. Little snippets of the work have been stuck in my head for the past few weeks I have worked on this, and I'm not even mad. Also, pretty much every costume to this music is fabulous! Something about the music brings a polish to skaters of all different styles. I'm even considering a program to the music! I'm typically not a warhorse person, and I avoid music if it was a really famous program. This may be my one exception. However, I have never taken a ballet class in my life. I have taken Irish stepdancing, so maybe that will help? I just hope I can perform to it and have it not look like crap.

Moving along, here's the goods you may or may not have come for: my opinions on the top performances to "Swan Lake" and "Black Swan". I've got 12 to show you on this one!

#12: Tatiana Voloshozar and Maxim Trankov (RUS)- Black Swan

This program illustrates the determination of an epic comeback! At the 2012 World Championships, they came back to win the silver medal after landing in 8th place in the short program. Triple twist into the stratosphere! 

#11: Miki Ando (JPN)- Swan Lake

This exhibition performance by Miki brings the drama! I like this cut of music too. It sounds quite a bit different than most arrangements I have heard of Swan Lake. The "dying" at the end is always a strong dramatic move.

#10: Ekaterina Rubleva and Ivan Shefer (RUS)- Swan Lake with lyrics

This is an interesting performance for many reasons. First, there is singing, which is uncommon in Swan Lake. Second, their style of dance is reminiscent of the late '90s Russian ice dancers. This style dominated the 90s, but is not seen as often today, even by Russian ice dancers. It's an aesthetic I particularly enjoy.

#9: Mao Asada (JPN)- Swan Lake

There are several videos of Mao's performance to Swan Lake, and I thought her performance at the 2012 Grand Prix Final was the best. Her costume is nice, though not quite as awesome as the costume she had at the 2013 Worlds. Mao always looks fabulous, which is why she is one of my skating style icons. However, this skate was a lot better. She is the epitome of technical excellence and elegance.

#8: Ekaterina Gordeeva and Sergei Grinkov (RUS)- Pas du Deux from Swan Lake

My all time favorite pairs team. You can bet if G&G skate to just about anything, they will make my countdown. Just look at them and you will be amazed. They also skated this program in lavender costumes, a departure from the traditional black and/or white costumes you see with Swan Lake. Their unison in every element is impeccable, showing just how in sync with each other they are. And the musicality...they just know how to express every note.

#7: Max Aaron (USA)- Black Swan

This music is an unconventional choice for many male skaters, particularly a skater such as Max, who is known primarily for his athletic prowess. These are the reasons this worked so well! For years, he has struggled to find his footing artistically, and it has resulted in a few unfortunate mishaps. With this program, Max finally caught a break! The men's event at the 2016 US Nationals had everyone on the edge of their seat, and this was one of the highlights. Whoever choreographed this program for him is someone he should consider using again. It's such a shame that he can't find a choreographer to work with his talents and showcase them in the best light possible. This is just a huge rant of mine... That opening quad though...🔥🔥🔥

#6: Elena Ilinykh and Nikita Katsalapov (RUS)- Swan Lake

This program was the perfect storm. You have a Russian ice dance team performing to a Russian ballet, at the Olympics in Russia. The crowd here is almost deafening. They performed fantastically. The fact that this was the bronze medal performance really spoke to the talent on display in this free dance. Katsalapov has tried to re-create his success here with his new partner Victoria Sinitsina, but it did not have the same "wow" factor. And yes, Nikita is pretty hot, not gonna lie...This performance is a true work of art, appearing to be straight out of the Bolshoi. I was shocked to see they were splitting up almost immediately after the 2014 Olympics. I'm glad we have this memory.

#5: Ashley Wagner (USA)- Black Swan

This is one of Ashley's iconic programs that led her to her first national title. This is a program that suits her well. She can carry of the diva roles like the Black Swan with ease. I also like how this program played to her strengths. There was a little ballerina moment in the program, but it was more of a tongue-and-cheek thing. That suited Ashley's personality better than attempting to be a ballerina on ice. This was a strong and fierce interpretation of the Black Swan. One thing that sets Ashley apart is her ability to act and emote on the ice. In my opinion, this program is where she started developing what is now her signature skating style.

These were all pretty amazing, weren't they? Well, the magical ride is gonna continue until the very end!

#4: Sasha Cohen (USA)- Swan Lake

I'm not even sure which competition this is, but that is not important. This performance features some beautiful skating from Sasha, plus commentary from Dick Button. He reaches an almost fanboy status here, and I'm living for it! Dick Button saying "exquisite" and "magnificent" is one of my absolute favorite things. Sasha's spirals are out of this world! The only skater in recent times who has come close to replicating that is Yulia Lipnitskaya. She has such beautiful lines and extension too. Just wait, you're gonna hear all about it. Nothing I say here will match Dick's commentary...

#3: Daisuke Takahashi (JPN)- Hip Hop Swan Lake

I have to admit, this was one of the programs I was most looking forward to seeing once I found out about it. We have already seen how the remix of Bolero went (in case you missed it, 👎), but this was absolute genius. I doubt anyone other than Daisuke could pull this off. He has the skating skills, personality, and swagger to make this awesome. His step sequences are some of the best I've ever seen, and he's breakin' it down while doing all those complicated turns!

#2: Rudy Galindo (USA)- Swan Lake

I remember seeing the 1996 Nationals on TV, and this was a huge moment. Rudy performed brilliantly in front of his hometown crowd and won the national title. It seemed that everyone at home was rooting for him too. He has such wonderful artistry, and his jumps were explosive here! He achieved another difficult feat with this performance...leaving Dick Button speechless. Another fun fact: he waved at me one year at Champions on Ice in Houston, and we follow each other on Instagram! Anyway, this was an incredible moment for a great skater and person. I just smile so much watching this. It is one of those perfect moments in skating.

There is only one performance that can top this, and it is by the slimmest of margins...

#1: Oksana Baiul (UKR)- Swan Lake

Ok, I'm not just putting this here because Oksana is my idol. This one is everything about Swan Lake encapsulated into a short program performance. It's like she took the ballet and just threw on some skates and performed it. Absolute perfection. She left the audience in Lillehammer in a trance and stole the hearts of everyone at home. Oksana Baiul IS Swan Lake!!!!

Alright, that's it for this post. If all goes according to plan, I should have Part 2 of Swan Songs out within a week or so. Until then, I wish you a fond farewell.

- Autumn at Icy Trails ⛸

Ranking the Warhorses: Requiem for a Dream

Hi everyone! I am back from competition and ready to roll! We are on to our second warhorse! Our first one was Bolero. If you missed it, go check it out! Today we are taking on a modern classical piece: Clint Mansell's "Requiem for a Dream". It is used in video game trailers, and I believe it is also in one of the Lord of the Rings movies. It's used all over the place on the internet whenever something dramatic happens. There are several comments on the "Requiem for a Dream Theme" video that are absolutely hilarious. I normally avoid YouTube comments, but these are well worth a look. You will sometimes see the title "Requiem for a Tower" as well. It is the same song, by the same composer. Requiem for a Tower added a choir and full orchestra to the musical arrangement.

In spite of Requiem for a Dream's reputation as being an overdone warhorse, I did not find a huge amount of videos, especially relative to other warhorses. For every actual skating program, there were about 10 montages using the song. There is even a Yuri on Ice montage using Requiem for a Dream! I will note one reason this sounds so repetitive. 3 out of my top 10 performances are from the 2009-2010 season.

We will now move on to a very important part of the post: Autumn's song love/hatred rating. I rate on a scale of 1 to 10, with the following criteria:
1= The most excellent jam, everyone should skate to this
10= Dear God, please put an end to this suffering

My rating for Requiem for a Dream is a 2. I LOVE REQUIEM. You can fight me. It's a powerful and dramatic piece, and it makes it sound like some epic things are about to go down!

Now, on to the countdown!

#10: Javier Fernandez (ESP)

Here we have a video of Javi in his junior days. He had yet to have the confidence and flair he has today, but you can definitely still see his potential. He's got huge jumps in this performance, particularly the triple axel and triple lutz.

#9: Jessica Dube and Bryce Davison (CAN)

Dube and Davison put out a solid performance here. No big mistakes, but I felt it could have had more drama, especially in the crescendos of the music. This was their big comeback season after an accident at the 2007 Four Continents Championships. Their opening lift is excellent, and I love the height they get on their throws.

#8: Anna Cappellini and Luca Lanotte (ITA)

Here we have an interesting program from Cappellini and Lanotte. This is a departure from a lot of their dances now, where they seem to favor traditional Italian pieces of music. Anna's costume is a cool and edgy choice. They have some really cool lifts in time with the music, and the effect was overall pleasant to watch.

#7: Alena Leonova (RUS)

Alena Leonova was so generous, she gave us 2 warhorses for the price of 1! The combination of "Adagio for Strings" and "Requiem for a Dream" goes quite well together. She had a seamless flow through the transition of music. Also, her side eye at the beginning is golden! The attention to detail in her costuming and makeup is really cool to see. She has crystal in her eye makeup that are the same shade as the crystals in her dress. Overall, I enjoy her skating and want to see more of her programs. Oh yeah, you know the drama I mentioned was lacking in Dube and Davison's performance? Miss Alena brought it.

#6: Nathalie Pechalat and Fabian Bourzat (FRA)

Well, here's an awkward moment for you: In the 2009-2010 season, AKA "Requiem for a Dream" season, you have the European Championships. At this particular event, Cappellini and Lanotte and Pechalat and Bourzat both skated to Requiem. Well, at least Nathalie and Fabian weaved in some different music to make it less suspicious...All joking aside, I liked their interpretation of the piece and the choice of costumes. Her dress is gorgeous and his costume has an interesting steampunk vibe to it. I love how they have paid attention to the details and used them all for dramatic effect.

#5: Brooke Castile and Ben Okolski (USA)

I really love seeing a strong US pairs team, and I love a good comeback. Castile and Okolski were in 5th after the short program, and then ended up winning the 2007 US National Championships with this awesome free skate. That triple twist was amazing! I thought they had great unison on their step sequences as well.

#4: Brian Joubert (FRA)

I miss Brian Joubert's skating. He has a really unique skating style, has cool costumes, and is definitely not bad to look at 😉. This overall was a really strong performance, but then he fell on the double axel at the end. You can see his frustration after the program was over. I still thought it had a lot of impact and was dramatic at the right moments, combining speed and athleticism with artistry. And that footwork is 🔥🔥🔥!

#3: Karen Chen (USA)

This was the year that Karen came soaring onto the scene in her senior debut at the 2015 US Nationals. The whole competition was such an exciting event, and this program was one of the draws. She won the bronze medal at nationals in her first time out of the gate, and everyone could see she was a real contender. For someone at her young age, she skates with a great maturity. She did here at 15, and has continued to evolve as of the last season, where she won the US title. One of the highlights is definitely the Biellman! I look forward to seeing her at the Olympics next year too (even though she will be skating to the warhorse of all warhorses).

#2: Tomas Verner (CZE)

Tomas just nailed this program from the 2007 World Championships! It was a delight to see. He commanded the program from the very beginning with a huge quad toe/triple toe combination. It was also nice to hear a different cut of this warhorse. He also did one of my favorite skating elements: a huge triple axel at a key point in the music.

#1: Vanessa James and Morgan Cipres (FRA)

I just loved this program from James and Cipres. Their costumes were fabulous; the performance, even more so. All the sparkles are so beautiful. And many of you know how I'm mesmerized by shiny things. I love how they land all their jumps, throws, and twists so quietly and effortlessly. The music combination of Requiem with "Angels and Demons" sounds really cool too. That performance was just fabulous.

My final thoughts are this: Please continue to think of those in the path of all these storms and wildfires, and those still recovering. These are some trying times for many, and I hope my little blog can brighten your day 😊.

I have gotten several requests for Swan Lake/Black Swan, so thank you all for the recommendation. It shall be my next warhorse to cover!

Autumn at Icy Trails ⛸

Product Review: Edea Chorus and John Wilson Coronation Ace

Hi everyone, hope you're having a great time wherever you are! I just bought new skates, and I wanted to share my thoughts with you! I have been in need of new skates for quite some time, but as many of you know, figure skating is quite expensive. In order to make this happen I had to break up my purchases over the course of a month. What I plan to do is go over my buying experience, and then discuss how everything performed.

My Old Skates

I have been skating in Jackson Freestyles, with Ultima Mark IV blades attached, since 2008. Keep in mind, I took 2 lengthy breaks in this time, and I didn't skate often for a few years because I was traveling all around the country with my job. Sometimes I took them with me and it was a lot of fun! These skates have been a trusty companion to me for a long time, and I have grown a great deal as a skater since that time. Still, I was long overdue for some new skates.

What I Was Looking For

I have advanced in my skating since that time, and I am now working on loop and flip jumps, and sit and camel spins. My old boots had a stiffness of 45, and I needed something around 65-70 to continue advancing my skating. If you look at most skate websites, they rate this firmness level as the level for axels and beginning double jumps. I kind of doubt I will ever see doubles in my lifetime, but it would be really cool if I could land an axel. Anyway, these firmness ratings are just a suggestion. You would need to consider age, weight, and personal preference into the decision, as well as the skating level. It is recommended that adult skaters get boots a firmness level up from those in the charts, and small children get boots a firmness level down. For blades, I planned to just go in with the Coronation Ace blade from John Wilson. Most of the skaters at my rink have it, and all the coaches recommend it. It's a good beginning skating blade, and can work with beginning to double jumps.

My Research Process

I researched boots for well over a year, going back and forth on which ones to buy. There are so many choices that it can be overwhelming. A lot of skaters are brand loyal and tend to stick with the same brand. Then you have me. I want to try out every brand that I can afford and then decide the best one. I don't know why I'm this way. As I've mentioned before, I majored in marketing in college. Maybe it's this curiosity. I looked at 5 potential brands for boots: Riedell (brand of my first pair of skates), Jackson (brand of my current pair of skates), Edea (new brand that a lot of other skaters were using, seemed really interesting), SP Teri (a lot of my friends swear by them), and Harlick (I mainly know them for custom skates). Here are the boots for each brand that correspond with what I was needing:

Riedell: 255 Motion or 910 Flair (I preferred the Motion boot)
Jackson: Premiere
Edea: Chorus
SP Teri: Super Teri
Harlick: would probably go with customs

Well, as I'm sure you can imagine, custom boots can often be really expensive. That's kind of what turned me away from the Harlicks. The SP Teris were also pretty pricey, although they are beautiful and well made skates. Maybe one day... This left my decision group to 3 boots: The Riedell Motion, the Jackson Premiere, and the Edea Chorus.

Decision Time!

It was a difficult decision, but I ultimately decided on the Edea Chorus. I have heard a lot of good things, but I was mainly interested in their quicker break in time. I have a couple competitions coming up, so I was hoping to break in the boots quickly.

Purchasing

I decided to break up my boot and blade purchases over the course of a month to make it more affordable. I ordered my boots from Skating Boutique, skatingboutique.com, based in Toronto. For some reason, their price on Edeas was over $100 less than anywhere in the US. Even with shipping costs, this added up to considerable savings. Not only that, but the boots got here quick! I ordered them on a Thursday, and they were here by the Tuesday of next week. I ordered my blades 2 weeks later from Kinzie's Closet, shop.kinziescloset.com. They have a store in Atlanta that I hope to check out sometime. They offer free shipping for orders over $100. I thought I would have gotten them quicker since Atlanta's only 4 hours away from Huntsville, but I forgot to take into account that the warehouses could be located somewhere else. Still, I got them in 5 days, so I can't really complain. I also bought a lace puller and some python print soakers from Amazon.

Trying on the Boots

When my boots came in, I tried them on. Edea's sizes are really different than other skates, so I was definitely concerned about whether or not I ordered the right size. The fit is very different from my Jacksons, which in retrospect, were probably too big. The boot has a lot more support, and it was an overall snug fit. I later started to lace the boots, after watching Edea's video on proper lacing and unlacing techniques. These boots seem high maintenance! The boots were really tight then, especially near the toe box. My cuticles started bleeding while I was lacing them. It was pretty rough.

Mounting the Blades

Remember how I said these boots seemed high maintenance? Well, there are special Edea screws you have to use to mount the blade. You can't use the screws that come with the blades because it won't adhere well to the material in the boots. Anyway...I took the boots and blades to the Pro Shop in Huntsville, and the blades had a temporary mount within a couple hours. He wanted me to see if I liked where the blade was placed, and then he would do the permanent mount. This is all part of the same service, so I was not charged again. I also got my blades sharpened while I was there.

The Finished Product!

Here they are! They are lovely!

Breaking in the Boots-Off Ice

I walked around in my skates for a while (with guards, of course) in hopes of helping to speed up the break in time. It has been a long time since I had new skates, so I wasn't sure what to expect. Everything seemed ok in my time walking around the house. I did notice that I need to wear thinner tights to skate in these.

Skating: The Moment of Truth
(🎜We were born to make history🎝, lol sorry!)

My first time skating in these skates was quite the experience. I had a new boot and blade that I was not used to at all, and my blades were really sharp, so it made things like stopping quite difficult. The ankle is a lot looser than I am used to, mainly because I tied the ankles with a death grip in my old skates. The boot support was excellent, and my heel was locked in place, as it was supposed to be. Anyone who has gotten new skates knows the struggle. The first time in them, you are not supposed to jump, especially not with a temporary blade mount. It seems to take years of learned skills away instantly. I mainly just skated laps in the first session, and worked on a little bit of my Moves in the Field elements. I was able to do forward crossovers pretty easily, but backward crossovers were more of a challenge. The heel is higher in Edeas than in most other skates, so that was really throwing me off. The blades also had a completely different feel to them. I think I will really like them once I get used to them. I did a forward scratch spin at the end of the session, and I noticed it is much easier to find the "sweet spot" for spinning in the Coronation Aces. Most of the boot fit very well and provided a lot of support. One thing that was definitely noticeable is that the toe box area hurt like hell. My big toe especially hurt a great deal. That is, until it went numb.

This continued on in my second session. It was hard to focus on anything with my toes hurting. I was really getting worried that I had completely screwed up and had ordered the wrong size. And it was too late to return anything, so I was going to have to find a way to make them work. My coach had mentioned that I could get the toe box punched out (or stretched) to get a little more room. I did a waltz jump and a toe loop in the skates, even though I shouldn't have since I did not have a permanent mount. I ran through my dramatic program, but it lacked the power it usually did, as I was really hesitant. My coach and I made the decision that I would compete in my old skates for the Scott Hamilton Invitational.

A Stroke of Luck (or Irony)

We got an email a few days before the Scott Hamilton Invitational saying that a rep from Edea would be at the competition. Well crap, if I'd have known that, I may have waited. I decided to bring my new skates so I could walk around in them in the hotel to help break them in some more. Once I got to the competition, my coach mentioned that the Edea rep had all the equipment there to stretch my skates. It was a good thing I brought them! I had several hours between events at the competition (where I also met Scott Hamilton! I'm still not over that!), so I decided to take my skates over to the Edea booth and see what they could do. The first thing he did was measure my feet. This confirmed that I ordered the right size. Thank the Lord! He then did a tracing of my foot so he knew how far to stretch it. What they do is expose that particular area to a lot of heat from blow dryers, then use a tool similar to a shoe horn to stretch it out. I will tell you this made all the difference in the world in how the skates felt. I did have to pay for that, but it was worth every penny. He had mentioned if I ordered from him next time, he does all the extra stuff for free. I will definitely consider doing that. I'm really excited to see how things go now that the boots are much more comfortable.

Follow-up: After the Boot Stretching and Permanent Blade Mount

I have skated two sessions since the boot stretching, and things are much more comfortable. The boots are definitely not broken in yet, but things are improving with each session. I'm still trying to figure out where my foot is supposed to be in the boot. Everything about these skates is different from the last ones. I'm hoping that one day soon these skates will just be an extension of my body and will feel natural, but I am not there yet. I'm still figuring out all the pressure points in the boot, and how tightly or loosely I need to lace the skate. I've attempted a few jumps, but I haven't been confident in them yet. The ankle is another area that is completely different.

They are broken in! Finally!

After my 7th session in the skates, I am now able to do everything I could do before, plus I'm able to work on more difficult elements because I have more support. I'm really starting to enjoy the lightness of the Edeas, and the blade is amazing. In all this time in the new skates, my technique has started to improve as well. I was really starting to dread the competition I have coming up Labor Day weekend, but now I'm looking forward to it. I'm interested to see what I can do now.

And that's a wrap. I hope this post was informative and could help someone out there!

-Icy Trails ⛸

Ranking the Warhorses: Bolero

Hi everyone! I starting on a new series leading up to the Olympic season! I'm going to be showcasing some of the best performances of all the warhorses! For those of you that don't know, a "warhorse" is an iconic piece of skating music, which, in some cases, is frequently overplayed.  For each song in the series, I'm going to list my top 10 performances for each song. As you can imagine, there are much more than 10 performances to each of these songs. We are starting this series off with a bang, with the very famous "Bolero" by Maurice Ravel.

Fun fact: I discovered that there are also other songs named "Bolero", most notably from the Moulin Rouge soundtrack. However, Ravel's "Bolero" is the only true warhorse bearing this title.

We will now introduce Autumn's song hatred meter! On a scale of 1 to 10, we have:

1= This is my jam and everyone should skate to it
10= Dear God please put an end to this suffering

My rating for "Bolero" is 4. It's a bit repetitive, but I don't mind the music.

I'm going to start off with one that just did not work for me. Others may like it, but it was not my favorite...

Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov (RUS)

It was an attempt to modernize this piece of music, and for me, it fell flat. Bolero just does not work with the synthesizers and techno beats. This is unfortunate because they were the only pairs team I could find that skated to it. And Ksenia actually smiled! Techno Bolero must be an alternate universe.
Bonus points for the random water polo ad in the video!

#10: Irina Moiseyeva and Andrei Minenkov (RUS)

Here's another interesting fact: Many credit Torvill and Dean with the first performance of Bolero, but that is not correct. The Russian team of Moiseyeva and Minenkov performed to it first, at the 1982 World Championships. Torvill and Dean's performance at the 1984 Olympics caused a lot of drama, particularly from the Russian judges and coaches, who decried it as a rules violation. Oh how times have changed...However, M&M's performance here was not entirely to Bolero. There was a portion of it where they danced to "Zorba the Greek", and it was quite entertaining, with a lot of intricate footwork.

#9: Evan Lysacek (USA)

Here we see Evan's serious face. This was a solid performance at the 2009 World Championships. This music suits his skating style quite well. However, there is one criticism I must address. If you have read Dick Button's autobiography "Push Dick's Button", or listened to any of his commentary regarding the IJS system, you will know how much he dislikes random flailing arms. I didn't notice this much before, but it definitely was a distraction from Evan's overall performance. But damn, those spins were fantastic!

#8: Elena Leonova and Andrei Khvalko (RUS)

Leonova and Khvalko's rendition of Bolero was a brave and dramatic choice. Sandra Bezic mentioned in the commentary that they were working with Alexander Zhulin on choreography, and his influence is evident here. Her comments that others don't go near it have been disproved, but it is something to consider. Once someone takes a program to a certain level of fame, why do skaters want to take it on? Their lifts in this program are amazing, particularly that one where she hangs on with no support. The costume choice is interesting to say the least...Overall, it was an interesting dance program, and they made it their own without attempting to copy Torvill and Dean.

#7: Vanessa Giuchi (ITA)

Vanessa is a skater that, for some reason, was not on my radar before. However, I found myself enjoying her skating a lot! I suppose she was the first skater in recent times to put the Italian ladies on the map, followed by Silvia Fontana and Carolina Kostner. Her costume is really cool and has a harlequin vibe to it. I also love any shots, especially at the Olympics, where skaters are overcome with emotion for skating well.

#6: Elizaveta Tuktamysheva (RUS)

Hey guys, what happened to Elizaveta? I really enjoyed her skating, and she has such a fierce personality and presence on the ice. This seems to be a sad and disturbing trend among the Russian ladies skaters. They seem to get cast aside once the new up-and-coming skater comes along. Anyway, enough on that, let's watch this powerhouse! At her top form, like she is here, her technical ability is almost untouchable. However, like some strong technical skaters, she seems less focused (and possibly less interested) in the artistry aspect. That triple axel was freakin' flawless though.

#5: Evgeni Plushenko (RUS)

Oh gosh y'all, this one takes me back. I remember Plushenko in his days as the young challenger to Alexei Yagudin. It was an interesting time. And one of my friends thought he was really cute (I was more of a Yagudin fan myself 😉). But this was before "The Best of Plushenko" and "Sex Bomb" and the infamous Platinum Medal of 2010. He cut his teeth on the warhorses just like many of the other skaters. And that whole clip about not talking about being world champion because it's bad luck? That is just precious. You can see that back in 2001, he was already beginning to show his signature flare. I see what you're doing there with that hip wiggle, Plushenko...He has a lot of spunk and energy here, which later would be replaced with more finesse and deeper artistic expression. I had forgotten about it for a little bit, but back in the day then never mentioned Plushenko or Yagudin without mentioning their ongoing feud.

#4: Holiday on Ice "Festival"

This one is my wild card pick for the post. It's interesting to see Bolero being performed outside of a competitive setting, and with a group. A huge part of this number's appeal is the visual effects. Plus, these skaters show a lot of interesting skills and maneuvers. The weaving through all of the chairs was one of my favorite things. The lifts at the end were also fantastic! The skaters in this number are Brent Bommentre, Kim Navarro, Maria Girasemko, Andrey Moskvin, Jane Bugaeva, Jo Carter, Laurent Porteret, and Michael Solonoski.

#3: Michelle Kwan (USA)

Here we have Michelle Kwan trying her hand at the iconic Bolero. As you would expect, she definitely left her mark in this performance. She brings such grace and beauty to everything she skates to. I could not take my eyes off her in this performance. Her step sequence at the end was flawless!

#2: Carolina Kostner (ITA)

Carolina's performance is one of the few renditions of Bolero that stood out strongly to me. I have just recently noticed this, but there are some similarities in Michelle Kwan's and Carolina Kostner's skating style. I suppose this is because both of them have worked with choreographer Lori Nichol. Carolina's joy and enthusiasm is contagious here, and it was good to see her make the podium in Sochi in 2014. She has such beautiful flow and artistry here. Another thing to point out: while there has been a lot of discussion on the age of certain skaters, Miss Caro is now 30, and still out there doing her thing. Get it girl!

And here's #1, as you would expect...

#1: Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean (GBR)

A staple in the sport of figure skating. Torvill and Dean invented ice dance, invented Bolero, and invented dying on ice. [mic drop]

I hope you all enjoyed this! Stay tuned for more! I don't know which song I'm going to do yet, as there are so many to choose from!

- Icy Trails ⛸

My Life Journey Through Skating, and Inspiration for My New Program

One thing I have always enjoyed as a skater and long time fan is the story behind a program. Ice dancer and choreographer Shae-Lynn Bourne has always been great about constructing these stories, as we saw this season with Yuzuru Hanyu's "Hope and Legacy" and Ashley Wagner's "Exogenesis Symphony II". Both of things take a spin on VH1's "Behind the Music" and apply it to a figure skating program.

The skaters that influenced me the most were the ones who put their heart out on the line. Oksana Baiul excelled at this, and that's why I keep mentioning her as one of my influences. When you see a skater really giving everything to a performance, it makes all the difference. I had the same reaction to Sui and Han's "Bridge of Troubled Water" program. They were telling the story of their life on the ice. That is something I would like to do too, but I have not been able to reach that place yet. It has a lot to do with a combination of nerves, and a fear of putting myself out there.

Many skaters, particularly adult skaters, like to skate to something meaningful to them. I love skating the dramatic showcases for this reason, as I have been able to skate to songs that are meaningful to me. This season, I plan to skate to "The Fighter" by In This Moment.

You can check out the video here:

And no, I won't be doing my makeup like that. Maria Brink is a metal goddess, and I'm not cool enough to pull that off.

Last year, I was listening to several songs and "The Fighter" just spoke to me. It is such a dramatic and powerful song. In This Moment is one of my favorite bands, and I have been looking for a way to integrate my love of skating with my favorite music. I could break a mold and create programs that have never been done before, which sounds really exciting. I could cultivate an image for myself as the rock and roll skater, the dark angel.

Many people wonder how I’m a metal fan and a figure skating fan, since these two things seem contradictory. However, they are both cathartic and creative forms of expression where you can express a lot of various emotions.

Since the lyrics to this song are so powerful, I wanted to include them in this link: http://www.metrolyrics.com/the-fighter-lyrics-in-this-moment.html.

In an article from Loudwire, they get into more details about the meaning behind the song. It’s about overcoming dark times and being a survivor rather than a victim. They mention that Maria Brink’s facial expressions seem to come from a deep and vulnerable place. You can check this article out here: http://loudwire.com/in-this-moment-the-fighter-music-video/.

So now, we will get into some details about my life and its happenings over the past year or so, and why this song and program matter so much to me.

Around March last year, I had to take a hiatus from skating for several months, mainly for financial reasons. This was something I did reluctantly, and I was not happy about it. I did think, however, that having to overcome personal struggles would tie in well with the message of "The Fighter". I would be able to bring real emotion into the program and make it more believable. This may seem like a small thing to many people, but not skating had me really down. It had become a part of who I am, and I felt incomplete without it. I felt there was nothing to make me interesting without it. I was quite depressed about the situation, feeling like I didn't have many friends either (which of course was not true). I started eating more junk food again and slacking off on exercising, and just in general becoming unmotivated about many things. There were some positive things that came out of this though. I was working hard on my leadership training at work, and I got involved in a lot of activities at my church, which ended up being rewarding and fulfilling. I also started the blog I had been wanting to write for years!

Starting my blog was great fun! I began sharing posts with my Adult Skaters group on Facebook, and found that other skaters were blogging as well. It was great to read what they were writing about, and it was much different from my writing in many cases. Around the time of starting my blog, I also expanded my social media platforms. I joined Twitter late July of last year, and have had many interesting conversations with really cool people. It is always nice to talk to someone new with common interests. It is through Twitter that I found out about the figure skating anime sensation Yuri on Ice. Normally, I am not into anime, but this one was about figure skating, and so many people were talking about it. When I was off for Christmas, I started watching it and got hooked. I binge-watched the entire season in 3 days and then wondered what the hell I was going to do with my life. I started looking for blogs on it and found a few good ones, so I ended up following the bloggers on Twitter. Turns out many Yuri on Ice fans are also huge figure skating fans! I also believe the show made me realize how critical it was for me to get back on the ice. It was about to be a new year, and things would be different! I would have that passion back in my life again that had been lacking.

Around the end of last year, and into this year, I have been reflecting a lot on my life, and trying to figure out my purpose. I have done a lot of soul searching and wrestled with some things that have bothered me and made me angry for a long time. My husband and I have been married for almost 10 years now, and our marriage is not traditional in some ways, but it works for us. But people always have to throw their two cents in there. I hyphenated my last name when we got married. I've gotten a few stupid comments on that, but that never did bother me. What has bothered me more is the comments we get about if and when we are going to have children. I will try to keep this brief here, because I know I can get carried away on this. I have PCOS, and I have known for a long time that having children would be a challenge for me. We are also several states away from our family and are out in Huntsville on our own. For us, it would be a huge change to our lifestyle and we don't feel we are ready for that at this point. With us being in our mid-30s, there is a strong likelihood that kids won't happen for us. I have gotten defensive and angry over people's comments on this for years, which are sometimes from friends who think they have good intentions. We are very happy to have 4 nephews and 2 nieces now, and we love spending time with them. My sister's twin boys are the light of my world. 

It was only a few months ago that I realized the impact I have had on children and youth. I have also helped one of the girls at the rink who was going through a hard time emotionally, and she was thrilled to skate in our silly ensemble to Super Mario Bros. I have led the drama group at Vacation Bible School at church for two years now. I had a group of helpers from grades 4-8, and one of the parents said I have made a huge impact on their daughter. These are the things that really bring me joy. Maybe I was not meant to have my own children because I was meant to impact the lives of many. One of my new purposes is to be a positive role model for these young people, and to leave as much of a positive impact as I can. Sometimes kids need an adult to talk to that doesn't appear to be an authority figure, and I can do that. This has helped me let go of all the anger and bitterness I have had, and focus more on how I live my life. I'm also more careful about what kind of message I'm putting out there. I can often be insecure about my appearance, particularly my weight. However, I don't want my negative self talk to become something that young and impressionable girls emulate. I want to focus more on how they can develop as a person and achieve their goals. This new start has brought a lot of happiness into my life.

At the beginning of January I came back to the rink. I didn't have a lesson scheduled with my coach yet, though I had told her I was planning to come back. I was just out there for a practice and to see what I could do. Our rink in Decatur is know for being warm, welcoming, and friendly. I got quite the welcome from everyone when I came back. I spent quite a while just talking to the other skaters and skate moms. It was pure bliss. I could tell that I didn't have quite all the skills I used to, but that was ok. I knew I would get everything back shortly. I also did not have the new skates I was wanting to continue, but I planned to get them later. I was just propelled to get back out there, like a calling. This year was going to be the best year ever! In many ways, the break helped with my motivation. It helped me to realize how much I love skating and why I'm out there.

I had thought this year was going to start with a bang, and that all my problems would work themselves out. Well, that didn't happen. I had yet to get my life together, and soon I found myself having to take a short break again. I ended up immersing myself with the competitions of the season and talking to some of my friends on Twitter. I also wrote a lot of things for Icy Trails in this time, so it kept my mind off of things that were troubling me. It has been wonderful getting to talk to people from all over the world about figure skating and hearing their perspectives. It helped me to realize that all these setbacks would just be temporary. The imagery I think of when I listen to "The Fighter" is one of a phoenix rising from the ashes. However, I think with any life changes, the transformation is not so quick and sweeping. It is more like the story of the donkey that fell in the well. The farmer had decided to bury the donkey because it was in there too deep. Then the donkey surprised everyone by digging through the dirt every day, until it had eventually dug itself out of the well. So remember, if life is throwing dirt at you, keep digging your way out! That's what the USFS Get Up campaign is all about.

I knew things had to change. I have such a strong desire in my heart to get things right, not just with skating but in other areas of my life. I just had a premonition that change was coming, and that it would be good. It was just hard to see through the dark forest going on in my life at the time. A few months ago, my pastor did a sermon on liminal space. This was of course more related to spiritual life, but it is something that stuck with me.  Liminal space is like a threshold, between one area or realm and the next. Throughout this time, I learned and grew in many ways. I have lived in Huntsville away from my family for over 10 years. I would always have the time of my life with my family, and then it was back to my everyday, mundane life. I was so homesick and sad and I felt like my life here was one I was just drudging through. I didn't feel like I was living life to the fullest most of the time. There's a great song by Miranda Lambert called "The House that Built Me". She's a fellow Texas girl, and her lyrics in this song spoke to me. There is one part in the lyrics that would always make me cry. It said "you leave home, you move on, and you do the best you can. I got lost in this old world and forgot who I am". It would just hit me in the gut. Then one day, a breakthrough happened. It was after I had written several articles, I was getting positive feedback on them, and I was skating again. I heard the song and didn't cry. This was huge for me. I would not say that I miss my family any less, since that is certainly not the case, but I felt like I had a purpose in our life here in Huntsville again. I knew what I wanted and had a path on how to get there. It will be much easier to inspire others if I'm living a life I'm proud of.

In April, I went on a business trip that had me on a somewhat long flight from Dallas to Los Angeles. I was able to pick back up on a book I was reading by my favorite author Richard Paul Evans. This book was called "The Perfect Day". In this book, the protagonist Robert Harlan finds success as an author and loses sight of who he is and what's important to him. He ends up abandoning his family until he meets a stranger in an unexpected place. The stranger knows a lot about Robert and has him believing he is dying. With Robert's impending death soon approaching, he returns to his family in an effort to make things right. Luckily, it was all a hoax and he didn't die. The last part of the book talks about everything he did when he got his second chance at life. That got me thinking: What would I do with a second chance at life? I then continued to build my life on that. I became overwhelmed to write this post, as the lyrics to "The Fighter" speak to that second chance at life. It also gave me an opportunity to be more vulnerable and put myself out there. These are things I don't like to do, as I see it as a sign of weakness. However, I have also been inspired by some bloggers and vloggers I follow who did venture to go there. It's so important to be true to who you are.

Ultimately, I want my performance to the fighter to transcend just figure skating. While skating is very important to me, and it's a huge part of my life, there is much more to me than that. I hope that my skating to this program inspires others to overcome their struggles and setbacks the way In This Moment inspired me with this song. Its lyrics, the music, the vocals and the message all speak to me in a powerful way. It's about not giving up in the face of difficulty. I have been working on this post for a few months whenever inspiration struck. One day, my coach sent many of us a link to this video clip from "Facing the Giants":

I was in tears the whole time with this. The first person I thought of with this was my husband. He is a combat veteran and served in Iraq. Any time I am discouraged he's telling me not to quit, citing his time in the military as an example. I was just not getting it for the longest time, but sometimes you see something that finally make the light bulb go off.

In closing, I plan to give my all with this program and in all, most definitely in this program, but throughout all areas of my life as well. This is going to be a special program to me. I have done dramatic skates before. My first one was dedicated to my family, the second to my husband. this one is for me.

My coach and I have started to work on the program, and I love it! Her rendition of it is so empowering. I have added some new elements too. Now I will just need to get the choreography down so I can begin to evoke emotion into the performance. I will have videos of it after my competitions in August and September.

Other things are starting to go well in my life too. I got a promotion and we are getting it together in other areas as well! Any time I'm feeling jealous, or inadequate, I like to think about this program. If I want to be better, I need to work for it. It often won't happen as quickly as I would like, but it's better to keep going than to just quit.

For those out there who are going through tough times, don't give up! It's going to require some work sometimes, but things will get better. Thank you to all my readers. I hope you enjoyed learning more about me and my programs. I wish you all the best.

Autumn 🍁🍂