Hmmm. National Champs? Yep!

This past weekend - yes, Easter weekend - we spent at a cheer competition. After endless whining about having to pull my kid out of school on Friday to compete - yes, they had school on Good Friday - all of our gym's teams did amazing! All teams got either first or second place! Carissa's team had to learn practically an entire new routine because they dropped from 30 kids down to 20. They cut a few kids and a few dropped out because of conflicts with other sports. Therefore, they had to redo their routine. This happened about 2 weeks ago and it's been a rough couple of weeks with them trying to learn everything in time. The coaches told them that they'd be happy with a top 5 placing out of 7 teams, but that top 3 would be great. After day one, they were in first place. They held that lead on day 2, too. So they are national champs again. The coolest part - real leather jackets! They are sooo nice! Next stop: Myrtle Beach, SC next weekend.

New pics - remember, you can click on them to make them bigger.

Carissa with trophy and cool jacket:




Keisha, Ashley, Carissa

Oooh. Creepy.

You've probably heard that the downtown Atlanta area was hit by tornadoes recently. I got a little creeped out when I was looking at the pictures because the places in the pictures were places where we'd been just a few weeks ago and Cheersport Nationals. The Westin hotel where we rode the elevator was reported to have lost many windows AND TO HAVE SHIFTED SEVERAL FEET! Now, you might be asking why I'm so bothered by it. While we were there, there was a large weather system that moved through and we were under a tornado warning (not just a watch). We were inside the convention center, which is largely underground, but there are several windows around. It could have been very bad. It just makes me feel lucky.

It also reminds me of when I was a junior in high school and went on a trip to Mexico City with my Spanish class. A few months after we were there, a huge earthquake struck the area and the hotel in which I had stayed was leveled. It was also an unsettling feeling and a feeling of having escaped something horrible.

Just kind of freaked me out a little, is all. =)

Cheersport Nationals, Atlanta

This past weekend was nationals in Atlanta for Carissa's cheer gym. Overall the teams did VERY well - better than we have ever done before in Atlanta. Many of the teams "cheer down" to hopefully walk away with a trophy. Since this form of cheating is unregulated, it happens regularly. Our gym has better morals than to allow our teams to do this, so we usually walk away with placements somewhere in the middle.

This year, however, most of our teams did a little better than 1/2. One of our youth teams took 2nd place out of about 16 teams. Several of our teams took 5th place out of anywhere from 15 to 20 teams. That is commendable at such a large competition. Carissa's team had several problems on Saturday which placed them lower going into Sunday than they would have liked. They were in 10th. Their performance on Sunday was much cleaner, but the still weren't able to move up. So they scored 10th out of 12. That was disappointing and the kids were sad, especially since just two weeks prior they had a flawless routine at a competition.

The excitement for the weekend could best be described as "girl drama." One of the girls on our higher-leveled youth team made a mistake in her tumbling and put her hand on the floor (a deduction). She threw a tantrum on the stage. She immediately started crying, sobbing, and stomping around the stage. She refused to throw some of her tumbling and to stunt. It was quite the spectacle and caused her team many points in deductions. They came in last place.

The other cheer drama story was on the oldest squad of kids. On Saturday, one of the flyers was dropped and she decided to slap - yes, slap! - her base. This slap was followed up by the words, "Put me back up, b!*@$!" The base, obviously, was not happy. So she retaliated. Here is what she did: On Sunday, in the middle of the performance on stage, she was holding that flyer up. She said, "I don't feel like doing this anymore" and dropped her hands to her sides, making the flyer fall FLAT on her face on the stage (a deduction). She then refused to put the flyer back up into the stunt to finish that part of the routine. Another girl that was nearby tried to step in to put the stunt up and the girl who dropped her hands pushed her out of the way so she couldn't help. Basically, to get back at this flyer, she sabotaged the routine! Instead of dealing with this flyer who slapped her one-on-one, she decided to make the rest of the 34 kids on the team suffer. It could have cost them an invitation to the World's competition that they were hoping to get. Thankfully it didn't, they still got the invitation (called a bid), but it did cause them to drop a place in the standings. Wow! Needless to say, no one is very happy with these girls right now!

So that's my Atlanta story. The only other thing to note is that I no longer feel as though I ever need to stay at a Ritz Carlton. We stayed at the Atlanta Ritz. It was just another hotel and was overpriced. We were required to stay there, though.



Oh, one more thing - we rode the elevator at the Westin hotel across the street from the Ritz up to the 73rd floor! They have a restaurant up there and the elevator is an express. It is a glass bubble on the outside of the hotel and at night time it's beautiful! I loved it! =)

Birthday Pictures

Here are the promised birthday pictures. You can click on them to make them bigger.

First, here is the cake. I LOVE this cake! We saw something similar on a Publix flyer about a year ago and Carissa said that was what she wanted her next cake to look like. So I called a bakery and had it made. It was small, but it was plenty for the number of people we had. It was yummy, too!



Here are some pictures of Carissa and her friends.



The kids were playing "Sardines," a funny version of hide-and-go-seek. They were all in our pool bath.



It was a great day and I think everyone had a lot of fun!

Happy 13th Birthday, Carissa!

Well, my baby is a teenager. She turned 13 today at 10:27 am. This morning she had to listen as I recounted the experience 13 years ago today for her. I told her about how we were nervous, Grandma was there (but not in the delivery room), and how we felt the first time we heard her cry. Did I hear a collective "awwww!" ? I thought so. She has been counting the days until teenage-dom for quite some time. Her party is tomorrow. We're having several kids over and have rented a jumpy thing and will have the volleyball net and some yard games set up outside, and Wii inside. I think it will be fun. For her birthday she got a desk for her room, and lots of little stuff. Tonight for her birthday dinner she chose to go to Olive Garden for dinner and The Melting Pot for dessert. We took her friend, Kelsey. Kelsey had never eaten at Olive Garden (WHAT?!!) or had fondue. She was quite excited, too, so it made the evening even more fun. I'll post pictures from her party when I get some.

National Champions, Baby!

This weekend was a big competition for our gym. Several of our teams were against the local rival, the gym that divided up our old gym. Well, all of our teams did amazingly well. Carissa's team and the co-ed team both took 1st place! Carissa's team was in 1st place going into today, but today they nailed their routine. It was the best performance they've had all season. It was a well-deserved win, and the kids were all very happy. I'll post pictures soon!

Hannah Montana

Carissa went to the Hannah Montana concert at the Amway Arena on Tuesday. This was her big gift for Christmas. She went with Sarah and Kelsey, two of her good friends. They had a blast! They made t-shirts the weekend before and wore them to school the day of the concert.

Sarah's mom drove all of us and we dropped the girls off at the arena. After making sure they made it in okay, Sarah's mom and I headed off for dinner at Dexter's in Thornton Park. It was REALLY good food. I've never eaten there before. We went back to the arena to pick them up. While waiting, I could hear the concert from outside. It sounded pretty good. The last song was with Miley and Billy Ray, her dad. It was cute. The girls came out all excited and have all said it was the best night of their lives. Next up? Jonas Brothers on March 9. I will be taking the computer with me this weekend to the cheer competition to try to nab some tickets. Wish me luck! =)

Eric's Wedding

Well, I guess I need to post some pictures from Eric's wedding, too. Steve brother, Eric, got married in Jax the weekend before the cheer competition. It was beautiful, and Eric looks very happy. I also really like Carla. Here are some pics:

A Year's Growth

Wow! What a weekend! We were in Jacksonville for the 2nd weekend in a row (I might stop complaining about that sometime soon), but this time for a cheer competition. The gym did well, over all. Carissa's team took 2nd out of 2, which isn't fabulous, but everyone is entitled to a bad day. She did great, though, and was very pleased with her performance. The good news was that they at least did better on the second day than on the first.

I was looking through pictures and saw the photos I had posted from the Jacksonville competition last year. It made me reflect on how much Carissa has grown in the past year - not only physically, but also emotionally (WOW, what a difference) and as an athlete (yes, cheerleaders ARE athletes - I'd like to see you try it!). Here is Carissa in a stunt at Jax last year:



Here are the pictures from this year. Not only is she wearing a different uniform (new gym, remember?) that has a half shirt she hates wearing, but she looks much more mature. She also looks MUCH more confident in her stunts and is doing MUCH harder stunts, too! Here are three pics. The first one is called a heel stretch, the second is called a scale. The third picture is just 'cause I think it's funny. It's from the end of the dance. Remember - you can click on the pictures to make them bigger.

Christmas and New Year's

We had a very nice holiday. We had a lot of time together to relax, which was nice. Carissa spent a lot of time with her friends, and Steve and I kind of did our normal stuff - just without work and cheerleading practice. Mom came over on Christmas Eve, as usual. Carissa and I always bake Christmas cookies on Christmas Eve, and we did that this year, too. On Christmas, Carissa was spoiled again. The big gift this year was Hannah Montana tickets. The concert is Jan 29. She's VERY excited! Here are a few pictures from Christmas. We were attempting to take a Christmas card picture, and the jumping one finally won. We didn't get them all sent out, though.



Yes, you definitely know your kid is a cheerleader when your Christmas card features her jumping with a Santa hat. I know. I know.

For New Year's, Steve and I sat home and Carissa went to a friend's house for a sleepover.

So now we're back to normal. All of the Christmas decorations are neatly packed away (thank GOD!), we have all returned to school/work, and I'm spending an inordinate amount of time at the cheer gym again. Carissa's next cheer competition is in Jax on Jan 18th/19th. Steve's brother, Eric, is getting married this weekend. In Jax. Yes, if you do the math, you will figure out that we will be taking TWO trips to Jacksonville on consecutive weekends. I am NOT looking forward to it. I think Jacksonville stinks. No, I mean, really. Literally. It has this disgusting smell there. I don't know what it is, but that, and the boring drive, make me dread going there every year for this competition. The fact that I'll be spending two weekends there does not thrill me. I'm sure I'll have more pics to post soon!

New Year's Survey

I am stealing an idea from my friend, Jenny, about surveys. She included pictures and it made it so much more fun! Here are my answers to the survey. Well, I picked 12 questions from the 30 she sent. Feel free to forward me your answers!

1. Will you be looking for a new job in 2008?
Gosh! I hope not! Harcourt was bought by Houghton Mifflin, a competitor, and we're all hoping we keep our jobs. I currently work for the combined company, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt.



2. Will you be looking for a new relationship?
I think I have plenty of relationship right now. Don't you? =)



3. New house?
Nope. Storins will be gone until '09 as of right now. Maybe I'll buy this house when they come back:



4. What will you do differently in 08?
Well, I still say I plan to lose weight and get in shape. That's my staple. I would also like to save some money so we can live in something other than a cardboard box when the Storins do come home.



5. Any trips planned?
Aside from cheerleading? Maybe. For cheer we'll be going to:
1. Jacksonville
2. Tampa
3. Atlanta
4. Myrtle Beach

Carissa wants to go to Myrtle Beach with BETA Club. That's in June, but it depends on when her cheer camp is. Not sure if I'd be going or not.



I would like to go to DC with Carissa and Steve over the summer. Carissa and I were supposed to go over spring break with her school, but the trip was cancelled. We'll see if we actually go this summer.


6. Wedding plans?
Um . . . yes, actually. Steve's brother is getting married in January and we plan to attend. So that is two trips to Jacksonville in January - one week right after the other. Thanks, Eric. =)



7. What would you like to see happen differently?
I would like to see all-star cheerleading become a reasonably-priced sport. OH! And NO broken bones this year. Whew. What an ordeal that whole thing was!



8. Will you be nice to people you don't know?
Nice or polite? I try to always be polite, but I can't always be nice. I'm finding that, in general, people are rude idiots. I am also finding I have little tolerance for stupidity. I think I get that from Steve.



9. Do you plan on having a child?
Oh, God. Bite your tongue.



10. Will you still be friends with the same people you are friends with now?
Yeah, they're all good people.



11. Do you expect '08 to be a good year for you?
Expect? Dunno. I hope so, though!



12. One wish for 08?
For all of my friends and family to be healthy and prosperous! A winning lottery ticket wouldn't be bad either.

39?! What the Hell happened to 16?

I swear that was just yesterday. Sixteen. I wore pink layered skirts with white keds just to make my bff, Teri, sick. I loved everything pink as much as she hated it. I was in marching band (cymbals - don't laugh). I had my whole life ahead of me. I swear that was yesterday. Okay, maybe last month.

Now here I am . . . 39. Ugh. I clearly remember being in 5th grade and being asked to figure out how old we'd be in the year 2000. We all laughed when we figured out we'd be 32. That seemed soooo old! What would we look like? Would we have wrinkles and a walker? Now I'm even older than THAT! I am glad to report that I at least don't have a walker.

So . . . I had a great birthday weekend. Steve and Carissa surprised me on Saturday by taking me to Cirque du Soleil. It was the first time any of us had ever been. It was AWESOME! I can't believe we've lived here the whole time la Nouba has been open and we've never been. I think our favorite act was the people on the trampolines and tumble tracks. They were soooo cool! We were very impressed with everything. After the show we went to Colorado Fondue, my favorite restaurant in the world. Despite the VERY poor service for the first time ever, the food (especially the dessert) was wonderful. I love that place.

On Sunday we met my brother, sister-in-law, niece, nephew, and my mom at Smokey Bones for lunch. Then we went back to my mom's house to open some gifts and spend some time together. My brother lives in New York now and was just in town for the weekend. We usually do something for our December birthday bunch (me, my brother and nephew). We also exchanged some Christmas presents. It was nice.

Next year I'm choosing not to celebrate my birthday. After all, next year I turn 17, right?

Lakeland - Cheer Competition #1

We attended the first competition of this season in Lakeland this past weekend. For our first competition, all of our gym's teams did awesome! All squads took either first or second except for one. Carissa's squad did the best they've ever done and looked amazing! Here is her team's video. She is usually on the far left of the screen and has two black ankle braces on:



Yep - quite amazing! They took 2nd ut of 3. There were a few mistakes, and the team that beat them had a flawless routine. They were really good. We were thrilled, however, at how well Carissa's team did because they showed an unbelievable amount of improvement in 3 weeks. Three weeks ago the routine did NOT look like that! =)

Our co-ed team got 2nd but should have gotten first. The two teams they were competing against each had stunts fall, and our team didn't have any deductions. Somehow they got 2nd, we aren't sure why or how. Our owners and coaches contested the decision, but it appears to have fallen on deaf ears. Therefore, they promised that cheer organization that we will never be back for another of their competitions. Quite a loss for them as we usually bring all of our teams (8 teams of about 20 girls at about $50-$75 a pop).

My favorite part of the day is that they didn't have ugly make-up! Here is a picture of MAC's makeup last year (Carissa with Kaitlyn - click on it to make it bigger):




Here's the makeup this year (Carissa with Alana - click on it to make it bigger):





I think it's MUCH better, don't you?

Next up - Jacksonville on January 19-20.

All-Star Cheer Season #3, BETA Club, and Band Concerts, Oh My!

Well, we're off and running on another all-star cheer season! It's hard to believe this is her 3rd year. She has really come far in every aspect of cheer - tumbling, flying, general stage presence. We saw the stage presence thing last week at a BETA Club performance at the school. Her BETA club was getting ready for the regional convention, where the kids compete in different competitions. Her group performed the different selections at a spaghetti dinner. Right before she went on, she was bitten/stung by some insect outside. She was in pain and it was itching, as she's allergic to bug bites, but we NEVER would have known from her performance! She was cute, smiled, danced, etc as if nothing was wrong. I guess she got that from cheer. My little trooper. Who would have known that the toddler that would scream as if she was on fire when she skinned her knee would ever pull off something like that!?

Her first cheer competition is this Saturday in Lakeland. They have 4 teams in their division. She's very excited. The routine looks good, the girls are excited. I'll post pictures and let you know how it goes!

As for BETA, she competed in Group Talent (where a TON of the kids danced, sang, tumbled, etc. to different songs), Songfest (they took the song Respect and changed the words to be a BETA theme) and Living LIterature (they staged a scene from Hansel and Gretel and had to hold the pose frozen until the judges were done with them - about 6 minutes). Some of the other kids participated in other various competitions such as Brain Bowl, Spelling, Math, Crafts, etc. They took 3rd in Group Talent, 4th in Living Literature (did I mention that Carissa was Gretel? She was sooo cute!), and (drum roll, please) FIRST in Songfest! This qualifies them to compete at Nationals in Myrtle Beach over the summer! Everyone is excited. You can click on the picture below to make it bigger.



As for band, they have their winter concert on Thursday. Carissa will be performing with both jazz band and wind ensemble. The bad news from band this week is that the band director will be leaving any day for the remainder of the year. It's good news for the band director, as she and her husband are adopting a baby, but really bad news for us. This is Carissa's 3rd band director since she's been in middle school! That's a new director each year!

Happy Anniversary!

Well, today Steve and I have been married for 14 years! I spent some time today remembering that special day. How he looked, how excited I was, how everything was perfect. It still is. I still love to be around him, he still makes me laugh, and somehow my day is always brighter once he's home. Here's to another 14 happy years, Honey, and MANY more beyond that! =) xoxo

Vacation!

I am on vacation now! I will still be busy each day until I go back to work, but I'm glad to have time to do what I want. I don't go back to work until the Monday after Thanksgiving.

Updates: Carissa is doing well. She is almost back to normal. SHe started tumbling again, and this week actually threw a round off back handspring tuck. It was really high and really pretty. It was a little uncomfortable when she landed, but it didn't hurt for long. She's mostly complaining about some back pain - a result of having not tumbled in 2 months. She needs to get those muscles back into shape. Her first competition is Dec 8!

I have been busy at work. Working 6 day work weeks on occasion. That's not fun. The sale of the company should be announced soon. Rumor has it that layoffs will begin on Dec 3. I have no idea where I stand in that or if they'll even keep the offices in Orlando or move them to Boston. I would be willing to relocate for the right money, but I'm sure Steve and Carissa wouldn't want to go. Therefore, I stay, too. Out of a department of about 50 people, I'm about at #25 in seniority. So I might be okay if they don't get rid of more than 1/2 of the department. I'll have to blog more about that as it happens.

Steve is busy with pottery. He will be selling some star bowls at a seminar soon. The star bowls relate to the program that is being presented, so he hopes he does well. They're VERY cool bowls and he plans to sell them at a reasonable price. Other than that, he's doing a special project with a professor at Rollins. His 5th graders and her college art students are participating and they are all learning a lot about the ocean and about themselves. It's cool. You can read more about it on his blog, Still Learning. I have the link over on the recommended blogs.

Exciting? No, not really. But that's about all that's going on. I'm thankful for the relative peace and calm and am REALLY looking forward to sleeping in for a week! =)

Happy Turkey Day!

Halloween '07

This year Carissa made the announcement that she would be Toadette for Halloween. Toadette is a character from the Mario Party video game. Toadette is not a toad, as her name would imply, but a toadstool. A female toadstool. Yeah, I know. Her counterpart is Toad. Also a toadstool. A male toadstool. They are boyfriend and girlfriend. Here are their pictures:



SO . . . I scoured the internet for a costume. Of course I couldn't find one and settled my mind on the fact that I would have to make one. So we found a pink skirt and shirt on sale. Easy. I knew I could make the hair by shoving styrofoam balls into pink tights. The question was, "How the HECK are we going to make the mushroom hat?" Well, Steve, being the genius that he is, thought of a chef's hat! eBay is wonderful because I found a pink chef's hat for pretty cheap. Hat accomplished. We made the vest out of a red t-shirt and yellow duct tape! That was my awesome idea. Then I found brown slippers at Target that look like brown fuzzy Mary Jane's. She put them over ballet flats and was set! Here is how it looked:




Oh, yeah! Riley was Toad. They swear they aren't boyfriend and girlfriend, even though Toad and Toadette are! I still find it a little peculiar and convenient. =) Here is the picture of them together:



Her other friends also decided to dress up as Mario Party characters. Kelsey was Mario, Sarah was Luigi, and Marissa was Princess Peach. Here's the group picture. From left to right, for those of you that are not in touch with Mario Party video games, are: Luigi, Toadette, Toad, Mario, and Princess Peach. You can click on the picture to make it bigger.