Light The Cauldron

Well that was a lot of fun! My parents and I attended the free dance in Little Caesars Arena last night, and had a great time. Parking was a snap because we'd bought a parking pass to the structure right next to the arena, our seats were great, and the competition was fierce. And I got a chance to throw a stuffed animal on the ice - a dream of mine! We got there right at 6:15 when the first three pairs danced. I had seen them all the night before on television, so I knew what to expect. One of them - Nicole Takahashi - skated a Russian dance with her partner, and then later on I saw her in the concourse! That was pretty cool.  I immediately spotted the kiss-and-cry area, which was across the arena from our seats. I saw where the NBC broadcast was (it wasn't hard; just look for all the lights), and admired the GIANT jumbotron that sits over the ice. (When I went to Stars On Ice, they didn't use the jumbotron at all, so I was having fun watching it.) Unbekn

I know that the World Championships and the Olympics are the pinnacle of figure skating prowess, but to be honest, this weekend might just top them all when it comes to a figure skating fan. Not only are the U.S. Figure Skating Championships taking place in Detroit, the European Championships are also taking place in Minsk! We viewers get to enjoy double the axels, flips, and toe loops, plus the double rolling of our eyes at yet another interpretation of Carmen  or The Phantom of the Opera  (seriously, Alina Zagitova, don't you know there's way better soundtracks of TPOTO  out there instead of the film version?). This weekend is a special treat for me, because I am able to go to Detroit and attend the free skates for both ice dance (Saturday) and the men's (Sunday) competitions! I'll be posting about my experiences tomorrow and next week. There will probably be some video included! If you missed any of the U.S. or European Championships, I'm sure that The O

Everybody's been back to normal for three weeks and I'm now only coming back with a triumphant, "Happy New Year, everybody!" It's been kind of a crazy few weeks. Christmas happened. Then school started back up again. Then I moved from a 4-bedroom, 3-bathroom house to a 2-bedroom, 1-bathroom apartment. (Thank goodness for church friends!) Only now do I finally feel like I am back to whatever I consider to be normal. Some of that, of course, involves Olympic sports, many of which are in the middle of World Cup seasons. There's been a lot going on! You know where I've been for the past month. But where are all the amazing athletes? Let's take a look: Alpine Skiing Mikaela Shiffrin is busy doing Mikaela Shiffrin things. She won her third Super-G of the season and padded her World Cup lead by nearly 500 points. She has 11 wins this season alone! Linsday Vonn came back to competition this weekend as well in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy, though