Sunday, February 21, 2010

The Week in Review--Amelia, Olympics, Etc.

Amelia with the Grandparents. My parents took Amelia back with them last Monday and kept her for the week! They spoiled her rotten with tea parties, beach trips, and more, and she had a great time. We met them halfway between our house and theirs yesterday to get her. I was so glad to see her, and I was thrilled when she came running toward me with a big smile and gave me a huge hug. Quite frankly, I was a little concerned that she had been having such a good time with them that she'd run away from me and want to go back with them!

Anyway, while we missed Amelia terribly, we did enjoy having a little break and some quiet around the house. We went to a movie this week (Valentine's Day, which I enjoyed even though the critics hated it), and we ate out just about every night at restaurants that aren't exactly the most kid-friendly. I also got to have dinner with my friend Sheri one evening, and that was fun, too.

But we're definitely glad Amelia's home!

The Winter Olympics, especially Men's Figure Skating. I'm going to totally geek out on you right now and confess that I stayed up until 12:30 a.m Thursday (really Friday) to watch Evan Lysacek win the gold...even though I had to get up four hours later.

I'm a big figure skating nerd and have been ever since I watched Scott Hamilton and Katarina Witt win the gold in 1984. I don't follow it as closely as I used to; in fact, I've never even heard of the skaters on the women's team, but I had heard of the skaters on the men's team (I even saw Lysacek and Weir skate "live" before at an event in Atlanta about six years ago) and heard all the buzz that this was probably our strongest and first real chance reclaiming the gold since 1988.

Making this even better was the fact that Evgeny Plushenko--a skater who has been around for years and had recently come out of retirement to repeat his victory in Torino--was one of the contenders. I've never liked him only because he comes across as extremely arrogant (as evidenced by his sour grapes attitude since Thursday night).

Anyway, it was totally worth the lack of sleep because Lysacek won the gold with a difficult and beautifully choreographed program, and apparently it was, in the words of the commentators, "the skate of his life." Plushenko landed a quad, but other than that, his program was lackluster. I liked the fact that the "total package"--athleticism and artistry--won out over one impressive jump.

I'm also happy for Lysacek's coach, 71-year-old Frank Carroll, who has come this close to having an Olympic champion before (he coached one of my faves, The Kwan), and now he finally has his champion.

And since I've totally just shown my figure skating geekiness...let me just go all the way and show you what is my Picture of the Day (for my Project Life album) for Thursday:


I know. Sometimes I scare myself. I just LOVE great Olympic stories. :-)

The diet. It's going very well. I haven't exercised at all, but I've done very well with my food intake, even with all the eating out we've done this week. I've made Tuesday my weigh-in day, and I'm curious to see the results. My goal this week is to add a little exercise.

And in conclusion...I've got lots and lots and lots to grade, so I better get to it. Someone remind me why I chose English as my subject to teach....?

4 comments:

Aunt Winifred said...

I, too, stayed up late to see Evan skate for the gold medal. I'm so glad he won and yes, it was truly worth it to stay up late and see it happen. He really skated a great routine--much classier than Plushenko's I thought. I'm glad, too, that the judges didn't give Plushenko the gold medal based on that one jump.

I know your parents had a great time with Amelia. They are such good grandparents!

Amy said...

I thought it was classier, too, and it was definitely worth staying up for!

They are good grandparents. I'm sure she did have lots of fun!

Jess said...

I want to know what you think of WW online... worth the money? I got to "Lifetime" status right before I got pregnant, but I've got about 13lbs to go before I'm back to that. Instead of going back to the meetings right now, I'm meeting with a friend weekly for lunch & accountability (we're even "paying" $10/week to each other, but will get it back to go shopping when we hit our goals!) Good luck!!

Amy said...

I like YOUR plan. That's a neat idea!

I've always done the meetings in the past, but it was just too difficult this time around with my crazy schedule and a very active 2-year-old.

So far, week one has gone well--I don't weigh until Tuesday. Part of the reason I'm blogging about it is for accountability...like maybe if I put it out there for my friends and family to see, I might feel more accountable.

That's great that you are 13 pounds away!