Spring Break; the recap

Wow.

Spring break left me absolutely breathless. It was one of the most fun, intense, exciting weeks of my life. I already blogged about Monday & Tuesday, so I'll recap the rest of the week :]

Sorry it's kind of long... keep in mind that I'm going over Wednesday through Sunday!

Wednesday - Men's short
I was completely excited because it was my first time seeing Jeremy compete in person. Unfortunately, he didn't skate clean, but I was still excited to see him skate. Jumps or not, he has such beautiful style. Of course Evan brought the house down and skated a perfect short. Brian Joubert didn't skate clean, and I thought Patrick Chan was cheated! He should have won short! And the unexpected star of the night... Samuel Contesti! His program was amazingly entertaining and no one expected him to do so well.

I watched men's short with my mom, then Sarah came to meet us at Staples for the pairs long that evening. Right before she called me to tell me she was parking, my mom and I ran into Brian Joubert. He looked tired, but he was SO nice. I ran into a friend after that and sort of hung around outside Staples, while Brian made his way over to LA Live (the plaza across the street). Right then, Sarah told me she was in the same plaza. SARAH, BRIAN IS IN FRONT OF ESPN ZONE. GO SAY HI! GET YOUR PICTURE! But of course Sarah's too shy, so I marched over with my mom and Sarah got her picture with Brian!

Pairs long was phenomenal. The Germans own :]

Thursday - Men's long
Boy, was I nervewrecked. I could NOT wait until men's long... original dance was first. Ben & Tanith were amazing - I thought they deserved first. Anyway, that evening was the event that I was waiting for. I was proud of Jeremy and Brandon, though I felt they both could have skated better. Of the course the tension was incredibly intense for that last group. For once, I thought Evan completely deserved the gold that he got, and I'm soooooo happy that Patrick got the silver.

Afterwards, we ran into our friend Claire. It was pretty late and we just walked with her and her daughter out of Staples. We walked a bit, then I saw a small crowd and some camera flashes. Oh, there must be some skater there, I said. Um, IT WAS JEREMY. I flipped out. I wanted a chance to redeem myself and take the crazy pictures I wanted! And I totally did :]

In the kiss and cry, Jeremy always does these little hand signals... so I asked him if we could take pictures that way. They came out really cute and I was so excited! I also finally got a hug :]

Friday - Ladies short
Sarah and I had been waiting for Friday because we knew that most of the skaters would be wandering around and we had a great chance of meeting some of them.

We had to leave my house at like, 7:45, wayyy early for me... I had gotten home at midnight the night before. We were WAY excited and still kind of delirious. We got there and frankly, we got super bored with some of the ladies lol. After a few groups, I suggested that we go to the Grammy Museum, grab a snack, then go to the mens' public medal ceremony. This plan definitely paid off!

The Grammy Museum was bleh, but the medal ceremony was awesome. Sarah had never been that close to Evan, so she was pretty much shaking with excitement. I really REALLY REALLY REALLY wanted to meet Patrick Chan, since we'd run into Brian several times and I used to train with Evan.

Finally we got up to the front of the crowd, and there was Patrick! I asked him to sign something, then asked for a picture. Sure! he said. SCORE, JOLENE. Just let me sign a few more things. *signs a few more things* I haven't forgotten your picture! Meanwhile, I'm just really excited he's in front of me. A few seconds later, a man from NBC walked up to Patrick and asked if he could 'steal him for 10 seconds.' Um, actually I need to take a picture with her first *points to me* AMAZING. He was the sweetest, and I can't believe he blew off NBC just to take a picture with me!

We then went back inside for the "big guns," as Sarah calls them, and had a blast. We ran into Brian Joubert like 4 more times within the following half hour, and met Nobunari Oda! It was just overall fun. I'm glad I got to know Sarah better - I've only known her for a couple months because we work at Starbucks together. We're the same when it comes to beautiful skater boys ;D

Next funny story...

We went to dinner in between the ladies short and the free dance. Lucky Strike! Then we walked back and I saw another small crowd around where the medal ceremonies take place, and also where a lot of interviews take place. Oh, I bet it's Jeremy, I said. We both cracked up. Our inside joke the whole week was me asking "WHERE'S JEREMY?" Well, it WAS Jeremy! I flipped. Then we realized there was someone else there... JOHNNY WEIR. Double whammy. We got pictures with them, and of course I went all gaga over Jeremy. Oh, and Johnny said my hair was cool :]

We waited around afterwards and got to meet Ben Agosto, as well as the other medaling dance teams<3

We went home SO SO SO happy and excited. We got to meet some of our favorite people and see some fierce ladies competition.

Saturday - Ladies long
I was sad that this was the last event. To be completely honest, I thought it was a bit anti-climatic, since I was living for the men's freeskate. Yes, the last group was amazing, but it just wasn't the same to me. I did however get to talk to Frank and Evan at a signing they did during the intermission... since Sarah wanted to meet him so badly, I took a picture of him holding a sign that said "Sarah Benjamin is amazing!" It came out really cute :]

I also got to hug Ben during the public medal ceremony, and finally got my picture with Tanith!

Afterwards, we hung around with my friend Gen, who I hadn't seen in forever, to see if we could meet the top ladies. Long story short, it was NUTS and we were unsuccessful. We did see Brian Joubert again, which was kind of hilarious haha

Sunday - Exhibitions
I was excited about seeing the exhibition programs, since they're usually more of a reflection of the skaters' personalities. Brandon Mroz blew me away with his program, mostly because it had so much personality... I just didn't expect it! The other program that stood out to me was Brian Joubert's. He skated to "Hallelujah" by Rufus Wainwright, and it was BEAUTIFUL.

Afterwards, the skaters were throwing stuff into the audience... I was lucky and got something signed by Evan :]

Anyway, got to meet Samuel Contesti, Patrick and Brian again. Brian gives fabulous hugs btw... it was amazing. He's such a sweetie!

But in all honesty, the highlight of my day was meeting Mitchel Musso. We went to the public medal ceremony for the ladies before the exhibitions. I saw Alissa Czisny, but I had met her the night before so I didn't bother her. I noticed there was some guy talking to Alissa (he wasn't facing us) and the photographers kept taking pictures of him. When he turned around... I SAW IT WAS MITCHEL MUSSO. For those of you who don't know, Mitchel plays Miley's best friend Oliver on Hannah Montana. He was SO sweet and apparently kind of interested. hahahaha :]

But yeah.

That might be it.

It was overall an AMAZING week and I'm glad I went. I'm so incredibly thankful that my mom got the tickets and let me have such a magnificent spring break!

xoxo

Spring break; Part 1

Spring break has already been amazing... and it's only Monday!

Let's start from the top.

Last year my mom got all event passes for the figure skating world championships at the Staples Center. This is a competition involving the best skaters in the entire world. Each of them had to qualify in their country (i.e. In the U.S., the top 3 from the national championships get to compete at worlds). We have all event passes, meaning we have tickets for all of the events - men's, ladies, pairs, and dance, including practices for all of those.

The practice sessions started yesterday at Staples, and it was ridiculously fun. I brought Sarah with me, one of my co-workers, because I knew she was a skating fan. We got there at around noon, then left at midnight. We watched the practices for men's, ladies, and pairs. AMAZING. We had a blast, to say the least.

And not only because I'm in love with Jeremy Abbott :]

Today my mom's friend Deidre and I went to another men's practice session. JEREMY AGAIN. It was funnnnnn! We then met up with my mom for lunch, when she told us the good news.

My dad said a word today.

This is FANTASTIC news. For those of you who don't know, my dad is currently in a vegetative state because of some complications of a heart attack. He has been this way since December, and we're waiting for him to have some kind of cognizant response, AKA "wake up." He's improved a lot, but the doctors can say he's woken up when he can communicate with us.

He's off the respirator, which is probably why he's starting to talk. I can't even tell you how amazing this feels. Now we have some kind of proof that he's in there, that his mind hasn't shut down, that he might really be able to come out of this.

After lunch, my mom dropped me off at home so I could nap (which I'm not doing). I came home to find a lovely package from Caitlin... it was the sweetest thing ever.

I'm the type of person that is associated with things. I have no problem with it... it just means my taste is pretty distinct. Anyway, people always tell me, "omg, I was shopping today and I totally saw this outfit/thing/painting/whatever that reminded me of you!"

Apparently this happened to Caitlin. She got me a gorgeous black and white travel mug (which I will be using for coffee next quarter), along with some hot chocolate. She printed out a collage of pictures of us and our adventures and wrote an amazing letter.

I love getting letters.

Anyway, this break has been absolutely fantastic already.

I got to see Jeremy Abbott (and a BUNCH of phenomenal skaters) in person, got an amazing pick-me-up letter, and my dad has made leaps and bounds in his progress.

I can't wait to see how the rest of the week unravels :]

xoxo

Song of the day: Unwritten - Natash Bedingfield

Ramble ramble ramble

Alex and I got back from seeing Duplicity about an hour ago. It was fantastic.

Anyway, we always have really in-depth conversations about life, work, and mostly past relationships and boy problems. This time, I got thinking that there's SO much that I just wish I could say to a bunch of people - friends, family, people...

idk.

I just posted a rather interesting fb note that I'm not sure I want to keep up. It's like one of those "write 10 things to 10 different people and tag them" kinds of things.

I don't know why I did it.

I guess it's like keeping a journal, which I don't anymore. I'm paranoid, since my mom read my old one. It was devastating.

Again, it's like PostSecret. There's something cathartic about telling people things, whether they know what you're talking about or not. Instead of going to a shrink, I'll post fb notes.

That's just the way I deal.

Don't judge.

Maybe this is enough rambling for one evening?

I don't know.

Whatevs.

xoxo

Song of the day: Eden - Sarah Brightman

Monday & Tuesday

I've pretty much had a wonderful couple days (minus work this morning from 2-6AM).

Monday I had my one and only final this week, so of course it was a definite relief to get that over with. Afterwards, Rosanne came to visit me! I hadn't seen her in forever, so it was absolutely divine to spend the rest of the day with her. We've been best friends since pre-school, and no matter how long we haven't seen each other, the minute we start talking, it's as if we've been inseparable this whole time.

We went to Laguna because the weather was beautiful (minus the wind for Rosanne haha), stopped by a cool bakery, got Starbucks, then parked on a rock on the beach. It was so relaxing, especially for me... just eating and talking. After that, we went to Sticki Picki, had a blast, then got sushi and watched Across the Universe. It was like we did all of my favorite things in one day :]

Tuesday was an adventure in itself. My day started at 5:30, then we were off to the dress rehearsal taping of Idol at 7. Even though there were some "technical difficulties" with our place in line, we lucked out and got put in the pit, stage right, RIGHT in front of the stage between the big stage and the judges. I nearly died with Adam sang.

Then of course Caitlin had to yell something at Danny... it happened to be DANNY, HAVE MY BABIES! Priceless.

We weren't sure if we could get into the live taping, but, of course, we got lucky again! This time we were in the same place, but on stage left. It was kind of cool to shake Simon's hand... I guess a lot of people would die to do so. The show was great and Adam and Danny were fantastic yet again<3

Unfortunately we left extremely exhausted and I had work this morning at 2AM. Yes, 2AM. The shift itself wasn't so bad but yeah. I won't go into detail :D

I have another 2AM shift tonight/tomorrow morning, but I'll live.

Anyway, I guess that's all. Just wanted to update ya'll :]

Also, expect an entire blog devoted to Demi either day or tomorrow<333

xoxo

Song of the day: Don't Forget - Demi Lovato