Wishful Wednesday, March 3rd, 2010

"I wish..."

...I could have gone to the 2010 winter Olympics, to see one event, & it would have been the pairs figure skating!

This was a really hard choice for me to make! My Prince & I seriously backed up our DVR by watching nothing but the Olympics the entire time it was going on. I relaxed my "no having the television on all day" policy to allow for Olympic coverage in the afternoons, even after Pretty Little Bare Feet awoke from her nap (although I did keep it muted a lot of that time). Then we would pause the coverage when it began at prime-time, & return to watch it in its entirety after we did Pretty Little Bare Feet's

dinner,

bath,

bed routines.

I think between the two of us, My Prince & I were saying, "Oh, wouldn't it be awesome to be there right now to see this?!" at least four times a night.

(This is completely consistent with my Olympic-viewing since childhood. We also did this together during the 2008 summer Olympics, in between my being sick with first trimester pregnancy. Apparently My Prince was aware of the Olympics, & watched bits&pieces of events here&there growing up, but he has readily jumped on the obsessive bandwagon with me now, as it's sports that I'll allow on all the time, & even watch with him! LOL)

So to pick just one event; well, that took some thinking. This year, I was so impressed by so many -

the closing ceremony - especially the performances by Alanis Morissette, Avril Lavigne, Hedley, Michael Buble, & the Russian dancers;

the opening ceremony - especially the fabulous fireworks displays; the Parade of Nations; the virtual ocean floor; performances by Bryan Adams, Loreena McKennitt, Nelly Furtado, Sarah McLachlan, & the tribal dancers;

men's speed skating - especially Apolo Anton Ohno & Shani Davis;

ladies' skiing - especially Elisabeth Goergl, Julia Mancuso, Lindsey Vonn, & Ophelie David;

men's skiing - especially Bode Miller;

& men's snowboarding halfpipe - especially Gregory Bretz, Louie Vito, Peetu Piiroinen, Scott Lago, & Shaun White.

But figure skating has always been my favorite winter Olympic event, since I was a little girl. I love

the balance of grace&speed,

the choreography,

the elaborate costumes,

the music,

etc.

A few years ago, my mama took me to a Stars on Ice show for my birthday. We got to see

Jamie Sale & David Pelletier,

Jenni Meno & Todd Sand,

Nancy Kerrigan,

Oksana Baiul,

Scott Hamilton,

Todd Eldredge,

& Yuka Sato.

It was amazing!

If I had to pick just one figure skating event to see, I'd probably choose pairs. Although the skills aren't usually quite as difficult, I love the added element of keeping all of the jumps completely in sync with each other. I think it is so impressive when they manage to look like mirror images while they spin&twirl!

My favorite pairs this year (& yes, I know some of these are technically ice dancing):

Aliona Savchenko & Robin Szolkowy,

Anabellee Langlois & Cody Hay,

Meryl Davies & Charlie White,

Sinead Kerr & John Kerr,

Tanith Belbin & Agosto Benjamin,

Xue Shen & Hongbo Zhao,

& my favorite favorite favorite pair...

...Caydee Denney & Jeremy Barrett!

I definitely think they are a pair to watch in 2014, as this was their first Olympic outing. They are just so fun to watch! Loved their costumes&music for each skate. & I think Caydee Denney is just so

adorable,

cute,

sassy,

& spunky!

I also loved so many of the spectacular performances by the men's & ladies' singles figure skating - especially

Cheltzie Lee,

Evan Lysacek,

Joannie Rochette,

Johnny Weir,

Kim Yu-Na,

Miki Ando,

Mirai Nagasu,

Rachael Flatt,

& Stephane Lambiel.

& I am already looking forward to the 2012 summer Olympics in London - just that little one-minute preview they did after the closing ceremonies has whetted my appetite!