Tender Mercies

These are Marshall's actual eye color--no filtering or editing. Look at how blue they are!  Kansas City Temple, US Figure Skating Championships at the Sprint Center, Ethiopian food for dinner. It was a full day of birthday fun--my 27th birthday, and last birthday without children.  Ladies, you know those moments where you start crying for no real reason whatsoever, and then five minutes later you are back to being your awesome self again? Whatever you want to call it, be it hormones, pregnancy, fatigue, PMS, or just being a woman,  I had three of these moments during my birthday. Oh it could have been a miriad of things, but I think the main reason was that I was exhausted, with not sleeping well for too many consecutive nights. I wanted to say I ruined the entire day, but my sweet man reminded me that I had more "thumbs-up" moments than "thumbs-down" moments, so the day was a success, and not at all ruined. How right he was!  My birthday was a ...

It has been six months since I have stepped inside an ice rink. This was the longest break away from the rink since 1998, the year I began my ice skating journey. Crazy. When July 1st was around the corner this year, I knew I needed to renew my US Figure Skating memberships and coaching certifications, etc., so that I would stay compliant. Not knowing what club I wanted to renew with or join, I did my research and decided to join the Silver Blades Figure Skating Club in Shawnee, KS. I had a great experience as I emailed the lady over the membership for the club, and she invited me to check out the rink and talk to me about their club. I knew I would take her up on that offer eventually, but I didn't know when. Today, a little over two and a half weeks after the initial email, I drove the 30 miles to the Kansas City Ice Center. It took me about 33 minutes. For my entire skating career, I have not been any further from the rink than a 15 minute drive, and for the past seven y...