Girls Night Out - Dave Ramsey Style

Andrea and me at the 2007 State Farm U.S. Figure Skating Championship

Last night, Andrea and I went to the U.S. Figure Skating Championship. The previous night, at our Financial Peace University class, the facilitator asked everyone to raise their hands. The first question asked was if we were available Wednesday evening. A lot of hands went down. The second was if we had prepared a zero balance cash budget. Most hands stayed up. Next was if we were using the envelope system. A couple of more hands went down. The last question asked was if anyone had sold stuff to pay off debt.

Every one's hands came down except Jason and Andreas' hands, another couple's and mine (Jay put his down but I rationalized and kept mine up because I have sold some stuff on Ebay lately AND Jay totally does extra work to increase our income which is the same idea as selling stuff) Andrea clarified that they don't actually have debt but she is currently selling stuff on Ebay. With five of our hands up, the poor facilitator seemed at a loss what to do as he only had four tickets to give away. Because I was the lone single person (Jay was still muttering that I should put my hand down) he gave the four tickets to attend the Pairs Championship on Wednesday night Jason and Andrea and two to this other couple. Andrea understood my rationale and talked Jason into giving me his ticket. There was a little confusion about an extra ticket that Andrea might blog about but I left with a ticket (and no guilt, because Jay works almost every extra day off he has and in Dave Ramsey land, that counts). Jay, like most men, detests figure skating and had no desire to go anyway.

The great thing about going, besides the tickets being free which was the absolute best thing, was that the seats were in a prime location - the club seats. Included as well was a parking pass (mistakenly thought of as an extra ticket) so the entire night was free except for our pre-show dinner at Red Robin. I dropped the boys off at the hospital so Jay could feed them in the cafeteria and went to pick up Andrea. I went for the more casual look and felt under dressed when she answered the door all glam. But neither of us were too concerned and went downtown for a quick dinner and then to the arena.

It was really fun. First up was an odd routine with four performers skating to Vivaldi's Four Seasons performed by the local youth symphony. It was a little hard to watch as the only time my eyes could follow all four skaters was when they returned to a huddle after each season. When that was over, the championship competition began.

The Zomboni getting the ice ready for the pairs competition

I've never watched live skating before and the skating seems more difficult and risky than it does on T.V. The jumps and throws seem ridiculously dangerous and hard to land. In fact, very few seemed to actually land them. Now I know why those T.V. guys get so excited when they do land cleanly.

The competition was split up into four parts, with four teams warming up, performing then the next four...etc.

As it was a competition, most of their routines contained the same elements. The problem was, to my novice eye, they all pretty much looked the same. The only noticeable difference was the music and costumes and if they fell on their jumps or not. But the judges scores' were all over the place. After about four routines, I realized that I actually prefer watching skating on T.V. where they have experts telling you what's technically difficult and what's just froo froo. I needed Scott Hamilton giving me the goods!

The throw

The Death Spiral

Side by side skating

Lots and lots of spins (that I'm sure mean a lot to skaters and judges but aren't the most exciting things to watch)

With sixteen couples performing, the competition didn't get over until almost 11:00. We had a great time laughing and talking and it was a fantastic night out. As we were in the elite section, we could order free sodas throughout the evening.

Woo-hoo! I love perks!

We both only ordered one but that two dollars saved makes you feel pretty important. The female skaters are tiny but strong and there was this one woman who had a great back. I felt totally motivated while watching her to get a great back and then less than five minutes later somebody ordered a chocolate sundae in the row behind us and I was totally motivated by that. Which is probably why I don't have a great back presently. Pretty short attention span.

Do you think she eats any icecream?

I dropped Andrea off around 11:30 and went home to make cupcakes for Sammy's preschool birthday snack day. It was a late night and I didn't get into bed until almost 1:30 am. But birthday snack day is a big deal to each child as you can see by the set up and Sammy's embarrassed pride. Tomorrow is his actual birthday and his birthday party is on Saturday so he's getting a three day celebration. Coming soon....Sammy's Fourth Birthday post.

Sam getting fitted with his birthday crown

Waiting patiently for the go ahead

Sam and some of his preschool buddies

His star cupcake and candles (thanks Andrea for the liners!)

His teacher lighting the candles

Blowing them out

Ah...finally

Henry seemed to find some stuff to play with

When Sammy gets a lot of attention he gets really quiet and embarrassed. But he really loves it.