USA! USA! Going for the gold.

I LOVE THE OLYMPICS!! Well, I love the Summer Olympics. We all know that the Winter Olympics is just the equivalent of a less popular, slightly uglier step-sibling.

In all seriousness, I adore the splendor and pageantry of the Olympics. I was a little worried this year because I thought I would be in Nicaragua and miss the gymnastics. BUT I am only going to miss the lame stuff (like track). I will get to see the gymnastics, which is the most important part! Duh. I also really like the swimming. Particularly men’s swimming. Especially the relays. Why you ask? Well, lots of attractive men all in one race? I’ll take it! Can we talk about how good looking Ryan Lochte is? Then can we discuss how badly he dresses and how lame his grill is? If only he had a great NW girl in his life…

History lesson: I quit competitive gymnastics when I was a sophomore in high school. Not to mention, I am 5’8”… not exactly gymnastics conducive. Let’s just say, bars was NOT my strongest event. I was really not a good gymnast, but I loved it (mainly floor and beam), had a blast and made great friends. I wouldn’t trade those years in the gym for anything. Thinking about it now, I specifically wouldn’t trade the summers. We would spend 4 hours together at practice, followed up by 4 more hours together playing and laying at the pool. When you group both hard work and fun together, especially at a young age, the rewards are invaluable. Those summers contain some of my fondest memories.

Enough about me and my non-good at gymnastics past, back to the Olympics:

Let’s note the level of gymnastics these girls are doing. Height and skills that I can’t even comprehend! I think standing back-tucks are hard (I’m tall. Give me a break). How about a perfect standing full on beam? Yeah. Beam. And that isn’t even near the most difficult skills we are seeing.

Gabby Jo is my mom's favorite. Mostly because her middle name is Jo. Priorities. 

I could talk gymnastics all day, but instead how about a more universal topic? Hair.

One thing you are allowed to trash is gymnastics hair. When we were kids we were not allowed to compete with messy buns. (Think late 90s/ early 00s when the messy bun was in the height of popularity). We of course fought back, but I will say, my ability to make a good slicked back ponytail came in handy when I was a cheerleader. Sometimes I even see lingering signs of “good hair ladies” coming through as a cheer coach. This was a blanket comment that we heard growing up from our gymnastics coaches.

Go ahead and make fun of the clips and the glitter. But it is something that has been around for a long time. And to tell you the truth, I would be a little bit disappointed to see it go. Final note: Marta Karolyi should take a call from the head coach of Mac Gymnastics. Meg could teach her a thing or two about encouraging her athletes to have “good hair.”

PS. You have no idea how obsessed my sister and I were with the magnificent seven. It was ridiculousness. I hope we will get to be equally obsessed with this team of five! 

I loved Dominique Dawes and hated Kerri Strug. I also LOVED Shannon Miller's bangs...and copied them. I was a special child.  

Alright friends, that is all from me for today. What is your favorite Olympic event? 

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My mom's Christmas card is done.

My sister just sent us these pictures from when our family was at Black Butte. I am sure it is a huge relief for my mother, as she frets over her Christmas card for weeks! Honestly, maybe even months. As it turns out, most years she can't even find a picture. So after agonizing over the potential card, she ends up not sending one at all! She is so crazy. Yet, I love her so much.

Here are some of the good ones!

We were dancing!

Had to throw a back-handspring shot in there too! 

Please excuse my bad form in the back-handspring. I had just eaten a large meal and my jeans weren't stretchy. I know... excuses. 

That is all for now. Enjoy your weekends! 

Blooper Box: Where funny videos go to hang out.

The other day I got an interesting email. Subject: “came across your blog, have question.”

First of all, I was like, “He ran across my blog? How did that happen? Do people read my blog?... this is weird.”

Then I was like, “He is a killer. A deranged murderer. He says he is emailing me about my blog but he is totally an ax murderer. CRAP!”

Then I actually read his email and went to the Website.

He loves funny videos!? I love funny videos! People who like funny videos from the internet can’t possibly be murderers. Murderers only like Dexter and American Horror Story (Yeah, I’m on to you Marina. We all know you are a murderer).

SO, I emailed him back and asked if he was a murderer. He said no… and I decided he was telling the truth. I have a super legitimate screening process. Brad and his business partner, Phil, moved to Portland not to long ago to start BlooperBox.  I hesitated to write about it for a split second because I have never done a review like this before. BUT I saw that 1.) They are local and 2.) They are a start-up. Two awesome qualities!

Of course I will spread the good news about your hilarious website! Note: they are from St. Louis. I automatically think of Louise form St Louis (Jennifer Hudson in the SATC movie) and Judy Garland in Meet Me in St. Louis. (Pre extreme pill-popping)

Apparently Brad and Phil were co-workers back in St. Louis and one of their main procrastination activities was to find really obscure funny videos and send them to each other. It became a competition of sorts. Who was going to find the better video? And BlooperBox was born. They created a site that holds weekly competitions between 5 uploaded videos.

Click Here to see a sad back-handspring. 

This video was not a winner. And really, neither is this lady. I do feel sad that she couldn’t land her back-handspring. Next time she should call me and I can give her a spot.

Riding boots used strictly for walking.

Today is officially the last day of summer. I would normally be sad… but I just got new boots and I am dying to wear them! I will be okay if it cools off soon so I can break those bad boys in! Seriously, I am very excited about the boots. I know it is absurd… but at least I admit it. I wish I had a picture of me wearing them. But again, it is still too warm.

Here is what they look like online:

Ahhhhhh. They are just so lovely

They are called the 'Zayra' Boot. On the baby name website (hilar) that Google gave me when I searched the name Zayra, I learned that it means radiance. Something I plan on exuding whilst wearing the boots (and in turn picking up a man). Pretty cool beans right? Boots are a challenge for me to find… due to the issue of big calves (thank you Joanne). But these fit perfectly! It is like they were made for me! The fate of it all is adding to the anticipation of boot season.

Maybe I will do back-handsprings in them. Booya!

What is up with this blog name?

Why back-handsprings? Well, I like to do back-handsprings. I was a gymnast for many years. Then I retired. Then I was a cheerleader for 3 years. Then I retired. Now I am a cheerleading coach. My main thing to offer as a coach is tumbling. AND a ridiculously upbeat attitude that evokes a lot of eyerolls from the teenage girls.  Also, back-handsprings are fun to do! You are weightless in the air for a moment before a (hopefully) graceful landing.

I live in Portland. The city of bridges! Bridgetown if you will. As a city we are divided by the Willamette River. I am a westsider. I like to pretend that I could be a funky trendy eastsider, but alas, I think I am stuck in my Westside ways. The bridges that count are the 9 that span the Willamette in the immediate city area. I did a report on the bridges in 3^rd grade. I know you are jealous. Portland Public Schools failed me in many ways, but I have to say that Mr. Novitsky drilled that Portland history and I am grateful. I don’t know how to do long division, but hey, I know the bridges! Maybe one day I will stop traffic and do a back-handspring on one. A girl can dream!

My favorite bridge to drive over is the Fremont. It has my favorite view of the city. Do it sometime, its killer. My favorite bridge to look at is the Steel Bridge. It is just the bridgiest of all the bridges! You know, bridgy looking. All metal and tough like. I mean obviously the Steel Bridge would kick the Broadway Bridges arse. The Broadway Bridge is pink for heaven’s sake!

So bridgy.