ski like a girl "& um"

Read post before clicking on play!

The Takeaway is a national morning news program that invites listeners to be part of the American conversation. Hosts John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee, along with partners The New York Times, BBC World Service, WNYC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston, deliver news and analysis and help you prepare for the day ahead.

As the Winter Olympics kick off in Vancouver, we check in with three bloggers who've been following the lead-up to the games for months.

• Leilani Gibson is a ski instructor and yoga teacher in Oregon. She writes about women's skiiing and skateboarding in her Ski-like-a-girl blog.  
• Brandon Worley is the Hockey editor for the Sports Blogs Nation and he talks to us about Team USA's chances of winning gol.
• And Aaron Harris's Axes loops and Spins blog about figure skating just won him an all expense paid trip to Vancouver to blog about the Olympics.

Just in case you weren't up at 4 am on the west coast or a more reasonable 7 am on the east coast you can listen to my few moments in the spotlight.  I do have this on the sidebar of my ski like a girl blog but if you missed it or if you get this through an RSS feed (wow does anyone do that?  Let me know.)  Or if this comes straight to your email I didn't want you to miss out on my radio spot!

Not sure about the skateboarding in my bio?  Me either. Probably should be snowboarding. The little ski princess has a skateboard in the garage but that's the extent of my knowledge.  And for those of you that were following my attempted journey to the Olympics does the name Aaron Harris mean anything to you?  It should, he's the guy who won the Gold Blogger contest and is in Vancouver right now.  He got to call in to the show from his hotel in Vancouver where he will following the Olympics for One Winter, Five Dreams!  How cool is that? 

Did anyone see the Jenkins episode of How I meet your Mother?  It's the one where Robin discovers that she is a drinking game for college kids.  Her repetition of "But, um" during her middle of the night news show is an opportunity for people to drink.  So may I suggest before you click play on the above radio show, grab yourself a beverage and settle in for a new drinking game.  the ski like a girl "& um"  game. Be warned, I say "& um" a lot. I'm not advocating drinking or drinking games just making a suggestion purely for entertainment purposes. Other than that little piece of self criticism it was a fabulous experience well worth the loss of sleep.

Let me know what you think in the "& um" comments.



xoxo,
ski girl
p.s.  I found an artilcle that may help me rid myself of this annoying habit.  Trainers: just say no to "uh"and "um"

ski like a girl & The Takeaway

The Takeaway is a national morning news program that invites listeners to be part of the American conversation. Hosts John Hockenberry and Celeste Headlee, along with partners The New York Times, BBC World Service, WNYC, Public Radio International and WGBH Boston, deliver news and analysis and help you prepare for the day ahead.

And in just a few short hours (too few, I should really get to sleep) I'm going to be part of a round table of bloggers who are writing about the Olympics.  I will be chatting from the comfort of my home in my pj's about all things skiing and the Olympics. While attempting to be as coherent and informative as I can manage at 4 am (PST).  There will be a link on The Takeaway for those of you who don't love me enough to get up at 4. 

xoxo,
ski girl

ski like a girl's Julie & Julia moment

February 1st has come and gone and I've been waiting patiently impatiently for some news from the One Winter, Five Dreams peeps.  I did get an email asking if I could really go to Vancouver, what my clothing sizes were, and if I was computer savvy.

Last night the winner was announced and the Gold Blogger is (insert drum-roll here...) not me!  :(
Of course I am a little sad about this. Who wouldn't be?  A chance to go to the Olympics, attend the events, blog about the athletes.... fun, fun, fun.  Anyway, enough about me. Wait this is my blog it can be all about me. Can't it?

The Gold Blogger is... Aaron Harris.  He's a dedicated figure skating blogger, Olympic enthusiast, and social media guru!   Check out his posts during the Games.  He will keep us in touch with all the One Winter, Five Dreams athletes.

And now back to me!
Here's my Julie  & Julia moment.  And just to be clear, I am Julie in this scenario not Julia.  I started blogging about the Olympics and specifically the Panasonic's One Winter, Five Dreams athletes after my recent crash with a snowboarder. Dislocated shoulder, blah, blah, blah... (Remember I promised not to whine about that anymore.)  During my month (plus) of not skiing I have blogged wildly about all things Olympics.  Not knowing if anyone besides my family and friends were reading my stuff.  Or even if my family and friends were reading this.

Well guess what?  Someone was reading.  And it wasn't my mom cuz I had to tell her about the blog today when I called her with my exciting news. (We are not big on full disclosure in my family, sort of a don't ask don't tell policy.  We are a military family.)  Luckily, Mom recently watched  Julie & Julia so she knows what a blog is.  Now that I'm thinking about it I'm not sure if she really knows what a blog is.

Because
#1 When I told her my news, although she was very excited she didn't ask for the name of my blog or the URL of my blog and ...

#2 She wouldn't know what a URL is because...

#3 She isn't the most computer literate person.  (She drives to the travel agent to book trips, flights... in person.)

In Julie & Julia, Julie's blog is a pretty important element of the movie.  Maybe my mom thought that Julie was writing in a journal, not an online journal that anyone in the world would see. If this is true it messes with some key points that occur towards the end of the movie but my mom usually falls asleep by then so it probably isn't worth explaining to her.


Here is my BIG news.
I was contacted by a producer from the WNYC radio show,  The Takeaway.  She saw my blog!!!  And wants to (possibly) include me and my blog in a round-table about people who are blogging about the Olympics.  It's not definite yet but it helps lessen the sadness of not being the Gold Blogger.  Actually, it's kind of cooler than the Gold Blogger!  And I can do it from home in my PJ's.  The show airs at 6 am in New York and I am on the west coast.  Yikes!

I'll let you know if it's really happening!  For now I will keep blogging away about skiing, the Olympics, my favorite athletes, and all the other random things I love.  Please keep reading.

xoxo,
ski girl
p.s.  Mom, if you have figured out how to find my blog, I love you!