Hi everyone,

Sorry it's been so long, but I had all these viruses in my computer and was without it for about two months. Anyway, I have quite a bit to fill you all in on, but I'll try to keep it short.

In June, I exhibited my short at Jersey Councils and that went over really well. I was able to get feedback from the judges, and I've honestly never had such positive things said about the program itself. That meant so much to me because I worked really hard on this, and Tommy has only made it better - really getting me to play a character and have fun with the program. Sadly, my long didn't go as well. Not only was I doing both programs at this competition, but I had seven kids competing, and my long was one of the last events on Sunday. I was wiped, and it was evident in my skating. It was a small competition, so I wasn't too bothered by it. I just know there's only so much running around one can do when you have to compete.

In June I started going back to Delaware. I've been working with Tracey [Poletis] again once a week and wish I could go more. She's really helped me get my jumps on track, especially flip and lutz. I've been working really hard on getting a triple-triple, and my goal is to definitely have it my long and possibly my short. At the end of June I had the chance to go to L.A and skate at HealthSouth for a week. I've never been to California, and I had so much fun. I got back and jumped right into summer schedule. I teach at Wall [in New Jersey] every single day, and I still go to Delaware once a week, but the rest of the week I've been skating at Ice House in Hackensack, NJ three days a week, and Fridays I skate at home. It's an extreme amount of driving I have to do, but I see Steven at Ice House, and I've been able to get a lot out of my lessons up there because being on the ice with a lot of national and international skaters really motivates me to get new things and improve everything I do.

Summer was going awesome until this past week. It started a week and a half ago when I broke my blade. It was the craziest thing! I came down on a triple flip, and I'm thinking, I'm going to land it, and all of the sudden I hear this 'crack' and I fall. At first I thought the screws came out, but when I looked down I saw that the heel was detached from the plate! I completely freaked out because I thought I was going to have to get new blades, which I honestly can't afford. It hit me that I have teaching skates and the blades on there still have a couple of sharpenings left, and thankfully the holes line up, so that took care of that.

A couple of days later, not only do I wake up sick, but later in the day I had a head-on collision on the ice and ended up with a beautiful fat lip. All this trauma aside, I was skating really well and felt confident and ready for Liberty. I was really excited, actually, because I know I've improved not only a ton since Norths, but a great deal since Cherry Blossom. Then on the Tuesday before Liberty I took a nasty fall, and the first place that felt the pain was my back. I kept skating because I'm used to working through back pain, considering that I've had a back injury since I was 13, but I totally over did it. I came in to skate the next day and took it as easy as I could. I did my programs with doubles for stamina and didn't pound out any jumps. I only skated one session. I guess I didn't take is easy enough because by Thursday any kind of skating movement involving pressure on my left side was almost impossible. I went to the chiropractor, and was told I had strained my lumbar muscles from overuse. He wanted me off the ice as soon as possible because I haven't been giving myself enough time to heal. He said two days off here and there isn't enough, and that I needed a good week without any strain to the area. Everyone around me knew the last thing I wanted to do was withdraw, but when the situation wasn't any better Friday morning, I really didn't have a choice.

I was really off my feet for three whole days - no skating, no gym. I'll be at the rink to teach, but it won't even be in my skates because I sent them to get rebuilt. Today was the first day I could go to the gym, and I can't wait until next week to get back on the ice. I'll be competing two more times before Norths. First at the Moran Memorial in August at Hackensack and then at Middle Atlantics in New York City in September. Well, I don't think I kept this short, but oh well, I am done now. Hope everyone is having a great summer!

Love,
Stephanie