MoPAC Dinner

Tonight was a break from competition in lieu of the shift switch. Starting tomorrow, the men's teams will play later games, and the women's teams will play earlier games. Our first game is against Team Washington, a tough team, at 8 am Central. We hope to get some early rest tonight (after the blog) to get up painfully early. We're going to be blanketed with a little bit of snow fall tonight in preparation for the doozy of a snowstorm, we'll be getting later on tomorrow.

To celebrate the mid-point, MoPAC (Team Bond Girls, Team Oregon Women, and Team OC Men) at dinner together at Charley's, a steak house. The food was good and the company was great. There were a few awesome stories that included pushing an old lady off the ice with a broom and "3 inches." There's not much time to go into detail; so I'll leave it to your imaginations. We probably spent more time laughing than eating. Of course, we took a bunch of silly pictures. All around, it was a good dinner with our fellow region representatives.

So it's nice to be back blogging. I had to take a break and make sure I get enough rest. Time gets limited between games, interacting with the teams, and preparation for whatever is coming next. Everything's A-Okay.

Until tomorrow, this is Domino signing out.

Wisconsin Recording on Ustream

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13146358

Sorry it is not complete. Enjoy.

Tomorrow's schedule: 12 pm Central Time against North Dakota.

In All It's Pink Glory

11 am (Central) we had our opening ceremony. It's basically the most formal part of the entire tournament. All the teams dress in their uniform best, get "piped" out with a real bagpipe player, and are escorted by a bunch of cute kids carrying their respective state flags. Our California flag bearer was named Cole, and he did a great job. The opening ceremony pictures were taken by a native Minnesotan named Erica who also did a great job. What had drawn us to her and made her a target to ask her take some photos for us was that she wore pink. We are grateful of our pink connection. Thank you, Erica, for your kind heart, fast fingers, and good eye. Here are a few photos from today:



As you can see, we are the only pink team this year. And our pinks are brighter than ever!








We definitely stand out against the white snow which had started today, and amongst the crowd. Well, it has always been our motto: "...at least we look good."










The Ustream test was a success. If you missed the opening ceremony, that's okay. We've figured out how to record all of our media and you can access it anytime. Here's the link:

http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/13137835

We are currently resting up for our first game against Wisconsin at 8 pm (Central). Wish us luck!

- Domino

Opening Ceremony Live!

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/team-bond-girls-curling-club-nationals

Check it out!

Schedule of Ustream Shows

For all those curling fans, you can find a schedule of all our streamed games here:

http://www.ustream.tv/user/teambondgirls/shows

Don't miss any of it!

Day 1: The Arrival

After faring a red eye, 3 members: Marissa, Jennifer, and Donna arrived at the Minneapolis Airport and met up with Cindy who arrived earlier that morning via Florida. We all made it, safe and sound with all our luggage. It was a good start to a week long adventure.

Weary-eyed, we got into our red minivan rental and met up with, Jomar, a St. Paul curler, at a cafe called the Bread and Chocolate where we ate delicious cinnamon swirls with dangerous frosting and warmed up with some steamed milk. Jomar offered to take us to the St. Paul club where we got to see an almost 100 year-old club (founded in 1912) complete with a window built in the 2nd floor men's bathroom where you can still watch curling below as you wash your hands. Brilliant!

We made a quick trip to Mickey's Diner (where they filmed "Mighty Ducks") to snap a quick picture for Cindy's dad.

Finally, we made our way south to the Mankato Curling Club. All is a blur since, I fell asleep, but not without first taking in the snow covered landscapes, iced over rivers, and real Christmas trees. Lucky for us, we brought the California sunshine, but don't let that deceive you. It's COLD over here, especially when the wind blows. I learned that you have to cover every exposed skin, or else it'll freeze off. At least, that's what it seemed like to this thin-blooded Hawaiian.

We spotted a familiar sight, Target, and bought some necessities, water, snacks, and joint juice. We ate some lunch. We took a quick refreshing nap after checking into the hotel. Last minute, a traditional, we quickly sewed our patches on our new fancy jackets embroidered by our Utica Mom, Liz. After a few hundred blood offerings to the curling gods, we were finally ready.

Practice started at 8 pm. We saw a ton of familiar faces. It felt so good to see them all again, kind of like a family reunion. There were some new faces as well. Don't worry we'll get to know all of them really soon. We tried out our new practice routine on all the sheets. We get 10 minutes starting on Sheet 2 to throw everything we needed to throw to figure out the stones, run of the ice, weird observations, and to dial in on our weight. It was a very good practice on such nice dedicated ice. It's good to be back again!

We ate dinner at Baker's Square and brought home some pie.

We ended the night with some funny photos and videos. You can see them posted on our facebook: http://www.facebook.com/bondgirlscurling

Not bad for our first day back in tournament mode.

Tomorrow's Schedule (Central Time):

11 am - Club Nationals Team Meeting

1 pm - Opening Ceremony (We're going to test out our live streaming equipment)

8 pm - 1st Team Bond Girl Game with Team Wisconsin

Here's the link to our webstream:

http://www.ustream.tv/channel/team-bond-girls-curling-club-nationals

We might have a treat for you guys. Jomar and Travis from the St. Paul Curling Club might be our guest commentators for the game for all you curling fans out there. YAY!

Bond Girls are Back! Stay Tuned.

- Domino

Our practice went pretty good tonight. We had 10 minutes per sheet. It was slower than we were expecting, usually we throw all of our first rocks through the house. This was not the case, it was running around 22 seconds.
Every year we make a mixed cd to rock out to in the van before games. We each pick 4 songs that pump us up right now. This year we have 2 team songs as well. Check out the list below and see if you can guess which song belongs to whom.

Firework by Katy Perry
Moment 4 Life (feat. Drake) by Nicki Minaj
Dog Days Are Over by Florence & The Machine
You re Gonna Go Far, Kid by The Offspring
Eye of the Tiger by Survivor
this is how we do it by Montell Jordan
Jai Ho by The Pussycat Dolls
feel good inc by Gorillaz
Theme From Mortal Kombat by Utah Saints
Billie Jean by Michael Jackson
Gloryland by Daryl Hall and The Sound Of Blackness
The Time by Black eyed peas
Trouble by Pink
The Fixer by Pearl Jam
Keep Holding On by Avril Lavigne
Burn It To The Ground by Nickelback
Don't Rain On My Parade by Glee Cast
California Gurls by Katy Perry

Answers will be posted later on this week!

Miranda Frost

5-4-3-2-1 MANKATO!

So tonight, we leave slightly warm Los Angeles to freezing Mankato (HIGHS of 27 LOWS of 19), BUT there's still a few last minute things we still need to do before lift-off.

5 - Pack! We've got a handful of uniforms including some top secret stuff to be unveiled on opening ceremony. Plus, we can't forget all the girly stuff like a couple of hair dryers so we don't have to take turns, bobby pins, and pink make-up. Plus, we're going to live stream our games and document our adventures. We got a whole collect of equipment, still cameras, video cameras, computers, etc. We'll be bright, chic, and technologically equipped for Mankato.

4 - Plan! There's going to be a few familiar faces as well as some new faces we'll be meeting up with while we are at the tournament. We're coordinating a visit to the St. Paul curling club as well as maybe a quick drive to the Spam Museum. We're also looking forward to Coach Joel from Wisconsin, guiding us for a few days, as well as a few family and friends that will try to come out and watch. Maybe our devoted fans will cheer Team Bond Girls into doing really well at the tournament. Hopefully, we'll see a few of our Pink, Black, and Grey T-shirts out in the stands.

3 - Prepare! Team Bond Girls always have a few extra things they do to prepare for the Club Nationals. We try to update an exercise spreadsheet to track all our activity. Cindy burns us a mix cd which we play on replay in the van, and that sets the mood as well as theme for the year. Our highlight song is "Firework" by Katy Perry, but I can't give you the entire playlist. We'll have another post with our song selections, and you can guess which Bond Girl chose it. We've held fundraisers and various sales, and thanks to all our supporters because you've made this event possible.

2 - Life! Things are still going on while we are away for one week. I feel kind of bad that I'm leaving the hubby with the task of preparing the baby's room while I am gone. I was supposed to pack up all my stuff so that it would clean for him to scrape the popcorn off the ceiling, paint the walls, and assemble the furniture. We'll see if I get to that errand tonight after work and shopping for some last minute items. I'm sure that while I am away, my husband is going play...at his "nerd party." Yep that's right! It's mainly a bunch of males rolling dice, and moving tiny figurines across a board, and blasting each other with fantasy powers. The girls and I will just have to have fun without them throwing heavy rocks on a very slippery board, yelling "hard" at the top of our lungs.

1 - Remember! The number one thing that I want to remind myself and others is that we are there to have fun. Sure we don't get a lot of quality ice time at our club, and we don't get to work on things we'd like. Just traveling to Mankato is a once in a lifetime opportunity. Team Bond Girls gets to spend one week with some amazing curlers on perfectly preened ice. We could get our butts kicked, but who cares since we most importantly want our passion for curling to match the brightness of our pink uniforms. We are proud to be curlers and to represent women who curl, the growing MOPAC region, and of course, Hollywood curling.

Are you ready for this blast off of pink? Mankato, here we come.

-Domino

Dare To Wear...Pink

2011 Team Bond Girl T-shirts are now IN!

Now available in Black or Dark Grey, various sizes including youth all for $15 each.

We decided that for our 3rd time around, we needed a fresh look. So to accompany the new uniforms, we also made a new logo and had some new shirts printed. We, of course, kept some of the elements that make it Team Bond Girls with our hotter pink accents and cool "License to Curl" slogan.




On the front, you'll see a fancy curling rock bullet through the bullseye of a curling house "O" that makes "Team Bond Girls."








We've graced the back with a cool martini glass complete with a curling house shaped olive.
















Cindy designed the graphic, and we think the new logo turned out perfectly.

So fans, show your Team Bond Girl pride, and get an updated "License to Curl" shirt for only $15. You can send us a note or pay online via:

www.bondgirlscurling.com

Click on the pink fundraising bubble, and it will take you to the paypal link with various photos of our prize pack that is also available. Click on "donate" to make your payment, and don't forget to specify design, color, size, and delivery address. If you have any questions, feel free to contact your favorite bond girl.

All proceeds will help our team offset costs to compete in the Club Nationals in Mankato, Minnesota starting this Saturday, March 5th.

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If you are fond of the 2010 Logo, we made a fresh new batch in various sizes (Black/Dk. Grey). for $15 as well.



www.bondgirlscurling.com