Happy Holidays!!!!!!!!!

Happy Holidays to everyone!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here are a few photos and a video of how I celebrated the holidays.

I of course went to Disneyland as soon as I got home from my Washington D.C. trip. This is my favorite time of year at the park because everything is all decked out with Christmas decorations, lots and lots of Christmas lights and a big huge Christmas tree. It even snows inside the park at the end of the holiday firework show. (OK so it's actually bubbles, but it sure looks like snow.)

I also went to the Balboa Island Boat Parade, which was celebrating it's 100th anniversary of festive boats lining the waterways with Christmas lights and decor. Some of the boats even played music and called out to the crowd watching along the shore.

Enjoy the photos!

Missy in Washington D.C.!!!

After the final stop of 2008 - the Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship held in Baltimore, I spent a few days in nearby Washington D.C. before heading back home.

I had never been to the Capital before and I absolutely loved it! Although I only spent three days roaming around the city, I did manage to see A LOT!

The first day, my friend Drew and I had to walk about 8 miles with everything we did and saw. We visited the Museum of American History and saw the original Star Spangled Banner along with the Gettysburg Address.

From there we ventured to the National Archives, in which the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights are kept, along with the Magna Carta and other famous historical documents.

After that, we went quickly through the Museum of Natural History and then on to the Washington Monument. I actually didn't know you could go up in the monument and we managed to snag tickets for the same day (which apparently is hard to do) and got to see the gorgeous views from the top right at sunset. From 500 feet up, you could see great views of all of the monuments, the museums, the Capital Building, the White House and even the Pentagon.

Then it was off to the World War II Memorial, which was by far my favorite. This breathtaking memorial is one of the newest in Washington D.C. and serves as a great reminder for all of the soldiers lost in that horrific war. )See picture above taken from the top of the Washington Monument. )

From there, we walked along the reflection pool to the Lincoln Monument. You never really understand just how big this monument is until you're standing right in front of it!

As dusk was setting in, we walked to the Vietnam Memorial and then off to the White House to see the big Christmas tree that sits in front of the first family's home. The tree had to be at least 20 feet tall and was covered with lots of white lights and ornaments. Surrounding the main tree were 50 little trees representing all of the states.

Now, that was all Day 1!

Day 2 found more sightseeing but a lot less walking. We visited the Air and Space museum, which I thoroughly enjoyed! There you could see the original Wright Brothers plane along with original capsules, space suits and other gear from the first trips in Space.

Afterwards, we went to the Capital Building, which unfortunately was closed for renovation due to the upcoming inauguration.

From there we took the underground Metro (which reminded me a lot of my days studying in Barcelona, Spain) and went to Arlington Cemetery. Seeing all of the graves definitely gives you a better appreciation for what our troops have done for our Country over the years.

That summed up Day 2.

Day 3 saw lots of rain, so we scurried to and from our destinations via our rental car, instead of walking by foot. We went to the Iwo Jima Memorial, which is also another memorial that catches you off guard due to it's height. I had no idea it was as tall as it is! (See photo above.)

Then we went to the Roosevelt Memorial and the Jefferson Memorial. From there we went to the Smithsonian Castle. Of course I had to go there just because it's a castle! (If you weren't aware, I'm infatuated with castles.)

Then we went to my favorite museum - the National Art Gallery. This probably wouldn't be many people's favorite museum, but I was in shear amazement at the immense talent encompassed into one museum. I saw paintings from Picasso, Van Gough, Monet, Cezanne, Renoir, Seurat, Degas, Da Vinci, Rembrandt, Matisse, and Miro to name a few. (Please tell me you know who painted the picture above.)

What really amazed me most about this trip was that all of the museums, monuments and memorials are free. There is no admission cost, so for once, being a tourist didn't cost a pretty penny.

Enjoy the photos!

Missy's 27th Birthday!

Hello!

While in Baltimore I celebrated my 27th birthday. My birthday was on Tuesday, Dec. 9th and it ended up being the perfect day for celebration puposes, as most people were already in town for the PBA Tour stop and the actual tournament hadn't started.

However, I did threaten a few of my friends with their life if they didn't arrive in Baltimore in time for my birthday party. (One of those people being Mr. Andrew Cain, who I'd like to thank for flooding my inbox with bday wishes curtosy of his weekly blog on pba.com - Andrew's Angle.)

Even though I wasn't at home to celebrate with my family, I still had an awesome birthday!

I went to a dinner celebration with quite a few friends at Red Brick Station Brewery. The food was great but the company was better!

Enjoy the pics! =)

Cheetah Championship in Buffalo, N.Y.

This past week the PBA Tour ventured to Buffalo, N.Y. for the Cheetah Championship. Prior to the start of the tournament, my roomie Shalin, Joe Ciccone and I went to the Saber's ice hockey game. Although they lost, we still had fun.

However after the game we had a big surprise. We came out to blizzard-like weather. It was so windy that the snow was blowing sideways and was getting in our face. So the drive home was a little adventurous, but less so because Joe (a Buffalo resident) was driving.

The week overall was o.k. I lead the first block of qualifying and then had a little trouble in block two, but made the top 10 cut with no problems. In the round robin match play finals, I struggled a little bit with execution and managed to come in 7th overall.

The big surprise came when we all went to leave the bowling center that night. A snow storm had blown in and left 6 inches of snow on the ground and on our cars. Needless to say, this week marked the first time I used a snow scrapper and brush. It was great seeing our boots disappear as we walked to the car.

My roomie and I also went to Niagara Falls. I have been there many times in the past, but never seem the falls all covered with snow. It was gorgeous! And although Shalin and I nearly froze to death, we got a lot of great pictures in the meantime.

This week we are in Baltimore, MD and I am spending a few extra days in the Washington D.C. area since I have never been here before.

Watch the scores from the Lumber Liquidators Shark Championship on pba.com.

CLR Carmen Salvino Scorpion Championship

Well if you tuned in to the show last Sunday, then you know things didn't go according to plan. For those of you that didn't check out my blog on pba.com, here's a few excerpts giving inside information on what it's like to make the TV show.

Although the entire week went really well, the TV show was another story.

Bowling on TV is the most unique experience and it is truly a privilege, something you dream about since you were a kid.

It is by far the quickest game you will ever bowl and everything seems like it’s on fast-forward.

We only get four practice shots before our match. We have four shots to figure out how the lanes have changed from practicing on the pair before the show, to an hour later after three matches have been bowled. So making decisions becomes a very educated guessing game.

The TV lights make the lanes dry up pretty fast and trust me, they make you feel like you’re in Las Vegas in the middle of July! I don’t usually get hot while I bowl and am generally always freezing (being from Southern California and used to warm weather). However, after practicing on the TV pair before the show had started, I got a bag of ice to hold while I was waiting for my match to start because my hand had puffed up so much from the heat (mind you it was snowing outside the building).

However, the lights on the TV show are also one of my favorite elements. I remember bowling on my first TV show and seeing my ball go down the lane for the first time with the effects of the ultra bright lights. It’s crazy because the ball looks like it is actually glowing. The colors are completely different and the rotation even looks magnified, almost like it sparkling down the lane.

Back to the TV show. Yes, I shot 147 on TV and yes, I am disappointed. However as much as that really stinks, life goes on. There will be more TV shows and more opportunities (such as the Women’s Series Showdown presented by USBC that I have now qualified for).

Everyone has bad games on TV and makes mistakes, whether that be missing a spare or making a bad decision (or both in my case); it’s all part of the learning curve that you go through throughout your entire bowling career. We’ve all been there.

There are bad days and there are good days. The bad days remind us to learn from our mistakes and make us stronger as individuals and competitors. Then the good days remind us why we love bowling and the competition.

So no matter what point you are in with your personal bowling career, remember that everyone has ups and downs and getting upset about it won’t solve anything. Think about what you can do to turn it around and stay positive. Those are my words of wisdom for the week.