Gettin' real with Shae-Lynn

On a spur-of-the-moment errand trip with Shae-Lynn Bourne yesterday, I had some time to get a Canadian’s perspective on an American situation… the economy.

Our conversation flip-flopped from serious ponderings along the lines of, “Canada isn’t hurting yet, but I’m sure we’ll feel it soon” and about how powerful the U.S. is and how we didn’t see how any country could escape the ripple effects of our declining economy. Shae-Lynn dropped a little Suze Orman financial advice on me and asked if Suze’s statement that Americans grow up hearing “bigger is better whether you can afford it or not” was true or not. I tried to explain the depths of American materialism by describing my need for retail therapy and how, after a bad day, sometimes just walking into a Target makes everything better, whether I buy anything or not. Things got very real on the way to the bank.

On the lighter side of things, we talked about the kind of music Shae-Lynn likes to dance to on the ice. As a very-decorated champion - we’re talking World Ice Dance Champion, ten-time Canadian Champion, four-time World Bronze Medalist and World Silver Medalist – she has probably danced to nearly every genre of music. She mentioned that she likes to dance to a wide variety of music, especially fun, pop music and sometimes has a hard time getting into routines to elevator-ish music. After watching her at the “Smucker’s presents Hot Ice, Cool Sounds” show in Ohio, it seems to me that she could dance to ANYTHING. One of my favorite routines was her cowgirl routine, where she lasso-ed a guy sitting in the front row. (I later heard he was spotted taking pictures with the rope she tangled him up in). As we speak, the gals (and by gals, I mean the star-studded, champion female cast for tomorrow’s show) are rehearsing a routine to Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons’ “Grease” that I think will be super fun to watch and maybe one of the ones that Shae-Lynn likes to do. I believe the guys will also be in the routine.

Back to things getting real, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again, these skaters aren’t just amazing athletes, but amazing PEOPLE too. What I'm about to say is super cheesy but if this blog was a magazine, it would have the “Celebs are just like us…” section where stars are caught on camera doing really normal things. There would be photos of the girls shopping and the guys reading the paper in the hotel lobby. You’d see pictures of them towing their luggage around, running errands and grabbing a bit to eat. There would be a photo of our “just-this-once” Starbucks run before rehearsal (which is turning into a regular morning trip) or pictures of them on their phones and Blackberries. They'd have bed-head and be wearing workout clothes most of the time. They are just very down to earth people.