Crazy people have invaded Ul's apartment!!

Well, it seems like Ul is out of town working on "Dancing with the stars"--either that or she's been practically living at the dance studio because she doesn't seem to be home at all!  So Blizia and Ksyu have been crashing at her place, and they have gone positively wild!

Blizia in red, Ksyu in magenta

Makar was there was well a few days ago, but then she headed to St. Petersburg..?

 (I cannot tell who the legs on the couch/floor belong to...Ul?  Blizia? Hahahaha!)

More photos from Yulia & Egor's wedding!

As promised, here are some more pictures from Yulia & Egor's wedding!

Egor & Yulia (with Ksyu and Makar in the back at a table)

 

?, ?, Egor, Yulia, Ksyu, Makar

Hahahaha!

 

Congrats again to the newlyweds!  ^_^

I can see it now...Yulia has a baby next year just like Zhenya, and they both have little girls, who grow up to be RG girls, and of course they are super talented...so then they are rivals, but they are also cousins and best friends~!  :P

Makar got a tattoo too!

Well, last week I reported that Dasha D got a tattoo, and now it seems that Makar got one as well! 

I can't say I'm surprised, since Makar has been wanting one for awhile--heck, she and Dasha D might even have gone to the tattoo parlor together!!
As you can see, Makar picked a very clever design...

I guess this means she's not really going back to RG, because I can't imagine that Viner would allow her to compete with a tattoo on her shin!  ;_;  (Though she still seems to be injured--bursitis in her knee.)

Yulia G married Egor Kanaev (Zhenya's brother)!!

Looks like both of the Kanaev kids got married this year!!  In June, Zhenya married Igor Musatov, and yesterday, Yulia Golubenko married Zhenya's brother Egor!

I wrote about them being such a cute couple (and how awesome it must be to have Zhenya as a sister-in-law) earlier. 
Here are more photos from the wedding; I'll add more when I find them.

Dasha D, Makar, Ksyu and Yulia Sinitsina (who's coached by Yulia G) were definitely at the wedding...Unfortunately, Ul might have had to miss it since she's doing "Dancing with the stars" today!

Dasha D & Yulia

Dasha D, Yulia and ?

 A hearty congrats to Yulia and Egor!!! ^_^

Dasha D got a tattoo!!

You can see it on her shoulder in this photo...

Dasha D (with Yana Lukonina in the back)

...and here is a closeup of the text.

Unfortunately I have no idea what it says!

Son Yeon-Jae is more popular than Kim Yu-Na!!

Well, I stumbled across this article last week and couldn't help but share!  Although Son Yeon-Jae has never won an Olympic gold medal or even a World Championship medal, for that matter, she apparently is Korea's sweetheart--more so than the reigning Olympic champion in figure skating, Kim Yu-Na!  (It's because she's cuter!!)

Son is one of the most popular and visible athletes in South Korea, thanks to a series of appearances in television commercials. Last year, she was voted national athlete of the year in a survey, ahead of more accomplished athletes, such as such as Olympic swimming gold medalist Park Tae-hwan and reigning Olympic figure skating champion Kim Yu-na.

For those who do not know, Son Yeon-Jae trains at Novogorsk just like Team Russia.

She takes selfies in her dorm room in Novogorsk, just like the other girls!

She even went with them to Croatia!

She is basically like an honorary member of the team (and is under the protection of Vinerstan)!

Dasha Kondakova, Dasha D, Zhenya, Yeon-Jae

Zhenya, Yeon-Jae, Dasha K, Dasha D

Nastia M, Blizia, Elena, Yeon-Jae, Ksyu, Nazar, Olga

Dasha K, ?, Dasha D, Yeon-Jae

Olga & Yeon-Jae

Zhenya, Yeon-Jae, Makar

In particular, she claims to have been quite close to Zhenya. They are both cuties, that's for sure!

OMG, so cute!!

Zhenya & the group girls--the weird ones!

Well, I should really post something about the World Champs, but I've been busy so I have to get caught up on that.  ^_^;;;  In the meantime, I thought I would continue my series of "essays" about the girls.  Here's another one about the all-time queen, Zhenya Kanaeva.   I've written about her family and her life "on the carpet," so now I think I'll write a bit about her relationships with the other girls.

Clockwise from top: Karolina, Nazar, Ul, Makar, Zhenya, Ksyu, Blizia

Since I knew pretty much nothing about RG before the 2012 Olympics, I initially (mistakenly) thought that Dasha Dmitrieva and Zhenya were besties since I knew that they were roommates at Novogorsk, and they seemed to always be posting cute photos of themselves together.

Dasha D & Zhenya

Soon after, however, I realized that Dasha D is best friends with Ulyana Trofimova (well, mostly), while Zhenya is much closer to the group girls and especially Natasha Pichuzhkina, her bestie.

Natasha & Zhenya

See, for example, this interview:

- Is the friendship between competing gymnasts possible? 
- I think it may be unlikely for a very close soul to soul friendship. However, although my best friend Natalia Pichuzhkina (we started together in individual competitions) is competing in groups, we always support each other. And I know that all our “group”-girls are sincerely happy for me if I succeed; and they are upset if I fail. 

Zhenya (with Karolina, Makar & Olga watching in back)

At that time, it made sense to me that Zhenya was closer to the group girls than to the other girls in the individual competition, since the individual girls were her direct competitors. I could definitely imagine the other girls either being slightly intimidated by Zhenya, or maybe even jealous of her success. (Though clearly they are very close, even if they’re not best friends.)

Zhenya, Dasha Kondakova, Dasha D

Zhenya, Dasha K, Dasha D

Dasha D, Zhenya, Dasha K

However, the more I learned about the group girls, the more I realized that Zhenya and the group girls are actually more similar in terms of PERSONALITY than Zhenya and the other individual girls. Simply put, with the exception of Karolina, the group girls are a bunch of clever and crazy weirdos who don’t mind making fools out of themselves, and Zhenya definitely seems to be like that.  No wonder they get along so well! Likey so:

Ul, Nazar, Larisa Ilchenko, Zhenya

Ul, Larisa, Nazar, Natasha, Zhenya

Zhenya & Larisa

Roman Lyubimov, Blizia, Zhenya, Makar making inappropriate gestures?  :P

And here are a bunch of photos of Zhenya and the group girls goofing off in Korea in 2011.

Zhenya, Ul, Makar, Olga

Ksyu, Zhenya, Makar

Olga, Ksyu, Zhenya, Makar

Zhenya & Ksyu jumping; Ul & Makar in back

Ksyu, Ul, Zhenya, Makar

Olga, Nazar, Natasha, Makar, Ul, Ksyu & Zhenya

Ul, Makar, Ksyu, Zhenya

Ul & Zhenya "shooting" Makar while Ksyu jumps in the background

Zhenya, Ul, Ksyu, Makar

...to be continued...