Some pics from Makar's birthday party!

I couldn't find more than these two, so I guess it wasn't a very big party!
I forgot to mention earlier--Blizia died her hair black!!! O_O

Blizia, Ksyu, Makar

Blizia, Makar

I'm pretty sure that Makar is wearing one of Ul's caps (again)!!!  And jeez, that brat is fond of her USA flag prints!!

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.)

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!

Makar: hero of Kalmykia!

Well, as I hinted, Makar ended up having a good reason for missing her beloved Ul's birthday party.  She went to her hometown (Elista) and received an award!

As she explains:

Hero of Kalmykia - the highest degree of excellence, the award of the Republic of Kalmykia - title granted for services to Kalmykia associated with making a heroic feat of labor heroism and outstanding contribution to the prosperity of Kalmykia. I want to thank you for this award R.K Orlov AM, mom, coaches and those who were involved! It's priceless!

And here is Makar shaking hands with the head of Kalmykia, Alexey Orlov.

The girls from her gymnastics club went nuts when she arrived...

...and they were so excited when she taught a master class.

I hope this encourages the badass brat to get her act together and get back into training!

Defying gravity!

*WARNING* Do not try this at home!  :P

Natasha Bulycheva

O_O is all I can say!!  Tusya & Kisa both did these crazy balances in the hallway:

It seems like a popular thing to do--here's a photo of Di Borisova doing the same!

WOW!

Makar's crazy dyed hair!

Well, it seems that Ul and her bestie Makar are awfully fond of changing their hair color!
Earlier, I posted about Uli dying her hair blond, and then back again...now it seems Makar couldn't decide on a single color, so she went with both!

And it does look pretty freakin' cool!  As befits our resident badass blue-eyed brat!
(And I think she looks much better stunning now that she fixed her eyebrows!)

In general,the snarky brat seems awfully fond of two-tone things, like these jackets...

At La PLAGE, as always

Yes, she is good at color coordination!

...but sadly, I think the new haircut means she won't be going back to the team anytime soon, unless she plans to re-dye her hair or chop it off...I can't see Madame V letting her compete like that!  O_O

OMG, my girls are on the front page!

...of the New York Times!!!
This is a screenshot of the homepage yesterday (July 17)!  Look at the article on the bottom, in the center!!

It's a pic of group girls from the 2012 Olympics!! 

Makar, Blizia, Ul hiding, Nazar, Ksyu

Here's the actual article.
What??  Can this be possible??  Judging scandals in RG??!!  Impossible....NOT!!!
Helloooo people, that's why the world of RG is called "VINERSTAN"!! :P

All the retired beauties together!

Well, I don't normally post single photos, but I thought this one was just too good to ignore!!

Yulia G, Dasha D, Samishka, Ul, Donechka

That is quite a group of beauties!! O_O
I have to say, since these girls retired/left Novogorsk (plus Zhenya, Yana and Karolina), the average hotness level of the senior Russian team has TOTALLY fallen (in my opinion)....sighhhh!

Ul's gonna be on "Dancing with the Stars"!

Ul's gonna be on the Russian version of "Dancing with the Stars," better known as Танцы со звёздами, or Tantsy So Zvezdami!  She will be dancing with Artem Lyalin in the upcoming season!

Artem & Ul

Seems like dance practice has been pretty exhausting!

GOOD LUCK ULIANA~!!!

They still have it!

Well, these girls may be retired, but they still have some serious RG skills.
Yana can still do a picture-perfect pivot...

Download video: MP4 format
Original link is here.
...and still is super flexible...

Yana

 ...as is Karolina...

...and Ul...

...and recently Ul's been sharing her skills to the little ones!

Seeing double: the RG twins

It might just be me, but I feel like there's an absurdly high number of twins involved in RG!!  Off the top of my head, I can name four sets.

1) Elena & Olga Romanchenko

I can't tell who is who here..can you??

Elena (I think) and Olga

I'm not sure what Olga is up to now, but Elena has been competing and training with the senior group recently.

Olga & Elena (I think?  This is hard!)

2) Anastasia & Anna Kadochnikova

Nastia & Anna

Nastia & Anna (I think)

I think these girls from Omsk (Zhenya and Ksyu's hometown!!) are super adorable.

Nastia & Anna

Nastia & Anna

I'm not sure about Anna, but Anastasia is being trained by Vera Efremovna! (She gets her ears pinched just like Zhenya!)

And they get to wear Zhenya's leos!

Anna wearing Zhenya 2012 Olympics ball leo on the left

3) Dina & Arina Averina
These young girls (born 1998) train at Novogorsk.

With Nazar (and Anna Trubnikova) in the back left

With Zhenya

4) Daria & Alexandra (Dasha & Sasha) Kukushkina

Yeah, I just can't tell them apart at all...

On their Instagram profiles, they say they are gymnasts, but I couldn't actually find proof of them training or competing in RG anywhere, except for this..

Sasha

...but I'm guessing that is how they are such good friends with Donechka and the other RG girls.
They like to dress identically which makes it even more difficult to tell them apart.