Hey guys!

I hope you enjoyed the show last night! We were really working our butts off this week for these two dances since they’re the ticket to the finals!

I loved the tango. This dance has been a tough one for me. We did tango in week three and I wasn’t sure I liked the dance very much, but this one I think gave me a renewed feeling for the tango.  This was obviously better than our first one, so I’m really proud I got a chance to improve. Watching the audience give us a standing O felt amazing. We really stepped it up a notch for this tango and it felt electric.  It was really exciting out there. I think Carrie Ann kind of stepped on her dress and was like, "Uh, I can’t get out of the chair!"  so she couldn't stand up for us! But it was an awesome gesture.  She was deservedly harsh on our week three tango and to see her really appreciate this one gave me a good feeling.

Working with the tango professionals was great! It was a little bit intimidating, but they were wonderful. I wish I had another week to work on what they had given me. Right away, they were peppering me with their comments and advice and I was just trying to soak it all in and do them proud.  I think they truly wanted to help. I was hoping I got a few of their pointers in there.

I really like what we did with our jive too. Since we got a 30 last time, it was hard to try to best it, but I think we did a great job. We just danced it as hard as we could.  I’m trying to keep up with Mark, who's dancing up a storm out there! I think we danced it as well as we’ve been practicing it in rehearsals.

Thank you for voting for us! I hope to see you in the finals!

Kristi

Hi everyone!

Oh my goodness! So much to do today! Happy belated Mother’s Day to all you moms out there! I hope everyone had a great weekend! Mine was a blast! I threw out the first pitch at the Dodgers game on Friday. I was nervous I was going to be horrible, but I don’t think I did too bad a job! I met Joe Torre too and chatted with him for a few minutes. How cool is that?

So tonight we have the jive and the tango. I like that we get to re-do these dances, especially the tango since that was from earlier this season (wow, I can’t believe we’re almost done!). I think we’ve definitely improved on it and I’m looking forward to putting on a better showing tonight!

Time to get back to it! See you later!

 

Kristi

Hey guys!

Semifinals! Woohoo! It’s hard to believe we’re in the home stretch. It feels like it was just yesterday that I started strapping on these heels!

I’m really sad to see Mario leave. He’s such a great dancer, great entertainer, and he became a great friend of mine. He’s so unbelievably mature and classy that you forget he’s only 21! We’re all going to miss him terribly.

The 100^th episode was so much fun! It was great seeing all these DWTS alums.  I met so many of them, like Stacy Keibler and Joey Lawrence, and obviously I already know Apolo!  I don’t want to sound sappy, but it was inspiring talking to them because they’ve all experienced this, they’ve all survived it, they’ve made the show what it is today. Come to think of it, I don’t think I’ve even seen all 100 episodes! Maybe half of them.  With TiVo, you fast forward, but I have seen a lot of the dancing on the show!

I know I mentioned Joey Fatone as my favorite on the clip for his showmanship, but honestly, Joey and Apolo are both my favorites. I think they brought so much personality and fun. They have no inhibitions — they just went out there and danced their hearts out. Apolo had so much heart and was so focused and Joey was exciting. Every time he stepped on the floor, it was like, ‘What is he going to do?’ He tangoed to Star Wars! I think people want to see more of that performance aspect and unpredictability out of me.

For next week, we drew two dances out of a hat and got the jive and tango. Two fun dances! The jive has been our best dance so far. The tango, I felt, wasn’t our best dance up to this point, so I’m looking forward to improving upon what we’ve done.

Thanks for your support!

Kristi

Hey everyone!

I hope you enjoyed our dances last night. It feels great to be able to learn all of the dances. I feel so accomplished!

I thought our quickstep went well. It was one of those fun dances where I just skimmed across the floor. Great song, great everything. I was concentrating on a few pointers Mark gives me, like “Arms up.”  The steps are so quick you have to think ahead of what’s coming next.

I honestly was a little surprised at first that Carrie Ann didn’t like it because it was a fun dance and I’m happy the way we danced it. I couldn’t have danced it any better, but if it’s not her favorite dance, we just have work harder if we come back next week. She didn’t really like our samba either, but I was pleased with it. There are going to be dances that maybe suit your style more than others.  I really went for it in the samba — I thought I was doing it sharp and the way Mark told me to do it. Also, I was happy we finally we got a traditional song for a Latin dance! It was easy to get into and Mark just told me, “Let’s just have fun out there, smile, look at each other, and connect in the dance,” and I think we did that.

I was so happy for Cristián tonight. He’s getting better and better each week and to see him not let anything stand in his way or slow him down is awesome.

My very good friend Brian Boitano was in the audience last night. I’ve been waiting for Brian to come all season so it’s fun to finally have him here and have him watch me dance live. I love having my friends and family here. My mom’s been in the audience most weeks; she’s only missed a couple of weeks of watching me. It’s great to have her support. She was always at my skating competitions so she’s kind of used to these things! It’s unconditional support. She’s got a good critical eye. Sometimes she’ll give me little comments here and there, which I really appreciate.

Tonight’s the 100th episode of Dancing with the Stars and I’m so thrilled to be part of it! I’m definitely looking forward to everything they have planned!

Thank you for voting for us! See you later!

Kristi