I give myself a cheat day where I annihilate my diet. I'm an all-American girl, so I go for a burger and fries and a shake.
You should not be defined by one bad performance.
In this crazy, crazy world of figure skating, it is easy to focus on a name or a target. But when you are going after someone, it really only holds you back from what you are capable of yourself.
I'm not a pretty princess, and I'm aware of that, so I like music that is really intense, really bold, and characters that in a way almost have a dark side and are kind of evil because, for me, that's when I feel my strongest and fiercest, when I'm not necessarily the good girl.
I think growing up in skating, I was surrounded by the LGBT community, so I grew up very aware because I was around it so often, and some of the kindest people I know are gay figure skaters.
Covergirl is my sponsor, and they have been so helpful in supplying me with their wonderful products. I love their blush, mascara and lip gloss.
Yu Na Kim, Mao Asada, Carolina Kostner - all these girls can do triple-triples in their sleep, and they have the skating skills and the spins and the rest of the technical jumps. So I have to have that as well if I want to be able to call myself 'competitive' against them. And when I say 'competitive,' I mean I want to win.
Years ago, I tore out a Nike ad featuring Allyson Felix and Maria Sharapova looking super fierce and tough. I always told my family that I wanted to be like them someday, so to come home to my apartment and see boxes of Nike gear stacked higher than my doorknob is pretty much a dream come true.
Adding an Olympic medal to everything that I have already accomplished would be so huge for me.
I live in California, so I do stand-up paddle board, which is a killer workout. I also run, about four miles every three days.
I love Pinterest! Pinterest is absolutely phenomenal when you're trying to come up with a costume design.
A lot of people who watch figure skaters want us to look like pretty princesses. I want people to see the athlete, and I want to look like a woman among girls.
After a pretty amazing year that included more wins than I thought possible, I rang in 2013 by watching the Times Square ball drop on TV... and then heading directly to bed. It might not have been the typical New Year's Eve for a 21-year-old, but what can I say? It was a training night!
I want people to see a real person on the ice. I want to seem tangible, hard-working, passionate about my skating, not just going out and doing something I've rehearsed a million times.
When I step out onto the ice to compete 'Romeo and Juliet,' I don't feel like a fighter. I feel very nervous, and it's very difficult for me to get into the mindset for it.
I'm scrappy.
Skaters are infamously superstitious.
My mom devised a plan to get me out of the house and gave me the choice between ballet or skating. She knew both of those sports were time-consuming and would keep me busy with hours of practice.
I always loved Michelle Kwan's outfits. Most of them were designed by Vera Wang, and they're just so simple, but the fabric that they used and the way that it was sewn together look so elegant and rich. You could tell that time had been put into it. It wasn't just another spandex, stucco-covered costume.
