Only 4 More Days

I am really starting to get excited about competition this coming weekend!  I've only got 4 more days left until the big day!  Today, I will get my last routine practice in, which I really need since I was sick most of last week and didn't get to practice.  Tonight, I will run those bleachers one last time.  Tomorrow morning, I will get my butt to the gym just to do some lighter weight/higher rep sets to get some blood pumped into my muscles and do some posing in the sauna to squeeze out as much water as I can.  The rest of my day tomorrow will be more relaxing, fun, girly stuff like a pedicure and hair color/cut!!  Yay!!  That sounds like a perfect day!!  I hope to get most of my packing done tonight so that I can just chill with my kids tomorrow night and go to bed EARLY!  We have to fly out VERY early Thurs. morning!!  Friday will be just relaxing, eating, tanning, and checking in!  I can't wait for Shelly and I to share out first national (well, Jr. National) show together, as well as see some more of my friends there!!  I'm also hoping to squeeze a photo shoot in while we're there!  Of course, when we get back, I will post some pics and tell y'all all about my experience at Jr. USAs!! Stay tuned!  xoxo

Don't Stress?

So, I'm competing in 5 days, I've been sick for nearly a week. I've missed a few workouts, I didn't practice my routine at all last week, and I still feel like crap.  How am I supposed to not stress out??  I don't have the answer to that question, BUT  I am going to do my best.  I've worked hard, trained hard, I know my routine, and I'm sticking to my diet.  I'm seriously hoping that I will be feeling better very quickly so I can stroll right onto that stage and rock their socks off!!  Hopefully, I will be able to get into the gym a time or two as well before we take off.  However, if that doesn't happen, I'm still going to do my best to just relax and roll with it. There's not really anything I can do about, right?!!  It's part of "accepting the things I cannot change."  Wish me luck!! xoxo

No Time For Sickness

Tomorrow, I will be ONE week away from stepping on stage again!  I am excited and feeling fairly ready.  I'm stressing a bit because my body is trying to fight off sickness.  I have had a sore throat for 3 days now. I keep thinking it's probably just allergies, but it gets progressively worse each day.  I took Wed. completely off from the gym to rest. I did train yesterday, did only 30 min. of cardio, and ran bleachers last night.  I am once again resting today, except for posing practice later with my friend Shelly. Other than that,  I guess I'll just be doing mom things today like doing laundry, going to the grocery store(my 3rd home), and going to watch Jared do all his events at his school's field day today!!  FUN!!
Anyway, even though I'm feeling a little "under the weather," my body fat is still dropping, and my body is tightening up...yay!!!  I finally got on the schedule with Laurie St. Micheals to get my hair done for the show next week too.  That's one less thing to worry about now:)  I'm still waiting on confirmation and times for tanning, but I know how that goes.  It'll come next week some time.  Now, as soon as I get my suit and costume back from being altered, I'll be set!!   Before I say goodbye, I'd just like to say HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY to all of the awesome moms!  I hope you have a great weekend and a very special Mother's Day!!  xoxo

Barcelona AZ 99 Girls

Nearly a month ago,  I had the opportunity to speak to a group of girls and their parents at their soccer end of the season banquet/dinner.  Their coach and his wife are friends of mine from the gym.  They are the Barcelona AZ 99 Girls!  Coach Jimmy threw them a nice banquet, where they all got to get all dressed up and have a nice dinner with the team and all the parents.  This was a pretty special night for them.  Anyway,  I knew I was going to share my story with them, but I also wanted to speak about topics that are relevant to 13 yr. old girls and make an impact on them.  I spoke a lot about learning to love yourself and being true to who you are, rather than following the crowd to fit into what "they" want you to be.  I spoke about following your dreams, setting goals and going after them.  I spoke about what it takes to get where you want to go in life.....it's not always easy!  It takes self discipline, hard work, sacrifice, and dedication, and NO EXCUSES!  I did go into the "CAN'T" is NOT an Option speech.  Of course, I used examples for all of the above.  I think it went well, and Coach Jimmy and his wife Sammie have since told me that they had a lot of positive feedback from the parents.  The girls seemed to enjoy it as well.  They really opened up and got into it when we had some Q & A time:)  I know how difficult it can be at times to be a 13 yr. old girl, and I only hope that what I had to say to them got through to them in some way.  I hope that the words I spoke to them got into their heads and their hearts.  I hope that when they are going through certain situations, they recall the things I said that night.  They sure are a good group of girls, and I want to share with you a photo that they sent to me.  Thank you, Coach Jimmy, Sammie, and all Barcelona AZ 99 Girls (and parents!)

Eleven Days Out

I am now less than 2 weeks away from my next competition, Jr. USA Championships!  Unfortunately, I have not yet mastered an aerial to put into my routine:(  My schedule and Jessica's schedule always seem to conflict. We just have not been able to work together enough on this.  That doesn't mean I'm giving up though!  Other than that, I feel satisfied with my routine.  I do feel like I may be a bit behind physique wise.  It's my own dang fault.  I was really struggling to keep my mitts out of the nuts.  I was eating them like they were going out of style!  I finally decided to have my husband hide them from me.  I put them all in a box, and he took them away! We shall reunite in a few weeks:)  Cutting out the nuts has helped, and I'm seeing some improvement already.  I think that the way my body looks right now is how I should look at maybe 4-6 weeks out, not 2 weeks out.  Am I my own worst critic? Am i just being too hard on myself? Maybe, but I don't think so.  I am doing my best to pull it all together so I can shine on stage.  So, what am I doing to pull it together??  I'm drinking even more water...2 gal/day now.  I'm drinking coffee now to help suppress my appetite.  Most days, I'm ok, but some days, like this past Sunday...not ok.  I was so hungry and craving EVERYTHING!  Feeling like this tends to make me cranky, which is no fun for anyone.  I've also added green tea and plenty of lemon water to help get rid of water that I'm holding, especially in my lower back and hamstring area.  I will start practicing posing in the sauna again next week too.  I'm also wearing a neoprene waste trimmer whenever I can, and today I've started putting Eviscerate Smolder (it's a topical/transdermal fat burner) on my abs, lower back, hips, and buttocks....with the waste trimmer around my mid-section. WHOA!!!  Talk about HOT!!!  I love it!  I'm getting some extra bleacher workouts in as well, just to get as conditioned as I can!  Yesterday, I met with Kelli to practice posing, and OMG...my back was so sore from it!  Anyway, she said she thinks I look better than I looked at the March show.  I dunno.  My husband says he doesn't think there's any difference, except that my quads look better.  I want to believe that the truth is somewhere in the middle. LOL  I'll be going to a group posing session on Sat.  I will see if I can get someone to snap a few pics of me so y'all can see for yourselves if there's any progress since last time.  So, stay tuned!!  xoxo

Special Blessings

A few months ago, I was invited to be an honoree at a Special Blessings Amputee Expo.  Special Blessings is a support group in AZ for parents of children with limb differences, as well as adults with limb differences.  I don't usually associate much with the amputee groups.  I guess I've just always chosen not to because I feel like being an amputee isn't what defines me.  If something has to define me, I'd rather it be that I'm a fitness enthusiast, competitor, athlete, inspirer/motivator.  Most of the time, being an amputee doesn't even factor in anywhere.  However, I was there for a friend when they started this support group. So, I agreed to go and be a part of this, even though I wasn't exactly thrilled, but whether I like it or not, being an amputee is a part of who/what I am.  Tt never even crossed my mind that although I didn't need the support, I could be the support for others in need of it.  I could be a blessing to someone else who might be going through some of the same things I have already gone through!  I actually loved seeing the faces of the younger children who have differences.  I met a 3 yr old little girl named Bella, who actually lives only a few miles from me. She is missing her left hand and part of her arm.  I think she was actually happy to see me, as well as other children who are like her!!  After a while, she put her prosthetic on, which was a tiny little hand that was much like one of them that I used to have.  I told her that I used to have a hand like that, and I used to paint the finger nails and put rings on it!  She was ecstatic to think that that could be done!  Her mom asked if she wanted to paint her finger nails when they get home, and Bella LIT UP!!  She was so excited!  It almost made me cry to see how happy that made her!  Just meeting her was totally worth my time and drive out there.  I also met another little boy named Luke, who I met once before at the mall in the Lego store.  His parents had questions for me, and I will be helping them and working with him on some tasks that he needs to master.  I also connected with a mother of twins(one was missing an arm) who was very distraught and really having a difficult time coping.  I hope she will call me so I can offer her some support and encouraging words when needed.  I met some other wonderful people too.  I am so glad that I agreed to go because it blesses me to be able to help others and be a blessing to them.  Helping others and watching them grow and succeed is the most rewarding thing one can do.  I am so looking forward to getting together with these children and their parents to help them out however I can and showing them how much a '"CAN'T" is NOT an option!' attitude helps! 

Combing My Hair

I still don't get why stuff like combing my hair is so interesting, but you know me.... I aim to please!  So, today you get to see how I comb my hair. Again, I use my left leg as my stabilizing leg, and my right foot to hold the comb or brush. It looks like this:

Texting

According to the results of the poll I took recently, you wanted to see more of how I do things with my feet.  So, I've had my son taking some pictures of me doing random things.  Today, we will start with how I text!  People are always amazed and in awe when they see me texting with my fat little toes. Now you get to see it too!  I hold my phone with my left foot and text mainly with my big toe on my right foot. I've been able to text on every phone I've had, even phones with the tiniest of buttons:)  It looks like this: