Getting Ready To STRUT IT in Las Vegas!! { Fitness America 2011 }

The week after my first competition in May I was hit with my very first "Post-Show Blues" which I was warned about, but wasn't prepared for. I had just experienced the best night of my life, worked so hard for something and made huge accomplishments. Now what!? I thought "there's NO way I can wait an entire YEAR to do that again!" I jumped on the computer and searched for fall competitions, but most of the fall shows were scheduled for October which was a month that was just not going to work for me. My blues quickly turned-around when Tara Annemarie Haertzen owner of Perfectly Prepared found me on Facebook saying she had loved my performance and style at the Mr and Mrs Natural MN show!! She told me about the ooportunity to go to her and a group of women to Vegas in November for the Fitness America Pageant. I was sold!

Tarah and I practicing our posing!

 Tara also invited me to join her Perfectly Prepared training sessions called "Fit and Sassy Saturdays". We spend the first half with cardio and weight training and finish the class with "sassy walks" across the floor in our high heels. Along with the awesome workouts, Tara and her counter-part Megan Moon provides special one-on-one coaching to each girl on their presentation walks and posing. This has been the best thing for me over the last 3 months. It has kept me focused and helped me fine-tune my competition skills along the way!

Brook and I with Insanity &
HipHopAbs creator SEAN T!!

Aside from the training aspect, the friendships I have made has been absolutely the best part of getting into this sport! Seeing the girls on Saturdays and getting to know them is something I look forward to each week. There have been birthday parties, sweating it out at the gym, lunches, and coffees. We've been cheering eachother on the whole time, with our walks, preparations and so much more. I never thought I would be so blessed to meet more and more women (and men too) that care about this sport like I do and be so supportive and encouraging!

Me with some Bikini bombshells (Angela, Tarah and Christina)

Getting some luvin' from Miss Tarah at a Fit and Sassy Saturday!

Now there is this "posse" of women that I train and practice with and we get excited for everyone's upcoming competitions. In October we had a couple of girls in compete their first time in bikini at the NPC North Star in Eden Prairie. In November we rallied at the NANBF Natural Classic in Elk River to see some of our girls in both figure and bikini.

It was so much fun to experience the other side of things and cheer these ladies on! Everyone has their own journey, the support makes all of the difference.

The PROUD PERFECTLY PREPARED Ladies!!

Everything is coming together now for one of the BIGGEST experiences of my life! I've blinged my posing suit, choreographed my fitness routine, practiced posing with the Coach T, shot my first fitness video (check out this awesome promo video by Ramon Moreno) and photo shoots. I've been working out hard, dieting hard and loving every moment of it. My body continues to change and look and feel stronger, I'm the happiest and healthiest I've ever been. Through the recent ups and downs, life stresses and struggles, my faith keeps me going and the blessings never seem to stop showing up! Life is good and I'm can't wait to have a blast in Vegas!

Make sure you tune in to the LIVE WEBCAST

of the Fitness America Show!

Cheer me on from home!!

"You have to BE the change if you wanna SEE the change."