News / Goals
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It's been awhile....
Read more →Ok so I admit, I dropped off the face of the blogging world since last OCTOBER!!! Holy cow I didn't realize it had been that long. A lot has happened in the world of competing and fitness for me. I did end up competing at NPC National in Ft. Lauderdale, FL in November and although I didn't place where I would have liked I did bring a better package than at Team Universe earlier last year. I can't complain about positive progress and meeting my mini goals along the way. I took some time to rest, regroup and an made a...
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Patience and Trust
Read more →"If we are distressed, it is for your comfort and salvation; if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which produces in you patient endurance of the same sufferings we suffer." ~ 2 Corinthians 1:6 This last couple of weeks have taught me patience in my skating. I have always been quick to learn choreography or a new element, practice it a bit and master it. Not so with the most difficult single jump to accomplish... The axel. It entails so much multi tasking and mental toughness that it doesn't come overnight like other elements. I have been working...
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A Thankful & Happy Heart
Read more →We should all be living in a “lifetime of thanks”, but with the normal chaos of life, our ability to sit in a place of gratitude for a considerable period of time sadly becomes unrealistic. Thankfully, for 30 straight days, each and every year, we, as a society, are forced to put things BACK into perspective. The Month of Thanks encourages us to remove the unneeded rubbish and revisit the many blessings that have regrettably been masked by life’s unruly schedules, demands, and obligations. In honor of this month of thanks, I have decided to focus this week’s blog around...
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Caution - Resiliance Required
Read more →Fourteen weeks ago when I began training for my first show, I assumed I knew exactly what I was signing up for. (For those of you who don’t know, I’m a bit of an investigator- I find comfort in knowledge.) Boy was I wrong! I quickly found myself unprepared & devastated by what I believe (hypothesis made subsequent to more thorough research) to be a common competitor heart break - a derailed social life. No matter what capacity you're in (competition, weight loss, general health, or event training) know that you're not alone in feeling isolated and that many of...
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Failure Is Not Final Unless You Give Up
Read more →I could be mistaken, but I’m going to assume that the majority of you fitness fanatics have, at some point in time, come across the following motivational quote, {It takes 4 weeks for you to see your body changing, 8 weeks for your friends & family, & 12 weeks for the rest of the world.} Would you agree or disagree with that statement?!? Personally, I would have to say, I agree. Why, you ask? Well, because, I am currently wrapping up my twelfth week of training and each juncture noted above has reigned true. {Continuous effort – not strength or...
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Life - A Beautiful & Precious Gift
Read more →“How do you do it?” a friend asked me recently. “You live an outrageously demanding lifestyle & yet your cheerfulness & desire to put others before yourself remain unchanging.” Truthfully, this made me chuckle. I thought, “Sweet… Perhaps I should quit my day job & pursue an acting career; clearly, I have mastered the technique of deception.” Ha! As a matter of fact, my loving family has graciously given me the nick name - Black Cat. (A fire work that has a very short fuse….) Sadly, they get the brunt of my exhaustion… Yes, for all of those family members...
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Thankful Thursday
Read more →Every Thursday we see people posting pictures from the past and titling it "throwback Thursday". I've done it too and it's really quite great to see the progress I've made and the progress of others. All of our goal are different, but the similar thing is that without people in our lives and the support of others many of us wouldn't be celebrating our success. So today I'd like to title this Thursday, "Thankful Thursday".I've been very fortunate to acquire the support of those around me. When I started my journey into figure competitions I didn't have a lot of...
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Authenticity Requires Transparency, Vulnerability, & Integrity
Read more →When I began my journey eight weeks ago, I obtained very specific goals. Naturally, most of those goals were physically driven; however, some were not. The most imperative non-physically driven goal being to remain audaciously transparent with the hopes of inspiring even ONE other individual to dream more, learn more, do more, & become more. So, for this week’s blog, I’ve decided to charter an alternative route & publicly answer some of my most frequent encountered questions regarding my new lifestyle. 1: What sparked your interest in training and how did you get started? Growing up I'd always been active...
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Here we go again!
Read more →The time for vacation and summer have come to an end, and I begin another contest prep. I currently sit just shy of 10 weeks out from the NPC National Championships in Ft. Lauderdale, FL on November 22-23rd. Conveniently the weekend before Thanksgiving (my favorite holiday). What I am enjoying most about this contest prep is that it doesn't feel like a "Prep". It feels natural, normal and I'm still kicking my butt in the gym. That is the one thing that I have noticed the most over the past year is that I haven't had what some feel is an...
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Recharge, Refocus, Recommit
Read more →Like a wind-up toy or an overused battery, almost everything about us needs rewinding or recharging. However, for me personally, the concept of “recharging aka downtime” is emphatically divergent. On one hand, I firmly believe that scheduled downtime can yield copious benefits & is without a doubt a vital requirement of wholesome mental, emotional, & physical well-being. On the other hand, however, I have a propensity to ignore the undeniable truth behind the previous statement & more often than not, willingly amplify my already overflowing schedule. One might ask the simple yet entirely justifiable question of why I overlook such...