Dear Diary

A million things going on right now and I'm falling behind on most of it. Looks like my move to LA in December is about 98% certain now and I still need to work out my living arrangements out there. Luckily though I have a soft landing out there with my sister, brother in law, and a number of friends that I can lean on.

So here in Europe my modeling and photography activities are exploding all the way up until the day I am scheduled to leave. Great news for me as I intend to keep one foot in Europe and one foot in LA, work wise. In terms of photography, I'm excited to have clients traveling in from Australia, America, and around Europe to collaborate. Although I am keeping realistic about when I go to LA the competition will be fierce.... when I look on Model Mayhem and see the level of photography talent, it stops me in my tracks. But like everything, this is great motivation to continue to improve my skill and never sit on my laurels.

The modeling/fitness work is going well too. Since winning the MuscleMania European Championships in Ms. Bikini and Model, interest has followed. Inside my heart I had hoped so badly to get these wins because it was exactly what I needed to carry me with momentum back into the States. Got to differentiate myself from the competition and clearly carve out my niche. So with that I will be keeping busy with work in Italy and Northern Europe and then start to create buzz in the States now.

I'm prepping for the Fitness America Pageant (World Championships) in Las Vegas, Nov 21 weekend. There's always more to doing these shows than just the event competition. There's so much networking opportunity with other fellow athletes and industry people. As an athlete, I go to these events with the intent to be as memorable as possible because it's the work that follows that's important. Another bonus is that I'm tightening up my physique in order to compete and the timing is perfect with my LA relocation. I'll be shooting with many photographers leading up to the show in order to expand/update my modeling portfolio and will be very marketable for agencies and media.

In terms of my fitness, I'm collaborating with a brilliant Italian Pharmacist/Nutritionist/former competitive Body Builder/Athlete Trainer to bring his 22 years of experience and two books on anti-aging, wellness, and health to the English speaking world. As the books are being translated to English, I will be the guinea pig for his program with a 4 week demonstration of how effective his research is, which will be presented at the FAP (ie. my competition pictures). He runs a number of wellness spas in Italy and I'm very excited to be his business partner to take his work to a broader audience. I'll be blogging about my experience on the program for all to follow as well.

As I spend so much time and energy looking forward, I'm terribly sad thinking about my European friends aka. family here. When I moved to Europe by myself two years ago, I established a new network of trusted friends and we were always there for each other through the adventures. I met so many amazingly spirited people who have the special expatriate qualities: successful, sharp, confident, open minded, adventurous, understanding that distance is not a barrier to friendships. And having met these people, I saw that for the first time I finally am encountering people who are truly like me - roaming the world, open to new experiences, and carpe diem in faith. Growing up in the Detroit area I had a hard time finding this, I suppose it's much more common in the major cities.

Life is funny - I never imagined that I'd be doing what I'm doing today 5 years ago. It's hardly even real, wow. Perhaps I must have been an amazing person in a previous life to be given all of these opportunities today. Whatever it is, I'm so grateful to be able to do what I'm doing today.