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An ode to my newfound love of the Brazilian Samba...
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Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Tuesday, October 13, 2009
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.
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.
Monday, October 12, 2009
Some pics from the MuscleMania European Championships
I don't have many pics but these show me on stage with the Figure girls where I got 3rd Place.
ANUGA show with OnGoEnergy.com
So much fun to do an expo when you are in the company of friends. Me, Telihana, Tim K, Manuel, and the OnGo Energy CEO were busting our butts in Cologne Germany working this show. What made this show so fun was that we definitely brought the American energy with our friendly open approach, big smiles, and hyperactivity due to consuming way too many energy drinks. Definitely can say that the Drinks section of the world's biggest food show was waaayyyyy more interesting than the other sections such as meats, dairy, frozen foods, etc. We were also situated next to the alcoholic drinks so you could get loaded by cruising the samples :P
Monday, October 5, 2009
2009 MuscleMania European Championships Results
1st Place Ms. Bikini
1st Place Model
3rd Place Figure
Needless to say this was beyond my expectations. Excellent show production by the European federation president, Marco Zanetti. BBC was there covering the show and was excited to have an interview with them and be highlighted backstage and on stage by their film crew. And of course meeting all of the athletes!!! Happy to see old faces from the Italia show last year and plenty new international faces this year. The french male athletes came in particularly strong, one guy regularly attends the MuscleMania Miami Worlds show and once I can get pics up you will see why. The UKers, Spaniards, and Eastern Euros also had memorable show outs as well. I even met a Vietnamese Parisian BBer there! We had a good laugh that we must be the only Viets around on this side of the pond on the competition circuit (Asians?what??)
All weekend long I was so lucky to have my "coach", my supporter, the brains by my side when I didn't have any, my photography muse... Maurizzio. He was there to help me backstage for everything, always open and friendly with my fitness friends, shared many great Italian meals with me in Milan, my translator when dealing with all the photographers by phone and in person, and always helping me think about problems in the most positive way with my interests first and foremost. Maurizzio, you are so special to me and I'm happy that you are a part of my life. It means alot to me to have you here to share this experience and I thank you from the heart.
Immediately after the show I momentarily ended my suffering by plowing through a ton of chocolates, bottle of Champagne, lasagna, chocolate cake, bisquits, Kinder Buenos, caphrihna (sp?), then I passed out. So this morning I want to refocus the diet again but for some reason those tuna tins and carrots are not quite calling my name.....
Looking forward: with these wins I secured an invite to the World Championships in Vegas on Nov 21 weekend at the Golden Nugget. It's gonna be a hellish 6 weeks of preparation to get stage ready as the competiton standard is ridiculously high and my schedule leading up to the show is by far the most challenging I've had this year. I can pretty much see that my mental capacity will be nil until December once I'm settled after the move to LA. But hey, what is life without challenges?
So I'm going to sign off for now. I'm still sitting in bed in Milan and need to pack up for a shoot in Remini.
I leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes which will give me the strength to make it through the remainder of the year:
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
"There are no problems, only solutions."
"The only thing holding you back from your dreams is yourself."
-- Posted from my iPhone
1st Place Model
3rd Place Figure
Needless to say this was beyond my expectations. Excellent show production by the European federation president, Marco Zanetti. BBC was there covering the show and was excited to have an interview with them and be highlighted backstage and on stage by their film crew. And of course meeting all of the athletes!!! Happy to see old faces from the Italia show last year and plenty new international faces this year. The french male athletes came in particularly strong, one guy regularly attends the MuscleMania Miami Worlds show and once I can get pics up you will see why. The UKers, Spaniards, and Eastern Euros also had memorable show outs as well. I even met a Vietnamese Parisian BBer there! We had a good laugh that we must be the only Viets around on this side of the pond on the competition circuit (Asians?what??)
All weekend long I was so lucky to have my "coach", my supporter, the brains by my side when I didn't have any, my photography muse... Maurizzio. He was there to help me backstage for everything, always open and friendly with my fitness friends, shared many great Italian meals with me in Milan, my translator when dealing with all the photographers by phone and in person, and always helping me think about problems in the most positive way with my interests first and foremost. Maurizzio, you are so special to me and I'm happy that you are a part of my life. It means alot to me to have you here to share this experience and I thank you from the heart.
Immediately after the show I momentarily ended my suffering by plowing through a ton of chocolates, bottle of Champagne, lasagna, chocolate cake, bisquits, Kinder Buenos, caphrihna (sp?), then I passed out. So this morning I want to refocus the diet again but for some reason those tuna tins and carrots are not quite calling my name.....
Looking forward: with these wins I secured an invite to the World Championships in Vegas on Nov 21 weekend at the Golden Nugget. It's gonna be a hellish 6 weeks of preparation to get stage ready as the competiton standard is ridiculously high and my schedule leading up to the show is by far the most challenging I've had this year. I can pretty much see that my mental capacity will be nil until December once I'm settled after the move to LA. But hey, what is life without challenges?
So I'm going to sign off for now. I'm still sitting in bed in Milan and need to pack up for a shoot in Remini.
I leave you with a couple of my favorite quotes which will give me the strength to make it through the remainder of the year:
"How do you eat an elephant? One bite at a time."
"There are no problems, only solutions."
"The only thing holding you back from your dreams is yourself."
-- Posted from my iPhone