I’ve been such a blogging slacker! But I have a good excuses, I promise 
, and I have so much to tell you about! But for the sake of length, I’m going to try to give a general overview here with lots of pics and go more into my overall experience and what I’ve been reflecting about lately in the next posts. So without further ado..
Basically, this was one of the best weekends ever! Saturday I competed in the NPC Western Regional (Bodybuilding, Fitness & Figure competition), and Sunday my parents and I had a wonderful belated Thanksgiving.
Thanksgiving Day
I got in a quick workout in the morning, and errands done around the house before my parents got in around 2pm. We spent the afternoon chatting, catching up and planning Sunday’s Belated Thanksgiving meal. We ended up going to Trader Vic’s for dinner. The online menu suggested there might be an Ahi Spinach Salad I could get, but when we got there it was a different menu so I just ended up getting
Tea
My parents however had these delicious looking meals:
Calamari
Tofu Stir Fry Dish
Friday
Got one last workout in! It was a pretty chill one, just triceps & shoulders, light cardio, and routine walk-thru. I also went in to meet with my trainer for one last check-in and to see if there were any adjustments that should be made for the next day. Turns out my waist & upper leg measurements went down, along with my body fat. So my final body fat % was ~7.5%.
From there, my parents and I made our first of three grocery store stops of the day. The best came first at my beloved Whole Foods. Check out our basket
lovely
We also ended up going to Trader Joe’s and Basha’s in order to get everything we needed for Sunday. I also had to register for Saturday’s competition where they took my height in order to split the groups up evenly for Figure.
Saturday – It’s GAME DAY!
I got up around 5:30am. Pre-judging started at 10am, and I needed to be sure to get 2 servings of carbs in before then at 6am and 8:30am. I met my friend at the competition site to get makeup done. After makeup there was an Athlete meeting, then I started warming up because Fitness routines were first. I was 2nd up in the competition and I was soo nervous! I ended up messing up my first tumbling pass. Nothing major, I just wanted to do a different skill than I ended up doing. I was sure to keep smiling and do my best not to show I messed up, and I guess I did a good job because everyone said they didn’t know. Fitness posing and Figure went well. There were 13 women in my Figure C class. I think I like NPC posing better than Fitness America just because it is completely straight forward. No wondering if you are doing the right thing or not.
After Pre-Judging I had a few hours before I had to be back at 4:45pm. It was so nice to be able to head home to rest! For those of you not familiar with the NPC competition setup, all judging (except overall) is done during the morning show. The evening show, even though it’s called “Finals,” is really just for show; They read everyone’s bio’s, and the bodybuilders do their whole posing routines (which take forever!). At this point I was mainly nervous because I really wanted to show my best Fitness routine. I wanted to show my trainers, coaches, friends and family how well I could do it, even if it wasn’t being judged. And I did! I came off the stage with the hugest smile. I was sooo happy! And here’s my routine:
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ADhcK8OtENU&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]
After that I was completely relaxed and just had a great time hanging out with new friends and being sure to snap pics!
So I had a lil fun with the MC while I warmed up
Goofy pic with Mindy who choreographed my routine
With my trainer Scott
Pumping up
The lovely Marlena
For Fitness posing and Figure they just had us do 3 poses while reading our bio’s. After the intermission, they posted the top-5 in each category. They then bring the top-5 out and call out placements. Fitness was up first. And I was ecstatic to hear my name be the last one called. For Figure I really was just thankful to be in the top-5. It was a strong class and I had no idea where I’d place, and I was super surprised and completely honored to win! Here are a few stage photos:
Front "relaxed"
Then with the hardware
It was ALL worth it
Sunday aka belated-Thanksgiving!
I woke up earlier than I thought I would, perhaps I was just excited to get baking! But one of the things I was most looking forward to took priority
Creamer, oh how I've missed you so
First into the oven was Peanut Butter Chip Muffins. I’ve been craving nut butters like crazy so I added peanut butter chips to the mix. I also mixed up Joanna’s (@ Fitness & Spice) Pumpkin Coffee Cake..
We didn’t end up having an official breakfast, or lunch for that matter, and instead just ended up snacking on various items through out the day.
A Hummus & Cheese Snack
Then there was dinner..
Ham ready to go in the oven
Sweet Potato, Parmesan & Goat Cheese Galette
Spinach, Delicata Squash, Tomato & Gouda Salad
The table
My Plate: Ham, Sweet Potato, Stuffing, Salad & Gravy
And for dessert, I made Chocolate Pecan Pie which we topped with Caramel Sauce and Whipped Cream/Cool Whip
Fresh out the oven!
Throughout the day I also popped in ‘Love Actually’ and ‘The Family Stone.’ I also tried a bit of wine, but was only able to drink about a 1/4 of a glass before I started feeling light-head in a not so pleasant way… and I thought I was a light-weight before! I was doing pretty good on not eating too much till this bad boy above. But oh well, it only happens once a year right :p It was a truly wonderful day!
Pheww, that’s a lot! I’m currently enjoying catching up on my Reader and loving hearing about everyone’s long weekend. Have a wonderful Tuesday!
Fun Links
You really are a winner!
What an amazing package you presented on stage and you, my dear, are quite a performer!
I am so impressed. So very impressed.
Loved the routine!!!! I wish I could do all that flipping around HA!
You know i’m all over that sweet potato with goat cheese recipe YUMMY!!!
Thanks for sharing – you look awesome. I can’t even imagine the hard work you put into that competition! The Sweet Potato, Parmesan & Goat Cheese Galett looks divine! So does the salad by the way. YUM! Again, thanks for sharing and congrats!
I loved the photos and video! You looked amazing, and big CONGRATS on your hardware!!! You earned it!
Hello, I like your site! I will be back again.