Whew, I'm back from New York. What a weekend! For those who I didn't tell, I went there to compete in the Women's Fitness Extravaganza.
After getting up in the wee hours of the morning on Friday, I made my flight and managed to meet Mike at the Airport in Newark on time. The hotel was just awesome. Our room had a perfect view of the Manhattan Skyline. After we got settled in, we went to the lobby to meet people.
Kenny Kassel, the shows promoter and a friend of mine introduced me to all sorts of interesting people. One man who I got a chance to talk with was Arnold Schwartzenager's body guard! I wouldn't think Arnold would need one, but this guy was super cool. I also was introduced to Robert Kennedy, the publisher of Oxygen and MuscleMag magazines. I felt a bit bad for Mike because he didn't know anybody and didn't really fit in. He was in quite a bit of shock to see all of the bodybuilders and "different" looking people. It's not everyday you see 20 women with 5 O'clock shadow in the same room. After taking a bit of a nap, I got a chance to hang out with some of the fitness girls and models. They are all so incredibly nice. It was neat to hear how things really work in the business. Speaking of business, Mike finally found his place that night. Mike met Scott Eppringham, a super cool guy who takes care of Kenny's website and other business matters. They started working on advertising stuff on Mike's computer, and Mike and Scott became new best friends. I hardly saw him at all for the rest of the weekend! But I guess Mike was a big help for a lot of the advertising stuff.
Saturday was the big day. I hardly slept the night before. I had to get up early to get my make up done by this wonderful lady named Lori. Lori used to be a model, and now she does make-up for models all over. One of her closest friends is Lenny Kravitz! It was super fun to listen to her stories. Anyway, I got my make-up done, then basically sat around being nervous all morning. Of course Mike was nowhere to be seen, since he was working on business stuff with Scott. What a goof.
I competed in two different divisions for the Extravaganza, the figure show and the fitness strength show. In the figure show I was placed in the middle class, based on height. It started out with the two piece round, then the one piece. I didn't even fall in my heels! I actually felt pretty confident out there, but I'm sure my posture still needed work. For the strength show there were three rounds: a straddle hold, bicep curls, and one arm push ups. There were only two other girls in that competition, who were fitness pros, so I knew I didn't have a chance. It was tons of fun being on stage with them though. In the morning show we only did the straddle holds. I actually beat one of the girls!
After everything was over in the morning, I went back to my room and slept. I needed a nap SO bad. When I woke up, it was time to get my make-up redone and get backstage for the evening show and finals. We started out the evening show with the fitness strength bicep curls. We had to curl one half of our body weight as many times as we could. Of course both girls made me look like a weakling, it was still fun. Then the figure one piece round. Nothing new and exciting about that. After the one piece, we had to quickly put on our two pieces and go back on stage to find out who made top 5. I made it! I ended up in fifth place, which was better than I thought I would get...I was still a bit disappointed though. It turns out the judges were pretty messed in the head. The results were all over the place. Oh well, I still had fun up there.
After the show we posed for pictures for like EVER. I took one picture with Mike where I kissed his cheek. This random guy was like, "Woah! How much did he pay for that?" We thought that was pretty cute. After all of the pictures, I went to the room and stood in the shower for like 45 minutes and just scrubbed. I had so much of that tanning crap on, the shower was orange the whole time, and I still didn't get much of it off. It was also nice to get off the layers of make-up on my face. Then I got ready for the banquet. I finally found Mike...he was upstairs schmoozing and having drinks with the business guys. I managed to drag him downstairs so I could finally eat!!! It was great, I ate all sorts of pasta, and cheese stuff. Yummy yum! We hung out down there meeting people and taking pictures. I must have been in a million pictures last weekend. Then we went upstairs and ordered a PIZZA! Just what I had been dreaming of for the past three months. When the pizza got there we ate pizza and watched "Superstar" on Mike's laptop. What a good movie! Mike zonked out after the first five minutes, but I managed to watch the whole movie and eat the whole pizza. hehehe. My body didn't react too well to that though. I woke up several time in the night to throw up. I managed to keep it down, but it didn't feel so good...overall it was worth it though.
The next day Mike and I got up fairly early, packed up, and headed out to New York City. We spent most of the afternoon walking around Times Square, since we hadn't really made any plans to do anything. Let me tell you, New York City is a different world. Most people are incredibly rude, and everybody is in a hurry to get somewhere....even on a Sunday! People would just run right into you and keep walking! The cars didn't stop at crosswalks, they would just honk and speed up. Yikes! We also saw our fair share of "Rolex" watches, "Gucci" bags, and "Oakley" sunglasses. I actually haggled with a guy for some Foakleys and got them for $5. hehehe. We did walk to the Empire State Building and took a ride to the top of that. Wow was that cool. The upper deck was completely open to the outside. It was a beautiful sunny day with quite a view. After walking around Times Square some more (and stopping to eat a lot of junk food) we went back to the hotel, then off to the airport. My first connecting flight to Detroit got stuck on the ground for about 2 hours, so I missed my connecting flight in Detroit. They had to put me in a hotel. It was actually kinda fun, I got a BUNCH of free food, and my hotel room was super nice. Plus, when I finally got back into Madison yesterday my boss didn't make me come into work until 3:30! I sure have had my fair share of problems with airlines this summer though.
So now it's back to the normal life. I can eat what I want when I want. I work at Supreme all this week, then it's back to school a week from today. This weekend I do get one last good time...J.R. and I are doing a Lumberjack show in Burton, Ohio. Hopefully it won't be too much of a hick town!
K, I think I've written enough for now. I have to go to the grocery store to buy some real food!!! BYE!