A Wonderful Thanksgiving

Posing with the Turkey at our apartment. A wonderful family Thanksgiving.

This Thanksgiving ranks right up there with my all time favorites. Nobody (well, maybe Ken's parents, but they've seen him cook before) had faith that we could put together a Thanksgiving dinner. Not only did we cook one, we cooked a darn good one! I used some of my mom's old recipes, and Ken used some from his family. These recipes along with Ken's big ol' syringe for the Turkey, make for one amazing meal.

My mom hasn't been out of the nursing home in about a year and a half. Because of the very late stage of her disease, it's quite hard to transport her. Ken used his strength and skill to get her into the van, and help get her into our apartment so that she could join us for the holiday. I'm the luckiest girl in the world to have found him.

Dinner was incredible, and I was stuffed in no time! Needless to say we fell asleep not long after taking my mom back to the Nursing Home.

This weekend I also finished almost all of my holiday shopping! It was a bit scary to brave the crowds, but totally worth it. We found some great sales! With the stress of the fitness competitions behind me, I can no be all smiles and excited about this time of year. 'Tis the season!!!

DONE!!!



Fitness season 2005 has finally come to and end. I finished 13th at the Fitness America Pageant, which satisfied my goal of making top 20. Next year I’ll shoot for top 10. Despite my satisfying finish, I couldn’t help but be a bit disappointed. I felt REALLY GOOD out there; we’re talking better than 13th place good. But, you can never guess what the judges are looking for, and I did my best, which is what counts.

After my last photo shoot of the week Olivia arrived on Wednesday night and was introduced to the strange world of fitness: fake tanning crap, fake nails, no food, and endless hours of stress and practice. She was a total trooper and stayed to watch and cheer through EVERYTHING. And some of those days of competition got to be quite long.

We stayed with Maggie and Lisa, who were absolutely awesome for letting us take over their apartment, and I had Maggie’s car all week! By the way… if you are looking for a new car, get a hybrid. You’ll save a LOT of money. So thank you SO much Maggie and Lisa, you guys were awesome.

Emily was my other landlady during my stay out in LA. Thank you so much for sharing your apartment and Halloween Candy Em!

Sunday was our chance to be tourists. I took Olivia to Meridian, the greatest health club in LA (especially because I used to work there, hehe). We had lunch on Mullholland and tried our best to hunt down some stars. Not much luck though. We then drove out to Malibu for some relaxing at my favorite beach. Because of my stupid cold I didn’t surf all week. L After Malibu we hit up Rodeo Drive for some window shopping. I decided it is much too complicated to be rich. Things go in and out of style WAY too fast. Plus some of the fancy stuff looks so friggin’ goofy. I’m totally happy wearing sweats and workout clothes everyday. After Rodeo we picked up my props from Hollywood and Highland (where the show was held) and drove back to Maggie’s in time to catch our red-eye flight. Man do those suck. I’m sill recovering from mine.

So overall it was a rewarding, but exhausting trip. This time around I really realized how happy I am to be a Wisconsin girl.

Ms. Fitness Universe

One more fitness pageant down... one to go! We just got done competing. My day started at 5am, and now at 11pm I finally have a chance to sit and relax. Today the pageant was the Ms. Fitness Universe in Corona, CA. Things went REALLY well. I placed 4th, but the three girls above me are all absolutely amazing. Plus I got a lot of wonderful comments from the judges and the crowd; many said I should have been the winner! That felt really nice, especially after all of this work. I felt really good about my routine and my figure, so I guess I can't ask for much more! I had fun on stage, which is what this is all about. Claire even gave me some bling to wear! I felt like such a girl!

The weather here in Cali is supposed to be beautiful this week, so I think I may try to hit the beach tomorrow! We do have a fitness party, then a group photo shoot type thing for Ms. Fitness magazine, but I probably won't stay long. Sunday evening and Monday will be days to play! Tuesday I will be doing a photo shoot in the morning, then more playing in the afternoon. Fitness America stuff starts Thursday... AHHHHHHHHH!!!!

Well, I'm totally beat., I can barely see the screen. I'm going to hit the sack, but hopefully more soon!

AHHHHHHH!!!!

Shana is officially freaking out now. I leave for Cali on Friday, and have my first contest (Ms. Fitness Universe in Corona) on Saturday. I had no idea how big this show was going to be until I got a few e-mails the other day. Opening number, evening gowns, speeches, mansion party, photo shoots.... ack! This thing is starting to sound bigger than Fitness America! But hey, all I can do is go out there and do my best, right? I'm feeling really confident about my routine, fairly confident about my body, and pretty darn crappy about my high heel walking and primping (make-up, hair, nails... all of the girly crap). But I was never really good at that stuff anyway.

I have most of the week in LA to relax (most of the week meaning Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday) but relaxing will hardly be in my itinerary. There will be surfing, TV tapings, running, hiking, workouts, and did I mention surfing? Yeah baby! Then Thursday I start the rounds for Fitness America... registration, media day, opening number stuff, then the actual contest. I'm also competing in Bikini America... which is like Fitness America but without the routine. Bikini America = less free time = more stress. But hey, I'm a big kid, I can handle it! Plus I'll have Olivia out there to support me for the big event. I'm SO glad she'll be coming. Too bad Ken can't come too :( . Sunday will be our day to play... and my chance to show off my second favorite city!

On top of all that, things are really picking up at work. I picked just about the worst week of the year to leave town! So to my clients... I'm very sorry. Anyway, wish me luck! I'll try to post updates (and maybe some photos) from out there. Have a great week everybody!

By the way....ERIN AND BOB ARE ENGAGED! CONGRATS GUYS!