I had a GREAT weekend! I hope you all did as well!
Happy Father's Day! I hope you all enjoyed time with the important "father's" in your life. I spent time with the three most important "dad's" in my life...my husband, my dad and my father-in-law. They are incredible men!!!
Today is a special day for my hubby and I, our Wedding Anniversary of 6 years:) We celebrated on Saturday and went out "ALONE" Wow...was that a treat! We had an incredible dinner at "Wildfire" in Schaumburg. Fantastic place, I definitely recommend it for special occations. We also went to see "Terminal" with Tom Hanks. Funny movie:) but a little disappointed with the ending.
My photo shoots on Friday went great. I am anxious to see how the photos turn out. We got some great shots outside and by the indoor hotel pool. Gene (of Ftvideo.com and Fbbworld.com), and Mike of Herbiceps.com are both great photographers. I had fun shooting with both of them. Karen even had a few shots done to get her first exposure with herbiceps.com. I was hoping that would happen:)) I was also approached by a representative for "HotRox" that was interested in having me represent their product at GNC on a monthly basis. Sounds like a great promotional deal to get involved with. The time away was well spent!
A HUGE thank you goes out to my husband for taking care of the kids all day and night so I could go..you are the ultimate team player Michael, I love you!!!
Special thanks to Karen for waiting on me through all my clothing changes and photos on Friday...you are awesome, I'm so glad you had a few shots done too:)
As for the pre-judging...I went into it interested in how the new light-heavy class was going to look. As expected, it was the strongest and most competitive class. Amanda Dunbar was holding a bit too much water and looked a bit smooth next to Christine Sabo, who ultimately won the lightheavy class and the overall. Alissa Jones, who was also a light-heavy and a new comer to the National scene made some great improvements from April, where she won the overall at the Mid-Illinois Ottawa show. She tied for 6th place. There were some great looking female athletes but, as always, there are those who choose to destroy their femininity and health to gain more muscularity and rid their bodies of excess body fat. I know a lot of people have strong opinions on this subject, as do I. My stand on steroids remains to be what it has always been...I wish it was out of the sport completely! I met a lot of great people at the show on Friday but one topic that was recurring between Karen and I was the girls who were so obviously using. I just don't understand it! I suppose they start out just looking for that little edge and it grows from there, but when you see a beautiful women and she starts talking to you and sounds like she's been smoking for 30 years or is a man you have to question.."is it worth it"? To me, it never will be!! It's too bad the NPC and the magazines don't value the natural athlete. There just isn't the exposure for the all-natural athletes as there is for a sport that doesn't follow strict testing. It is a topic I will always feel strongly about but my opinion unfortunately, will make little difference. With the continued popularity of figure competitions I feel it is even more important to keep female bodybuilding natural to keep it alive! The masculine female look from steroid use is not appealing to the majority of men and women. And the bottom line is...bodybuilding will NEVER be considered to get anywhere close to Olympic status while drug use is so prevalent. The judging criteria has always been a problem, I know. How do you describe or explain "overall package"? but the sport has to clean up if there is any hope and female bodybuilders can be an example to all.
Well, enough with my opinions:) I had a fantastic weekend and my photos from both shoots will be on my site as soon as I get them!
Just a few more days until I am off to Las Vegas for a "girls only" get away with my sister, mom and my 3 aunts. I am very excited! I've never been to Vegas:)
Have a great day!
Jen
Happy Father's Day! I hope you all enjoyed time with the important "father's" in your life. I spent time with the three most important "dad's" in my life...my husband, my dad and my father-in-law. They are incredible men!!!
Today is a special day for my hubby and I, our Wedding Anniversary of 6 years:) We celebrated on Saturday and went out "ALONE" Wow...was that a treat! We had an incredible dinner at "Wildfire" in Schaumburg. Fantastic place, I definitely recommend it for special occations. We also went to see "Terminal" with Tom Hanks. Funny movie:) but a little disappointed with the ending.
My photo shoots on Friday went great. I am anxious to see how the photos turn out. We got some great shots outside and by the indoor hotel pool. Gene (of Ftvideo.com and Fbbworld.com), and Mike of Herbiceps.com are both great photographers. I had fun shooting with both of them. Karen even had a few shots done to get her first exposure with herbiceps.com. I was hoping that would happen:)) I was also approached by a representative for "HotRox" that was interested in having me represent their product at GNC on a monthly basis. Sounds like a great promotional deal to get involved with. The time away was well spent!
A HUGE thank you goes out to my husband for taking care of the kids all day and night so I could go..you are the ultimate team player Michael, I love you!!!
Special thanks to Karen for waiting on me through all my clothing changes and photos on Friday...you are awesome, I'm so glad you had a few shots done too:)
As for the pre-judging...I went into it interested in how the new light-heavy class was going to look. As expected, it was the strongest and most competitive class. Amanda Dunbar was holding a bit too much water and looked a bit smooth next to Christine Sabo, who ultimately won the lightheavy class and the overall. Alissa Jones, who was also a light-heavy and a new comer to the National scene made some great improvements from April, where she won the overall at the Mid-Illinois Ottawa show. She tied for 6th place. There were some great looking female athletes but, as always, there are those who choose to destroy their femininity and health to gain more muscularity and rid their bodies of excess body fat. I know a lot of people have strong opinions on this subject, as do I. My stand on steroids remains to be what it has always been...I wish it was out of the sport completely! I met a lot of great people at the show on Friday but one topic that was recurring between Karen and I was the girls who were so obviously using. I just don't understand it! I suppose they start out just looking for that little edge and it grows from there, but when you see a beautiful women and she starts talking to you and sounds like she's been smoking for 30 years or is a man you have to question.."is it worth it"? To me, it never will be!! It's too bad the NPC and the magazines don't value the natural athlete. There just isn't the exposure for the all-natural athletes as there is for a sport that doesn't follow strict testing. It is a topic I will always feel strongly about but my opinion unfortunately, will make little difference. With the continued popularity of figure competitions I feel it is even more important to keep female bodybuilding natural to keep it alive! The masculine female look from steroid use is not appealing to the majority of men and women. And the bottom line is...bodybuilding will NEVER be considered to get anywhere close to Olympic status while drug use is so prevalent. The judging criteria has always been a problem, I know. How do you describe or explain "overall package"? but the sport has to clean up if there is any hope and female bodybuilders can be an example to all.
Well, enough with my opinions:) I had a fantastic weekend and my photos from both shoots will be on my site as soon as I get them!
Just a few more days until I am off to Las Vegas for a "girls only" get away with my sister, mom and my 3 aunts. I am very excited! I've never been to Vegas:)
Have a great day!
Jen
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