Fit Izzy's Blog

Fondant Recipe

2010-05-26T10:00:00.000-07:00

I'm too lazy to rewrite it.
It's needs to be wramed up so you can work with it and it can get sticky so I recommend putting some pan on either the fondant or your rolling pin when working it.

Hope this helps

It's from a book called Bake and it's a great book for basic baking, their carrot cake recipe is to die for!!!!

I will look for the author's name and post it, it's a staple in my kitchen.

Have a blessed day

I vlogged!!!

2010-05-26T09:51:00.000-07:00

Yes I know, more than 1 post a month! I must be on something...

I will be giving a presentation on building your personnal brand with the help of social media and part of it is on Vlogging so I figured I would start doing it myself!

So there you have it it's my first Vlog. If you're too lazy to write it down the ingredients are posted after the link also I've scanned my fondant recipe and you will find it in my previous blog.

I will try to blog about clean eating tonight but I' can't promise anything since I'm babysitting tonight...

3 cups blanched spinach, drained and chopped
1 cup marinated artichoke hearts
3 cups aged cheddar, grated
1 cup sour cream
1 cup romano cheese, grated
1 cup parmesan cheese, grated
1/2 cup cream cheese, softened
3 cloves of garlic, minced
1 tsp cayenne pepper (optional)
salt and pepper to taste (optional)

Have a great day

Update

2010-05-18T14:51:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone ,

I had the pleasure to go to Texas the week before last to celebrate Stephanie’s husdband’s graduation! He graduated from the San Antonio Police Academy and if you read Stephanie’s blog you already know that he got the top Cadet Award which is the highest honor!!! I was so happy for their family because they all made sacrifices for him to be able to live his dream and it was the perfect ending to his journey!

If any of you have ever been to Texas you know that Texans don’t get big by accident lol OMG the food over there will one day be the death of me. Between BBQ at Dicky’s, Mexican food, Margaritas and Stephanie’s queso it’s a miracle I didn’t come back heavier lol I got to help Steph prepare for Joey’s graduation party (Oh and before you ask , yes we did make that badge on the cake ourselves with fondant!) and the following day I got to chill at home watching Avatar with their boy Taylor. Taylor is this adorable, cuddly and hilarious little boy that you just can’t help but fall in love with.

One of my favorite thing to do while I’m over there is to run outside and workout with Steph! She motivates me and it’s such a nice change of scenery from my gym.

I think the running is the reason why my evaluation with my coach wasn’t such a disaster this morning lol. My bodyfat hasn’t gone up since my last comp and my legs even leaned a bit. I had some bloodwork done after my last show in order to figure out why I was having a hard time leaning. Well when the results came in I was shocked, my cortisol ( stress hormones) were over twice the limits and my insulin level were very low ( ¼ of what it should be) I was sure that oestrogen and thyroid would be off the chart but not at all. The thinking is that the damages done by having a bad diet and overtraining with my previous coach has caused my pancreas to stop producing insulin and that causes my body stress. So we are tweaking my diet and adding some supps that will help with insulin and stress levels. I’m a bit partial to Charles Poliquin’s supplements, they have always worked very well for me.

That’s it for now.

I hope you all have a great day.

Listen up Ashton!!!

2010-05-13T09:45:00.000-07:00

As some of you know I just got back from San Antonio where I was visiting the Gorena family. If you read Stephanie's blog you know that she has a very artistic and talented daughter Ashton. Ashton wants to be a star ( and I wouldn't be surprised if she got her wish!!!)

Ashton is also obsessed with Lady Gaga! Well yesterday on the Ellen Show a 12 yo boy was featured for his amazing cover of Lady Gaga's Paparazzi (see below)

So while he was on the show he got a call from Miss Gaga herself and what did she tell this young boy???? Stay focused, work hard and stay away from girls!!!!

So my tip to Ashton: STAY AWAY FROM BOYS! I'm sure Joey and Steph will approve. I'm pretty sure she's already heard all of this before but maybe it will stick if Lady gaga agrees with us...

Have a great day ya'll and I promise to post soon. I have so much to tell you guys between Texas, contest prep and my BFF getting married :)

Failure

2010-04-11T10:32:00.000-07:00

Yep I know I haven’t bogged in months! I do miss it and I feel bad but hey what can I say… Contest prep ended up being a lot more demanding than I thought!!!
When I started my prep I knew I could lean down and that just by tweaking my diet and working out it would be fine. I was doing bikini this time so it would probably be easy. Well guess who got fed a big piece of humble pie!
First of all I would like to thank my friend Claudine who supported me during this prep and if it hadn’t been for her I’m not sure I would have made it!
So back in January I started prep and nothing happened! I changed my diet, started doing cardio and nothing moved. I even got sick and gained 7 lbs over 2 days. So we changed my diet, increased the cardio and still nothing. My bodyfat had doubled in the last year and I was starting to lose faith that I would make it in time. It was really hard for me to not see results because I’ve always been the one that leans down fast… After someone recommended that I up my carbs my weight started moving but not fast enough. I figured my body might not be the best but I have good stage presence and I would focus on that. I made a lot of progress in the last two weeks, I knew I wouldn’t look like I wanted to look but it would have to do and all I needed was a 5th place anyway to be able to do the nationals and 5th place would be easy.
Well the day of the registration I show up and I get the 1st number of my category, when my coach found out he was a bit worried because the other 2 shows he had been to where there was a bikini class the judges changed their minds when the 1st girl was on stage and she ended up having to move around. Well guess what happened to me!!! I was out, was told to go to the front once in front they realized lighting was bad and asked me to back up then go left and right then there was a mixup in the call outs and the marshal wouldn’t let me go and grabbed me by my arm lol . After the preliminaries my coach was happy I had made the first call out but I wasn’t happy, I knew I could have done better, I knew I had lost my focus and the points I could have gotten for presentation were gone ☹ I was so mad I didn’t know what to do, at that point I didn’t even want to go to the night show. That’s when I got a call that got me crying lol Stephanie called and asked what had happened. Talking to her just made me realize how stupid my anger was…

So I grabbed my stuff and drove to my parents to hang out with my mom and sis and play with my nephew. The youngest one Matthew didn’t recognize me and was scared of me lol I had to feed him candy for him to come within a 100 yards of me. My dad who had never seen me compete, in pics or the day of the show asked “ if it would all come off after a good shower and to please not touch his new car” I told my mom and sis not to come to the night show because I hadn’t done well and didn’t want them to waste their time. My sis said, I know the judges already made their mind but tonight I want you to go out there and show the judges what I was capable of so that they would remember me in August. After napping, going quadding with my nephew and my dad, playing ball with my sis, dad and BIL ( BTW my dad throws like a girl…) and hockey with the kids I felt so much better. I went back to the venue in a great mood, I had fun at night and even though I placed six and need to requalify I was happy! Happy to hear my sis and Claudine scream how pretty I was and how good I looked, happy because I got asked by photogs to work with them more than any other girl in my category and happy because I went there feeling like a winner even tho I knew I had lost. Hey that cheat meal with Claudine and my coach was near, my bday was the next day and I knew I would start the day with champagne and hugs and kisses by my favorite people in the world and tons of food that day.

The biggest lesson I learned is that you have to own your failures. I was asked if I was mad at the judges and the marshal and the answer is no. Unless I own my mistakes that day I wil never get better. Blaming my placing on the marshal's and the judges mistakes would be too easy and I would keep being a victim of circumstances that I can't control. That's why I'm owning it and I've learned from it. I could have focused harder, started prep earlier, practice my posing more… I started my prep for the provincial the Monday after my show and I no longer think that this will be easy. I will come in in the best shape of my life because I will work harder than ever before and because finishing 6th gave me the drive to never want to loose again. BTW the results came out and there is only 3 points between me and the girls who finished #4 so it was tight.. I will also document my prep way better, I usually do but didn’t this time because I didn’t think I needed to since I was only doing bikini. Well peeps get ready to see some progress pics and weight updates. I also have a lot of fun stuff happening between now and July 3rd… 2 of my best friends are getting married so wedding pics and bachelorette pics will be posted!
On that not this is me having a mimosa at 7am on my bday. Yikes no makeup and my hair in a bun, Stephanie please don’t judge me lol I had enough makeup on the day before to last me a month!!! My pores needed a break

Isabelle Cooks …. Take that Stephanie!

2009-12-07T08:56:00.000-08:00

I love to cook! Before I competed I was always in the kitchen! I don’t have as much time now and I can’t eat half the stuff I love to cook but when I have a chance I still do and give the food away to my friends and family.

See lately Stephanie and Alyson have been putting me to shame and cooking up a storm!!!! I’m known for my cooking skills so I had to go ahead and do something!!!

It’s my mom’s birthday today HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOM!!! For the occasion we went to my big sister’s house for dinner and I offered to make the cake. My mom had requested a carrot cake so I baked her one, and I baked an extra one for the office and I made cookies and fudge for my neighbour but since I made 6 dozen I also got to give some to my sister and bring some to the office! ( I made a batch of PB cookies and one chocolate chip and macadamia nuts)

So peeps there you have it! My Saturday afternoon project! I hate a piece of fudge yesterday but that’s it! I’m not eating anything else. I met with my coach on Friday and I got my new training program… From now till Xmas I’m going to kill it at the gym! I was sick last week and didn’t train and ate a whole lot of comfort food so I need to get back on track!

I’m confident though, I’ve been having health problems since my last show and my doctor recently figured it out and I’m like new now so that only makes me more optimistic!!!

Hope you’re all having a great day!
break>

Yep that's me!

2009-11-24T10:44:00.000-08:00

Ok I know what you're thinking, two post in two days!!!! She must be on something lol

But no not me never. Come on I don't even drink!!!

I just got an email saying that I will be in the new Black Friday ads for Power System check it out!

Oh yeah and lets not foget that Black Friday was my inspiration for my Stephanie resolution... Yep after reading how Steph woke up early last year to get her pretty on and go shopping at 4am I realized I had no excuse. So far so good, it's been a year and I still do my best to look good when I'm in public even if it's only to go to the grocery store lol

What a great weekend it was!

2009-11-23T14:12:00.000-08:00

First my kid sister finally moved about 5 minutes from my house! So I was up early Saturday to make sandwiches for everyone, clean the floors, do her laundry, unpack the bathroom, drive the kids around… Moving is not fun and especially with two kids and a laryngitis it hasn’t been easy for her but I know that her and her husband will be so happy in their new house. It’s so cute to see the kids all lost when they walk in and not know where their stuff is lol

Later on Saturday, I went downtown to spend some highly anticipated time with my friend Kenneth. Ken is someone I met about 5 years ago when his partner (one of my friend’s best friend) committed suicide. Kenneth lives in Thailand and England and was rarely in Montreal but when he came back to clear out their penthouse and meet with the notary I invited him for dinner because I didn’t think he should be in town alone and we just clicked. Ever since on November 21st of each year we have dinner together. Kenneth is a brilliant brilliant man! He is so funny and so smart when I get to see him time just flies! I love him dearly and I was so happy to see him happy. It’s been hard on him, grieving is something but living with the guilt of your partner committing suicide is something else. We talked we laughed and I left feeling great that my friend is doing better!

Now I got home late and went straight to bed because I had to get up at 6 am and get ready to go to a bodybuilding show with a friend! I would like to thank The Stephanie for her online styling tips lol I had no clue what to wear and she figured it all out for me!!! I had a lot of fun at my show, I saw my coach, my osteopath and his new GF, some competitor friends and my date for the show was just so funny. I hadn’t slept much and he had only slept 2 hours so we really couldn’t stop laughing!

Oh and the other good news of the day!!! There is now a Forever XXI across the street from my work!!!!! Can you say happy place!

The plan for the week is still to do cardio on an empty stomach 3 times a week on top of pilates and my regular weight training. I will also start doing more yoga again.. I ate 100% clean last week with the exception of my cheat meal yesterday! I’m really focused and I plan to be in good shape by Christmas!

Happy Monday peeps!

Oh and the Pats and Cowboys won so now Steph and I are in a good mood!

A few pics

2009-11-19T08:34:00.000-08:00

Good morning ya'll

I don't really have time to blog this am but I wanted to share with you a few proofs that I got from my shoot with HArvey Elkins from Power Systems! That guy was so much fun and I love the shots that he took.

I will post the real ones when I get them but until then here a few of my favorites

There is so much going on I need an assistant to blog for me lol

I promise I'll try to blog tomorrow

Have a great day!

Let's be honest...

2009-11-16T10:19:00.000-08:00

I was tagged yesterday by Alyson for the Honest Scrap Award! So I have to divulge 10 truths about me. Finding stuff you all don’t already know will be the hard part lol. Here we go…

1-I love the smell of Gazoline and black markers… I know it’s weird but it reminds me of my childhood and when we would got boating with my grandpa.

2- I love to be underwater. I scuba dive and as a kid I would always compete with my sisters to see who could stay underwater for the longest period of time.

3-I’m a compulsive eater. I can’t have only one chip or one candy! If I start I can’t stop. That is why my cheat meals are legendary lol

4- I’m lazy!!!!!! If I don’t have to do something I can easily not do anything all day and I love it!

5- There is one thing that is guaranteed to make me cry each and everytime…. It’s the stories about the player’s struggles they show before the Super Bowl. I still get chocked up when I think about the Steelers winning and Jerome Bettis, who was in his home town said “The Bus finally made it home!!!!”

6- I love Hip Hop and rap music and I look like a complete fool when I’m signing along because I have no rythme!

7- Growing up I always dreamed of becoming a housewife and take care of my man and my family, at 33 however I’m glad I love my job and that I have hobbies because the family thing hasn’t happen yet lol.

8- I’m a nerd, I love learning new stuff and if I won the lottery tomorrow I would go back to school and get my law degree for fun! My favorite part about my job is that I get to learn so much about various industries!

9- I can sleep anywhere and through anything. If I’m tired that’s it…. I can try but won’t succeed. I’ve been known to fall asleep in restaurants and clubs.

10- I haven’t seen all the Rocky movies, any of the Rambo ones or any Die Hard… I wasn’t allowed to watch them when I was younger and never got around to it as an adult… I only saw Jaws for the first time about 3 years ago…

That’s it for me!

Hope you all have a good week and I will try to be a better blogger this week and tell you all about California!

Real Mexican food, my first ever margarita and a bit of shopping!

2009-10-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

So my second day in San Antonio was even better than the first! I got up and went running, the temperature was perfect, the road was perfect and I had made a special San Antonio playlist on my iPod.

Came back made pancakes for the kids and chilled a bit before going to the gym! I had some pressure because I didn’t want to kill Steph but I still wanted her to work her little butt off! We did a fun German Body comp routine which is basically a high rep high volume full body training designed to make you burn fat by producing lactic acid and build muscle by alternating between upper and lower body exercises and giving your muscles enough rest to fully recover in between sets.

So we get to Gold’s gym and that place is huge. By that point I’m really starting to believe that everything is better in Texas lol. Steph was such a good sport, she’s a natural, her form was great and she didn’t complain once! Well not true I think she complained once. We were doing a set of sumo deadlifts and modified voyer push ups and most of the exercises so for we 6-8 reps but the push ups we had to do 12 however I hadn’t mentioned it to her. So we did the deadlifts and when we got to the push up part she said she couldn’t do them but would still try. So we got started and I started counting. 1-2-3-4-5-6…. 12 After our set Joey came over and asked her how she was doing and what did Steph reply???? “She made me do push ups and I can’t do push ups but I did them and I was so relieved when she got to 8 and then she kept counting!” It was definitely my most fun workout ever! I loved working out with her!!!!!

After the y mJoey and Steph brought me shopping to this amazing outdoor mall and Steph introduced me to Forever 21! I got super cute skinny jeans for 9,50$ and accessories for less then 4$!!!!! Enough said! We just got a forever 21 store in Montreal but it’s complete chaos so I haven’t gone yet but I will soon, I’m hooked. After our visit to this super trendy mall we had to stop by Target!!! OMG I love target, I got this super cute dress at Target , Target makes my life!!! We even took a pic of Steph and I in the Target parking lot lol Oh and in case you haven't figured it out yet super cute is an expression Steoh uses A LOT when shopping!

So we all got ready and headed downtown for my first ever margarita ( and boy those things are yummy) and about 10 lbs of Mexican food!!! For the record we do get margaritas in Montreal but I just never had one lol

The food was out of this world, like seriously amazing. It’s definitely one of the reasons why I want to move there!!! After having stuffed me with Mexican food like a turkey right before Thanksgiving, we went to the river walk which is basically a small little river surrounded by gorgeous restaurants and bars. It’s just gorgeous and so much fun to just walk and digest all the food I had stuffed in my face lol. Yeah I was so full I had to have marble slab lol. We don’t have it here so I had to try it…. It’s like a man made blizzard with any kind of ice cream you want. It was soooo goood!

As for the rest of my night I can’t remember a thing lol, we got back to the Gorenas and I fell into a carb induced coma! It was sooooooo worth it!

Have a great day!

Isabelle discovers briskets!

2009-10-26T08:23:00.000-07:00

Let me start by apologizing for being MIA for the past couple of days. I had some issues with my internet connection while I was in LA.

So my arrival in San Antonio was perfect, Stephanie picked me up in her beautiful and freshly cleaned Jeep and the first thing I thought was wow, she’s even prettier in person!

So now that you all know how great the entire family was let me tell you about another one of San Antonio’s treasures…. Brisket!!!! For those of you who don’t know brisket is some slow roasted beef… It was amazing

We got to Dickey’s and there a big poster with pictures of stuff you can order. I’m super excited for my first SA meal so I’m jumping up and down and looking at the pictures. Now this is how the conversation went.

Stephanie: Joey what do you want with your brisket?
Joey: The mashed potato casserole
Joey (explaining the menu to me): So you can have your brisket as is or in a sandwich…..
Me: What’s a brisket?
Joey: Steph, she doesn’t know what brisket is!!! ( insert shock)
Steph: WHAT?????

People we don’t have brisket in Montreal and you know what, it’s a shame! It’s probably best that we don’t cause I would have it for dinner all the time. That sandwich was so dang good! I don’t think I said a word the entire time, between the potatoes that I saved for last, the sandwich and the soda it was like a party in my mouth! A brisket is a whole lot of fatty deliciousness… It was the most perfect welcome to San Antonio meal!!!

If you want to see pictures I suggest you go and visit Stephanie’s blog. Another interesting info about the Gorena’s Stephanie always has her camera with her and whenever they are doing something she just snaps away and if she’s not snapping, Joey or the kids will say “ You should take a picture for your blog” So all that to say I think I took two pics the entire tme I was there!

The food in SA is amazing people! It’s only one of the reason I want to move there!!!!

Have a great day people!

The Gorenas Rock Tuesday

2009-10-20T12:47:00.000-07:00

The Gorena Rock Monday!

If the title sounds familiar it’s probably because it’s a rip off from Stephanie’s My Husband Rocks Friday….
Last Friday morning I left Montreal to go and visit my blogger friend Stephanie in San Antonio Texas! I was so excited you have no clue, let’s put it that way 2009 was not the best year for me and I had promised myself a trip when I sold my condo to celebrate . I had also promised Stephanie that I would go visit when I sold my place so by now you shouldhave figured out where I decided to go…

Now I haven’t blogged in a while and there is just so much to say about my little vacation so today I will tell you guys just amazing the Gorena’s are and there rest of the week’s post will be split up in all that I did. My post titles will probably look like the following this week:

-Isabelle discover briskets!
-Isabelle’s first ever Margarita or The wonderful world of marble slab (I haven’t decided yet)
-Target: The world’s happiest place

Enough, let’s focus on the Gorena. If you ever read Stephanie’s blog, you already know that they look like the most perfect couple with the sweetest kids. Well people they are even cutter in person and their 2 gorgeous kids are funny, loving, smart and SWEET!

I already knew that Steph and Joey were a great couple, it’s obvious those 2 are crazy about each other but to see it in person wow. They are the kind of couple that you see in the movies… Ever since Joey started the Police Academy Steph’s workload has been insane and yet she does everything with a smile on her face, I saw her ironing Joey’s uniforms for about 10h and she never once complains. The academy is hard and she’s doing everything she can to make it easier, to make sure he has a home cooked meal and that they all sit down as a family every night! Why does she do it? Because she knows what the academy means for Joey and how happy it’s making him. The best part is that Joey appreciates it and he would probably give her the moon if she asked for it. I’ve always said that my parents are the best couple I know, they have the kind of love that you know will never fade, well I’m happy to report that Joey and Steph are a younger version of that! Makes you sick doesn’t it lol. They are great people and amazing parents which brings me to the kids!

Ashton and Taylor are both gorgeous kids, smart, hilarious witty. Ashton reminds me a lot of me when I was her age. Back then I wanted to be a model or a actress, I was miss smarty pants, didn’t like school too much and I was all about girly stuff and never cleaned my room. Ashton is exactly like that. She flat irons her hair before school, loves make up dreams of being the next I Carly and you know what I wouldn’t be surprised if she did, she has the attitude! I mean it in a good way, she’s the kind of girl that is very confident and that you know won’t be bossed around by anyone when she grows up, she has a good strong character. I love seeing that in young girls!

Now Taylor! Ok where do I start? I have to be honest, I’m smitten lol Taylor is the sweetest boy ever, with his messy hair in the morning, the cute little freckles on his tiny little nose and his big brown eyes.It takes abour half a second with him to get why his mother calls him her sweet sweet boy! Don’t get me wrong Taylor is everything you would expect from a little boy, he loves Star Wars, Nerf guns, likes to wrestle and play with other little boys but he also has this extremely sweet side to him. Like I told him before I left, I think he’s made out of sugar!!!! He is just so thoughtful, affectionate and funny… I mean bite your lip so you don’t laugh in his face funny!!!!!

Can you tell I had a blast in SA???? I want to move there….. Everything about this trip was perfect! I want to thank the Gorena again for their warm welcome! All 4 of you couldn’t have been more perfect!

Thanks Y’all

Have a great day!

I'm a bad blogger

2009-10-14T09:55:00.000-07:00

Ok what is my excuse this time?

Everybody is busy, I'm not different!

In a nut shell, I love my new place, still love my job, found out I wouldn't compete in the fall and for the first time in my life I'm focusing on me and my goals!

I always wanted to get more involved in the fitness industry but I never had the time. I've decided to make it a priority and I'm doing all I can to reach my goals. I'm the kind of person who always does so much for others and forgets about herself! I am still going to be there for my family and friends but I'm finding a balance where I also have so me time.

Also the not competing in the fall thing! Well my body wasn't responding so my coahc and I decided to work on my health and getting back to where I was before I started competing. The first few weeks were frustrating because I felt better but I didn't see any results but it's all coming together now and I feel we're on the right track! I really don't know what I would do without my coach, he's an amazing guy. On top of it I've been helping him with the opening of his new center and it's amazing. I love training there now! www.jftintl.com

Like I was saying I have decided to promote myself more and thanks to my friend Stephanie from www.blogaliciousdesigns.com I got the most gorgeous comp cards made!!! I love them, and can't wait to give them out!

Ok I need to work so that's it for me but I promise to at least try to blog more! I should have plenty to blog about soon!

Have a great day

The verdict is in!

2009-09-27T18:00:00.000-07:00

Hello Blogger friends!

First let me say is it just me or Brady was on fire today??? Gooooo PATS!!! The second half was great and we won woohooo. I'm also super happy about the Vikings winning with 2 sec left on the clock. I had picked them for my pool this week and I got quite scared!!!

OK so I met with m coach this weekend because I've been retaining a lot of water and I'm not leaning out even with the diet and the training. Before I started competing I was at 11% BF all year without any stict diet. Ever since my last show I haven't been able to go down. I am currently at about 14% and it took a lot to get me there. I've been having a hard time losing and I didn't know why. My coach is opening up is new training center this week so I haven't really been a priority but he called this week and said he wanted to see me and see what was wrong. Well peeps after testing me and taking my BF he looked at me and said I was drained! My immune system is in a coma and I'm dehydrated ( and retaining water??????) So I am now starting and ending my day with blood protein and various immune system booster supps! I already feel a difference. I was also told to train less and we changed my training to mass building instead of a German body Comp for 2 weeks.

Ohhhh and I got the pics from my shoot with Norm Edwards and can we say wow!!! The guy is brilliant and so fun to work with! We talked about working together again soon and I can't wait. I haven't gone through all the 768 pics he sent but here is a couple of them!

One last thing, Am I the only one who got goosebumps when Jay Cutler won the O this weekend! He looked insane...

Have a great week peeps!

Busy Busy Busy

2009-09-21T14:10:00.000-07:00

The last couple of weekends have Just been crazy ! Between moving, birthday parties, competitions and shoots I haven’t really had a weekend to myself in a long time ! Next weekend is mine all mine lol. If I’m Lucky I will see my Pats win ! The father of my kids ( Brady) hasn’t really been himself lately but give him another week or two and he’ll be back to himself.

I’ve been dieting seriously now for about 3 weeks and I’m not a big fan of my new diet, there is just too much food for me and I can’t finish my meals. I did lose about 4 lbs so I know my coach is not completely insane but still I’m not used to this.

This weekend was good (beside my babies losing) I got to shoot with Norm Edwards. I really love Norm’s work and when he asked me to shoot I was over the moon so 7 outfits, 5 hrs and over 800 pictures later I was super happy.

I should get the pics next week so I will share with you all!

For now time for me to go to the gym, I really can’t afford to miss a workout at this point.

Have a good one!

Why do long weekends go by so fast ?

2009-09-09T13:25:00.000-07:00

Well in my case because I have a tendency to overbook them !!!

I went to the hairdresser on Friday night and then met up with my coach’s GF so she could give me the key to his new center so I can set everything up for his surprise b-day party the following day. Got home late after my hairdresser made me cry tons of happy tears ( oh and the hair looks great!) Cleaned a bit went to bed. 6am on Saturday I was up and on my way to the gym then off to my pilates class, ran errands for the party and then back home to get ready and off to pick up my coach’s assistant and off the center. Got there, cleaned and got everything ready, welcomed everyone surprised him, off to dinner and back home to sleep. The next morning I was up bright and early because my friend Claudine was competing and I was her help for the day! I was at Claudine’s house at 7h30 sharp the next day and she looked AMAZING! She took 2nd in Masters and 3rd in figure tall! She was in the best shape of her life and I couldn’t have been more proud.

At the show we really had a fun day! It was very relaxed, everyone was happy and relaxed. An old man came to me backstage and ask if I could tan him. I was going to say no but it must have taken a lot of guts to ask so I helped him. Then a friend of mine came to me and said his coach was late and could I please tan him. Now anybody who ever competed in Quebec knows Henri, he’s tall dark and handsome and super nice. Girls backstage came to me telling me:

GirlL: sorry, are you the girl that was giving Henri a coat of glaze?
Me: Yes
Girl: OMG you’re so lucky you got to touch him… He’s so good looking he must be a a$$
Me: No he’s really nice and sweet, he came with his baby sister today
Girl: He must be all about his looks
Me: Nope, he actually dropped 30 lbs of muscle when he became a firefighter; he’s really focused on his work.
Girl: firefighter…. Drooling

After that I accompanied Claudine and 15 of her closest friends to a nice cheat and what I learned would be my last cheat in a while. I’m on a detox diet for 2 weeks and then we’ll see if I still get cheats. Went back home and fell into a carb coma . The alarm rang again at 6am the next day because I had to go to the gym, visit my baby sister, go grocery shopping and back home cause my older sister was coming to spend the afternoon in the pool with me and the kids!

So yes I’m pretty beat but I loved every minute of it! I love being busy so much that I decided to compete again this year instead of waiting till next year. More on my competing plans shortly. I really don’t know what they put in protan but the smell alone made me say yes to 2 more shoots and 2 comps!!!

I’ll leave you now on pics of Henri…

So much has been going on !!!

2009-09-08T07:32:00.000-07:00

So much as been going on it’s not even funny!

I received some hard new at the end of July and I really had no clue how to deal with it. The day before my coach had asked me to go for coffee with him because he needed to talk about business. He had just been refused for a loan but was super confident about still meeting his deadline… I asked him where he was getting all this confidence and he told me that he just knew! That he had read the Power of Intention from Dr. Wayne Dyer and he knew that he would receive what he needed, there wasn’t a doubt in his mind. He then grabbed my arm and told me we were going to the store to get me a copy of that book. I am a firm believer that everything happens for a reason and having coffee with my coach was way more than coffee. That book gave me the tools to deal with the situation. Seriously people get that book, it changed me in a good way. It made me patient!!! I’m telling you all it’s a miracle, I’ve never been patient, not for anything! I guess I finally have something that is worth the wait!

Beside the fact that I’ve been practicing patience and working on my attitude so much as happened. There was a seminar I really wanted to take but it’s taking place in LA. Now I always wanted to go to LA but it was never the right time. Now that the house is sold and that I’m all moved in into my new place I decided to take that trip and before attending the seminar I will pass by San Antonio to visit Taylor, Ashton, Steph and Joey and to taste some real Mexican food. Now I’m currently prepping so there will not be any excessive food consumption but I’m sure I can have a decent cheat!!!

Prepping??? But why???? Nope I’m not doing another show but…… there will be 4 photographers at the conference and we get to shoot with all 3. We’re talking Mike Byerly, Russ Elloway and Harvey Elkins. I also sent my port to other photogs I’ve been dying to work with in the area and one of them wrote back saying he would love to work with me!!! I was so excited I can’t even begin to tell ya’ll! He’s really well known and gets published a lot so for me it’s a big deal!

Sooooo I called my coach and told him that I needed a new diet and a new training program. I got my new diet on Monday and I started my training last week. I’m doing a German body composition program so it’s a 2 days split that I do 4 times a week plus cardio and the fun part about a German body comp is… I do legs every day!

So I’m at it again and loving every moment of it!

BTQ I spent Sunday at my friend Claudine’s show and she placed in both categories! Masters and tall!!!!! She did great but you’ll get the weekend round up tomorrow!

Hope you all had a good one!

Here it is

2009-08-28T12:19:00.000-07:00

2 days ago I was so excited to finally be back in my routine and cooking with my new baby ( aka my new convection ver…) that I posted a picture of the braised beef I was making on Facebook. Now this recipe is insanely easy and very cheap to make. It’s also super quick to prepare but it is soooooo yummy!!!! So I got some requests and I promised to post the recipe here so here it is plus I couldn’t let Stephanie kick my booty in the kitchen!!!!! I

• Salt and pepper
• 4 lbs -Shoulder roast ( I think not sure it’s Rôti de palette in French)
• 3 tbs of vegetable oil ( I put in less)
• 3 onions cut in qarters ( not even chopped ladies)
• 6 carrots cut in big chunks
• 3 cups of beef broth
• 4 garlic cloves squished, not even cut ( turn the blade sideways and punch the knife, the peel will come off at the same time)
• 1/3 of a cup of soya sauce
• 2 tbs of tomato paste
• 1-2 tbs of brown sugar
• about 2 inches of ginger sliced
• 4 star anis ( I put like 6-8 I just love the taste)

Now pay attention this is going to go quick, Set the oven at 325. season the meat with the salt and pepper,. In alarge an ( that comes with a lid) heat the oil on medium high and brown the meat ( about 3-4 minutes on each side) Remove the meat and excess fat. In that same pan cook the onions and carrots for about 5 minutes, add the garlic and keep cooking till the onions are see through ( about 2 more minutes) Now this is for Steph, you don’t want he onions to get any color so you might have to lower the heat.

Add the meat back to the pan as well as the remaining ingredients ( broth, soya sauce, ginger,anis,brown sugar and tomato paste) put in the middle of the oven and cook covered for 90 min. Remove and turn the meat around and make sure that the broth is covering at least half of the meat. Cook for another 90 ( yes that is 3 hours total) always making sure that the broth covers half the meat and if the liquid is too low add water. Once it's done cooking remove the meat from the pan and filter the sauce to remove the fat.

I got this recipe from Josee DiStasio and it’s really amazing,

Hope you all enjoy.

I’m all moved in!

2009-08-27T06:06:00.001-07:00

It might have taken a year to sell my place but can I tell you all how sweet it is to be all moved in in my new place!!! I love it!

Now I’m clumsy so I knew that the move would be a struggle but I did make it in one piece. That piece is scratched and bruised but it was all worth it lol.

I love my new neighbourhood, in the back of my place there is a huge field of corn, There is a pool so my nephews love me that much more, it’s sunny and quiet. I’m close to my gym, m work and my older sister. I was a dirty mess all weekend except for Saturday night when I went out for a friend’s b-day dinner.

I’m lucky that some friends and family came over to help and we had a dinner at my sister’s place on Sunday so my entire family came over for cocktails before. However they forgot to mention it so I was a hot mess when they showed up lol. Having my niece and nephew running around was great. Nothing makes me smile like their laugh.

My diet has been terrible the past few weeks since I couldn’t cook but I’m glad to say that I’m back on track. I started making all my meals again and I’m back to the gym. Running is also a lot of fun since there is a track right beside my new place. I’m still getting used to everything and I still don’t know where to pick up my mail but that’s all part of moving I guess.

The last months has been really stressful but I feel that all the bad stuff that has happened in the last 2-3 years is finally behind me. I needed to learn from all of this and all I can say is that I trust life now more than ever. ( that might also be the book I’m currently reading but that’s another post)

Now that I’m all settled in, I’ve been cooking everyday! Oh boy did I miss cooking!!! I posted a pic of my famous braised beef on Facebook yesterday and I was asked to put the recipe up so that will be my next post! I can’t wait to cook again!!! I love to cook

Have a great day!

My life right now

2009-08-19T14:53:00.000-07:00

OK first let me introduce myself in case you forgot who I am lol. I know I haven’t posted in forever. Usually it’s not a good sign. Ask the people around me and they will tell you that if I stop calling it’s cause something is up!

Well a lot is going on right now. I’ sold my place, got a new one got busy at work and I’ve also been working on myself a lot! I’ve been through a lot in the past 3 years and I guess because I had no choice I ended up being ok but now that those situations are really behind me I realized that I had only swept it all under the carpet and it was time for me to clean up. I used to be so proud of who I was and I had lost that, on the exterior I was still this super confident person but on the inside it was a different story and my attitude was crappy with the people the closest to me. Something happened recently that forced me to stop and take a step back. As much as I didn’t want to it was the best thing that has happened to me in a long time. I can honestly say that I’m back to knowing instead of hoping…

Now I’m not going to lie, my life right now is a mess, I’m a clean freak who’s living in boxes, without a kitchen, who won’t get her new appliances in time… This is my place now!!!!

Anybody who knows me knows that it’s driving me crazy!!!!! It is however coming to an end very soon since I am getting the keys to my new place tomorrow and I’m moving on Friday morning! I can’t wait to clean and unpack! I’m a creature of habit and this is hard for me lol.

I might not be eating perfect but I’m still training 5-6 times a week and now 3 mornings a week I train with my big sis and I love it! It’s so motivation to do it with someone.

OK I won’t have internet at home until the 25th so I probably won’t post but next post will be on this AMAZING book I’m reading…

I promise it won’t take 2 months before you get to hear about me again lol

I'm done

2009-06-16T15:16:00.000-07:00

Well at least for now!!!

Competition season is over! I've been stuffing my face with so much crap it's insane... I've ate everything that ended up in front of me!!! I still eat all my regular clean meals but the rest of my day is filled with chocolate covered pretzel and SPK!!!

I don't know if I've mentionned this but my trainer decided to stop training figure and fitness girls because he was offered to train the Olympic cycling team. He referred us to his partned but I chose instead to go back to my ex trainer for a bit. JF knows my body better than anyone else ( in a professional way of course) He trained me for a very long time and he knows how I react to diets and lifting. When I trained with him I was lean all year and ate a lot more... I will be meeting him tomorrow to get my new program and I can't wait!!! I know that once I start training again it will be a lot easier to eat clean.

The show was fun this weekend, I didn't place but that's fine since I didn't expect to anyways. It was just a very long show and towards the end I was just fed up!!!

I spoke with the lady that will be handling the bikini division of the CBBF ( the Canadian equivalent of the NPC) and here we're going to call it fitness modeling and the girls will be a bit more muscular than with the NPC. I think I would fit right in and I'm looking forward to compete with them. I'm also planning on competing with the FAP for the Fitness America show in November. We'll see how everything goes. For now I think my body needs to rest more than anything. It's just so nice to focus on something else for once.

Nick is also competing this weekend at the Jr Nationals. The boy is LUCKY I like him because he's been a tad moody lol I can't really comlain, I knew what I was getting myself into dating a competitor!!!

I will try to blog again soon, so much is happening and so little time to blog.... I'm picking up the slack for a fellow coworker who's mother is ill. Would you please pray for her and her family.

Thank you all!

God bless

I've been slacking!

2009-06-12T06:33:00.001-07:00

OK maybe not slacking but I haven't been blogging nearly enough!!!

Work has been insane and I've been having a really hard time fitting everything into my schedule. I haven't been sleeping nearly enough and it took a toll on everything else. I've gotten my 8h of sleep the last 2 days and it shows, I have more energy and I'm starting to lean down.

So much has happened I don't even know where to start. The last 3 weekends were also hectic with Daphnee and Thomas's b-day party ( the neighbors BBQ caught on fire and the firemen came so the boys had a blast. The firemen stayed for a good hour with t
he boys, making them tour the fire truck and all) The week-end after it was Mathews b-day and that too was fun, I even napped with him after lunch I was so tired lol. Last week-end was Nick's comp. He looked amazing, he placed second but should have won. People boooed when he got the call for second place. Just look at the pics, IMO he deserved it!

I also participated in that show, I ended up doing bikini and I had a blast. I finished 2nd so not too bad! It was great to get to compete with my pumpkin, he is so good to me and so supportive, I was happy I could be there for him that day. He's been working so hard, I was happy to get to cheer him on. Plus it was nice to get ready together, spend the day with his friends ( they are awesome) and have breakfast at IHOP together the following day. The Sunday after the show we went to the beach together, it was so much fun, just lounging there, depleting again, playing in the kiddy pool lol.

Today I'm working from home, cutting my water at noon and tanning tonight. I will go cheer on my friends who are doing bikini model today and tomorrow is my pro debut and the last comp of the season wooohooo! Another competition season down. I can't wait for life to slow down.

I also want to take a minute to thank God for all my blessings. I'm healthy , I get to do so many things I love and I have the best family and the best friends... I'm always grateful for what I am given and never take it for granted...

Have a great day ya'll

My Stephanie Resolution Update

2009-05-21T09:24:00.000-07:00

Some of you may know that my resolution for 2009 was to take better care of my appearance. We all know I train and eat clean in order to look fit and do well at my show but I had been using it as an excuse to not dress up and do my hair. When I read about Stephanie getting up 3 am to do her hair before going shopping on black Friday I realized that my excuse was lame and I was turning into one of the future contestants of what not to wear.

So far I’ve been doing really well with my resolution, multi-tasking and moving things around in order to do my hair and dressing up more. I’ve come up with very creative ways to tie my hair so that it doesn’t mess up my do and I’m able to leave the gym with my hair down.

This weekend however I did exceptionally good! I personally think I deserve a medal lol I was so proud of myself and here's why…

Got to Nick’s place in full hair and make up so I would look good for my pumpkin. Took a shower put on some cute little wo clothes and off we go. Got back ate, showered, makeup again, redid my hair and went to the basement to watch TV!!!! Oh and I was wearing a super uncomfortable top with skinny jeans…. Hey if that’s not making an effort I don’t know what is!

Saturday woke up, went to the gym ( no hair no makeup, it’s on an empty stomach so I have to rush out) came back, full hair and makeup again to go to the pro-show ( in 4 inch heels!!!!!!!) came back nap, gym, shower, full hair and makeup again heels and a dress to go to the movies. Sunday was full hair and makeup again to run errands and go to Starbucks….

I have one question, how do you ladies do it with kids!!!!! If you ask me, keeping my resolution is more demanding than having a pet but hey I kept getting compliments so it was worth it!

It keeps getting better

2009-05-20T11:34:00.000-07:00

This week-end was another great relaxing and motivating week-end with my baby. Getting there was a challenge for so many reasons and I was still super stressed by work but as soon as I turned onto his street I couldn’t help but smile!!!!! I almost ran to the door to get my bear hug and in typical Nick fashion I was greeted by the following…. “ DO you need water, are you ok, do you need to eat, do you need to sleep????” Told him I was fine, filled his fridge with my food took a shower and changed to my gym clothes cause it was gym time! Wasn’t my best workout but it wasn’t my worst either. We had planned to go to the movies but we only had to look at each other for half a second to know we were both spent and that a evening of eating our contest food and watching the food network would be better for us.

We woke up on Saturday morning for cardio and that is when the fun began… Nick makes fun of me because I’m really clumsy. He says he will make me a padded suit and force me to wear a helmet when I drive. I keep telling him I’m not that bad but he just knows better. So he gets on a tread and starts walking, I’m looking sideways at the TV and walking across the treads towards him. As I’m watching the barefoot contessa make cup cakes I decided that I want to go on the tread on the other side of Nick so I keep walking and step sideway onto his tread. Only one problem, his tread his working so as I stepped on it one thought came to my head…… “Oh crapp” Then came a loud thump, I flew back and hit the elliptical ( and a frightened lady) and then landed on the floor. Nick stopped and turned around, after asking me if I was ok he gave me that look that mothers give their kids when they do something really dumb lol You know that look that says you’re lucky I love you cause that was plain stupid! I was laughing so hard I couldn’t get up…. It took a good five minutes before I could stop laughing and explain him what had happened…

Later on that day we went to the New York Pro show for the pre judging which was a lot of fun. We came home for a baby nap followed by more training. I woke up from my nap with major “tude” I have no clue why but Nick isn’t dumb so he went straight downstairs for his meal. When I met him downstairs I looked at him and asked him what is problem was. He looked at me and he said I had major attitude. I looked at him and said, maybe but that is not a reason to leave me in bed unattended!!!! He looked at me started laughing and said UNATTENDED???? REALLY???? You’re 33 hun!!! So I stared laughing too and we had a great workout. Needless to say everytime he left the room for the rest of the weekend he would ask me if I would be ok being unattended and all lol

Sunday was very relaxing; we slept in, went for coffee, went to the vitamin store and cooked. Monday my baby had a shoot for Musclemag… They are doing an article on big arms and he definitely has those (he doesn’t believe he does but hey they are bigger then my legs) I’m so proud of him.

My friend Clau and I were talking this morning about couples and relationship and I really feel blessed for having someone in my life that makes me laugh and with him I can share so much. We think alike and it makes life so much easier!!!

Oh did I mention that I couldn’t choose between 4 bikinis online and the one he picked looks dynamite on me!!!!! Yeah he also got me the cutest little necklace just because when he saw it he thought of me… I’m so spoiled!!!

Yes that's me!

2009-05-12T12:33:00.000-07:00

We went to my parents Country Club for Mother’s day brunch on Sunday. It was just great, the place is lovely plus they had turkey and fruits. Since it’s mother’s day I had promised my mother that I wouldn’t bring my food. My diet was still pretty easy so I figured they would have some kind of protein and fruits and I would be fine.

We got there and they had a clown that did the kids makeup. Oliver was Spiderman and Thomas was a leopard. They also had a cotton candy stand and the kids just loved it!!!! After 3 pieces Oliver asked me if he could get some more, I told he had had enough. He than asked if he could have a candy and again I said no. My precious little Oliver than went to the see the clown that was busy doing some other kid’s makeup and said VERY loudly…. “ Mrs Clown, Isabelle won’t let me have a piece of candy!!!!” all the mothers started laughing lol

After we all sat down for brunch and we had such a nice time. Once we were done and the boys had eaten about 1 lbs of bacon each my dad asked me to grab Mathew because he wanted to show off his grandkids to his country club friends. So there I am holding Mathew and Thomas and my dad is carrying Daphnee and Oliver is following and he stops and tells someone have you met my grandkids and he goes and introduces all of them and leaves me out like I’m just a baby holding accessory lol. So I introduced myself and what do I get back….. “ Oh you’re the one who’s not married and doesn’t have any kids” Not once, not twice but 3 times!!!!! Seriously what have my parents been saying to those people LOL . I know my parents talk about my work and some of the volunteer work I do and all they got was not married no kids? Anyway all I replied was Yes, that's me lol

So now on to the good stuff! I met with my coach last night…. He’s really happy with the way I look and we have a new plan for this contest prep. My diet changed and I’m back on the menu diet. It’s a high protein, medium fat and low carbs diet that worked great for me last time. I will be following it for the next eleven days and than I will probably start my deplete. I haven’t been hungry today which is normal when I change diets but it should be a different story tomorrow!!! I’m still about 1-2 pounds over my last contest weight but I’m hoping to start dropping soon. My new program also looks like fun but he wants me to do another week with my current one. Good news is I’ll be training with Nick this week-end! Plus doing cardio with him is a lot more entertaining than thinking about all my chores for 45 min!!!

Have a great day ya’ll!

I made a mistake

2009-05-09T13:49:00.000-07:00

This week as been hard. Training and diet are going great so no complaints there but everything else is one hot mess!

At work one of my supplier decided to quit 10 days before the delivery date of the project and I found out that he hadn't even started anything! I managed to find another supplier who will do the job on time but still I wasted a day looking for replacements! Also last Sunday my washer broke down, I know it's not the end of the world but I haven't had time to go shop for a new one so I've been going to my parents to do my laundry and it doesn't really fit into my schedule. I also got into an accident while driving back from a client meeting with my boss. We're lucky everybody walked out of it ok but I still ended up getting a slight concussion and I'm sore all over with a constant headache. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining because all in all I'm fine and things are back to normal. My point here is just to illustrate the mistake I did during my prep.

Having a bad week can cloud your judgment ( i.e. Nick who thought he looked like a swimmer last week!!!! Yeah a 6'1 270lbs swimmer) One of the things you're constantly looking at when you compete is if you're making progress and if you're on track. The problem is that we're constantly at the gym looking in the mirror and it's easy to lose track of our progress. Plus since I look at myself everyday it's hard to notice changes. That is why I always take progress pics during my prep. That way it's easy to track my progress and make the changes that are needed to stay on track. I haven't been taking progress pics this time around. I don't know if it's because I didn't feel I needed too or just because I've been busy but when I was asked earlier this week how I felt about my prep I had a mini melt down. I had 8 weeks between the World Championship and Fame East and the plan was to fill me up for 3 weeks and then lean and condition me for 5. Since I'm not cutting I don't feel like I'm making progress. When I felt like that before I would take pics and compare them to the ones from the previous week and I would most of the time be reassured by the fact that I did make progress. Now since I haven't been taking pics I have nothing to compare them to!!!!! Will I make the mistake of not taking them again no but for now I have to rely on my coach's opinion. I had my meeting with my sponsor this week and things are going good. The butt activation I've been doing are working and my hamstrings have leaned by 1 cm on the caliper!!!!! It's huge since I went from 2.4 cm to 1.4 cm!!!! I've also dropped a pound so my weight is only 1.5lbs over my contest weight and I look fuller!

I'm excited about making my pro debut at the FAME World Championship in 5 weeks! It's the first show I will be doing with absolutely no expectation and it's making the experience so much more fun because I'm not putting any pressure on myself.

The other good news of the day.... I finally got a copy of the June Musclemag with Nick in it!!!!!! It only took me going to 23 stores lol

Hope you're having a fantastic week-end!

What a morning!

2009-05-06T09:56:00.000-07:00

Last night I really took my work out to a whole new level! I’ll be competing with the Pros in 5.5 weeks so it’s time to really kick my behind ! Mind you my coach and my sponsor are also giving me a beating !! JF gave me some butt activation exercise that looks like stuff Jane Fonda did fback in the 80’s but I’ve been doingthem every day and I still get sore ! Not to mention that I should be doing 100 of each and I can barely do 70 lol

I had two girls come to me at the gym and tell me I looked like I really knew what I was doing and it looked like I was enjoying it! At the end of the day, that is the best compliment!

I will be getting my new diet on Monday so I probably shouldn’t freak out and just enjoy my diet for the time being because I know for a fact that the only thing that I’ll get to eat from now to the show are lean protein and green veggies. Doesn’t help that my munchkin is getting more shredded by the minute while I can’t get defined for the life of me lol. He’s been so supportive though and keeps telling me that it’s all in my head. Funny thing is my coach and my sponsor always say that too lol. I know I’m basically just antsy and it’s normal! Give me a week and I’ll be complaining about being too small lol.

I can’t wait for next week-end! I’m going to see an NPC pro show and it always motivates me so much to see others on stage. That also means that I will be training with Nick all week-end and trust me when we go to the gym together I work out harder just because I don’t want him to think I’m weak lol

Now this morning was just crazy, I woke up at 5 to do cardio because I was babysitting my sister’s kids and they get up at 7 so 2h was plenty to train, do my butt activation and shower and get ready for work. However this morning they were up at 5h45….. Thank god they are cute cause they kept me super busy. By 6h15 this morning I was racing cars in the basement and making animals with Play-doe… Did I mention that I only manage to get a sip of coffee by 7h45!!!!! I will finish my cardio tonight before I do weights, they kept me running anyway so I’m sure if anything I did more than my 45 min lol. Good news is I got a gazillions hugs and a “ I love you because you always smell so good” by Thomas and “ I love you A LOT” by Daphnee. Thomas also offered me to sleep with him last night, said I might be scared to sleep in the basement you know with the monsters and all! Don’t you love the way kids think?

Tonight I’m killing back and chest at the gym! I’m really enjoying my current workout and I can’t wait to get to the gym to do them. I lift heavy but it’s short, about 45 min. I have a feeling this is about to end…

Oh the pics today are from Backstage at FAME East, making friends and helping each other out is one of the best part of competing! Boy I can’t wait!!!

Have a great one!

I’m now officially a PRO WNSO Fitness Model

2009-05-05T13:46:00.000-07:00

Yes people I just got the confirmation!!!!!!!! I’ so excited I can barely work lol Who am I kidding, I’m not working I’m blogging about it!!! At my last show I was told that having placed in my last 3 shows with this federation, I was allowed to ask for my pro status. I spoke to my coach and he told me to go for it so I put together a letter , threw in the logo Blogalicious Designs did for me, a few pics and voilà!

When I saw the president’s name in my inbox I almost died! I really didn’t want to read it because I was afraid they would say no but I got it!!!!! Wooohoooo.

I was so excited, I e-mailed Nick and he was so happy for me! BTW I don’t know what happened but my baby is in the current issue of Musclemag and I must have been to a dozen shop and they were all sold out! It came out next week, what’s up with that!!!! He said he would get me a copy but I want it now!!!! I think they are selling out because of him lol since he’s so hot! I’m sure it has nothing to do with the hot blond on the cover!

I was motivated before but now it’s on a all new level!!!! I will be competing with the pros. I need to step up my game!!!!

The stepmill and I will become one!!!!! I have a feeling the butt activation I’ve been doing and that are getting me sore will be staying and I might have to throw in some extra abs here and there. As soon as they stop being sore I will start doing the routine I gave Steph. It takes care of you obliques upper and lower abs. I’m really glad she liked it!!!!

Hope you all had a great day!
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Will Joey Rock Today???

2009-05-01T06:03:00.001-07:00

If you’re familiar with Stephanie’s blog you know that she writes about how her husband rocks on her blog every Friday. However Joey hasn’t rocked for a while now!!!!! I’ve been telling all my friends about how cute they are and that they should check out her posts on Friday, maybe I jinxed it!!!!!!! Let’s keep our fingers crossed.

Good news people! I had my evaluation with my coach on Wednesday and it looks good. I’ve been enjoying my new program so much and the diet is still pretty easy. I get fruits and veggies and even oats!!! My diet didn’t change this week and I don’t have to do cardio. I’m even getting a high carb week all week next week! I told him that the judges told me I needed to work on my conditioning and he said he knew. He said I looked a lot fuller and toned and that he wants me to add some size over the next 10 days and that then it’s going to get rough but that I would come in “very mucho conditioned”. He told me he was tempted to start conditioning me right away but that since I look full now and I’m still quite lean we’ll keep it as is and use the last 5 weeks to work on my condition. The good news is that I competed at 111,5 lbs and I’m now only 114lbs so it shouldn’t be too hard to bring me in leaner than I was. I think I will come in at around 106-108lbs for my June show.

Nick is competing a week before and the week after my show so we’re roughly at the same stage in our prep and it’s a it’s a lot of fun to share that with someone. The poor little thing has been sick all week , getting sick 5 weeks out is the worst thing! You can’t take any medicine cause they have sugar and alcohol in them and you can’t eat comfort food!!!!! I hope he gets better soon. BTW did I mention that Nick is in the June issue of Musclemag and that he’s shooting with them again in 2 weeks!!! I’m so proud, he’s really doing well. We’re going to the NYC pro show and he’ll be doing a gym shoot with the pros that week!!!!! How exciting!

Other than that the photog that shot Nick and I this past week-end got requests from a few girls that did the Fitness Atlantic show because they really liked the way he shot us! I was so happy about that! I’m glad when nice people succeed! I've attached a few more pics from the shoot

That’s it for me!

Hope you all have a great day!

The most perfect week-end!

2009-04-27T13:40:00.000-07:00

OK I have to start by apologizing to Nick! 2 weeks ago I made plans for us for the week-end so when we decided to spend this past week-end together he made plans for us. He told me what he wanted us to do and I thought he must not know that there are only 24h in a day!!! I was even talking to my friend Claudine telling her how adorable he was for “trying” to plan. Well guess what folks, he knows how to plan because we did EVRYTHING we had on our list.

Training Hamstrings on Friday – Check
Cardio on an empty stomach on Saturday – Check
Day at the beach ( it was 95 degrees!!!) – Check
Training arms - Check
Nice romantic dinner in the city – Check
Photoshoot with him - Check
Food shopping together – Check

We also went for a coffee run, took a nap and watched a movie in front of the fireplace!!!
Everything was perfect, the restaurant he picked was absolutely out of this world, it was a nice trendy Mexican restaurant. We got all dolled up ( well me at least) it was so nice outside so I went for a nice little dress and strappy sandals! I haven’t worn those in months so I felt like I was on vacation. It was so nice, since we both diet we were so excited about eating out! I hadn’t been out on a dinner date in soooooo long! We had the most decadent caramel and apple cake for dessert.

Just the fact that we had spent the day at the beach had me acting like a kid! I still can’t believe we spent the day eating our diet food, and soaking up the sun!! It was perfect!
We also had so much fun together at the gym, I did my thing, he did his thing but we both motivate each other so much! I’m soooooo sore today!!!

The shoot was also a blast, Nick looks huge ( well he is) the photog also took some shots of us while we were waiting and even though they are not portfolio shots they are great pics of the two of us. I should get more soon but I already got a couple. We shot right by a highway in front of a graffiti wall and in a castle in a state park. It was gorgeous.

Yes his arms are bigger than my legs, I know!!!!

Hope you had a great week-end!

Why Nick is awesome

2009-04-23T10:05:00.000-07:00

Get ready this is going to be a long post lol

Yesterday I had an off day. Basically I acted like a girl ALL DAY!!! It started out great, I went to the gym for cardio and then met up with my new sponsor. When I walked in he said that I looked great on Saturday but he also said that he didn’t get why my hammies weren’t leaner since they are usually tighter even during the off season. I told him he must have been mistaken but when we took my bodyfat I had to come to the conclusion that my hammies were over twice as fat as they were 8 weeks out from my first show.

How can that be? I’ve never worked harder in my entire life….. NEVER!!!!!! I worked out twice as much and followed my diet…. Part of it was water retention but still my legs should have been tighter. So we tested me and part of my glutes is deactivated so he gave me some exercises to reprogram them. It takes about 10 min and I have to do it daily. It’s funny cause I look like Jane Fonda in the early 80s but it burns like you wouldn’t believe. Then he suggested that I take some green tea extract and DIM in to better control my oestrogen pathways. I’m telling you, JF is amazing, I know that between him and my coach they will find a way to get me tight.

Anyway all that to say that I got to the office feeling bloated and fat and just wanting to have donut or a bag of chips. Now Nick is in the June issue of Musclemag and he was all happy to let me know that and that his friend Nicole saw it because she was with the editor of the mag and they want them both to do a gym shoot in a couple of weeks. Today I’m writing this and I’m so excited for him but yesterday I was a crazy bitch. Nick organized a shoot for the both of us this week-end and since it’s suppose to be nice he also planned a day at the beach. SO what was my reply when he told me that he was doing a gym shoot with his friend….

“You’re right, you and Nicole fit better together, I don’t want to do the shoot this week-end, I will ruin the pictures… I don’t want to go to the beach either, I don’t want anyone to see me in a bikini!!!!!”

So what did Nick reply to that? “Hun shut up” and by now I’m sure you’re all agreeing with him lol. Wait, it gets better

Nick:“Izz, what brought me to you is your heart not your body”
Me: “You find me ugly?????? You only like me because I’m nice????”

Then I got an e-mail that said. Looky looky Yes these are for you!

He got me fat burners lol! I can just hear all the girls saying OMG I would kill my husband/boyfriend if he got me fat burners but I compete and he had told me that if ever I wanted to take any supps those were 100% natural and safe and they work great! Nick is awesome because he saw I was frustrated and he found a way to help. There are a million reasons why he’s great. He sings to me, holds the door, make me laugh, holds my hand when I’m going down some steps so I don’t fall.

Funny thing is I just hung up the phone. I called him to congratulate him because Musclemag wants to do a shoot with him and some pros in a couple of weeks and after his June show. I called him cause it’s exciting news and his reply…… “I’m going to look like a kid compare to those big boys, I have the shape of a swimmer….” At 6’1 270 lbs he’s no Michael Phelps!!!! The funny thing is when he told me he felt like poo he said he was having an Isabelle day lol Great my tude is contagious...

Back at it!

2009-04-21T09:28:00.000-07:00

Today was my first day back to the gym since my show. This morning my crew looked surprise to see me back so soon. Last year I had a week off the diet and from the gym after my show but not this year. The judges said that I needed to work on my conditioning so I have 8 weeks to get tighter!!!! It will get done.

I had a conversation with Nick to try and figure out how I could do things differently because I can’t diet harder or workout more than I did for this show. You do however get better with each show but I want to kick it up a notch. I want to be perfect, I want people to see me in a lineup and not wonder how I got there… So starting today I will be doing cardio on an empty stomach and weights at night, it should get me tighter and I plan on getting on stage about 5 pounds lighter than I was on Sunday. Last year I competed at 112 for Fame East and 106 for Worlds. This year I came in at 111 but tighter than I was at Worlds so if I can get back to 106 for June I should be on point.

I got some pics from Sunday’s shoot and my friends started sending me some backstage pics. I can’t wait to see the other pics from Sunday’s shoot, they are a tad to steamy for a blog but if I get some more wholesome one I will definitely post them!!

Back and chest tonight woo hooo. I’m still sore from Saturday, my lower back is killing me so we’ll see how it goes. I had a killer pump in my legs this morning from cardio so I can just imagine how pumped my back will get!!!

Hope you’re all having a great day ☺

The day after...

2009-04-20T07:23:00.000-07:00

I woke up, still on a high from the day of the show, had 8 twinkies a sip of water and went to get my hair and makeup done for the shoot. I went to my fellow competitor’s house Gabby since she was getting all dolled up for her 11 am shoot as well. She is such a sweetheart, I want her to adopt me. She has a heart of gold and she’s so cool… Anyway I ran out of there and headed to my shoot. The shoot went really well and I got to take some shots for Fame as well after it was done. I also got to take some shots with Gabby and Marylene which was really cool.

On my way home I gave my old coach a call. He is the reason why I started competing and he had never had a chance to see me on stage before. He is also a really close friend and I have so much respect for him and his work. He started his own business as an ART specialist and nutritionist and he’s been doing so well. He does a lot you can check out is site. He told me he was incredibly proud of me and that he believes in my potential and he told me he wanted to sponsor me!!! I will be staying with my current coach but JF will be handling my supplementation and working on activating my glutes and working on my posture!!! He knows my coach very well and they work great together so I can’t even start to imagine the results I will get from that team!

I was mad at first that my coach only gave us one day off the diet and 2 days off from the gym but now that I’m excited about my June show!!! It never stops and I love it like that. I’m also excited that Nick and I will be competing a week apart in June so I get to see him compete and then he’ll come to my show. I can’t wait to see him on that stage he will ROCK!!!!! I started getting some pics thanks to Claudine and Jean-Marc Moreau… I’m so happy with my suit and my makeup and hair. It looked great on stage.

I also got to do something I had never done before…. Eat with my trophy!!! I enjoyed a lasagna and nachos with Claudine Virginie and Chantal after the show with my trophy and it was so much fun ( yeah the makeup and tan looks scary up close lol)

Then last night I celebrated my b-day (2 weeks late) with my sister and the kids. I ate everything in site and felt like poo but we had a blast. I got the Bobbie Brown book about Makeup . I was so happy, I’ve always wanted that book and just never got it! Now I can bring my Stephanie resolution to a whole new level lol.

After having stuffed my face with everything is site I was happy to be eating egg whites this morning!!! Oh and I cheated and got a Venti non fat latte from Starbucks this morning. The cheating is done and I’m back on track. I want to take Worlds by storm

I got 2nd place

2009-04-18T22:44:00.001-07:00

OK I was hoping to tell you all that I finished first but I didn't I have to say I was mad at first but the girl that finished first deserved it. I got really good feedback from the judges and I know what to do to win next time. Basically they said that I was gorgeous, very marketable and that my stage presence was out of this world but that I needed to work on my lower body conditioning. Nothing new there... I knew it was my weeks point and they wanted harder girls this year it's all good. I'm happy with how I did and I think the placing is fair. It's almost 2 am and I'm up at 6 tomorrow for my shoot since hair and makeup is at 7h30!!!!

I hope I still manage to make you proud!

Good night

I'm competing today!!!!

2009-04-18T04:38:00.000-07:00

This is it! I'm getting my hair and makeup done this morning and then I will chill for a bit before I get on stage around 1h30 PM...

I'm feeling good, I woke up rested and in a great mood, I look the best I've ever looked and I'm 5 pounds heavier than I was at worlds and for me that is a huge accomplishment. I just finished cooking some moose that my colleague brought me yesterday. I was telling him how I need to eat lean red meat for breakfast this morning and he's a hunter so he brought me some of his kill and honestly, it's to die for... It's tasty and tender mium.... It's so much better than horse meat!!!

The good news is that I'm not bloated at all from the carbs, my waist is at about 21-22 inches this morning and abs are tight! At registration last night I saw my coach and he had a look at me and he's really pleased, he said I'm where I should be. My number is 980 so it will be my lucky number for today. I didn't see any of the girls I will be competing with and I'm happy about that. Last year it messed with my head for nothing! I also got booked for a sexy gym shoot on Sunday so that means I will not got all out on Saturday night. I will have pizza with my friend Claudine but I will still cut back on the water. Nick has been telling me all week how I shouldn't go all out and to only take sips of water that I will look better and feel better. I wasn't planning on listening but he his right... So I just might.

He asked me what I meant by sexy gym shoot and I told him it would basically be me with a bench in my underwear and his reply.... "Niiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiice" lol

Time for me to go! I hope you all have a great and relaxing week-end and I promise to let you know at it goes and post a gazillion pics!!!

Thank you all so much for your support

God Bless

Are you Noticing something different???

2009-04-16T14:22:00.002-07:00

OK besides the fact that I'm a weird shade of orange at the moment lol

Yes my blog has been pimped and not only that but look on top at the navigation bar..... YES Stephanie and Staci from Blogalicious Designs made me a kick a$$ site, They worked so hard and long to make it look this good and I am soooooooo grateful. I honestly can't thank them enough... It's just perfect and to top it off they were so nice about all of it, especially Steph who had to deal with the fact that my brain was fried yesterday after 3 weeks or being carb depleted. Ask anyone who has ever competed the worst feeling in the world is your brain being so depleted from any sugars that brain function shuts down. You're smart enough to know you're dumb and can't think straight but you can't do anything about it! I read the same instruction ( 5 lines) for over 45 min and still couldn't do it!!!! I ended up screewing everything up and sending my login info to Steph cause at that point I knew I was useless... You don't believe me? Go read yesterday's post, I'm missing an average of 2 words per sentence!!!

After work it was time for my last cardio session and a spray tan! Funny thing about that. I get to the Spray Tan place and they are telling me that the technician will be there in a few minutes and I just need to get ready. I did what I normally do, I got naked stepped on the little towel and waited awkwardly only to find when the technician walked in that it was a DUDE!!!!! and no he wasn't gay!!!!! I told him I was naked he replied that he had noticed and I got a spray tan lol I wanted to die but what was I going to do, I was there, he had already seen me naked and I needed that dark competition spray tan done.

Came home had my last meal and worked a bit before getting my goodnight call and calling it a day. My deplete workout this morning was insane. I was sweating and freezing which is normal when your glycogen stock is completely empty. Since then I've been having about 40 g of carbs every 2 hours. I feel that I'm filling up nicely and I'm super happy about that. My only fear is that I feel my competition suit is a bit tight on me and my designer said he had to since I would be dehydrated but I'm afraid I'm going to bulk more than lose. Oh well I'll be bringing scissors and thread and worse comes to worst I'll make it bigger myself!!!

I'm so ready to hit the stage you have no idea!!! My suitcase is pack, my backstage bag is packed, my tan will be done tonight, my site is up and I've already posted it on WNSO website, Bodyuilding.com and Facebook so people know who I am and that I'll be competing on Saturday!

I even went to the store to buy all my post comp junk.... SPK ( just for Steph) , Cherry Blasters, Fuzzy Peaches, peanut M&M, Reeses and when I have a chance I will stop by Wal-Mart to buy chocolate covered Pretzel with PB.......

I'm out, I'm heading to my sister's for my tan!!!!

Hope you're having a Fantabulous day and remember that if you need a website or to pimp out your blogs Blogalicious is amazing and you NEED to talk to them.

Who needs Easter chocolate when you’ve got Nick!

2009-04-14T14:39:00.001-07:00

Nick was supposed to spend my birthday weekend with me but because he had a shoot in Miami the same week it was impossible. Instead he suggested taking off from work and spending the long Easter weekend with me. Who in their right mind would like to spend 72h with someone that is depleted, has no energy and can’t eat or do anything fun is beyond me but he insisted and said he wanted to be there for me when I needed it the most…

Yeah I’m going to give you all a little heads up, Nick is perfect! He is sweet, caring, loving, funny, smart and hot! Just by looking at him you would never guess the kind of person he is and I think it’s his best quality. Just last week I couldn’t sleep and he grabbed his guitar and sang me the most beautiful song!!!!! I was so moved I thought my heart would stop!!!

This weekend we couldn’t really do much since I’m one week out and I still had to go to the gym and go to practice and instead of sleeping in he came with me. He was there to cheer me on and tell me how great I looked, give me advice, warm me up (hey I was only wearing a bikini and high heels and it was freezing) reminded me when it was time to eat and made sure I was ok. When we trained he didn’t even make fun of me or how weak I am, he just came over and said I was hot and that he loved how focus I am when I train. After the gym we went to the Nordic spa. It’s a place where you take a steam bath or a sauna and then you throw yourself in freezing water. They also have a Jacuzzi and giant beds where you can rest (or in my case just fall dead asleep). We had such a nice relaxing time and it was just funny to see everyone there just stare at him because he’s just so big. Plus it didn’t help that I looked ridiculously small next to him, I’m currently 5’4 and 110 and he’s over 6’1 and 280!!!

We came home to watch a movie and you guest it I fell asleep again!!! Poor thing at this point I was feeling bad for him cause all I did was sleep but he just made it better by saying that he was spending the week-end with me because he wanted to support me and be there for me… I fell asleep while he was singing to me, I woke up to a massage because my back was sore from posing practice and he even took out the trash because it’s a guy thing to do. He made the first part of my deplete fly by because I wasn’t even thinking about food. I was just happy enjoying some down time and laughing my head off at all his lame jokes.

He competes but he also works and he’s very family oriented and it was so nice to be able to share the experience with someone who truly wants me to succeed…

I had the best week-end ever and as far as chocolate goes do not worry about me, I bought 9 Cadbury eggs and they will most probably be gone by 9 am on Monday!!! Oh and did I mention that Nick got me Twinkies for after my show!!!!! I told you all he was perfect…

I’m getting my suit tonight! I can’t wait… Also all kinds of fun and exciting stuff, I will blog about it all tomorrow!!!

Happy birthday to me!!!

2009-04-06T07:17:00.000-07:00

I’m officially old lol!!!!

So Saturday was my birthday! Didn’t really feel like it though, I guess it’s normal when you can’t drink or eat for your b-day!!!

Week-end started off weird, I came home from work early and decided to take a nap after cardio because I was dead tired. Figured I would sleep 1h and then cook, clean, do laundry… You know your regular fun Friday night stuff lol. So around 5h30 I get down for my nap only to wake up at 12h30!!!!! I freaked!!!!! I still had two meals to eat and I hadn’t gotten anything done. So I called Nick completely panicked and asked him what to do, only to be told that I probably needed to rest in the first place, have a meal and a half and go back to bed. That is exactly what I did and by 1 am I was sleeping like a baby again and only got up at 6h30 the next day to go to the gym for hams, bis and abs.

After the gym was to the other gym to get my evaluation with my coach. He was really happy with the progress I made last week so he suggested that instead I get back on my regular diet I should deplete all week this week… Not too happy about that but hey I want to win. He thinks I will be leaner than I was back in June and I definitely have more muscle. Cardio is still 4 times a week separate from weights but he wants me to up my intensity!!!! My question is how do you up you’re intensity when you have 0 carbs in your diet???? After my eval I went straight up north for my grandpas b-day where I was expose to cake, cheese, bread and all sorts of good stuff. I didn’t cheat and I wasn’t even tempted. I also got the best news ever!!! My grandpa told me that the day before he went to see his doctor and his kidneys are back to 100% and he’s responding well to the treatments he’s undergoing for his cancer. There is definitely a God…

Left my parents place to go do groceries and cook and then rushed to my sisters for my brother in law’s b-day dinner where I was expose to more wine, more cake, more bread and more cheese!!!

Sunday morning wasn’t that much better cause I had to get up at 6h30 to cook, clean my floors and do more laundry!!! Then left for my other grandfather’s b-day. Around 2pm I was dead so I joined Daphnee for a nap… She woke up clapping congratulating me on a great nap lol. Left late, came home and got ready for today. Packing all my lunches and both gym bags.

That was my week-end! All that on 0 carbs lol so yeah it didn’t really feel like it was my b-day. It’s ok I will celebrate in less than 2 weeks… Does that mean I won’t turn 33 till the 19???

Aggressive nakedness!!!

2009-03-30T10:46:00.000-07:00

I read an article in the New York Times once and they made a list of the top ten gym pet peeves.

Number one on that list was called aggressive nakedness. Basically those people who walk around naked in the lockers almost happy to be blow drying their hair and washing their face naked!!! Well last Friday I went to the gym after work for cardio and the place was empty. When I got back to the locker room we were only two girls and our lockers happened to be side by side. It was time for my meal so I grabbed my chicken and sat down on one of the little bench. The other lady is headed to the showers so she gets naked, so far so good!!! She then turns around to talk to me… NO TOWEL IN SIGHT!!!! So I’m sitting and she’s maybe 6 inches away standing… I finally see the towel but it’s in her hands, I guess she doesn’t feel like covering up. I turn around and try to protect my meal from this but she turns too!!!! Anyway I get up and start taking off my shoes, she wishes me a good day and leave. You know what, I can’t stand aggressive nakedness either . That lady ruined spinaches for me forever !!!!

On Saturday I had my first general practice for my show. I am currently depleting so that means I feel kinda brain dead but I’m still in a great mood. Trainings are still going strong. I am not as lean as I would like to be and I’m afraid I’m going to be late but my coach told me again that he thinks it’s in my head and that it’s just because the more comps you do the less drastic every prep is. I have so much more energy than last year and I’m definitely not as hungry. I competed in Fame East at 112lbs last year and 3 weeks out this year I’m at 113,5. I still have 3 weeks to shed some fat and that is usually when you really start to drop fast. I’m doing a test deplete and a carb up this week so M,T,W,T will be egg whites, white fish and chicken. That is it, no veggies, no fruits, no grains… I’m still lifting 6 times a week and cardio is at 4 times a week separate from lifting with yoga and pilates somewhere in there for fun…

I told my coach I was getting worn out and he said just get through this week and we’ll talk next week. I asked him if he was planning on changing anything after and he said no. I asked him why wait a week then and he said because there is no way someone is ever going to quit 2 weeks out lol ( he’s right)

Other than that life as usual, spent time with the fam and my sisters kids. Went to brunch with friends ( I had coffee) and stayed home and slept, cooked and train!!!

Hope you all had a great week-End!

I'm going nuts!!!

2009-03-25T06:04:00.000-07:00

ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

OK I’m officially going crazy…

Starting a new job can be demanding because you have to figure out a new routine and it can be a bit stressful but starting a new job 4 weeks out is really really not ideal lol
I love being busy but I work 9h a day, I have to sleep for 8h, workout for 3h, eat for 1h, cook for 1h, travel for 1h, errands for 1h add to that visiting my nephews and my niece, going to see my coach for my evaluation, all the odd stuff I need to do for contest prep and work yeah I’m short a couple of hours!!!!

I keep thinking ok 3.5 weeks and I will be done but then I start again for my June and July shows!!! I really need to get organized and FAST!!!! I have so much to do at home and right now I feel a tad-overwhelmed lol

I haven’t lost any weight so far with the new diet but I do feel tighter. I will try and take progress pics later on this week and post them. I have a pitch this afternoon and I’m going for my suit fitting after!!!!! I can’t wait. Once that part is done then he starts stoning it and then I get it and I walk around my house in my hooker shoes and my suit with a big fat smile on my face like a 5 yo in a Cinderella dress!!!

I just need to breath a bit and when I look at the next 3 weeks I have no clue when I will get to!!! I have a general practice with the other girls this weekend. I always end up having a mini breakdown when I go to those, leaving there telling myself I will never be ready on time lol calling my coach saying I’m quitting LOL . This contest prep has been so different from the others. I’m lucky enough to have met someone who truly has my back and couldn’t be more supportive. Plus he's insanly funny and with no carbs, I'm an easy audience... Even my coach noticed the difference!!! Said I looked like I was enjoying it more and before I loved it!!!

OK back to work!!!

Have a great day

Happy Friday

2009-03-20T07:04:00.000-07:00

Where do I start????

I started my new job on Monday and I absolutely LOVE it!!! I'm crazy about it! I'm staying late to work on a couple of projects that we are pitching next week and it is so much fun. I haven’t been this excited about a job in a long time.

On top of it the president really trusts me so I'm in charge of some of the admin stuff and it keeps things very interesting. I know God knows what he's doing but I have to give him props for that one, he really out did himself.

I work for a web and software developer firm and it's a totally different crowd! Can someone say nerd!!!! I blended right in with a big stain on my white shirt on the 3rd day and soaking the carpet while trying to put a new water thingy in the water cooler lol.

The good news though is that 3 of the guys I work with are ex pro football players ( they are in sales) and we joined a brand new super fancy gym about 5 min from work. That's good cause I have to be at the gym twice a day now so I do weights in the am and cardio at lunch or right after work! It's really great.

Contest prep is going ok. I had a bit of a breakdown earlier this week but I was lucky enough to have a special someone cheer me up. It was one of those, I'm too fat, I don't have enough muscle, why am I doing this again???? I didn't get more then 4-5 hours of sleep per night this week and with the workouts I have I need at least 8. I managed 7h last night and it made such a difference. I'm hungry again, I feel stronger and tighter. I have my evaluation on Saturday so I guess I will know if I'm still on track by then. I'm 4 weeks out.... I can almost taste my cheat meal!!!

I hope you're all having a great day!

I will try to be better at blogging, I just need to figure out my new routine.

I Love my job!!!

2009-03-16T15:15:00.000-07:00

OK so last week I got a call saying I would only start working at the office on Monday! I was bummed cause I was really looking forward to starting my new job but I had so much to do before I started that I figured God gave me two extra days!!!

Anyways I started today and I LOVE IT!!! I love everything about it, I live the people, my office, the stuff I have to do, the power I'm given, the schedule.... EVERYTHING!!!!!

I'm just so happy right now, I even forgot how hungry I was today!!!!

Woooo me :)

Hope you had a great week-end and a fantabulous Monday :)

This is not a funny post

2009-03-13T15:25:00.001-07:00

My dad used to tell us growing up that raising girls was hard because it’s not them you don’t trust it’s the rest of the world and that no matter how good your girls are you always worry…

Lately, with the Rhianna and Chris Brown saga, we’ve been hearing a lot of statistics about violence towards women and it’s been blowing my mind… This morning I read the results of a survey that was done in a high school where 46% of the teens ( boys and girls) thought that she probably did something to cause it!!!!! It got me sooooooo mad. I’ve also heard many people saying that we only knew one side of the story and we do not know what she did to make him so angry. Comments like those leave me completely puzzled. I didn’t know there were certain instances when it’s ok to hit a girl… OH WAIT THERE ISN’T!!! I refuse to believe that in 2009 some people still think she MUST have done something wrong!!!! Are you kidding me?????

Seriously I want to scream. I also read that 1 out of 4 teenage girl will at one point be in an abusive relationship. It scares me... I have 2 sisters, cousins, best friends one out of four!!!! To think that one of them might have been abused is an extremely scary thought… I was looking at Daphnee the other day and was wondering will she be the one out of four, will she believe that sometimes it’s ok for a guy to hit a girl? It scary and infuriating… If you have a girl how can you not be traumatized by the statistics? What can we do as a society to prevent this?

It’s never ok… NEVER get it????

It doesn’t get better than this!!!

2009-03-09T18:36:00.000-07:00

As some of you know I lost my job about 3 weeks ago due to the crapy economy. I was extremely scared that I wouldn’t find anything. Now the same day I started applying for various jobs and I started working on a plan. I’m not the type to sit at home and wait and that’s probably why I’ve been so crazy busy recently!!!

I’m a creature of habit and I love having a routine. Getting up, gym, work, home, sleep. So you can imagine how excited I was today when I accepted a position as a Marketing and communication company for an IT firm!!!

I’m happy. I kept praying and telling God that I knew he had my back and that this was probably for the best in the long run but I was scared. The position I took is perfect for me! It will challenge me and I will get to do what I love. To top it off I can work from home from time to time and they are allowing to cram all my work in 4 days so that I can work on starting my own business on the fifth day. I will get to do something I am extremely passionate about and who knows where that will lead me!!!!

Other than that I love my life right now, prep is going well, my friends are unbelievable and I couldn’t ask for a better family. I have spent the last month smiling and I’m loving it. I didn’t really have a reason to smile, if there was a time for me to be depressed it should have been then but I wasn’t I was just so happy all the time. My friends Carla sent me this the other day and it pretty much sums up how I feel

“When you’re happy for no reason, you bring happiness to your everyday experiences rather than try to extract happiness from them. It’s not that your life always looks perfect – it’s that however it looks you’re still happy” – Marci Shimoff.

Hope you’re enjoying life as much as I am

Have a great night

2009-02-26T10:49:00.000-08:00

First I would like to apologize for having been MIA the last two weeks!

A lot has happened recently and I needed to take a step back and prioritize! Don’t worry! I’m still sticking to my Stephanie resolution, it’s right up there on the list lol.

Life is definitely looking up! I’ve been busy working on a million projects and being there for the important people in my life that needed me. Family is so important to me and no matter if it’s my sis, my parents, grandparents, when they call I’m there.

I’m also thinking of starting my own business on the side and that has also been keeping me quite busy.

Contest prep is going so well it’s almost scary!!! I had a tendonitis that almost magically disappeared so I can go back to running today! Training is going really well and the diet is still quite easy to follow. My friends and family have been telling me how much healthier I look this time around and how I don’t complain half as much lol.

Soooo I started my new training routine this week and I love it! It a lot shorter than the previous one but I have to workout 6 times a week!!! I can’t believe I’m almost 7 weeks out! This prep is really flying by!!!

I will be taking progress pics tonight and will try to post them tomorrow.

Now the most exciting news EVER!!!!!

If you don’t know about Stephanie by now you must be living under a rock!!!! She and her BFF have a Web and blog design business and they are EXTREMLY talented!!! Just check out her blog or their portfolio! I’m telling you, Blogalicious design is tha bomb. Sooooooo they have been working on a website for me and I have to say that my jaw dropped when Steph sent me the test home page. I knew they were good but honestly the home page they had design for me blew my mind away! Everybody that saw it was quite impressed with their work. The best part is that they have come up with a very creative way to make the sites they design very affordable! If you were thinking about getting one done I highly suggest checking their site and prices out!!! You will not regret it

I will let you guys know when the site is up! This is so exciting.

Hope you’re all doing very well

Bad week :(

2009-02-09T09:53:00.000-08:00

Last Thursday I was about to write a new post and I had so much to write about. I was going to write about my evaluation this week-end, a trip I’m planning with a friend, some good news I got recently and my cheat meal the next day.

I was halfway through my post when my mom called. She asked me if I was at the office and if my door was closed. At that point I knew it wasn’t good news. A family member is sick and it hit me hard. My mom and I talked a bit and after making sure I was ok we hung up and I called the rest of my family. I had a conference call about 5 min later so I did that and decided that I needed a break so I went home only to get there and get some more bad news.

I sat on my bed and asked God if after the day I had he really thought it was necessary to hit me with a lawsuit!!!! He couldn’t wait a day??? I had two options, throw myself a pity party or count my blessings. So I counted my blessing and after I did my favorite things in the world, called my nephews and my niece. Oliver asked me how my day at work was, who my friends at work were, asked if I had gotten any e-mails and if so from who. Then proceeded to name all the people that work with his dad and asked me if any of my colleagues had been bad today!!! After Daphnee sang me a song and laughed on the phone for about 10 min. She has the most beautiful little laugh you have ever heard. She laughs like a girl and it’s the cutest! I went to bed happy to have such wonderful people in my life and knowing how blessed I am.

I know my parents worry about me because I’m single and I don’t have anyone to share my burden with but like my grandma said this week-end there is a reason and one day I will figure it all out! Plus if I had a husband and kids who would help out my sisters with theirs??? Don’t you love her rationale??? Plus it made me realize how amazing my support system is. I got so many texts, calls and e-mails from my friends that night!

Now the good and fun stuff! I had my evaluation with my coach this week-end and it went really well. I scored an 8 out of 9 this week again. The only concern we have at the moment is that my legs are still fat. I took progress pics last week and they have leaned but not as much as they should have. Work outs are going to stay the same and still no cardio but my carbs have been cut by half!!!!! I have a feeling my colleagues will hear my complain about hunger soon enough!
Friday was also my last cheat meal and I went for Mexican food! I had also gotten myself some cookie dough ice cream but I fell asleep after my last bite of ranchero only to wake up 11h later lol Can you spell carb coma????

Hope you’re all having a fantastic day

I love contest prep!

2009-01-29T11:52:00.000-08:00

We all have trainings we love and training we can’t wait to be done with. I personally enjoy fast pace low reps workout. It’s probably the reason why I’m loving this new routine! I really enjoyed the one before as well.

I was talking to a friend recently that was saying she’s was finding hard to get back in the gym and I asked her if she enjoyed training. I think the only way you can stay motivated is if you love what you’re doing. That is why when I get a couple of workouts with only 4 exercises and about 20 sets of the same thing I want to give up. I stay focused cause I have a goal and I know it’s only one program but it’s not the same at all as this week!!!! I’m so excited about my training that I wake up 10 min. before the alarm and I can’t wait to go to the gym!!!

Plus the diet is pretty easy, I was worried because I hadn’t been hungry this week but now that my cold is almost over I’m starving again lol So the no hunger at the beginning of the week was just one of the many cold symptoms I had to deal with lol.

I really blasted shoulders this morning and it felt GREAT!!!! This was my wo

A1- Incline DB lateral raise
A2 – Standing lateral raises
B1-Cable upright row
B2-BB upright row
C1- W press
C2- Hammer Press
D1 –BB shrug
D2- Short range BB shrug
E1- Low pulley narrow bicep curls
E2 – Low pulley wide bicep curls
F1 – Incline DB curl
F2- Partial DB curl
G1 – Skull Crusher
G2 – Close grip Bench press
H1- Reverse tricep push down
H2 – Tricep pushdown

My arms were dead after that! I was so excited!!! I’m also more vascular than I was last year. I’ve never ever seen my bicep vein and I think that this year might be the year of the vein!!! Seriously I get veiny abs but bicep vein nooooooo, not me lol.

I also got a really nice surprise yesterday but I think I’ll wait just a bit before I tell ya’ll what it is lol. ( Claudine you can e-mail me, I’ll tell you)

Hope you’re all having a great day!

I will survive!!!

2009-01-28T09:29:00.000-08:00

Ok so today is day 3 of my cold and I think it’s the worst one so far! Thank God today was my off day at the gym because there was no way I could have lifted ANYTHING this morning. If I feel a bit better I will go for a run tonight but if not, I’ll stay home, call my mom and complain! My mom is the best!!!

Ok let me start by saying that I love my baby sister more than anything. I feel I need to say that cause I’m about to make fun of her lol. My sister and her husband are a great couple, they balance each other out perfectly. She’s real bossy and he has a great sense of humor about it. They are also great parents to two gorgeous and hyperactive boys. So yesterday the entire family went to the hospital to see the ORL because their boys get a lot of ear infections and Oliver had some tubes put in last year and they needed to clean his ears and see if Mathew needed tubes. So Oliver gets on the little table and they start cleaning his ears. He was such a good boy, he was holding his mother’s hand, not moving his jaw shut tight and tears coming down his little face. When they stopped he looked at his mom and said, I was a good boy, I did what I was told and didn’t move. ( at that point I was on the phone crying, so proud of him lol) The entire time my BIL is joking around, telling the doctor he tried to convince my sister to clean their kids ears but she didn’t want to!!! ( BTW she does) So the doctor turns around and tells my sister that it’s gotten so bad that both boys will have to go under general anesthesia to get their ears cleaned and new tubes put in. She then grabbed her oldest and put him back on the bed holding him down telling the doctor that he was ok to go again and he could finish while he was awake. I’m laughing about it today but I can understand how scared she was when the doctor told her about the surgery. She then told the doctor that it was all her husband’s fault because no one on our side ever got an ear infection or wax clogged ears lol. She then asked the doctor 8 times if it was really necessary to which my BIL replied, sorry she keeps asking the same thing Doc she’s def… LMAO. We’re all a little scared about the procedure but we know it’s routine and I know the entire family will help her through it.

Now I also worked out this week! My workouts have been brutal. I did chest Monday night and legs Tuesday morning. Chest and back are killing me and I will know if my leg workout worked when I get up tomorrow. I have a 2 day delay when it comes to DOMS. Can’t wait to do arms tomorrow.

Chest and Back
A1-Incline DB Fly 3 x 6
A2 - Incline DB Press 3 x 6
B1- Flat Pronated Fly 3 x 6
B2 - Flat DB Press 3 x 6
C1 - Cable Cross Over 3 x 6
C2 - Cable Scoop 3 x 6
D1 - Pronated Pull down 3 x 9
D2 - Suppinated pull down 3 x 9
E1- Seated cable row 3 x 6
E2 - Seated cable row wide 3 x 6
F1 - Oblique Crunch 3 x 6
F2 - Rolling bb bridge 3 x 6
G1 - Rope Crunch 3 x 8
G2 - Incline sit up 3 x 8
H1 - Decline leg raise 3 x 15
H2 - Hanging knee tuck 3 x 8

It’s long yeah I know! Worst part is it’s my lightest wo out of the 3 days!!!!!

Now legs!

A1 - Leg Press 3 x 6
A2 - Partial Leg Press 3 x 6
B1- Squat 3 x 16
B2 - BB Hack squat 3 x 6
C1 - Heel elevated DBS Squat 3 x 8
C2 - Kneeling leg curl 3 x 8
D1 - Leg curl feet turned in 3 x 6
D2 - Leg curl feet turned out 3 x 6
E1 - BB Bakc squat 3 x 6
E2 - Romanian Deadlift 3 x 6
F1 - Toe Press 3 x 6
F2 - Partial Toe Press 3 x 6
G1 - Seated Calf raises 3 x 8
G2 - Top range seated calf raises 3 x 8
H1- Seated Calves raises ( drop set) 3 x 6

Have a great day!

PS we're getting another 25 cm of snow

I'm right where I should be!!!

2009-01-26T11:08:00.000-08:00

First of all I would like to dedicate this post to my friend Claudine! Claudine has been the one listening to me complain that I’m fat, will never be ready for the show and that I’m bloated for the past couple of weeks. She’s the one who’s been nicely telling me that it’s all in my head and that I will make it. So Claudine thank you and this one is for you…

Saturday was my evaluation and the end of my pre contest prep. That means that the food scale is back and the measuring cup is now my best friend! My last evaluation didn’t go so well it was after all 2 days after new year’s and I think I was still digesting at the time lol. The way my coach evaluates us is on presentation, definition and physique in general. You can get a maximum of 9 points and last time I had 5 lol. So I figured I would try to get as many point as possible with posing and presentation. I got up early, got coffee for the boys and went to the gym for a killer leg workout. I increased all my weights on legs and abs. I had my reefed the day before and I felt so strong.

After I was done I went to the locker room to get ready and when I got back out 45 min later instead of my usual 15 the boys started laughing and asked me if I was planning on doing the Miss America pageant later on!!! I came out of there in full hair and makeup lol. I was determined to get those presentation points. When I got to my coach’s office everyone told me I looked good and that there was something different about me. They were completely oblivious to the fact that I was all done up so I told them I was just rested lol

My coach evaluated me and he was really happy with me, told me I was exactly where he wanted me to be so no cardio for now and, listen to this, 2 more “all I can eat cheat meals”!!!!! I was so excited I had to tell someone so I called my sister and she was so happy for me. I went to yoga came home and started cooking. Now do you know how much cooking you have to do when you eat 7 times a day!!!

Anyhow the rest of the week-end was very relaxing; I watched the Miss America pageant… BTW I’m still laughing at Miss Texas who presented her state by saying “The bigger the hair the closer to God!” I thought she was hilarious and it was cool to see a pageant delegate make fun of herself! I wanted to do pageants when I was a kid but we don’t have them here. Thank God lol competing already kills my parents I can only imagine….

Sunday was more cooking and I spent the afternoon and evening with my sister and her two kids. They spoiled me with hugs and kisses as well as they cold they had that I’m now stuck with lol. Catching a cold from them is so worth it, they make my life! I didn’t workout this morning cause I felt stuffy and will go tonight instead , my back and chest is my lightest wo and I have 16 exercises!!!!!

That’s it for me! Hope you’re all having a happy Monday.

The boys at my gym

2009-01-23T09:00:00.001-08:00

Last week Stephanie wrote something about not liking going to Gold’s Gym because there were boys there! I thought it was funny and told her that the boys are probably more intimidated by her than she is by them!

I met someone that trains at the same gym I used to train at a couple years ago and I remembered him from the gym but he said he never saw me there. I told him it was probably because I only did cardio and yoga classes back then. He laughed and said he was glad I made it all the way to the weight room.

I laughed because it was funny but more than anything I laughed because I couldn’t believe there was a time in my life when I was that girl!!! When I started training a while back, I would make my trainer wait for me outside so I wouldn’t have to walk in the gym alone and if I got there early I would sit in the girl’s locker room and wait because there was just NO WAY I could go wait at the juice bar all by myself. For the longest time I couldn’t go to the weight room by myself, when my trainer couldn’t make it I would either do Yoga at home or I would go on the elliptical. One day I was training and my coach asked me why I looked mad. Here is what happened…

Coach: What’s wrong?
Me: Nothing ( I’m a girl what did you expect lol)
Coach: No seriously, you look pissed
Me: That guy over there is looking at me, I hate it when people look at me
Coach: Why?
Me: Cause he’s probably thinking that I’m weak and that I have bad form.
Coach: You’re crazy, he’s just checking out your ass.
Me: Uhhhhhhhhhhhh

That is the day when I stopped worrying about boys at the gym. See we girls think about stuff like : am I sweating too much? Do I stink? Does my fat show when I bend that way? Will anyone notice that my butt shakes when I run? OMG I can’t believe she wore that to the gym? I hope no one talks to me….

Now what do boys think about?
1-Wow I’m strong look at those guns
2- Look at my abs (even if they have a gut)
3- Hehe the girl over there is doing bent over row; I’m hoping she doesn’t catch me staring at her ass…. Dang she did!!!

I’m glad I stopped being intimidated by boys at the gym because I love lifting and I love competing. I’m lucky enough now to have a very supportive group of friends at the gym. The boys I was afraid of are the same boy that call me when I don’t make it to the gym 2 days in a row because they worry. The same boys who tell me I’ve added size or leaned out when they know I’m having a hard day. They will also comfort me when I break down because I’m fat 2 weeks before a show and again because I’m too small the week after lol. They will also be super excited to see my suit when I get it the week before the show.

Don't get me wrong, I still think it's unfare that I'm the one who has to get them coffee on Saturday morning cause I'm the only girl but the boys at my gym are really cool and it might have taken me 2 years to warm up to them but I’m glad I did!

Boys rock!

Have a good one!

Progress Pics!!!

2009-01-21T11:00:00.000-08:00

Ok so for once I’m early not late lol. I was feeling good yesterday after a killer leg workout and decided to take some progress pics. I’m currently at 118.6 lbs. I’m really happy about that because I was at 118lbs on Jan. 18 2008 so with the same number of weeks to go I’m the same weight but I’m more muscular so I’m probably not as fat as I think haha! I know I know, it's all in my head...

I also realized that I will have to practice posing soon because as I was doing my back poses I got a massive cramp. You have to hold it for quite a bit during a show and I couldn’t even keep it for 5 sec last night lol.
My primary concern was my legs since all my pants feel tight on me but after looking at the pics and comparing to the ones from last year I noticed that my quad and hamstring were bigger, the fat layer is the same it’s the muscle that grew!!!!! Yeah me :)

So here are the pics ( pink = a year ago and blue is now):

I couldn’t get my butt out of bed this morning, I was just extremely tired. I haven’t been able to fall asleep early like I normally do and I’m really feeling it. So instead I decided to sleep in, do my hair, put on the nice suit ( that I had to iron…) and I’ll go to the gym after work instead. I’m quite proud to say that I’ve been doing good on my Stephanie Resolution. I still get asked if I have something special planned when I get to the office but they will eventually get used to my new polished looks lol

Hope you’re all having a great day.

Today is a new day :)

2009-01-20T06:19:00.000-08:00

I had a crappy day yesterday :( I started the day really tired. I had been away on business for 3 days and only got back home late Saturday so I had to rush to get everything done one Sunday and had to miss a family get together. My offsite was great though, everyone said that the party we threw on Friday was the best ever. Everyone was dancing and singing along to the 80’s classic!!!! You have to love the 80’s. The following morning I was presenting the marketing and sales plan to the company and yet again nothing but praises so why was I in such a crappy mood? I slept funny and ended up busting my shoulder. I called my A.R.T. specialist ( who happens to be my ex lol )and he managed to squeeze me in in between clients. I am so grateful to him because yesterday I couldn’t even move my arm!!! Also weighted myself yesterday morning and guess what… I gained a pound. So I’m working hard at the gym, I’m practically starving myself and I gained a pound!!!! I even had a microwave and a fridge in my hotel room so I could stick to the diet… What more can I do?

I was also nervous because my grandfather had bronchitis and somehow his antibiotics caused his livers to fail. He was hospitalized on Friday and he’s now doing a million times better. He even sang me a song and joked when I called him yesterday, told me what he had for lunch AND asked for a play by play description of the second half of the Steeler ‘s game lol. Yep he’s back!!! I’m lucky enough to still have my 4 grandparents and I guess just knowing he could be sick got to me.

This morning I woke up tired but at least I slept really well. My shoulder and back are sore but at least they can move and someone at the gym told me I looked a lot leaner. So far so good lol I will try taking progress pics again tonight, I know I said the 24 but I can’t wait anymore. Wish me luck cause last time I attempted this I freaked about how much chubbier I am now compared to the same time last year.

Hope you’re all having a great day

It was about time!!!

2009-01-15T06:41:00.000-08:00

First of all I need to vent!!! It’s been freezing here in Montreal, the temp as been around -40 something for the past couple of days and I’ve had enough!!! It makes it so much harder to get out of bed :( I was to be living in San Antonio at this point, what happened lol Plus I’ve had to train 12 days straight and it’s taken a toll on my energy level, what I mean by that is that I have none lol. The good news is that I’ve made it wooohooo me! I’m now off for 2 days and back to the gym on Sunday.

Work has been completely insane. We are having our annual meeting with all the employees this Friday and Saturday ( yes Saturday till 10pm…) Since I’m presenting I’ve had to prepare and it’s been a challenge but everything is done and now I’m looking forward to it! I will have all my food with me but I have no clue how well I will be able to follow my diet. I’ll do my best but at the end of the day my job comes first! If I can’t follow it to a T I’ll just do an extra bit of cardio next week!

I have to admit that I expected more results from the diet. I’m trying to compare to last year and I find I’m a bit pudgier this year. I will start taking progress pics next week and I will have a better idea. Being pale as a ghost doesn’t help lol

Did I mention that I’m also on the social committee and that I’ve been organizing our annual dinner at work! I’ve made it an 80’s theme dinner and we all have to bring pics of us in the 80’s. I have to say my mom was really really good and she picked the ones on me when I 5 instead of 14! I love her!!

Have a great day!

What a Fantastic week-end!

2009-01-13T10:43:00.000-08:00

If we had talked on Saturday I probably wouldn’t have told you the same thing, I went to the gym pulled a muscle, went to the bank and got a hit and run on my car went to the grocery store got my basket stolen with my bags from my other errands in it when I was almost done and the worst part is that given that I’m prepping for a show I couldn’t even go home and have a drink  Needless to say I went to bed early that night cause I wanted the day to end!!!

I was asleep by 9 pm tops and when I woke up the next day I checked my clock and it was noon!!!!! Do you know how rested you are when you sleep 15h lol. I was on fire. I got up went to the gym for bis and tris and completely KILLED IT!!!!! I had a huge pump I loved it! Watched the Giants get destroyed by Philly!!! My ex is an Eagles fan and I used to toy with him that one day while he was sleeping I would take is Eagles blankie and throw it away but last Sunday I was the one jumping up and down screaming GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Eagles! Knowing none of the Manning brothers would get a super Bowl ring this year makes my life!!!

I then went to my sister to watch the 2nd game and play with my nephew. I was basically jumping up and down when one of my friend asked what was going on and my BIL said you sleep 15h, you’ll see how rested and happy you are. My other friend reply, it has nothing to do with sleep, the Giants lost she’s happy that’s it! I think that at that point I had forgotten that my car was damaged lol.
Oh and so far so good on my Stephanie resolution, I watched football with my hair done and mascara!!!!!

Now talking about Steph! Clearly the girl needs glasses!!!!! You have to go check out her blog today, it’s hilarious!!! http://www.thegorenablog.com/ Steph is unbelievably gorgeous and she obviously has nothing to worry about but if she wants to get her butt to the gym she has about 4 months so that means plenty of time!!!
I love Mexican food and I plan on eating tons of it while I’m in SA so you better not be on a diet!

Have a great day ya’ll

The biggest reward of all...

2009-01-09T06:54:00.000-08:00

...is weight loss

This morning I didn’t really want to get up! I was tired, every single body part hurts and my room was cold. Last contest prep Michael would call me 5 min. before my alarm rang every morning to wish me good morning and to tell me to go kick butt in the gym. Needless to say I wanted to make him proud and I would get my butt out of bed pronto. Don’t get me wrong, I didn’t do all of that for a guy but it was nice to do it as a team and to have that support.

Like I said, this morning when my alarm rang I was desperately looking for a reason to not stay in bed and then it hit me!!!!! I wonder if I’m finally under 120lbs ( huge psychological barrier for me) So I jumped out on bed and got on the scale….. 119.8 woooooooooooooooooohoooooooo!

You have no clue how excited I got, only 10 more lbs to go lol. It gave me so much energy and I really killed back and chest this morning! I’m still sore everywhere but hey people can’t call me chubbs anymore hahahahah.

The other good news of the day is that today is reefed day so pasta, fruits and rice are my friends!

I would also like to inform you all that my hair his done for the second day in a row and I’m wearing a nice pencil skirt and a knitted top. For the records nylons are not that warm when it’s -20…

Have a great day!

P.S. Stephanie start saving because I will take you up on your offer and go shopping when I go see you guys :)

My Stephanie resolution for 2009

2009-01-08T18:11:00.000-08:00

I didn’t have a good day today. Nothing bad happened, diet is good, wo is good just nostalgic. So I have two options I can #1 dwell or #2 write a funny post that will cheer me up!!! People who know me know I like to laugh so my post will be the later.

I’m a girly girl. I like pink, anything that sparkles or is shiny and stuff that smells good. I was a nerd growing up and went to an all girl school so I never made myself pretty BUT when I got to college I started doing my hair everyday and putting on makeup every time I went out. I worked in a lingerie store so I was always dressed super nice. However the second advertising agency I worked for was super laidback so everybody was in jeans and t-shirt no makeup and hair pulled back. I think that’s when I started slacking…

Now that I work in a corporate environment I have to dress nice and wear makeup but I rarely do my hair and on the week-end unless I’m going out I really don’t pay any attention to the way I look. My ex was also deployed so the part where I made myself pretty to make him happy wasn’t there either. I blame everything on going to the gym and having to get up at 4h30!!!

Recently I read Stephanie’s post about getting up at something like 3am to put on makeup and do her hair to go get some presents on black Friday. I remember reading that and thinking to myself that she was insane (sorry). I was thinking of what I wanted to change in 2009 and thought to myself hmmmm she’s not crazy, I just got lazy. So this morning I brought my straightening and curling iron to the gym, a very uncomfortable but oh so cute skirt and when one of the ladies asked me what the hell I was doing I told her about Stephanie’s black Friday story. She looked at me kind of funny, I don’t think that I managed to convince her that even if I spend my day alone I will feel better about myself if I don’t look like a slob. During the Holidays my sister invited me for dinner and when I showed up she asked me if I had a date after. I said no and then she asked, then why are you not in sweatpants? Ouch, I guess I’m becoming one of the ladies from what not to wear lol.

So my resolution for 2009 is to pay more attention to the way I look without neglecting the other aspects of my life.

I guess it’s a pretty shallow resolution but hey, I don’t want to die alone lol

Have a great night!

I’m hungry, I’m sore and I’m excited!!!!

2009-01-07T07:10:00.000-08:00

Good morning Ya’ll!

This week-end, as I was slowly awaiting death on my couch ( first day on the diet) I got a text from a friend that said : « But you love contest prep tho !!!» And to be honnest at that moment I didn’t . I had forgotten what it felt like to be hungry 24/7, to be sore and tired ALL the time, to be woken up by hunger in the middle of the night and not being able to fall back asleep, to wake up completely dehydrated in the morning cause you’re having sooooo much protein. Do I love that? When I think about it I don’t but now a few days later I remember that I do!!!!!! I really really do. You get into a zone where you forget about the aches and the hunger, it becomes part of the routine and you don’t even notice it anymore.

Since I started competing, I’ve never bulked for that long but now that I’m back into it and not so hungry anymore I remember the fun stuff. How fun it is to see your weight drop, to go to practice on Saturday and chat with the other competitors, to have people at the gym cheer you on when you look tired, to see that twinkle in my coach’s eye after a particularly grueling week! Yesterday I got to do the BESTESTESTESTESTESTEST thing in the whole wild world! ORDER MY NEXT SUITS! Yep suitS I will compete twice here in Montreal and then Miami and I’ve asked another designer to do the suits for the Miami show since she competed with them in the past and she knows exactly what they want! I’m really excited about this!

Being back on BB.com and getting back into competition mode gave me an idea for a new business. I’ve shared it with a friend and I think I might be on to something. No worries I won’t quit my day job, just something I love and I’m passionate about!!!

Have a great day!

I'm Hungry

2009-01-05T09:51:00.000-08:00

Oh boy!!!!!

I miss food, I miss sleep, I miss being lazy lol. Today was day 1 of my new high volume training. Yesterday I really wasn’t feeling good so I went for a little retail therapy!!! I broke my training watch so I got a new one so I was excited to try it today. I’ve been working out without a watch for the past couple of weeks but now that it’s contest prep time there is no room for “about 1 min…”

I did my high volume training this morning; I had 4 sets of 7 exercises ranging from 10-20 reps.

A1-Pronated flyes 4 x 10
B1-Flat DB press 4 x 12
C1 – Push-ups 4 x 20 ( not as easy as it looks after A & B)
D1- Straigh arm pushdown 4 x 10
E1 – V rowing 4 x 12
F1 – Bent over row 4 x 20
G1 – Weighted hyperextension.

Food wise I’m still hungry but at least I’m not dizzy and the headache is gone!!!
I have a feeling I’m really going to kick butt this year.

Good news of the week-end, the Colts lost. It made me happy, I don’t care judge me I’m shallow lol

Oh and as of today I’m back on BB.com. I have missed the support and all the insight I got from this site so I will do my best to avoid the drama and stay for more than a week.

Have a great day!

GAME TIME!!!!!

2009-01-04T13:29:00.000-08:00

6 months ago I started my off season. I thought that 6 months was way too long for my off season but it went by so fast!!! Emotionally I went through a lot in the last 6 months but I finally came to terms with what had happened and I’m embracing this new beginning. The end of 2008 was just amazing. A series of event reminded me how fortunate I am but most importantly that I need not to give up HOPE and that when I lose something I want it’s only because something even better is coming my way.

Now with the New Year also comes the contest prep! I met with my coach yesterday to discuss our game plan. I will compete in April and twice in June. I might also compete with the WBFF but I’m not sure yet. I can’t wait to see how my shape will change over the next 13 weeks. I started the diet yesterday and I’m already a mess lol. I have the attention spend of a 2 yo and the brain of a house plant!!!!! All I can do is count down the minutes to my next meal. I will do my new workout for the first time tomorrow and it will be brutal. I’m doing a total of 45 sets of 10-20 reps!!!!!!!

I will post my first progress pics on the 24 and I should post them every other week after that! I’m really missing BB.com right now and the support it gave me last year!!! I might joint again, not sure yet!

My last show I competed at 106 lbs ( I’m 5’4) and my current weight is 122. I’m hoping to compete at around 110-112lbs. Wish me luck people.

Hope you’re all doing well.

Half Good Half Bad…

2008-12-22T11:36:00.001-08:00

So my pats won and the Seahawks managed to defeat the Jets but Dallas couldn’t be bothered to show up and beat the Ravens and Kansas City came close but didn’t win over Miami. So the plan for this week is to hope that Favre will have the game of his life and beat Miami and that my Pats manage to win over Buffalo. Yesterday I was watching the game on my lucky couch and I had even pulled out my lucky blanket when my friend Brian e-mailed me. We always e-mail each other before the start of the game ( it’s our good luck ritual). So yesterday his e-mailed said :

“That’s right, Izzy! Not only do we have to pull for the Pats today, but we also have to pull hard for the Seattle Seahawks to beat the Jets. Since Tony Romo (the next Tom Brady, my a**) can’t seem to win a game in December, our beloved Pats no longer control their own destiny so we have to start routing for other teams as well.”

So towards the end of the NE vs Cards game my sister called, both her kids was sick, her husband had been away for work all week and when he came back he wasn’t feeling well so he ended up going to the emergency room at 8am and it was now 3h30 pm and he wasn’t back. She knew he was fine but with the sick kids and the snow storm I didn’t think she could take much more. I offered to go help but she said I should stay home with the storm (we got another 25 cm) I was confident I was pretty confident we would win the game so I told her I would miss then end and go help her out. My thinking was maybe if I do something good, the world would give me the Hawks beating the Jets… When I got there, she was shoveling the snow that the snowplow had just dumped in her driveway with one kids puking in the snow and the other one crying. She looked at me and said : “ I’m living the dream” We both started laughing and she asked me if I could take care of the kids. I told her to go outside and the boys and I shoveled whatever was left. I honestly don’t know how single mothers do it! She was on the verge of a breakdown and she’s only been alone with the kids for 1 week!
We all went back inside and played and watch some football. See I was rewarded for good behavior. Now let just hope that her kids are sick again next week so I can go and help and be rewarded with my team winning!!! I kid I kid, I’m afraid my sister would just abandon her husband and kids if they get sick again so soon…

Last couple of days before x-mas!!! How exciting.

Have a great day

I LOVE THE COWBOYS!!!!

2008-12-15T09:20:00.001-08:00

No this is not day 2 of sucking up to the Gorenas lol. But since you all know how much I can’t stand the Mannings you can surely understand my enthusiasm when I found out that Romo and the boys kicked Eli’s butt!!!!! I love it! Might even get a jersey!!!!! ( ya right!)
I had very fun week-end! I relaxed , watched movies, spent time with friends and went to Oliver’s birthday party. He was so cute and such a good boy. He turned four and he was just so excited to get to play with all his friends. He was a doll when we opened the presents, it was the cutest thing. No training this morning since I have a shoot tonight but for the first time I really don’t feel shoot ready. I hate not being super lean. I know I need to be like that if I want to add some size but it’s hard.

I’m counting on Joey to tell us the stalker story today, he promised!!!! I have a feeling it’s going to be a good one!
Have a great day!

The Gorenas Rock!!!

2008-12-12T09:41:00.000-08:00

OK am I the one still laughing at the Song Stephanie posted on her blog????? I love love love it! Now I can’t wait till Monday, I have a feeling the stalker story followed by the stalking debate will make my week. Stephanie, you stalked him and he still married you so I don’t think you have to worry about blocking my page on Joey’s computer lol. I would bet anything that he could move into the Playboy mention and still only talk about his hot wife !!!!

Seriously he makes it hard for other guys by being so romantic and she makes it hard on us for putting on make-up to go shopping on black friday!!!!! And did you ever see her "I'm cleaning the kids rooms" picture???? If someone had a pic of me doing the same they could probably balckmail me with it!!!!!

We are getting another 15-20 cm. of snow today!!! It’s crazy, at least I know we’re getting a white Christmas. I love Christmas because it’s the best family time EVER! I love how excited the kids get when they get their presents. The good news is that I will get a preview since it’s Oliver’s b-day this week-end! I will have to be good with the food since I have a shooting on Monday. I’ve been good all week and I plan on doing extra cardio this week-end so it should turn out ok. Worse comes to worse there is always photoshop!!!

Got to go, I’m in meetings all afternoon and I need to get some work done before that.

Have a great day!

Where do I start?

2008-12-11T13:07:00.000-08:00

So much has happened since I last wrote I don’t even know where to start!!!!
Things haven’t really gone my way recently and when bad stuff happens I have a tendency to disappear, organize my thoughts and come back. In the last few weeks a bunch of not so cool things have happened and I had no choice but to deal with all of it. There is one situation in particular that I was putting off dealing with, knowing very well that one day I would have to. I finally did and now I feel like I can start moving forward again.

When life gets rough there is one thing I do that helps me through it all. I count my blessings and honestly the past few weeks were also a great reminder of how blessed I am. I have friends who have my back no matter what. Friends who will listen to me bitch and cry and will NEVER tell me “I told you so”. I have a mother who cried when I got some really bad news recently because she wishes my life was easier and wished she could do something more to help. Don’t get me wrong I don’t like my mother crying but it just showed how much she cared and I know how bad she wants me to catch a break. I have colleagues who elected me best employee because they think I have a great attitude. I have clients who wrote to my boss that they enjoyed working with me. The best part…. When I play Star Wars with Oliver and Thomas I’m usually the bad white robot but this past week-end when we started playing and they were deciding who was what they BOTH decided that I should be the princess and when I left Oliver said Bye Jedi Isabelle….. Now for a 3 yo kid who is obsessed with Star Wars this is the equivalent of telling me I’m the best in the whole wild world… The only thing that could top that was Thomas’s quote at my sister’s office Christmas party lol When asked by Santa what he slept with (expecting the little one to answer his blankie) Thomas answered loud and clear ISABELLE. My sister, completely mortified by her son’s answer, felt the need to go explain to Santa and all the other parents that Isabelle was her sister and nothing improper was going on lol.

Other than that training is going good and I’m following a metabolic boost diet and it’s not as hard as I thought it would be.

Also check out this week’s wallpaper on bodybuilding.com, it’s me!!!!!!

Hope you’re all doing well

Isabelle

BTW we just got 30 cm. of snow.... Our first storm is crazy, it's like nobody has ever seen snow before!!!! check it out!!!

Thank you!

2008-11-26T04:18:00.000-08:00

I got the best news yesterday morning. The e-mail from my friend that said : “ Good news it’s not cancer” I was still in bed crying cause I was so happy! I guess the first two doctors were wrong and the tests proved that a minor surgery would make it all better. I can’t tell you how relieved I was and how happy I was, I think I re read the e-mail a million times to make sure. My friends and family mean the world to me.

So I wanted to take a minute to thank you all for your prayers, I am very grateful.

Have a great day!

I need your prayers…

2008-11-21T05:54:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I found out some really bad news, someone very close to my heart is sick and they think it’s pretty serious. He is getting a third opinion today so I’m keeping my fingers crossed and praying that the first 2 doctors got it wrong but I’m still very worried. I spent the entire night praying and I am asking you to pray for him to get some good news this morning .

Thank you!

It's my fault

2008-11-14T08:31:00.000-08:00

I know it is, I fell asleep somewhere between the 3rd and 4th quarter and bam they lost. Without my support my boys are lost, the shame and the guilt I feel this morning is unbearable. I can’t even look myself in the mirror.

I went to the gym, head hanging in shame, did my work out and yeah me I’m getting really really strong and I even stretched ( calves, chest and back). My back was so pumped, I was walking like those guys who pretend to have huge lats lol. Ever since I stopped getting on the scale I’ve been really happy with my progress. It’s the getting heavy part that is hard for me, I freak out so I figured if I don’t know how much I weight and I still fit in my clothes I should be ok lol…
A friend of mine was in Paris last week-end and as we were chatting this morning he sent me some pics of his little trip. The one I put up is now my screensaver, isn’t it pretty?

Have yourself a great day!

I'm a doer!!!

2008-11-13T10:50:00.000-08:00

After listening to the podcast yesterday I thanked God that I only had part one because already there is so much I need help with…. I could make a list that is two feet long of things I need to improve but I decided to pick two and slowly move down my list. I’m almost afraid of listening to part 2 lol. I confess, I’m a doer. I don’t wait for things to happen I do everything in my power to make them happen and I usually fail. Don’t get me wrong, I do not believe that we should just sit back and and wait for life to happen but I do believe that sometime we have to let things go and wait. I’m not the most patient so I usually get annoyed at the waiting part!!! I have a great life, I am so blessed it should be easy for me to wait but I’m struggling. At least now I know what I need to work on…

I got to sleep in this morning and it felt so nice. It was my day off from the gym so I actually took time to make myself pretty for work lol. I had a meeting with a big potential client this morning so it was totally worth it. I should hear back in 2 weeks so let’s keep our fingers crossed. The client I met were so nice, I would love to get to work with them.

Tonight I have a meeting for some volunteer work I’m doing for Canadian breast cancer research so I know this will be a long day but I’m happy I get to help others.

Have a great day

Isabelle

Now this is funny!

2008-11-12T09:12:00.000-08:00

The other day I was talking to my mom and I was asking her, how do you know God is talking to you. You hear and read it all the time, people saying that God spoke to them, that God’s message to them was clear... Well I must be deaf or slow because I ask him for guidance all the time and I never “hear” him. Something will happen and I will figure it out but it’s never clear or obvious. So yesterday before bed I’m praying and asking for guidance and my number one request was help with letting go of certain things and enjoying life more because I have no clue where to start. This morning I get to work and I go to the Christian Podcast page I always go to and today’s podcast is “LET GO AND LEARN TO ENJOY” I started laughing and looked up to say thank you. I think he got tired of telling me something and me not getting it lol, I wouldn’t be surprised if I got a book in the mail!!!!!

I had to work late last night so I went straight to bed when I got home. I fell asleep watching the hockey game ( the Habs won!!!) This morning was shoulders and hammies and I was really surprised at how strong I’m getting. Don’t get me wrong I’m still really weak but I’m getting there. My knees hurt a lot less when I do the kneeling Good Morning so I got to increase on that one as well.
I have to get back to work!

Hope you’re all having a geat day!!!

A year ago today!

2008-11-11T06:03:00.000-08:00

A year ago today I competed for the first time ever in a figure competition. Maybe it’s me but it seems like years ago. I was so green back then, I had no clue what I was getting myself into and it was probably a lot better that way. I was so small compared to the other girls and I wasn’t as lean as them. It was a non-tested federation and I looked like a shrimp compared to the others. It was the best thing I did, I had fun because I had no expectation and I really enjoyed my sisters being there supporting me. I definitely caught the bug that day and I’m grateful for that.

Today I woke up rested! I even woke up before the alarm. I had a GREAT arm workout
A1-Spider curls 4 x 12
B1-EZ bar curls 4 x 6
C1- Zottman Curls 4 x 12
D1-Tricep kick backs 4 x 12
E1- Bent over tricep extension 4 x 6
F1- Reverse grip pushdown 4 x 12
I even ran this morning. I want to be in good shape, I want to look and feel good for ME. Doing it for me is the best reason ever.
I increased all my weights and it felt so good, I was so proud of myself.

Hope you’re all having a great day!

P.S. I'm now 20 lbs heavier than I was on that pic.... I'm going to cry :(:(:(

I HATE THE MANNING BROTHERS!!!!

2008-11-03T07:58:00.000-08:00

Ok that is probably not very Christian of me but I can’t stand them. I admit, I laughed at Peyton’s commercial ( the one where he asks someone in a grocery store an autograph for his baby brother Eli) but I draw the line there. I know Peyton does tons of charity work and he and his wife give back to their community but if you ask me it’s just a front, he probably steals everything back anyways… If someone would have asked me a few years back if I would ever despise a player more than Peyton I would have said no, but at that time I didn’t know about his whinny little brother Eli. If you remember, Eli used to suck!!!!!! The first few years were not good at all. But now he got good and I just hate him even more… I wanted the Cowboys to teach him a lesson; I was rooting for them from my sister’s living room. Then to add insult to injury my boys lost to the older and fuglier sibling…. I NEED A DRINK!!!!

Breath in breath out, breath in breath out! Ok I feel a bit better. All week last week I dreamed about the nachos and the glass of white wine I would get to enjoy with my friend Claudine. It was Paul’s ( the love of her life) b-day so we went out for drinks and cheat food after work. So it’s Claudine, Virginie and I (three competitors) and Paul. Can you just imagine what the conversation revolved around???? Poor Paul lol. Now after my nachos, wine and poutine ( fries with curd cheese and gravy) I went home all puffy and dehydrated thinking it’s all good I need the extra carb for leg day!!! Problem is I also babysat my niece and nephew this week-end and beside all the SPK I could find in my nephew’s Trick or treating candy I had half of the pumpkin pie my BIL made as well as ¼ of the spice cake with cream cheese icing and ¼ of the cinnamon and chocolate cake and to make it even better my niece and nephew woke up at 4am apparently unaware that we changed time and went back an hour!!!!! I shouldn’t complain because I had a great time with them and we laughed a lot. They really are good kids!!! I’ve been really stressed at work and I needed that break. I have zero guilt and will just do more cardio this week.

Training will be brutal this week. I will wo between 5-6 times and I have to add a set to each exercise so leg day should last about 1h30 to 1h45. I will need to sleep a lot to recover from all this volume. I really don’t mind it. I’m loving my current program. This morning was chest and back:
A1: pronated flies: 5 x 12
B1:DB press: 5 x 5
C1: Push-ups: 5 x 12 ( trust me after the press it’s HARD….)
D1:Straight arm push down: 5 x 12
E1: chin-ups: 5 x 5
F1: DB Bent over row: 5 x 12
With some calf and back stretches.

That is it for me but I cannot blog today without giving my friend Carla a shout out. Her goal for her comp this past week-end was to finish in the top 5 since it’s a non-tested competition and she did! With that 5th place she finished her 3 comps and 3 weeks marathon with success and I couldn’t be more proud of her. She has a wonderful attitude about it all and I couldn’t be happier for her! Congrats Carla and you deserve every bite of the lasagna you will have soon.

Have a great day everyone and a special hello to Taylor, Bonne journée!

It's snowing

2008-10-29T17:58:00.000-07:00

I am back to civilization!!! I just spent the last 2 days with not cell phone reception and no gym. I ate fries and drank wine. Let’s just say I’m not too proud of myself!!!

It’s ok I will be back at the gym tomorrow morning for day 1 of my new program. I met with my coach on Monday and he’s really happy with me. He said that he’s happy with the way I’ve been with the diet and wo during my off season and he’s confidant with the way I will look like when I lean down. He said that I look a lot more muscular. Let’s just say I got out of there with a big smile. My favorite part was when he asked me what comps I was thinking of doing in the spring. I said I wanted to talk about it with him and he said that his goal for me is to compete again with FAME in the spring in order to get my pro card and compete in the nationals as a pro!!!!! I was so excited that he saw that for me. It means a lot that he believes in me.

Now I have a new goal that is a lot more short term and basically my plan is to improve my cardio and eat right for the next couple of weeks because I want to make sure I’m in amazing shape by December.

Hey did I mention that while I was in the middle of the woods in my log cabin for my strategic planning meeting IT SNOWED!!!! So to Stephanie who already took out her winter coat I think that I trump you in the weather department lol. You and Joey are more than welcome if you want to come and spend a few days in January with our -40 weather… Here is the first thing I saw when I got up this morning…

Hope you all have a great evening!

And all is well again

2008-10-27T07:53:00.000-07:00

My lovely Pats are back to their winning ways!!! Can I ask for anything more? Fine it was onl;y the Rams but still…

I had a really nice week-end! I went out for dinner with a friend on Friday and I had PASTA & wine. You should have seen my face, I don’t think I said a word from the moment I got my plate to the moment I finished lol. Saturday was gym, active stretching with a coach (dang that was painful) followed by pilates and a 5h nap lol. Since I had done nothing all afternoon ( I woke up at 6pm lol) I ended up staying in to cook. I love cooking in the fall, all the stews and roast and apple sauce smelled soooo good.

Sunday was work work and more work (while watching football of course) followed by an afternoon of fun and laughter with Oliver and Mathew and dinner at my sister. Oliver likes me again. He went through a phase where he thought I was ugly and never wanted to see me my sister thinks he had a crush on me lol.
My nephews love me again, my team won and Stephanie won’t have to cry all week because the Cowboys also won. Seriously can you ask for anything more?
This morning was leg and the stretching class I did really helped because my ROM on the squat greatly improved!!!

October 25th is now officially Carla Hampshire day!!!

2008-10-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

Where do I start????? Yesterday my friend Carla was competing and guess what! She won 1st place in masters, 1st place in open and HER PRO CARD!!! Now I don’t want to toot my own horn but when she was in Montreal in September I told her that I wouldn’t be surprised if she got her pro card before me. What was her reply??? “ You’re crazy!!!” well I couldn’t be happier to say I told you so he he he!

Unfortunately her daughter couldn’t be at the show because she went into LABOR!!!!!! Yep this morning Carla is a proud grandma of two more grandkids!
I think it’s obvious why October 25th should be Carla day!

I couldn’t be happier or more proud Carla!

Now on another note GOOOOOO PATS

Go Carla week #2

2008-10-24T05:56:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Ya’ll!!!!! I’m practicing for a little trip I’m planning in December… How is my Ya’ll coming along?????

So as you know Cala is doing 3 comps in 3 weeks and tomorrow will be comp #2 so big hugs and got get them!

I didn’t go to the gym yesterday, I was just wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyy too tired and it ‘s so dark and cold outside! ON the 22nd I woke up looked outside and what did I see??? SNOW!!! It didn’t stay on the ground but it was still snowing and I don’t think I can deal with snow before Halloween. I know that makes me lazy but work has been brutal this week and I needed to sleep a bit. I’ve also been on an emotional roller coster and I think the fact that I’m tired made it worse, I even started to complain again arghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh.

So last night I went to get my hair done and I was really looking forward to it but at the same time knowing that Charles wouldn’t be there made me sad… I have to admit I got chocked up when I sat down but after that it was only happy Charles talk so it went great! I’m back to brown and the cut is great! I was really happy.
I was still sore from leg day yesterday! I’m still increasing my weights on almost all the exercises. I’m having a hard time increasing the weights when I do shoulders but the rest is going well. This morning was arms and my neck is really stiff so I’m not sure if form was great but the pump was still there!
Last night I also got my first box from my sponsor woooohooooo! He sent me a t-shirt, a shaker, protein bars and yummy yummy yummy chocolate and PB smoothie!!!!! My shake was so good this morning! It’s creamy and tasty mium mium mium

Hope you all have a great day!

41-7, need I say more?

2008-10-21T06:00:00.000-07:00

Ok so I might have gone to bed a bit passed my bed time but it was sooooooooooooo worth it!

Seeing my babies DOMINATE the broncos was amazing and I wasn’t going to miss it for the world! Believe it or not I think I had something to do with their win!!! See Last year, when my babies finished the regular season undefeated Brian AKA big BT from bb.com used to send me a Go Pats Go e-mail before every game and I would put my Patriot Avi up. Then I would watch the game with my sister and sit in the same sofa every single time and he would sit in his lucky chair and put his Pats flag up!!! Now I’m not on BB.com anymore so I haven’t been putting my avi but we kept the rest of our little ritual intact. Now after last week’s loss I decided that we needed to change things up a bit so this week I sent Brian the Go Pats Go and it worked!!!!! So from now on I would have to send out the official e-mail.
Enough about my glorious Pats, I wouldn’t want to rub it in anyone’s pretty face (i.e. Joey and Steph) as devoted Dallas fan they’ve had it hard for the past couple of weeks. The worst part is that they can’t even use the first string QB excuses since we lost Brady as well….

That combined with some recent good news gave me all the motivation in a world to kill back and chest this morning. Again I increased on everything! I will be meeting with my coach on Monday and changing things up! I can’t wait, I love the way a new workout feels!

That’s it for me! I hope you all have a great day!

I got them!!!!!

2008-10-20T10:40:00.000-07:00

So I just got an e-mail from the photographer I shot with last week and I got to see some of the pics we took! I love shooting with Pete, he’s smart, funny and I’m very comfortable around him and I like the fact that he will call me with a plan and we can discuss it. I really enjoy working with someone who has a vision and who knows how to achieve a certain look. I made him promise that we will shoot again when I’m close to competition ready so that I get pics with a “ripped” look. I think I look athletic but I’m still about 10-15 lbs away from my competition shape.

I had told a special someone he would get to see the pics first and now that he has you get to see them!!!

I’m really enjoying work today, I’m getting ready for a big presentation next week and I love doing presentations so it’s fun.

This morning was shoulders, tris and bis and once again I killed it. When my coach saw me at Fame last week he mentioned that my arms were getting big. I do get a massive pump when I train and I’m really enjoying my current workout!

That’s it for me, big night tonight, my mom is coming over and I have to make sure I kick her out before the game lol

GOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO PATS

Have a good day

She did it!!!!!

2008-10-19T17:53:00.001-07:00

Congratulation to Carla who won first place in her competition yesterday! I’m so happy for her and I’m really happy that her dedication paid off! IDFA next week!!!! You can do this.

This week-end was just crazy! For the first time in a really long time I got to enjoy my off season and relax. I had nothing planned except for a dinner on Friday and decided to wing it!
I used to import wine and once a year we meet at a friend’s restaurant and he makes this amazing dinner and we all bring a good bottle ( or 3) and we give our comments about our next import and personal taste. Now more than once before I’ve fallen asleep at the table, one thing you need to know is that no matter where I am or how late or early it is I will fall asleep if I’m tired. I’ve fallen asleep at weddings, clubs, restaurants… So since I work out super early they had taken bets on when I would fall asleep, the latest bet was 11 and I managed to stay up till 3am! I’m pretty sure it’s a personal best; I had been awake for 23h lol.

The following day I got up and went shopping with my best friend, another miracle happened, I didn’t buy anything lol. Came home to take a small nap and then went for sushi with a friend. Today was filled with family fun with a visit to both sisters and all 4 of my loves.

Tonight I’m going to bed early because I plan on having an amazing arm workout tomorrow. I will also be super strict with the diet because I’m seeing my coach this week and I want him to be proud!!!
I will not talk about the Cowboys today since my Pats are only playing tomorrow and I believe in Karma!!!

Have a nice evening!

CARLA'S DAY!!!

2008-10-18T16:32:00.001-07:00

Today my dear friend Carla is competing in the first of 3 BBing shows she will be doing in 4 weeks! I know you think she’s insane and I think she is to. When I compete I only have me to take care of, she on the other end has 6 kids, 1 husband, 1 grandkid ( soon 3), a full time job and a dog that she’s scared of. When she competed she works out at least twice a day, I go to the gym in the morning and then I’m done, I could never do what she does and I respect her passion and dedication to the sport. She competes for all the right reasons and she really puts her heart into it. I really wish you the best and I know that you will do great today and I can’t wait to post pics of you at your show.

I have to go I have a dinner tonight but I wish you all a GREAT week-end!

Another productive day!

2008-10-10T13:16:00.000-07:00

This morning I had a very productive client meeting and that was a great start to a great day! It’s really sunny here and they say that it will be nice all week-end! I can’t believe we have a long week-end and it will be sunny and warm…. It’s a miracle.

I had an awesome leg work-out this morning! I increased on all exercises and I even took time to stretch out a bit to make sure my hammies wouldn’t be too tight! I haven’t been doing as much yoga and I can definitely feel it! I’m barely able to fir my workouts in so Pilates and Yoga have taken a back seat. My butt and calves were burning this morning and I just love that feeling!!!!! I know I’m doing something right

Now after my client meeting I stopped by the department store because I needed to get some tank tops for my shoot on Sunday. My sponsor told me to get 2 tops that I liked so they could put the logo on it. So I’m downstairs and I asked a girl if the tanks on the shelf were the only ones they had and she said yes. As I was about to leave she turned around and said, you should go upstairs we have what you are looking for in the lingerie section!!!!!! OH NO SHE DIDN’T. What you guys need to understand is that I would give up chocolate for life if that mean t I could get all the lingerie I want. I love love love love love love lingerie shopping and I worked in an upscale lingerie store when I was in college and used all my pay to buy stuff in the store. So as I was going up the stairs I asked God to give me the strength to only buy 2 tank tops and to RUN out of there before I caused some major damage. My prayers were answered! I bought the tops and left. I have been day dreaming about a little something I saw there but I will not go back to get it! I don’t have time anyway!

I’m helping a friend with her tan tonight and I’ll be backstage with her at the comp tomorrow. On Sunday I have a photoshoot and in the afternoon I will be spending time with the fam for thanksgiving. You know what that means right????? You will have to look at pics of the babies on Monday and some adorable story about how great, cute and sweet they are lol

Have a great week-end!

I'm home!!!!!

2008-10-09T17:53:00.000-07:00

Who knew that being home would make me sooooooo happy! I guess being away a lot recently made me appreciate my home a lot more. I just spent the last two days in Quebec, about 3h from here. The good news is that my parents were also there for my dad’s work so I got to spend the evening and have dinner with my mom and dad yesterday. We went for sushi and had a really nice time and I was in bed by 8h30!!!! I love that my parents go to bed early as well.
There wasn’t a gym at my hotel so I didn’t get to train but I will be back at the gym for leg day tomorrow. My back was sore so I guess I did a good job at the gym. I love the off season for that, I’m always sore…
I increased my weights when I worked out my back and chest, I really love this workout because I feel it works my back thickness and I need it to balance my width.

A1- Incline flyes and press 3 x 8
A2-T-bar row ( I love that one cause I can lift as much as a guy ) 3 x 10
B1-Bench press to neck 3 x 12
B2-1 arm overhead row 3 x 12
C1-Seated v rowing 3 x 10
C2-DB row on hyper extension 3 x 10
D1-Decline sit up 3 x 12
D2-Hip raises 3 x 20
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I have a big day tomorrow and in the evening I’m going to my friend Martine’s house to do her tan since she’s competing the next day. I’m also going to get a coat of tan since I have a shoot on Sunday. I can’t be lean but I will be tanned lol I’m also helping her with her walk and posing. I’m so happy that this weekend is a long week-end, it will be a perfect mix of competition high ( I love the smell of protan lol), a shoot with a photog I adore, some nice family time and on Monday SLEEP!!!!!

That’s it for me I hope you all had a great day

BTW Congrats to Joey! Great job on the transformation of the week! Hey Joey if ever you do start losing your hair you could always transplant that little patch from your chest…

Stick a fork in me Jerry I’m done!!!

2008-10-07T10:35:00.000-07:00

My friend and I stole that line from a George Costanza, we use it when we are beat and right now I own that line. Last week was crazy busy and this week isn’t any better. I left work at 8pm last night and picked up the president at his hotel this morning at 6h45am. This week-end was as crazy, I got home at 8pm on Friday, cleaned, did my laundry and went to bed, woke up at 5am, more laundry, gym then spent the day at the IDFA fitness show where I got to see my friend Claudine kick some butt! She never looked so good and she is such a natural on stage. Later that night I came home to work and shot 2 more workouts chronicles for the mag with whom I’m working and went to a movie with a friend.

This is me and my coach's fiancée with one of his athlete, his GF took the pic and she asked us to make it funny so we did,,,

Yesterday, work was crazy but exciting and then I got a call saying we had to reshoot some frames from Sunday because they were compromised. I’m still trying to eat really well because I have another shoot coming up. I’m shooting with Urban Stylz again on Sunday, he’s the one that took that gorgeous Brady pic of me on a football field. We’re shooting in a gym so it should be a lot of fun.

My diet as been really really good, my only cheat last week was a popcorn and a bag of peanut M&M ( that I shared) when I went to the movie on Sunday night. I wish I had more time to do cardio but my schedule doesn’t really allow it. I’m being blessed with so many good opportunities, I’m not going to complain about having less “me” time.

Workouts are still going strong. I’m really hoping I will finish early today so I can go for back and chest, I love breaking my turtle shell!!!!

Have a great one!

Go Cowboys Go

2008-09-30T10:28:00.000-07:00

Dear Stephanie, I will not bash your beloved Cowboys, I think that having them lose a game to the redskins on your 26th birthday (wink wink) is punishment enough…. I am sure they will regroup an comeback stronger than ever next week!!! (Consider this your birthday present :))

Seriously it’s funny because I was watching the game with some friends at my sister’s and we were all saying that the cowboys are undeniably the best team in the league at the moment and we were all praising Felix Jones just saying that that boy can RUN!!! Of course Dallas had to go and lose against the Redskins just to remind me who the love of my life really is…

People what a week and what a week-end. I had job 4 job fairs last week and a huge one on Monday. I haven’t been at the office in forever and work has been piling up!!! I like it when it’s busy, it keeps me focused. I can also report that diet is still good, I’m still on the caveman diet and so far it’s working for me. I also started my new workout this week and I love it, I did back and chest yesterday and today was leg. My legs feel like giant cement blocks and my back and chest are super tight.

Leg day goes like this

A1-1-1/2 low pulley split squat: 3 x 6
A2-RDL : 3 x 8
B1-Squat : 4 x 15
B2- 3 position lying leg curl: 4 x 15
C1 – Alternate lunges : 3 x 16 each leg
D1- Donkey calf raises
D2- Standing calf raises

The other great news of the day is that I got a call from a Police investigator ( for those of you who didn’t know I got robbed a few weeks back) and he asked if he could come by the office to have me sign some papers because they found my laptop ( with everything on it ) I was so excited. I really didn’t care about the computer but I was sad about losing all the pics and video I had on there so you can imagine how happy I am right now.

I have more great news but I’m saving that one for tomorrow. I also have the cutest picture of my nephew in his Halloween costume but I still don’t know how to put more than one pic in the same post so it will have to wait as well.

Hope all is well!

The nuts have arrived...

2008-09-25T09:23:00.000-07:00

I rarely take any pills, Advil once in a while when I have a headache but since I have to work late tonight I figured I would take something for my cold to help me get through the day. That wasn’t the best idea, I took some Benilyn daytime and I’m completely stone!!!!! My entire body is numb, I’m having a hard time focusing and I can’t walk a straight line!!! I have a meeting at two so I’m really hoping it wears off before that cause I’m not even convince I should be driving!!!!! Needless to say I didn’t go to the gym this morning. I’m really hoping to make it tomorrow and I will try to go for a walk or something tonight. Diet is still spot on, I’m just eating a bit less since I’m not working out but I’m still eating my food.

The Gorenas got the nuts I sent them yesterday and Stephanie wrote an entire post about it! I almost died laughing (the “in a nut shell” part killed me). I hope you like them!!!! I didn’t even know Stephanie’s birthday was coming up, I would have sent a little something like a Felix Jones jersey or something…. Yeah right lol I only have a question, do the French sour Patch kids taste any different???
My sister totally made my morning. I was on the radio this week-end and she was driving with her husband and her sons when I came on.

She didn’t say a word because she wanted to know if the boys would get it and she said that as soon as I started talking the youngest one started clapping and blowing kisses and the oldest one said that the girl sounded just like me. Knowing that they recognized my voice gave me the biggest smile. I’m definitely going for a visit this week-end!!!

Hope you all have a great day!

I’m barely alive!!!

2008-09-24T10:43:00.000-07:00

I’m alive….. Barely!!!

Work is insane this week but I really don’t mind it, I love being busy. I work in HR and we have 4 job fairs this week so I’ll only be at the office once (today). I usually end up working from home but my internet is down so no blogging and no working from home.

I also ended up catching a nasty cold so no gym for me and a lot of sleep. Add to that the fact that my babies lost to the Dolphins this week-end…. Pfffffffffffffffffffffffffffffffff In my family we have our favorite team, the Pats, and we have teams that we never bet against. That means that when I make my picks for my pool I never put any points against the Bears or the Cowboys because they are teams that I loved growing up. My sister’s teams are “DA BEARS” and the Dolphins, needless to say we made fun of her on more than one occasion since the Dolphins are the worst team in the league. Well that same team beat my Pats this week-end. For the record Joey, the Pats lost 1 game, they aren’t falling to pieces… So my new theory is that by betting against the Cowboys I jinxed Tom’s knee. During the pre-game show they were talking about Tony room and how he was a superstar QB but he wasn’t that great. They started talking about all the interceptions and his stats and they talked about how he was more known for dating Jessica Simpson then for his skills. So of course I’m watching all this cooking my food for the week jumping up and down in excitement and wishing I had Joey and Stephanie’s phone number so I could call and taunt them. Of course that jinxed our game against Miami… But it’s ok I’m loyal and I will remain a good supportive Pats fan.

Just in case I jinxed myself even more by saying that Stephanie looked fat ( of course a joke) in her new Romo jersey, I would like to take it back and say that she looks lovely in blue.

Diet hasn’t been too bad this week, I’m not sure if I’m eating enough since I’m at fairs all day and I don’t always have time to take breaks. I’ve also been doing more cardio this week, I went to the mountain twice this week and did an extra yoga session. I’ve decided to increase my cardio in order to stay lean because I have a feeling I’m getting a bit pudgy.

Also I’m super excited to say that I will be helping my friend Claudine backstage at her show! This will be so much fun!!!!

Have a good one!

I LOVE MY COACH!

2008-09-19T07:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was my evaluation and guess what it went great! For the first time since we’ve been training together he was happy and I was exactly where he expected me to be… I gained 3 lbs and according to him it’s not fat. He was so excited and proud that I didn’t even freak out when I got on the scale and the number was 122. See I’m not that tall and like a lot of girl I have this number that I don’t want to go over and for me that number is 120. I’m over 120 and I’m happy because I can see and feel the results. I’m still around 11% bodyfat and my diet will remain the same. My new program looks like it’s going to be so much fun. I have one week left on this one and then I will share it with you.

Even after 3 weeks my triceps are sore… Yeah me!!! It was back and chest this morning and I managed to increase my weighs again. One of my gym friends came to me this morning and asked me if I was looking for the man of my dreams??????? I said no so he started laughing and asked if I was still single because he wanted to introduce me to someone. It’s the 3rd person this week that wants to set me up lol. I don’t like being set up my friends usually trick me into meeting people. They will invite me for dinner and that guy they have been raving about will be seated to my right or something.

I get to sleep in tomorrow, I’m so excited!!!!!!

Thanks to Carla for today's pic! That's us at the Nationals!!!!! Next year we'll be watching in BC... The countdown has begun!!!

Have a great day!

Isabelle

This one is for Joey!!!!!

2008-09-17T07:14:00.001-07:00

No worries Stephanie, I’m just taunting your husband!!! I know he loves Family guy and secretly admired MY man Tom so I thought this pic was perfect!!!

Wednesday is my day off so I got to sleep in this morning…. Nice I will go and do some cardio tonight to counter balance my food orgy last night!!!!! I used to import wine and I’ve always had a passion for wines. Now I never get to go to tastings because most of the time I can’t drink. So when my friend called to invite me to this tasting I said yes. It was a dinner organized at one of the nicest restaurant in Montreal with the winemaker. I loved hearing him talk about his wines, he was so passionate about it!

http://www.torbreck.com/TheWines/tabid/55/Default.aspx

So I had: smoked cod, beef tartar with fries, scallops with corn, duck breast with veggies, bison and finally Angus beef and pecan and vanilla cake with caramelized apples. Then 3 of us got to go to the bar to taste the higher end wines. In total I got to taste 12 wines 9 were spectacular, 2 were out of this world and 1 was disgusting. I came home smelling like a drunk ( I got 2 glasses of wine spilled on me lol) and I thought to myself that as much as I enjoyed my evening I didn’t miss my old life. I don’t miss going to bed too full and waking up completely dehydrated. I don’t miss feeling bloated and tired, I physically feel so much better now than I did when I was in my 20s…
So no workout this morning but I’m definitely sore from leg and shoulder day. Yippy, I can really feel my VMO this morning, I guess increasing my weights paid off.
I got some great news yesterday and I really suck at keeping secrets but I don’t want to jinx it so I will wait for everything to be final. I think you should start betting amongst yourself because I will probably cave in and write about it before the end of the week!!!

Have a great day :)

I love Monday night!

2008-09-16T07:52:00.000-07:00

Really I do, I love falling asleep watching the game and then waking at 2am wanting to know who won and I can’t find the score anywhere lol. What a game last night was, it was close… They schooled TO in the pregame show. Don’t get me wrong, I think the guy is extremely talented but he has issues with letting go. That feud with Jeff Garcia is 10 years old…. Move on!!! One of his coaches once said about him that he is one of the most gifted player out there, that he is without a doubt the hardest working guy on and off the field so you can’t really tell him off and I think that is why that guy grew such a big ego. He’s so good and so disciplined that the coaching staff gave up on the rest…

This morning was leg and as much as I don’t like doing legs I know that a competitor’s success is decided during the off season. If you stay lean and do your homework you will not have to play catch up during contest prep. I know that I need to sleep as much as I can, I need to focus when I’m at the gym and give my 110% every day even if I don’t have a show coming soon. I know that I still need to cook and eat right and just be happy that at least now I get variety and a cheat meal once in a while!!! I miss competing, going to the Nationals made me realize that. I like having a goal, having something to look forward to. I want to compete now and turn pro to prove to myself that I can do it even if the rest of the world doesn’t think so. I want to do this now because when I settle down with someone and have kids I know my focus will shift. Don’t get me wrong , I will never stop training or eating right but I know that I won’t get up at 4am to go to the gym 6 times a week, instead I will snuggle with my hubby and I won’t go running, I’ll play soccer with the kids instead. I love competing for so many reasons, I love helping others, I love inspiring girls who thought they could never do it…. I will start my cut in 4 months…. I can’t wait :)

I have a wine tasting tonight so diet will be out the window for today but back on track tomorrow. I love to cheat, I think that pic of me at Carla’s mother’s house says it all ( that lasagna was AMAZING!!!)

Have a great day!

Where do I start!

2008-09-12T07:42:00.000-07:00

Lately I’ve been getting either extremely good or extremely bad news. I have a big issue with guilt and I often feel guilty being happy when I know that people around me are very sad. I know I shouldn’t be that way and I should appreciate my blessings and be supportive to my friends who need me. I know that everything happens for a reason and one day I will understand why, for now I guess all I can do is be patient…

I heard back from the company that might be interested in sponsoring m, the rep asked me to call him early next week because he wants us to discuss…. I’m keeping my fingers crossed

I also got a call this morning from my ex trainer who wants us to work together on a project but he didn’t want to tell me what… I’m really curious so he knows that it’s killing me but I was good and I didn’t bombard him with questions. He says it’s in line with my goal of one day starting a contest prep business so we’ll see. Competing can be great if done right, if you’re doing it for the right reasons, if you know what to expect… I was really inspired by a seminar I did with Cathy Savage last year. That woman knows what she’s talking about and she really cares about her girls. Anyway my ex coach knows about my goals and ambitions and he told me I would be happy with his offer…

I didn’t go to the gym yesterday so I need to make up for it on Sunday ( not to worry I will go before 1 pm). I came back to the hotel late and I had to work so I skipped the gym but since we’re all going hiking as a team building activity today I don’t feel too bad about it! I followed my diet to a T so I have zero guilt.

I hope you all have a great day and please be safe!

Isabelle

I'm happy happy happy

2008-09-10T07:00:00.000-07:00

I’m sooooooo happy! I woke up at 12h45 to grab some water and when I reached over to my night stand and I almost died because my chest was so sore… I love it, this program is doing wonders for me. Then this morning I woke up 5 min. before the alarm which means that I’m well rested. I got to the gym and my friend was finally back after 3 weeks off AND another friend from the gym asked me if I wanted to be his cardio “buddy” and go to the mountain twice a week! I’m not a big cardio fan so I sometimes need the extra motivation but I was telling him how much fun I had with Carla last week and he said he used to go with one of his friend but since she moved he hasn’t gone. Since we live about 5 min from one another we decided to try and go twice a week for an hour!!!!! I’m really excited about this, I’m going to be in even better shape! All that before 6h15 am ha ha ha

I’m all packed for my business trip and I already prepared all my food! I hate driving but this time I’m looking forward to it because I have about 15h of Mrs Meyer to catch up to…

I did manage to go through my leg workout without complaining this morning. I did complain for about 5 sec. in my head but then started telling myself that the squats and lunges are sculpting me a nice little booty. My glutes and my thighs are my weakest point when I compete and I plan on doing all I can to have the best legs when I compete again in the spring.

I realized the other day that I had stopped taking progress pictures. I haven’t taken any in the past 3 months I will start doing so when I get my new camera. Keeping track of my progress is the best way to stay focused.

Have a great day ya’ll

The new me!

2008-09-09T09:22:00.000-07:00

I can’t believe I completely forgot to mention in yesterday’s post that in between the morning and night show I got the privilege to go to Carla’s mom’s house for some homemade lasagna mium mium mium. When I say lasagna I mean cheesecake, lasagna, meatballs, cutlets….. I walked out of there, stuffed and happy!!!! Thank you Mrs S!
At the show I also got to talk to my friend Jeremy from Halifax. We were suppose to go out on Friday but since he decided to “wing it” (he always does) and I like to plan ahead when he called at 9 pm on Friday I already had plans!!! He’s so funny, he’s lost half of the time, brilliant but always lost. He’s really a great guy, he’s always smiling, always laughing. I wish I could have spent more time with him and his friends but I was so tired after the show I just couldn’t even consider going out.

I called the hotel I will be staying at to ask if they had a fitness center and if I could get a fridge in my room and the answer was no to both so I have to come up with a plan B. I guess I will bring a cooler and ask them to put all my stuff in the restaurant’s fridge. Sometimes you just have to get creative. It’s actually quite funny because like I mentioned before I started listening to Joyce Meyer’s podcast and this week-end’s teaching was about complaining (something I have learn to master over the years!!!!!) so when I called and found out about the no gym and fridge situation I figured it was god’s way of making sure I understood the week-end’s lesson so I didn’t bitch and I was so proud of myself, trust me it’s a first. See we don’t have ministries or bible study here in Quebec , we have conventional service and that didn’t really speak to me but now that I found out about the podcast I can’t stop listening to them and I try to apply the teachings to my everyday life. Now people think that there must be something wrong with me because I haven’t bitched or complained in 2 days. I even went easy on the trash talk for football because I didn’t want to put anybody down. Do you know how hard it is for me not to tell the whole world how happy I am that the Colts lost?????? ( oups )

Ok this morning was chest and back and it went great! I increased on everything! I really hope I feel it tomorrow. Leg day is tomorrow, I will suffer and love every single minute of it or at least try!

I also forgot to say that the mag I am in came out, I will try to get a pdf copy to show you and the show I taped a few weeks ago aired and I'm really happy with the profile they did. I will ask for a copy so I can put it on youtube and show you guys.

Have a good day!

What a week-end!

2008-09-08T14:44:00.001-07:00

First I can’t believe the love of my life, the father of my future children Tom “ golden boy” Brady is out for the season. Is it my fault? Is it because I didn’t wear my jersey? I feel like I have let him down… Please keep my baby in your prayers (yes that even you Stephanie) he needs us all!!! We’re still golden, Cassel did a great job. I’m so proud of him. We can do this even without my man!
Now onto the good stuff! Like I wrote before Saturday was the National bodybuilding championship. I was there with Carla to encourage my friends. I know that when I’m on stage and I hear my family and friends cheering me and telling me I am the best it gives me such a confidence boost. It feels great!!! I got to watch the show with my friend Carla and it was so nice to have someone to talk with over there. We compared our favorites, talked diet. Basically it was great!!! She is so much fun and such a sweetheart, I feel very lucky!
So my friend Jean Daniel finished in the top 5 and apparently My friend Alex placed 6th (he’s the guy in the picture) There were 150 athletes, the caliber was just out of this world. Alex came in looking even better than last year (the pic is from last year) I’m extremely proud of him.
I also got to meet with the sponsor and he said I would know by Wednesday since he was going to a big convention this week and he would know what his budget for the year is!!!!! He gave me his card so now I have to send him a few pics with my contact info. I really hope that this works out. I actually use their products and love them.
Also had a killer arm and hammy workout this morning. I also think I leaned out a bit. I will be on the road and out of town most of the week so I can’t wait to see what’s going to happen with the training and the diet!

Hope all is well!

Thank you Meagan!

2008-09-05T08:44:00.001-07:00

Let me start by saying that today is a great day! I woke up dead tired but told myself that I had a purpose and that if I wanted to be a good figure competitor and be a good example for others I had to stop bitching and find my motivation again. I was pumped and I had a great leg workout. I increased all my weights!!!!! I didn’t go to the gym yesterday because I was way too sore, I had done chest and back the day before so I couldn’t do that and my arms were so sore I couldn’t lift them over my head or bend at the elbow and my legs were still sore from Monday and extremely tight. I’m quite flexible since I’ve done 11 years of ballet but this week, I’m not even close to touching my feet without bending my knees!!!!! All week I planned printing documents around my meals that way I only had to get up once. I know it made it worse but I’ve been walking so slow it hurts! I went walking with Carla twice this week and I think it’s the one thing that saved me lol. I also took 5 minutes to stretch after my wo today, I don’t want to spend another week walking like an 80 yo lol

Tomorrow are the nationals here in Montreal wooohooo! So far the plan is to get there, enjoy the show, meet with a potential sponsor and go eat Lasagna at Carla’s mom’s mium mium mium mium. I can’t wait, it’s going to be so much fun and Carla is such a sweetheart!!!!!

I want to say a special thank you to Meagan for introducing me to Joyce Meyer. I saw the podcast on her blog and I was hooked, this woman is so inspirational it’s insane! I was listening to it yesterday while driving to a meeting and I was thinking to myself why didn’t someone tell me all that stuff before? Thing is life works in funny ways, sometimes we think life just took a wrong turn or God forgot about us and we only realize later why everything happened. Last week I asked someone to sponsor my clothes for the shoots I’m doing and I was turned down. I was a bit upset but I yesterday I was listening to the podcast and she was saying how we can’t be afraid to ask for anything but if we do ask we have to accept the fact that we can be rejected and if we are there is a good reason for it. So I made peace with that yesterday only to get an e-mail from the editor telling me that they had a sponsor for me. I’m also meeting with the sales rep for a supplement company that I really like tomorrow. Someone at my gym mentioned that he knew me and the rep asked to meet with me so I will go and say hello tomorrow at the show. I’m starting to feel like my old self again and I love it. I am grateful for the people around me that didn’t quit on me and thank you Meagan for introducing me to Joyce meyer!

Have a great day people, I know I will.

P.S. It’s week one of NFL season. Can I get a Go Pats Go???

My unspectacular self!

2008-09-03T12:41:00.000-07:00

First let me apologize to Stephanie for not following the rules and for being over a week late!!! I don’t even know 6 people who blog so I can’t really tag that many people.

Since I was tagged on a Friday and I was heading to my parent’s country place I decided to put the entire family to work to find 6 unspectacular things about me. If you ever meet my family you will notice that they are very hmmm DIRECT!!!! It took about 10 sec. for my parents, my sisters and their husbands to find 13904235346987 less than fabulous things I do! I managed to narrow it down to six so here it is!

1-I spit and sneeze like a sailor. The sneezing is a gene thing, my mom and sisters all sneeze the same! The spitting, it’s only when I brush my teeth and by the sound of it you would think that I’m spitting out a lung.

2-I’m really shy! As a kid I refused to talk on the phone. If the call was for me I would cry!!! I’ve been working on it and it’s not as bad anymore but when I meet someone for the first time I get so nervous I either talk their head off or I’m super quiet and they think I’m the world’s biggest snob lol.

3-I’m way to naïve and trusting. Thank God this only applies to my personal life and not work !!! I will never second guess people. My friends all use that to play jokes on me and make me believe the dumbest thing.

4-I’m a nerd or as my ex Dave would say a Putz!!! I’m clumsy, I bump into things, if I walk into a room and someone looks my way I’m convinced that I either have spinach stuck between my teeth or toilet paper stuck to my shoe. For example, today at lunch I went to the store to change my watch’s battery. When it was time to pay I took out my wallet but at the same time a tampon managed to fly out of my bag hit the guy on the forehead and fall on the counter. He looked at me and said “ I think this is yours” and he pushed it my way with his pen! Go ahead, laugh at me, I’m used to it!!!

5-I have no patience! Like 0, spend 1min in traffic with me and you will understand!

6-I walk on my heels and I walk with a fast so if I'm walking towards you, the groud might shake and you will hear me from a mile aways! Me coming down the stairs is a disaster, people that are not use to it might think that someone is falling down.

Now the fun part!

Today was chest back and abs fun!

A1- Horizontal row with feet on the bench
A2- Clap push-up behind back
B1- 1 arm DB row with pause at the bottom
B2-Alt. DB press on ball
C1- Straight arm pushdown
C2- Flat bench crunch with weight
D1- roll out with knees on a step ( this hurts… a lot)

Tonight is cardio fun with Carla! Woohooo and I will stop at the nut place to pick some mixed nuts. There is a place here with the best nuts ever, they dry roast them mium mium mium. I used to send some to my ex in Afghanistan and I would pack them in snack size Ziplocs so he could carry some around in case he was hungry and after something like 2 days he was out because him and his lieutenant had ate them all!!!!! I’m telling you, those nuts are THAT GOOD!!!

I love long week-ends!

2008-09-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

My coach is a genius, he finally figured out a way to make my butt lifting muscle sore and its killing me. (Carla told me the proper word but to me it remains the butt lifting muscle) tear drop muscle is also in mucho mucho pain!!! Guess what I love it!!!! This month’s leg shoulder and quads wo is:

A1-Full squat from the bottom ( so you start squatting not standing)
A2-Alt. lunges on a step
B1 – Arnold Presses
B2- high step up ( above waist)
C1 – Back flyes
C2-front squat

I had the best week-end I’ve had in a long time. It started Friday with a friend taking me out to dinner. Saturday was a massage and family fun. I went to my sister Marie’s house to see Daphnee and Thomas and then to Sophie’s house to play with Mathew and Oliver and enjoy Maxime’s nona’s homemade sausages and fiatone. I was playing outside with Oliver before dinner and asked him if he wanted to go biking. He’s pretty slow ( he’s only 3) so usually I just walk beside the bike and we have the cutest conversations. So he got all excited, got his new Spiderman bike, his helmet (which fits me BTW) and I got myself glass of white wine before going out. Now don’t judge me I barely drink but I do enjoy a glass of wine on Saturday night when I’m not prepping. I had even asked my BIL if Oliver was getting better and maybe I should leave the wine at home… Sooooooo we’re on the sidewalk with my wine and wearing flip flops when he looks at me and says: “ look Izzy I can go really fast now….” And he just zoomed. That kid got good fast ( and I want to kill his dad). So now picture me running beside him ( he was so proud to be going fast I didn’t want to slow him down) with my flip flops trying not to spill all of my wine and him laughing his little head off. It was a gorgeous day so all the parents were outside with their kids and I looked like a drunk babysitter with an out of control 3yo. It’s a miracle nobody called child protective services lol.

On Sunday a friend called and asked me if I wanted to go boating with him and some friends so that was nice and on Monday I had the best day ever because I got to spend the day with Carla from BB.com. I did legs in the morning then I picked her up and we went to the mountain for 1h30 of cardio and she did some plyo at the top of the mountain!!! I joined her for 2 sets of jumping squats but that was it!!! My legs were fried and will probably feel like cement for the rest of the week. It was such a nice day and I can’t wait to get some pics to post. There is a part of me that misses BB.com but at the same time I really don’t miss the drama from that site. I got on there when I decided to compete because I wanted to get some information and meet people who did the same. Spending the day with her was great because it made me realize that I don’t need the site anymore. I have friends that compete; I get to go for coffee or a nice hike with them. The best part is they are drama free and I know they will not turn on me over a guy or any other stupid thing!

I promise to make the list of the unspectacular things about me tomorrow. I narrowed it down to 10 so far lol.

Have a greatday!

Life comes at you fast...

2008-08-28T10:02:00.001-07:00

Hello ya’ll!

I’m soooo sorry I’ve been slacking. I’ve been having some personal problems lately and it kind of took over my life. I even had to take a week off from the gym to put my life back in order and take care of all this crap. I sometimes wish I could rewind my life about 3 months back and pause it so that I can catch my breath but I guess life isn’t made that way. I’ve been struggling to stay on track with the diet because I haven’t had time to cook but so far I’m not doing too badly. All should be resolved by next week and trust me I can’t wait to put all that behind me. On the up side, I am overwhelmed by the love and support that my family and friends have given me, I am truly blessed.

I met with my coach this week for my evaluation and my new program; he decided to take my bodyfat…. I freaked out because we had agreed not to take it before February…… Well it’s not that bad, I’m currently at 11% for 119 lbs. He said he was really proud of the way I was staying on target even if I’m not competing soon.

I know I’ve been tagged by Stephanie for the Unspectacular thing and I will reply to that tomorrow. I asked my family this week-end and they found a gazillion unspectacular things about me lol. I even had pictures to prove some of them but my camera was stolen…

Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Sophie!!!

2008-08-22T06:47:00.000-07:00

Today is my little sis Sophie’s 30 b-day. I guess that at 30 yo married with 2 kids she’s not really my little sister anymore. I had to look forever to find a pick of her not goofing around lol. That's her and her husband Max while we were in Cape Cod.

So my parents will be babysitting tonight so her and her husband can enjoy a nice relaxing dinner together. I called her this morning and I could hear the kids in the background, it made me miss them so much. I will get to spend the day with them tomorrow so I won’t complain.

My masseuse didn’t call me back and I’m planning on going to the country for the week-end so I guess that massage will not happen. I was also looking forward to training with my training partner this morning but since she got the day off she decided to sleep in. I don’t blame her, she’s had it rough the last couple of weeks. So I trained all by myself again but I was really happy because I feel like my bench is improving significantly and it’s very encouraging. I kicked my own booty once again and my back already hurts so I can just imagine how I will feel tomorrow lol.

I also spoke to one of the coaches who asked me to go and see him when we are at the Nationals in 2 weeks because he wants to introduce me to a potential sponsor. That also made me think that maybe I should ask a fitness clothing store to sponsor me since I wear my own clothes in most magazines I shoot for. I never think about those things but I had a discussion with my friend Pat recently and it made me think. We were chatting the other day when I told her I was happy but surprised that a magazine picked me for their workout section. She looked at me and said I would never change. I asked her what she meant and she started laughing, she said it was the same thing when I landed the cover of Summum. I still didn’t get it so she said to me that I probably didn’t see what others see when they look at me. It got me thinking, I grew up a nerd that no guy wanted to date, I guess I still think of myself that way. I was the one that nobody remembered and I would introduce myself 5times to the same person on different occasions and the next time I had to start all over again. Now I don’t have low self esteem but I know that there are a thousand girls out there that do what I do and look amazing so as much as I appreciate being picked I sometimes ask myself why. I think that is the main reason why I never asked anyone to sponsor me. However that is about to change at today I plan on submitting my story and some pics to sponsors . I can do this!!!

Have a great day!

Who's having a great day.... ME

2008-08-21T08:45:00.001-07:00

Ok if you would have asked me that same question at 5am as I was franticly looking for my keys, half awake and not looking forward to yet another leg day I guess my answer would have been different. However, we had our local sales meeting this morning with the CEO and she asked me if I would like to join the VPs for the yearly strategic planning meeting I was super excited!!!!!! Then I got an e-mail from one of the big clients we’re trying to sign saying that they will be present at a conference I’m organizing so I was really really happy about that.

I spoke to my coach yesterday and we’re meeting on the 26 to evaluate the progress I have made, my diet and give me my new workout that will, according to him, completely destroy me. Now I love my coach, I adore him, he’s amazing and he really cares about his athletes but he’s also an Olympic athlete (cycling and bobsleigh) and an ex bodybuilder so he has about zero compassion for me. When I tell him it’s hard or it hurts he looks at me and tells me : “ Do you want to win or not?” He is exactly what I need. I need someone who doesn’t care if I whine or not.
I might take Monday and Tuesday off next week and just go running or do plyo. I’m aching all over I feel like I’m starting to lose flexibility. I think I will try to get a massage this week and then not exercise and give my poor little muscles a break!

Time to work!

Have a good one!

OUCH!!!

2008-08-20T07:32:00.000-07:00

This morning I didn’t go running, I was so sore, my glutes and calves are killing me! I’m one of those who’s more sore 2 days after. The fact that I had way too much wine with dinner didn’t help either. I had such a great time with Mr. Mcgregor last night. At one point I went to the batheroom and the manager came to him and told him that he was the luckiest guy because he was with the prettiest girl in the entire restaurant. What did he reply??? That I was the lucky one to have dinner with him lol. We talked about so much and it’s nice to have a friend with whom you feel completely safe, I know I can tell him anything and he won’t judge me.

He told me how happy he was that I was eating normal food again lol. I guess it’s been a while since we went out for something other than black coffee lol

I’ve been super excited lately, as I mention my friend Carla will be in Montreal for the Nationals and that’s great but what started as a day of bodybuilding fun as now become an action pack week woohoo! There will be some working out,, power walks and if I’m lucky her mom’s lasagna…. Not to worry, I will make sure to take plenty of silly pictures and post them here.
I realized last night that I completely forgot to take an appointment with my coach to get my new diet and my new program; this week is the last one so it should be fun.

Tomorrow I will train with my training partner for the first time in 1 months and I’m super excited, we spoke yesterday and she’s really looking forward to it as well. I have missed her so much and the gym is not the same without her, she’s such a motivation and just the kindest girl ever!!! I will also start doing cardio once a week with my friend Martine. She is competing this fall and came back from her honeymoon with a 17.5% BF!!!!!!! She will need the extra cardio and I will be there to help.
Tomorrow is my last leg day with this program, woohoo!

Have a great day 

I love my mom!

2008-08-19T08:20:00.000-07:00

When I got home after a grueling day at work I realized that not only did my mother wash my floors (with a brush on her knees) and my windows but on top of that she cleaned my kitchen cupboards!!!! Seriously I think I should start a My mom rocks Friday lol. I had the best childhood ever and I come from the absolute best family. I’m so lucky and I don’t think I tell them enough.

I must be a psychic because I predicted that I would be sore today and I AM!!! It hurts when I sit, walk, stand…. I love it. Now after my upper body workout I have a feeling I will be in even more pain tomorrow!!! I have reached another milestone… yeah me! I increased on all my exercises but the one thing I am really really proud of today is that this morning my bent over row was at 100lbs!!! Yeah me. I think I will really feel it when I wake up tomorrow; thank God it’s a rest day.

Since I don’t have to get up early tomorrow I decided to make plans for tonight, I have a date!!!!! Ok well not a real date but I’m having dinner with a close friend of mind. He’s an older gentleman (75) and we used to work together and we became really close when is wife was diagnose with cancer about 3 years ago. Gabby was the most amazing woman, she reminded me a lot of my mom. Always put together, great cook, always smiling and she had the biggest heart! When she passed it was hard on him and we used to go for coffee and talk a lot. So we spoke last week and decided to go for dinner. Since he doesn’t date either we both decided to dress up nice and go to a fancy place. I’m really looking forward to it!

Ok now I need to work a bit, BTW Joey I am the sales manager lol

Have a great day!