CRAIG PRODUCTIONS LLC

10 weeks out!!!

This past week has been crazy. I apologize for the late blog post. This will be a jumbo post for me.

I survived Superbowl Sunday without a hitch. I’m not going to lie, that was weighing heavy on my mind the week before and even up til the morning off.  Instead of expanding our bellies, we expanded our family. We adopted little Bella on Sunday morning from a shelter. I never thought of myself as a “small dog” person, but it was love at first sight.

Last Friday my youngest started the day off the with the stomach flu, by that afternoon my daughter followed suit. Fast forward a few days later, they got hit again. The 2^nd go round of the stomach flu was much more vigilant and messy. It was only a matter of hours after that I started to feel it. Same thing happened to me, at first it was weakness and nausea/tummy cramping, thought it was done and then it hit full blown a day later (that was all of it, fever, chills, aches, severe stomach cramping, vomiting and diarrhea). Sucked bad!  Both my husband and I got it simultaneously. Both of us were sporting our puke buckets on each side of the bed on Friday night. Kids were having a house party while we were sulking in bed. Good times!!!

I’m looking forward to getting back to the gym tomorrow and the house is getting a much needed wipe down. Sundays are big meal prep days/shopping days for me, it’s important I start the week off right with everything readily available.

With the exception of the last day and half, contest prep has been going steady. At the beginning of the month I attended my first bikini posing class. Big shout out to Elaine for the great Posing seminar and thank you to Julie Michaelson for hosting! It was great fun, the ladies were awesome, and let’s just say I’ve got some major work to do!  This mom of 3, with her swagger wagon and yoga pants, needs to channel her inner diva! I’ll let you know when I find her :) Till then I’ll be practicing at my local QFC pushing my grocery cart with class and sass in some high heel shoes if anyone wants a laugh J

As a hobby photographer, I want to suggest how beneficial it is to take progress photos of your journey. You don’t need a fancy camera to do this; your phone camera or a point and shoot will work just fine (if you have a tripod, even better). If you can’t get someone to snap the image for you, use a mirror. Take a full front photo, side and back (you'll need a helper for this one). I would suggest taking your photos in the same spot every time and from the same vantage point that way you can see the changes in muscle and definition and you’re not distracted by crazy angles and backgrounds. Don’t forget to document your stats too; it helps if you know your body comp to have that info with the photos as well.  I don’t have many images at my heaviest or even when I started training back in July and I wish I did now.  It was fun to compare side by sides of pre contest weight/body fat with this week; I’ve come a long way!

Till next time

~Julie

Tags: Posing | photos | Emerald Cup | Craig Productions

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It’s been 2 1/2 weeks since the Emerald Cup weekend! What an AWESOME weekend it was!! With 262 athletes and over 6,000 people in the audience it proved to be a red carpet weekend! To me the Emerald Cup is like the Academay Awards of Physique! There are so many fun aspects to the Emerald Cup. Even though I was working hard I got to visit with so many old friends and I got to make so many new ones!

Mark Mason just emailed me with the link for the post show writeup he did on bodybuilding.com To re-live the show, the link is http://www.bodybuilding.com/fun/mason_2009_emerald_cup_review.htm

Get Big photographer Ron Avidan has posted over 300 pictures of the behind the scenes and expo booths. Check out the link at http://contest.bodybuilding.com/gallery/contest/7672/tag/5/

I can’t believe we are planning the 2010 Emerald Cup now! It’s always sad to say good-bye to a show but it is always exciting to plan for the next one! If you didn’t make it to this years show you missed the Physique event of the year. Don’t make that mistake again…be there for 2010!!! Okay, I didn’t plan for the rhyme but you must admit it works!

Tags: Emerald Cup | photos | review

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