My Inspiration

Me: “She’s very excited about the Spiderman jumping castle. I told her to be extra careful if she goes in it.”

Mr. H: “I’ll keep an eye out for her…the best I can. The kid is fearless.”

Mr. H is my daughter’s fourth grade teacher and this conversation took place earlier in the week when I dropped her off at school. Now let me give you a bit of background…The Princess was born with hemi-hydrocephaly. In plain English this means she was born missing the left side of her brain. Due to this, The Princess has had physical limitations including not being able to walk on her own until the age of 7 and limited use of her right arm, hand, and leg.

While my daughter is limited in some of her physical abilities, she is quick to try things on her own and she does this with no fear. On this particular day, the school was having a party for all of the students who met their reading goal and The Princess was eager to get into the jumping castle. As her mom, I know that jumping castles are not the safest place for any child especially one with physical limitations so I cringed inside when she proclaimed that she was going to try out the Spiderman jumping castle. My first thought was “you’re going to get hurt!” and the fear crept in. I jokingly told her, “Make sure you don’t hurt your pretty face”. She giggled and said, “Mom! Don’t be silly! I’m not going to get hurt!”

I think of the times when she was learning to walk. She tumbled, fell, and hit walls so many times I was sure that people thought I beat my child because of the bruises and scrapes she had. Every time, she would cry a bit, get back up, and try again. She has done this her entire life.

 There was the time she wanted to walk down the driveway to Tom’s truck on her own. I told her that the driveway was steep and she could trip but she insisted that she wanted to do it. She proudly walked out of the door, through the garage, and down the driveway. Halfway to the truck, I saw her feet start to drag and I just knew that she was going to fall. Sure enough, she fell to her knees and I rushed to her side. She let me help her up but pulled her hand away as I tried to walk with her the rest of the way. Stubbornly she proclaimed, “I can do it on my own, Mom” and off she went.

The Princess refuses to be told that she can’t do something and when she accomplishes her “goal”, the look of pride on her face is PRICELESS. Fear has no place in her life.

 As I sit here thinking about some of the goals I have set for myself, I have decided that I want to be exactly like my daughter.

I want to be confident.

I want to be strong-willed.

I want to be determined.

I want to be willing to keep getting up no matter how many times I fall.

I want to be fearless.

That's What's Up Thur...Friday!

There were some issues with Blogger yesterday (as I'm sure many of you know) so that's why this post is a bit late!


source

Do you ever look at someone and think, "your body makes my body cry in shame"??

That's what happens to my shoulders when they look at the shoulders on this body.

They cry because they know they are sad, pitiful, and don't measure up ;)

I'm tempted to start carrying weights in my purse just so I can bust out

a shoulder workout whenever I have a free moment!

IFBB Pro Candice Keene - now that's what's up!!

A Prayer

Dear Prep Gods,

Please convince The Boss that the food item found here is prep-friendly and a necessity.

If you do this for me, I promise to do my cardio faithfully, eat my chicken without wishing it was fried instead of grilled, and not complain about the fish burpies I have after taking my fish oil capsules.

Amen.

New Release Tuesday

Ok....so I've resisted jumping on the Adele bandwagon for some time now....I just thought her voice was "good" and have only liked one of the songs I've heard from her.

That has all changed!! One of the local radio stations played this song yesterday and I thought "Who is this??? I love her voice!!" Yep...at the precise moment I found out it was Adele, I climbed onto the bandwagon and made myself comfortable :)

Take a listen!

Word 2 Your Mother

I thought I would share some pictures in honor of Mother's Day. I have been blessed, not only to have the World's Greatest Mother, but to be a mother as well. I have also been blessed with a wonderful mother-in-law who welcomed me into her family and let me become the woman in her son's life. I cannot forget the sweetest grandmother that has ever walked this Earth, my grandma Jean!

I honor those of you who are mothers and wish you a wonderful day!

"A mother is she who can take the place of all others but
whose place no one else can take."

*Cardinal Mermillod*

 

What I've Learned In The Past 2 Weeks

I will be the first to say it.....I have been a shitty lackluster blogger recently!! I've been in a bit of funk with the new adjustments to prep but that was no reason why I couldn't get on here & do some bloggin' :) So, lo siento (I apologize!).

I want to share with you some of the lessons I've learned over the past 2 weeks. Please feel free to take notes ;)

The Princess is growing up WAY too fast!! I miss the days of hearing her yell "Mom" in her squeaky voice whenever she needed something. Now, she doesn't need me for anything...well...except giving her money to buy books at the book fair and taking her to the movies :)

There's nothing like a 'gar and Big Kids' Juice (aka BOOZE!!)...someone needs to figure

out how to fit these into a figure competitor's prep plan...stat!

How awesome it feels to put something on other than gym clothes and "work" clothes.

 Tommy & I were invited to his cousin's wedding last Sunday and I was able throw on a sassy LBD & my new Steve Madden shoes. Also, it was a definite plus to see my handsome hubby in a suit & tie...LOVE LOVE LOVE a good-looking man in a suit!

This song still requires the volume to be at the highest level possible and a dance around the living room (even if you're only wearing a pair of boy shorts and a sports bra!). I miss Shania Twain's music...#yesI'mabrownskinnedgirlwholikesShaniaTwain...#don'tjudgeme

How angry I would feel when someone (who knows my family pretty well so I can't give her a pass for being a "stranger") called my Dad "my step-dad"...the man has raised me since I was 2 years old. He was the man who instilled in me a love of books. He was the first man to take me on a date and buy me flowers. He was the man who walked me down the aisle. He is the man who has told me, throughout my life, when I'm doing something stupid as well as when I'm doing something right. He has loved me without limitations and I have loved him with my whole heart. Yes, he may be White but he's still my DAD and never in my life have I called him my "step-dad". Sorry if that's not something you can understand...wait in the words of the wise Rachel Wilkerson....sorry I'm not sorry!

*whew...I got a lil deep there... ;)

How utterly ridiculous it is that I am now in my 4th prep and I just bought a membership to Costco!

Why didn't someone tell me about how wonderful it is to buy egg whites, ground turkey, protein powder, glucosamine, and dark chocolate pomegranate bites sugar-free gum in bulk??!?!

Seriously, I am in love with Costco and I don't care who knows it! Donloree feels the same way...check out her love sonnet to Costco.

And the last lesson I learned, how wise Tom was to insist that I purchase photos from the show photographer at the Orange County Muscle Classic. Yes, Tom had great seats and was able to take some really good photos but...let's be honest....nothing beats photos from a professional photographer that was thisclose to the stage. I may sound cocky when I say this but I love the pictures I received. I will definitely buy my photos at my next CA show!

Any lessons you've learned that you care to share?

Guest Post: From a Proud Husband!!! Part 2

Back from the wedding...took a Gangsta pic, cuz we were being silly!

 So the last blog post was Thursday and Friday...  I will now post Competition day analysis, from a proud husband!!!  You have probably been bombarded with pics that I took and musclecontest.com.  So most of this summary will be in writing...

And I promised you all I would tell my favorite part of the show!!!  If you guessed tanner, you were right!  I first laughed when Tenecia told me that she needed three coats of tanner, but she was serious.  I was a little skeptical but it really makes a different with separation on stage making things "pop."  My favorite part however is applying it, buck-ass naked, in the garage with some good music, and maybe some alcohol.  It takes about an hour to apply it, probably could go faster but this part is for my enjoyment, lol.

Ok enough of that.  Saturday started out like most Saturdays at home...  The list needs to be done, in the right order, and right on time.  No time to talk, flirt, or smart comments.  It's go time.  Her list must be followed to the capital T!!!  Meals, everything packed, double check backstage bag, iron her after show clothes, and mine (won't let me interrupt her when she is on a roll), makeup, hair, suit, make bed, clean room, blah blah blah...  She is an animal to say the least!!! 

A little makeup pic early Sat.

While she was getting ready, I could not believe how vascular she had become overnight, with striated quads and great separation.  I could not wait for her to hit that front pose and the quads chiseled with full muscle bellies!  She was definitely leaner by far than past shows and I was very excited to see the competition.

The show placement was perfectly done. If your class was early at pre-judging, you would be last for the night show, only fair.  So Figure was first and we left right after prejudging to rest up for the night.  I took pictures of all the figure first callouts and the classes were pretty big.  I was so busy taking pics I did not analyze what the judges were looking for.  Her class only had four competitors, but great competition.  As far as stage presence and posing, I really thought Tenecia looked confident, graceful, feminine, and all around complete package. 

I define her class as cut and lean, not striated and ripped, muscular and shapely without looking blocky or big.  Her class looked to be the toughest but you never know what the judges are looking for.  And at this contest I was WAY off!  Figure obviously needs to make a new definition, because I frankly do not understand it.  She brought the best package we had to offer, and I would not change anything.  However for the next show prep is totally different!

I will leave you with my favorite pic from the show

Again thank you all for encouraging her and pushing her, and can I ask to keep it up, she is not real excited to do weights a mere once a week!  But that is what the doc has ordered!

From a proud husband,

Tommy