Recap of Border States

Tom and I left Tucson on Thursday afternoon after sending The Princess off to school, straightening up the house, and packing up the last of our stuff. We were heading to Yuma to stay overnight with my sister-in-law Crystal. It was nice to stop at her place, hang out, and just rest a little bit before finishing the last leg of our drive. One thing I can tell you about road trips while getting ready for a show - lots of eating cold food out of Ziploc bags. Oh....and quite a few potty breaks...it's amazing how my hatred for public restrooms disappears days before a show :)

Meal #3 out of a Ziploc?  Don't mind if I do

On Friday, we stopped at the Viejas Outlets in Alpine, CA. I love that we weren't in a rush to get to San Diego and could stop because I whined made a comment about needing to stop at the Coach & Nike outlets. Tom, being a very smart man, stopped at the outlets after purchasing a bag of large Hass avocados from a roadside booth for $5. It's the little things that make us happy....avocados for him....$4.79 Nike running shorts for me!

We reached the hotel about 2 hours before the athlete's meeting so I had time to start laying my stuff out for the next day and have another coat of tanner applied. The Doubletree Hotel that we stayed at was gorgeous! Did you know that when you check into a Doubletree, they give you a free freshly baked chocolate chip cookie?? Yea, I almost flipped out when the man at the counter tried to hand me the cookie...I wanted to scream "Damn it, man!!! I'm one day out from my show! Get that f#%king thing away from me!!!" but I didn't and Tom saved everyone from an awkward violent encounter by quickly grabbing the cookies and hiding them :)

source
Our room looked similar to this.

The athlete's meeting went well, a bit slow, but it was a smooth process. I had a chance to stop at my friend Kayla's room and pick her up so we hung out at the meeting together. Kayla and I meet last November at the check in for a NPC show we were doing so we both commented on how differently we were behaving at the CA check in versus the AZ check in :)

Show day arrived and I took a quick walk on the treadmill in the fitness center before having my first meal. A check of the physique by Tom was met with a thumbs up despite an inner nagging feeling that I was still holding water from my period and I was too soft. I threw on my suit, grabbed my bag, and we were off!

Figure was at the beginning of the show so it was time to hit the stage before I knew it. As we lined up, I got a little jittery but walked out & hit my poses!

After pre-judging, Tom & I went to grab some lunch and headed back to the hotel for a nap. Finals seemed to take F-O-R-E-V-E-R but the plus side was meeting Rosalind Vanterpool!! By the time figure awards were being given out it was almost 10:00 pm and I just wanted to eat! I wasn't shocked by receiving 5th place but I do wish I had done better. 

Me (5th) and Kayla (1st)

My post-show meal was a black & bleu cheeseburger and beer from the Tilted Kilt - it was freakin' awesome! The next morning, I finally ate the free chocolate chip cookie and we went exploring San Diego a bit. We had an incredible breakfast at Old Townhouse, waffle ice cream sandwich sundae (cookie dough ice cream sandwiched between two hot belgian waffles topped with melted Nutella, whipped cream, roasted almonds, and a cherry) from Lighthouse Ice Cream, and beers & football at The Arizona Cafe. I think I might love San Diego & Ocean Beach :)

I ate the free cookie!!!

I'm going to save the commentary about my feelings about the judges' feedback, competing in 3 shows this year, and what's next on the agenda for another post. My pictures from the show's photographer can be found here and I will be posting additional pictures on my facebook. I'm off to eat another piece of chocolate and have a glass of bubbly....don't judge me.... :)