My 1st Foodie Penpals Reveal!

Last month I shared with you that I would be participating in Foodie Penpals. Foodie Penpals is a program that Lindsay from The Lean Bean Green created in 2011. The program has grown from 30 participants in September 2011 to currently more than 600!!! How incredible is that?!!?

Cliff's Notes version of  the program is -  you receive a name from Lindsay on the 5th of the month. You contact the person to find out if they have any food allergies, dietary restrictions, etc. The dollar limit is $15 and you have until the 15th of the month to get your box of goodies together. On the last day of the month, you reveal what you received. Got all that?!?! :) For the official description of the program and sign up if you're interested, head over to the Foodie Penpals page!

I received my first box of goodies from Cristina at An Organic Wife. Cristina is 25 years old and about two years ago, made the switch to eating organic. The following quote is from her website, "All of our meat and dairy is locally sourced from grass-fed farms. I make everything from scratch, using no additives, artificial preservatives, or colors."

After "meeting" Cristina, I've started following her blog and it's such a great read. You guys have to check her out!

My box of goodies before I tore into it!

Since I'm currently prepping, I had to be a bit more selective with the things I could receive in my box. Cristina didn't seem to mind my list of boring things I could have and really hooked me up!!!

The spread including a handwritten card from Cristina!

I oohed and ahhed at every piece of yummy goodness that was in the box! Some of the goodies Cristina sent me included 365 Organic's German Mustard, Justin's Chocolate Peanut Butter, Zhena's Gypsy Tea in Vanilla Chai, and Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce.

I have a new favorite meal and addiction. Cristina created a monster! Here's what you need:

The salmon comes out spicy, salty, and oh so tasty. Salmon plus veggies has been my last meal of the day for the past few weeks and since making it with these three ingredients, I could NOT wait until the end of the day when it was time to grub on it. I will let you know that my heart is a bit broken because my diet just changed and my sauce has been taken away from me :( I believe my reply when I was told that I had to give it up was something along the lines of "NOOOOOOOO!!!!"

Have no fear, Sriracha Hot Chili Sauce. We will be reunited soon!

Meal #2 - Cinnamon Ezekial bread & cashew butter

You will hear many competitors rave about almond butter and while you will never catch me turning down any type of nut butter, you will not hear me proclaiming my love for almond butter. You will, however, hear me declaring my undying love for Artisana's 100% Organic Raw Cashew Butter!!! This stuff is no joke!!!

Don't get between me & my cashew butter!

I literally caught myself licking the inside of the packaging just to ensure I had eaten every little bit. I sent The Boss #1 a picture of the empty cashew butter packaging and said, "You need to get this in your life. This shit cray!"

The German mustard from 365 Organic was the perfect dressing for my 5 oz chicken + 1 cup salad + kalamata olives meal. I had to remind myself that if I used all of the mustard at once, I wouldn't have any for my next salad. The mustard tastes a bit like spicy brown mustard but less tart. I highly recommend it!

There you have it, some of the delicious goodies Cristina from An Organic Wife brought into my life! Thank you so much, Cristina!! You have made me & my tummy so very very happy!!

If you're interested in seeing what I sent my foodie penpal, head over to Raven's blog Surely There's An Instruction Manual!

Sweat to Street Sunday #9

Welcome to Sweat to Street Sunday's!

Each week my fabulously fit co-hosts and I will link up with one everyday outfit AND one fitness outfit that we love!

Meet Your Hosts!
Family and Life in Las Vegas (Emily) 

Wild Things RUN Free (Charlotte)

Running and Cupcakes (Samantha) 

MCM Mama (Erika) 

Boobs, Barbells, and Broccoli (Tenecia)

***IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW SWEAT TO STREET ON TWITTER OR PLAN ON TWEETING YOUR POST, PLEASE USE THE HASHTAG #SweatToStreet***

Sweat to Street has been created as a place to link up your favorite outfits of the week as a new Sunday blog feature. The idea is to have some fun and change it up! Each week we encourage you to post one workout outfit and one outfit you wore that isn’t fitness related.

Every week we spotlight one awesome blogger who links up with us in the previous week! Our way of thanking you for sharing your fabulous/fun/fitness style!

This week's featured blogger: Toni from Running, Loving, Living

**ANNOUNCEMENT** 
You MUST head over to Samantha's blog Running and Cupcakes and check out the special giveaway she's having! It's her blog-iversary and she's celebrating by
giving away free stuff!!!

SWEAT!!!

Another wonderful leg day at the gym!

I'm working on building my glutes & hammies

because the bottoms of those competition suits

are ridiculously small! :)

Shirt: X2X Clothing - new clothing coming soon!!

Shorts: Jockey

Shoes: Vibrams Bikila

Accessories: Livestrong bracelet, Sinful bag (filled with lifting straps, 

post-workout supps, towel, chapstick, etc), gallon of water,

ipod, Miami Ink hat

STREET!!!

Tom and I were attending the wedding of a close friend
so we had to dress like grown-ups! :)

I have a lot of clothes for work & the gym but
not too many dresses/outfits for special events!

I wanted to make sure that I didn't wear the same
dress I've worn for the last 3 weddings I've attended...lol!

Dress: Forever 21
Shoes: Enzo Angiolini
Accessories: bracelet (gift), earrings from costume jewelry shop,
wig from Wig-o-Rama (I'm not making this up! It's really
the name of the shop!), Coach sunglasses

Link-up Suggestions:

• follow the hosts on twitter: @FamilyNLifeLV, @Char__Latte, @MrsFitLibrarian, @MCMmama, @RunCupcake
• Feel free to follow us all via RSS as well so you never miss a Sweat to Street post!
• Snag a button and share the fun!!
• Sharing is caring! Be sure to visit pages participating in the link up!
• Feel free to share this link up on your own blog by grabbing the code here! get the InLinkz code
• HAVE FUN!

Remember if you don't link up, we can't choose you to be next week's featured blogger!

We are so excited to see all the fashions that are shared each week!

 

The Moments I Live For...

The moments I live for have nothing to do with figure competitions. They don't have a thing to do with trophies or top 5 placings.

The moments I live for center around one of the greatest gifts I have ever been given - The Princess!

Daddy's Girl!

Look at that face!

Tuesday night, Tom and I attended "Meet the Author" night at our daughter's school. The Princess, along with the other fifth-graders at her school have been working on a writing project. They were asked to write the story of their life and illustrate it. Once they completed their story, it was send away to be printed and bound.

Meet the Author night was the first time the students and their families saw their published books. Each family brought a dessert to share and students were invited to read portions of their book.

Tom and our published author!

My little lady and I!

I'm many things but what I'm most proud of is being a mom!! These type of events just confirm to me that while I never thought motherhood was for me, God knew more than I did! The Princess is such a great kid and we are so blessed!!

My crazy cute fam bam!!

The story of her life

P.S. The great thing about having a published author in the family is finally getting my husband to read ;)

New Release Tuesday

Awhile back, one of my friends posted this video on their facebook page and I was so impressed.

Well, Karmin has a new single out entitled "Brokenhearted" and here's the thing, I had heard it on the radio a few times and loved it. The only issue was each time I heard it, it was towards the end of the song and I had missed the deejay saying who the song was by. I was frustrated because I really liked the song but had no clue who sang it!! Last week, I finally caught the song from the beginning and scurried to youtube to find the video! 

I present to you - Karmin and "Brokenhearted"!

Time to Mark the Calendar!!!

I have a secret to share with you.

I've actually been prepping for my first show for the past 7 weeks but very few people knew! I know...I know...that wasn't very nice of me since a large portion of my blog is about prepping and living as a wife/mom/librarian by day and figure competitor by night :) I guess I just wanted to ease back into things and just concentrate on starting this prep out on the right foot and getting into the right mindset.

I apologize and promise to never keep secrets from you again.....forgive me?? :)

The plan is to do both of these shows which are a week apart. You may recall that I did the Terminator show last year and placed second. If you want to relive my "hometown glory" as I called it, you can read part 1 and part 2 of my recap from that particular show. This will be my first time doing two shows a week apart so I'm crossing my fingers that all will work. Boss #1 and Boss #2 do not seem worried so I'm not going to be :)

So, it's 12 weeks until I hit the stage for the first time this year and here's where I'm currently at...it's not the best picture but it gives you an idea of where I stand...

12 weeks....that's a long time in theory but I know it will go by quickly....I need to be focused & determined. I need to walk away from both shows with a top 3 placing - I won't settle for anything less.

It's time to stop playing. It's time to go big or go home.

"Ain't nuthin' to it but to do it!"

Sweat to Street #8

Welcome to Sweat to Street Sunday's!

Each week my fabulously fit co-hosts and I will link up with one everyday outfit AND one fitness outfit that we love!

Meet Your Hosts!

Family and Life in Las Vegas (Emily)
Wild Things RUN Free (Charlotte)
Running and Cupcakes (Samantha)
MCM Mama (Erika)
Boobs, Barbells, and Broccoli (Tenecia)

***IF YOU WANT TO FOLLOW SWEAT TO STREET ON TWITTER OR PLAN ON TWEETING YOUR POST, PLEASE USE THE HASHTAG #SweatToStreet***

Sweat to Street has been created as a place to link up your favorite outfits of the week as a new Sunday blog feature. The idea is to have some fun and change it up! Each week we encourage you to post one workout outfit and one outfit you wore that isn’t fitness related.

Every week we spotlight one awesome blogger who links up with us in the previous week! Our way of thanking you for sharing your fabulous/fun/fitness style!

This week's featured blogger: Gina from Gina's Guide To

SWEAT!!!!

This past week was ridiculously busy for me so I didn't realize 

that I hadn't taken any pictures for 

this post until last night! DOH!!

Anyway, this picture is from a month or two ago but I

did wear this same outfit last week....

I wonder if 

I should think about getting new workout clothes :)

Shirt: Lucy - I love their tanks..especially when they're on sale!

Shorts: Jockey

Shoes: Nike

Accessories: Lifting gloves, Miami Ink hat, Livestrong bracelet, 

water jug, Sinful bag

STREET!!!

I'm sure most of you are experiencing

springlike tempers where you live...

last week, it was 99 degrees! Yep!

That means it's time to pull out 

the cute summer dresses!!

The picture is not a recent one but this 

outfit made an appearance this week!!

From my baby brother's college graduation in 2010!

Dress: Merona from Target
Shoes: Black Steve Madden pumps
Accessories: earrings from JC Penny's, Coach bracelets,
Livestrong bracelet, Fossil watch

Link-up Suggestions:

• follow the hosts on twitter: @FamilyNLifeLV, @Char__Latte, @MrsFitLibrarian, @MCMmama, @RunCupcake
• Feel free to follow us all via RSS as well so you never miss a Sweat to Street post!
• Snag a button and share the fun!!
• Sharing is caring! Be sure to visit pages participating in the link up!
• Feel free to share this link up on your own blog by grabbing the code here! get the InLinkz code
• HAVE FUN!

Remember if you don't link up, we can't choose you to be next week's featured blogger!

We are so excited to see all the fashions that are shared each week!

New Release Tuesday

Sometimes I hear a song and I think "Is this artist inside my head?!?!" This is exactly how I feel about this song by David Guetta....who by the way...takes up a MAJOR portion of my cardio playlist :)

This is the theme song for my prep...listen closely to the words of the song and you'll know why...

I'm bullet-proof with nothing to lose....you shoot me down but I won't fall....I am titanium!