Today we are going to the Sequoia National Forest. We are going to the same campground that we visited last year where we had a fantastic site. Not only were we surrounded by dozens of beautiful Sequoias, there was a great hill right behind our site that I used for my workouts. This time last year I was competing to lose and my first figure competition was weeks away. This year I’ll be enjoying breakfast pancakes without the pressure of standing on a stage in a bikini anytime soon. However, I do plan to get in a few workouts since I’ve been slacking a bit as of late. I’ll probably jog the campground, do my camping workout, and if we are lucky enough to get the same site “sprint” the hill. I love working out in nature. I find it invigorating and being in nature reminds me that my body was made to move.
Here is a picture of our site last year. You can’t really see the hill but it is off to the left.
On our way to the Sequoias we will be driving through Bakersfield. I love Bakersfield for one reason LJS’s. What? Long John Silver’s. I know it’s not exactly the healthiest place of the planet but, regardless, I LOOOOOOOVE it and we don’t have one near by our town. Once we were at Mozza Pizzaria in LA with some industry (what Southern California refers to the film and television industry) friends having dinner. These weren’t close friends and frankly I was feeling a bit un-fancy listening to them talk about the Sky Bar with Ray Romano a few tables over. I was politely listening when I took a bite of an itty bitty fried cheese stuffed squash. ”Oh my gosh this is amazing! It tastes…just like…” I stopped myself realizing I was about to blurt out “Long John Silver’s crunchies”. I didn’t want to offend our friends who had being talking up this restaurant as if it was divine. Not that Mozza wasn’t amazing but LA is notorious for hype. I mean little stuffed squashed that taste like Long John Silvers are amazing but personally I’m just as happy at LJS’s as I am at a fancy place. If not happier. I stammered out the rest of my sentence about how the stuffed squashes “just taste so good”. Yeah very eloquent. Secretly, I was reminded of how much I love LJS’s.
I’ll be back to blogging next week.
xoxo
j
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Have a wonderful time. I am still laughing about the LJS story…..I love those little crunchies too…especially with the shrimp sauce on them. I bet Ray Ramano would rather have been at LJS too !
Hope you are having a great relaxing last official summer of 2009
I have never been to a LJS’s! There is one at a mall nearby but it’s the food court and I always make a bee-line for Rubio’s. Will have to give it a go one of these days …
I loved seeing your pictures and reading your story. You look amazing. I have has similar struggles with yo yo dieting and have for the past 10 months started to change my life. It is such a blessing and I can totally relate with your feelings and story. I am still exploring your blog so forgive me if you have already talked about this, but did you have a trainer that helped you get ready to compete? How much time do you spend in the gym? I have always thought it would be exciting and fun to do something like that but I don’t know much about it. I’d love to learn more! thanks! natalie
Natalie – Sorry for my delayed reply. THANK YOU for you kind words. To answer your question, no, I didn’t have a trainer for my competition prep. On average, I spent about an hour at the gym. Towards the end (last two weeks or so) I did a some extra cardio to try to help burn off a little more fat that brought my total exercise time those two weeks to 1.50-2 hours a week. The strict diet was the hardest part for me but it certainly wasn’t impossible or miserable just challenging. Although figure competing isn’t “my thing” it was a great experience and I don’t regret doing it at all. I may in the future do another show for fun.
Thanks for stopping by!
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