New 'Do!

I finally got my hair cut yesterday after 11 months of letting it grow. It took someone telling me that my hair looked like a "helmet" for me to go..."Okay, I guess it's time for a cut." My hair has never been as long as it is right now. I have a ton of hair and it gets really nappy in the back and I'm pretty sure it was for that reason that my mother always kept my hair short as a child. One day in Nordstrom at about 10 years of age a woman referred to me as a little boy. I don't think I've ever recovered from that experience psychologically. ;)

Loving the long hair and loving it even more now that I have a sassy new 'do. I had it cut by the amazing Rose Hampton . She does image consulting for Tanji Johnson and many other figure/fitness competitors. She's also a client that I train at Elite, so that's how we ended up hooking up. I'm excited to be using her for my hair and makeup for the spring shows and my next Jim Wallingford photo shoot. The hair feels amazingly good and I love the cut so much - I feel like a new woman! Nothin' like a fresh new 'do to liven things up!

Rose also helped me narrow down my suit colors for my new suit. Looks like I'll be wearing either AQUA or ORCHID. They are being custom-crystalled by an amazing friend of mine. Super excited about how it's going to turn out...should look really stunning on stage when I get my tiara!

It's really fun to have everything coming together for the competitions. It's getting close - Vancouver is 7 weeks from tomorrow, Emerald Cup 10 weeks. I feel like I've got my diet nailed down - still doing the carb cycling for now and 1-2 sessions of cardio a day depending on my energy level. I think I'm good with only one, but I try to get two when I can.

A little word about 'having faith' that I want to share before I close: I was emailing with Dave (my coach) during the week about some changes I was considering making to my diet. One thing he advised was that while he liked my changes and he thought it would work, I shouldn't expect the scale to budge, but I should look leaner. All week I was frustrated, the scale wasn't budging at ALL!!! I was doing everything right, according to the plan. Here I was training so hard, eating perfectly and nothing was happening. And then yesterday morning I looked in the mirror and realized...Dang, if Dave isn't right again. That scale hasn't moved but damn if I'm not looking a LOT leaner. It was just a reminder that I've chosen the right people to advise me, people I trust and I need to have faith and trust in the process.