Merry Christine

FINALLY!! I have a clear mind to start another head banger! I flew to Ohio this past weekend to deliver a wedding gown to the ultimate Princess of fitness. Julie Palmer and Mike Davies are officially husband and wife now, and it is about time. The absolute best fitness and figure training team in the industry and there really is no dispute. All you have to do is look at their website www.mikedaviesfitness.com and look at thier team. I am so proud to be involved with these people, going on 10 years.

I met so many gals that I have worked with from as far back as 04, to current. All of them were so wonderful. Everyone was so happy, healthy and beeeeaautiful. If you go to Fitness Factory Facebook page I am sure there are many pictures and videos at this point.

I truly wish I had more to say, but that dress has been the only thing in my head for the past 4 months. I will focus on the bikini page now I PROMISE, and I have been instructed to put up a facebook page for the figure/fitness/bikini gals, so it will be done.

“IF YOU WISH TO SEE THE VALLEYS, CLIMB TO THE MOUNTAIN TOP

IF YOU DESIRE TO SEE THE MOUNTAIN TOP, RISE INTO THE CLOUD

BUT IF YOU SEEK TO UNDERSTAND THE CLOUD, CLOSE YOUR EYES AND THINK” Kahlil Gibran

Okay, I am taking a deep breath, standing back, and realizing everything just might be okay. It has been a year since this bikini thing has been going on with the NPC and now IFBB. In the beginning, I heard “off the rack bikini’s”. So why do I even bother? Not my thing. As last year went on, and I had a couple of tries at it, I still didn’t get it. Not small enough, no bling, little, bling, maybe bling extenders, channel sets, no glueing bling, okay to glue bling. What the hell do they want??? So just give up and leave it to the, suit makers that get it, and get away with charging a grip of $$. After all, they – get – it.

This weekend was the Arnold Classic/Miss International in Ohio. First Pro bikini at the Arnold. Interesting, every single one of the bikini’s are fully crystalled. My dearest friends Jim and Shannon came up here with a beautiful muse, unknown, perfect bod, Caitlin Sherry. I hope that is how it is spelled. In a matter of hours I made up 5 different versions of “uncrystalled” suits to sell on the ready to wear. So I will have a page up within the week, for ready to wear orders, along with some really fun prints. The lowest priced suit will be $60.00, and I am sure the most expensive ready to wear will be the same as the figure suits.

THEN, what the heck, I will do couture bikinis. Now that I understand how SMALL they are suppose to be it will be a breeze to make some one of a kind crystalled bikinis. How exciting! This is just the thing to pull me out of this winter rut.

I try sooo hard to not sound like a broken record, but I just can’t help it. My personal life has absolutely no drama, so if I am going to blog, it is going to be about things I contemplate.

Okay, okay, I have an amazing Percheron that actually pulled his first logs a couple of weeks, ago, AND,,,,I have the most amazing sister in law, Annie, who is the bestest mommy on the planet. But if I carried on about those two topics I would drive everyone crazy because they are my mostest favoritest things!!

Okay, down to business. I am a rose junkie. I love the flavor of rose. It is very hard to find TRUE rose flavor. I spend a grip on the only true honest rose oil, and just recently found rose salt. So this place has a natural flavored rose salt, I order it, smells amazing. I put a wet finger in it and set it on my tongue……YEEEOUCH!!! Burned the crap out of my tongue! Then I noticed it was sea salt. IF, I use salt, I have only used Redmonds mineral salt, and have for years. So I put my finger in the mineral salt, and sure enough, it did not burn my tongue. I know nothing about the difference between sea salt and mineral salt. I was told back on 07, when I was competing, by Mr. X-Man to keep the “Redmonds” mineral salt in my gym bag in case I cramped up, or felt dizzy. Since then, I have always used it when I feel the need to. Now, I do know the minerals salts are brownish, the sea salts are pure white. I imagine the sea salts have some benefits, but,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,I think I am going to stay with the mineral salt. I don’t use salt that much anyway, for I feel the only time I need to worry about salt intake is when I work, and train heavily. So……I have been using my rose sea salt for cleaning my cast iron pans. I am assuming everyone that uses cast iron knows you are to clean them with salt, dry them on the stove, then rub them with a thin layer of oil. That is how you keep your cast iron cookware seasoned, SAFELY.

Another thing… I was watching the television this morning and this add came on. The person was sitting at a table, staring at this dark green glass of juice with this horrible look on her face. Then it moved on to a picture of Centrum vitamins. I had to pick my jaw up off the floor. I will tell you this. I AM one of those totally crazy people that drinks that fresh green juice every morning. It IS nasty. But I would rather suck that shit down with a straw and cringe for a matter of less than a minute and have the fresh enzymes, vitamins, and minerals in my system, than pop some stupid microscopic pill, that has “clinical proven facts” to have all the same advantages of that nasty, horrible, glass of green fear! Yea, take a pill, it will fix everything.

Now, since this is a website for competition suits, it dawned on me to mention a couple of things pertaining to that matter. I WILL be making bikinis, and will have a page to purchase ready to wear bikinis in the next couple of weeks. I am going to make a $60.00 basic bikini with a lot of different fabrics to choose from. And YES, I AM MAKING JULIE PALMERS WEDDING DRESS! It is not a secret. Julie has been telling people from the start. I just don’t because I have a ton of stuff going on around me here and what is the point? The fun part will be when she does wear it walking down the isle. THEN,,,,it will be fun to talk about.

And now, the fact that I have left my desk twice since starting this blaaawg……Once to feed horses, and then to blow off my driveway, (in the pouring down rain). my mind has gone blank again. So sorry. Thought I had something of some importance to say……….But alas, I need to set crystals.

HAPINESS IS WHEN WHAT YOU THINK, WHAT YOU SAY, AND WHAT YOU DO ARE IN HARMONY………………..

It has been two whole months since I have written anything on my blog. I “think” about writing something almost everyday, however, when it comes down to it, I just don’t see a reason why I should waste my time. Life has been very good to me, and I am always busy doing one thing or another. But honestly, who really needs to hear my opinion when there are millions out there doing the same? I keep going back to the TMI theory. And I am a victim like everyone else.

I have reached the “half century” mark in my life, and quite frankly, not much changes for me. I wake up the same time every morning, I run in the woods with my dogs, play with the horses, pay attention to my eating and training, keep my living space clean, make suits for competitors, and I would say the only thing that has changed with me is the fact that I just don’t take things seriously, or, read into things deeper than they are. I pay more attention to national political issues (honestly, so I don’t sound like a fool when discussing it).

In 2010, I had made a serious effort to watch CSPAN at least once a week, the Congress, and the Senate, because everyone has such strong opinions, right or left, young and old, and VERY opinionated (I am guilty as well). But when someone makes a statement I am unfamiliar with, I look into it, for I am curious how the conclusion was made. For the most part, the more opinionated the opinion is, the less the one making the statement is informed on the facts……. Anyway, the only reason I am writing about this is because my “opinion” is, if anyone is going to be boisterous, they should have some sort of idea of what is REALLY going on, and not rely on news media information, since in this day and age, it has become more personally opinionated. Watching the Senate and the Congress has put me in “my” place a number of times. And from this, I grow. This year is going to be VERY interesting….

In the health and fitness category,……….nothing has changed (Unless you are involved in the IFBB and NPC, and in a sad way). There are more diet, supplement, equipment, and mentors, but the motivation is always the same. You have your vegan’s and your carnivore’s, and one cannot convince the other, and never will. There really is no one diet that works for everybody. You can spend thousands of dollars over your lifetime looking for the right diet for yourself. Common sense, even though seems simple, becomes complicated, because there are many “mentors” that have thier version of common sense. I know what works for me, but I have no idea what works for individual people. We all have different genetics, we were raised in different families with different eating habits, we have different athletic histories (different past injuries/surgerys), and with all of that, makes for a very complicated understanding of how one can make their life better in health and fitness. NOTHING is simple when it comes to this topic, UNLESS, you take responsibility for all you do.

See………..this is why I have not written anything for a while. I have had many people approach me in the recent months with serious questions in reference to their health and well being. Even though I feel obligated to try to give decent advise, I only know what I can do for myself. When giving advise, I cannot assume that other people can tolerate, the taste and texture of certain healthy, and beneficial foods that I prefer. Budget is a huge problem now more than ever, therefore, specific supplements may not be an option. Time, not many people can justify “making” time for thier health (even though I think it is just an easy way to cop out). Most of all, patience. NOTHING happens overnight, especially when it comes to health. “The Biggest Looser” is a TV show, where they take obese people, train the crap out of them with extreme diets, for the sake of ratings, and let people believe that anyone can loose that much weight in such a short amount of time. Show me everyone that has done that show, that they have kept the weight off, and are continuing to lead a healthy lifestyle, and I will eat crow………….humbly……..and happily.

Being humble and patient, in “my opinion” is the number one solution to taking control of your health, fitness, and personal lifestyle. Easy to say, extremely difficult to practice everyday of your life.

Long winded, but Gibran has great words ….

“Peace be with you, Spring, who restores the earth to youth!

Peace be with you Summer, who gives the glory of the sun!

Peace be with you Autumn, who gives with joy of fruits of labour and the harvest of toil!

Peace be with you Winter, whose rage and tempest restore to nature her sleeping strength!

Peace be with you, Years, who reveal what the years concealed!

Peace be with you, Ages, who build what the ages destroyed!

Peace be with you, Time, who leads us to the fullness of death!

Peace be with you, Soul, who directs the rudder of life and death while hidden from us behind the curtain of the sun!”

Anyway……..it inspires me………….HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

I woke up this morning for a second day of sun. After my run I ate fresh Raspberries off the vine, picked my greens from the garden, then saddled up and rode Magnum, my Thoroughbred with my mom and Junior, her Quarter Horse. By the time we got back…..it was already 70 degrees. Weed wacked, blew off the driveway, mowed the lawn, finished crystalling a suit…. Then saddled up Tankus, my Percheron, rode him up back, and managed to take a spill….hurt my damned finger. Cleaned the pool. Trained shoulders and lats……..I am done with the day.

Is it REALLY November in the Pacific Northwest???

Here’s a few sweet Gibran quotes…

Paradise is there, behind that door, in the next room; but I have lost the key. Perhaps I have only mislaid it.

If winter should say, “Spring is in my heart,” who would believe in winter?

Inspiration will always sing; inspiration will never explain.

Even the most winged spirit cannot escape physical necessity.

Friendship is always a sweet responsibility, never an opportunity…….

A strange form of self indulgence! There are times when I would be wronged and cheated, that I may laugh at the expense of those who think I do not know I am being wronged and cheated.

In truth we talk only to ourselves, but sometimes we talk loud enough that others may hear us.

An exaggeration is a truth that has lost its temper.

There must be something strangely sacred in salt. It is in our tears and in the sea.

Only once have I been made mute. It was when a man asked me, “Who are you?”

Getting ready to end my day, my farrier/friend Lane calls (for those of you who do NOT know what a farrier is, they shoe horses) and instructs me to turn on Ch 405 (sport channel). It was the replay of last years Breeders Cup. For those of you who could give a F about horse racing, it is as important as the triple crown races in the industry, if not more. Last years breeders cup was significant, for it was the first time a mare (female horse) won the race, and as of now, she is 19 races, undefeated. http://www.courier-journal.com/article/20101015/SPORTS08/310150077/1037/rss0701 This link is a brief article about her. If you go to www.youtube.com, and search Zenyatta, you will get a plethera of videos on her. Every one of them are a joy to watch. She is taller than any of the past triple crown winners, and has a “runway model” walk she always performs. What makes her races even more exciting is she starts out dead last and always catches up and wins on the home stretch! She is inspiring and has a HUGE fan base.

For some reason EVERY single time I watch anything about her my chest wells up and my eyes fill with tears. Have no clue why, but everyone else admits they have the same problem. Her beauty, personality, and the fact that she is no BS, kick ass female, well, says enough.

Another fact. The guy that owns her founded the rock group The Police, hence the name Zenyatta. Pathetic part of this info is I know some teenagers who have NO idea who the The Police are………………..get me my Geritol please……….Ooops! don’t know what that is either?? Help!

SO…………all of this being said, she is running her last race Saturday November 6th at, again, The Breeders Cup. She wins this they will hail her immortal.
Geeesh,,,,,,,,,just typing that made me choke up. I am pretty sure it is on NBC. If not it is on one of the other two major networks.

If you have a chance mark your calendar and take the time to watch equine history!!

“INSPIRATION WILL ALWAYS SING; INSPIRATION WILL NEVER EXPLAIN.”

I have been in awe of my latest purchase. A three volume hardback set called “The Legends of the Iron Game”. It was put together by Bill Pearl, George and Tuesday Coates, and Richard Thornley Jr. You can get this set on www.billpearl.com . Anyone that TRULY loves strength training should invest in this set. I have always idolized Bill Pearl, for he is the first and only person involved in strength training that has a rule of ethics, as well as the BEST instructional books and videos…….PERIOD!!

He lives in Oregon and I actually got to meet him once at a local bodybuilding competition here. I was walking off the stage and he was at the bottom of the stairs. I will never forget that.

I have a few of his books, “Keys to the Inner Universe”, which, I feel, if ANYONE wants to learn what strength training/bodybuilding is all about, should read this book. “Getting Stronger” is a book filled with the most logical exercises in the gym. He has a wonderful selection of other books, DVD’s, anatomy posters, all to help one become educated in true fitness. I highly recommend his website. If anything, read his “About Bill” page. You can find it at the bottom of his homepage.

So, I made my first successful, and most likely ONLY bikini to grace the Olympia stage. It was a painstaking experience, for I just don’t know how to do “cheap and slutty”. Darling Dina patiently worked with me until I finally got it…………geesh!!! I am completely myphed by the bikini in the IFBB.. I am trying SO hard to see how it has anything to do with strength and fitness……….Anyway, not my business… But I must post a picture of Dina here because if anything she was the only gal to grace the first Bikini Olympia stage (and making top ten), as well as a veteran from gracing the stage in ’03 in the very first Figure Olympia stage (top 5). Problem with Dina is …well,…..she is just too perfect and polished…..sigh…..

I cannot help myself to end this blog with some Kahlil Gibran words relating to vanity:

“I saw them eating and I knew who they were”

“Some silky faces are lined with coarse cloth”

“If there were two men alike, the world would not be big enough to contain them”

“By adornment one acknowledges his ugliness”

Here’s a great one….”Listen to the woman when she looks at you, but not when she talks to you”

Oh just a couple more…”The truth that needs proof is only half truth”

Considering this was written decades ago, THIS is pretty profound…..”Woe to the nation that departs from religion to belief, from country lane to city alley, from wisdom to logic”

I’m done now………

I went to the State Fair yesterday to check out the Draft Horse Extravaganza. Since I have a Percheron, and feel somewhat like an outsider in the Equestrian world, I was hoping to run into someone that had Percherons. I did. WOW!! Now, I know it seems impossible, but I am even MORE in love with my Tankus.

Anywaaay……….I was cruising the exhibits with my horse buddy Kim, and overheard someone saying the redundant words “I don’t need to go to a stupid gym, I do enough yard work I don’t need to.”

Now, there is an enormous difference between work and working out. Yardwork IS work, shoveling crap out of horse stalls is work, chopping wood is work, laying bricks, work………………When you work, you are doing the SAME movements, and that is why there is always some specific area on your body that hurts, and eventually becomes chronic pain, ESPECIALLY when you get older. Why can I be righteous when I say this?….. Because I am 50 years old, and in the past, oh, decade, I have many people in my life that have rolled their eyes at me for years when I tell them they should be resistance training, so they can keep their bodies evenly fit. As they are getting older, NOW they are asking me about resistance training. Either that OR they are constantly complaining, and for the most part I am polite enough to not say I told you so.

Anytime you are doing specific physical work, like chopping wood, you are favoring specific muscles and neglecting specific muscles. Therefore you would have overtrained, then undertrained muscles. The worse part of that is it could be an overtrained left pectoral, latisimus dorsi, biceps etc, and undertrained right of the same group. Eventually you are going to be completely messed up. If you spend a day shoveling, you are stressing the lower back area, and even the trapezius and shoulders. It is just common sense that this happens, and an Advil, or Vicodin is not going to really solve the problem.

Three days a week of a good overall resistance training session, even if it is just the machines, will help immensely. You don’t have to be a maniac like myself, or most of my peers. Anything is better than stoving up.

Oh yea,………….and NO I kept my mouth shut and said nothing to the statement at the fair!

Ten years ago when I won the Washington State Ironman Women’s Masters Bodybuilding, I wrote an article for a natural bodybuilding website about bodybuilding and steriods. I am going to touch on the topic in the same way I did back then, for I, for some reason am getting quite a lot of people asking me questions on this topic. Recently, there have been a few television shows on women and steriod use. Unfortunately, they are interviewing extreme female bodybuilders, covering why they do it, what their life is life off stage, and various other obsessions involved in that type of lifestyle.

They never cover the female bodybuilders that do not take steriods, and have muscular physiques, that DON’T have freaky faces and voices, like myself.

Now since I have made that statement, let me make myself clear. Between the years of 2003 – 07, I dabbled with various thyroid drugs, some Winstrol and Primobolin, but never any hardcore testosterone drugs. I will say that I was doing fine, for “myself” before I messed up my thyroid. But because I have been practicing “resistance training” since I was a teenager, I know for a fact that the muscle that is on my frame is tried and true through discipline from the exercise, and nutrition, especially red meat and dark leafy greens. At fifty years old I can kick ass as I always have.

HOWEVER, this does NOT mean I am against anyone that chooses to use steriods, providing they are old enough to truly understand the side effects. I have always been an advocate to discourage anyone under the age of thirty to touch the drugs, for I had people in my life when I was that age explain to me why “I” didn’t want to do them (even though they did), and to this day I am forever thankful. In fact, when you hear about any tragedies involving steriods, it is always teenagers. Poor kids are already messed up with hormone confusion. That mixed with mega hormones is always a cocktail for tragedy.

Most of the time when you hear about the terrible deaths of adults involving steriods, 98% of the incidents, chances are there are other drugs (recreational) involved. I know, unfortunately, many deaths of people that happen to do steroids that died tragically, but it always involved some severe recreational drug.

So lets touch the pro bodybuilders. These are NOT sports competitors. No one is running faster, jumping higher, dancing better…….. These people are artists. As I say, and have always said on my cover page of my site, the body is a canvas. The food, training items, and discipline create the product of the canvas. Then you go on stage and you have a dozen judges deciding which one they happen to like better on that given day. Don’t think for a second there aren’t favorites, especially in the pro level. As long as the person using is keeping it to themselves, and not pushing the idea of doing to anyone, there should not be a problem. IT IS AN ARTFORM!

It is interesting how it is sort of okay for musicians, actors, writers, and other artists to be alchoholics or drug abusers. It is common knowledge that it expands their creativity. This is okay? But someone who is doing another type of drug that enhances their physical abilities to create a physical artform is deplorable?

Okay, so what about people like me, the majority of “resistance training” junkies who are put in the same category as bodybuilders, who you see around with accentuated delts and biceps? It is ALWAYS the same questions; “Are you a bodybuilder?” “Do you take steriods?” It never makes me angry (especially since I have played with stuff in the past,,,,,briefly), but it gets so redundant. People like me most likely (especially at my age) choose to go this route for many reasons. 1. NATURAL endorphine high. So let me appologize right now to all of my casual friends who find me completely boring since I don’t get high or drink. I prefer to do it in a way that doesn’t destroy my mind or liver. OR self esteem. 2. Injury prevention. 3. Hygiene. 4. Overall health. 5. YES, to look good in whatever clothes I want. These are the reasons for the average person that likes to “work out”. Understand…of the 34 years I have been resistance training, only 9 years did I compete in bodybuilding. Not to say I won’t again, but so far only 9 years on the stage.

There is another category of people that have found solace in resistance training. I know many people with diabetes that find it wonderful, for they have to eat carefully anyway, and when you are preparing for a bodybuilding competition you have to eat pretty much like a diabetic. I know people that have had deblitative accidents that have almost completely healed themselves, when told they would never be the same. Even people in wheelchairs are going into gyms to “pump iron” and love it.

There are many, many people now that have turned to exercise instead of pharmaceutical drugs to make their life better. It is such a horrible thought to be at the mercy of a doctor and the government to just prescribe a drug and say you’ll be better as long as you spend the money and “take this” for the rest of your life. Oh yea, and never tell you it will slowly kill your liver. Not being paranoid, its just a fact. Don’t attack me on this. I understand that there are a lot of people that have to take the medications, its just that their are a lot of people that are finding out the “cocktails” prescribed can be reduced significantly.

As an avid exercise enthusiast/bodybuilder, let me just say; You can pick on me all you want, I have heard it all so at this point it goes in one ear and out the other. After 34 years of training, I am confident enough to know I am still healthy, I don’t break, and still love what I do.

And I am always inspired and excited about my clients and friends that compete in the bodybuilding/fitness world, for they are always content with thier lives and LOOK HEALTHY AND HAPPY!!!

A PEARL IS A TEMPLE BUILT BY PAIN AROUND A GRAIN OF SAND.
WHAT LONGING BUILT OUR BODIES AND AROUND WHAT GRAINS??……Kahlil Gibran

After a couple of weeks of strange depression, I am finally coming out of my hole. I had to categorize everything in order to figure out why I could not function in my normal standard. One of the subjects that was making me crazy was my lack of desire to drink coffee, and MOST of us know that is an important part of a morning.

Months ago I got rid of my countertop espresso maker. After around 12 years of making espresso in a Starbucks machine, it was going nowhere with me. Instead I started using my stovetop European Espresso maker. I only use light roast, for it has the most caffeine. Still, it was bothering me. I have tried every coffee locally you can buy, and even the light roast has a bitter taste somewhere as it passes your tongue. As far as dark roast, besides the fact it has less caffeine, to me, it is like eating a charred steak, YUK!!! HATE IT!!

When in New York, the first place we hit was the grocery store to put food in the apartment. I forgot that every grocery store has a European section. When I glanced up at the cofffee’s, a stong surge of nostalgia hit me when I saw the Dallmayr coffee. Of course I immediately grabbed it. Sure enough, the next morning I made that coffee and it was like a wisp of clouds flowing past my tongue…..Oh what a wonder! At last! Heavenly coffee. Needless to say I looked forward to every morning.

After coming home I was back in my droll state every morning. Going for days without a cup of coffee, for I don’t believe one should suffer to get a morning kick, I started searching for the lightest roasts I could find of ANY brand. FINALLY a light bulb went off in my head and I went online and found a site that is nothing but European coffees. I not only bought the ones I know and like, but purchased any of the lightest roasts they had. Mostly from Austria and Germany.

When that package hit my doorstep the first thing I did was rip it open and make a spot of coffee. ALAS!!! smooth, light, no bitterness, and no lingering aftertaste! Seriously, there are no coffee’s like this here in the great Northwest. Amazing, considering it is a self proclamed coffee capital of the ………..U.S., I guess.

It made ponder, I must be out of my mind not to enjoy the way we roast our beans here. The NW takes such amazing pride in thier incredible coffee, and just about everyone that lives here is completely addicted to coffee. You walk into a Starbucks and they go out of thier way to make you feel inferior if you cannot request your coffee with the proper descriptions.

I have never understood what the deal is with the super dark, over roasted beans. All I can say is, as American as I am, I wish someone here knew how to make the coffee as well as the good old Europeans. Until then, I will be ordering all of my coffee online.