Late, long, but finally in words

Yeah so its a little late in coming........but can't tell you how many times I've started it and it got lost, so I finally did it in word and still had issues..


WOW… What a day I had… I am not even sure if anything I write can properly describe how I felt on Saturday, June 20, 2009.

First the entire week was a week from hell at work. In general my co-worker and I do two payrolls a month. We are paid on the 5th and 20th. But in a school district, or at least ours we split salaried employees ‘contracts’ into 24 checks. And while they don’t get paid in July and August, they DO get those checks the last day of school for teachers and on the 20th for the rest of the 10month staff. So in June we process about 10 payrolls. And with school ending late, everyone forgetting end of year procedures, cause, well, they happen once a year, time sheets getting to us late, yada yada yada… this past week at work was HELL I payroll. Many days this week of 13 hours, or someone taking things home with them to work, working thru lunch… So…. With all that…..I still had not gotten a manicure or pedicure for my photo shoots on Saturday.

Now truth is, I could have done the damn shoots without a manicure or pedicure or tanning or hair and makeup, that is reality. But for the first time in my life I feel good about who I am, not in an over the top conceited HEY LOOK AT ME kind of way, that is so not who I am at all… but mentally and physically for the first time in my life I feel beautiful inside and out. And having been one that never liked to look at herself in the mirror, let alone have her picture taken… I wanted these shoots to be special. So I pampered myself, with the help of some friends!
With shit still going spazz at work on Friday, I looked at my coworkers and said I’m sorry I HAVE to go. And… I did… I will deal with the repercussions on Monday… write me up, fire me, yell at me, do whatever you need to do – this was a special time and moment for me and nothing was going to take it away from me, not even mother nature… more on that in a minute..

So I left work a smidge after 4… Kevin had sent me a text that Choi Nails was expecting me at 4:15pm. He was so kind to have made an appt for me, what I didn’t know is he PAID for the appointment too. Now, for those that don’t know… sideline here… Kevin and I use to date. Kevin would still like to date but I needed some space to figure out myself and reality is because of some other things, I know I need to let go and leave Illinois… I care for Kevin he is a GREAT person but I could not and can not give him what he deserves in a mate… not now… but we are still friends. I know he wants more but that is another story for another day. I realized Kevin had paid for the appointment when I went to pay and she said it was already taken care of.. not just the mani and pedi but the tip too… thank gosh my makeup wasn’t done at that point cause I was so touched I started to cry… tears of joy and relief cause like I said it really had been a very tough week. So while getting the manicure, in walks Kevin with chicken cut in bite size pieces, tilapia and green beans for me to eat and some diet green tea, complete with utensils, spices and napkins. Well needless to say this was the ‘talk’ of the nail salon. When I first got there and they started on pedicure, the ladies were fascinated by my arms which insued into a conversation of how often I workout, how I was once 215 pounds, the looks on their faces were priceless. Then she started the exfoliation on my legs/calves and was just amazed at the tightness of my skin for a 43 yr old woman. So couple that with now having to explain that this guy is not my husband or boyfriend but a friend who was so gracious to make the appt, pay for it and bring me dinner… Yeah my ears were burning for some time after leaving the salon…

Oh and in case your wondering.. of course I went with slut red for my nails and toes!

Now it was off to the hotel to be spray tanned by THE Colette Nelson, Pro Body Builder! Let me just say being naked in front of strangers is, mmm, hard enough but now I knew I’d be standing buck ass naked in front of Colette Nelson for gosh sake… a little nerve racking?? You bet!

Well Colette just puts you at ease from second one… “kim baby lets get started” she was just awesome… The whole tanning process is kinda weird… its loud and comes out of there cold.. And silly me what the F was I thinking wearing white shorts..DUH (it did all come out in the wash) – and kind of cool when you turn around to get your back done and Colette Nelson, pro bodybuilder says DAYUM nice back… Well she couldn’t see it but the smile on my face was ear to ear. So you get done, stand there nekkid for a while longer whilst ya dry…

So off to home I go… Well mother nature that I eluded to early was rearing her ugly ass head, not in the way of a period.. nope IL had some damn powerful storms… so I am running to my car trying to dodge raindrops and NOT ruin my tan.. its coming down so hard by the time I am on the express way traffic is at a standstill, literally, on the highway. I get home and can’t even get out of my damn car… all the sudden there is a knock on my window that freaked me out… It was Kevin, standing there with an umbrella so I can get to my apartment without becoming a brown puddle. Well guess what I have no power! Have not packed a damn thing, its now getting dark out, and I have no power. God was really testing my will this weekend. So I found some candles and try my best to do what I can in the dark. I was just exhausted too from the long week at work… Oddly across town, Kevin had power, but he had already done so much I did not want to impose. I tried my best to relax and fall asleep, but its hot and a bit muggy and while in general I would not care about that.. I was just spray tanned… I fell out for about an hour woke up about 1030pm, still no power, so I gave in and drove cross town to Kevin’s. door was unlocked as he said it would be, so I went in, turned on the tv, and feel asleep on the sofa with the kitty.

Woke up at 330 am (damn body clock) and did my rinse in the shower to even me up… then went back to my apartment… STILL NO POWER!!! So Kevin came back by with a flashlight (its still dark at 430am), we gathered up tons of clothes and schlepped them all back to his place where I packed for the day. My friend Robin came to Kevin’s place and by 715am she and I were on our way back to the hotel.
Colette did my makeup and my hair and again I am just in awe of what a down to earth lady she is. I guess, and I will share an email exchange we had later, but I guess I expected to be star struck.. I mean this IS COLETTE NELSON Pro bodybuilder, engaged to Dave Palumbo, they run shows, magazines, on line forums, train countless Pro clients… me I’m just some former fat girl now a 43 year old that never knew one damn thing about the sport of bodybuilding (cept for huge names like Arnold, Frank Zane, etc) and still REALLY do not FOLLOW the sport, who has dropped 80ish pounds over the years, realized for the first time in her life where her physique with broad shoulders, wide back and narrow waist fit in and at this late stage of her life is enjoying it while she can.. I will never, probably, be an IFBB Pro, to late in life for that for me I think. Anyhow… I enjoyed our conversation while we did hair and makeup…

I knew when she was done and I looked in the mirror it would seem over the top and it did but I don’t think it comes across that way in the pictures. Afterwards it was just a matter of sitting in the hotel lobby and waiting for my first scheduled shoot.

While waiting for Tom Millard, Robin snapped some pictures and sent them to some friends… and then TomNine must have recognized me and came over and introduced himself while he was waiting for a client doing an outfit change.. Tons of photogs milling around the hotel and I meet Jerrol, who’s last name escapes me at this second. We chatted a bit about how a heavy equipment operator got into physique photography and he hands me his card and who is on his business card… Alli! Apparently he was one of the first peeps to photography Allison and while its an older picture… she still looked great!

So its time for my first shoot… I wasn’t sure what outfits to bring and didn’t want to lug around a HUGE ass bag with tons of shit so I just hope I made good choices. Thankfully Robin and Kevin were along so I could ramsack thru the bag to find something and while I changed they put it all back together. I mean I felt like a star that day, being pampered and taken care of, someone to do my hair/makeup, someone to tote around my bag, get me coffee… I mean a gal COULD get use to this kind of treatment (no I really couldn’t… I mean I like to be pampered from time to time, I like to be taken care of when its warranted and I like a hug when I’m having a trying day, but to be spoiled day in and day out.. nah cause I like to spoil others too)…

No sense in getting into detail of each shoot cause, well, other than personality of the photographer and what they are looking for, It is all pretty much the same, pose, hold, flex, smile, no smile… I think I did ok.. I am sure I probably needed a bit more direction than say, someone like Alli who does this often, but I will get better with time.. We were all doing this for the first time at one point right? At one time it was everyone’s first time. I will say the video parts of it were kinda weird… but again that’s just a matter of getting used to. It was warm, sunny and muggy outside so shooting outdoors w/o shade was trying… hard to smile when the sun is in your face and not squint. All in all it was a GREAT fantastic and wonderful experience. I am hoping to set up some photo shoots when I am in Florida in August at the IFBB Tampa Pro. As well I will continue to play around with my own camera and see what I come up with.

I have not gotten the pictures or video back from the Tom’s yet only Gene’s stuff.. but I expected it to be a couple of weeks so the fact I got Gene’s stuff so quickly was a shock. I wasn’t sure what to expect and I must say the entire experience was so pleasant. I wasn’t sure how Tom or Tom would be cause I’ve never seen them work, but have seen their work… now Gene was great… I knew sort of what to expect there because I was so fortunate that Kristen invited me on the shoot she did with Gene at the Arnold.

So there you have it finally on paper, a bit late, but my first photo shooting experience…