Category you compete in: Bodybuilding and Physique.

Date of birth: August 19, 1969

Hometown: Aberdeen, NC

Career: Full time Mom to my 18 month old son, Joe.  He keeps me running and everyday is a new adventure.  It's so much fun to watch him as he discovers new things and learns and grows.  He's truly the joy of my life.  I also have two stepchildren, an incredibly smart stepdaughter who is 20 and a ridiculously handsome stepson who just turned 16.
In my "past-life" I was the facility manager for one of several medical fitness centers owned by FirstHealth of the Carolinas.   I enjoyed helping people learn how to take care of themselves through exercise and in some cases to manage chronic diseases like diabetes and high blood pressure without the need for medication.  I also taught Hatha Yoga and Pilates and am a 2nd degree Reiki practitioner.  
What is your favorite childhood memory?  By far, being in the kitchen with my mother.  The things she could do were out of this world.  One of the best was homemade cinnamon rolls.  We would make the dough, roll it into a snake shape, dip it first in melted butter and then cinnamon & sugar before coiling it up in the pan to bake. Before taking it out of the oven, we would pour over a little of the icing to make it gooey, then add the rest when they were cooling.

Name a song that motivates you. It changes depending on my mood, but at contest time, my posing music is the most motivating.

What is your biggest gym pet peeve? My biggest gym pet peeve has got to be poor weight room etiquette.  People who are too cool to put their stuff away after they use it or step in front of someone during a set, etc. And FARTERS!   Talk about bad "form", lol, that's the worst in a tiny space!

How do you like to reward yourself? Unfortunately, I like to reward myself with food!  The treat is more going out to eat at a restaurant than it is going out for ice cream or something similar, although I do like my sweets!  Some people eat to live and some live to eat.  I'm the latter

If you could change one thing about the world what would it be? I would send all the crotchety, intolerant people to their own island.
What do you do right before you step onstage? Believe it or not, I finish making up my routine in my head.  I have the basics and several pose sequences so that no matter at what point I inevitably forget my routine, I can fake my way through.  I have a real problem remembering choreography so I do better to take the pressure off myself and extemporize.  This is also why I always use slow music.  It gives me more time to think before I move.
Back in the 90s, for fun, my girlfriends and I used to go linedancing.  (stop laughing)  I could learn the dance one week and by the next, it would be like I'd never seen it before.  I just didn't recognize any of it.  So knowing that about myself, I don't fight it when it comes to my routine and do it the best way I can... which is to make it up in a timeframe too short to forget it!  I probably shouldn't have admitted this because now when you see my routines it will be obvious!

Nook, Book or Kindle? Definitely book!  I haven't tried a Nook or a Kindle but books should be paper!

Competition history:
1996 Elite Muscle Classic - I placed last.  There were 4 of us and they awarded   top 3 but I still had to go out and do my night routine.  That was pure torture for a newbie,  I would much rather have been left alone to go crawl in a hole somewhere with a cheeseburger!
1998 Gold's Classic in Wilmington, NC - I was NEXT to last... woohoo, better!
2000 Jr. State LW 4th
2001 Jr. State  LW 2nd
2001 Western NC Jr Women's LW 1st & Overall
2002 NC State Open LW 2nd
2002 Jr Nationals LW 5th
2003 NC State Open MW 1st and Overall !!!!!
2003 Jr USA LW 3rd
2005 Jr USA MW 3rd
2005 Jr Nats LW 2nd
2005 Masters Nationals LW 5th
2005 USA LW 7th
2006 Masters Nationals MW 4th
2007 Arnold Amateur 3rd
2007 Jr USA MW 2nd

Next competition: Physique at the 2011 Jr. USA.  I'm so excited to see what everybody brings to the stage.  We don't know exactly what they're looking for so it could be anyone and there could be different types of physiques that wind up taking the top spots, depending on how the person carries it.  I'm not sure how the Physique division is going to turn out for me, but hopefully I'll fit in since I'm usually one of the smaller and softer BBs.  I'll actually be smaller than in years past though, because it's been a process getting back the muscle I lost while I was pregnant. We'll see come May 21 if that's a good thing or a bad thing!  
If someone followed you for the day what would they be most surprised about? Probably just how much I have to do raising a 1 ½ year old and managing the rest of a 5 person household.  I actually had a guy ask me just a few weeks ago what the baby and I do since I am not working.  He asked "do you guys just hang out at the house all day?"  He doesn't have a black eye, but he was close to getting one.

What is your preferred tanning product and why? I've always used Protan in the past because the color turned out well and it was mostly foolproof.  This year I'm going to get spray tanned the day before the contest by Liquid Sun Rays.  I have to admit, I'm glad to not be spending the three days prior to the contest painting myself.  I tried to get at least 2 coats per day with one final one on contest morning so this will save me a tremendous amount of time.

Favorite Quote: I have several but I'll narrow it down:
"Luck is simply the residue of design"  - George Will 
"Things turn out best for those who make the best of the way things turn out."

Who would you like to thank? I definitely need to thank my husband for his patience during this prep.  We've left a lot of events and work functions before dinner was served, he's picked up a lot of slack at home and with the kids and eaten more chicken than anyone who's not dieting should have to.

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