Oh it's been a while....

Okay guys, well I haven't blogged in ......over a year?! Wait, seriously?! Sheeze...ok, well I'm going to try to ramp this thing up again. I really enjoy writing (I've kept a personal journal ever since I was about 6 years old) and this seems like it will be fun. Of course, that's the whole reason I started it in the first place and then I kinda fizzled out didn't I?

Ok enough about how I haven't kept up with things, let's play catch up for a bit. Let's do a recap of 2010 when I started this blog shall we?

Whenever I am trying to get a grasp on what happened in my whirlwind life I always refer back to my calendar, as I love keeping detailed records of each audition I go to, each job I do and fun events. I have done this ever since high school and I'm kind of ashamed to admit that I have kept every single planner since! My husband and I actually just recently moved and I ran across them while culling through some old boxes and I couldn't bear to throw them away! Reading through my old planners is like taking a walk down memory lane for me...much like looking through old pictures but in a different way that relies much more on my life's event schedule than my visual cortex.

Anyhow, ever since Ryan convinced me to step into the 21st century and ditch my paper book planner for my iCal (might I say seamlessly updated between my iMac, iPhone and MobileMe;), things have been a bit more streamlined. Enough about that....let's get to the updates. I think I'm going to recap the year in quarters, so I can catch up on 2010 properly and then we'll do a quarterly recap on 2011.

Anyone ever been to the Philippines?! I need advice:)

So.....as many of you may or may not know, I recently landed a gig as a fitness host on a workout TV series that will air in the Philippines and parts of Asia. I am really excited about it but I need some advice! What should I see while I'm there, where should I go and what shouldn't I miss? I will be there nearly three weeks and I will be stationed in Cebu but will be traveling quite a bit to other locations for the show. **(If you don't want to read the whole thing, just skip to the last paragraph if you want to give me some advice!:)

I have been assured that the part of the Philippines we will be staying in is very safe and very nice (even though I am fully aware of the typical dangers of traveling in the Philippines).

To tell you a bit about it, I auditioned for this position over a month ago. There were a lot of women there and I actually ended up running into one of the women that I used to compete against back in the days of my Miss Fitness competitions in Arizona! Call backs were the following week and I was told it had been narrowed down to about 5 girls. It was probably about three weeks until they finally called me to tell me that indeed I had been chosen by the executive producers in Cebu!

If you want to check out the incredible production lot/campus where I will be most likely staying and filming check out www.BigFootStudios.com. The beautiful studio is LITERALLY right on the beach! The production company is very legitimate and they have worked on lots of big projects recently so I'm stoked to be working with such a great team and with such stellar facilities and equipment.

I will be filming a workout segment focused on how to achieve a "model body" and the program is tentatively called "Model Workout". They are flying out 30-40 models as well from LA to be my workout talent in the background of the show and for me to use for demonstration and instructional purposes.  The show will air on weekday mornings on a station called Fashion TV that is apparently really big in Asia:) I am filming 10 segments for two weeks worth of shows while I am there and will be very busy it sounds!

The BEST part about it is that I asked if Ryan could come with me if we paid for his ticket and they said YES! So he will be there with me throughout the filming and we will get to spend our 1 year anniversary in the Philippines together!!

So that's the basic scoop! However, getting back to any recommendations that you guys may have for me: I have been told that I will mostly be filming my workout segments in the mornings so I wouldn't be able to do any excursions that take all day, it looks like I will only have my evenings free. Anything you guys can tell me would be appreciated!

xoxo!
Chels

Can you play charades with two people?

Yes. Yes you can, and you should.

I played all day yesterday with my best friend....my husband! We played all day like we were little kids. We played guessing games, charades, we turned up the iTunes and danced and sang with each other and our dogs in living room for hours into the night. He cooked me quite possibly the best meal I've ever had in my life and we ended the fun-filled day with a movie and...some other stuff:)

I am so incredibly blessed. Thank you God for giving me so much abundance in my life.

What have you done lately that reminded of the abundance in your life? When was the last time you played like a kid?

Fellowship of Christian Athletes hurdle clinic...taught by me!

So I have been working with my friend Brad Stanfield for some time now down in Orange County where he manages several high school chapters of Fellowship of Christian Athletes. I have been traveling down to Orange County for about two years now every so often to give motivational speeches to the high school chapters.

I have enjoyed it immensely and have gotten the chance to connect with a lot of kids over the years and talk about their relationship with God. Brad cracks me up because I never know quite what to expect when I come into a volunteer situation with him:) He has the biggest, most generous heart and gives so much to those kids every day of his life, but never seems too good with communicating details.

So he calls me up yesterday and tells me about this really great FCA summer camp that they have going on right now over at UCLA. There are head clinicians for nearly every sport and they have almost 700 athletes total participating in the week-long program!!!  He says, "yeah if you want to come and hang out, maybe help out the coaches a bit or whatever just let me know!" So of course, I love working with the kids, I love coaching so I say yes. Little did I know that I would get a grand introduction when I arrived as a "hurdle specialist" that would be working a clinic for the kids that day haha! They didn't even know that I had coaching experience they just knew that I hurdled in college.

So thank goodness for my coaching experience from this past year, it really came in handy and saved me!! Imagine if I had just come over to "hang out and help a bit" with no coaching experience, holy moly I would have been way out of my league. But I snapped into gear and pulled together a little training program based on some of my past workouts from this last track season with my kids at Burbank High.

It turned out to be a great day and everyone had a fun time. I had everything from the guy who has never set blocks in his life or even looked at a hurdle, to a girl who is heading off to college at the end of the summer on a hurdling scholarship. With that diverse of a group it was interesting to say the least but at the end of the day all the kids said that they learned a lot and had fun so it was a really rewarding experience. The girl who is heading off to college even said that she got some great new drills out of the clinic and my feedback was very helpful. Her high school coach was actually there and said to me, "wow,  her form looks so much better after working with you!"....woo hooo!

You stress me out Brad but you never cease to present me with opportunities to fulfill my spirit :)

Write a letter to yourself....

I heard a very curious story on NPR yesterday while I was driving around to my various auditions. It was about a 23-year-old mother who writes a regular blog and asked some of her older followers to write a letter to their 20-something selves in hopes of learning from their gained wisdom. So I thought I'd throw it out there....write a letter to yourself 5 years ago. I'd love to hear and learn from what you have learned.

I'll go first:)

Chelsea,
You just graduated college, you have the whole world ahead of you. I know you are in a job that sucks the life out of you right now but be thankful for it because it is going to make you hate that kind of work so much it will force you to do something more brave than you ever imagined.....become an entrepreneur. Sounds weird right? Just be patient it will be something you never imagined for your life:)

Things will be difficult for a while, but just know that God has bigger plans for you....TRUST ME I'm on the other side of it and you will be so much happier in a few years than you could have ever dreamed.  Stay strong, trust your gut instincts (God gave them to you for a reason) and try to love everyone around you the best that you can.

Believe in yourself, and your ability to be successful and happy. Work hard (like you always do) and remember to take time to relax and treat yourself to something nice once in a while:) I am proud of what you are about to embark upon! You are a strong and capable woman....always remember that.

Love,
Chels

poo flies in the house! yech!

With the summer heat the freakin' flies from the outside doggy run are venturing in the house....groooossss!!

Off to find a short shirt....

I have been tasked with finding a short shirt today to show off my mid-section for a photoshoot I have tomorrow. The reason is that the entire purpose of the shoot is to showcase a belt-buckle and the shirt cannot hide it.

I think I'll have better luck in the downtown garment district with all the "hoochie clubby" clothes they have (plus it's cheap!) but if you guy's have any suggestions let me know!