WHAT AN AWESOME EXPERIENCE

It has been so long since I posted. I hsve had the best fun over the past week.

I FINALLY DID IT - I got up there on that stage at age 50 - I can't believe that I have done it. My one and only goal was to have the discipline to be able to feel comfortable in myself to stand up there on that stage and not make a fool of myself.

I not only did that but I walked away with 2nd Place out of four in the Masters Section. The ladies that I competed with have been doing this for years and competed in dozens of shows and they were soooooo supportive and helpful and all just beautiful people - it was so nice to meet them prior to the night and have their help and support - it really made me feel so much more comfortable.

I flew to Melbourne with my Backstage helper (Margie) on Wednesday and meet up with Sue and Damien at the Apartment in Kew. It was freezing cold and raining and the unit was an upstairs downstairs apartment and the heat was going straight up stairs and it was freezing in the unit.

We settled into the unit and Sue took us food shopping (no not clean food) - she took us to the store that had gourmet food like choc coated coffee beans, caramel macadamian Cheesecake, every cheese variety you could find, every chocolate you could think of - get the picuture - oh no we didn't go to buy anything - just went to see what we were going to eat after the comp - it was so much fun :)

We then went to a coffee shop to have a coffee - well I just watched them drink their coffee cause I wasn't allowed to have any :(

We went back to the unit and tried on our posing suits and had a bit of a practice.m Luckily Sue's room was really big and had mirrowed doors so it was great to practice in.

On Thursday we went to have our spray tans - I had five sprays and the lady sprayed my face (not a good thing to do when you are 50 - have lots of spots and skin cancer scars - it was very scary). Margie could not stop laughing when I walked out all coloured up - we took a photo of my face and all you could see were the white teeth -it even scared me.

Thursday night Di finally arrived at our unit about 11:00pm after getting a little side tracked with her directions. We all fell into bed around midnight.

Friday was great because Di spent heaps of time with us going through the posing and our routines - it make me feel so much more confident and she was a great teacher and she is such a beautiful person.

I was supposed to go and get another tan but everyone told me I was brown enought - so I skipped my tanning session and Sue went and got another one.

Friday night Di changed units to meet up with her friends from Queensland and Jodie arrived at our unit Friday and stayed with us. It was so good to see Jodie she is always so sweet and nice - nothing is a problem to her.

Ali and Kerry and Hilary also arrived and they nearly walked straight past me because they didn't recognise me with my tanned skin, face, no make-up and no hair-do, or dear it was not a pretty site but when they realised it was me we all had hugs and kisses and lots of laughts. It was so great to see Kerry, Ali and Hilary who all came along to support us at the comp - I cant believe how many beautiful people I have meet because of Sue Heintze. I have meet all these girls before except for Hilary - she just fitted in as thought we had known her for years - she is also just beautiful. I hope we all remain friends cause it is so good to have like-minded people who are striving for similar goals - awesome bunch of people.

We had more posing practice in the freezing cold in our tiny suits on Friday and Sue and I went to bed at 9:00pm while the others all went out to dinner. Margie's daughter came back to our unit but I didn't get to see here cause I was in bed.

On Saturday Margie and I got up at 6:00 - I had a shower and my first meal and then we started applying the Dream Tan - It took us about 1 1/2 hours to get it on - we were very proud of our efforts - cause it ws only the second time we had every applied it (we had a practice run bout 2 weeks ago). I stood around and dried for about an hour before I put my clothes on and then it was off to the hairdressers at 9:00 for hair and makeup. Well the hairdresser was still finishing Sue as she went over at 8:00am but she didn't start me until 11:00am. Sue phoned me at 12:30 to see where I was cause the show started at 12:00o'clock. We didn't arrive until bout 1:15.

I looked like I could have stood on the corner and made a bit of money - I asked the Taxi Driver if I look pretty and he looked me up and down and said -'NO'. Margie and I are till laughing about all our funny experiences.

Well finally arrived at the show and meet up with Sue in the back changing room where Di was helping her get ready. They were panicking because I was so late and I was going on before Sue - but it only took us about 15 minutes to get ready cause I had the BEST back stage helper - Margie.

Well all dressed and then out the back to pump up - have my peanutbutter and fig jam and pretend that I was confident.

Finally we were ready and yes I was the first one in the line so I had to go on first - we stood behind the curtain and then it opened and we were standing in our relaxed pose and they were not ready so it seemed like for ever that we were waiting and the compere kept saying relax ladies we won't be long - but there was no way I was relaxing from my relaxed pose. Anyway I got through it all with out too many blunders and when I got off I couldn't remember if I smiled or if I did the poses correctly etc but I did feel confident that I didn't make too much of a fool of myself.

I was only allowed to drink 400 odd mls of water during the day until after the routine section that night.

We all went into Kew and had Coffee and some of the girls had lunch (the ones not competing - Kerry, Di, Margie, Cheryl etc) - I just watched again cause I wasn't allowed to have any coffee or hot tea :)

Ok back at the venue and getting ready for the routines - I was up first in my division - I had a mental blank out the back and could not even remembe the first move - that was so frightening - anyway got my act together and all went off well on the state.

Back out for posedown and to my biggest ever surprize I was awarded 2nd place. I was just blown away. Not only had I achieved my goal of standing on that stage I had a 2nd place trophy - it was just an awesome experience and was so wonderful to have all my wonderful friends in the audience - oh yes and I guess I shouldn't forget Damien - Sue's hubby :)

Well after comp we went to Lygon Street and had our little feast with all the girls - I think we started eating at midnight but it felt like it was about 9:00pm. We tucked outselves into bed at 2:30 - but hardly slept a wink - not sure if it was all the food or the rush of the expereince :)

I got to see Rae, Jade, Kerry, Katie, Sam, Jo and lots of other people I have met over the net or at Phat Camp or through Sue Heintze - so it was just awesome but didn't have a lot of time to sit and chat.

There were 75 girls in the comp and I didn't hear one bad word said about anyone - everyone was really friendly and helpful and it was lots and lots of fun.

What an awesome expereince - thank you to everyone who was part of it and thank you to everyone who has sent me little messages.

I will try and load a couple of pictures and then it is back to the Tax and then I will be back to catch up with everone in a few days.

Thanks heaps everyone - it was just the best 50th Birthday ever :)