All hail Jillian Michaels!

It’s no surprise by now that I have mad love for Jillian Michaels. I own 90% of her DVDs. I watch Biggest Loser and/or Losing It with Jillian episodes on DVD at least once a week. I use her recipes throughout the week.

So, a few months ago when I learned she was going to be in Los Angeles signing copies of her new book, Unlimited, I automatically requested the day off of work.

Last Thursday was the day! I made the 5 hour drive down south Wednesday night and stayed with a friend. At 7am the next morning, I headed over to Barnes & Noble to meet up with Kelly (who roomed with me on the JM cruise! Hi Kelly! <3), and met some other "JM Crew" people. At 9am the doors opened and they handed out wristbands for the signing later that night. Now, by this time it was only 9:10am, and we were told to come back at 5:30pm. WHAT TO DO ALL DAY, YOU ASK?

We participated by being "audience" members of Extra with Mario Lopez to start. To be honest, it was quite boring. I only stuck around to get a free t-shirt.

Then, we headed over to Nordstrom. Jill was also introducing her new clothing line with K-Swiss that day, and doing a talk and M&G before the book signing.

So, since its JILLIAN, I ended up buying one of her $98 hoodies. My lord. When the total came to be $104 I died a little.

After I spent a seventh of my rent, we headed over to the Farmers Market part of The Grove. I needed a banana. I fed the craving. Then we wandered around Forever21 & Anthropologie a bit, and just ended up awkwardly waiting around Nordstrom for a few hours. Surprisingly, the entire day went really fast, thanks to spending it with some amazing people.

So, I was wearing my new Jillian hoodie. I was joking around and saying that if Jillian was wearing the same thing, I'd have to take it off for the photo. Tell me why, when Jillian walked out, we were almost TWINS? She was wearing the SAME hoodie, in the SAME color. Both of us had it unzipped, with the sleeves rolled up. White tops, black pants. I had a bright orange bra on that you could see; Jillian had grey and bright orange sneakers on. Ok, seriously?! It’s not like I spotted her before hand and thought, "Oh, I'm gonna dress exactly like her today!" NO. I had my outfit picked out for a week. I specifically bought new clothes JUST for this day. (True story.)

I ended up laughing it off and just saying, "Fuck it. Twinsies."

Yup. Twins.

Jillian was so cute. I was second in line to take my photo with her, and when I walked up she was like, "HIII." Then she seemed to be side tracked and she grabbed my wrist and was like, "I am so sorry. Hold on." So I'm standing there. Jillian is just holding onto my wrist. I think I probably had the dorkiest grin on my face because I'm thinking, "Jillian Michaels is holding onto me!" Gah. Haha. She keeps apologizing, and calls over her assistant. Rosie comes over and she asks her to hold out her hand. Jillian places a piece of gum that was in her mouth in it. Then she turns back to me and says, "I am SO SORRY! I have garlic breath right now!" I just burst out laughing, "It’s OK! I just ate a mint so I wouldn't have bad breath!" "OK, good!" We're laughing. She asks what my name is, I tell her, and she thanks me for coming. We take our photo and then I'm shooed away. I expected it to be really quick. And that it was. Besides the minute of wrist holding. <3

We're given free PopChips and Vitamin Waters. Then, our photos are printed out and put into paper frames. I laughed out loud again when I saw the photo. Totally twins, dude.

After we all gather our belongings, we head on over to Barnes & Noble to wait for the signing. We meet an inspiring woman named Ruth. She's lost 101lbs! Get it, girl! (HI RUTH!!) Once we get our seats and get situated, it’s just an hour or so to wait.

The signing started at 7pm. Jillian came out and talked for a bit, and then answered some Q&A. Then the long line to wait for autographs and photos.

When it was my turn I walk up and Jillian has her arms wide open. "Joslyn. Why do you look so familiar?" I say "Because you saw me earlier today!" and she's like, "Right! The K-Swiss event!" but she’s giving me a, 'but why do I SPECIFICALLY remember you?' look.

"You kept apologizing to me. For having garlic breath."

"OH MY GOD. ITS YOU." She grabs my arm again and starts blabbing. "I felt so bad. I was standing there thinking, "This girl probably HATES ME!"

(At this point I think I give her a "you're crazy, I'd never hate you look.")

I had my photo from earlier tucked inside my book and I started saying, "Do you think yo-" before she cut me off and was like, "Yeah? Whats up? Ask me."

-u can sign this too?"

Jillian looks at the photo and I was saying how we were pretty much matching earlier. (I took my hoodie off so we wouldn't be matching again in the second photo!) She had changed jeans and shoes, and I mentioned something about earlier her sneakers matched my bra. She laughs and then signs the photo like this:

"We ARE cute." is all I say when I read it. (God. I'm such a blubbering idiot.)

All of a sudden, Jillian goes, "What are we LISTENING TO? Doesn't this make you just want to blow your BRAINS OUT?! Can't we put something fun on, like Pink? Oh come on, Cher." (It was the soundtrack to Burlesque, BTW.)

I don't really remember how it was wrapped up. We took our photos, said goodbye and then I kinda was just full of all kinds of happiness. I love that woman.

OH. Story: we had hung out with two awesome peeps Linda & Mike all day. Somehow Jillian thought I was Mike's wife and said, "Oh she's so cute!" I was wondering why she kept looking at me and smiling while Mike was talking to her. And when he was finished she waved to me and said, "You guys have a good night!" Pretty sure I just stared at her and barely smiled when she said that because I was confused. But when Mike was telling Linda what Jill had said, I laughed as it made sense. "Oh, NO. Jillian thought that I WAS your wife!" Oh silly girl...

So afterwards, I grabbed a cup of coffee and then I had to say my goodbyes, seeing as I was crazy and was driving the 5 hours home. :(

It was only around 8:45pm when I left, and I got home around 2:20am. Not TOO bad, but I have the amazing Cindy Lou (and caffeine!) to thank for talking to me on my entire drive home and for keeping me awake.

The next day at work sucked. I was a zombie of myself. But would I have made any changes to the day? Heck no. It was perfect. And if it’s any more possible, I love Jillian Michaels MORE for being so down to earth and awesome. Girl crush, girl crush, girl crush. <3

Easily excitable.

This is a good week.

I started p90x. It makes me feel amazing.

My best friend who lives in Maryland (yeah, that's a whole 3,000+ miles away from me!) is home for Christmas for the next two weeks. We're being reunited tonight. I haven't seen her since LAST Christmas, and I am so f'n stoked she's here!

Yesterday, JILLIAN MICHAELS TWEETED ME. I shouldn't be as excited about that as I am, but, um, HELLO?! Its my woman!

Someone at work had pre-ordered her new book, and without even asking me, put my name on the wait list. I had tweeted something along the lines of, "HAHA, my co-workers know me too well; someone pre-ordered @jillianmichaels new book and automatically put me on the waitlist! :)"

I didn't think anything of it. I'm sure hundred of my tweets have mentioned Jill before. But, I few hours later my phone notified me that someone had replied to me on Twitter. I check to see who/what it was and I'm pretty sure my eyes got a little wide when I saw THIS!



Now, usually she only replies to people when they ask a question. Maybe she just thought she'd inform me I'd be waiting a long ass time for the book, hahaha. (Which, I am aware of, because she's apparently doing a book signing in Los Angeles when it comes out and I had already decided I was going!)

Ugh. I love her. She made my day. As geeky as that sounds. :p

This has currently been kicking my ass:



Or, to be precise, should I say its been currently kicking my ABS?

I first became acquainted with this workout on the Jillian Michaels Ultimate Wellness Cruise. I took this class with Maddie Karlsson (who is also in the DVD!) onboard, which was an experience in itself. One: I had never done any sort of group classes before the cruise and Two: I apparently have really great form during some moves, and extremely poor form during others! But, I gladly accepted Maddie coming and moving my arm, leg, feet, whatever! was wrongly placed during the workout, rather then stumble and hurt myself doing something incorrectly.

Anyway, back to the review! I pre-ordered the DVD well before it was released, and then stalked the shit out of UPS' website once I received the email that it had shipped. Finally, a half-week later, I found it in my mailbox, which improved my mood on a rainy Saturday.

I haven't been able to sit down without making a noise since that Saturday. My abs BURN. They are sore. My entire core hurts.

I. LOVE. IT.

Now, am I really expecting to walk away with a six-pack after 6 weeks? Of course not. Am I hoping it gives me a little definition, and by little, I don't care how little it is, as long as I see SOMETHING? Yes.

Jillian has me doing some ab exercises I never knew existed. And, may I just state how much I loathe burpees?! Ugh. Loathe. It starts with a warm-up, and has intervals of different ab moves for 15 or so minutes, and then you repeat them all over again from the top, with more intensity. Which, by that point, my breathing sounds like I'm a fat kid with asthma trying to run around the block after a stray dog. Truth. I'm breathing, and grunting, and sweating all over the place! Surprisngly, I haven't cursed at Jillian yet though... With the cooldown, and stretch, it lasts about 35 minutes total.


Overall, I'm pretty pleases and am in L-O-V-E with this DVD. Jillian is looking smokin' hot in it, as well, might I add! ;)

Now. Lets see if I can survive Level One for the next few weeks, and see how much I still enjoy it after Level Two. I'll admit it: I'm scared.

Run Forrest Run 5k Experience!

the training.

the anticipation.

the excitement.

the nerves.

I'm pretty sure i experienced all of these thoughts and emotions running through my head in the hour leading up to the race on that Saturday. did i train long enough? this wait is KILLING me! oh my gosh, there's so many runners around me, i love this feeling. uh...am i going to trip and fall or pass out?

i started my running adventure at the end of august/beginning of September, using the Couch to 5k program. the first week was HARD. i could barely run a full MINUTE, let alone 3 miles! and now, here it was a mere 13 weeks later, running a 5k.

and ok, ok. i know 3 miles isn't far. but for me, it is a milestone.

i initially was going to run with my friend Babs, but she hurt her knee a few weeks ago and hasn't ran since, fearing she'd make it worse. for awhile i thought about not doing the 5k. after getting off the jillian cruise, i have been super motivated and working out regularly (and loosing 7 pounds in the process. WHAT?! where'd the fat fall off from? haha...) so the Friday before the race i went down to the convention center where the health and fitness expo was being held and signed up for late registration.

5 minutes, $30, a shirt & bib later...I WAS REGISTERED. I went and walked the course to become familiar with it, grinned ear to ear, and then went home and did a happy dance. (literally. i danced around my studio.)

Saturday i woke up quite early. I stretched, ate a banana & some peanut butter, drank some powerade. I wanted to make sure i was set to go! Headed down around 8am, and watched the end of the kids’ 3k. Dude, those kids run FAST!

Finally, they corralled us 5k-ers into the street, and with a countdown of “10, 9, 8...RUN FORREST RUN!” we were off!

Stupidly, I did not check to see if my laces were tied tightly, so before I even hit the 1 mile mark I had to stop to tie my left shoe. Seriously?! I picked up my speed to catch up on some lost time, and ran my way through the next mile or so where...MY DAMN RIGHT SHOELACE CAME UNDONE. UGGHHH!

I made it through the 3 miles though, and when I turned the corner and saw the finish line i couldn't believe it was over.

31:05 was my time. I’m happy with it. It could use much improvement, but hey! Its my first and the only goal i had was to finish, and that i did!

Afterwards, I met the wonderful Cindy Lou! We were both on the Jillian Cruise, but hadn’t met in person. She found me on Facebook, and I spotted her afterwards and we chatted and gushed for a half hour. We have a lot in common and I’m glad we met! HI CL!! :D

So now I am hooked and want to do more. I actually made a goal to run the HALF marathon next November. it sounds crazy, but I think I could do it.

Less than 24 hours from now...

Its here, its here, its here!

My first 5k (aka first race EVER) is tomorrow! Wish me luck!

She's basically become my greatest inspiration in the world, right now. More cruise photos soon! :D

Letting go. Thank you, Jillian Michaels.

its 9am, on saturday morning, october 23, 2010. i'm laying on my back, palms up towards the sky, on the lido deck onboard the norweign star. we are docked in nassau, bahamas. jillian michaels has just worked us out to what feels like near death. i am bawling my eyes out.

i hadn't realized until that moment that i was holding in such suppressed negative emotions for years. when i was younger, i was overweight. i was always the fattest kid in class. i came in last place in everything. i got picked last for sports. i was the butt of everyone's jokes. i got teased relentlessly. i kept this mostly to myself.

i was extremely shy as a child, and i think this may have been the fact that i had no self confidence in myself. if hardly anyone liked me, why should i like myself?

as i got older, and wiser, i figured it was time to take charge and change this. one summer in high school i went on weight watchers and came back the following year with a hell of a better attitude about life. i felt so much healthier, and proud, and that was the beginning of a new and better me.

even though i looked and felt different, deep down i was still holding onto those emotions, whether i realized it or not.

laying on the lido deck, taking deep breaths.

jillian is talking. "be proud of yourself. this is your moment. we have 10,000 thoughts run through our heads everyday, and 80% of them is the same bullshit over and over again. you are safe in this moment. you are here with friends and family. this is your time. let go of all the negativity. if someone has an issue with you, that's THEIR shit, their problem, not yours. for all the times someone has told you you can't, know that you CAN."

in this moment, with the tropic sun hitting my face, sweat dripping on every inch of my body, i let it go. with each tear that streamed down my face, i let go of every negative thought i ever had about myself. with every breath i took, i got stronger, and breathed in positive energy. i made a promise to myself that i would never think badly of myself again. if i ever thought poorly of myself, i will think of all the great things i HAVE done, CAN do, and WILL do with my life. and hey, jillian said it best, "just think, if i got through that crazy bitch's workout, i can do ANYTHING."

i can't even explain what these 4 days onboard did to me. i came home the most sore i've ever experience (and let me tell you, it was painful) but as my muscles healed, so did my soul.

thank you, jillian. THANK YOU. i know that this was all inside me, but you just helped the sun break through from the clouds that has been hiding behind all this time.