East Coast Classic 2014

Last weekend, I competed in Santana Anderson's East Coast Classic. I'll be quite honest... before I did the WBFF, I did not want to compete in this show. I heard a lot of negative things about the judging, especially with bikini class. I heard that there was a lot of drama. I decided to give it a chance and experience it for myself.

The people who compete in this even form a pretty tight knit community. I've always felt a little over place when I'm in a room with a bunch of bikini competitors but I managed to meet some awesome people and I even ran into people who I didn't expect to be competing.

The day before competition, Devin let me have the car. I'm a fairly new driver so I still don't understand how I made it to my mani/pedi without crashing the car. I had to drive home in those awful spa flip flops and then head out to the hotel for tan and registration during rush hour. It was raining really hard so I arrived in my $10 camouflage Zellers rubber boots that I bought for my biology labs. Everyone else was wearing Hunters (now you know why I feel like I don't fit in sometimes...) and all I could smell was pizza.

I arrived to my tan super early and they forgot I was there. Then my tan wouldn't stick in some places and turned my skin black in other places. The woman doing my tan told me not to panic and that they would put another coat on me in the morning. So I didn't panic. Go me!

Then I had to go downstairs so the judges could do the bum-check on my suit. The NSABBA is a stickler for covered bottoms. Luckily, mine passed but I had to be sure to bikini bite (glue) the front so I wouldn't flash the judges. There were tears shed as girls were rejected. I wanted to run over and give each of them a hug. I can't imagine how stressful it would be to have to find a new suit or shoes the night before.

When I got home, I set my alarm for 4:45 am. Only I didn't wake up at 4:45 am. I woke up at 6:25 am. I thought my hair and make-up was at 6 am so I literally woke up and left for the salon. I arrived in a panic. My hair dresser told me it wasn't a big deal and that she arrived at 6:20 and made some tea. Wait a second... she arrived at 6:20? Apparently my appointment was moved to 6:30 so I was only a few minutes late. I regretted not grabbing my oats and banana for the road.

This lovely lady, Lauren, came to my rescue
with bronzer when the tan people darkened
me even more :)

My hair and make-up was amazing. It was so much better than my hair for the WBFF. Coach Krissy didn't recognize me when I arrived at the show. Devin's family members walked past me. I had people I barely knew said they didn't recognize me. I got tons of compliments on my eyes. I loved how I looked and it really boosted my confidence. I have Jaquelyn from The Parlour and Vicky Mina to thank for it!

Bikini girls were on last so I immediately went to get my tan fixed. They put a really dark coat on me... and it started coming off too. I went from being the lightest competitor to one of the darkest. Great. I sat in the lobby and waited with the other Fit Starts Here competitors... and waited... and waited... and 3 hours went by... then I snuck my wine into the bathroom, pumped up and hit the stage.

Being on stage was a totally different experience this time around. I was only a little shaky (thank you booze!) and I was actually able to think on stage instead of being in a panic. I remember telling myself to keep my gut sucked in and my knees locked. Shortly after arriving on stage, I found Devin and his family in the audience which put me at ease. Meanwhile, people in the audience were yelling out numbers ("Go 72!" "Smile, 83!"). Whenever I heard someone from the audience call out to us, it made me laugh. Then someone started calling out my name and number. It made me so happy.

I was super excited when Katie, a fellow diva, made second call out and a little bummed out when some of the people I knew made last call-out.

There were 27 girls in my class. I made 3rd call-out and ended up placing 15th. I was super happy with that. My goal was to place. If you place 16th or higher, you don't get placed at all so I barely made it. Go me. I'm happy with that, I think.

After judging, Devin and I took his family to EnVie for some eats. Since I was only allowed to have carbs and fat, I went for the cashew Alfredo pasta and smokey seitan bacon. Mmm. Devin wasn't sure if they would enjoy my show but they got really into it. It felt really great having them make the long drive out here to support me on. I really appreciated it and really meant a lot to me. My friends and family couldn't or wouldn't come to my show and that had started stressing me out the week before.

The night show was a repeat of the morning show. There was a lot more waiting and we were more rushed on stage, but afterwards, the slutty brownies I made were waiting for me. I got Devin to pick me up a veggie burger and fries when he came and got me. It was so worth it.

I woke up the next morning feeling sad that the day was over already. I enjoyed some treats, spent time with some friends and started thinking about what I want to do next. I would love to do Atlantics in April, but I'm also interested in doing a drug-free show in the fall.

Treats: vegan garlic fingers with bacon from Belly Full of Veggies (top left), waffles from EnVie (top right), treat pot luck goodies (bottom left) and a close-up of my slutty brownies (bottom right)

Since my show, I have been feeling very grateful. I'm grateful for having an awesome dedicated coach who sacrificed a lot to help us get on stage that day. I am grateful for my boyfriend who has driven me to the gym, helped me with my errands and prepped a lot of my meals for me. I am grateful for the my fellow divas: Katie, Terri, Rebecca and Celeste. They were great company throughout the process and I really hope they're happy with how they did because I am so proud of them. I am grateful for the women that I have met at posing practice, the seminar, and during the show and how kind they have been. I am grateful for Jonathan Shreve's help with my posing. I'll definitely be getting more lessons from him if I continue on.

You haven't seen the last of me. I don't know when I'll step on stage next but in the meantime, I am going to work on building some more muscle and put more time and effort into doing things that make me happy. I have a cooking class tomorrow night at EnVie where I will be learning how to make vegan cheese. I've been asked out for coffee by a few people post-show so I will be taking them up on that. I want to do some more baking and learn how to be a better cook!

Thanks everyone <3