Friday Photo Shoot, Broad Swords and more!

Thank you, thank you, thank you both Gus Mctavish and Meghan Cooke for helping me with a great Fantasy Photo shoot. Meghan being a trainer at my gym and also a pro with stuntwoman work who has a stash of blades to make any man blush or run....whichever......she really helped make this shoot a go. I chose a nearby park which was a bad backdrop, not sure what Gus can do with these, but hey, we made a good go of it and Gus can shoot an ugly duck in a potato sak and make them look like Tyra!
Meghan helped me with posing, holding the blades and also being some were sharp, helped me ensure not to injure anyone or myself.
Gus is very comfortable to work with, he is a great photographer to hire for your future photo needs! He gave me great tips, lots of smiles and poor guy was on the wrong end of those blades......very brave man!
All in all a fun relaxed outdoor shoot done in under 2 hours!

And the Beat Goes On...........

Still training hard! Still on point with diet and right on track with body /routine.
Its been a rough hockey week. I ran home Saturday after a photo shoot, jumped on my recumbent bike to make up for cardio that day, double session for 80 mins while watching hockey- did not even take off the make up...........

My workouts and meals have not wavered now for 8 weeks and 4 are left. It feels so nice when you are dialed in, no stress, no panic, no worry. You know you will go out and be at your best and not have to struggle, strain and hate every minute. Its been good hard, challenging but not painful to the point where it all sucks and I have had much less body work during this prep.
The tummy loves the diet so no issues there, sooooo nice. So when dealing with cravings no big deal, compared to pain, cravings are nothing. I have kept up a cheat per week and its been an ideal contest prep. I had one point at week 5 where I was drained, I did a refeed and it all picked up. I have since been happy with energy levels and how I feel all around.
I have enjoyed how fast my body changes and fit is so fun! It also makes it easy to keep on point with workouts when the weather is .......colder than usual for this time of year.

Photo Shoot Weekend

(Blue in honor of the Canucks Hockey Playoffs!!)
I had the privilege of working with an excellent photographer named Garry Cotter from Look Studios located in downtown Vancouver. A comfy studio bustling with energy and projects!
I was rusty after almost 2 years off from modeling but Garry was gracious and he does such a great job with his work. His shadowing work played off my muscle like liquid!
He has some wonderful services and I highly recommend him for whatever your event or project, he has a range of things he can do for you, check out http://www.lookstudios.ca/
I am super partial to the dance shots.......are they ever amazing!

Photography copyright Garry Cotter / Linda Cusmano

Happy Italian Day!

Happy Italian Day!!

Wow, what a festa! I have a bunch of pics to post, luckily I went earlier for the pics, now there are wall to wall humans so no way to get pics. There is such a variety, many businesses partook in this celebration!




Lets begin with the cupcake place, Cassia cupcakes......I did not have any! They have some great options, vegan and gluten free.........I have at one point last year had the chocolate cupcake with peanut butter frosting which was yummy!!! Essentially these guys are across the street from me.

Here we have the ravioli store on first.......did not have any!!!



Here we have Giancarlos Sport Bar, a handsome friendly face and some great coffee and eats!


Here are some more of the local haunts and treats! Some Vintage Italian Day pictures.....Roman Gladiators ready to do fight demos, Stages getting set up.....





Dog friendly, I had one of mine with me too while taking these pics!

Here we have one of my clients making fresh gelato in the back, Da Vino restaurant and Dolce Amore Gelato are a must if you are on the Drive!
Da Vino has wicked wine, cheese plates and more fine foods, and the gelato....like I said fresh made in store daily- just look at the pic!
Italian Coffee Bars are all packed, all day so far! these pics were just upon opening, since then its now afternoon and packed busy with minimal areas to walk or sit but everyone manages fine.
You can see other ethnic foods are also available, like Japanese, Indian, Thai, Portuguese and more.
You also see the Italian Bakery from Hastings and Renfrew came down to FRESHLY STUFF CANNOLIS, which I did not have but sooooooooo wanted one, its a rare thing to get a fresh stuffed on the spot cannoli! Then you see the fudge bar..........with my fave....granny smith apples coated in Caramel............there was fudge and all types of goodies.........I will be waiting til fall for sweets!
















In the end, I bought a baguette, added a splash of evoo, balsamic extra old aged vinegar...... grilled cherry tomatos, grilled avacado, grilled mushrooms, roasted onions and there was my cheat. Essentially the bread was the cheat really. I also had a diet pepsi, second in 8 weeks, have been pop free....... and am otherwise following diet cleanly.

Hot Rods!

Hats Off Day was pretty quiet, sorry to say, it was dead....people were out and the road was shut down but there was nothing going on, maybe 2 or 3 stages and singing but not much for stands, food, business participation....at least not compared to the past years I had attended.

The Hot Rods were great, I love the Chevy's and they had cars deep by a few blocks worth of shiny perfection.
I took some shots of my faves and then the dogs got too hot so we headed back for the long walk back to the car.

We had to stop a lot for everyone asking to see the dogs.
Lots of extra exercise yesterday!


Today is Italian Day so I expect a much bigger, better venue and will get more pics.

The Dogs were the center of attention yesterday, cannot get far without someone stopping to ask what breed one of them is or to pet them.