The member's section will be updated later today with the famous HOTEL PICS. Those are always my favorite to view from others and to share as well. Mine consist of the transitions my body goes through from Thursday to Friday night before the contest during the carbing up/drying out phase. It is pretty incredible to bear witness to how much the body changes during this time. You are lean enough to see things change on a much more dramatic level complete with striations getting deeper...vascularity becoming more pronounced, etc.. Quite remarkable actually. As you view these pics in my gallery, I want to point out that the ones where I am wearing RED top/RED bottoms are on Thursday so that is the starting point. Friday morning pics are GREEN top/GREEN bottoms...changes very evident. Then the last phase is where I am wearing RED top/GREEN bottoms...that is where you will see some truly amazing things. The human body never ceases to amaze me! So enjoy the pics and I wish everyone a truly terrific NEW YEAR!! "G"

Well I hope everyone had a wonderful Christmas and looking forward to the New Year like I am! I am really enjoying the time off, although I am still hitting the weights hard in the gym. No cardio or dieting right now...I figure I will start that back up in early January. It isn't realistic for me to put that type of pressure on myself during the holidays because if I don't adhere to a plan, I will get this overwhelming sense of guilt. At this point, my body has suffered enough so I will enjoy this free-for-all and get back to the grind after the new year. Thank you to all of my members for your great support. There is so much neat stuff ahead to share with you, so get ready! I am also going to revamp the free section of my site. So much has changed and I want to display that in the near future. We will see how much free time Andy has to help me with that! lol! (love ya Andy!) That is it for now...not much goin' on over here. Stay tuned, there are some great things ahead!!! "G"

What a great time I have had this past week! Amanda Dunbar came up from Florida to get some training time in with Howard. It seems that Ms. Dunbar will be doing the USA's next year and if she works with H, I predict she will win it! He has the magic touch and will put her in the shape of her life...it will just come down to if she can travel here enough for him to assess her physique and make the necessary changes. The OKC crew welcomed her with open arms as they do everyone and she really seemed to enjoy her time here. I miss her already! We have known eachother for awhile now, but never had the opportunity to visit for extended times and I must say, I would love for her to move here. I need a girlfriend to hang out with, SHOP with, and discuss girl things all the time! lol! I am surrounded by a bunch of stinky boys and I miss the girly side of me. She is also a big eater, like myself, so it would be fun to hit the buffets during the offseason--I know, I know, but my body likes to be big. I FEEL better! lol! I am up to 186# already and it has only been a month since Nationals. I guess my saving grace is that I know I can get it all off when it is show time, so why should I deny such an intrinsic part of myself during the offseason? My plan is to chill out a bit Jan.1st and start hittin' some cardio a few times a week so I can still fit into some of my clothes! LOL! Tonight is the big OKC Crew X-mas party complete with Naughty Santa. This will be my first time to experience it, but from what I have heard it is HILARIOUS! I am looking forward to it. I have really grown to love a lot of the people in this "family" up here in OKC...of course there are some that you don't see eye to eye with but that just makes the friendships I do have that much sweeter. Here are a couple of pics with A-Dawg this past week. Enjoy! "G"

Ah, finally a moment to sit down and write a bit about my Nationals experience. I will start this journey off with the trip to Dallas. We drove down there and I think during that trip I was having some out of body experiences! lol! I laugh about it now, but I have never been so depleted or suffered more in my life than during that time. I could barely hold my head up and the sunlight hurt my eyes. I just closed them and tried to sleep for the duration of the trip. I started my carb loading at 3:00pm on Thursday and I was certainly ready for it! Once we checked into the hotel I was allowed a short time to nap there until it was time for me to get one coat of protan on before weigh in that evening. I went to weigh in and saw a lot of old buddies and some new faces. I had a nice time visiting and getting the formalities out of the way and then it was back to the hotel for my next meal and some more rest. Friday came and I continued my carb loading process along with applying more coats of protan. I skipped the men's prejudging that night per trainer's orders. I would have enjoyed seeing Tim Young and Chris Cook on stage but it wasn't meant to be. I slept rather well Friday night before the show which is a change for me. I am typically so nervous that I can't sleep. Well, I guess that I was so exhausted from this whole prep along with feeling pretty darn prepared that I just said a prayer, closed my eyes and into dreamland I went. Who knew that the next day my dreams would become a reality? During prejudging I felt very confident and really enjoyed myself onstage. The judges eyes were on me like a hawk, so I knew they were checking me out thoroughly. Then the callouts began. In bodybuilding, it is a good indication that you will place very well if you are "called out" in the first round and typically if your number is called out first during the first call out...you are in first place. They usually call out five numbers each time, so I was just hoping to be in the first five. So, they line us up on stage and we are awaiting the head judge to start the callouts. It is such an energized and anxious time! I hear the head judge say, "Okay...Number...245 please"...HELLO! Earth to Gina...THAT'S ME!!! First callout...FIRST NUMBER!!! I jumped my butt up on the higher platform in the middle position and waited for her to call out the other four ladies. I was ELATED! I was in first place...as long as they didn't move us around once they had the top five in place and compared them. Well, I stayed there and went through the comparisons and was excused until the night show. I came out from backstage and was in total shock! In 2002, I was in the third callout...2003, I was in the second callout...now here I am in 2004 in the first place position in the first callout! Howard was so happy along with my girl, Carri Ledford-Baldwin and a whole host of others. My support team would knock your socks off...they are the BEST! Fast forward to the evening show...I walked on to that stage thinking..."please don't pull a switcheroo on me here people! lol!" Now that you have me thinking that I may win this thing...don't pull any fast ones on me! Well they didn't and when they announced that I had won my class, I realized at that moment that I was an IFBB PRO. Dream actualized...amazing. Words cannot describe the emotions that went through me. I get choked up when I think of it still. Well then I walk off stage and someone took my trophy out of my hands and before I could say "hey mister!!!" I heard "turn around Gina...time to compete for the Overall." Oops, forgot about that part! lol! So, I go back on stage, compare with the other class winners and await the announcement of who will be the overall winner. When they announced that I had won...I was in TOTAL SHOCK. I had just won the whole show! Could it be?? HELL YES IT COULD! lol! Wow, wow, wow!!! So, as you could imagine, my life changed that day/evening and I am a happy girl. I have a whole host of people to thank that took this journey with me-- Houston crew: My family for supporting me since day one. Mom, your genetics are the foundation that I build upon day after day. My sister Mandy for your enthusiasm and understanding. Brian, Cathy, Kennon and Kelsey-you guys being there meant the world to me. Jennifer and Troy for always travelling to see my shows even in deer season and with broken bones! lol! Big Pappa Dennis McLaughlin-what a kind man who has been behind me for a decade now. Dean and Bear-who knew you two would be hanging out in Dallas watching your old training partner win her pro card eh? Dean's fiance Stephanie who has the most adorable little boy-thanks for coming Steph. And everyone from home who have been extending their well wishes and support-THANK YOU SO MUCH! OKC Crew: Howard Huddleston-THE MAN WITH THE MASTER PLAN-I absolutely could not have done any of this without you. The bbing world is just now starting to figure out how brilliant you really are. Producing three class wins and two PROS in one year is an incredible feat and YOU alone are responsible for that. I love you H! Joey Codner who perfected my posing and is the little brother I have always wanted. Carri Ledford-Baldwin kept me inspired and has the greatest hubby Bren...I heard ya Bren! The Rowdy Body Tech Bunch-Marcus, Dustin, Darren, Ryan, Charlie, Stephanie, Q, Mike, Todd and Laura, Tim and Shannon. I hope I am not leaving anyone out...you guys know I love ya! What an amazing ride I have had...I don't want to get off! lol! Well, I guess the next step will be figuring out what show will be my pro debut. I will keep you all posted on that as 2005 approaches. I would like to send out a special thanks to all of my members...you have supported me and my pursuits in bbing and I am forever grateful. There are so many neat things I will be showing you in the future and I hope to not disappoint. I guess I will close this novel now...got to get some sleep. More later! Goodnight. "PRO G" lol!

Just a quick note to tell you all that I am sending my webmaster, Andy, some updates for the member's section today. He should have it online by tomorrow, so check it out! I have TONS of new photos and video clips coming your way from the show as well as candid, casual pics and precontest shots that I wanted to wait and add after the show. One of my favorites to post as well as to view on other sites are the cool "hotel pics" that are taken in the room prior to stepping onstage. Sometimes you can capture the greatest things during that time since the biggest transitions are happening so quickly as you tighten up for the contest. I will be adding my hotel pics in the future as well. I am very excited about sharing all of this with you and appreciate all of the well wishes and congratulations I have received...everyone has been so sweet to me.
Speaking of Andy, I would like for people to go to this link and check out this terrific article about him. http://www.fbbworld.com/showarticle.jsp?id=45 Every word of it is true and I am so pleased that he is getting the recognition he deserves. He is the GREATEST webmaster and I am honored to also call him a FRIEND. Thanks for everything Andy!!!
G