~George Colman

It’s tough to put to words everything I’m feeling and doing in my life right now. I struggle with where I draw the line on what to share and what to keep tucked away in my journal. Being in the public eye makes you vulnerable and when you have a big heart it’s sometimes hard to protect it completely. I’ve chosen the side of being slightly more open, but it will take baby steps. If I could only write one thing right now, it would be expressing how grateful I am for everything my life has brought to me, good and bad. I’m lucky to see some of the reasons why my path has gone this route. Maybe one day I’ll be able to see all the reasons for why it hasn’t been so easy. Regardless, this path has made me strong and forced me to remain positive no matter comes my way. Because in the big picture, all will be right if you perceive it that way.

The reason I felt the need to begin this way is to try and paint how grateful and blessed I feel right now. A few nights ago I couldn’t hold back happy tears telling Keith that all my dreams are coming true and that I truly am the happiest I’ve ever been in my life. If you know me, you’ll know I’ve gone through hell and back more than once. But, I’m a fighter and my mother taught me to NEVER give up. I can see now why things had to be the way they were. Why suffering and loss teaches you to praise the beautiful gifts the universe brings later. That traumatic events can often be a blessing for you to help others who will go through the same experiences. Most importantly, that in the end love and light will get you through the darkest times.

Right now I’ve been in Asia for a little more than 3 weeks. Originally I was planning on going back to spend Christmas in the States and New Years with my lil sis, Erinn. Given how well things keep happening over here, it only makes sense to extend my stay. I have the best of both worlds. Modeling in Hong Kong and poker in Macau. It strangely resembles my Los Angeles and Vegas life, but with TV hosting replaced with modeling once again. It’s been a few years since I’ve been in Asia and it feels like everything is meant to be. That lost feeling I’ve been having the past 8 months, with online poker gone, has finally subsided. From planning the wedding, working on a few projects, playing live poker and modeling full time…everything feels complete. Top it off with traveling and being the ultimate tourist (I’ve taken over 600 photos!) I’m overwhelmed with joy.

Giving up my beautiful job with St. John as their fit model / showroom model and going full time into poker was something I’ve struggled with over the years. I never really knew if I was doing the right thing. Luckily I quickly found my way into hosting for the WSOP and multiple poker shows. So, I somewhat still maintained my relationship in front of the camera while continuing to play poker. But, modeling became something of a side job here and there and wasn’t my main priority. I can still hear my agent asking me if this is really what I want to do with my life. Letting go of a full time ‘in house model’ position for a company like St John is a big deal. At the time, it felt right.

Looking back now that decision was meant to be. I’ve met my soul mate, made some amazing friends, traveled and hosted TV shows all around the world and lived my life according to my terms. Regardless what happened earlier this year with the US ban on online poker, it has been a great ride…that I’m not finished with. Although I must say it feels amazing to get back into modeling full time. Modeling since I was 10 years old, I still feel like I have some major milestones I wanted to accomplish. Now I’m 100% certain that little blonde girl in Texas with BIG dreams will reach her goals.

2012 promises to be filled with new beginnings in my personal life as well as my career. I can’t wait to share them all with you. In the next few days i’ll be posting a few pages from my journal along with some fun pics. I hope you’ll enjoy.

Wishing you all the happiest of holidays and a blessed New Year!

It’s been a little over 2 weeks since I’ve been in Asia and I’ve been so busy! For those that don’t know I’ve been modeling here as well as working on a secret project. So far I’ve been booking photo shoots left and right… 6 to be exact! WoW! I’m astonished and so overly excited, that I’ve had a permanent smile on my face ever since I got here. There is so much to talk about, but some of it will have to wait, understandably. Luckily I’ve been writing in my journal and can share my experiences with ease. Over the next few days I’ll have some time to transfer it to my blog along with all the photos I’ve taken.

If you have a moment please say hello in the comment box below. I would really appreciate it.  Mainly because it doesn’t seem like people read these posts… so the motivation to write becomes next to none. Maybe if I knew people wanted to read what I had to say I would be more inclined to make my blog more of a priority. Just a thought. I do know it goes both ways. If I wrote more people would be more inclined to read …etc. Anyway I hope you can take a second to say hello and I promise I’ll post all my adventures on a regular basis, as well as some of the posts I’ve written that I’m too shy to share to an empty abyss.

Music is key for me to stay motivated to do my cardio work.

Here are 5 tips to incorporate music playlists to keep you going:

1. Choose high BPM (beats per minute) songs to play while getting ready as well as working out.

If you need help finding out how many beats per minute each song has, there’s an APP for that. Check out TAP for Macs that you can add to your Apple dashboard to calculate BPM.

Click here for the free download. 

2. Pick songs you absolutely love at this moment, not ones that are overplayed on your iPod. You’ll look forward to the next song and stay with the program.

3. Make your playlists exactly the length of time you want to workout. (eg: 30 min / 1 hr ) When you create a playlist on iTunes it automatically tells you on the bottom how long your playlist is.

4. Use your choice of songs for interval training to tell you when to speed up and when to slow down without having to look at time.

5. If you still get bored or can’t stay motivated to do a full hour, make a 15 min playlist of your ultimate favorite songs. After each 15 min session move onto a different exercise machine. Breaking up the monotony can help you get the full hour and results you want.

My 30 Minute  Dance Cardio Playlist:

Feel so close (Benny Benassi remix), Calvin Harris
Ready 2 Go, Martin Solvieg & Kele
Levels, Avicii
Beautiful People (feat. Benny Benassi), Chris Brown
Pressure (Alesso Radio Edit), Nadia Ali, Starkillers & Alex Kenji
Innocence, Nero
Kickstarts (Bar 9 Remix), Example

*click on the songs to see the music videos

Last month I was lucky enough to not only meet supermodel Katarina Van Derham, but also get to work with her on a photo shoot. Katarina has many talents outside of modeling, including being an amazing hair and makeup artist. This specific shoot is for some upcoming men’s magazines you’ll be seeing soon.

Meeting Katarina was so uplifting. She is beautiful on the inside and out and even sparked my interest in possibly going Vegan for 2012. We’ll see how that works out.

As promised here is a sneak peek video from my recent photo shoot with Katarina Van Derham and Deja Jordan.

Recent Photo shoot with Katarina Van Derham and Deja Jordan. Post coming this Friday with behind the scenes footage!