Me and two stunning models

First I sincerely want to thank all of you who voted for me in the Hapari contest!  I was so floored by the support I received!

Second-OH. MY. LANDS!
I held on and made it through as one of the three finalists!!!

For a girl who (as is way too common) struggled with self confidence for so long, always hated this that or the other thing about her body and was entirely too conscious of her thighs, this was just a kick to even have the guts to put myself out there in a swimsuit for the world to see.

Thank heavens for running and the fact that it has made me not only no longer hate, but really appreciate my legs for how strong they are!  I look back at the first time I was called "Thunder Thighs" (eighth grade) and chuckle.  Who'd have thought it would eventually turn into me loving these powerful legs?!  Funny how life changes like that.

Thank goodness I am happy enough with myself that I didn't get my feelings hurt when I was called "a middle aged woman with a wrinkly stomach".  I guess she missed this.  (though I was wrinkly in the first postpartum pictures). And boy, I sure hope I live past my mid 60's.

The two other ladies I am up against are gorgeous.  I mean seriously beautiful.  Stunning.  And I am not exaggerating.  They are real models so when you Google them you can see their work, their profiles, their measurements.  I'm up against a girl with a 22 inch waist.  Um, hello!
Intimidating.

So it's two stunning professionals........and me.  Ha!  It really is almost comical.  And when in life would it be me vs ladies that look like this ever again?  Yeah, never.  It really is kind of a rush!

The real big shocker in this whole thing is that Hapari changed up the ending.  Instead of choosing the winner themselves, they have opened it back up to popular vote!  Likes will determine who wins this whole thing!
I may have hyperventilated just a tad when I heard that.

The next step then was for each of the finalists to submit three more pictures.  I sent in three pictures that I had because I had been told that they didn't necessarily need to be swimsuit photos.  Hapari emailed me back to let me know that the other ladies sent in swimsuit photos.....and could I come up with some of those instead?  I needed more swimsuit pictures.
Bless my husband and a very generous front desk manager at a local hotel and a late night trip to borrow their pool for a backdrop.  Nothing like shooting at 10pm in a hotel pool.  I can honestly say I never thought that would be something I'd have to worry about.  It was fun.
Some of the pictures turned out fabulously too!

Among our favorites (not edited at all, so the light is a little funky) were:

We ended up sending these three:

Hapari picked the zebra print suit picture (which is one of their suits) and one of the pictures I had sent previously, so that each finalist has a profile picture and a swimsuit picture.  Check out Hapari's facebook page to see the final pictures.  And after you check it out you will see what I mean about the other two-STUNNING!

So there you have it.  The last hurrah.  If today is any indication, things are looking just a little tiny bit promising for me.  That excites me and completely terrifies me!  But oh, the Florida Keys in December? *sigh*  Can you imagine?