Lorna Jane Makeover, POP Pilates Meetup in Australia, & DVD Update!

POPsters! This post is LOOooOoOoOoOOoOOng overdue. I am so sorry for not keeping you posted but FINALLLLYYY I have fought off my jet lag and traveling weariness. Bleh…I hate being on planes and airports stress me out. A lot.

Anyway! I have bootcamp to teach in about an hour so I thought I’d blog about my AWESOME Aussie POPsters and the fabulous girls of Lorna Jane!

So a few weeks ago I traveled with my little sister Jackelyn to Australia to do a lil vacationing and also to help her move into her new dorm in Sydney. We stopped by Cairns first to dive the Great Barrier Reef (see photos here) and here is where I also had my first in-store LJ shopping experience. OMG guys, I fell in love.

Lorna Jane is to Australia as what Lululemon is to the US. They are a premiere women’s activewear brand that’s super fashionable and super bright! Me likes. So when LJ invited me to come to their store to pick out some outfits for my POP Pilates DVD shoot, I was like whhaaat!??

What do I pick!!???!!! I basically spent like 2 or 3 hours in there trying on things. Putting on and taking off activewear is a workout itself. All that twisting, bending, sucking in, weird manipulation of the arms…hahaha – you know what I mean right?! The LJ girls there were so nice and didn’t say anything but they must have thought I was crazy for taking so long.

I found some outfits that I really really liked! Like this one – pink and black. Pretty huh? Booty shorts will a rollover band of course! Colleen (below in Blue) was like a professional fitness fashion stylist! She is all-knowing. Loved her!

Here’s the LJ team at Cairns that helped me out. Peta, on the left here was so good to Jackelyn and I during our stay. She even drove us out to the gorgeous beaches in the wee hours of the morning to help us with the DVD shoot. I felt so welcomed by Lorna Jane as an organization and as a group of friends when I came to Australia. They were all so inviting and I cannot thank them enough. Lorna Jane is opening some stores in California this month and I cannot wait to go check them out and welcome the girls there with the same warmth they embraced me with. I am very happy that they have landed in my home state. If you guys are in Southern CA go check em out! They are opening stores in Marina Del Rey, Malibu, and Santa Monica!

So regarding the DVD…there were some environmental issues. When I say that, I mean, we had some problems on the beach with waves almost swallowing me up and sand flies peeing on me. Haha. No but really. I got these horrible skin reactions and red dots all over my legs and some of my hands! Should have done more research about beach shooting. Oops? I felt bad that Peta drove us out there and we didn’t get the shoot done. But we did get a YouTube video up and so far it has been one of my more popular ones! Have you tried the POP Pilates: Perky Butt and Long Lean Legs Workout yet?

If you haven’t you should. It will kill you butt. And I mean KILL.

So as far as the DVD goes, I am so sad to say this, but please wait some more. Boo. I know. Ugh right? Let’s just say that when it comes out it will be CRAZY amazing. And you know what? These things happen for a reason. So just enjoy my YouTube videos for now.

Now onto the POP Pilates Meetup in Sydney, Australia!!!!!!!!

Here’s me telling everyone on facebook to log onto my BlogTV channel to watch the livestream at 8:30AM! You can basically the do the whole 1 hr class on my channel, click here.

Taking pics of my super fit Aussie POPsters!!!!!! Super chatty and friendly.

Bright and beautiful!

The class energy was amazing. The girls all laughed at my jokes which I always find amusing because I do not think I am funny at all, so that was nice. We went through an INTENSE POP Pilates session. Here we are doing the “Cheerleader L” pose – holding it tight to strengthen our lower abs!!! Point your legs and point your toes!

Can anyone guess what move this is? We’re getting ready for eagle crunches! My fave.

Look at those sexy back muscles! Stretching out our butts after tiny leg circles I’m guessing…

Everyone loved it. Even babies.

I adore this shot of the shirts…

I’ve never been asked to autograph anything before, so this was really cool!!! These were 2 adorable fans who follow me on Tumblr. You guys were cute! Love you!

The Lorna Jane Mosman team that made it all possible. These girls were so kind and caring! They made the meetup a true success! All the coordination between me and Jenna McManus from Marketing before I even landed in Australia made the day effortless and fun. I want to thank everyone for their teamwork.

I also want to thank all of the POPsters who showed up to take my class!!!! WOOOOOOO!!!!! You guys were soooooo coollllll!!!!!! I loved how crazy, vocal, and chatty you all were. (Love the Australian accent best btw.) You guys made me smile from ear to ear that day. It was so good to see you in person. You guys make making videos super worth it. I never wanna stop because of you. You motivate me to be a better instructor everyday. I love you!!!

And I am sorry we did not get to go out to dinner that one Thursday night but feel free to hit up Jackelyn! She’s kinda like me, but crazier? Hahaha.

After the meetup Jackelyn and I did some touristy stuff. We saw the Harbour Bridge.

And the Opera House!

Oh what good times those were. I got super tan under the beautiful Aussie sun. Then I lost it all in foggy China. Ha. Oh well. should be summer soon here in CA.

And as the sun comes out, so do the skimpy clothes and bikinis. Next week, we begin our inspiration boards to help us visualize our goals. There was a little controversy on facebook today, you can read about it here, regarding something I said about finding a body you want and pasting it on the board. Here’s what I posted:

Have you guys ever “shopped around” for the body of your dreams? Start looking at bodies of celebs or fitness people that you think are achievable and choose one that looks similar to your body type. Next week for our challenge, we are making inspiration boards. Feel free to share a link to the body of your dreams! We’re gonna keep these boards up all Spring long to help us achieve our goals by Summer! You excited!!??

Immediately there was backlash about how we shouldn’t be comparing ourselves to other people and how this could promote eating and body image disorders. Although I totally understand where these comments are coming from, I also want you all to know that everything we do here is as healthy and as safe as you want to make it. You don’t have to choose a body with fake boobs and photoshopped thigh gaps. Nor do you have to choose anyone’s body at all, you can choose your own body at it’s healthiest and happiest state. The point is to have a visual and ATTAINABLE goal because it just makes achieving it THAT MUCH easier. If some of you aren’t looking to lose weight or tone up, no worries, the inspiration board is for everything you want to achieve in life. A new job, getting into the school of your dreams, talking to that cute boy, starting a business, whatever! We will fill it up with quotes and pics of anything that gets your moving and excited.

OK that is all. I’m gonna be late to bootcamp now.

Love you all! Please comment below if you came to the meetup and tell me which pic you’re in!

<3 Cassey