I have arrived!

…Well, on newsstands at least. As you have probably gathered, I have been anxiously awaiting seeing myself in print and last night I finally did. My Budweiser ad that was debuting in Sports Ilustrated is finally here and I am so excited! Now before you go shaking your head and muttering under your breath about my decision to be a “Bud Girl”, let me explain how very different this is than wearing me hot shorts and passing out free samples at the local bar. Budweiser is a sponsor for the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and they decided to do an ad campaign using Olympians (and hopefuls in my case) and partnered with the SI swimsuit issue as their biggest sponsor for this year’s issue.

Budweiser ties in with premiere parties at more than 100 on-premise locations across the country where it will hand out issues. Ads will feature an Olympic theme with a swimsuit gallery of Olympic athletes Amanda Beard, Heather Mitts and Brianna Glenn. Anheuser-Busch is also a primary party sponsor of SI’s launch party in New York. (You can read the whole article here but this was the only section that mentioned my name!)

I consider it to be a great honor to be a part of this and hopefully I hold my own against the likes of Marisa Miller and Bar Refaeli. I realize it’s only 2 ads in the magazine and I am not one of the featured models who got to go on location in the Virgin Islands or anything, but I did shoot for 3 days in Hollywood…and I stayed at a Holiday Inn Express. Shoot, even that’s not true. I didn’t even stay in a hotel since I lived 15 minutes away from the studio but they did give me car service every day!

So what do I think of the pictures??? Well the back cover that features myself, Heather Mitts (soccer), and Lovie Jung (softball) is actually quite flattering in my opinion. I was chosen to do the more backside shot because supposedly I had the best derriere but I think the best part of this shot is my legs. They look 10 miles long…as they should as high as those heels were that I was forced to wear. As for the picture inside the magazine…I’m conflicted. Originally, I think they were going to use a whole other shot (the one shown below which is NOT in the magazine) and I did like that one. However, Amanda Beard(swimming) and I shot the exact same poses and I guess they decided to use her laying down pose and my standing one which I had not laid eyes on before last night. But I don’t love it. I’m not sure if it’s because I saw the other one first and liked it better or because it’s just not that great of a shot of me. Mostly, I just think my face looks a little severe and kind of blah. But I know I am my worst critic and when it’s all said and done I still am beyond stoked that it’s ME in SPORTS ILLUSTRATED SWIMSUIT EDITION.

If you were ever wondering how much a person is airbrushed once they are in print, I am here to tell you they pretty much just give you the body they want you to have. I suppose my “track legs” were a bit too big and muscular so they slimmed them down. Supposedly boobs are a big part of swimsuit modeling so they gave me a nice rack. (you know I was happy about that!) And last night at dinner the Anheuser-Busch executives were commenting that obviously that couldn’t be my real stomach and I concurred. I told them I was pretty sure it was airbrushed a bit…to make it look LESS defined. They couldn’t believe it.

So if you haven’t got your copy yet, stop and pick one up…or just go to Borders and look at it for free. For my friends and family to cheap to buy one (read: Brittany!), I should be getting a box of them that I will gladly autograph and send to you. :)