I’m now officially back in the U.S. and on a one year sabbatical from my full time job with one of my MAJOR goals being ‘get in shape’!

Many of you may remember Denise Austin and her ‘rock hard tummy’ routines.  Me, my girlfriends and my mom did Denise’s videos throughout college and into the working world.  So imagine my surprise when I was spending a painful 3 1/2 hours at the DMV last Friday and ran into Denise Austin!

Such a small world as I had just seen her on tv the Sunday before and was telling the story of how Denise was my first boss’ college roommate. She was as friendly and personable as I remember and she’s still going strong which is awesome to see! And she looks fabulous!

You can find her on her website DeniseAustin … she has a program to be your personal trainer with exercise routines, daily meal plans and 15 interactive online tools to track your progress.  Her latest workout DVDs include 2009’s Body Makeover Mix and 3-Week Bootcamp, and her new book, Denise’s Daily Dozen, was released in January 2010.

Hard to believe Denise over the last 25 years Denise has created 85 workout videos/DVDs selling more than 20 million copies and authored more than 10 books on fitness. Many are available on her website.

I’ll check some out on my road to fitness and report back!