On Monday August 18, I was in production for the third season of Keeping Up With the Kardashians, and as usual, I was at my Mom and Bruce's house having breakfast. The only difference was, today I would be meeting my partner for Dancing With the Stars for the first time. Everyone was nervous and excited, we'd all been guessing over the last few weeks who the person might be, and everyone had their own thoughts and ideas and jokes about it all. All I could think was, I would be spending weeks and weeks and weeks, hours upon hours with this person, so I hoped we'd just get along to start! Since I've never taken a dance class in my life, I wasn't a tiny, 5 year-old ballerina girl or a jazz dance high school girl, the second thing I thought of was, could I really do this? I am super focused and when I put my mind to something or have a goal I want to accomplish, I always get it done. But this was different. It was really exciting too. So that morning, with everyone running around, I got to meet Mark. I can't tell you what happened, or where, because that gets revealed on Monday night, September 22, the first night of Season 7 of Dancing With the Stars! But I can tell you this: I was really happy when I saw it was Mark!

From that day forward, we rehearsed every day, at least 5 hours a day. For the first week our locations had to be top secret, since the official cast and lineup hadn't been announced, so no one could talk about the show if I was doing it or not. That was kind of fun and since before or after rehearsal, I would do 5 or more hours of shooting for Keeping Up With the Kardashians, often times the secret locations would be more convenient.

We knew we would have to learn two dances because for the first time, there will be two dances in the first week of the new season and two couples will be voted off the first week. The pressure is on! So Mark explained the two dances we would have to learn, which I can't tell you now, but you will see, and then we started talking about music. We had to pick two songs that were the right tempo and cadence for the specific dances we're doing – it has to match and has to work – but we also wanted things that worked for our personalities – plus we wanted things that we thought the crowd would like. Mark is really good at picking music, his ear is very in tune to the beat and rhythm because he has been dancing his whole life and knows music so well. But I also love music, so I think our coming together with thoughts and ideas worked really well. I am excited to see what everyone thinks!

So once we pick our songs, we can start working on our dances. Mark breaks things down in small sections so I learn the routine in pieces before we put it all together. It's very hard work. We work in a big dance studio with mirrors all around so we can watch each other, and ourselves. At first, I just try to imitate what Mark does, but after a while and with his guidance, I know the dance steps myself and not that is gets easy, but it gets less confusing and we can actually dance together and that is really, really exciting. Of course I have my moments where I lose my balance or I lose my place, and some days are better than others. Some days I am at my limit, I am so tired that my brain cannot soak in any more, and that is usually when we stop.

Now, with all the rehearsals comes makeup tests, wardrobe fittings, interviews, photo shoots. So I will start with my favorite: wardrobe. This team blows my mind. Every costume is hand made. Every sequin, every bead, is painstakingly and lovingly applied and sewn by hand. Mark and I meet with the team to go over our thoughts and ideas first, the team knows our song and we all collaborate to come up with costumes that really pop. Once we talk about them and make a decision, the team starts working. Costumes have to look great and you have to be able to dance and move in them. The team has to make costumes fit for the style of the dance as well as the bodies of the people wearing them. It's a huge job and they are a mind-blowing team. I can't wait for my first two costumes!! Hair and makeup is much the same. Ballroom is very dramatic, very heavy, very over the top – lots of eyelashes and glitter and rhinestones. I love makeup but even this was a lot for me to get used to. It's really fun and the hair and makeup team are so great.

I've done a ton of interviews as well, behind-the-scenes for the show which will air in the first week – we've done lots of fun stuff! Oh and I forgot to mention my toe! That was really scary! We had just started rehearsals when I went to New York to have an interview with David Letterman and do a bunch of really fun press in support of Disaster Movie, when I cut my toe really badly on a desk at the hotel where I was staying. I had to go to the emergency room, it was bleeding so much that we couldn't see how big or bad or deep the cut was. It was really scary and all I kept thinking about was that I had just started my rehearsals! Thankfully, we were able to work around it, we cut straps off dance shoes and I took really good care of my toe and it's really healing well. It's not back to normal, but I now don't have to wrap it every day.

Mark and I continue to rehearse every single day, still make each other laugh, and are getting more and more excited to show everyone what we've been working so hard for!! Just a few more days!!! And a quick thanks to the teams that make it all happen and to everyone who's rooting for us now and will continue to!!!

Xoxo,

Kim