C.A.R.E. Cozies

Hello Friends!

Last night my youth group created C.A.R.E. Cozies. We were joined by my good friend Dave Abbott, a snow bird from Michigan. For a few members of my youth group, it was their first time creating C.A.R.E. Cozies. They had a great time conversing and creating the blankets. We will be delivering them within the next few weeks!

Great News!

A sorority at the University of Florida, Kappa Alpha Theta, invited a local girl scout troupe to come and create C.A.R.E. Cozies at their sorority house. After they created the blankets they delivered them to the Park Meadows Nursing Home in Gainesville, Florida. I will be receiving pictures very soon from one of the members of the sorority and I will post them as soon as I can!

A girl scout troupe in St. Cloud, Florida, also created C.A.R.E. Cozies!

It is so exciting to witness the growth of my C.A.R.E. Cozy project!

Miss America 2010 (Part One)

Hello All!

Oh my goodness! I have so much to share with you! I don't even know where to begin. On January 26th, I left on a plane for Las Vegas to watch Miss America live! The entire trip was absolutely fantastic!

When I arrived at the airport, I ran into Miss Florida's mom , Krissy Todd. We ended up taking a shuttle to the Planet Hollywood, which was the host hotel for Miss America. I was completely taken away with the gigantic posters of Miss America 2009, Katie Stam, that were everywhere in the hotel. I checked in and a few hours later, Jenna Harvey, my roommate from the Sweetheart Pageant and Miss California's first runner up arrived. She was my roomie once again for the week!

That night, I attended the first night of the pageant preliminaries. Miss Florida was to compete in swimsuit and evening wear. Right before the pageant I met Katie Stam's parents. Seeing the theater live and in person made Miss America so much more real to me. I had only ever seen the final pageant on television and being there to watch the preliminaries live was unbelievable. It was exciting to see the girls perform their opening number for the first time. Rachael looked absolutely fabulous! After the show, everyone went to the visitation which is an opportunity for us to meet with the contestants. Rachael and I even had the chance to reenact our Miss Florida moment.

Well, this is all that I have time to blog about for now. I will blog about the rest of my Miss America Experience very soon!

International Night!

Hello Friends!

On January 23rd, I hosted St. Thomas Aquinas School's International Night. Every year, the student's families come to celebrate cultures around the world. Each grade is assigned a country that they are responsible for creating dishes to share with the attendees. Raffle tickets were sold at the event for fun prize baskets that were donated. A Nintendo DS and digital camera were also being raffled off. My sister was also there to help sell raffle tickets and hand out the prizes. We were also able to perform for the people there.

I had a great time "seeing the world."

New Year...Fun Events!

I know I'm late...but HAPPY NEW YEAR!!! I am so excited to witness all the wonderful things this year will bring!

This past Saturday, January 9th, my mom, sister, and I attended the Miss Orlando and Miss Orlando's Outstanding Teen Pageant. I was able to reunite with many of last year's Miss Florida contestants. It was so nice to see all of them. I was especially happy to reunite with Jenise! She looked absolutely beautiful and fabulous as always. The pageant was very entertaining! Congratulations to the runners up and winners!

Yesterday, I attended Rachael's send off party along with my mom and sister. The members of the Miss Florida Board, Rachael, and Rachael's family members put together a program. It was very touching and also very motivational! Witnessing how much Rachael has grown as a person over the past few months was amazing. She is truly a remarkable young women. I wish her the best of luck at Miss America!

Miss Apopka and other adventures!

Dear Friends,

I'm sorry that it has been a long time since I have posted any blogs! The end of the school semester definitely took it's toll on me but I will do my best to update you on what has been happening.

The biggest news is that on November 7th, I was crowned the new Miss Apopka! I was crowned by the former Miss Apopka and my good friend, Rikki Klaus. It felt so good to be competing once again! My mom, sister, brother, princesses, and their families were all there! Seeing them in the audience gave me an extra boost of energy!

I sang "Home" from Broadway musical The Wiz, which was the very first song I had ever sang for a Miss Florida preliminary pageant, four years ago! Time really does fly!

Third runner up was Dasha Gonzalez, Second Runner up was Victoria Williams, and First Runner up was Brittany Fornof. Congratulations to all of the girls!

The very next week on the 14th, my sister and I performed at the St. Thomas Aquinas Church's Christmas Bazaar. For the first time, my sister played her guitar while she sang. She has been learning how to play the guitar for some time and I must say, she does a fabulous job! Performing at the bazaar was a lot of fun. I always have a blast when I perform with my sister.

Before you knew it, it was Thanksgiving and I was so happy to be reunited with my entire family!

On December 4th, I made my first official appearance as Miss Apopka! I was a part of the annual Apopka Christmas Parade. I got to ride in a Corvette. I always love participating in parades. It warms my heart when I look out into the crowd and see many smiling faces. My sister got to ride along in the Corvette too! I also got the chance to kiss a camel...who would've thought that you would be able to do that anywhere other than the zoo! Haha

Talbot House Gala

On October 22nd, I attended the Annual Talbot House Gala. Many of the sponsors and clients of the Talbot House attended the event. There were about 900 people in attendance. I was given the opportunity to sing "Somewhere Over the Rainbow" during the program. What an honor it was!

Delivering C.A.R.E. Cozies

On October 14th, a few members of my youth group and I delivered C.A.R.E. Cozies to the residents of Plantation Bay. Plantation Bay is a nursing home in St. Cloud, Florida. This was the first time we had delivered the cozies and the reaction that we received from the residents was unlike anything I imagined.

The moment we stepped into each resident's room their faces lit up. Most of the residents that we visited did not have any family and they were so glad to have visitors. Just when I thought that they couldn't get any happier, one of my youth group members would give them a blanket and their faces would illuminate even more! Many of the residents even shed tears of joy and gratitude. Also seeing the reaction of my youth group members was truly heart warming. They had fun delivering the blankets and they learned a lot from the experience. They never knew how much a simple visit and gift could affect these individuals.

While walking through the nursing home I realized how much blankets are truly needed in these facilities. I was so excited to know that the collection of C.A.R.E. cozies would help these facilities in a great way!

What a great start to my new project!