Anyways, I am very happy to be done with school and now I can turn all of my focus towards Miss America!
Here is a little update on what I have been up to the past few weeks...
I left off at the Oakland Holiday Parade which was such a blast! The next day, I attended the Miss Oakland Fundraiser with the current Miss Oakland and Miss Oakland's Outstanding Teen as well as several of the competitors for Miss Oakland 2010. It was a great event... Layne and Steven did a fabulous job and the girls modeled fashions from Cache... and I can't forget that there was a chocolate fountain! yum! Thank you so much for inviting me to this- it was such a fun afternoon!
The beautiful Sophia , Miss Oakland 2009
With Vera- my traveling companion for the day! We had so much together!
With Layne Sanders, the Executive Director of the Miss Oakland Pageant
Keeping the tradition... here is the funny picture!
After the fashion show, it was straight on to the airport and Vera who was my wonderful traveling companion for the day got me to San Francisco in no time! I spent a few hours in the terminal doing homework and taking an online test and then I was off to Denver, Colorado! My mom had a big birthday (Don't worry mom... I won't spoil which one ;) ) and my dad surprised her and sent her, my aunt, my grandma and me to Denver! My grandma grew up there and my mom was born there and lived there when she was young, so we went back and re-traced their childhood. We ironically chose to go at a time when Denver was hit with a very unusual cold spell and lots of snow!! The high while we were there was 11 degrees and when we left, it was a freezing -32 degrees with the wind chill. Brr! We laughed so much and had a wonderful time just being together! But we were all certainly glad to return home to sunny California. I must say that I give Miss Colorado a lot of credit for living in that cold weather! :)
My mom, grandma and me in front of house where my grandma grew up
Dancing in the snow!! Why not?!
My aunt and me
When I got home, I went straight from the airport to a Nutcracker rehearsal, then had two Glory of Christmas shows that night... I was a bit crazy by the end of the day! The following day I had a TV interview for Glory of Christmas and the rest of the week was filled with dress rehearsals for Nutcracker.
On Saturday, I performed in the Nutcracker production with the Tustin Dance Center. I grew up at this studio so it was so much fun to go back and perform with them. Tustin Dance is the place where I truly discovered that I loved to dance. Chelle even came to watch which was so great!
With Leah, one of the adorable dancers in the production! She is such a lovely young lady!
My wonderful partner AJ!
This week has been filled with more shows, working out with Mike, meeting with Bob and finishing up all of those little details for Miss America! On Tuesday, I got to interview another wish kid for the Make-A-Wish Foundation! Too fun! And today, we had our final "GEL" mentoring meeting of the year and I baked almost 200 cookies that girls got to decorate today! We had a great time!
I have to take the time to thank all of you for such a wonderful year thus far. You have been so very supportive, generous, encouraging and helpful throughout this process and I am so blessed by all of you. While I am the one who gets to wear the crown for the year, it is all of you who keep this organization going who are truly the ones to be praised. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.
Also, just a little heads up that I will be dancing on Christmas Eve at the Crystal Cathedral and it will air live internationally! Depending on the city where you live it might air on FOX, ABC, NBC, MYTV, Lifetime, etc. so be sure to check your local listings (sometimes there is a tape delay). I hope you all have a very Merry Christmas and a wonderful New Year!
Countdown to Miss America: 33 days
Favorite Christmas song of the week: "White Christmas"
