Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Appearances

May 5, 2008 Nationwide “Idol” competition from 11am – 1pm (emcee)
May 10, 2008 Cinderella Scholarship Program state pageant 10am-5pm (emcee)
May 10, 2008 Cleveland Fashion Week Gala 8pm
May 11, 2008 Cinderella Scholarship Program state pageant 9am-12pm (emcee)
May 13, 2008 Marrow County Senior Day 11:30am
May 14, 2008 Voicecorps interview 6-8pm
May 17, 2008 Race for the Cure (participant)
May 20, 2008 Career Day 9:30-11:30am (presenter)
May 21, 2008 The James 1-3pm (volunteer)
* Repeats every Wednesday
June 6-8, 2008 Columbus Arts Festival
July 3, 2008 Red White & Boom
July 26, 2008 Oliverio’s fashion show (model)
Sept. 13-14, 2008 NBC 4 Health & Lifestyle Expo
Sept. 18, 2008 Columbus Crew (anthem singer)
Sept. 21, 2008 NOCC Break the Silence Walk/Run 8:30-11am
Oct. 19, 2008 All-American Quarter Horse Congress Pageant (emcee)
Dec, 13, 2008 Firefighters 4 Kids Toy Drive

Miss USA 2008, Las Vegas

coming soon...

Tuesday, March 18, 2008

City Year

I was so honored to be the Keynote Speaker at the City Year’s Heroes Opening Day Ceremony on January 21st. The celebration was a kick-off celebration to another year of powerful service and an introduction of the new City Heroes and Young Heroes participants. It also served as a celebration of the life and work of Dr.Martin Luther King Jr. on MLK Day. Who in my opinion was one of our countries greatest speakers, leaders and examples of dedication to the service of others. Thank you to Lourdes I. Barroso de Padilla, Nikki Brown and Colleen O’Connor for allowing me to be a part of this amazing event

Wednesday, March 12, 2008

Nashville


At the end of January Melissa (Miss Ohio & Michigan USA director) took myself and the girls ( Chelsie Folden- Miss Ohio Teen USA, Elizabeth Hawthorne- Miss Michigan Teen USA and my Miss USA roommate Elisabeth Crawford- Miss Michigan USA) to Nashville. While there we had a photo shoot with Todd Killen and trained with Kent Parham.

The photo shoot was such an experience. We arrived in a very "colorful" neighborhood and were greeted by Todd and his assistant Jenny on the street in front of his studio. The studio was an interesting experience in it's self! the heat was nearly nonexistent and the bathroom pipes had frozen from the cold. We were little pageantcicles. Todd at one point ended up blocking vents from the outside to keep us warm. The cold was a big joke for us all day and honestly made the shoot that much more memorable and funny. We were all layering to keep warm and then dropping our coats fro a few shots before we had to warm up again.


another thing that made this shot hilarious was the restaurant in the back whose bathroom we used all day, Betty's. Jenny was nice enough to walk us back and forth in the freezing cold so that we could use the "facilities" which made us feel more comfortable going into a strange place.Who by the way boasts the best wings and 1/2 lb burger lb Nashville! the regulars got a real kick out of us coming in wearing full make up and rollers. Thanks Betty's, can't wait to come back for a burger some day!

The make up from the shoot was FABULOUS! Andrew worked his magic on hair and make up both turning out better than i could have ever expected.

I also have to the thank Todd. He was so easy to work with, the shoot was fantastic, his team was top notch and the shots speak for themselves. wow

Next up Mr. Kent. to be honest when we arrived in Nashville we were walking like a bunch of Clydesdale's compared to what would come in three short day. We were all good, good enough to win, good enough to represent our states and not embarrass ourselves but not good enough to win. After Kent got done poking, pulling, pushing and prodding us we were four very different girls. Suddenly we were hitting french turns, finding out natural hip swing and exuding the winning spirit.

I can not thank Kent enough for all he does. He even invited us to his house after to watch Miss America. Where we had a great time. We even got to hang out with Miss Georgia USA, Miss Tennessee USA, and Miss Tennessee Teen USA (all really fun and down to earth) We felt totally welcomed and at home.

The Nashville trip was such a big help in preparing us for the national competition and beyond! Thank you Melissa for making it happen, the weekend has made a world of difference!

Lancaster Bridal Show

I had such a good time emceeing this event. The organizers were very polite and gracious, they even gave me a gift for helping them. So sweet! The models were great too. They were mostly high school students and displayed true professionalism, charm and high energy. Thank you for having me

Gallippos Photo Shoot- Jan 6, 2008

Thank you to Kyle and Kristi for a great photo shoot. you have always made me look so beautiful. I love you guys!

http://www.gallipposphotography.com/

My day with Bob- Columbus Bride & Miss Columbus Teen

On January 5th Bob Nunnally, Storm Team 4 Meteorologist, and I spent the entire day doing appearances together and had a blast!

We started in the morning announcing at the 2008 Columbus Bride Show. Afterwords we did a little mingling and scored some free cake samples. Yummy!

Next up was the Miss Columbus Teen Pageant. This was our 2ND year emceeing together (my 7Th) and we were both so honored to be there. The program is always so nice and the girls are amazing. Judy Kyees the executive director takes a great deal of pride in the girls that compete for the title and all of their accomplishments. She puts in so much time to make sure that all of the young ladies are comfortable with the modeling and are they treated like royalty...the emcees are treated pretty well too (all you can eat buffet with cake:)

Being a former Miss Greater Columbus Teen (previous pageant name) I can relate to what the girls are going through and enjoy being able to help them myself. I look forward to another 7 years with the program and can't say enough about what a class act it truly is.

Thank you to Judy for continuing to have me back, to Bob for emceeing with me and congratulations to this years winner Lauren Starling...what a talent!

Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Ring my bell...

Saturday December 22nd I was honored to be a celebrity bell ringer with the Salvation Army for their Red Kettle campaign. I had a great time "ringing my bell" for charity and was lucky enough to be paired up with a veteran ringer who played a trombone (or trombone type instrument). People loved it and we made a lot of money for a great cause. I look forward to helping out again next year.

Monday, February 25, 2008

Colonial Hills Elementary School



December 20th I went back to school at Colonial Hills Elementary School in Worthington. I had a great time reading to the students and answering all of their questions. They had a lot of them! I was also so impressed by how polite and advanced the kids were. They even speak Mandarin! I was still struggling to grasp English at their age. A special thanks to Jill Carter (my second mom and their Mandarin/reading teacher) for asking me to stop by, also a big thanks to the students for being so fun and enthusiastic. I will see you all again soon:)

What a way to start my reign

I had an absolute blast at the 22nd Annual Holiday Benefit held at the Funny Bone Easton on December 18th. What a way to kick off a year, I laughed my keester off!

The event is a special engagement that benefits a different charity each year. This year’s event was hosted by local radio personality and comedian Dino Tripodis (hilarious) and benefited the Down Syndrome Association of Central Ohio. Some of the comedians included Jeff Jena, Dennis Piper, Mike Veneman, Jason Ianarino, Rob Haney, Rick Tempesta, Steve Caminiti, Josh Sneed, Vince Morris, Darrell Joyce, Michael Loftus, Mark Eubanks, and co-founders of the benefit Jack Thomas and John Ratthbone.

A special thanks to Steve for inviting me and to Dino for pulling me up on stage and coxing me to sing and dance for the audience. Which by the way was pretty funny in it’s self:) Hopefully I will be invited back next year for an encore. Thanks guys for the laughs and for helping a great charity.

I have attached the DSACO link if you would like to learn more about the organization http://www.dsaco.net/