Photos, Photos, Photos

Now that I am all caught up with appearance posts its time to posts photos from pageant week.  The Ms/Mrs Earth Pageant was held this past August in Las Vegas, Nevada at the Imperial Palace Hotel.  The competition consisted of a 10 minute panel interview, fitness wear, fashion wear, and evening gown.  There were contestants from the USA as well as other countries from around the world.  Besides the competition and rehearsals we had an opportunity to explore the Las Vegas strip  Ed Ip was our official photographer and he followed us on every excursion, there was never even a need to use your camera.  Not only is he a great hard working photographer but he is very personable and just a pleasure to work with.  He definitely knows how to keep you at ease while catching all of the best shoots.  Here is a peak at some of the awesome photos he took throughout the weekend, enjoy!  (http://www.edipphotography.com/)

Another Full Weekend

My weekend started off with a quick stop at the Route 66 Rendezvous in San Bernardino, California. As a former Ms Route 66 Queen (2005) and a home owner in the city of San Bernardino, I always look forward to this event.  The Rendezvous is a four day long event but my weekend is already so jam packed with activities that on my drive home from work is the only free time I had to squeeze it in.  The Rendezvous is sponsored by one of the Inland Empire's largest grocery store chains (Stater Brothers), whose headquarters is down the street from my house. Here I am with the National Route 66 Ambassador Terry Kafides and Miss California Route 66 Joanna Martinez.

Next up was a journey to Irvine to judge the Orange County Cinderella Preliminary Pageant.  This pageant has age divisions for babies on up to 26 years old and even boys up to age 6.  They compete in interview or playtime, talent/personality, sportswear and party wear.  Cinderella is another pageant system that is close to my heart and as a former preliminary, state, and International Queen I look forward to any opportunity I have to spend with my Cindy Sisters.  Pictured here with me is the reigning California Overall Teen Lauren Creger, California Overall Miss Madeline Karnes, and California Cindy Girl Savannah Preuss, and below is the Orange County Overall Woman Tiffany Kaufmann.

I started out my Sunday morning at the American Coed Pageants Boot Camp for the California Queens.  I started competing with Coed Pageants back in the early 90's and this is where my love for pageants really started to grow.  As a former state Coed queen and National Woman queen I know first hand what goes into preparing for the fun filled competition week at Disney World in Florida.   The Queens spent this weekend together not only preparing for the National Pageant this November but also participating in a weekend filled with photo shoots, make-up lessons, gifts from pageant sponsors including a sponsored dinner at TGI Fridays and clothing from Celebrity Pink Jeans and just a great overall bonding experience for the girls and mom's alike.  Way to go state director Camille Winters for a job well done putting this all together. Pictured here are queens: Amy Rice, Sidnie Walls, Haley-Shea Nichols, Denise Jenkins Alexis and Randilyn Seebalac, Isabella Satgliano, Brittany Carr, and Emily Honng.

My last stop of the weekend was at the Ethnic World International Pageant in Los Angeles.  This pageant celebrates cultural diversity and community service.  The pageant was founded by Mrs Earth 2008 Yolanda Makle.  The contestants were judged on interview, community service, fashion wear, sportswear, evening gown and my favorite cultural expression.  During the cultural expression competition we saw everything from singing to dancing, to cooking and history lessons about various countries.  Needless to say after the competition I was starving for some of the delicious food we saw and heard about and I was ready to go to the airport to visit some of the wonderful countries I learned about.  What a fun way to wrap up my weekend.  Pictured below here I am on the red carpet with my daughter who had a chance to wear her crown and banner from California Tropics and be a part of the visiting royalty.  Also below is Marlena Martin Ms Ethnic World 2009 and the newly crowned Ms Ethnic World (and former Mrs California Earth) Michelle Villanova.

Busy FP Weekend (Food Fair Festival Parade & Pageant)

This past weekend was jam packed with appearance.  On Friday night I attended the opening Zorba Night festivities at the 2010 12^th annual LA Greek Festival.  This year the festival included celebrity guest hosts Tom Hanks and Rita Wilson at the Historic Saint Sophia’s Cathedral.  Now while I didn’t get to meet Tom and Rita I did get to explore the festival and its delightful food.  The theme this year was “Celebrating a Taste of Greece” and oh what a celebration it was!  There were so many different food choices it was hard trying to figure out where to start.  They had everything gyro’s to loukaniko (greek sausage) to spanakopita (pastry with spinach filling) to saganaki (flaming cheese) to calamari and more.  I decided on pastitsio (greek lasagna) with rice pilaf, chicken kebob's, and a greek salad.  Needless to say after eating some humungous portions I was stuffed and didn’t even have a chance to finish tasting all of the wonderful foods I had on my hit list.  But I did save room for dessert and what a selection they had!  I decided to go with the delicious Loukomathes.  It’s sort of like fried doughnut holes topped with cinnamon, honey and grated nuts.  I have one word to describe them, DELICIOUS!  After doing a little shopping, watching the Zorba dancing and taking a few pictures I decided to head home to get a little rest to prepare for Saturday.

My Saturday was spent at one of my favorite places to go during the fall season.  The Los Angeles County Fair is the largest county fair in the United States and just happens to be in my backyard in the city of Pomona where I work.  My morning began by participating in the “America the Beautiful" parade at the fairgrounds.  Seeing as how this was September 11^th it was a very fitting theme for the day.  My platform supports youth empowerment through pageantry so what better way than to share the fun and excitement of pageantry with a parade with my girls.  I brought along my daughter and a friend to ride along with me in the parade.  It was the highlight of their day.  The crowd loved seeing the little ones along the parade route as they had a chance to smile, wave and throw red white and blue beads to the onlookers.

After the parade was over we decided to stay and play at the fair.  Yes this time I did stay away from the goats so my banner is still in tact. But again I had to sample some of the famous fried foods.  I couldn’t wait to get to the Chicken Charlie’s booth where I ordered a deep fried Klondike bar and a crispy cream chicken sandwich.  I must say I did enjoy my meal and I am still dying to try deep fried coke, deep fried peanut butter and jelly and deep fried butter.  Next we stopped by Jurassic Planet where I tried to feed a dinosaur, well sort of…

We stopped by the "a long time ago" exhibit where we saw some interesting medieval entertainment with “Piper and the Brand” .  We also stopped by the enchanted forest where I got to visit with some princesses and I tried to make a new friend.

After a full day of activities it was once again time to go get some sleep to prepare for the next journey off to Oxnard, California to Judge the Ventura County Gold Coast Preliminary pageant.  Gold Coast pageants is a semi-glitz system that has age divisions for babies on up to 50+, as well as divisions for boys, men, and plus sizes.  The directors have produced over 800 pageants in the past 32+ years.  They have been featured on shows such as “Toddlers to Tiara’s”, “Good Day LA”, “Kathy Griffin My Life on the D List”, and “The Simple Life” with Paris Hilton.  I spent the day judging the contestants as they competed in beauty and swimwear.  I must say the competition was fierce and the women 18 and up really brought it.  I would hate to have to compete against them!

Now with my weekend complete its time to rest up, until next time….

Got a sweet tooth - Make a Difference

Are you a cheesecake factory fan like I am?  Well if so here is your chance to get some good eats while making a donation in support of Hunger Action month.  By donating $5 or more through the cheesecake factory website you can get a free coupon for a complimentary slice of cheesecake.  Also for every slice of Reese's Peanut Butter Chocolate Cheesecake that is purchased 25 cents goes to feed hungry Americans in our community.  So join in to help the cheesecake factory reach its goal of donating 3.5 million meals this month.

September is also make-a-wish month and Cold Stone Creamery is sponsoring the world's largest ice cream social in support of the "make a wish foundation".  Visit your local Cold Stone's and make a donation by purchasing a paper star for $1.  And if you visit on September 30th from 5 to 8pm you can get a free portion of Kate's Creation created by one of the make a wish kids.  It is carmel apple ice cream mixed with chocolate shavings, graham cracker pie crust, and apple pie filling.  The "make a wish foundation" helps grant the wishes of children with life threatening medical conditions in hopes of enriching the human experience.

So here are two opportunities not only to satisfy your sweet tooth (one of my personal favorite activities) but it is also an opportunity to make a donation towards hunger and the make a wish foundation

California Tropics International Pageant

This past labor day weekend I spent in Anaheim, California at the California Tropics International Pageant.  This natural pageant system has been around since the 80's and mainly focuses on babies through teens.  They have various photo competitions as well as partywear, westernwear, cruisewear, and disney wear, and the grand finale main competition is swimwear.  Along with your prize package, the royalty get to participate in various photo shoots, reign at various preliminary pageants, and attend other events throughout the year.  There is even a disney cruise that you can win discounts for or if you play your cards right you can even win an entire trip for a family of four, WOW!  The contestants have an opportunity to be seen by some of the pageant sponsors for possible modeling opportunities with businesses like "Hollywood Babe" and "Intex" pool toys.  My daughter Bianca was a contestant in the baby miss division.  Although we didn't come home with a royalty title she did win National Photogenic for her age division and she was a top 15 finalist in swimwear.  I must say that we had a blast, in addition to all her new toys she bought with her winnings, we had fun at the dance party and had a chance to meet up with some old and new pageant friends.  There were a few special guest at the party as well (check out the photo) Ariel, Belle, Cinderella, and Jasmine.  It was non stop dancing, gifts, raffles, and awards.  Needless to say Bianca was sound asleep on the drive home that night.  Check out http://www.californiatropic.com/ to learn more about this pageant system.  They now have an 18 and over division but it is only for ladies single with no kids (darn).  So check them out they have preliminary pageants all the time (Bianca won a preliminary pageant this summer).