Our Day at the Beach, June 6, 2008

Day 2 was our off day and boy did we take it off! After a lack of sleep the night before, we made up for it by getting a whopping 13 hours of sleep!!! We did not wake up until 11:45 am!

When we were finally up, we put some breakfast (or I guess lunch) in our tummies and headed over to the fitness center. We worked out for about 40 minutes doing various cardio activites. My fitness trainer, Arnold, has me doing all sorts of things like walking backwards and doing lunges on the treadmill. After cardio we threw on our swimsuits and headed to beautiful Keating Beach.


It was gorgeous outside. There were not a lot of people, the water was blue, and the sun was out. The weather was just perfect with a constant cool, breeze coming from the ocean. We stayed at the beach for a bit and then decided to go to the mall to shop and to Season's 52 for dinner :)


We pulled up to Season's 52 at 7:50pm to put in our dinner reservations. The next hour was spent shopping, which we all made at least one purchase. By 9:20, we were at a candle lit table enjoying edamame and flat bread. The neat thing about Season's is that there menu is seasonal so it changes and everything is under 475 calories! All the food was delicious and we had plenty left over to box up.

We were home by 11pm. It was a perfect ending to a perfect day :)

Day 2......CHECK

Pre-taping Day 1, June 5, 2008

Jackie, Emily and I met up at my place in East Orlando on Wednesday night at 9:30 to start our drive to Hollywood, Florida. Yes I did say start our drive! With all of our busy schedules, that was the earliest we could leave. We had an uneventful drive with a Taco Bell and gas station pitstop (not to worry Arnold, we ordered healthy :)

We arrived in our room at the hotel at 1am and were a sleep by 2am. Just enough time to be up by 5AM!!!!!!

By 6:30, we were at Tel-Air Productions trying on our opening number dress. Thursday pre-taping day is a great day to attend because there is not an overwhelming about of contestants (there were 11). Meeting the 11 girls before Saturday's seminar made it that much easier for me to meet all the other girls on Saturday.

Once everyone had their dresses on we left and headed over to the Westone Diplomat Resort and Spa. Anastasia (one of the contestants) rode with us. We spent all morning outside the Weston Diplomat Resort and Spa on their beach filming our introductions and interviews. The beach was beautiful and the host hotel is amazing. It was a perfect day to be outside.

Once we were finished, we went inside and taped the prize package, packed up, dropped off Anastasia (who happens to be a sweetheart), and headed back home. Although we had a full 6 hour day it was only 12:30! So we stoped by Friday's for lunch, layed out poolside at our hotel, went grocery shopping at Publix, and finally fell asleep at 11pm watching TV! Day 1 was complete :)

May 25, 2008 Photo Shoot

(more info coming soon!)

May 25, 2008

Miss Space Coast USA & Teen USA Pageant

(more info coming soon!)

May 29 2008

All around Orange County school classes are celebrating the end of the year. Lucky for me I had the chance to celebrate with one of those classes. On Thurs, I stepped foot on the brand new school Sunset Park Elementary in Windermere. Once inside I went straight upstairs to Ms. King's 3d grade class. They were all expecting a 'Queen' to walk through their door and sure enough one did...ME :)

I had all 18 of them listening as I told them about myself, my title, and Love Letters: Random Cards of Kindness. The kids were very excited to make cards and they made some great "Dino-riffic" and "Picnic" cards for 40 children with life-threatening diseases. When we finished, I answered questions and signed autograph cards as well as special t-shirts Ms. King had made for each of her students. It was a short visit, 45 minutes, but the kids appreciate me visiting and felt special that I "choose" them to make Love Letters :)

May 24, 2008

Today I met up with my sister Queens and our Director Kim Antos for a day of Pageant Training. We discussed orientation, Miss Florida Week, and what we have done so far to prepare. At the end of our session, we were surprised to find out that Daytona Beach College wanted us to film promos for the Daytona Cubs Baseball Team! Well, being that this was completely unexpected, we were not exactly looking camera ready :)

Lucky for us, the staff was flexible and gave us just enough time to quickly do our hair and make-up. Once ready, we were given a Cubs uniform, a few lines, and Lights Camera Action: we filmed the promo :) It was a lot of fun and we have some great pics captured on our home page of http://www.missdaytonausa.com/

If you have the opportunity, tune into Channel WCEU during the Daytona Cubs baseball games and you may catch one of us in action!

Updates to my Blog

Here are a couple of events that have gone by that I wanted to mention in my blog :)

Dec-2007
Every year, the University of Central Florida has a Faculty and Staff Holiday Party. This year I was asked to perform a dance routine along side the current Mr and Miss UCF. It was a great opportunity to meet the people who make UCF the incredible University it has become. I was honored to be invited to such an event.

Pictured above is Alex Lord, Mr UCF 2008, Veronica Livesay Executive Director of the Miss UCF Scholarship Pageant, and Me :) Second picture (below) is myself with Former and current Mr And Miss UCF titleholders and Maribeth Ehasz, UCF’s vice president for student development and enrollment services

February 21, 2008


For the second consecutive year, I was asked to assist Veronica Livesay in a presentation on HOW TO WORK A ROOM:NETWORKING IN SOCIAL SITUATIONS Seminar during Leadership Week at the University of Central Florida. It is really a treat to have students attend a workshop like this. The students are their to learn the basics of business and social etiquette. Veronica and I had notes prepared with helpful tips as well as live exercise to reinforce meeting, mingling, and making small talk with strangers. The purpose was to enhance and enforce leadership skills and learn to be more relaxed, comfortable, and self-confident in interviews and social situations.