The BIG DAY is tomorrow!!!!

Pageant Day 1 and 2 are now over...the big day is almost here! 

Had a wonderful meet and greet with the other lovely contestents on Friday and today was filled with much needed rehearsal practice and pageant coaching!  I'm the newbie here, but everyone is so nice and helpful...I love it!  This is nothing like the modeling that I'm used to, that's for sure!  I appreciate being amongst some very kind ladies to help me through my first pageant experience!  I'm having fun so far and am hoping for an even better day tomorrow!  :)

Stay tuned for the results....

Pageant weekend is here!!!! EEEKKK!

Well, my initial thought for today was to get some good rest, head to my nail appointment and then off to East Lansing for the event that starts this evening, but it's now 6:15am and I've been up for the last hour!  I'm so anxious, excited and nervous that I can't sleep....aagghh!  I'm just looking forward to the experience that this pageant will bring.  With everything that has happened in my life within this past year, it's been nice to focus on something positive! 

Well, guess I'll try to lay back down for a bit, though I don't know how much more sleep I'll actually get!  Please keep those fingers crossed for me this weekend and stay tuned as I find out the results on Sunday night!!!

Thanks again for the continued support!

XOXO
Katie

Alzheimer's Association - Memory Walk

This past year, my grandmother was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.  It has been a difficult journey for my family as we have watched her health and her memory rapidly decline.  In 2009, I made it my mission to start a team at the Alz Memory Walk in Toledo to honor my grandmother, so I became captain of "Beverly's Beauties".  We raised good money that year, but I am proud to say that 2010 brought us over 25 team members and we raised over $600 alone for the cause.  Below are pictures from the past year's walks.

Grandma Bev and I - my inspiration for the "Beverly's Beauties" team!

2009 ALZ Memory Walk - I created team shirts to help show our support for my grandmother and to show our team unity!

2010 ALZ Memory Walk - this year, I handmade scarves to show team unity and everyone loved them!  It makes me so happy to raise funds to help find a cure for such a terrible disease.



EPIC Rocks Fashion - fundraiser event

EPIC Rocks is a local fundraiser fashion show that has exploded in our community!  2009 was the first year where they opened up the show to local models to volunteer their time to help raise funds for The Toledo Sight Center.  EPIC held a "runway rivalry" contest to help choose their models.  The first picture below is from this year's event where I made Top 50 and the following pictures are from last year's event.  It was a great show and we were able to raise over $10,000 for a great cause!

2010 IAAP Style Show - Scholorship Fundraiser

For the past couple of years, I have taken part in the International Association of Administative Professionals Style show in Toledo held at the Toledo Zoo.  The group of administrative professionals are from the University of Toledo and put on a fundraiser to help raise scholorship monies along with the help of the Regazza Boutique.  I have attended and volunteered my services by modeling in the show the last couple of years and by helping to coach and work with the other model-volunteers!  I always have so much fun and was happy that I was able to get some of my friends and family to model in the show with me this past year including my mother, sister, cousin and friend!

Planned Pethood's "Prom For Paws" Event

I am so proud of the Prom For Paws fundraiser that a fellow PPI Board Member and I created back in 2009.  We wanted a fun and exciting fundraiser that would not only help the stray cats and dogs of Northwest Ohio, but something that would be able to also help those in our community.  At the fundraiser, we collected gently used prom, homecoming, bridesmaids and formal dresses, shoes and accessories to re-sell back to the community and very low costs.  All of the funds raised benefited PPI to help care for and spay and neuter the strays in our area.  It was such a great event and the response from the families was overwhelming!  We held the fundraiser again this past year and are working on 2011's details!  I hope to post pictures soon as we hold the event just before prom season!

We were lucky enough to have the alot of media at the events the past 2 years including, The Toledo Blade who snapped a few pics the first year and published a great article in our community section.  The folks at our local news station, 13 ABC and Fox Toledo's Face of Fox also joined us as we gave on-air interviews!  We were also grateful for radio station's K100 dj's as they have joined us both years and conducted live remotes to help us spread the word!  The support for the event has been so awesome...we truely have a wonderful community!

A little behind...oops!

Hello Everyone!

Well, this is my first blog...EVER!  I once used to love Myspace and I'm an avid Facebook user and texter, but I can honestly say that I've never blogged before!  This is exciting! :)

Well, as some of you know, I am competing in the 2011 Mrs. Great Lakes US Beauties Pageant and I couldn't be more excited!  I've never competed in a pageant before and am not exactly sure what to expect, but I am looking forward to completing this "bucket list" item!  I decided this was the year after losing my father last year at a young age.  Watching him pass away was difficult and I promised myself at the time, that I would always try to live my life to the fullest because that's what he did! 

I hope that you continue to follow my blog as I make this journey!  I apologize for being a little behind the times, but I hope you enjoy the following blogs as I try to catch up on everything I've participated in this past year!

Thank you for your support and please keep your fingers crossed for me on January 23rd!!!

Katie