Mrs. Washington Workshop hosted by Beth Kovacevich, Mrs. Washington 1996

I was so excited to attend Beth's annual workshop! I was a great time to get to know the contestants, get pageant questions answered, and learn more about each others platforms. Beth is always a gracious host, and we were so lucky to have Helen Bacon-Florentine, Mrs. Washington 2000 there as well to share her experience at Mrs. World. She was 3rd runner up and won the fitness award!

Run 4 the Orphan

Journey Church is my church home. My husband, kids and I have been so blessed by the fellowship, ministry, and love that is the heart of Journey Church. One of the many ministries they offer is called Passion 117, our Orphan ministry. We have several families at the Journey who are adoptive and foster parents, and we feel called to not only support them, but other adoptive families as well. We have partnered with World Orphan to serve our orphans the way God has called us to. This was our first 5K event and it was a huge success! All proceeds went to orphan care.

For more information please visit: http://www.joininthejourney.com/passion117/

NAM National American Miss

 I had the pleasure of judging Washington's National American Miss pageant. This is another fantastic system that provides young ladies with scholorships, leadership, poise, and a wonderful life experience. While I was there, I ran into some lovely ladies!

Mrs. Washington 2010, Carla Richards and Mrs. Washington 2011, Lisa Bluhm were also there judging the teen and miss portions of the pageant. I had the princess and pre-teens. It was it fun filled weekend and so nice to see some familiar faces!
 For more information about NAM please visit:
 http://www.namiss.com/eventresults/winners/?id=2011%20State%20Washington

I have trouble writing blogs....

Hello again, first of all I am very sorry I have not posted anything recently. That does not mean however, I have not been busy! I am so excited to share what I have been up to the last 5 months, but I have found that I have a really hard time writing a blog. I do not want to be about self promotion, I want to promote the causes I am passionate about, and I pray that I am known more for my faith than my good works. That said, I hope that I can find the words to share with you my experiences and volunteer opportunities in a way that will inspire people to help and "Make a Difference" in their own communities. I will be getting this blog up to date with my current events, pictures, and volunteer opportunities I am involved with. I will be posting every week from now until the pageant to showcase how the Lord is working in my life, humbling me and grounding me as I embark on this pageant journey once again. Thank you all so much for your support and for reading my blog! I hope you will find it to be inspiring and informative.

Busy Weekend!!

First, it was the Miss Washington USA preliminaries. We attended to support Mrs. Washington 2008, Marikay Coyer's daughter Miss Sammamish USA, Demetra Coyer. She placed top ten and was stunning! We were so proud of her! Then we had a delicious dinner at The Outback and stayed over night in Sea Tac so we could get up bright and early for the Vision Walk. Mrs. Washington 2011, Lisa Bluhm organized a warm up doing Zumba. She was awesome! The Foundation for Fighting Blindness is the new platform for the Mrs. America organization. Donna Cohen was one of the chair persons of the event and said they raised over $48,000 dollars for the walk. That is truly exciting. It was a pleasure to be a part of it. I also learned about some resources for my son that suffers from color blindness. I had no idea they had so much information. This event was a blessing in so many ways!

For more information visit http://www.blindness.org/

Photo shoot with Alicia Mae Photography

I am so blessed to know such talented people. Alicia Erickson is an up and coming photographer. She also happens to be one of the most amazing women I know. She is such an artist when it comes to photos. She helped me tremendously with poses, lighting, and just kind encouragement. She made me feel relaxed and confident, and when you can get to that place that is always beautiful! I truly enjoyed my audience, who were full of suggestions and energy. These kids are precious, little angels. I was so blessed by them that day! Vist Alicia's website, she also does amazing family photos.
http://aliciamaephoto.wordpress.com/

The Ruby Room

The Ruby Room is a non-profit ran by Nyla Jordan-Bitterman who is a dear, Tia Hunsperger, who is also a dear; and along with several other board members who are all fantastic. I was so impressed at all their hardwork and the VIP gift bag they put together. It was full of delightful goodies. This is somewhat an annual tradition because we all can relate to needing that perfect dress, and we love to support this cause. The Ruby Room provides a way for lower income gals to "shop" for that special gown that makes them feel as beautiful on the outside as they are on the inside. They set up appointments almost like a bridal salon, in that the girls have a personal shopper that helps them try on gowns and look for shoes and accessories. Please support this organization! For more information please visit http://www.rubyroomseattle.org/