Miss Ventura County International Pageant!!

It's finally time for the Miss Ventura County International 2010 pageant (an official preliminary to the California International Pageants). Crowning Glory Productions will be awarding 5 titles:

Miss Teen and Miss Gold Coast International 2010
Jr. Miss, Miss Teen, and Miss Ventura County International 2010


If you are between the ages of 11 and 29, and live/work/attend school in Ventura County; you are eligible!!! This is an AMAZING program to compete in, so please attend the orientation to be held:

January 24, 2009
Courtyard Marriott
1710 Newbury Rd. in Thousand Oaks, CA
10:00 am

This preliminary pageant has had multiple Top 10 Placements, Top 5 Placements, and 2 States winners in the past three years. YOU COULD BE NEXT!!!! For more information please visit the website:

http://www.crowninggloryproductions.com

Bone Marrow Donor Drive

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Today was Heart2Heart's December Bone Marrow Donor Drive held at Food Share, Inc. I had a wonderful time catching up with old friends, and I truly felt that having people sign up to be a potential donor was a great way to give back during the holiday season.

Thank you so much to Jeanne for seeing my passion for Be The Match and making your facility available, and Vivian for helping me make this drive a success. Happy Holidays from Heart2Heart!

Camarillo Christmas Parade!

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I had so much fun today in the Camarillo Christmas Parade. My dad borrowed a 1930's Model A convertible, a historical vehicle owned by See's Candies! It was so neat to see a car that had been kept up all of these years, and even more exciting that my dad drove me in it in the parade today! I am such a lucky girl that I was allowed to use it....thanks See's Candies!!

I was joined by Crowning Glory Productions, my parent's local preliminary to the California International Pageants. Appearing in the parade on their behalf was Jr. Miss Ventura County INTL- Julia Valenzuela, Miss Teen Gold Coast INTL-Dedria Brunett, Miss Teen Ventura County INTL- Katie Karp, Miss Gold Coast INTL- Allison Bowman, and Miss Ventura County INTL- Meghan Lopez.

Palm Springs Festival of Lights

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I was so excited!!!!!!!!!!!!! Today was the first time that my sister queens and I have gotten together since we won! We started our day off with a tasty catered dinner at our sponsor, Harriet's, house. It was so much fun to relax, catch up on the past couple of months, and of course enjoy some good food!

We had a quick change into our crowns and gowns for the "Festival of Lights" parade. It was so different to do a parade in the dark! Of course, all of the cars were lit up in Christmas lights. We had a blast!!

We finished up the evening with a small Christmas party with our families, Eddie, and Dennis. It truly was a perfect start to the holiday season!

Bubbling Wells Elementary School

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Let me start off by saying what a WONDERFUL school Bubbling Wells is! The campus is gorgeous, the staff and teachers welcomed me with open arms, and the kids were some of the most inquisitive and well behaved children that I've met in a long time

I had the rare opportunity to visit with around 250 kids. I had 30 minutes in every classroom to discuss my road to winning Miss California International, as well as the importance of community service. After every speech we did a question/answer segment....and I had some of the coolest questions from various students!! Two of my favorites were, "Are you proud of yourself?" and "Do you have a professional makeup artist?" I can absolutely say that 30 minutes in each class was nowhere near enough time!!!

I also was invited to attend their monthly assembly to hand out various certificates, including honor roll, attendance, and student of the month. I would like to say a special thank you to Mr. Davis for accompanying me from class to class. Also, thank you so much to the students, faculty, staff, and Principal of Bubbling Wells for making this such a special day for me!

Bone Marrow Drive on Dec. 14th!!!!!!!!!

Heart2Heart will be hosting a bone marrow Drive on December 14th from 12 pm- 4 pm at:

Food Share, Inc.
4156 Southbank Road
Oxnard, CA

Join Be The Match and SAVE A LIFE!!!!!!!

(please bring a non-perishable food item to donate to Food Share!)

Festival of Trees

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Today I was a model for the Optimist Club "Festival of Trees". This was a charity lunch, with all proceeds benefiting the Optimist Youth Homes and Family Services. Optimist Clubs from all over Southern California were asked to decorate a tabletop Christmas tree in whatever theme they wanted. Then we had the chance to purchase tickets to try and win our favorite tree!!! Of course I didn't put tickets in just one, I had to diversify my odds!

They had a wonderful lunch along with a fashion show which featured clothes from Damon and Draper! I had the chance to model a day and night look....and the runway was SUPER long!!!

After I modeled in the fashion show, it was time to see who won the trees! And to my surprise, I won the VERY first tree announced...."Return to Tuscany!!" SO COOL!!!!! Not only did my tree come with an array of gifts including an Olive Garden gift card (yum yum), I also got to keep the decorated tabletop tree. I had such a fun time today!

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I just wanted to wish everyone a happy and yummy Thanksgiving!! Hope the holiday surrounds you with wonderful memories, family and friends.

Food Share: Tackling Hunger!

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Today was the Kick-Off for the 2008 Holiday food drive season! Food Share of Ventura County has teamed up with Vons grocery store and PODS across the county to tackle hunger. Vons started the food drive by donating $60,000 in non-perishable foods, which is an incredible contribution. The goal of Food Share is to get 250,000 lbs. of food donated. In attendance was NFL mom Berna Colbert, local press, and radio station B95.1 with Bo Jackson....so cool!

Food Share will be hosting a joint food and bone marrow drive for Heart2Heart in December...more info to come on that! To make a donation online or to read more about how you can help please visit: http://www.foodshare.com

Bakersfield Pageants

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Tonight I had the honor of judging the Teen, Miss, and Mrs. Bakersfield Pageants. The pageant had 34 wonderful contestants, and every single contestant brought something unique to the table. The director, Gayle Tape, really puts on a fabulous production. Not only did the show run smooth, but the contestants were certainly prepared to put their best foot forward! Gayle and her production team really outdid themselves this year.

Many awards were handed out including Miss Congeniality, Photogenic, Interview winner, and Fitness Winner. Here are the final results!

Miss Teen Bakersfield (also Fitness winner): Erica George
Miss Bakersfield (also Interview winner): Angelica August
Mrs. Bakersfield (also Interview winner): Rhenana Grimes

I met so many kind-hearted people at this pageant, including fellow judges and Miss California International hopefuls. I truly felt that I walked away with new friends, and new opportunities. Seeing some old pageant friends was fun as well! Congratulations to the new Teen, Miss, and Mrs. Bakersfield!!!

http://www.thebakersfieldpageant.com