Hosting at the Kodak Theater

Sunday, Aug 10th I hosted the "Best New Talent" awards show at the Kodak Theatre in Los Angeles. Originally, I was scheduled to emcee the California Int'l pageants but when Eddie (director of Ca pageants) found out that I had been asked to emcee this show on the same day as his pageants, he graciously found another emcee, Tanya Hutchinson (who just won "She's got the look") and former Mrs. Ca.

I co-hosted the show with Steven Hill, from Real World Las Vegas & host of "Say what Karoke". We had a lot of fun improving our way through a very tough show. Needless to say when you are dealing with a live awards show where there isn't a way to rehearse you can expect a fair share of improv.

Melis, the stylist for Cat Deeley, let me borrow a beautiful cobalt blue Grecian gown and my dear friend Crystal stayed with me backstage helping with makeup and hair.

I had never been in the Kodak theater before...I'd only seen it on American Idol so it was a great experience to be the Host on that stage and in such a beautiful theater. I'm waiting to get some pics from the show and will hopefully be able to post them in the next few days.

After the show I was approached by a company to do an infomercial in the next few weeks so stay tuned to see how that all goes!!

This is a picture from a previous year I hosted the show with "Soul Train" host,Dorian Gregory at the Century Plaza.

WGN talk Radio, Chicago

This afternoon I was on the Steve Cochran show on WGN Radio. For those of you who haven't been to Chicago, the studio is right on the corner of The Tribune Tower, a Gothic building located on Michigan Avenue. WGN Radio (720 kHz) broadcasts from the building, with ground-level studios overlooking nearby Pioneer Court and Michigan Ave. As you can see from the pictures Greg and his parents came down to watch (and listen)- they actually have a speaker system that projects the show into the plaza so passer byers can hear it. When Dan, the interviewer found out that Greg was outside he insisted he come in and do the show with me. Reluctantly, Greg came in and we had a blast! They even put us on for two segments of the show talking about Go Red for women, Foster care and what it's been like for Greg being "Mr. International" :-)...of course the crown was tried on too.

Union League Boys and Girls Club

The new PR firm is doing such a wonderful job of keeping me very busy this week at Mrs. Int'l. One of the appearances was speaking at the Smart girls program at the Boys & Girl's club on the west side of Chicago. I truthfully can say I have never gotten such a reception as these girls gave me. You would have thought Julia Roberts came into the room. I was able to share some encouraging words with them and hopefully inspired them to continue pursuing their dreams. Of course the crown made quite an impression and each lady tried in on as it was passed around the room. I think that's my favorite part about the crown - letting little girls try it on b/c the look they have when they are wearing it is priceless. After that we made crowns which they each decorated and insisted I autographed...I always think inside "who am I" that they would want my signature but the teacher said they rarely get visitors at their club and this was really special for them. I bet they didn't realize it was truly special for me too!

One final appearance

Other than my upcoming week at Mrs. International which is less than one week away...I had my final appearance as Mrs. Int'l at a "Go Red for Women" luncheon in Los Angeles. The day was filled with an expo where I had my finger pricked to find my "numbers" - cholesterol, LDL, BMI, etc...there were booths offering heart healthy samples of snacks and pamphlets to inform of heart disease being the number one killer of women. After the expo, I was invited to be a guest at a wonderful luncheon, along with my mom and Eddie Peterson, the director of the California Int'l pageants. They had several inspirational speakers but the one that truly stood out to me was a young lady (17 yrs. old) who suffered from a stroke at age 15. She had insight beyond her years and gave an amazing recount of her story. Kate Jackson (former Charlie's Angel) also spoke as she also faced a major heart surgery. It's been a pleasure to partner with the Go Red Campaign...I've definitely learned a lot myself and encourage you to visit the American Heart Association for more information on a Go Red Campaign in your area.

Mrs. Maryland Pageant

I know, I know, it's taken me forever to post...can I blame it on the kids ;-) I seem to be doing that a lot lately. At the beginning of April I traveled to Maryland to judge the Mrs. Maryland Int'l pageant. It has been a lot of fun traveling to these different states and getting to spend time with some of the ladies I competed with last July in Chicago. Sherry ran a wonderful pageant... great contestants and I throughly enjoyed my time. Greg flew in after I was done with my "responsibilities" and we had ourselves a little vacation - we needed it after all that has gone down the past few months. Those will be stories shared on another blog post.

Mrs. Arkansas International Pageants

Mrs. Idaho International Pageant

I had the opportunity to judge the Teen/Miss/Mrs. Idaho pageants this March. While it was nice to sit on the "other side" of the stage, I have to admit it is really difficult to judge! Autumn put on a wonderful pageant and we judges we're treated in true style. It was great to see Vicki again, Mrs. Idaho Int'l...just two days before the pageant her ear drum ruptured but she was such a trooper and made it to the events without anyone being able to detect anything was wrong. I also spent some time visiting the Children's Hospital and signing autographs for the kids. Talk about troopers, even though some of them were very ill they still put on smiles for me when I came in to visit.

Go Red for Women - Minnesota

I'm lucky enough these days to post pics..more info about this event to come...

An Afternoon with the Marines

Today I had the honor of singing the National Anthem at a BBQ lunch/Car show at Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base to honor our servicemen & women for what they do to ensure our freedoms on a daily basis. The Viper Car Club came with a host of cars and even brought in some of the wounded warriors in true style. I had the chance to speak to many of the men and talk about their experiences and life as a Marine. I've never seen & heard so many young men in one place say "Yes Ma'am" and "Thank you Mrs. Int'l, Ma'am"...they wouldn't even crack a smile for the camera :-) But that's what I love about our Marines and the discipline they have and the respect for our country and what it stands for...as the Colors came forward and I sang, I could look out and see Marines all over the parade deck standing and saluting...the first time I've ever seen such a deep respect for the song. I'm used to ball parks where you're lucky if a hand goes across the heart...these boys understand what it truly means and for that I am grateful. Thank you to all who serve our country and sacrifice on her behalf.

Santa Fe, NM Heart Gallery Garden Party

What a day! It began at 4:45 am. when I got up to get ready to head out to the Long Beach airport with my mom for Santa Fe, New Mexico. We arrived with plenty of time, checked in our luggage, boarded our plane, headed out to the runway and then....the engines turned off??? The captain came on informing us that all planes were grounded as there was a major storm moving through Phoenix, the aftermath of hurricane Dean... and he had no idea when we would be able to depart. Two hours later, yes that's right, two hours of sitting on the tar mack, we finally headed out for Phoenix. Unfortunately, we had a connecting flight that we missed due to the delay which ended up putting us in too late for me to make my first appearance. I was bummed that I wasn't able to get there in time for the public plaza event, but alas, what can one do? Fortunately, I at least made it for the second event, which was the garden party held for all the galleries across the nation to kick of our first ever Heart Gallery of America conference. It was in an amazing gallery, with tasty food, marimba players and other entertainment as well as different speakers, including yours truly. It was a wonderful networking event and I met many of the movers and shakers that founded the gallery. I'm tired but the trip was well worth it!! Tomorrow is a free day and then we head into workshops Mon/Tues.

CBS 2 "Eye on the Desert" interview

Mary and I kicked off the start of the California International Pageants with an interview on CBS 2's entertainment show "Eye on the Desert". We had fun being interviewed by the shows host, Patrick, about our year, platforms, and the upcoming pageant this weekend. I can't believe a year has already flown by...where does the time go??

CBS Channel 2 News - Palm Springs

I've hit the road running...Greg and I got back Mon. evening from Chicago and literally fell into bed. Tues came a bit too fast and I got a call that CBS invited me to be a part of their news cast early Wed. morning. I didn't even have a chance to unpack so I grabbed wardrobe from Mrs. Intl, jumped in the car and drove out to Indio where I stayed the night so I could get up bright and early (4 a.m.) to prepare for a 5:15 a.m. interview. I really don't know how anchors do it - and look that good! Dennis Cooke, producer of Mrs. Ca Intl went w/ me and was interviewed on the upcoming California pageants. We were put on three different segments so I ended up being there for 2 hours...Note the little dog - he was brought in by animal control as Wed., once a month, they promote doggy adoption...Dan Ball, the anchor, is going to be my co-host for the upcoming Mrs. California Intl pageant Aug 18/19th in Palm Springs so the pageant will have more coverage to come!

Cocktail dinner Pics

As you can see, Kimberly, Mrs. Alaska, was busy catching shots of all of us - I'm so glad, b/c she preserved so many fun memories for many of us.


Mrs International 2007 Day 2 Cocktail Dinner

More Pics from Gurnee Mills-compliments of Kimberly

So my good friend Mrs. Alaska - Kimberly was the photographer extrodinaire during pageant week and has been sending me all these great photos...enjoy!


Mrs International Gurnee Mills

St. Vincent De Paul Children's Center

Today we visited the St. Vincent De Paul Children's Center and had the opportunity to meet some of the children that attend the center. Some groups went to the older classes to read stories and play games, my group spent time with the little guys...1-2 yr olds. After we spent time touring the facility we presented school supplies that each contestant brought to the children consisting of backpacks filled with school supplies and other class room needs. What an amazing facility and a blessing to the people of Chicago.

Mrs. Intl Cocktail Party

This evening we enjoyed a delicious buffet in the Monaco room at our hotel. It overlooks the city of Skokie. I'm having so much fun seeing what everyone is wearing, the wardrobes out here are amazing!...we joked that if we could just have one big gigantic closet of everyone's clothes that we could all go into and borrow we'd be set for life. It was a relaxing evening to get to know the other women, meet staff, and enjoy ourselves before the real "work" (aka rehearsals & competition) set in.

Gurnee Mills Autograph signing

Today we all boarded a bus and headed out to Gurnee Mills, a gigantic mall, to sign autographs and shop! We were divided into groups of three, each group having their time to sign autographs while the other groups shopped. I was in group A so we started first and had the rest of the morning to walk around and enjoy ourselves before lunch at the Rainforest Cafe. I had fun getting to know Mrs. Australia, Poonam and Mrs. Nevada, Judy, as they were my shopping buddies for the day :-)

Welcome to Mrs. International 2007

After a hair raising taxi ride from Midway airport, I've finally arrived in one piece to my hotel and ready to begin the exciting journey of competing for Mrs. International 2007. The pageant officially started off with an orientation Mon. evening where we met fellow contestants and were prepped on what to expect for the week ahead. I met my roommate, Heather Rabending, Mrs. Alabama and was relieved to know she was/is a truly sweet young woman. We had fun that evening sharing stories and our wardrobe ideas for the week :-) Greg and the rest of the family will be flying in on Thurs. just in time for prelims and finals but for now the week will be filled with fun events like an autograph signing at the Gurnee mall and a visit to St. Vincent de Paul Children's center. Stay tuned for more pics....

"Talk of the Desert" TV

Melinda Reed is a talk show host in Palm Springs and invited Eddie & me to be guests on her show. We had such a fun time talking about our pageant experiences (she's a former Mrs. California) and talking about my platform "Foster Adoption Awareness". It has been rewarding to be involved with these types of appearances that have really made a difference with helping me get the word out. Not to mention...it's fun!

Crossroads Community Purity Conference

This past week I had the opportunity to speak at Crossroads Community Church in Michigan. Angela (who used to be our youth pastor here in Cali) is the youth pastor at this church and invited me out to be the keynote speaker at their first annual purity conference. I had the most amazing time while I was there. I flew in thurs. evening and had all day fri to prepare my notes and my mind on what I felt God wanted me to convey to these young girls. It was interesting b/c most of what I had planned to say was scrapped that day. I really felt God was leading me to a whole different direction. The conference was all day Sat. It started out with a fashion show titled "Modest is Hottest" and showed the different ways young women can still be fashionable and God honoring. That was followed up by an all girl worship band and then I had a one hour session based on the theme verse I Tim. 4:12 "Don't let anyone look down on you because you are young, but set an example for the believers in speech, in life, in love, in faith and in purity". We shared lunch in a beautifully decorated room of the church complete with a chocolate fountain. After lunch the girl's broke up into different "breakout" groups led by different people in the church. One was for the moms and mentors on helping their young ladies guard their hearts, one was lead by Angela's husband Jared on a guys perspective, one by Sharon (owner of several fitness centers) on positive self image, and Angela led one on creating/setting boundaries. We met back up in the sanctuary for more worship and I finished the day with another hour long session focusing on emotional/sexual purity. Each lady was invited to the stage to pick out a china plate that had the verse II Tim. 2:20 which talks about some dishes in the master's house are used for noble purposes some for for ignoble. We are like china plates in the master's house, set apart for his most noble purposes. The plates were to be a reminder to each young lady that she is a precious treasure set apart from the things of this world and when times get difficult in remembering that truth I encouraged them with the plate and verse to be ready for God's most noble purposes by remaining set apart. It was a powerful day, I had a wonderful time meeting the ladies, sharing my testimony and more importantly God's truths for their (and my) lives. It's funny, but whenever I prepare for these events I find I'm trying to seek out the right "stuff" that will encourage/convict my "audience" but in the process God does such a work in my own life through the process of preparation. Thank you Angela for allowing me to share with your church and to spend time with you and your family! It was a blessing.