What no mints on my pillow??

Well back to life and reality. No more Greenbrier spoiled treatment anymore! I'll miss the turn down service with mints, meals being cooked for me, cleaning done on a daily basis and of course my 50 new girlfriends!

It is good to be home with my family. I think I am finally used to the West Coast time zone again. I am unpacked & my clothes are washed. There are still 4 boxes that are on their way to me that have the rest of my clothes and all the gifts I received. Hopefully their journey will only be a week not two weeks like my other box!

I am working on scheduling my upcoming appearances and will be adding them to the blog. Monday I had a meeting with our Volunteer Center to plan the upcoming Voluntonies award ceremony. I will be helping to MC the event. We have a few practices too for a surprise ending... after all the choreography I learned at Mrs. America this will be a piece of cake!

Thanks again to all of you for your love and encouragement! If you need me to make an appearance for you organization or event please don't hesitate to contact me. I am here to serve Washington!!

Day 16 flying home

At the airport waiting for our flight home! They would not give me my suitcases so once again I was without clean clothes, makeup or hair products. What a difference from being all glammed up for 2 weeks to totally natural! I could care less all I wanted to do was go home!!

We made it home just fine. We stopped at my parents to get the boys and went out to dinner at a mexican restaurant to catch up on all the stories. I am grateful to my mom and dad for staying extra time with the boys. Finally home what a great feeling.

Day 15 Leaving Mrs. America

I packed up and moved out of my room after finals. I went through all of my things this day and tried to get rid of packaging and bulky items but I still ended up coming home with more than I left with! All the great contestant gifts filled up a whole box. Wow these girls really go all out with their gifts!! Plus Mrs. America gave us tons, I mean tons of stuff. Bags, products and so much more. We really were spoiled. I shipped back 4 large cartons. I hope they come home in a week and don't go all over the country like my other box did! It will be fun to go through everything when it arrives.

We drove to Charelston ariport in West Virginia to leave. It was a beautiful sunny day but apparently elsewhere the weather was horrendous! Our flight out was delayed by 3 hours causing us to miss our flight from Chicago to Seattle. We ended up staying the night in Chicago and flying out at 1:30 the next day. We took advantage of our time there by eating at Harry Carray's steakhouse that was thankfully right by our hotel! It was delicious! We got to sleep in and then headed to the airport.

Day 14 Mrs. America

Finals night! Wow what a great night! It was so exciting this was more than just a pageant this was a television production! It was intense, everything had to go off just right. Luckily I work well under pressure! I made a few mistakes but nothing major. After all was said and done Mrs. Florida April Lufru is our new Mrs. America. I got to spend a lot of time with her the last two weeks and she is a wonderful lady. I am very happy she won and is our representative. I accomplished all I set out to do at Mrs. America. It was an experience unlike any other I have ever had.

I am excited to now focus on being Mrs. Washington!! Thank you to everyone for your love and support, I just can't even put into words how much it has meant to me. I am so blessed and grateful for this opportunity.

My beauty team squad Jilladair and Rachel.

Mrs. America 2010 Shelly Carbone, she helped me quite a bit backstage with jewelry and wardrobe changes. She is beautiful, gracious and a real person!
Soooo, after the top 10 were announced and the 5 extra that were chosen by votes and a random draw the rest of us headed off stage to the dressing room where the real party began! Mrs. New Mexico had a bottle of wine to share, we were not out of control just playing it up for the camera! I couldn't find a glass so I had to use a bowl for my wine...it was at least made of glass! LOL I enjoyed making the girls laugh.
My dear sweet friend Julie sent a box of chocolate covered strawberries for me to enjoy. They wouldn't last so I had to share them. Before the pageant no one would even eat one but after.... I was swarmed by the ladies! We all enjoyed them so much. Thanks Jules!
One of my closest friends at the pageant, Jaime Mrs. Vermont. She was almost as silly as I was. We stood by each other quite a bit during our performance and practices. We had so much fun together. I am so glad we were at the end of the alphabet together!!
Mrs. Wisconsin Cheese as I affectionately called Brigid. Another lovely end of the alphabet girls. She kept me on track when I could not remember what group I was in or where I was supposed to go on stage. Thanks Brigid!

Mrs. Wyoming became a dear friend to me too. She is so sweet and beautiful, her eyes are amazing. I also got to see her comical and sassy side too!

Frit and Frat our Choreographers. Oh how these guys made me laugh and made me crazy! I can not believe how much we had to learn and do in a short amount of time. Never in my life have I felt so lost at times! I pride myself on usually getting the hang of things but this was the most information I had to remember and it was changing daily! They did a great job keeping us on task. With a group of 51 women chatting you can imagine the challenge for them!

Day 13 Mrs. America

I was just too tired to keep up with the blog the last few days! My apologies I know many of you wanted to know what was going on! On this day we had an MENC meeting, practice, practice with the husbands and then bed! I stayed up a little late to hang out with my hubby!

My delicious Mint Julep at the Greenbrier Casino! Having some quality time with my husband!

My husband arrived just in time for practice. The guys were there for about an hour or so practicing our opening number with the flags. I didn't get much for photos this day. Below is a jib that had a camera on it that would swing out over the crowd an stage. It was like a remote control toy, it was fun to watch the behind the scenes work.

Some exciting things will be happening this year with MENC, like a contest related to the TV show Glee! I am hoping to work more with this organization this year and beyond. I believe in the power of Music Education.

day 12 Mrs. America Pre-lims

State costume The Willow Gold Finch.

Swimsuit for Pre-Lims

Tired!! Pre-lims were tonight!! It went well, I didn't mke any major mistakes!! I'm so tired I am going to sleep!! My hubby comes tomorrow, I can't wait to see him!!!

Day 11 Mrs. America

After the interview.
The end of the alphabet girls! I love these ladies they are so much fun to be around!!

Today was the interview day!! It went really well. The judges were all very nice, personable and easy to talk to. I was grateful to have my makeup/hairstylist Jilladair my sponsor arrive today with her assistant Rachel. They are so fun and it was great to get to visit with them before I went in to the judges. We had a long practice tonight and I am exhausted. Tomorrow is another long morning of practice, lunch, then makeup & hair, maybe dinner and then then show time!!

Day 10 Mrs. America

I don't have many photos from today! It was busy as usual. We had our bathing suit group photo taken. I sat there thinking a)it's warm in here b)this fake grass I am sitting on is painful c)I am sure glad I worked out this morning and d)I can not believe I am here at Mrs. America getting this photo!! I seriously am still trying to get used to the idea that I won my state title!! This experience has been amazing to say the least.

Florence Henderson and her daughter Barbara stopped in today to say hello. I was so excited I can't wait to get to talk to Florence. I am such a Brady fan!! Tomorrow are the interviews my favorite part. We found out who the judges will be.... Raquel Thomas 1st runner up last year, Earl Hurrey a representative of MENC (National Committee for Music Education) Barbra Chase Florence Henderson's daughter, Jessica Lynch former POW, and Debra Wolf. We will have 4 minutes with each judge. It is very exciting. I am in the last interview group so I will be in there about 4:30. My sponsor Jilladair and her assistant Rachel will be coming tomorrow, thank goodness now I don't have to worry about hair or makeup!!

I met Shelly Carbone today, our current Mrs. America. Well I actually met her last year at the pageant but I re-introduced myself. She is still beautiful and humble.

Our fearless, patient and crazy talented Choreographers Frit and Frat with Kazzie
I just love these guys, they are so funny and are so great at teaching us the moves. However they need to stop adding choreography!! LOL we must be that good they feel they can just keep adding more at every practice. Seriously we look like a music video on MTV!
Drum roll please... this is it the official swimsuit for Mrs. America Pageant 2011. It is made by Carol Wior. Thank goodness it fits and it's in my signature color!! I feel fabulous in it.

Day 9 Mrs. America

Mrs. West Virginia wearing the necklace I made for the contestant gifts!
Rocking out with Mrs. Ohio at the Greenbrier during our lunch break. It was warm out today!
The stage crew working on our lighting and staging.
Mary Mrs. North Dakota and I with our state flags.
These are the risers I will have to stand on and scale down several times throughout the performances. They are not in place yet, we are hoping to practice on them tomorrow. Everything is subject to change at any time. Choreography is added and changed every time we practice! It's fun and challenging.
Our state flag! We will be walking in with these doing some stage moves, then our husbands will meet us on stage in their tuxes! They will escort us to the microphone and carry the flags off. It is a fast walk I can't wait to see the guys on stage!
Mrs. Wyoming and Wisconsin with the gifts I gave them. I love the ladies in the end of the alphabet with me!
Our contestant gift exchange was crazy! Wow what amazing and original gifts. Lots of yummy stuff too, do you think they are trying to fatten up the competition?? Just kidding!
The piles and piles of gifts. I don't know how I'll haul this all home!

Day 8 Mrs. America

Today we got our swimsuits!! They are Turquoise oh yeah!!! Mine was the perfect size thank goodness. It fits pretty well and I think most girls liked them. We had 2 practices today and then went off campus for a dinner at a local Italian restaurant. It was delicious. I got to sit in the front seat of the bus because I am special... really it's because they didn't want me getting sick again! I got to sit by Mrs. New York tonight. Another amazing woman. Her story about her charity to help women from human trafficking situations is amazing. I was glad I got to hear her story and I learned more about a serious problem in our country.

Karen Ohara Mrs. New York and me Mrs. Washington. I look a little haggard tonight but I am feeling good! I did get up early to workout so I need to get some extra rest tonight. My voice is getting kinda hoarse I better quit "running my mouth" as my roommate would say!! Tomorrow we have contestant gift exchanges fun!!

Day 7 Mrs. America

Today all we did was eat, practice, eat, practice and eat! Our off campus dinner trip got cancelled because the power was out a the restaurant. We had dinner at the Forum in the hotel which is Italian food. After dinner Mrs. Vermont and I went to the Casino and I was introduced to gambling! It is tempting to spend more money but I stayed in control! We had a fun time today. Tomorrow is the same schedule but also an extra practice!

This big beautiful couch is in the hallway by the theater it reminds us all of a pair of lips!
The movie theater has popcorn that we sneak in and get! I've yet to watch a movie I am afraid I will fall asleep in there!
In the Casino with Mississippi, Tennessee, Vermont, me and New Hampshire. Mississippi & Tennessee won about $400 between the two of them. I won $10 on the slot machine then spent $20 at the black jack table with them. I had no idea what I was doing they just told me what to do the whole time. Apparently I had a good hand so I doubled it and then lost it all! So I ended up down $10. Mississippi gave me several chips to keep playing, I won her back some and a little more! We had free champagne and a lot of fun!
I met these ladies in the hallway they were so nice, they promised to root for me only LOL!!

Mrs, Missouri and me after dinner!

Mrs. West Virginia a popular with the locals!
Mrs. Louisianna
Mrs. Vermont and me enjoying some Reisling!
Mrs. Washington with the portrait of President Washington!!

Day 6 Mrs. America

Mrs. Ohio and Mrs. Washington striking a pose not the golf ball!

A fun group photo, we were attempting to jump in the air!
I took the girls for a spin in the cart, I took a few corners sharp to make it fun!

Outside the golf club area.
Shapeera Afraid of Lightening and I eating yummy chicken pot pies for lunch!
The top is a light puff pastry and the bowl is filled with yummy chicken and vegies with a white sauce.

Fly Fishing in the river without any bait! We were just practicing. It really wasn't good fishing conditions. The water was too high.
I really enjoyed this, it was fun. I want to try it in Washington.
It was a beautiful sunny day today for fishing.
Our guide was great at showing us how to cast and he was very patient!
I was asking him about what kinds of fish they catch. Usually trout.
Mrs. Utah Carol, she is a wonderful lady, I really enjoy hanging out with her.
Sitting by the river! It was so enjoyable to be outside and enjoy the view.
Off roading was our last stop today. Unfortunately I did not get to drive or ride in the jeeps. Our shuttle bus driver missed a turn and drove us up a huge road that was very bumpy and curvey. It was like being on a boat, It was very hot in th e shuttle too so I got motion sickness! I didn't throw up but was very nautious and dizzy for the rest of the day! I came back and took some dramamine, had some ginger ale and ate some crackers. I skipped dinner and laid down to rest. We had a late practice tonight so I stayed pretty still and didn't full out do the dance routine. We were going to get our bathing suits tonight but they were not ready yet. Darn we are excited to see what we will be wearing. Dianne said they are beautiful!

My box of clothes finally arrived only a week late! The box was so beat up and had been taped and re-taped! I am glad I finally have all my clothes and shoes!!