Taste of Clarkston!!

Yummmmm! "Taste of Clarkston'

Officer Darby and I worked together for three years when we both served on the Clarkston 'Coalition For Youth' while I was in high school! It was a great reunion and he wished me well at Miss Michigan!!

My sister-in-Christ and special friend from church ~ Alaina!! :)

We look like sisters with the red hair thing going on!!

One of my favorite tv cartoon characters is Spongebob!! I just had to get a photo with him!! Ha ha!!

I love to speak to children at events! They are so real and innocent!! :)

Late Sunday afternoon, September 26th, I attended 'Taste of Clarkston' in my wonderful hometown for a meet and greet with my family, friends, and visitors to our community!! This event is held every year in the Fall and the food is always delicious! The entire community set up booths with an array of foods to sample!! There were also two Kids Zones for children's games and entertainment geared for the younger set!!

So many well-wishers think it is pretty neat that their own 'Clarkston' girl is Miss Oakland County and will be off to compete, next June, for Miss Michigan!! I think it's pretty neat too!! ;)

"No Child Left Inside!"

Volunteering for 'No Child Left Inside'

It is never too young to learn about how to take care of your bones!! Seeing this little girl (and so many others) taking an interest in my teaching board totally thrilled me!!

Here I am explaining, to a 14 year old girl, how important it is to have good healthy habits now to help prevent Osteoporosis in her future!!

One of my duties of the day was to let everyone know about future events coming up! It's important to stay active all year round, not just during the sunny seasons!

I worked the registrataion table and stamped hands before they entered the park!! All in a day's work!!

We have another event coming up in February 2011, in my hometown, of Clarkston, and I am sharing this important information to this young man!

All of us worked the registration table

Sunday, September 26th I volunteered at the "No Child Left Inside" event held at the Kensington Metro Park in Mildford. What a gorgeous park (clothed in bright autumn colors)!! I am so thrilled to have participated in this wonderful event because it coincides with my platform so perfectly about getting kids outside to be active!! The best way to protect your bones is to be active!!
I was delighted to see so many people, of all ages, inquire about my trifold display 'Best Bones Forever'!!! Several children asked about it as well as the parents! I also had many questions about my Miss Oakland title which led to discussion of the Miss Michigan Schoalrship pageant which led to Miss America and CMN discussions!! So it all was relative and absolutely a terrific opportunity to market all of it at the same time!! This event allowed me to network with so many vendors/sponsors that related to my platform and that means more events are in the process of being scheduled! Although it was a freezing cold day, I met the most incredible children and adults and I can't wait to work with them all again!!

Miss Jackson County pageant!!!

Doug King is so supportive and a very happy and kind man!! I just love him!! :)

The Morgan sandwich!! Love these girls!!

I always enjoy seeing the Haglunds! They always have hugs and smiles for me and great advice!! :)

Meeting Kay Lani Rafko Wilson, Miss Amercia 1988 was very exciting! She was very gracious to me and wished me well for Miss Michigan!!

This contestant sang 'Orange Colored Sky' (the song I used all last year) and she was fantastic!! She finished 1st runner-up in the teen division!!

We 'love' representing our counties!!

This young woman sang 'At Last' ~ she took my breath away and gave me goose-bumps!! Awesome voice!!

Saturday evening, September 25th I attended the Miss Jackson Rose Queen pageant held in Jackson, MI at the Michiagn Theatre. The last time I attended this pageant was in 2004 when that Hannah Lynn won so it was nice to return this year after a six year absence!! It was the 50th anniversary for this pageant and a 50 year celebration video tribute was included! Several former Rose queens were in attendance which made the whole night even more special!
My dear friend, Cassandra Kramer, crowned her successor Saturday night with such poise and class! What I love about Cassandra is that she is the real deal ~ very genuine and kind! Her platform work is about Lukemia and you can tell she loves serving others no matter what the community event is! This past June, Cassandra, placed 1st runner-up at Miss Michigan and I believe it was only her second pageant! She is amazing and I count it a priviledge to call her my friend!!

Speaking to the Women's Oakland Commissioners!! :)



This afternoon, Thursday, September 23rd, I had the wonderful and very exciting opportunity to share all about my 'Best Bones Forever!' platform at the Oakland County Women Commissioners Meeting! As a National Spokesperson for 'Best Bones Forever!" and the official Teen Ambassador for the National Osteoporosis Foundation, I consider it a blessing every time I share my personal story of how I became involved with these excellent Osteoporosis organizations! They have each given me a great deal of responsibility to reach our younger generation about this debilitating disease and I take those responsibilities very seriously!

It was great to have a question and answer segment after I finished my presentation. Questions always challenge me to think quickly on my feet!!
As you can see I have a trifold display that I use to teach students about Osteoporosis and bone health. I purposely chose to make it bright and colorful to get their attention as well as included many facts about bones, nutrition, and exercise. I have also included some statistics. In the center of the display is a miniature skeleton and to the right of that is a photo of the "Skele Girls" dancing at an event!! When I go out to the schools this year, I will be wearing a skeleton costume with my crown and sash!! I believe it will make a statement to say the least ~ "no bones about it!!"

CMN Backyard EdVenture!!!

With some of the volunteers with our CMN tee-shirts!

Shelley Taylor, my friend, and the outstanding Miss Michigan director!

Miss Michigan with all the Disney Princesses

I was not only Miss Oakland County, but Aurora from Sleeping Beauty!

Helping the kids put jewels on their crowns!

She came right up to me and hugged me! It was so sweet!

She said I (Aurora) was her favorite princess!

Handing out necklaces!

This lady was so sweet! She wanted to walk around a bit so she decided to come see all of the princesses! She gave me many well wishes for Miss Michigan which meant so much to me!

With the beautiful Miss Michigan!!

I had the wonderful pleasure of volunteering at the CMN Backyard EdVenture held at the Beaumont Hospital located in Royal Oak on Sunday afternoon, Sept 19th!! Our wonderful Miss Michigan, Katie LaRouche also shared in this great event as well!! We were assigned to the Princess Garden on the sixth floor! This was so fitting as the little children would be coming to a Disney-like atmosphere to work at craft tables that were attended by Disney favorite characters: Cinderella, Jasmine, Sleeping Beauty and Belle!! It was a dream come true for me to be assigned to play Aurora, Sleeping Beauty!! I recently completed my apprenticeship, in the college program, as a character perfomer at Walt Disney World this past May and this was just like coming home again for me! I was in Heaven playing this part!! :) I handed out out colored necklace beads and help the children decorate a crown with jewels for them to wear!

Mekayla, was a darling little girl, who wanted to hear all about the Little Miss Michigan pageant! She said she wants to be my little sister queen! I directed her parents to the Miss Michigan website so they could learn even more about our wonderful program! I think she will be a future Miss Oakland County!! : ) What a joy for me to market the MAO program with someone so young and to share the joy I have experienced to get someone else started in the program!! Her parents were very supportive of starting her in the MAO! I can't wait to see Mekayla again at the Miss Michigan pageant, next June, if not sooner!! :)
 
The Backyard EdVenture was such a huge success!! Every child had a smile and it was a very satisfying and fulfilling feeling to kow that I had a part in making a difference in my little corner of the world to bring joy and happiness to the children (and parents) of Oakland County!! :)