NOVEMBER 25 & 26, 2006
MISS MINNESOTA & MISS MINNESOTA TEEN USA PAGEANT (Bloomington, MN)

The Miss & Teen MN USA pageants were held this weekend at the Sheraton Hotel in Bloomington. As usual, Future Productions did a fantastic job of producing the two pageants. There were 56 young women in the Miss division and 72 in the Teen division. I've been working with a delightful young woman Arielle Peterson in preparation for this event (last year she placed as 2nd runner-up last out of 84 contestants!). She did an incredible job and I am SOOOOO proud of her--what an incredible young lady she is! This year, she placed in the Top 15 but did not have the good fortune of making Top 5 (which I have to admit I was disappointed about as I thought she'd be one of the last three standing). However, I've been involved in this industry for long enough (20 years--YIKES!) to know that ANYTHING can happen and that there are no guarantees. After all, this is subjective judging...not who crosses the finish line first! Regardless, she did her absolute best and one cannot ask for more than that. She was awesome! Unfortunately, I got a nasty bout of the stomach flu on the day of finals (suffice it to say that I did NOT make it through the pageant without a trip to visit the porcelain god--thankfully I just BARELY made it to the bathroom--I can only imagine how well a vomiting Mrs. Minnesota would have been received! YUCK!). I've never had the stomach flu before and let me say that I DO NOT want to have it again, that's for sure! But my girl Arielle was counting on me, so I stuck it out! The competition was TOUGH this year, especially in the Teen division. The Teen winner was a newcomer to pageantry named Vanessa VonBehren, and I wish her the best. Alla Illushka won the Miss division (she was Miss MN Teen USA a few years ago) and she looked absolutely gorgeous! She wore the same Sherri Hill gown I wore for a photo shoot earlier this summer, so of course she was my pick! Both of the new titleholders will do a great job this year and I look forward to seeing them both at many events in the future. Congratulations to the new titleholders! And see you there next year!


PHOTOS:
1) Arielle (in her opening number outfit) and I on Prelim Night
2) L to R: Becky Ringen (Miss MN Int'l 2006), Sarah Moses (Owner of The Pageant Shop), Suzie Heffernan (Miss SD USA 2007), and me
3) Arielle and I on Finals Night...I told ya she was gorgeous!
4) With Chelsea Cooley (Miss USA 2005), who was a pageant judge.
5) L to R: Sarah Moses, Alla Illushka (Miss MN USA 2007), and I
6) With Vanessa VonBehren (Miss MN Teen USA 2007)
7) With Angela Hasman (Mrs. MN Int'l 2006)
8) With Lindsey Kurhajetz (she was my 1st RU)

NOVEMBER 18, 2006
CHILDREN'S HOSPITAL ASSOCIATION 57th ANNUAL BALL

Tonight was the CHA Ball that we have attended for the past 7 years (we missed last year's due to a friend's wedding--the only Ball we have missed since we met!). This event will always have a special place in my heart, as it is where my husband Matt & I went on our very first date. Exactly one year later, he proposed to me in a 1938 Packard limoseune on the way to the very same ball. My very own Cinderella story (except that I'm still looking for my fairy godmother and I thankfully never had to wear soot-covered clothes. Plus my size 10 feet are DEFINITELY too big for glass slippers! HA!). CHA is an amazing organization that I volunteered for as a member of the board for three years. Check them out at http://www.cha-stpaul.org/ I enjoyed running into my pageant "sister" Karen Sorbo, who was the event auctioneer and also Mrs. Minnesota International 1991. A great time was had by all!

PHOTOS
1) My husband Matt and I
2) With Karen Sorbo (Mrs. MN International 1991)

NOVEMBER 5, 2006
BABY SHOWER FOR KELLY JAHNER-BYRNE (former Mrs. MN-America contestant and Mrs. MN Int'l 2001)

Many of my pageant friends gathered for a baby shower to celebrate the impending arrival of good friend Kelly Jahner-Byrne's baby boy Pierce Mark Byrne. I was only able to stay for a bit as a pipe had burst at our house that morning (thank goodness we were home at the time!), so we had to deal with that (NOT fun!). It was also Ava's (our little girl) 2nd birthday! We had her party the night prior and celebrated with a pirate theme (she LOVES pirates...she crooks her arm and goes around saying "ARRRR"). She received a princess dress-up outfit so now she is into calling herself a "Princess" (she lisps the "cess" part of the word--very cute--not that I am biased or anything!). Back to the shower...it was great to see old friends and wish Kelly the best!

PHOTOS:
1) Gathering to wish Kelly the best are (L to R): Allison Stavrakis, Angela Haseman, Kelly Jahner-Byrne, Sarah Moses (owner of the Pageant Shop by Michael's), Ava & I, Leisha Gust, Cheri Kennedy
2) Former Mrs. Minnesota Internationals in attendance (we are holding our fingers up to represent our "year"): L to R Allison Stavrakis (1988), Angela Haseman (2006), Kelly Jahner-Byrne (2001), me (2003)