Workshop and Teen Pageant Weekend!

Wow - what an amazing weekend in Jackson! It was so great to see all of my Miss Tennessee sisters in the city where all of the excitement happens! It's always fun to meet all of the contestants, especially this year with so many new faces! The weekend began with a meeting on Friday night with my director and Paige from Joann's. We got some great wardrobe ideas together...Paige you truly have an eye for picking out the right stuff! Saturday began bright and early with the 2010 Miss Tennessee Workshop. I was so thrilled to be called first in the lottery for line-up. The past two years I have been toward the end, so I can only thank God for my lucky drawing this year! Each year, workshop weekend continues to amaze me. Meeting the other thirty-five contestants who each have such a strong drive and passion for this program is such an inspiration. I can't wait to get to know everyone a little better throughout the year and especially at Miss Tennessee week in June. After a long day at workshop we headed over to the Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen/Teen Princess Pageant. The level of talent in some of the teens was truly amazing! Congratulations to Miss Tennessee's Outstanding Teen 2010, Maggie Belew and Miss Tennessee's Teen Princess 2010, Channing Simmons. I'm sure that these girls will be strong contenders for the Miss Tennessee Crown in the future! I am excited for the next step in the journey toward Miss Tennessee week and the future steps in my year of service as Miss Rhythm of Nashville. This week kicks off my spring break. After a little bit of down time, I'm headed back to Nashville for some more pageant prep and an appearance at the Monroe Carell Jr. Children's Hospital at Vanderbilt. It is always empowering to take a moment to step back and recognize the positive impact that our program has on such a worthwhile cause, the Children's Miracle Network.

Great two weeks!

It has been such an amazing few weeks as Miss Rhythm of Nashville! In between my crazy class schedule and midterms I've been able to make several trips to Nashville for some amazing appearances! Last week I had the opportunity to be a guest at Nashville Lifestyles Magazine's Single In The City event. It was such an amazing experience to meet some of Nashville's finest! I enjoyed some great food and conversation with various Nashville figures, and was lucky to also meet Jon from Bravo TV's Shear Genius who colored my hair this week! This Friday I had the pleasure of sitting down to chat with former Miss Indiana 2005, Sarah Goude (Wiley). She had some awesome stories about her Miss America Experience that truly inspired me to work even harder on becoming Miss Tennessee and serving the state well! Later we had an interview coaching session with Don Baker. I really enjoyed learning his approach to the interview portion and look forward to implementing some of his techniques into my own personal interview. This past weekend was another fun experience when I had the opportunity to go to Chesapeake, Virginia with my director, Johnny D. He was asked to emcee his hometown pageant and I was a featured guest vocalist. Although we had to be at the airport at 5am to catch a flight, it was so amazing to meet girls from all over the nation who share the same dream, drive, and passion for the Miss America Organization! Backstage I got to know the newly crowned Miss Virginia, Chinah Helmandollar. She's a great representative of the state! She was so sweet in extending an invitation to the Miss America Homecoming this Friday, however we had to regretfully decline due to the conflict with workshop. Well it's a full week of classes then off to Jackson for Miss Tennessee Workshop!!! I can't wait to see all of the girls and get started on what's going to be an amazing year at Miss Tennessee!!!