Trick or Treat! :)

Judging The Costume Contest!

Happy Halloween everyone! I can't believe October is almost over! A month has almost gone by since I've been crowned. Time is really flying by! Well tonight I had the privilege to get to judge the St. Bernard Halloween costume contest. Before going down to the park to judge, I had to get ready. I ended up dressing sort of like a witch. My niece was Snow White and my brother was Paul Stanley from KISS. When I arrived I had several pictures taken with all the little goblins [aka children :)]. There were 4 age groups we judged and the awards were best, funniest, and scariest. I also gave out special candy to my personal favorite boy and girl in each age group. The contest was a lot of fun, but now it was time to go get ready for all the trick or treaters!!

My mom took Adria and Bubba out Trick or Treating, so John and I decided we would hand out candy. John dressed up as "death" and I wanted to be Mike Meyers (But really I had on the Mike Meyer's jumpsuit and wig with Jason's mask). It was funny because kids couldn't figure out which one I was! I had a really fun night, even though I didn't scare too many kids because most of them realized right away that I was a woman. But when it was all done, I grubbed on candy! I mean it is Halloween right?

Special thanks to Mayor Burkhardt for all the candy ice cream cones! (They are my favorite and they're made in St. Bernard!)

Meeting Miss Michigan

The Magazine that came out at the end of the year (I'm at the bottom right of the big "C")

The cover shot!!

"A Beautiful Rivalry"

With our war paint :)

Last Night I left St. Bernard to go up to Columbus, OH. While I was driving, I was getting pretty nervous. The closer I got to downtown, the faster my heart was beating! This would be the first time I would meet my sister state, Michigan; the first time I would meet another girl in the Miss USA competition! I didn't know what to expect. I was just hoping that Rima, Miss Michigan, and I would get along. I was told that every year Ohio and Michigan had to become like sisters because they spent so much time together and were both owned by Proctor Productions.

When I got to the Westin Hotel at 7pm, I immediately got my room and hung out until 9pm, when I had to meet everyone in the lobby. I got downstairs, but no one was there yet. Soon Eric, the photographer, and his assistant arrived. But they didn't introduce themselves right away. I was actually on the phone with my mom, telling her that I made to Columbus safely. I soon realized that there were these 2 men staring at me and whispering. When I finally got off the phone, they were still looking straight at me! I felt a little weird, until they finally came up to me and introduced themselves as the photographers. Roopan, publisher of C-Magazine and Anna Melomud, Miss Ohio USA 2007, arrived shortly after. Now I had to just wait for Rima. When she finally came down, a weight was lifted off my shoulders! We immediately hugged and got to talking. She was the exact kind of person that I was hoping she would be. We soon started taking paparazzi shots entering the hotel. Then the photographer said to do a funny shot, so we started pushing each other on the luggage cart. We were having so much fun!

After the photographer got his shots, we all went to dinner in the hotel. We talked to Anna about the Miss USA pageant and Roopan about tomorrow morning. He said that we were going to shoot with a red and yellow Lamborghini, but they weren't able to get the yellow one. :( Rima and I joked that the red one still had 2 seats! After dinner we had to go straight to bed, for tomorrow would be a long day!

In the morning I got dressed and checked out of my room. I then met Rima in the lobby where a chauffeur was waiting for us. He drove us to Eric's studio and when we arrived breakfast was waiting for us! We had to eat now because we didn't know when we would get a chance to eat again. After filling up our stomachs, Rima and I went straight to hair and makeup. Our hair stylist made us look like Victoria Secret models for the first shot and the makeup artist kept it very clean and natural. We then were styled in our OSU and Michigan jerseys and Rock and Republic Jeans. The theme of this shoot and magazine was "A Beautiful Rivalry." I was dressed in scarlet and gray for OSU and Rima was in blue and gold for Michigan. The magazine is to come out right before the OSU vs. Michigan football game.

For the shots in the jerseys, we fought over the ball and did the Heisman pose. The makeup artist even put the black liner under our eyes! There was even a point where they wanted Rima and me to face each other with other noses barely touching while glaring at each other in the eyes. It was so funny! It was hard not to stop laughing. After that we did a shot of us arm wrestling and let's just say Rima and I really got into it! It was now time to change up our clothes and hair and makeup. They gave us these crazy fur coats and had us jump in these shots. When we were shooting Melissa walked in. She really liked the direction the magazine was going and how cool the pictures were turning out. This was the first year they used Miss Michigan and made it a duo shoot.

It was now 2pm and we finally had lunch. There was only one look left to shoot and that was the evening gowns. We both had on these beautiful BCBG dresses and had crazy hair and makeup. The theme for this shot was tug-a-war. Once again we were having a blast working together! When we were finally done shooting, we had to do an interview together for the magazine. It went really well and when we answered the final question, we realized that the day was finally over! There was a car waiting for Rima and I to drive us back to the hotel where we said our goodbyes. I knew it wouldn't be long until I see her again. I absolutely cannot wait till the magazine comes out and hope the pictures turn out great!

Rima, we have to buy those Ray Ban sunglasses for Vegas!!!

Back to my Alma Mater

Visiting Roger Bacon

In Mr. Mueller's room with all the girls in that class

My picture in the Cincinnati Magazine. (I ended up buying those boots, love them!)

It was another exciting morning today because I had my Cincinnati Magazine Photo Shoot! It was for the Winter/December Issue of the magazine and I was shot in 2 different faux furs. I can't wait to see how it turns out!

After I was finished with the shoot, I decided to stop by Roger Bacon High School and visit with all my old teachers. The first one I had to go see was Mr. Mueller, who had been begging me to stop by for quite some time. Brandon, the new enrollment officer, came down to the class and asked if I could take pictures with some of the students. He then wanted to know if it would be possible for me to come to the RB open House and talk to perspective students. I immediately said yes! It was such a thrill to be back to the place where I called home for 4 years of my life. A student at RB, Nick, then did a quick interview and took me around school to talk to all the students and teachers. I had a couple of guys beg to carry my bags for me in Vegas. The teachers also let the students take out their phones, which is shocking because they have a no cell phone policy, to take photos.

It was so nice to see all my teachers and hear them congratulate me. I had a lot of fun going back to RB and hope it's the first of many times visiting! Once a Spartan, always a Spartan!

Fox19 Morning Show

This morning I had my long awaited interview with Shelia Gray. When I arrived I immediately had my hair and makeup done. Melissa arrived a little bit later. I was really starting to feel the pressure and was starting to become overwhelmed. I didn't know what questions Shelia would ask and was quite nervous about that. I also was terrified about it being live and having all of Cincinnati watching me. I could mess up at any moment or my brain could just freeze up! I knew that as long as I just kept true to myself I would be fine.

When it was finally time for me to go on air, my heart was racing. At first I slipped up a couple of times and you could tell I was nervous. It just shows you that I am normal and do not have as much experience giving interviews on live TV. But further along in my interview I became more comfortable and confident. Shelia helped me along too. She had told me to just focus on her and not worry about the cameras.

Shelia asked me several different questions about my education, the Girls On The Run Program, and what I would tell girls that were looking into getting involved with pageants. She also asked me about how it felt to have won, what I was doing now to get ready for Miss USA, and why I had gotten into pageants. I believe the interview went well. It is a starting point for me and now I know what I must improve on to be fully prepared for Miss USA. Next time you see me, I'll be even better that before! :)

Glad to be back home...and with the crown!

My Grandma and I

The Mayor of St. Bernard, Bill Burkhardt

At St. Bernard City Hall

Today I had the honor of being introduced at St. Bernard City Council by Mayor Burkhardt as Miss Ohio USA 2010. It was only a month ago that I was there telling them that I would be representing St. Bernard in the Miss Ohio USA pageant. Everyone was so excited to see me! Several of the St. Bernard Senior members were there, as were lots of close family and friends. Mayor Burkhardt gave a speech about my success in the pageant and that I will be representing Ohio in the Miss USA pageant. He then offered me the key to the city and said that they would be putting a banner up on Vine Street to congratulate me on my win.

I then gave a speech thanking everyone for supporting me. I was so happy to make St .Bernard apart of this great year! After the speech I signed a few things for the city. One of them was my sash saying St. Bernard. Another was this picture taken of Mayor Burkhardt and me before the pageant. He wanted me to sign it when my mom first gave him the picture but she told him no, to wait after I won Miss Ohio.

After the council meeting, the different representatives came up to me to tell me congratulations. So many people told me that they wanted to come to Las Vegas and root me on! There's even a St. Bernard joke saying that they'll take the Dial-A-Ride on a road trip there! It was such a great moment to see the people of my city so excited. I feel like I really brought my little hometown alive! I really hope to make them proud at Miss USA and even bring the title and crown back home.

After we left City Hall, my family and I went to LaRosa's! It might be the last time I eat pizza for a very, very long time!

And the winner is.......

Backstage with all the ladies after I was crowned

#1!!!!!!!!!


Bridget and I with the judges



The Top 5 ladies



The moment St. Bernard wasn't called! :)



"But before we announce the winner....."



Alissa and I



The Final 2



Answering my onstage question

The final 5 are.....

"Tonight's gonna be a good night!"

It has now been 3 days since I was crowned Miss Ohio USA 2010 and it all still hasn't sunk in. I've been having a hard time getting some adequate sleep. I keep trying to think back to late Saturday night, but it seems to just be a big blur. The final show went by so fast and before I knew it, I was being crowned. All of the girls were so beautiful and did a really great job.

Alissa, thanks for being such an awesome roomie! I'm so glad that it was you and I that stood up there in the end!

Angelique, you're such a big sweetheart! Thanks for answering all the questions I had about the pageant.

Sarah, you were the first person to befriend me and made the pageant just that much more fun!

Adrielle, we really represented and had a blast doing it!

Megan, I will never forget the moment you helped me out onstage! (my mind was somewhere else!! haha) I'm sure one day I'll see your face on VOGUE!

One thing I will never forget is all the hard work it took to get to this point. There were months of watching what I ate and recording all of my different workouts. Hours of practicing walking in those 5 inch heels. But it was all worth it in the end. I woke up Sunday morning to realize it all wasn't a dream. There sitting on the nightstand, was my crown! It was the most surreal moment of my life. I went back to work Monday and my manager Janet was so excited to tell all the guests that Miss Ohio USA was in their presence. I even signed a few receipts! Today was my first day back at school too. In my public speaking class, I had to give a 4 minute story speech and so I talked about this past weekend and everything that happened each day. So many questions were asked and everyone seemed excited for me. Right after classes I had to go to my Girls On The Run practice at Corryville Catholic School. I told all the girls my good news, and let's just say it got them running! They kept asking if they could go to Miss USA with me or if I could pack them in my suitcase. It was such a great feeling to know I was able to win not just for myself, but for my family, for the city of St. Bernard, for my school, for my work, and for all the young girls I coach. My one wish was to make them all proud. I feel like I truly accomplished that! Well this coming week will be a crazy and hectic one for sure! But I'm excited and can't wait! Lastly I just wanted to thank all the judges once again for seeing something special in me. You don't know how much this means to me and because of all of you, my dreams have come true!

Bridget (MY LITTLE SIS!!!)- We have our work cut out for us, but let's get ready to kick butt in Miss USA and Miss Teen USA!!!!!!!!!!