Extra Practice in Interview

Early this morning I left with my mom on our way to Detroit. It was for interview training and I was meeting with Lowell from Rubicon Management. I passed out on our drive up but soon woke up to find myself at Birch Run Outlet Stores. We had to go into BCBG and see if there was anything on sale- guess what, it was my lucky day! It seemed like hundreds of dresses were marked down from $400 to just $60! I probably tried on about 30 different things when I settled with 3 cocktail dresses and a bracelet. I wanted to take the whole store with me though! :(

We then hurried on over to Rue21 and I quickly bought a chain necklace and flower braclet. It was time now to head over to work with Lowell. When we got there we found Catherine's mom and I finally met Lowell. He told me that he was going to right away throw me in with a panel of judges and critique me after every question. Boy was it hard! Interview has always been something I knew I could use a little work on. But I learned a lot from Lowell and know now what I must found out before I am to to be ready to become Miss USA.

After the long and hard interview sessions, we were on our way back home. Not before stopping to eat though! At that point my mom and I were starving! All day we had been snacking on turkey lunch meat, banana, trail mix, and pickles. It was now time to eat some real food. Bring it on!!

God, Flag, and Country

I was asked today to help judge the District God, Flag, and Country Speech competition in my very own city of St. Bernard. I myself competed in this competition years ago at the school level and was so excited to be able to judge it! There were 3 different age groups: 10-11, 12-13, and 14-15. We were judging on originality, presentation, memorization, poise, knowledge, etc. It was a tough competition needless to say. All the kids did a great job and I was truly impressed. I couldn't help but smile during all the speeches! It is great to see the youth of today with such brillant minds. Congradulations to everyone and best of luck to the ones who move onto Regionals- Savannah, Amber, and Jacob. You all are winners in my book!

Doing What It Takes To Be Miss USA

My weekend of training has finally come to an end. Saturday I met with Aisha Berry, Miss Ohio USA 2005, and worked on walking with her for 3 hours. It went pretty good, but it's hard to get out of walking like a model to walking like a pageant queen. I then left Sunday morning to head up to Pittsburgh to meet with Don Baker and work on interview. I met up there with Rima and Bridget arrived alittle bit later. We first went into a group discussion with Don and then had individual 1 hour sessions. I would be staying the night at the Hyatt at the Pittsburgh Airport, but Rima and Bridget were not. I said my goodbyes to the girls and quickly had to get to bed.

I woke up early this morning to get my workout in and then had to travel to West Virginia to go to Oliverio's. Olivero's is another sponsor for the Miss Ohio USA pageant and they sponsored the winners this year with a choice of a cocktail dress. I met Angela there and we immediately pulled a bunch of dresses to try on. It was so hard picking one because I absolutely loved them all! When I finally settled on one, it was time to hit the road! I had an extremely long drive home but this weekend was a very productive one to say the least!

Divine Chic, SO CHIC!

This coming weekend will be a crazy one for me with a lot of appearances and training. Yesterday I had to go down to the WCPO Studio at 10am to shoot my West Chester Dental Associates commercial. They just had me on a green screen and there was no written out script. I was just asked questions about my experience at the dentist office and with Dr. Goel. It seemed so long ago! I was also under the weather with a runny nose and felt stuffed up. That didn't help at all. We went through the questions a couple times- there were a ton of them! But soon it was all over and I was finished.

Then today my mom and I drove over to Indianapolis to meet Janit from Divine Chic. Divine Chic is an official sponsor of the Miss Ohio USA pageant and the winners get a shopping spree there (Top 5- 20% off and Top 15-10% off). Right away when met Janit, I loved her! She was absolutely a blast to work with and was such a sweet lady! Ahe had some beautiful gowns- but I feel in love with this Jovani cocktail that I'm taking with me to Vegas. But the one thing that I loved was all the jewelry she had! Man oh man did she have some gorgeous jewelry! It was so hard to choose from her awesome selection. We even thought that maybe next year at Miss Ohio USA 2011, we will have Janit bring her jewelry and sell it to the contestants who may need something last minute. I ended up picking a pair of sunglasses, a ring, necklace, and earrings. My mom was so excited she got to do this with me! I was happy too! Thank you Janit once again for everything! I will look fab in Vegas!

A Day at Kenzie's Closet

It was yet again another early morning as I made my way to the FOX19 studio. I had to be there by 7am and went straight into hair and makeup. This morning I would be modeling Macy's spring fashions, styled by UC DAAP students. My outfit was a black military style romper with gold earrings, necklace, and ring. I had on these cute nude shoes with a nude clutch. I loved, loved the outfit! (Maybe for Vegas?)

After I was off the air, I went straight home to pass out! Then I woke up to get ready to volunteer at Kenzie's Closet. I was so excited to get to do this and had been looking forward to it all day! My job today was to watch and observe the other volunteers and how they worked with the girls. It would be hopefully one of my many visits there. I was even able to donate my sophomore year Homecoming dress. I hope it becomes some girls dream gown!

Seiler's and the Home and Garden Show

I had an early fitting this morning at Macy's for a FOX19 morning show segment that will air later this week. I can't say what I'll be wearing! :) Don't want to spoil the fun! After that I had to get home to leave for the Cincinnati Home and Garden Show at Duke Convention Center. Seiler's Landscaping had asked me if I would make a small appearance there and of course I said yes!

When I arrived to the Convention Center, it was like I had never seen it before! There were gardens, water fountains, and even a water mill. It was truly beautiful! I found Seiler's and was stopped by a sign welcoming me to the show and wishing me the best of luck at Miss USA (I got to keep the sign!) It was the sweetest thing! I greeted people while I hung out at the Seiler's booth. I took many pictures with all the kids and signed lots of autographs. I had lots of fun of course and it was nice to see flowers for a change too. :)

Another Show for David's

Today is another exciting day of David's Bridal runway shows. They were held at the Manor House in Mason, where it was an absolute gorgeous set up! I hahd to model 2 bridal gowns and several bridesmaids. It was a blast, like always! But I hated seeing all the wedding cake samples! Thats the last thing I need to see on my road to the crown! :)

The True Test

Right after work I had my official first workout with my trainer Adam Rankin! I must say it was not an easy one! I spent all day at work and was ready to pass out. But that wasn't going to stop me! Adam never let me quit when I felt like giving up! This session made me realize that my body wasn't 100% ready for Miss USA. Now its time to kick it into overdrive and worker harder than I've ever before! "Success only comes before work in the dictionary"