Mrs Mn America Pageant

I attended the pageant with my good friend Mary Swenson and ran into a fellow contestant Mindy Urzua, Mrs Scott County, who was kind enough to pose for a picture with us!

Pre-Pageant Party

It's that time of year again! Yes, the pre-pageant party! I can't believe it's only 2 short weeks until the pageant. We took random photos of us at the party. As I get them I'll upload them to this post. The first one I have is (left to right) Charlotte Perz, Mrs Bloomington, Bailey Reese, Miss Teen Dayton, Cheri Kennedy, coach extraordinaire, Molly Nicholson, Mrs Minneapolis, Megan Muehlberg, Miss Teen Hennepin County and Sue Guerber, Mrs Goodhue County.

Elizabeth Hopfenspirger, Mrs Excelsior, and myself

 

Mary Swenson, Mrs Washington County and I

Lots of contestants

Cheri's Clients

The Mrs Contestants. (missing a few however)

Today I worked my good friend Elizabeth Hopfenspirger and others to bring heart health awareness to the public at the Mall of America! We had a cooking demonstration by Crave, cooking tips by the radio show Weekly Dish on My Talk 107.1.  We also had people giving blood pressure screenings to those who wanted to check their numbers. It was a rewarding and fun day!

Elizabeth, Mrs Excelsior, and I posing with Sharky. He really liked us!

Elizabeth Hopfenspirger, Mrs Excelsior, myeself, a wonderful med student, Mindy Urza, Mrs Scott County, and Sue Guerber, Mrs Scott County.

Stephanie Hansen, myself, and Stephanie March from My Talk fm 107

La Fitness

Miss Minnesota Carolina Reyes and I promoted the International pageant system's platform of Go Red for Women at the La Fitness gym in St Louis Park. Many women stopped by to ask what we were doing and we took that opportunity to educate them on knowing their numbers as well as give them a free Red Dress pin! Men stopped by too and supported the movement!

Our table at the gym

Woman of the Year

 

 I was just nominated Woman of the Year for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society for 2011!! Two people who are totally unrelated were the ones who nominated. http://www.mwoy.org/what/campaign/

The money raised between the 10 week campaign will go to help fund researchers and advance the mission of the society, Cure the disease!! We will be campaigning on behalf of two children who have gone through the chemo process due to having leukemia. I can't imagine as a parent hearing the words that your child has cancer. This is a wonderful organization and any dollar I can raise will help.

I will be getting a special website hosted by the LLS where people can go directly to donate. My goal is to raise $25,000. I'll let you know the web address when it's up and running so get your wallets ready!!

We had a gathering at Crave in Golden Valley where we got to meet others participating as well as past winners. I also got to advertise the pageant system and my platform. Anywhere is a good place to talk to parents about Internet safety!!



Myself with Vikki Shaw, the Deputy Executive Director for the LLS



Ella, the girl of the year that we will be supporting, and myself. She was so sweet! We even sang "Happy Birthday" to her because she just turned 8!!

Go Red for Women

  I volunteered at the annual Go Red for Women luncheon at the Hilton Hotel. This is the national platform for the International Pageant System. Heart disease is the #1 killer of women so it's very important that women pay attention to their bodies and health. I don't have a history of heart disease in my family and my husband and I are vegan which means I eat no cholesterol in diet so my numbers are great!

It was great to see so many people support the cause. At the lunch we raised over $40,000!!

The ballroom was set up just beautifully for the event.

Danielle Enberg, Miss Wright County, and I were greeters for the attendees as they entered the event.

Qcumbers with the girls!

We had a chance to meet up with the other ladies at Qcumbers in Edina to catch up and talk about the upcoming pageant.  It was fun to see how the others are doing and how their preparations are coming. Having been through this before it was fun to offer some insight to the weekend and other issues they may have questions about.
Two other former queens were there which were fun to see as well! I can't wait until the pageant to see how all of the hard work pays off!

Feed our Starving Children

We all joined at Calvery Luthern Church in Golden Valley to put together bags of soup which will be shipped to Haiti. We created 28,944 bags of soup which consist of rice, soy, chicken flavor and dehydrated vegetables.  When the food arrives they simply boil water and the soup provides nutrious meals for 6 and only cost about $1.15 to produce!
For more information on the organization or to volunteer please visit http://www.fmsc.org/

Another volunteer and I at the prep station scrubbing up!

Ooh La La

Ooh La La is a fashion boutique downtown Excelsior, MN and it is my FAVORITE place to shop when I need fun accessories and clothes for myself or gifts for others. I have had the opportunity to get to know the owner Connie over the years so she calls me whenever she needs a favor. She wanted to showcase some of her new arrivals in the store and I was more than happy to help! I highly recommend stopping in to say "hi," to Connie and to shop!! Then hit up some of the great restaurants Excelsior has to offer.
Be sure to find Ohh La La on Facebook as well!

The signature shirt!! SO comfortable to wear!

They have a lot of things with crowns on them.

 Jackets with stones and prints come in a variety of styles

Myself with the owner Connie

Mrs Minneapolis sporting the MN Twins shirt..in rhinestones of course!

They have great funky hats there too!

Banner Presentation in Excelsior

I went to Excelsior, MN to support my fellow contestant Elizabeth Hopfenspirger, Mrs Excelsior International 2011, for her official banner presentation by the Mayor of Excelsior, Nick Ruehl. With her was her husband Mike and adorable son Evan. (hes good at silly faces!) Elizabeth is a wonderful person and I am so happy to be on this journey with her. Excelsior can be proud now to have such a great representative in the Mrs Minnesota International pageant!!!

Myself, Elizabeth Hopfenspirger Mrs Excelsior 2011, and community member Natalie Hagemo (Mrs Excelsior 2008)

I was given a chance to speak on my platform as well. How generous!!!

Happy Holidays!

I attended the first annual Meet and greet Holiday Party hosted by Pageants Unlimited. It was an excellent opportunity to meet other contestants and people involved behind the scenes in the pageant. Everyone in the family was invited and my daughter, Hopkins Raspberry Festival Jr. Queen, loves to come to the "big girl" events. She is especially in love with my coach Cheri Kennedy.

All of the Mrs. MN International contestants attending the party

Kelsy, Claire my daughter, and Miss Teen MN International Jenna O'Rourke

Myself and Cheri Kennedy, my coach

Miss Teen Minnesota International Jenna O'Rourke and myself

In front of the Christmass tree!

Augsburg College Finals Break!

It's that time of year....finals for college students! I was asked to help at Augsburg College for "breakfast at night" study break where all of the students could come and get pancakes, hashbrowns, eggs, etc before going back to hit the books! Everyone was so grateful for us coming out so late (10pm-midnight) to support them in their study efforts.

We are ready!!

The students taking a break to grab some food.

 Paul Pribbenow, the president of the college, and I after our shift.

ND International Pageant

This is the 2nd year my friends and I have driven to Fargo, ND for the weekend to support the women of North Dakota who were competing for their titles of Teen, Miss and Mrs North Dakota International. A girls weekend away is always fun and a bit adventurous!!

We almost ran out of gas but made it to this gas station where they also sold bait. We all got a kick out of it and the store patrons thought we were odd I'm sure for taking pictures of fish.

At the pageant we stopped to take a photo with Paula Preston, the official photographer. She is also the photographer of the MN pageant. She is awesome!!

After the pageant we all went to Grazzi's for the after pageant celebration where more awards were announced. Carolina Reyes, Miss Minnesota International 2010, was one of the judges as well as Tina Monosmith, Miss Minnesota International 2008. Minnesota was representing!

Breakfast for Students

It's Finals week at Augsburg college

On Saturday December 4th, 2010 my girlfriends Angeline Gard, Mary Swenson and Miss Teen Minnesota Jenna O'Rourke made the trip to Fargo, ND to support the International ladies who were competing for their state titles.  This is the second year that we've gone for a girls weekend and there's never a shortage of conversation in the 4 hour drive!!

We were litterally praying that we could make it to a gas station even though we were in the middle of no where. Our gift of gab made us oblivious to the level of our gas tank!! Thank goodness for our Garmin who guided us to a little station which also sells....live bait. We don't see much of that here in the city of Minneapolis. I made Jenna take a picture of me in front of it and the locals looked at us as if we were crazy. We four girls dressed in our cute outfits stood out in this tiny town's gas station. It was our first adventure!

At intermission we found Paula Preston, the official photographer of the pageant, and  made her pose for pictures with us. I can't say enough about Paula. She cracks me up and has a wonderful heart. I always love being around her!!!

After the crowning everyone was invited to Grazie's for more awards and a reception. Carolina Rayes, Miss Minnesota International 2010, and Tina Monosmith, Miss Minnesota 2008, both had the honor to judge the pageant. It's a huge honor for the Minnesota girls to be asked to judge the pageant. Two out of the three queens represented Minnesota at the pageant plus myself as a local title holder. The ND pageant organizers were so grateful that we were able to make the trip to support their system. We were honored to have the great reserved seats!

Maybe one day they will come to St Cloud to see our pageant! We had a great time, didn't we ladies!?

North Dakota International Pageant Trip

On Saturday December 4th, 2010 my girlfriends Angeline Gard, Mary Swenson and Miss Teen Minnesota Jenna O'Rourke made the trip to Fargo to support the International ladies who were competing for their titles.  This is the second year that we've gone on our girls weekend trip.  

Bagging Food for a Good Cause!

The need for food has been huge this year due to economic times and the ICA Food shelf has been serving our community for 38 years. What started out as two couples handing out food and clothing in Hopkins, MN has grown into an organization that is supported by 36 churches, local civic organizations and over 100 businesses.
The ICA has a food distribution program for people who make appointments for food orders but won't turn away walk-in's to get an emergency food bag. They also have an emergency financial assistance program for rent, mortgage and utilities. As you can see, this is a wonderful and longstanding program.

Donate any time of the year or to learn more about them visit:
http://www.icafoodshelf.org/index.html

I was asked to bag groceries for tips that would go to the ICA food shelf and had a great time doing it! Customers of Cub Foods in Minnetonka/Excelsior were more than happy to come out in the snow have help during this holiday season.

I have a system for bagging so I was a pro at it!

Everyone was asking about my title so it was a great opportunity to advertise my platform and the International Pageant. There's never NOT a place that you can talk about it. The banner is sure to strike up a conversation!

Me and the Mayor of Excelsior Nick Ruehl working together!

Nich Ruehl, the Mayor of Excelsior, Shirley Buehler from ICA and myself after a hard afternoon!

Broccoli is something I know how to bag being vegan!

Internet Safety Day at the Bank

I was featured at US Bank in Eagan on Friday as the business partner of the week. All week long a poster board was promoting me and my Internet safety information in the lobby of the bank. I was available to meet and greet customers from 11-2pm to talk to them and hand out online safety brochures. Many people had children or teens who used the Internet and were grateful for the information I was able to provide.
I want to thank the branch manager Doug Scalia of the Eagan branch for affording me this opportunity. I have known Doug for many years and appreciate his friendship and dedication to keeping kids safe while being online.
Thank you Doug!!