Crowned in the ladies room... And first Public Appearance ever!!!

Saturday, May 10th, 2008 was quite a BIG day for me...

How to begin? I think I'll start with a quick explanation of my becoming Miss West Cook County. I competed in the Miss West Cook County/Miss North Shore Pageant this year while I was home for Spring Break. The event was held in the Oak Park Arms grand ballroom on March 15th. The whole day was a lot of fun and very stress-free. We spent time in the morning getting to know the other girls, learning a dance routine from Michelle (the daughter of Patti, who is the executive director of the pageant), and preparing ourselves for the big show that evening! The judges took a painstakingly long time to determine that night's winners; we must have waited for more than an hour. Ashley Hatfield, the reigning Miss Illinois, did a fabulous job of keeping the audience entertained as everybody awaited the big decisions. Finally, the judges handed over the envelope containing the results from the night's competition. Jennifer Rose was the new Miss North Shore and Jessica Vaughn was the new Miss West Cook County. Marciana Lee was first runner up for North Shore, and I was bewildered to find out that I was the first runner up for West Cook County! I was happy with my performance that day in the pageant, and was excited to be first runner up.

About a week later, I received a veeery interesting call from Patti, the executive director. After a couple minutes of small talk, she informed me that Jessica had just given up the title due to a conflict, and I had become the new Miss West Cook County! I was in shock. A phone call like that comes once in a lifetime, and I was definitely jumping up and down after the call.

I am SO excited, honored, blessed, fortunate, and happy to be competing in the Miss Illinois Pageant this summer!

Anyways, I must say, I may be the only titleholder in the history of pageantry to have been crowned in the bathroom!! I received my very first crown and sash today in the ladies room of a classy hotel, right before my first appearance. I was a guest at the SuperSibs event, "A Tribute to our Quiet Heroes." The event is meant to honor and pamper the mothers of children with cancer. It was very touching to hear what all of these incredibly strong women have had to go through, and it was sad and inspirational at the same time.


getting crowned in the bathroom!!!

As I already mentioned, Patti is the executive director of the pageant, and KL is kind of her counterpart or the other exec director. They are both AMAZING women, and I know I am going to learn so much from them! They've helped me book a number of appearances and performances already, and I'm so excited to see what I'll be able to do with their guidance. KL is the national president of the Woman in Management organization. I'm going to the big WIM conference on May 20th, where Ashley Hatfield will be the keynote speaker. I'm very excited about the event!



I have SO MUCH to do before the Miss Illinois Pageant. It is so exciting! I seriously can hardly contain myself... I am going to be beyond busy from now until June 17th, but I know that I am going to be pre-occupied in the best ways possible.


I just got home from school Thursday night, and being back has been simply amazing so far. I got to see my Lauren win the CPS City Champs in Women's Soccer Thursday night (Go WY Dolphins!!), I have been spending a lot of time with my family (including my grandma Popo and my bro Joe), and I've seen a few of my besssttt friends, and a lot of my old high school friends. OH and i saw Don Giovanni at the Chicago Opera Theatre last night with my mom. LIFE IS GOOD!!


and i can't forget to mention-- Happy Mother's Day to my amazing mother. Without her, well of course I wouldn't be here, but also... I wouldn't be in the position that I am in right now. With everything that I have accomplished thus far, I owe so much of it to her. If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't be at the Cleveland Institute of Music pursuing my dream. If it wasn't for my mom, I wouldn't be competing in Miss Illinois as Miss West Cook County. I wouldn't have any of the beautiful clothes and amazing new dresses that she has picked out for me (cause I can't dress myself nearly as well as she dresses me!). If it wasn't for her, I wouldn't be going to LUCCA, ITALY this summer!! I'll explain more about that later..... =) I love you momma... I really appreciate everything you do for me, so much.



MISS WEST COOK COUNTY <3