So in my last blog post I told you I would write about my new look which I have not revealed yet but I am now..... Lets see if you can figure it out, this is about as natural as it gets, me in my pj's, no makeup, hair pulled back.... AND.... black framed glasses haha! No name, no brand, just black rimmed glasses and I love 'em. :) I hope you do too.
LOLC Choir is about to perform! We will visit a nursing home next week. The mission of the LOLC Choir is to brighten the day of our elderly since they have the highest rate of suicide. If we can at least make one person smile while we are there then our mission is accomplished. Originally we were thinking that LOLC Choir would be a seasonal thing, now one of our singers, Amruta Gadgil wants to join with me to start a Spring concert. Wish us luck as we perform our very first concert on December 19th. So far we have had the opportunity of performing at the LOLC 2nd annual fashion show and the NISP Pageant.
TRIP TO ST. CLAIRE, MOThis past weekend I visited St. Louis, Missouri. I love St. Louis. I hadn't been back to St. Louis in a really long time. I think it had been a year. To think I used to spend every other weekend there! Driving through the city reminded me of old memories, all the cool museums, seeing the Cardinals play, and the yummy restaurants. It was great to finally return and for such a great cause. I was asked by Dana Collins-Messex to judge the Snowflake Pageant and to speak about LOLC. All of the proceeds went to the Angel Program which provides gifts to children at Christmas that would have otherwise gone without, due to financial struggles. The pageant was held in St. Claire, MO which is a small town about an hour of St. Louis. The people were so kind and receptive to the LOLC message which I shared twice in one day. It was such a blessing to be able to share the message of celebrating life, going for your dreams, and teaching people how to save lives through suicide intervention.
PRAY FOR ME
Yesterday Melissa Veteto asked if I could speak at a Junior High in IL where they just lost a young boy to suicide. Please pray that I am able to speak to the school this January and February. I will speak about topics such as anti-bullying, suicide intervention, and more. This boy ultimately took his life because he was being bullied. It breaks my heart that children and young adults go to such extreme measures because they feel there is no other way. Please pray for me so I can shine some light on the other students that need to know there is ANOTHER way and to help STOP the bullies! >> Back to my story about the Snowflake Pageant... not only was this a fundraiser but it also helped the girls competing by instilling self esteem and building confidence. These small town pageants have so much heart involved that I left feeling the Christmas spirit. It was truly beautiful. On the upper left you will see a photo of my new coat I bought at Macy's during Black Friday (I told you I would post it!) and I wore it out at the St. Claire Pageant. This pic has me and Zahraa as judges! How many of us get to drag our best friends into our line of work? If you recall me and Zahraa modeled for Enchanted Brides Magazine in Tennessee in September and we just went to St. Claire Missouri together and both spoke and judged at the pageant. How fun! Since everyone loved my outfit I will speak about it a little... I left my outfit pretty plain but I added an incredible necklace. I think you can see the detail of the Swarovski necklace a little better in the first picture. In the second photograph from the pageant I am standing next to the most extraordinary director that makes this entire charity event happen. She deserves a medal for all the work she does. She has the biggest heart in the world and I am so grateful that she allowed me to be part of her spectacular pageant. Look for a full article coming soon at tiaramag.net
Yesterday morning was an exciting time. I interviewed Chelsea Cooley, Miss USA 2005. She is such a sweetheart. There is a full article about our interview at Tiara Magazine's website. She is living proof that anyone can accomplish their dreams. Not only did she win Miss USA 2005 (the biggest pageant in the US!) but she was ALSO top 10 at Miss Universe (the biggest international competition!). She comes from very humble beginnings and has worked her way to the very top. She is now happily married and runs her pageant coaching company Stand Out Productions which is unlike any other pageant coaching company out there. Trust me, there are many pageant coaching consultants and websites and books and tools and ya da ya da ya da... the list goes on. But seriously, there is none like hers. Check it out. Stand out Productions. I think you will agree with what I see. Chelsea will give Tiara Magazine the new and exciting news about Stand Out in January. Right now she is gearing up for their big retreat where all of the Miss & Teen USA state titleholders will come together at Stand Out's phenomenal retreat around February 17th or 19th. Once we have further details you can bet Tiara Magazine will have the coverage.
Today I met with Matty Jacobson the official videographer for the Miss Illinois Scholarship Association (part of the Miss America Organization the leader in scholarships and more!). MISA is successfully run by Amalia Schwerdtmann. The pageant recently took a move to Southern Illinois this past year where it seems to be doing fairly well. Matty shoots MISA's video and has been doing so for I believe a little more than 5 years. Miss Illinois, Hannah Smith, was in attendance of our charity fashion show for LOLC as our emcee. Matty Jacobson shot the video footage of Live Out Loud Charity's fashion show on October 2nd and I now have the dvds in my hands!! I have yet to watch it since I have been so busy with everything so you bet I will once I get a chance... I'm thinking some hot tea, a warm blanket, and my LOLC DVD. It was fun chatting with Matty today. We discussed a little bit about next year's show which is taking a totally different direction than the last two shows! Can NOT wait. With that being said I forgot to mention above, that I may be traveling back to Missouri sooner than I thought to do some runway work with the locals over there.... But honestly that has nothing to do with our fashion show. LOL. I'm throwing you for a loop I'm sure. ha ha
VAMPIRES?!?!So here is a photo below from a "test" shoot if you want to call it that. Photos are by Ray M and makeup by Sophia Motlani. It was FREEZING that day and we were in tanks uhm did I mention it was FREEEEEZINGGGG. I think I was cold for multiple days after that shoot. I finalized 5 shoots in a 7 day period UHM CRAZINESS. But of course it was so much fun. The shoot didn't come out exactly how we planned... we look more like vampires rather than real and natural. All three of us agreed. I still wanted to post them for fun and naturally people on facebook were saying, "Wow did you take this in a haunted place..." and "Oh wow this reminds me of vampires", etc,etc. Exactly what we thought when we saw them lol... Which is why it won't work for the book. BTW the book is called RAW in case you were wondering. The way we are setting up the book is very unique and has never been done before. I know many of you were wanting to pre-order. Details will be announced on my pageant cast interview this Monday.
PAGEANT CAST INTERVIEW Held live on December 12th at 8pm CST. Please log on and watch. Here are the details (it's very easy)
1. Go to live.pageantcast.com or go to www.pageantcast.com and click the tab called LIVE.
2. Then what comes up is a screen where you will be able to see us and right below the video there will be a login for facebook so you can chat and interact with us and ask questions. If you don't log into facebook you can still see us (me and the host Tim!) but you simply can't ask questions is all.
MY GRANDMOTHER
Something very personal I did not mention is that today would have been my grandmother's 84th birthday. I miss the beautiful woman that raised me and brought me through such a hard up bringing. I don't know where I would be today if it wasn't for her love, understanding, and guidance. She was my best friend, my mom, and will always hold a special place in my heart. Below is a poem I wrote to her when I was about 12 years of age..... She framed it
I love you
You held me when I was a baby
kissed me when I was a little bigger
and no matter what you loved me
Through Choices I've made
things I've said
you forgave and taught me who to be!
Thank you for being the mom I never had,
you are truly a gift from God
and I am happy to have a grandmother like you
one to hold me to say it's ok
one to pick me up when I am down
your a companion, a true definition of what a person should be!
The sweetest woman I will ever know
Thank you Grandma for being you,
Thank you for being ever so true
with all my heart and soul I love you.
Love, Sherrie
Your Grand-daughter
I went on my cousin Michelle's facebook page and as expected she had already placed a status update about my grandma. I love you Michelle.
I promise to still blog about my role as International Public Relations Rep for Project Michelangelo which I will do after our holiday party this month. I will also blog about my new NISP achievement award, and a pic of the outfit everyone loved. Oh and I also remodeled some stuff in my apartment. I keep telling myself to stop since I move in a few months but I CAN'T HELP IT! :) I will post a pic of that in the next blog as well. Tons of exciting things happening all the time.
