Week One Florida 2014

My beautiful, kind-hearted cousin Althea Gearhart, Sherrie Gearheart (Miss Illinois US International), and my amazing, loving mother Betty Napier. <3>

Althea Gearhart and Sherrie Gearheart. Necklace by Mixxi G Accessories and Dress by Gipper Formal Wear.

My first week in Florida has been a blast. I flew in first class and decided I never want to fly any other way. This was a gift from my mom and dad..... I have come to many realizations on this trip although the others are not as superficial sounding.... but hey we all deserve happiness don't we? When I was on the flight I became teary eyed. I realized i had not seen my mom in one year. The moment I was off the flight and saw her I wrapped my arms around her and cried. Every girl needs her mom. I am so happy to be here with her.  I have sad news to share in my blog..... and then I can share the rest which is happy. During my first week in competition I found out a friend of mine died. She was murdered in her apartment. She had the entire world going for her and I can not believe she is gone. She was super tall, naturally thin, gorgeous, and recently signed to a major modeling agency. She was a sweetheart, an angel, and I will miss her forever. She modeled for my charity (Live Out Loud Charity) and my magazine (Tiara Magazine) in the past. I miss her dearly. I was just telling her a month ago on facebook that she had everything it took to become a famous supermodel. And someone took her away from us. A murderer took her away from her family and her friends that loved her dearly. I found out about her death the last day at my competition. I cried and cried. During this trip I have come to so many realizations about my life. Many of which I may end up revealing in this blog...... some I may not share. Life is short, as I have always said, but now, my perspective has deepened, my paradigm shifted. This is the 2nd week into my trip and I found out my uncle is in the ICU. He suffers from alcoholism. I have watched him suffer with his addiction my entire life. He is an angel too until he drinks. I wish, if I had one wish, to eradicate all substance abuse addictions. This is one area I want to deepen with Live Out Loud Charity. Although I have spoke candidly with teens in the past, we plan to further develop an action plan to combat this problem as it is the 2nd leading cause of suicide, the first being depression. It breaks my heart to see my family suffer so senselessly. It is more common than you think. Almost every family has at least one family member suffering with an addition problem. Its more than a problem. It's a life sentence that imprisons a soul and prevents it from truly living. God, I am so heart broken for my friend and her family and for my uncle and our family. And although this sadness is deep within my heart I am still sitting here deciding to enjoy life because life is short and you never know when your last minute here on earth is....... If I had a second wish it would be to eradicate violence both to self and to others. God bless my uncle and all those suffering with addiction. May God heal them. God bless the families that need to stand tall. May God give them certainty, guidance, strength, and knowledge to do what is best. God bless the souls that have been taken from us, the families, and friends that miss their loved one dearly. I pray for justice through God. I realized there is so much in this life I want to do and have yet to accomplish. I started making a list of things I love. My world has been consumed by helping and giving to others, which is my passion. However, now I realize in order to nourish my soul I need to experience the things I love..... I encourage you to make a list of things you love and cross them off. Sort of like a bucket list..... but it doesn't even have to be that dramatic. <3 br="">

My first week in Orlando. Keeping it 100.
I am done keeping my mouth shut. This is the year I speak my mind. No disrespect. Just honest truth.
It's freeing when you say what you need to say. It freeing when you simple are who you are without any care in the world of what others think. I am who I am. Take it or leave it. Read it or diss it. I don't care. I've cut a lot of negative, nasty people out of my life and I kept my mouth shut publicly about it. Now there is no need. So although this blog is not about this past year, it is about this week in Florida so here it is........

Make goofy faces. Who cares who is watching. <3 all.="" and="" at="" back="" can="" do="" it="" laugh="" life="" live="" look="" love.="" regret="" so="" that="" the="" things="" way="" without="" you="">

My first week at competition was fun. I really enjoyed this pageant system mostly because the competitors were so sweet and down to earth. I made friends and loved it. Everyone loved my outfits which were almost all from Gipper Formal Wear and my gorgeous opening number necklace from Mixxi G Accessories. Despite having it all together, I knew this wasn't my year to win, I could feel it based on many factors so I just went in having fun. I know I am capable. I know my worth. But I also knew I wasn't wanted by the system, it was like a repeat of Miss Illinois Scholarship Association all over again (where they lead chaperones kept losing my paperwork on purpose and saying I was missing deadlines even though I had tracking on my paperwork). Just keeping it real.  So Miss US International turned out to give me the same vibes. I realized my intuition is always right. When the lead makeup artist won't work with you because "she's booked" (while shes looking to work with others) and the the person in charge doesn't treat you like you could win, rather as a pawn to grow the system (months before the competition), yea you just know.  Fortunately my self worth was not wrapped up in the staff's decision making. I knew months before I went but I went anyway. I am glad I did. It strengthened my beliefs in many ways. I had a blast regardless, making new friends and bonding with family. During the first week I met my distant cousin Althea. She flew into Orlando the 2nd day of my competition. She is an angel. One of the most fun, understanding, down to earth women I have ever met and I am so proud to call her my family. I wish she was still here. She flew out this morning. I wish she came in toward the end of my competition so I had more time with her while not being wrapped up in the pageant. Fortunately, her and my mom were able to hang out at the hotel pool while I was in pageant activities. And once the pageant was over we were all able to connect and have fun throughout the week. We ate at Wolfgang Puck in downtown Disney, now one of my favorite restaurants. I love anywhere that caters to my diet: gluten free, dairy free, soy free. It was a great place to eat and the chef came out to greet and meet me to discuss my dietary needs. This is something I wish all restaurants did and only classy ones seem to do. This competition gave me new perspective and great appreciation for my body. I am far more toned than I realized. I also want to go back to being athletic like I used to be and I have decided I am going to break all mental and physical boundaries this year. No more just being skinny and toned. I want to be an athlete again. Although, I love my toned curves. Like I said, I developed a great appreciation for my body and its curves. <3 br="">
Angels

So once the competition was over we started to drive to my mom's place where we (my cousin Althea, my mom, and I) decided spur of the moment to go in for an angel reading. Wow. It was the most incredible experience ever. I happen to be very spiritual and I am very religious. This woman gave insight into my life that no one could have ever known. I came in dressed in basically sweats, hair in a messy bun, no makeup, basic clothes, and yet she knew everything about me. It was exactly what I needed. The next day my step dad, Althea, and I went to Daytona Beach. It was incredibly gorgeous and what I needed most. It was so peaceful on the beach. I finally went into the water. I love the ocean and I absolutely love Florida. After the beach we headed to St. Augustine, Fl. One of my favorite places. I saw the most ornate, historical, gorgeous college I have ever seen. It's called Flagler College. Hmmmmm...... who knows, maybe when I am ready to finish my degree I'll do it there. You just never know.

Until next time, warm hugs and air kisses. 

xoxo,

Sherrie Gearheart