Twin Babies

We took dinner to the Bradley’s tonight. God has blessed them with beautiful twin girls. They are extremely tiny and only weigh 5 pounds. I am amazed by my friends who are able to juggle twins!! While I would love to have twins, the reality of it is a little scary! Congratulations to Jeff and Jenny.

Derozett'e Rodan+Fields Big Business Launch

We had a wonderful Thanksgiving in Orange with John’s family. We came back early so I could help Derozette host her first Rodan+Fields Big Business Launch. The event was great. Derozette has some great prospects for future business partners and clients. I can’t wait to watch her business grow. She is changing her skin and changing lives!!

Newest Member of Kiwanis

I am elated to say I am one of the newest members of the Kiwanis Club of McKinney!! With all the volunteer work I have done for many of the members, I already feel at home with the group. A few members already started booking events for me to appear at in December. I am truly going to enjoy being a part of this club!!

Brunch with Matt and Becky

My sweet brother picked us up from our hotel this morning. Matt lives in Atlanta, which is less than an hour away from Cartersville. We went back to his and Becky’s place to spend some time with them. They cooked us a great breakfast with fluffy waffles, an egg casserole and fresh fruit. We hung out and caught up on what was going on in our lives. Matt had to leave to go play in his championship baseball game. He pitched 9 innings and they won the championship!!! Becky and Rocco drove us to the airport. We said our goodbyes and headed back to Dallas. I am so glad we were able to spend the morning with them!!

After Party

We relaxed and enjoyed ourselves at the after party. It was wonderful to spend the weekend with old friends and to have the opportunity to make new ones. Holly was the life of the party and a blast to spend the weekend with. I loved seeing David again. I might have convinced Tonya to compete for Mrs. GA. I think she would be awesome!! Kristen now knows what it's like to be on the other side of the table. We toasted to a great weekend and many more to come!

Miss GA USA and Miss GA Teen USA

We finished up two long days of judging with two beautiful winners. Kaylin Reque was selected as Miss Georgia USA and Kristen Robinson was selected as Miss Georgia Teen USA. Kaylin really rocked it and Kristen just glowed on stage. We can’t wait to watch them on stage at nationals. I know Kim Greenwood will have them looking fabulous!!!

Prelims for Miss GA USA

Prelims were great tonight!! We had the opportunity to see the girls in swimsuit preview and then work the stage in swimsuit and gown. I can’t wait to see how the interviews go tomorrow morning. John started his day with interviews and wrapped it up with swimsuit and evening gown prelims. He gets to sleep in tomorrow like I did today. Tomorrow we have the opportunity to change two girls’ lives. I am excited!!

Flying to judge Miss Georgia USA

John and I are headed to Cartersville, GA to judge Miss Georgia USA and Miss Georgia Teen USA. John has 73 girls in the teen division and I have 79 in the miss. We know it will be a tough to narrow the field down to just 1 winner. I was thrilled to be judging with one of my old friends, David Lang. David and his partner Carry run Regalia’s Magnificent Apparel in Orlando, FL. They helped dress me for all my years competing in FL, Miss DC and Miss America. John was judging with Kristen Motil who he selected as Miss Tennessee 2009. We had a nice dinner with everyone and then headed to bed. We were definitely going to need our rest!!

Penny Lane's Vet Visit

We had to take our little baby to the vet for her annuals. Penny Lane HATES to be put in a kennel, so we have to keep coming up with creative ways to trick her. The one thing that definitely needs to happen is her claws seriously need to be cut!! They are way too long and we can’t hold her down long enough to cut them. The vet assistant was super sweet with Penny Lane. But Penny Lane was positive that this was the end of the road for her!! Penny Lane went completely limp and would let out a deep meow to let us know she wasn’t happy. The vet’s assistant called her a drama queen and we couldn’t agree with her more. We were in and out of the office in less than 15 minutes, but it wiped John and me out for an hour after. I hope this is not a sign of how our kids are going to act.

Rebecca's Birthday Dinner

Doug and Cheryl came up to visit us this weekend. This is the first weekend we all had available. Rebecca’s birthday is today and I have an amazing meal planned for everyone. I love cooking for special occasions and have been tweaking the menu all week trying to make it perfect for her. We started with appetizers around 4:30. I had bought some fresh ahi tuna that was perfect for the tuna tartar. The French onion soup was extremely good, but I definitely need some different soup bowls. The Caesar salad was the only thing I didn’t make from scratch and I should have! We had a big break between the first few courses and the main entrée. I was definitely a little over ambitious with my selections. I made wasabi-crusted ahi tuna, macadamia-crusted tilapia with a white chocolate buerre blanc, truffle mac n’ cheese and green bean with toasted almonds. It didn’t seem like that much of a challenge until I was trying to see how many burners and ovens I could use at one time!! All I can say is that it was worth the stress and time. Dinner turned out amazing!!!! The only problem is we didn’t have stomachs big enough to even touch the amount of food on our plates!! We waited an hour before we even attempted to eat the cheesecake and chocolate covered strawberries. I had so much fun cooking for everyone. Now, I need another special occasion to celebrate!!

3rd Anniversary

I can hardly believe that 3 years ago I was walking down the aisle to marry the man of my dreams. While the road we have traveled down has been a little bumpy and stressful at times, I am glad it has brought us to the place we are now. I am blessed to have a husband who comforts, understands and loves me. We were definitely meant for each other!!

Race Day

Today is race day!!! We headed for the race track bright and early. You could feel the energy the moment we entered the infield. We walked the garages and watched the different crews stress over every detail of the cars. The opening ceremonies were very moving. They had hundreds of soldiers there to honor and thank them for their service. NASCAR fans may get a little crazy, but they praise our troops and take time to pray!

We stayed in the pits for the start of the race. It was amazing how loud it can get down there. I would be amazed if the pit crews and drivers didn't have serious hearing loss. We watched one of the pit runs. It seemed like the cars had just stopped and they were already driving down the track again with fresh tires and fuel. The rest of the race we watched from on top of the Richardson’s bus. Doug was unstoppable with his camera. I would love to know how many great shots he captured! They have a prime time spot right on turn 4!! We finished the night off with dinner at Cracker Barrel and were home by 10:00. Yes, you have to eat at a southern cooking restaurant after a NASCAR race.

Qualifying at Texas Motor Speedway

 

We went to the Texas Motor Speedway to watch qualifying for the race this weekend. John’s dad came up to join in on the fun. We had pit passes. Robert Richardson, Jr gave us a tour of his trailer so we could see first-hand how they put their garage on 4-wheels for the race season. John was almost too tall for the tour. He had to slump over a little to be able to walk around the trailer.

Doug had a field day with his camera!! He was sweet enough to grab a few quick shots of us with Carl Edwards and Bobby Labonte. We spent the rest of the day watching the cars zoom around the race track trying to get the best spots for the races.

Kiwanis and Allegiance Title Company

Today was a long, but very fun day. I started the day before the sun and drove to a local Champions School of Real Estate. We spoke to students who are working on their real estate about joining our office.

For lunch, I was asked to be the guest speaker for the Kiwanis Club of McKinney. The members were extremely welcoming. I talked about being Mrs. Texas, my pageant experiences, my sweet hubby, education and mission work. We wrapped up the meeting with some Q&A. I received an invitation from many of the members about joining Kiwanis. It was such an honor and I think I will take them up on it.

I spent my evening at Allegiance Title Company in McKinney. They were having a fundraiser for the Samaritan Inn. It is the largest homeless shelter in Collin County. They had tons of fun games for the kids, silent auctions and a raffle. The night was a success by raising over $1,000!!

Mrs. Texas Girls' Lunch

Sally Mesa, one of the fabulous ladies I competed with at Mrs. Texas, invited me over to Southlake for a girls' lunch. Dalana and Edrienne, Mrs. Texas 1999, also joined us for lunch. We talked about my Mrs. America experience, all the prep work and the different appearances I had been doing. Sally also wanted to hear about Rodan+Fields, so I had brought some different products and information with me. They loved the new AMP MD roller and the Anti-Age serum. AMP MD is the best spent minute in anti-aging. These are definitely the hottest products on the market right now!! We had a wonderful time and I think it would have gone even longer if I didn’t have to rush back to McKinney for an appointment. We need another girls lunch soon!!