Molly and Rodan+Fields

This weekend is the Rodan+Fields convention in New Orleans. To make the trip a little more fun, Molly (Miss LA 2005) and I decided to drive down together. I drove over to Shreveport tonight. Molly and Corey’s new house is beautiful! We went out for dinner and then hung out at their house catching up with each other.

I am excited about the Rodan+Fields Convention and to see what is going to be unveiled! The Doctors have been working on a product that is 10 years ahead of its time!!

McKinney Kiwanis Angel League

Tonight I went out to McKinney Kiwanis Angel League t-ball game. This program is fully funded by Kiwanis and is no cost to the families. Kids with special needs either mentally or physically can partake in the 6 week program. Brain and Heather are the directors of the league. Brain, who works for Allegiance Title Company, asked me to come out and visit with the kids. His beautiful daughter was one of the highlights of the night. She immediately came up to me, introduced herself and asked for an autograph. You would never guess that she is only 5!! All the kids played hard and were absolutely adorable!! I left the fields on cloud nine. Those athletes left big footprints on my heart!

Meeting my Husband 5 Years Ago Today

John and I met each other 5 years ago today at the Washington Nationals Foundation Gala. Virginia, who was Miss Teen DC at the time, and I were helping with the event. John was there as one of the star players for the team. Virginia and I asked John to take a picture with us and that was the beginning to a very wonderful future. Here is the picture taken just moments after we met.

Keller Williams Recruiting

I got up extremely early this morning to meet some of my other Keller Williams colleagues. We shadowed two of the other agents who were recruiting at one of the local real estate schools. Jeremy and I will start recruiting at another local real estate school. Keller Williams is the only real estate firm to offer profit sharing. It is one of the many great reasons to work for Keller Williams!

Rainy Day and McKinney Oktoberfest

The weather was not our friend this morning. It rained out the Frisco Miracle League games.

It finally cleared up later in the day. I drove back over to the McKinney Oktoberfest to help sell tickets. I immediately jumped behind the table at the booth and started working. The people were coming in waves, so we would be really busy for a little while and then we would have a break. After a couple of hours, the crowd picked up tremendously. When my shift was up, we had such a long line that I stayed until we had more people to help out. Downtown was definitely the place to be tonight.
When I got home, John told me that Rebecca was in town and she was going to the festival. I just missed her by about 15 minutes. She was going to surprise me at the booth. I was sad that I missed her.

McKinney Oktoberfest

John and I went to the McKinney Oktoberfest tonight. The weather was overcast, but we were hoping it was going to hold out. We made it to the festival at downtown McKinney. John and I walked around the square. I signed autographs for little girls and we talked with all the visitors. We even met some performers from Germany. Unfortunately, the weather started getting worse. We took shelter at a local restaurant hoping the weather would pass by. The rain slowed down enough for us to walk back around the square. We saw some kids who had awesome face painting. I will have to say it was some the best face painting I have ever seen. We finally called it a night and went out for dinner. I hope the weather is better tomorrow.

John's Photo Shoot with JerSean

It has been a long week full of training and meetings. Tonight we had a little break from the norm with John’s photo shoot. We went to the local baseball fields right around the corner from our house. JerSean Golatt was our photographer. We had seen a lot of his work and really loved the modern feel of his work. The Texas sky was the perfect backdrop tonight. JerSean was on his game. He only needed a couple shots of each look to capture the moment. After we wrapped up at the baseball fields, we headed back to the house to get some shots of John’s jersey, cards and other baseball memories. The part I loved most is we had all the pictures in our hands before JerSean left our house!

Breakfast with Mrs. MA and the Plano Balloon Festival

I met Jamie Leigh Bourque, Mrs. Massachusetts, for breakfast at IHOP. Where else would pageant girls go for brunch after they are done competing? We had such a fun time talking about Mrs. America and the different experiences we had there. I also enjoyed hearing more about her family. I wish we would have had a chance to meet everyone’s husbands and families. We gave each other hugs goodbye hoping to see each other again soon.

In the early evening, I drove over to the Plano Balloon Festival. This was their 31st annual non-profit event. John and I tried to go on Friday, but with him being very under the weather and Mother Nature not cooperating we ended up heading home early. Today was a different story!! It was hot!! I arrived just in time to watch the skydivers jump out of the plane. It just made me want to go skydiving again that much more. Mother Nature decided to visit again with some winds up around 2,000 feet. The best part was they inflated all the balloons and then opened up the fields for us to walk around and see the balloons up close. I absolutely loved every minute of it!!! It was a photographers dream and a huge playground for the kids. I had brought John’s professional camera with me and was able to get some really fun shots. I can’t wait to come back next year!

Miss North Texas Pageant

I finished with the Frisco Miracle League, ran home to take a shower and then drove to Fort Worth to judge a pageant. Faith (2nd runner-up at Mrs. Texas) and her parents held a local, Miss North Texas, for the Miss Texas America Organization. You know you are a really beauty queen when you can go from being on the ball fields in 90 degree weather to judging a pageant in a cocktail dress. The contestants had phenomenal interviews. Although I was judging the miss division, I was extremely impressed with the talent level of the teens. We crowned Kelly Dillard as Miss North Texas and Tiffany Weeks as Miss Trinity River. I wish these ladies a ton of success at Miss Texas.

Mrs. Massachusetts, Jamie Leigh Bourque, also attended the pageant. She is a former Miss Texas competitor. I loved having a fellow Mrs. Lady there with me. We were both a little tired from the day, so we decided to meet for brunch the following morning!

Frisco Miracle League

I volunteered for an awesome organization this morning called Frisco Miracle League. There are several of them in the DFW area. This one just happens to be right around the corner from our house. The city built an incredible special needs field in the same complex with all the other fields. The Frisco Miracle League provides sports opportunities for children with special needs. Today was their kickoff for their Fall Baseball season. It was a little warm out there, but it didn’t damper the great time I had being a buddy!!

McKinney is #5 Best Places to Live!

Money Magazine ranks McKinney as the #5 Best Places to Live. Here is the write up.
Top 100 rank: 5
Population: 125,000

Lots of towns near Dallas have low crime, affordable homes, and good jobs; McKinney is no exception. What makes it stand out is its gem of a downtown. Lovingly restored 19th-century buildings house restaurants, boutiques, and galleries; the 1875 courthouse contains a new performing-arts center.
McKinney's employment opportunities are robust, sparing many residents a rush-hour drive of up to an hour to Dallas. Defense contractor Raytheon has a 3,700-person division here, and a mix of businesses in financial services, medical technology, and eco-friendly manufacturing are moving in.

Though McKinney has grown like mad over the past decade, you'd never suspect it when driving through its tree-filled communities surrounded by ponds, parks, and hiking trails. --Vanessa Richardson

If you know someone who wants to buy or sell in McKinney, call me immediately!

Day 2 of Mega Camp and Sandee's Wedding Ring

We had 4 more hours at the convention this morning. They focused a lot of the panels on social media and what is making agents successful in this market. I am excited about being in the McKinney market.

We were dismissed from the convention at noon. Sandee and I had already checked out of the hotel, so we jumped in the car and headed straight back. We knew it was going to be a 4 hour drive and we desperately wanted to beat rush hour traffic. On the way home, Sandee realized she lost her wedding ring. She made several calls to the hotel. Unfortunately they did not find it. Sandee took it better than I would have ever taken it. I felt terrible for her. I don't know how you break this news to your husband.

We were able to make it back home and miss all of the traffic. I was grateful to be back home. I am a little tired of being away from my husband!

Mega Camp

Today was a marathon day. I got up at 3:00 am and met one of my fellow Keller Williams agents, Sandee, at the office so we could car pool to Keller Williams Mega Camp. This year we were fortunate that the convention was being held in Austin. The sun didn’t bother to show itself until we were almost there. We quickly went through registration and joined the rest of the people from our office.

It was great to listen to Gary Keller and the ambitious panels of experts. I really needed some advice and ideas on where to get started with my business and how to become successful. The more the day went on, the more I knew I could do this.

We had a little time to check-in to our hotel room and relax before we headed to dinner. Our in-house title company, Hexter-Fair, hosted a dinner for us at a wonderful Southern food restaurant. I enjoyed spending time with the other agents outside of the office. After dinner, most of our office headed straight to 6th street to party. Sandee and I headed straight to the hotel to crash. 3:00 am till 9:30 pm was all we could handle.

Rebecca, Penny Lane and Our House

Rebecca brought Penny Lane back home on Sunday night. She was not happy about the 5.5 hour car ride and made sure she told us all about it. This house did not feel the same without our little baby running around the house.

We had a yard crew come and reshape our landscaping. The front of the house was overpowered by the shrubs and trees. It took them 5 hours to cut down the hedges, reshape the trees and pull up all the weeds. When they finished, our house looked full of life and welcoming.

We decided to have some fun. The 3 of us jumped in the car and went to Sherwin Williams to pick out paint samples. We decided to paint behind some of our art work, so we didn’t have to look at color squares for the next few weeks. It took 2 coats on some of the walls because they are extremely yellow. You can never trust what a paint sample looks like on the card. You have to put the paint on the wall and look at it in day and night lighting. We rearranged the paints a couple of times, but I think we have it figured out. We can’t wait to have a paint crew come out and transform our house on the inside!

Back to McKinney and Mom's Birthday

I said my last goodbyes as I was checking out of the hotel. John and I loaded all my stuff into the car and drove to the airport. We immediately saw my parents. I gave my mom a big birthday hug!!! They were able to join us for lunch and relax a little bit before our flights. John flew to Houston while my parents, Samantha and her family, Alyssa and her family and I all flew to Dallas. The flight attendant was sweet enough to wish my mom a happy birthday on the PA system. I was sad getting off the plane because I knew I had to say bye to my parents and my sister queens. I HATE saying goodbye to my parents!! I had tears stinging in my eyes as I walked away. The older I get; the more I LOVE my parents!!!

I drove home from the airport to a very empty house. I couldn’t hold still, so I immediately started packing. I was almost completely unpacked before I had to drive back to the airport to pick John up. His flight was running pretty late, so we immediately crawled in bed when we got home. It felt so wonderful to finally exhale and relax! I plan on doing nothing but catching up on emails and sleep for the next two days.

Top 6 at the Mrs. America Finals

Today is the DAY!! Rehearsals ran a little over schedule today. They were working hard on trying to perfect the opening number. Frit and Frat were stressed about the flow of the pageant, but I think they did an awesome job composing the pageant.

Before I knew it, I was in the dressing room counting down the minutes to be on stage. We were all taking pictures in our opening number dresses. These ladies are all unique and have something special to offer as Mrs. America. I don’t envy the judges' job tonight.

The show started with opening number. They gave away a few awards and then we changed into our state costumes. Alyssa won one of the costume awards! She definitely deserved it. It was finally time for the cut of 51 ladies to 12. I couldn’t believe when they called my name first. The rest of the Top 12 were MO, ME, AR, CT, CO, MD, WY, FL, IL, MI and TN. We all went quickly backstage to change in to our new hot pink swimsuits. I didn’t have much time before I was running back to the stage. My adrenaline was through the roof when I went back on stage. It is an amazing rush that I can’t even begin to explain! I worked it as hard as I could in swimsuit. We had more time between swimsuit and evening gown. I took my time and made sure I took care of every last detail. I felt confident walking across stage in my Frankie Couture gown! I felt like I did everything that I could do. Now it is all in the hands of the judges.

They brought the 12 of back on stage for the next cut. I made it into the Top 6!!! I joined IL, CO, CT, MD and WY. The judges could not have picked 6 more different and dynamic ladies. They asked each of us an on-stage question. My question revolved around my platform, Special Olympics. I spoke about my passion for volunteering starting at a very young age thanks to the values my parents instilled in me. I can’t tell you my exact question and answer. I am sure when I watch the video it will come back to me.

We went backstage and waited while they tabulated our scores. The competition was officially over for us! Our destiny was left for the judges to decide. They called the 6 of us back on stage again. My run for the crown came to a sudden end when the Top 3 were called. IL, CT and MD would now vie for the crown. I joined the rest of the ladies backstage. The time had come for them to crown our next Mrs. America. I was a little surprised when they called Mrs. IL first. I really thought she had it in the bag when they called the Top 3. Mrs. MD was first runner-up. The new Mrs. America is Shelley Carbone, Mrs. CT!!

I am definitely disappointed that I didn’t capture the crown tonight, but I am quickly reminded of the caliber of when who surround me. I am really going to miss these ladies when I return home. They are nothing short of amazing!!!

I packed up my competition clothes and headed to meet my family and friends. My parents, John's parents, Earl, Mary, John Morris, Audrey, Armando, Geneva, Elizabeth and her husband, Leigh and her family were all there to support me tonight. John ordered me a pizza and some french fries. I was immediately in heaven!!! We all said our goodbyes. John visited with me while I packed up all my things. When I finally laid in bed, I couldn’t believe it was all over!!

Preliminary Day

Today is preliminary day! We practiced on the stage in the morning. The risers left a lot to be desired, but everything else was great. You could feel the energy in the room. Everyone was definitely ready to get the show started.

My mom’s birthday is Wednesday, so my brother and I decided to surprise my mom with a day at the spa. Cheryl and my friend Mary joined her, while dad relaxed and the rest of the guys played golf.

Tamara and Frankie got me all ready again. John met me at my room and helped me carry all my things down to the dressing room. It is hysterical walking around with the huge yellow roses that go to my state costume!! I arrived in the dressing room really early. It was hard to sit in front of the mirror and not play with my hair and make-up. I do better when I don’t have time to fidget.

We started the show off in our swimsuits and sarongs. This allowed us to go immediately into swimsuit competition. It seemed like it took hours before I had my chance on stage and then in a blink of an eye I was done. We spend all those hours in the gym for those few seconds on stage. The next phase of competition was evening gown. I love seeing everyone’s gowns! It is one of my favorite parts of the pageant. The judges were excused after evening gown. The final part of our night was state costume. My state costume was made by a Mrs. Texas from a few years ago. She allowed Melissa to borrow it last year and I borrowed it this year. It took a lot of stress off me to not have to worry about this part of the pageant.

After the prelims were over, I was able to visit with all of my family and friends. They are so much fun to be with and Earl is always the life of the party!

Day 6 at Mrs. America

We spent all day today in rehearsals. Each lady had the opportunity to walk the swimsuit and evening gown pattern. We also worked on opening number. They divided us into groups according to our state titles. I was able to convince Frit and Frat to give our group one of the easiest dance steps we learned. I am glad we don’t have to stress about trying to remember the steps!

Mrs. World flew in today. We all had the chance to meet her and shake her hand. She is from Russia and speaks very little English. I can’t imagine how hard it is to be in a foreign country where you can’t understand what people are saying around you.

Mrs. America Interview

Today is the first part of the competition. Tamara Mathews did a phenomenal job on my make-up. I loved being able to sit in a chair and let her work her magic. If you need a great make-up artist, check out her website at http://www.letmemakeyoubeautiful.com/. Frankie Simmons-North did my hair and I loved how soft and natural it looked.

Interviews were 1-on-1. We went in as a group of 5. Mrs. SC, Mrs. SD, Mrs. TN and Mrs. UT were all in my group. I think each one of these ladies is beautiful from the inside out. The interviews were a little more informal than I was expecting. Each judged greeted me with a handshake and a warm hello. Some of the judges wanted to start the interview talking and some of the others let me do my intro. I tried to feel it out as I went along. I think overall I did a good job of showing them my personality.

We finished the night off with rehearsals. My parents and John’s parents arrived today. I was able to chit chat with them after we were done with rehearsal. They were all excited to be there and anxious to hear how my interview went. It felt wonderful to have them all there. I am blessed to have such a supportive and loving family!!!

Day 4 at Mrs. America

We started the day off sharing our state gifts with all of the ladies. I was amazed by the wonderful gifts the ladies brought to represent their states. My personal favorite was Mrs. Alabama’s. She gave each of us a bible with our state titles on them.

John made it Tucson today. He had an interesting trip out here. We booked his flight before we moved, so he had to fly from Dallas to Houston and then Houston to Tucson. On the last leg of his trip, the pilots were trying to avoid bad weather. They used so much fuel that they had to stop in El Paso to refuel! Let’s just say that he was very happy to be there.

Tonight was the President’s Dinner. It was another great reason to get all dressed up and have fun with all the ladies. We all gave a gift to the President of Loews Hotel. They need two tables to hold all the fabulous gifts from the ladies. I love how generous and sweet our class is!

MENC Fashion Show

Today was all about Music Education. We rehearsed during the day and then got ready for the Fashion Show later that evening. They divided us into two groups. One group was to model an evening gown of their choice and the other group was to model their state costume. I was thrilled to get #1 for evening gown. I really didn’t want to schlep my costume all the way down to the ballroom and back.

The Fashion Show was relaxing and easy. I was done before I could blink an eye. Sam and I helped Alyssa with her costume. She was one hot momma in her Indian headdress. After the show was over, we went out and mingled with all the guests. Tracy and Frankie had made it into town and were able to attend the show. It was great to have them there!

By the end of the evening, we raised over $21,000 for MENC. They are going to use the funds raised to give to Southern Arizona teachers for different projects that they have applied for. This is really an incredible organization to help teachers out!