Spring Happenings..

During the past couple months, I've made several appearances that I haven't mentioned yet--I helped with crowning at a local Sunburst pageant held in Bloomington, IL. I won several Sunburst Illinois State titles as a pre-teen and teenager and had some great experiences--in fact, my very first pageant was the local Sunburst Pre-Teen title that I won in October, 2000--so that was fun and brought back a lot of memories. I also enjoyed supporting the contestants and watching the new titleholders crowned at the Miss Champaign/Urbana and Miss Central Illinois preliminary pageant in February.

Also in February, I had a photo shoot with the talented Kimberly Smoot, who generously offers her services to Miss Capital City. My experience with her was very professional, and I'm very happy with the headshots we took! Her photographs are extremely high quality and she is such a nice person to work with. Thank you so much, Kimberly!! Please visit her website: kimberlysmoot.com

St. Patrick's Day was an exciting day for me this year because I found "The One"...the dress, that is!! My director Rachel, my mom, and I went to Melise's dress shop down in Marion, IL to look for an evening gown. It was definitely a quick and successful search--the first dress that I came out of the dressing room wearing was "The One." I just knew when I put it on that nothing else would top it. It is absolutely gorgeous, and it makes me feel like Miss Illinois! I really enjoyed trying on lots of dresses for fun that day--I never turn down the chance to play dress up! Haha! A huge thank you goes to Jo Rana for all your help!

So, for anyone who hasn't been to Melise's, please consider going if you are interested in working with wonderful ladies and exploring an amazing selection of gorgeous gowns. Whether you're shopping for prom, pageants, or a special occasion, you will definitely find what you're looking for--or better! My experiences there have been fantastic, and I would love to recommend Melise's shop to everyone. Here is the link to their website:http://www.melises.com/ and they have are also on facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=681179492#!/group.php?gid=50488097650&v=wall&ref=ts

Last month, I had the opportunity to have photos taken by a friend from church, Pamela Cather, whose photography business is "Reflections, Etc. by Pamela." They are very dramatic--I wore a tiger print gown and she photographed me at the piano. I had never had professional photos taken with the piano, so I am really excited about how they turned out! We had a lot of fun during the shoot. Thank you so much, Pam! Her website is http://www.reflections-etc.com/ and she recently added a post about our photo shoot: http://www.reflections-etc.com/blog/lights-camera-chinese/ She is also on facebook: http://www.facebook.com/reflectionsetc
There are new photos in my slideshow, and I have a lot of events coming up...I'll be posting about them soon! Check back for updates!