Life of a famous television personality…

Lately I have spent a large amount of my time at the local St. Louis television stations. Really I am nowhere near becoming famous or a television personality, but I have been having tons of fun promoting some great events that I have been able to be a part of.

March 1st was IHOP’s National Pancake Day. After emailing back and forth, I met up with IHOP Regional Marketing Manager, Liza Lathouris, the day before for some final planning and an appearance on Show Me St. Louis at KSDK Channel 5.  Alongside Wendy Erikson, we gave tips on how to make “The Perfect Pancake.”

Click here to watch our segment on Show Me St. Louis!

Twelve hours later, I was up and ready for the big day! Children’s Miracle Network is the national platform of the Miss America Organization, and the local, state, and national title holders all serve as ambassadors, raising funds and awareness for the Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals across the country.  IHOP is a corporate sponsor of CMN, and on National Pancake Day, customers can receive a free stack of pancakes for a voluntary donation to CMN. I began the morning at the IHOP in Clayton and met with marketing from IHOP and Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals of Greater St. Louis. At about 5:30 I had the privilege of meeting James, the new Children’s Miracle Network Ambassador for 2011 from Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center. James has been undergoing chemotherapy treatments for a little over 2 years now for his cancer. His smile and positivity was so contagious, even at that early hour! He was accompanied by his mother and younger brother. They were all so wonderful and we had a blast together filming segments on KSDK (NBC) with Heidi Glaus and for and Fox 2 KTVI.

James and I with Heidi Glaus!

And Part 2 with James and Heidi

Then Liza and I headed to Fox 2 for a pancake stacking competition with Tim Ezell. Liza acted as the referee and explained the rules and regulations of the game prior to being on camera. According to the official rules, you are trying to stack as many pancakes, one on top of the other, without shingling the cakes. At the ten second warning each participant has to top off his/her stack with whip cream and a cherry. If the stack falls over, only those remaining will be counted. Although this was my first pancake stacking competition, I had good feelings as I had been making pancakes and eating them all morning! Click here to watch the action unfold and find out who the big winner was

IHOP’s National Pancake Day $2.5 million dollars nationally and we raised over $20,000 here in St. Louis! Thanks to everyone for supporting Children’s Miracle Network of Greater St. Louis, SSM Cardinal Glennon Children’s Medical Center, and St. Louis Children’s Hospital!

Little did I know that one week later, I would be back at the same two stations helping to promote “Dancing Through the Decades” an event to celebrate 99 years of Girl Scouts with the Girl Scouts of Greater St. Louis. I was accompanied on the news with Local Pageant Director, Mary Ann Owens, and some Girl Scouts from a few local troops! The free event which took place on Friday March 12, would feature dances from different decades taught by some local celebrities. I was lucky enough to be invited and opted to teach some disco dancing complete with bell bottoms. THe Rams Cheerleaders, Cardinals Fredbird Girls, Miss Metro St. Louis, Darbi Fuhrman, and Miss Metro St. Louis OT, Shelby Steingraeber joined in for the dancing fun. I had a blast dancing with about 3,500 girl scouts and their parents! I felt in my element as I love teaching dance! What a thrill! I also met with, took pictures, and signed autographs on pictures, cups, t-shirts, hands, foreheads, shoes, cell phone cases, and basically anything the girls could find! Definitely a fun and memorable night!

More blogging from events and pictures to come!

 

I love being back in Missouri!

I don’t know if I’ve mentioned it yet, but I am so happy to be back in Missouri after Miss America! There have been so many amazing events that I have been able to be a part of! One of these events was with the St. Louis Chapter of the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. I have spent many hours volunteering for the organization, speaking at various events and health fairs across the city and I was invited as a special guest at their Orchid Affair. The orchid is the symbol of the ball because it is one of the flowers to which no one is allergic. AAFA’s Orchid Affair is a premiere event founded in 1991 by a group of concerned volunteers including the late Whitney and Jane Freund Harris. The evening began at the Chase Park Plaza in the Central West End with a cocktail hour and a silent auction. It was then followed by a sit-down dinner with live auction and entertainment. I was fortunate to be placed at a table with some of my favorite people that I spent the day with on the “Asthma Bus” (Heathy Kids Express) from St. Louis Children’s Hospital. We enjoyed each others company, conversations, and great food! It was an extremely successful event this year raising money to help raise awareness for the disease and directly help children and their families that are affected. Thank you to the fabulous sponsors, auction donors, committee members, volunteers, and guests who came out and supported the great cause!

February 26th was a very special evening! In 2008 I held the local title of Miss Tulsa County while I was going to school at OCU. The following year, the Miss Tulsa County title ceased to exist. In 2009 I held the local title of Miss Mid-Missouri and would have never guessed that in 2010 there would be no Miss Mid-Missouri. Do you see a trend beginning to establish? I officially broke the streak by crowning the next Miss Gateway St. Louis last October, however at Miss America I was informed that the Miss Tulsa County Pageant would be making a comeback this year, and was so thrilled when I found out that the tradition of Miss Mid-Missouri would also be returning! Unfortunately, as I found out, both pageants would take place on the same evening. I have had Miss Mid-MO on my calendar of events since day one and I was so excited to be back in Waynesville! It was such an eventful weekend full of rehearsals, interviews, a Little Miss Pageant, and then of course the Outstanding Teen and Miss Pageants! I had so much fun performing, choreographing the opening number, and hanging out with all of the contestants throughout the weekend, especially those Little Miss Contestants.  Congratulations to the new Miss Mid-Missouri: Kari Gai, Miss Tri-Counties: Lauren Alumbaugh, Miss Southern Central: Seanica Reineke and Miss Pulaski Outstanding Teen: Samantha Caraway. Simultaneously the new Miss Tulsa County 2011, Ashley Wheeler, was being crowned just a few hundred miles west on I-44! What an exciting  night!

 

Dancing the Night Away!

Following tradition, I was invited to be a guest of honor at the Missouri Military Academy Valentine Ball Dinner and Dance on the weekend before Valentine’s Day. Each year, the Junior Class hosts the Ball and I was honored to be escorted for the entire evening by Andrew Chow, Junior Class President. After being presented with a rose wrist corsage, we dined with General Flanagan and his wife, and then we participated in the Grand March.  The court was then presented and I was able to crown the Queen. We then danced the night away, and might I add that Andrew is quite the dancer. I had to ask General Flannigan if that was in the prerequisites for becoming class president! I had such a fun night!

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Mr. EHS

In talking with several former Miss Missouri titleholders they all agreed that one of the most fun memories of the year was emceeing the Mr. EHS Pageant and I would definitely have to agree with them! This event is quite a tradition at Eureka High School. Each year the event is sponsored by the Student Council.  Junior and Senior boys are chosen to represent each club and sport by the teachers and staff. This year there were twenty four young men vying for the title. They all competed in four categories of club wear, talent, karaoke, and formal wear. Then the top six were named and they went on to compete in the final onstage question.

The students told me that this is by far one of the most popular events at the school. As soon as the tickets go on sale, students have to run to get in line and buy the tickets, it sells out within five minutes! All proceeds from ticket and raffle sales at the event goes to charity. This year, the Make-A-Wish Foundation was chosen as the recipient of the $5,000 to $6,000 raised.  Make-A-Wish is a national organization that grants wishes to children with life-threatening medical illnesses.

The contestants were having fun and interacted with me throughout the show. I don’t think I ever stopped laughing! Congratulations to Mr. National Honors Society, Brock Scoville who is the new Mr. EHS! Thanks for inviting me to be a part of such a neat event that has been helping to raise money for various charities in the community for over 15 years!

Here is the link to a news article on Mr. EHS and even includes some photos and videos of the event!