Relay for Life

Check out the site for some amazing, and potentially life saving, information!

Some of my best High School memories were during Relay for Life on a team with many of my closest friends. This years event was very different for me though. I was on the team Courageous Crowns which was captained by the beautiful rock star volunteer Laura Pankratz, and many of our team mates were fabulous princesses and of course my beautiful Outstanding Teen Alice!

Our team activity was face painting and luckily Alice and the princesses are incredibly artistic because Laura and I...not so much.

Ashley being an awesome princess face painter!

 We had a blast walking around the track, meeting everyone, and keeping the ball of hope rolling around the track. There were so many great activities throughout the day on stage, and one even prompted a little reunion for me! In kindergarten Taj was by far the coolest kid in school, and because of my peanut allergies, and the lack of understanding by our school of anaphylaxis, Taj and I had  lot of lunch dates. We both knew what it was like to be a little different so he always had peanut free lunches so no one had to eat alone. As a child I understood that he was in a wheelchair so he couldn't do everything the same as I could, but now with my MDA work I understand so much more. Taj has SMA which is one of the many diseases MDA helps with, I didn't realize until he said it in the song in the video below that we have certainly traveled in the same circles for years, and that MDA was a part of my life way before I knew it! Taj is a one of a kind guy who never let his diagnosis stop him and now he is an AMAZING hip-hop artist and aspires to also be a motivational speaker. His group K-town is awesome and when you listen to the video you will see why I am a huge fan!

As Relay went on and the sun set it was time for the crowns to get down to business and get ready for the most difficult portion of Relay for me, the luminaria ceremony. As a lot of you already know a friend of mine and one of my fathers wrestlers passed away because of soft tissue Sarcoma around Easter, Michael Kroppman had a huge team at Relay this year and he probably had the most luminaria bags there.

RIP buddy.

 These bags surround the track and each have a candle in them, they all represent someone who is fighting, lost their lives to, or survived cancer. Laura, Alice, and I had the honor to light all of these bags. During the actual ceremony there was a slide show of people from our area who had lost their battle, it was definitely the toughest portion of the event for me and probably everyone else as well. This was followed by a lap of silence with all 739 participants.

Lighting candles and talking to Kevin Hume my favorite reporter!

After the ceremony, despite the tears, everyone was reinvigorated and impassioned about what we were doing. There were more night time walkers this year than I had ever seen! Together we raised $103,417! Not too shabby for little Lake County if you ask me. All of the funds raised by this event go to the American Cancer Society to help raise awareness and fund research. Overall it was an amazing event and I am so glad I got to be a part of it!

Thank you Lake County for supporting this great event year after year!

My awesome shirt made by Miss Santa Clara, check out her blog at 

                                               http://misssantaclara2012.wordpress.com/

Sonoma County Lock Up

Myself, Judge Bobby, and Jessica

Today was such a fun opportunity to educate people about MDA and raise more funds for camp! The MDA crew, Miss Sonoma Jessica Greer, and I locked people up for having a big heart! I got to be the public defender and negotiate the bail with Judge Bobby, MDA staff member extraordinaire . To help raise their bail our jailbirds made phone calls for hours and did such an amazing job! I am always so proud seeing all of the support MDA gets from communities all over the state! We raised a little over $31,000 which is twice what our goal for the day was!

Two hardened criminals!

One of our awesome jailbirds!

Our jailbirds definitely used their most important muscle to make a difference today, their hearts!

Dance Festival/ Stars of Lake County

Brianna and I used to teach together, now we get to perform solos because we're all grown up!

This post is a little late, but better late than never right? I was so blessed last weekend to be able to perform in the Lake County Dance Festival this year! Some of my fondest memories growing up were backstage for this show, I have done countless dances in it but this was my first time getting to perform a solo. It was a blast reuniting with the dancers, spending some extra time with Alice, and of course getting a chance to practice my talent piece for Miss California.

Loved getting to spend extra time with my mini me!

After performing Sunday I ran back stage to get into my gown and touch up my make up because I was off to Stars of Lake County! I've heard about this event for years, but it was above and beyond my expectation! The venue was beautiful, and the food was amazing! During dinner a list of visiting dignitaries was announced which included Mike Thompson first district U.S. Congressman , right then I was impressed and excited, the list went on and a few names down was me! I am not ashamed to admit I squealed a little, I'm a dignitary?! A few minutes later Alice and I got to meet him! Who knew a U.S. Congressman who's done so much for the people of Lake County would have such a great sense of humor!

So excited!

It was such a fun event and a great way to get to know some of the pillars in our community. Congratulations to all the nominees, you help so much to continually improve our beautiful county!

Fundraiser/Napa and Solano princess party!

This last weekend was another crazy one for this busy bee! After work I high tailed it to Lake County to work with my brilliant choreographer Sheila so we could put some finishing touches on my dance. If you would like to see the new and improved version, Alice and I are performing our talent's at the Dance Festival this coming weekend so pick up some tickets it's going to be a great show featuring dancers from all over the county!

Next stop was the "Taste of Italy" fundraising dinner for Miss Lake County. This was a fantastic evening with good food, great people and an amazing auction. Alice and I spoke for a little bit about our platforms and our year so far, then quickly changed into our talent outfits while our fabulous princesses did their dance. Alice and I got to be Vanna White for the evening which was really fun. We also had our fabulous auctioneer Rob Brown to make the auction even more fun, Rob has been a great supporter of the Miss Lake County Organization for a long time, and it doesn't hurt that I've known him since I was five.

 Speaking of people who have made an impact on me since I was five, many of you may already know that my dream of becoming Miss Lake County began when I was five and the current Miss Lake County was my babysitter. Pulling my inspiration from that my mom and I decided to make a princess basket for the auction with a coupon in it for a night of baby sitting from yours truly! I am so excited to spend an evening with Angie, and she was so excited she put the Cinderella crown that was in the basket right on!

Throughout the night I was also making plugs for a couple of other things that I'd like to talk about now just in case you missed it. As a Miss California Contestant I am trying to get as many ads into the Miss California program book as possible. This works to a business advantage because not only do you get state wide advertising, you also get an ad in the Miss Lake County program book so you get local recognition too! On top of all that greatness, you also get the satisfaction of knowing that the price of the ad goes into scholarships for me, and young women like me so that we can reach our educational goals. Contact misslakecounty@gmail.com for more information or send a message on the official Miss Lake County Facebook.

The other item I kept bring up over and over again is Lego's! I am doing a Lego drive so that the MDA Lego cabin stays fully stocked for years to come, especially with Lego people and wheels! I received some very generous donations on Saturday towards this cause but if you missed it don't worry that wasn't your only chance! This drive will be going until June 15th! If you would like to know where you can donate, or if you have a big donation you would like to have picked up, send an email to buildadifference@yahoo.com!

After all of that we had some official princess business to attend to! As you may have read already, when I am home in Lake County I spend a lot of time at the local nursing homes. It is such a rewarding appearance because I get to meet a lot of great people in a one on one situation and get to know them a little better every visit. We had a special guest at our fundraiser from Evergreen Healthcare, and I had the opportunity to make her an official Miss Lake County princess! We had such a blast crowning her and she was so excited!

The next day I had more princess time, but this time with the Miss Solano and Miss Napa princesses! I had the honor of being invited to their princess party at the lovely home of their fabulous directors Sara and Gabino. We had pizza, cupcakes, crafts and crowns. What more could a girl want?! I had such a blast and have some very fun ideas for the Miss Lake County princess party!

Miss Sacramento, Miss Napa, princesses, Miss Solano and I!

Making some super cute princess masks!

Marin County Fill the Boot

If you happened to be out and about in Marin County on Saturday you may have seen a bunch of handsome/beautiful firefighters asking people to fill the boot at intersections. Well that's because those lovely people were using their muscles to make a difference for my platform organization the Muscular Dystrophy Association! Every year all across the country firefighters help MDA out by getting their boots filled with donations. This years Marin event raised $32,393! That is going to help out my kids so much, thank you to all the firefighters and to all the drivers in Marin who donated!

Later this year firefighters will do another very special thing for MDA when a few of them come to camp on hometown hero day. That day every year we have a firefighter vs. police officer tug-of-war, the kids get to see lots of fire trucks and police cruisers, and the even get to spray the fire hose! This is one of my favorite days at camp because the kids get so excited to see some amazing heroes! If any firefighters happen to be reading this please give MDA a call and spend a day at camp!

I had a special job this Saturday that really showed me the other side of MDA. I got to help run the show! I spent the day running around collecting the donations from the firefighters and then counting the money. It was such a busy job that I don't have any pictures from the day to share unfortunately, but I do have lots from the awards BBQ with some of our amazing firefighters!

MDA's charmer

Our golden boy

Dennis was a rock star with me in San Rafael all day!

Who knew firefighters love being in pictures so much?!

Great work guys!

An MDA favorite!

Not only did I learn how exciting but tough it is to be behind the scenes at an MDA fundraiser, I also learned a few things about fire fighting! Did you know that fire houses would have dogs to clear the streets back when fire trucks were horse drawn?! I was a little disappointed that there wasn't a dog to hang out with me at San Rafael fire house 2 all day, but I had great company so it all worked out. Another fun fact is that they all rotate who cooks, so they all have to have at least some culinary skills!

I had such an amazing day and can not wait to do it again! Next MDA funraiser is the Sonoma County Lock Up. I can't wait to tell you all about it, and I promise I'll have more event pictures next time!

 Date: Wednesday, May 16^th

Time: 10:30 – 2:30, you can stay as long as you like

Location: Hopmonk Tavern, 691 Broadway Ave. , Sonoma

My Crazy/Amazing Week

I know this is a little late but I have been such a busy bee this post had to wait a little longer than I wanted it to. The kick off to last week was of course Easter! I had the opportunity to help out with the annual Rotary Community Easter Egg Hunt. This huge event allowed kids up to nine the opportunity for fun, and of course some special prizes! It was held at the Lake County Fairgrounds which gave a huge amount of space so that egg hunts could be divided by age groups. I got to help hide eggs, sign autograph cards while people were waiting for the hunt to start, and play a little in the area with the little ones while they hunted for eggs. This event was such a blast and great to be a part of, and I got to meet a lot of great kids!

Next on my to do list was to take the dreaded MCAT's on Friday. This test basically determines my chances of getting into medical school on the first try, I won't find out my score for a few weeks so please keep your fingers crossed for me!

After the MCAT exam it was time to switch gears and put my pageant hat back on, Friday night I arrived in Fresno for Miss California orientation! On a funny side note I got to see fire works two nights in a row, they were lighting up the San Jose sky as I was driving in the night before the exam, and then again my first night in Fresno, I felt so loved!

Saturday morning all 58 Miss contestants and 44 Teen contestants jumped out of bed bright and early to get our orientation started. My morning started with a yummy fruit filled breakfast and coffee, then off to a quick welcome meeting. Next stop was my mock interview that went really great! Volunteers sat on our panel and gave a five minute interview (half the time we use for actual competition)  for each contestant. I was asked a lot of great questions, got some amazing feedback, and feel more prepared for Miss California to start than ever! Throughout the day I also spent time with some of the contestants and the CEO of Miss California Bob Arnhym discussing current events, it was a real insightful conversation that helped me look at other people's perspectives on the issues.

After my interview I showed my talent to some more awesome volunteers who checked to make sure it was within the time requirement, and for a little extra practice for me. My dance is to "Turn The Beat Around" by Gloria Estefan, it is really fun and sassy and will hopefully get the judges dancing in their seats. If you want to get a sneak peak I will be performing it at my fundraising dinner on the 28th of this month (contact me for ticket details).

Then it was off to onstage movement practice where we practice our walking for the fitness and evening gown portions of  competition. This section was taught to us by Agnus and Jonna and was so insightful! I got to practice this and Make-up with Gwen's People. Gwen is the director of the Northern California field.

Gwen's People during walking practice with our focused faces.

Make up was one of my last stops in our busy day and was so much fun! Linda Ontiveros is the official make up artist for Miss California and she is a miracle worker!!!!! I had so much fun with her and I'm now completely prepared to look stunning on stage.

Before make-up with the lovely Miss Napa.

During make-up.

After make-up, with my fabulous miracle worker Linda!

After a busy day there is nothing I love more then a tasty dinner with the contestants and volunteers. This is our fun time where we got to socialize and get to know each other a little better while getting to eat tasty food and raffling off tons of prizes!

From left to right is Miss Marin, Miss Napa, Miss Mendocino ( my roomie for state!), Miss Solano, Miss Sonoma, and Miss Lake County!

After our dinner it was time for a quick change into rehearsal clothes. During rehearsal that night and the next morning we worked on the opening number, the evening gown production number, and our walking patterns for swim suit and evening gown. This was when I got to spend a lot of time with the Deltas which is my competition group.

Delta's for the win!

Sunday we had more rehearsal time and a couple of meetings. Before I knew it the busy weekend was over and it was time to say good bye, but not before a few photo ops!

All of the contestants with Noelle Freeman Miss California 2011.

Gwen's People!

I had such a blast last week! Easter was a wonderful appearance, I'm glad the MCAT's are over, and orientation was a blast! I miss my fellow contestants but we will be back together soon!

National Conference of Undergratuate Research

One thing that most people don't know about the Miss America Organization is that we are a scholarship pageant, not technically a beauty pageant. This means that all prizes go directly towards education, and education is a focus for all of the title holders. My most recent scholarly adventure was to the National Conference of Undergraduate Research held in Ogden, Utah this year at Weber State University. On arrival I was astounded by the gorgeous campus! They have beautiful state of the art buildings, a park like front yard, and their student union is fabulous! In this student union there is a Starbucks, Jamba Juice, a bookstore, a general store, a bowling alley, a pool hall, several ballrooms, and a cafe! It was amazing!

Then it was time for business! All though Dominican University of California was one of the smaller schools at NCUR, we were one of the best represented with 39 students! NCUR provides young researchers the opportunity to showcase their research in two different ways. The first way is through an academic poster that is displayed for an hour and a half that the student stands by and answers questions from viewers, which is what I did. Another option is to give an oral presentation in a panel with other students who researched similar topics.

My research is on science education. Basically my project is to make threatened and endangered species, like the northern sea otter, a personal issue instead of a solely legislative issue. My job is to show community members that if everyone makes little changes in their lives, it can effect the lives of these delicate populations. My favorite part of the project is that I get to talk to high school and elementary school students about what they can do to help, and I sure lucked out at NCUR in that department! The presentation time I had also happened to be the time an elementary school was touring the poster ballroom, after the first group of students approached me I had a pretty steady stream of little ones listening to my speech about the thirteen species we're focusing on, and asking questions. It was so much fun to get to spread my knowledge over state lines all the way to Utah!

I was also able to do a lot of networking at NCUR because they had a graduate school fair with many of my top med-school choices available to talk to! One school, that was previously my last choice, quickly became my top choice when I met with a professor there who is doing research on Dystrophin ( the gene that causes many forms of muscular dystrophy). He told me that if I get into the school I can help out in his lab which would be such a blessing. 

We also had a lot of down time available to explore and meet people from all across the country. I can now proudly say I have new friends in New York, Idaho, Vermont, Montana, Indiana and much more! After the conference had come to a close we still had several hours before our bus to the airport arrived, so of course a group of young responsible researchers chose to use our time wisely and go play in Toys-R-us! I have only been into a toy store of this size a few times in my life, but this was definitely the most fun time!

Being a Swede I had to call dibs on Thor!

Power Ranger Masks were so much fun!

Overall it was a really great trip with so many fun and educational opportunities! Now all I have to do is come up with some more great research so I can return next year!