Burritos, Pasta, and Saving Lives

It's been a long time since my last post. I'm in the final stretch of my Senior year, and I'm having to push incredibly hard to get everything in order for graduation. I had one class this year that has required me to study more than ever before (and it's a Gen Ed!). Also, I'm getting close to finishing my undergraduate thesis. That is probably the thing I am most proud of this year, or... I will be when it's finished! ;)

Before I got too behind, I wanted to update you on the goings on of my Miss NEA duties. It has been an exciting couple of weeks, as all of the local northeast Arkansas titleholders have banded together to raise money for Children's Miracle Network. So far, I've been a part of fundraisers at McAlister's, Fazoli's, and Blue Coast Burrito. Thank you so much to these businesses for allowing us to spend an evening in their restaurants and for donating a portion of their profits to CMN! We have a couple more fundraisers planned in Jonesboro at Chik-fil-A on May 2nd and at Tropical Smoothie on May 5th! If you are in the area on one (or both) of these days, I would love for you to come out an support CMN. It is as easy as buying dinner, and it's DONE, donation made!

Here are a few photos from our event at Blue Coast Burrito!

All of us queens with my former Diamond State Princess, Olivia Adams (far right)

her sister, my princess this year, Maddie Adams (2nd from right)

and Ariana Neshat, a little one I think I've convinced to be a princess this year!

Ranae Clines, Miss Greater Jonesboro Outstanding Teen; Natalie Marcus, Miss Greater Jonesboro;

Kelsey Dow, Miss ASU; and me!

Having a little fun surfing... in heels, of course!

A Day Without Shoes

A Day Without Shoes

Starting my day off on the ASU Campus!

Yesterday (4/5/11) I joined in the TOMS Shoes campaign in their day of awareness "One Day Without Shoes." I absolutely love my TOMS and I thought to myself, "this is a great program, I should join in and show my support." With that in mind, I left for the ASU campus barefoot. Walking through my garage to my car, the thought crossed my mind, "am I nuts?" because the ground where I was walking was shaded and absolutely ice cold. But, I had made a commitment to go barefoot, so I was going to stick to it. The trouble with committing to something like this is that you never know exactly what you're getting yourself into. Going without shoes sounds easy enough. Sure I can join in, make a day of it, probably blog about my participation later. But like most things meant to make an impact on others, yesterday made an impact on me.

Once I arrived on campus, like I do every day, I jumped out of my car in a rush. Quickly, I realized that rushing on asphalt while barefoot is a bad idea for the uncalloused foot. I'm used to sore feet after being in heels for hours on end, but never have I wished to have heels so bad before. Anything to put between my feet and the ground would have been nice. Now I know that people become more calloused to the ground after being barefoot for extended periods of time, but for my tender feet, after being in shoes all winter, were very uncomfortable. Now I don't say all of this to complain, but rather to point out what I learned about how important a pair of shoes really is. There was broken glass near the parking lot where I walk to class, and I couldn't help but think what people had to walk around in places where shoes are not even an option. It's hard to believe that something we take for granted every day, as small as a pair of shoes, could be so important.

Yesterday made me a TOMS shoes wearer for the rest of my life. Their commitment to donating one-for-one is vital and I'm glad they've found a way to do it. I hope that I can donate more than just a purchase of a pair of shoes in the future! I hope, also, that more people were affected by going without shoes and were moved to make a difference. Here's the link to the TOMS website in case you were thinking of checking out their amazing brand: http://www.toms.com/

Miss Cotton Belle

The Miss Cotton Belle pageant was held this past weekend in Osceola! Congratulations to Hannah Billingsley, who will be joining us this summer in Hot Springs! I can't believe we are only one pageant away from knowing everyone who will be competing this July. Time has gone by so quickly. It feels like it was yesterday that I became Miss NEA, and now it's just a little more time before I represent that title to Miss Arkansas. I enjoyed getting to see so many titleholders from the NEA area who came out to watch the Miss Cotton Belle and Miss Cotton Belle Outstanding Teen pageants. I'll list all Miss titleholders who were there, and you can see many of us pictured below. Her goes: Miss Crowley's Ridge, Miss Batesville, Miss Central, Miss Greater Jonesboro, Miss Northeast Arkansas, Miss Ouachita Baptist University, and Miss Arkansas State University. I think I got everybody! I love this family. :-)

All the many titleholders with a couple of guests! :)

I'll give you names, not titles (too long). From Left:

Sierra Gorton, Ranae Clines, Ashleigh Rogers, Natalie Marcus, Maegan Inzer, Kristen Glover, Hannah Billingsley, Me, and Kelsey Dow

Kristen Glover and I

Me with my successor, Natalie (a.k.a. Miss Greater Jonesboro 2011)