Food, Fun and Week One

Well, I’m happy to report that I survived my first week back at UMO! This will definitely be a busy and challenging semester, but now that I’m all settled into my new home and better acquainted with my housemates, my anxiety’s decreased and I’m ready to buckle down on schoolwork.

I’ll admit, I had my reservations about living off campus—the 10 minute commute to class had the potential to cause major frustration—but I’m finally convinced that moving away from Oak Hall this year was the right choice. As much as I loved living in a quiet single last year, 30 seconds away from the dining hall and 2 minutes from my classes, I’m far more excited about the chance to live with housemates, in a quiet neighborhood, with cute kitties AND my own kitchen :) The amount of cooking and baking that I’ve done in the past 14 days is ridiculous. Chocolate chip cookies, brownies, peanut butter brownies, orange peanut butter cranberry cookies, chocolate chip blueberry muffins, vegan peanut butter oatmeal cookies, Israeli couscous, whole chickens, stir fries, caramelized onions, zucchini and summer squash, apple paninis, spaghetti squash….the list goes on. Of course, I didn’t bake all of the treats for myself. I shared them with friends and housemates and I've kept up with my normal, halthy eating/exercise schedule--Thank you to the Orono IGA for supplying me with carts full of reduced-price produce and thanks to the Orono Farmer’s Market for offering up some delicious goat cheese spread and fresh summer squash yesterday. Dairy, vegetables and fruits are taking over my fridge.

 Chocolate Chip Cookies :)

 Mom sent up my favorite stir fry pan :)

 Orange peanut butter cranberry cookies topped off with dark chocolate!

 Salad with fresh corn, caramelized onions and home-cooked chicken

Spaghetti? NOPE! Spaghetti squash :)

While we’re on the subject of healthy food…Did you know that September is National
Obesity Awareness Month? What better way to advocate for healthy lifestyle choices than by supporting Crossroads in ZESPRI’s Kiwifruit for Kids Campaign?! It’s super easy (and fun) to get involved, I promise. ZESPRI is trying to spread the message that childhood obesity is a solvable problem by reaching out to charities across the United States that promote healthy food and exercise choices among young people. Crossroads was the charity chosen to represent the Northeatern U.S. based on its involvement with the 5210 Program (which I’m a spokesperson for), and by playing the ZESPRI Kiwifruit for Kids game on Facebook www.kiwifruitforkids.com (which will take you all of 2 minutes each day) you can help Crossroads win the Kiwifruit Challenge and receive $10,000 for our obesity awareness film project :) PLEASE take a couple of minutes a day to play for the Northeast!

That’s all for now. I’m off to study and earn some kiwi points! Happy Hump Day!

Orlando to Orono

Well, I’ve done a pretty decent job of neglecting my blog as of late--I wanted to finish my summer off the right way with a busy schedule and lots of excitement. Before leaving for Florida, I had a fun photoshoot with a fabulous photographer from Portland, Danielle Hanson. Danielle has been pursuing photography for a decade and shoots a wide range of subject matter including landscapes, architecture, weddings and portraits. You can visit Danielle’s website at http://www.daniellehansonphotography.com/. Here is one of the photos from my shoot!

Photographer: Danielle Hanson

On Friday, the 12^th, I hopped on an airplane with my mother and sister, bound for the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Pageant in Orlando. Pageant week began with a 7 AM photoshoot with Jenn Cady, a photographer from Nashville who does INCREDIBLE work (http://www.jenncady.com/). All of the contestants modeled Tony Bowls dresses and shoes and I worked has the official fan blower, note taker and dress thrower. It was fun to be on the other side of the camera! Luckily, I also got my time in front of the camera later on in the week--On Friday, I modeled a Jovani gown from Regalia Magnificent Apparel and several Christine Blake Designs in a photoshoot with Jenn at the MAOT tradeshow. I had such a great time working and shooting with her!

 Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani from Regalia Magnificent Apparel

 Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani from Regalia Magnificent Apparel

Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: A Christine Blake Design

The rest of my week in Orlando was exciting AND super hot. I had the chance to visit Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure with my family (Harry Potter World and the new Rip Ride Rockit coaster were amazing!) and relax by the pool. I also spent several days working with the girls in the Teens in Training and Princess Camp girls who enjoyed a busy and profitable week of their own.  It was a fantastic vacation, and I’m happy to report that Ali had a wonderful experience and did a fantastic job in all phases of competition! My congratulations to the new Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, Elizabeth Fechtel—such a sweet girl!

 Family Photo (My Dress: Christine Blake Design)

Ali

Photographer: Jenn Cady Dress: Jovani

Since returning from Orlando my life has been all about moving into my new home and preparing for fall semester (Classes begin tomorrow, eek!). I’m almost all settled in, and I’m looking forward to a fun and successful year  with  my roommates :)  I’m also looking forward to the chance to cook food in my very own kitchen this year and steer clear of the dining halls haha. Lucky duck that I am, I moved back up north on just the right day, too. Tiffany Fortier, a PHENOMENAL photographer from Bangor just happened to be looking for a model to do a test session with on Wednesday, and I just happened to be departing from Saco that morning. Tiffany had the chance to test out her new lens and I had the chance to work with an amazing photographer and get some fabulous pictures. I'll post a few below, but please also check out her Flickr page at http://www.Flickr.com/photos/TLFphotography.  She has incredible portfolio and is such a great photographer to work with :)

 Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

 Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

Photography & Styling: Tiffany Fortier

Coming up: 

-Information on Crossroads’ partnership with the Kiwifruit for Kids program and its fall project to raise awareness about childhood obesity and eating disorders.

-Updates on the progress of the Acadia Hospital/Project Aware movie about mental health stigma.

-Seminar with Kyle Haggerty, nationally renowned pageant coach: Sunday November 20^th in Waterville, Maine.  

Maine Pageants, etc

Another pageant down!  I was happy to welcome three more Mainers into the MCA/MHSA family this weekend at the second annual Maine Academic Pageant, which was held at Thornton Academy in Saco. An afternoon pageant was held for the younger divisions, at which time Trystin Flinner was crowned Miss Maine Preschool, Eliza Jack was crowned Miss Maine Primary, Marissa McGraw was named Miss Maine Elementary and Natalie Claverie was named Miss Maine Princess. All of the girls seemed to have a great time strutting across the Garland Auditorium stage! 

With the girls from the Eastern Maine pageant system after the afternoon pageant

During the evening pageant, we crowned Miss Maine Jr. High 2012, Ameena Vizcarrondo, Miss Maine High School 2012, Casey Bonville, and Miss Maine Collegiate 2012, Brittany Beardon. It was a fantastic pageant and I had a great time getting to know all of the contestants. I was sad to watch my little sis, Sammi Clark, give up her Maine High School title, but I look forward to getting to know the new titeholders and KNOW that Casey and Brittany will do a wonderful job at nationals in March! 

All of the Maine Academic titeholders will be busy touring the state, volunteering, and promoting the Maine Academic platform, 5210 Let’s Go! this year. Thank you to Rick Fortier, the Southern Maine Medical Center Let’s Go! Program Manager, who took the time to do a special presentation for all of the contestants and their families about the 5210 Let’s Go! message. I will be speaking with school groups and afterschool programs throughout the State of Maine about Let’s Go! myself, this fall. As a side note: If you would like to request an appearance, please visit the MAP website

Meanwhile, I’m scrambling to get ready for my trip to Florida. On Friday, I’ll be flying down to Orlando for the Miss America’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. I’m excited to cheer my sister on throughout the week, and know that she’ll do a wonderful job. Her sendoff party took place on Sunday, and she raised another $200 for Children’s Miracle Network while modeling her competition wardrobe and performing her talent. Also, there was cake. So, the evening was obviously a success. While in Florida, I’ll also be helping out with the MAOT Princess Program, visiting with some of my MAOT ’08 sisters, catching some rays, and riding plenty of rollercoasters. Life’s tough, I know. I can’t wait!

Now, it’s time to get back to playing Battleship, Stratego and “Capture the Princess” (I love my job) and squeezing in as much fun reading as possible, because I know there will be zero time to read anything but textbooks once I return to school in a few weeks! I’ll also be doing a photo shoot in Portland this evening and will be post photos as soon as I get them!  

Congratulations to the following girls, who were crowned over the weekend:

Victoria Tatrow -- Miss TN High School

Lesleigh Stanfill – Miss TN Collegiate

Sydney Morales – Miss GA High School

Kaitlyn Bruce – Miss GA Collegiate

Carmen Shumaker – Miss MS High School

Alana Michelle – Miss LA High School

Christine Kozlowski – Miss MS Collegiate

Briana Lowe – Miss NV High School

Cory Bradley – Miss NV Collegiate

I can’t wait to meet you all in San Antonio!

Arkansas!

What an incredible week! I feel so blessed to have had the opportunity to travel down to Arkansas for the Arkansas High, Jr. High and Collegiate Pageants! This has certainly been one of the biggest highlights of my reign thus far.

I arrived at the Little Rock airport and was met by Inez Freeman and Amanda Patterson, who brought my mother and me back to Amanda’s BEAUTIFUL home in Benton.  After meeting the rest of the Patterson family, Inez, the Pattersons, my mother and I met Chelsy Lewis (Miss Arkansas Collegiate 2011) and her mother for dinner, where I enjoyed chicken, collard greens and some amazing corn bread!

Thursday was spent working hard on last-minute pageant preparations and catching up with my MCA/MHSA family. I went to my first Sonic for Lunch (there aren’t any Sonics in Maine!) and had a girls’ night out in Little Rock with Amanda, Inez, Jen West, Chelsy Lewis, and Hallie Waddell (Miss Arkansas High 2011). I had the chance to enjoy the beautiful Arkansas weather on the restaurant patio and Inez and I split a reaaaaally yummy apple crisp for dessert!

Friday was pageant day #1! We all arrived at Pulaski Academy bright and early to meet the contestants and begin rehearsals.  All of the girls looked fabulous and quickly learned the opening number and walking patterns. While the Collegiate and High School contestants practiced on stage, I had the chance to work with the Junior High contestants alone. What a great group of girls! 

Arkansas High, Collegiate and Jr. High Contestants

And then, I was in for some unexpected excitement.  Hallie drove Chelsy and me to Panera bread for a quick lunch at Panera Bread. On our way back to the theater, I was sipping my iced tea in the back seat and chatting with the girls when all of a sudden—BUMP! The person behind us hit the brakes just a little too late and slid right into Hallie’s back bumper. Luckily, all of us were okay and the damage was minimal, but I can only imagine what the driver was thinking when 3 girls jumped out of the car in dresses, heels and pageant sashes! It was quite a scene. . .

Post-Fender Bender

Thankfully, that’s where our bad luck ended. The Collegiate and High School preliminary went off without a hitch and each of the contestants did a wonderful job. I wouldn’t have wanted to be on the judges panel!

Saturday began with High School and Collegiate interviews. . .and some really delicious chicken minis from Chick Fil A. The judges were so impressed with the maturity and poise exhibited by the contestants in the interview room and were lucky to have a few hours to reflect on the 72 girls’ interviews while the Junior Miss contestants competed in the afternoon Junior Miss Arkansas High Pageant. I appreciated having the opportunity to emcee the afternoon pageant and witness Arynn Johnson’s reaction as I called her name as the new Junior Miss Arkansas High! 

Saturday evening was the big event—The 2012 Miss Arkansas High and Collegiate Pageant! The top 15 High School and Collegiate contestants competed in the Fashion Runway and Evening Gown competitions and Hallie and Chelsy said their goodbyes before all of the contestants were brought back onstage for awards and crowning. At the end of the night, Raygan Sylvester was crowned Miss Arkansas High 2012 and Naiz Bolin was crowned the new Miss Arkansas Collegiate! Both are sweet, beautiful girls and will do wonderful jobs at nationals in March! I’m happy to welcome two new queens into the MHSA/MCA family! :)

 Miss Arkansas High 2012, Raygan Sylvester

  Miss Arkansas Collegiate 2012, Naiz Bolin

Spending time with Amanda, Inez, Hallie, Chelsy, Summer Priester (Miss High School America), Kyndal Hayes (Miss Collegiate America 2010), Laine Berry, Jennifer, and the rest of my MCA/MHSA family was amazing. Thanks so much to the Patterson family for your hospitality all week long. I loved Arkansas and will certainly have to visit again soon! 

With Chelsy, Laine Berry and Hallie backstage, wearing a Royal We dress!

 With Hallie and Chelsy backstage on Saturday, wearing a dress from The Royal We!

 With Summer (and Tripp) after the pageant :)

With Tripp Patterson :) What a sweetheart

Singing "In My Daughter's Eyes" at the evening pageant.

Coming home was difficult; I wasn’t ready to leave! BUT, I have lots to get ready for back in Maine, as this weekend is the Miss Maine Academic Scholarship Pageant, where we’ll crown the next Miss Maine High School and Miss Maine Collegiate. I’ll also be cheering for the lovely Christine Blake as she competes for the title of Mrs. United States on Friday night and preparing for my sister’s Miss America’s Outstanding Teen send-off part on Sunday! Phew, it’s pageant time!!

(Almost) Arkansas Bound!

Please excuse me if this blog post seems scattered. I’m lacking focus at the moment. . . I blame it on the fact that I’m overwhelmingly excited about my trip to Arkansas on Wednesday!! The Arkansas High and Collegiate Pageants will be held on Friday and Saturday, and I am heading down to help out and spend a bit of time with my pageant family. I look forward to meeting all of the contestants and catching up with Amanda Patterson, Inez Freeman, Laine Berry, Summer Priester, Carina Romero and Kyndal Hayes!! It’s going to be so much fun!

After a very busy seven days last week, things have slowed down a bit. I’ve spent the past few days preparing for Maine’s Academic Pageants (which will be held on August 6^th), adding new songs to my repertoire (never know when I may be asked to perform!), planning my sister’s send-off party (she leaves for MAOT on August 12^th), catching up on the progress of several film projects (I’ll be playing a role in an educational short about tobacco prevention next month, and the Project AWARE mental health movie that I blogged about in May is moving right along), and getting a liiiiittle relaxation in. I’ve been reading, “Zen and The Art of Motorcycle Maintenance” by Robert M. Pirsig and, although I’m only about 1/3 of the way through, I can already tell it’s a great read--very engaging. It’s been recommended to me several times and served as the official Honors College read the year before I started up at UMaine.I have a feeling it'll be finished before my plane lands in Little Rock.

I’ve also done a bit of leisurely raspberry picking this week. The raspberries in my backyard are growing like crazy this month, and my taste buds couldn’t be happier about it ;) I’m uploading a picture of the berries that I picked on Saturday—I just can’t resist! 

 Yum!

And while we’re on the topic of food (it’s one of my favorites)—I’ve been working diligently on putting together a personal cookbook for the fall. It’s a combination of family recipes, Cooking Light recipes, rotary recipes, personal recipes, and recipes that I’ve borrowed from the food blogs that I’ve discovered via two of my favorite websites, www.tastespotting.com and www.foodgawker.com ---Just a warning, don’t set either one of these as your homepage. . .You’ll get very distracted---Anyway, this will be my first year of off-campus living and I am beyond excited to have a kitchen again. I have set a challenge for myself: This school year, I plan to prove to others that eating healthy doesn’t have to be expensive. I hope to make use of sales and coupons, plan weekly menus, create yummy & healthy food, and blog about my budgeting and cooking successes (and failures).

Now, it’s time for me to get back to packing! I’ll update everyone on my trip to Arkansas upon my return and I’ll leave you with a picture. This is the Maine High School and Collegiate opening number dress, which I’m SO impressed with. It’s a Christine Blake Design. The Collegiate dresses are blue, the High School dresses are Red and the current titleholders’ dresses are white :) Can’t wait to see them on stage! 

Busy, Busy!

Well, after a two week absence, I have plenty to report. . So, why not begin with some congratulations?! State High School and Collegiate pageants are in full swing and several new titleholders have been welcomed into the MHSA and MCA family over the past few weeks:

-North Carolina High: Victoria Baskett

-North Carolina Collegiate: Natalie Tolbert

-North Dakota High: Josie Hettich

-Texas High: Jessi Amerie

-Texas Collegiate: Hoang-Kim Cung 

Congrats, ladies! I can’t wait to meet you all in March!

I’d also like to congratulate my friend and MAOT sorority sister, Taylor Kinzler, on her 2^nd runner-up placement at the Miss Massachusetts America Pageant last weekend. Below is a picture of Taylor, Angie (Miss RIOT ’08) and me. It was so great to see my beautiful sisters :)

Now, some updates on the things that I’ve been up to:

Last Wednesday, I emceed the Central Maine Egg Festival Pageant, a Maine Academic Pageant Prelim, along with Mrs. Maine United States (Dr. Christine Blake), Miss Maine High School (Sammi Clark), Miss Maine Collegiate (Kristy Huff), and Miss Eastern Maine Collegiate (BreAnna Beal). It was a fabulous evening and I look forward to seeing the new titleholders, Marissa McGraw, Callie MacQueston,  Samantha Turcotte, Olivia Patterson and Hannah Bradley, at the Maine Academic Pageants in August!

On Friday, I participated in the Yarmouth Clam Festival Parade along with Miss Maine High School (Sammi Clark), Miss Maine’s Outstanding Teen (Alison Folsom—My baby sister) and Miss Maine (Julia Furtado).  The weather that day was perfect and the parade drew a crowd of over 100,000—a huge success and lots of fun! One man asked me whether or not I was a singer, while my car was stopped on Main Street, prompting me to break into an acapella version of “God Bless America”. I wasn’t expecting to sing at the Yarmouth Clam Festival, but I’ll take any opportunity I can to perform :-P 

On Saturday, I emceed another Maine Academic Preliminary Pageant in Warren (We are so excited to have picked up so many locals over the past few months!!) I enjoyed spending time with all of the contestants and modeling another Christine Blake Design dress :) While scores were being tallied, I had the chance to follow Daisy Blake and Julia Badarako in singing two acapella songs for the audience.  After this week, I think I may need to expand my acapella repertoire! I look forward to seeing several of the new titleholders at the Maine pageants in August!!

With Sammi, Christine and Daisy!

Coming up:

This week, Christine Blake, Daisy Blake and I will be filming the choreography for the Maine Academic Pageants so that all of the girls can become familiar with the opening number steps ahead of time! We will be posting the video online soon.

Next week, I’m headed off to Arkansas for the Arkansas High and Collegiate Pageants! I can’t wait to meet all of the contestants and reunite with my pageant family—Amanda Patterson, Inez Freeman, Summer Priester, Carina Romero, and Kyndal Hayes! Yay!

Keep your eye on the grand old flag!

Happy Independence Day, everyone! I hope that you’ll all have the opportunity to join family and friends in celebrating our nation’s birthday! My sincere thanks to the brave men and women serving in our military, who continue to stand by America’s side and fight to protect our freedoms!

Though I have not made any appearances since my last post (how strange!), the past seven days have been both exciting and marked by personal achievements and new experiences. Yesterday, I completed my summer psychology course which means that: A) I am schoolwork-free until September!!!!  B) I can now tell you a thing or two about adolescent thought and behavior patterns. Not far out of the teenage years myself however, I think my own observational studies gave me near-expert status on the topic of adolescence long before starting the course….  

I’ve also gotten back into biking lately and I’ve appreciated the great weather that we’ve had over the past few weeks as it’s allowed me to take daily rides along the ocean and the Saco River. I’m truly blessed to have grown up in such an incredible area. Members of this community are friendly and supportive and the landscape is absolutely beautiful, especially in the summertime! If you’ve never been to Maine, July is definitely the time to visit. Spend the day with First Chance Whale Watch in Kennebunkport, head to Portland’s Old Port for a night out, bring the kids to Old Orchard Beach, take a hike in Acadia National park, and do some shopping in Bar Harbor. I guess I’m just in a Patriotic mood on this Independence Day, proud of my country and proud of my state. 

Now, for the most exciting part of the week: My first fashion photo shoot! On Friday, Meredith Brockington, an RIT student and fellow Thornton Academy graduate, took me into the Saco Island/North Dam Mill area for a SUPER fun shoot. Meredith is a fabulous photographer! The new pictures will be a fabulous addition to my portfolio, which also includes photos by Tess Johnson , the incredible photographer who took all of my official crown and gown shots! 

 Photographer: Meredith Brockington

So, what’s next? There are several pageants taking place over the next few weeks. North Dakota and North Carolina will be holding their High School and Collegiate Pageants on July 9^th, Texas and Florida will be holding their High School and Collegiate Pageants on July 16^th, and Arkansas will be holding its High School and Collegiate Pageants on July 29-30. I will be attending the Arkansas pageants myself, and cannot wait to meet all of the contestants and reunite with my MHSA/MCA family!! 

And speaking of reuniting, I’ll be heading down to Massachusetts on Saturday night to cheer on one of my MAOT sorority sisters, Taylor Kinzler, at the Miss Massachusetts America Pageant! By my side will be another of my MAOT sisters, my former roommate, Angie Angers! Taylor is such a beautiful, talented, intelligent and dedicated woman and would make a fabulous Miss Mass. Of course, I’m a bit biased, but she certainly has my vote! I can’t wait to watch her shine on the Hanover Theatre stage!

Have a fabulous 4^th! 

Shannon