It's halfway through February and life is all but boring! With the 100th birthday of our great state yesterday, this past week has been filled with celebratory fun. I had a couple packed days in particular that I would really love to share with you, starting with Saturday, February 11th.

I put the Earnhardt's sponsored car to work on Saturday, that's for sure! I started off in Tucson at the Tucson Rodeo Parade Committee's Downtown Centennial Celebration. The streets outside of the Fox Theater were lined with an automobile from every decade, dating back to a vehicle from 1912 (which I was lucky enough to have the honor of taking a photo in, since it is normally not allowed!). There were rodeo groups, western food, and other fun attractions commemorating Tucson's role in Arizona's history. There was also a presentation from the families of influential people of Tucson during the time of the State's admission into the Union. I was asked to go on stage and say a few words about my family history as well, since I am a 5th generation native of Arizona and great, great, granddaughter of the 1912 Sheriff of Pima County .

From there, I headed to the Capitol in downtown Phoenix for Arizona's Best Fest Centennial Event. The entire event was huge, and was filled with a vast array of activities and historical learning experiences. I joined up with a few of the local title holders, and we met with the public and took photos with them. I want to extend a special thank you to all of the local titleholders who attended the Best Fest to meet and greet the Arizona public. It is becoming exceedingly important that we are present and available in the public so that we have the chance to meet as many people as possible. As soon as the public meets "Miss America women", they can immediately tell the difference between what she stands for, and what their stereotypical view of a "pageant girl" is. It is through events like these, that we can network and make an even greater name for our organization, one person at a time. So…THANK YOU to the following ladies who volunteered to take time out of their weekends to attend the Best Fest: Tiffany Hilburn Miss Scottdale, Austen Fowler Miss Navajo County, Whitney Thomas Miss Phoenix, Christie Roshau Miss Rio Nuevo, and Danielle McBurnett Miss Maricopa County.

To finish off the day, I drove to Casa Grande to attend Rachel's Sweetheart Dance. I met Rachel through a HopeKids mother, and was privileged to have been asked to attend. And what an awesome party it was-let me tell you, Rachel's family and friends sure know how to have fun! There was a DJ and lots of good food and dancing, and a photographer to capture it all. It was one of those evenings that make you look around and realize what life's true blessings are. In that moment, it was the laughs between friends, the hugs between family, and the smiles around the room that proved to be the most important treasures that could have possibly been present. It was so easy to sense the extreme amount of love in the room.

Speaking of love, Valentine's Day was a full day of adventure as well! I began it by spending a few hours at Phoenix Children's Hospital with HopeKids Director Bridget Asheim, former NFL player Mark McMillian, and wife of former DBack Quinton McCracken and cast member of VH1's "Baseball Wives", Maggie McCracken. Although we were happy to be delivering valentines and spending time with some wonderful kids, we were also saddened to find how many were at PCH during the holiday.

All of my childhood memories of Valentine's Day involve writing out Valentines to all of my classmates and having a fun party that filled up some sort of homemade mailbox with notes and candy from my friends at school. To these children, Valentine's Day, this year, involves a hospital room instead of a pink and red decorated classroom. So we did all we could to brighten their day a little, and even collectively came up with some new ideas for events and asked the kids for their opinions and input. I think it's safe to say a football clinic, baseball clinic, and "princess" day are all now in the works!

As soon as we were finished with our visits, I met up with 101.5 Jamz's Just Chilly in the lobby of the hospital for a very different mission. We went to one of the floors of the hospital where a few of the HopeKids were, and passed out roses to the nurses, offering them our special thanks. Valentine's Day, after all, is truly about those who give their love unconditionally all year long. And the doctors and nurses who tend to these children 365 days a year show more love and dedication than I believe they can be thanked for.

My last event on Valentine's Day was actually not about what is typically celebrated on the 14th, but instead a special commemoration that only happens, well, once! It was Arizona's 100th birthday, and I attended the "Fandango! Arizona" centennial gala with Miss Rio Nuevo Christie Roshau. When I arrived, I was taken aback by the enormity of the event, it was much grander than I had imagined. The huge lobby area to the Phoenix Convention Center was filled with men and women in black tie attire and adorned with accessories that carried traces of Arizona: silver, copper, turquoise, and western wear. The room was filled with upscale elegance, from the people to the décor. We walked in the door and made our way over to the silent auction tables to see the amazing works of art and artifacts up for bid, many decades old. But we didn't make it very far before we were stopped for our first interview with Fox 10. The first couple hours consisted of interviews and mingling with some of the leaders of our community. I was able to meet the CEO of Petsmart (an Arizona native), the director of the Wells Fargo Foundation in Arizona, and families of some of the first settlers in our state, among many others. When we sat down for the dinner, I watched in excitement as they played the video that was created to open the ceremony. It was a fun five minute run-down of Arizona history since the birth of our state, that was creatively put together and narrated.. And guess what? Our very own Christie Roshau Miss Rio Nuevo was the producer! How awesome is that? She even pointed out parts filmed in her own home. I looked around the room filled with Arizona's more important figures, and was proud to know that she was the talented young woman who had lit up their faces with entertainment while filling their minds with fun facts about the state they were here to celebrate. So a huge congratulations to Christie for this accomplishment and for demonstrating hard work really does pay off! The rest of the night was a thrilling journey through time, and included performances from Jesse McGuire, Tony Duncan, Phoenix Children's Chorus, The Phoenix Symphony, and Wayne Newton, just to name a few. We also heard from key Arizonans such as Stevie and Karl Eller, Marshall Trimble, Dolan Ellis, Jan Brewer, and Sandra Day O'Connor. I was asked to go on stage to do the raffle drawing, and then accompany Marshal Trimble in leading the singing (yes, singing, on stage, in front of hundreds of people) Happy Birthday Arizona. Thankfully, the productions team was smart enough to keep the microphone in front of Marshall and not me…whew! A huge Arizona-themed-frosted layer cake was wheeled out to center stage as we sang with huge sparklers lighting the top of it. When the song concluded, we asked everyone at their tables to blow out their individual candles in front of them, and make a wish for Arizona's next 100 years. After we had eaten what I consider to most likely be the best dinner I've ever had in my life, I spent another hour or so mingling among the guests. I got the chance to speak with Governor Jan Brewer, and was surprised and flattered to find that she actually watched me at Miss America (she knew the whole run-down!). How cool! And on that note, I said my goodbyes to the guests I shared a table with, and concluded my memorable Valentine's Day.

I would like to conclude this update with a note of congratulations to the new Miss Tucson Old Pueblo D'adra Sites and Miss Tucson Desert Rose Brittany Mazur. The "Grease" themed pageant was a lot of fun (in my opinion, they put the movie to shame!) and was definitely not an easy decision for the judges to make. My sincerest congratulations not only to the winners, but to all of the contestants. To my two new sisters D'adra and Brittany, you are incredibly deserving and I look forward to our next few months together!

Quote of the day:
 
"My grandfather once told me that there were two kinds of people: those who do the work and those who take the credit. He told me to try to be in the first group; there was much less competition." - Indira Gandhi (1917 - 1984); Prime Minister of India