Miss California Orientation!

Hello again! I just made it home from an amazing whirlwind weekend in Fresno for the Miss California orientation!  I had such an amazing time meeting all of the 57 other girls. I don’t think I will ever cease to be amazed by how many truly talented girls this program crowns each year! Each with their own individual talents and special traits, but most of all how smart they all are!

Day One

Saturday morning started with an early rise to be sure to make breakfast at 7 am. throughout the day we went to all kinds of different workshops.  Such as one for walking, makeup, interview,  talent, and of course to learn all of our dances for the opening number and different phases of competition.  Also, during the day we had the opportunity to go and talk to Bob the director of the Miss California Organization and talk politics. I always find it so interesting to hear other people’s views on the world around us and I love best of all when people make me think. Sometimes in this world it is super easy to accept the things around you and never question them, but I think when you do question your surroundings or the people around you make you question how you feel about one thing or another, that’s when you learn from things. These instances challenge you to step back and really look at the conflicting views of other people and question why you feel a certain way and really think.

After all of our workshops concluded we had a wonderful dinner together and the Miss Santa Clara girls won way way way too many raffle prizes. At the beginning of the raffle Jessa and I were bummed that we weren’t going to win anything, but by the end of the night we had won about 10 prizes from baskets to dresses, so of course we were ecstatic.  After dinner we went to our first production rehearsal, where we learned our opening number. I was super excited to find out that our theme this year is swing, so all of our dances are swing inspired. I think it will be super up beat and fun! A lot of  the dance was challenging, but I’m hoping by June I will be able to keep up. Rehearsals ended late and it was a very long day, but I defiantly had a day that I will never forget. I loved meeting so many new people and challenging my brain in the interviews and my feet in the dances.

Day Two

The next day was another early day with Rehearsals starting at 730am.  I’m hoping that with all the early rising this year with work and Miss California I may finally become a morning person. : ) One can dream right. At rehearsals we learned our walking patterns for Evening gown and swimsuit, and the production dances to go with them. They really did a great job selecting all of the music this year, it is all fabulous and fun.  We then heard a fabulous speech from our current Miss California Noelle Freeman.   Every time she speaks I am so impressed with all of the astonishing things she has done throughout her year. She has really done her best to be as involved in this program and her platform as she can and it has been such a blessing to watch.  She takes everything she does seriously and her role as Miss Santa Clara is a job that she takes very seriously. I love hearing her speak because it inspires me to work harder and go for my goal. Noelle has really paved the way for the next Miss California to have just as special of a year as she did and I’m sure they will feel blessed as well.  Our day ended pretty early, (around 2) so we could all make our way home.  Some had further journeys then others, but it was so nice for us all to come from so far and be together.

I am ecstatic to announce that my roommate for my stay in Fresno will be the gorgeous Miss Delta Valley, Prisca. I met Prisca several years ago when competing at the Miss Gavilian Hills pageant and I am excited to get to spend time with her again and share this great experience with her. Also, each of the 58 girls was split into 4 groups in which we will be competing the different phases of competition with and I am a Delta! Woohoo go Deltas!

I enjoyed myself so much at orientation and love how many truly talented  friends I had the opportunity to make all over the beautiful state of California. Ashley and I were sad to come home, but are very excited for our journey to continue in June. This weekend was the first time that it really set in that I will be up on that huge stage competing with so many other talented women for the title of Miss California. I got to meet her this weekend! Can’t wait to find out who she is! ; )

Hope you enjoyed reading!

XOXO

Caitlin

Update on Team Big C!

Team Big C is a team of 3 survivors, (my Mom and her friends: Barbara and Jackie) and 2 of their caregivers (me and one other women, Karen) that will be walking in the 2-day Avon walk in July. We are all beyond excited to get the opportunity to walk for such an amazing cause, but before we get to do that we each must raise $1800 towards the cure.

A few weeks ago we all took Bart up to the city for our first team Boot Camp. It was a day filled with telling us how to prepare for the event, and how to eat and drink right so we can train properly.  My most favorite part of the day, was getting to make our team posters, I was feeling very creative as always (I teach Pre-K, I do art everyday) and got right into my work. My team had a great day, and it made us even more anxious for our big day!

Last weekend we had a HUGE garage sale at my Mom’s house, in which over 15 families donated all of their “treasures” and I am happy to announce that we raised $1200! We have never had such a successful garage sale, so as you can guess we were beyond excited! Thank you all so much for your continued support!

GO TEAM BIG C! We are in it to end it!

To check out our donations page go to :

http://info.avonfoundation.org/site/TR/Walk/SanFrancisco?px=6353329&pg=personal&fr_id=2173

If you would like to take part in our big Bowlathon fundraiser on May 12th click the link:

https://mail-attachment.googleusercontent.com/attachment/?ui=2&ik=cc28035d6f&view=att&th=1369e62376693c01&attid=0.1&disp=inline&safe=1&zw&saduie=AG9B_P9ZZlYif4E0ekRvmIN4W25n&sadet=1334097169943&sads=xytzxLYjlz2x3UJ1poKoVacewOs

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Caitlin

HAPPY EASTER!

Hello everyone! I hope you all had an amazing Easter!

I spent my Easter at Central Park with hundreds of children from Santa Clara and the lovely and talented, Miss Jessa Carmack and my beautiful little, Ashley Wong. We signed hundreds of autographs on beautiful Easter cards (above), took tons of pictures and watched a very intense Easter egg hunt. We were all very pleased to see that they separated the children by age groups because there were so many of them and all of them defiantly had their eye on the prize.  It was complete chaos with so many children running around with Eater egg baskets, and the 5,000 eggs that the city of Santa Clara purchased, but it was fun and very organized chaos.  I was extra excited, because a few of the students from my class came to the egg hunt to see me, and it was really nice to see them outside of school, especially since we have Spring Break this week and I won’t get to see them. I have been amazingly blessed with all of the support I have received this year, from not only my family and friends, but also from all of the parents and students in my class.  Any opportunity my students have gotten to see my crown and show their support they have taken and I couldn’t be more appreciative. I had such a great time at the Easter egg hunt seeing all of the smiles on everyone’s faces and the pure joy of finding so many candy filled eggs. With every event that I do, I feel more and more privileged to represent this amazing city.  I can’t wait for the next  big event!

Thanks for reading!

XOXO

Caitlin

Miss Santa Clara 2012