Thursday, September 1, 2011

Where to begin?

Life was certainly a whirlwind while at Mrs. United States and hasn't slowed since. First of all, many congratulations to Shannon Ford, Mrs. Florida, who was crowned Mrs. United States on finals night, August 4th. She, the top twelve, and ALL 54 delegates were honestly some of the most accomplished and impressive women I've ever met in my life, and I am truly blessed to know and to be among them. As for life since then, in summary, we returned home from the national pageant in Las Vegas on Saturday, August 6th to spend Sunday the 7th sleeping since our flights home were changed to include a lovely redeye. On Monday I was off to Upper Darby to catch a Janet Jackson concert with my sorority sister, Jess. The rest of the week included a quick visit from our UK friend Mark, followed by meeting former Philadelphia Eagles' player Vince Papale (subject of the Disney film Invincible), and hubs' 30th birthday bash that Friday.


The week after I generally had some opportunities to rest at home! I devoted the extra time to preparing myself for going back to school (read: lots of laundry), squeezed in an appearance at Pride in the Park to support my aunt's anti-bullying efforts as a part of her campaign for Allentown School Board, then kicked off the new school year with teacher in-service the following week. Mid-week I met with my friends at Allentown Beverage to discuss the planning of a local pageant initiative, Miss Lehigh Valley Bud (yes, the beer), which will benefit local charities including one of my favorites, No Kill Lehigh Valley. I am currently serving as their pageant guru and will likely end up officially titled as contestant and production coordinator in order to ensure a well-run inaugural event, projected to be held around June 2012. That Friday I drove out to Williamsport for the Williamsport Welcomes the World block party celebrating the Little League World Series and met some great people, among them those devoted to service as a part of the Williamsport Kiwanis Club.

This past week I met my new students, previewed what's ahead for this year, and administered summer reading exams. Throughout, I've been communicating with local Zumba instructors and the facility managers where they conduct their classes to plan a series of Party in Pink Zumbathon events to raise money for Susan G. Komen for the Cure through the month of October. Additionally, I was asked to serve as my school's Gay-Straight Alliance Advisor so I've been locating resources and developing activities for our first meeting to determine the initiatives to which we will commit this year.

Our Labor Day weekend will be spent the happiest of ways...celebrating the union of our dear friends Nick and Amie as they marry on Sunday...therefore we will be traveling to Massachusetts for the ceremony rehearsal and dinner on Saturday and the wedding and reception itself on Sunday, then we'll head home on Monday. I am honored to be a part of Amie's bridal party and am looking forward to being a part of their life together as a married couple.

Now I realize the preceding rundown includes A LOT of information but I tried to keep it as concise as possible. There is so much to share that short of starting a book I wouldn't know where to begin. I have many upcoming events that will be added to the Calendar of Events on the Mrs. Pennsylvania United States website, so please bookmark the page if you're interested in following my whereabouts. I should be back to regular posting as the events occur and I get fully acclimated to my back-to-school routine!

Dream Big/Do Good,
Kate
 

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