Category Archives: life

The People in Your Neighborhood

We’ve been driving around Belize City and David has been having trouble with the one way streets. To be fair, some of the markings aren’t so good. As he was getting ready to turn into another wrong way, a man stopped us and motioned that it was the wrong way.

He motioned for us to roll our window down, which I did. He started to tell me who he was. “I’m Prince Charles Perez. Google me!”

When we got back to the wifi, I did and lo and behold, there he was! 
 

He’s an amateur historian and it appears that a lot of people run into him and he will share his knowledge about Belize. I asked a local friend about him and he said, “oh yes, one of the smartest guys out there”. 

Such a colorful, friendly guy. I’m glad we ran into him. 🙂

Miss Belize Universe Pageant

We found out we were going to Belize and they told us that the day after we arrived was a national holiday. I took to Google to find out what the holiday was and found that after almost ten years, they were once again holding a Miss Belize Universe Pageant!

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Of course, I wanted to go. David talked to the people there and they secured tickets for us. I think this was a good idea because at the pageant they mentioned they had sold out quickly.

It was fun to attend a pageant in another country. The entertainment was awesome. There were no artists I’d ever seen but everyone else in the building seemed to be very familiar with them and their works. 

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It was the standard Miss Universe preliminary pageant including an opening number, 

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Swimsuit competition.

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Evening gown competition. 

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And onstage questions.

In addition, each girl had to create a national costume based on the theme Made in Belize. This was my favorite part of the pageant as the costumes were amazing! I thought it was cool that, not only did the contestant win the prize, the prize was also awarded to the costume designer. 

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It was really, really hot in the PAC  (they are going to be getting an air conditioner upgrade soon, I understand) but other than that, I really enjoyed seeing Rebecca Rath of Dandriga crowned Miss Belize Universe 2016.

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I picked her as the winner  from the opening number. She just lit up the stage. I look forward to watching her at Miss Universe!

 

McDazzle Fun Ball

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One of the lovely women I met at the Mrs. International Pageant was Aquillia “Q” Vang, Mrs. Nevada. I learned that her platform is Ronald McDonald House Charities, a cause she is very personally connected with. 

Q has been to many different Ronald McDonald Houses to fix a meal or help out in any way. She told me she was coming to Tulsa to help out at the McDazzle Fun Ball and asked if I’d like to help out. What a great idea!

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One of the things you learn while competing at Mrs. International is that each contestant has a cause they are connected to. But to actually come along with a sister queen to share in that was an opportunity I was honored to be a part of. 

I connect with Lindsay at the local Ronald McDonald House and she showed me around and gave me the low down on how the process works for people who stay with them. Although I live very close to the house and drive by it almost every day, I never really understood exactly how it worked. Very impressive!

It was so fun to help out at the ball. We started out at the door, greeting people as they arrived. Once inside, Q visited with the guests and directed them to the check in table. 

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After we greeted all the attendees, we joined the party in the ballroom and watched the live auction. It was a great night and a lot of money was raised for the Tulsa Ronald McDonald House.

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But the best part of the whole night for me was the honor of being there with Q as she supported her platform of Ronald McDonald House Charities. Thank you, Q! It was an awesome night. 🙂

Attitude

Yesterday, I woke up with this in my head.

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I thought, “where in the heck did that come from?”. Usually, I wake up with bad 70s songs in my head wondering the same thing. But this made me stop and think.

The first thing I did was search google to see who’s quote it was. It wasn’t there so I guess it’s my quote given to me by my sleeping brain. I couldn’t get it out of my head. David and I talked about it while we were walking. 

I’m fully of the belief that your attitude determines how you go through life. I choose to be positive because negative is just too hard. So if you choose to be positive, you belong to the group of people who are happy, getting things done, and having a great life. If you choose to be negative, your life stinks and it’s hard. It’s really a pretty easy choice.

So, anyway, I hope that in the future I’ll wake up with more of these great ideas instead of “I love, little baby ducks, old pickup trucks, slow moving trains, and rain“. 😉

My Story, My Why

On Sunday, the Oklahoma City Listen To Your Mother Show finally came to fruition. After submitting my story, auditioning, being accepted, rehearsing with my fellow cast members, the day had finally arrived. banner The show took place at the Will Rogers Theater

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The amazing 2016 cast met once again for the show.

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We watched as the theater filled up.

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Finally, it was time to take the stage. 

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I listened to the stories of my fellow cast members. Stories that did things to my heart that made me love this group of people like no other.  

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 And then it was my turn. My story was called A Question of Guilt. It was my story about how I felt after reading the book Concussion and how it relates to the fact that my son had at least five concussions while playing football from ages 8 until 20. The story that has given me the mission to tell every single person I can that it’s not “just” a concussion and that helmets do not prevent concussions. Every. Single. Person. Everywhere. Anywhere.

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After the show was over, I went down to meet a friend of mine from twitter. We’ve been tweeting for years (I can’t even remember how long!) and I was so excited to finally meet her in real life. 

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And then the most amazing thing happened! People that I didn’t know started coming up to me and thanking me for sharing my story. One young mother, with tears in her eyes, told me that she had been worried about letting her little boy play football and that my story was confirmation for her. This, my friends, was the cherry on top of an already awesome experience!

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I love that I got a chance to be a part of the 2016 Oklahoma City cast. I love that I got to share my story. And maybe, just maybe, my story will save another mom the guilt that I felt when I realized that a helmet did not protect my son’s precious brain. That is my goal. One mom at a time. Until I’ve told everyone.

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Many thanks to the producers Mari Farthing, Carolyn Bechtold, and Jennifer Smith for choosing me as a member of the cast. Thanks to my castmates for being completely incredible people (whom I love) and having the courage to share your stories. Thanks to Lyndzee Story for helping me with my hair and makeup. Thanks to Sheradee Hurst for the fabulous photos. And, finally, thanks to my incredible husband for always being by my side to love and support me. 

If you have a story to tell, I can’t encourage you enough to seek out your local Listen To Your Mother Show and apply! It will change your life. 🙂

White Shorts Are Just So…White

A couple of weeks ago, my pageant director made a change in the wardrobe requirements for the pageant. She had originally said we needed denim shorts for an event where we would wear our pageant tee shirts. I was happy with that because I saw that the contestants last year had to wear white shorts and white shorts are not something I wear. Ever.

White shorts are just so … white.

And see through.

But the wardrobe change that came forth was white shorts instead of the denim shorts. Along with that, white shoes. I don’t wear white shoes. Ever.

Except walking shoes but those get dirty so fast they are white in name only.

This change threw me for a bit of a loop. Being new to San Jose, I wasn’t sure where to find a store that I could buy white shorts from. Now, after searching for white shorts, I’m a pro at finding any store in a 50 mile radius. And I think I can get there without using GPS. Bonus points.

By yesterday, I was really running out of options and the pageant is two weeks away. I have two pairs of white shorts here at the house. One that I ordered online that doesn’t fit and one that is my plan Z if I can’t find plan A.

My biggest problem is the fact that my waist is so small compared to my hips. There is always a HUGE gap in the back when they fit everywhere else. I went into one store last week. I saw there on a rack, “Gapless Waistband!” I was so excited!

“Get me into a dressing room with a pair of those shorts!” I told the sales lady.

I rushed to try the shorts on seeing the finish line of my white short search looming in the near distance. 

I put the shorts on, zipped them up, and… probably the biggest gap I’d seen in any pair of shorts I’d tried up to that point. In fact, it was so big, I actually came out of the dressing room to show the sales lady.

“You see? This is what I’m dealing with,” I said as she sadly shook her head.

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So yesterday, in one of my last ditch ideas I thought of Lane Bryant. Over the years of being overweight, I shopped at Lane Bryant a lot. They have cute clothes. They also have long jeans that are truly long. They start at a size 14 which is where I am right now. 

I went in and walked up to a lady folding shirts. 

“I need your help urgently to save my life,” I said.

“Okay,” she replied, not looking up from what she was doing.

“I have to buy a pair of white shorts for a pageant I’m competing in in two weeks. I’m not having any luck and I hope you can help me.”

She finally looks up. “We don’t have your size here.”

OMG! Did I just hear what I thought I heard??!!! She doesn’t have my size.

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Stunned, thrilled, happy, excited, I trailed after her as she went to get a size 14 off the rack and take it to the dressing room. I never told her what size I was but size 14 is the smallest size they carry. 

The shorts fit, they look good. Woo hoo! While I was trying to calm down because of the fact my search for white shorts was finally at an end, I completely forgot what she had said to me earlier until after I left the store.

I paid for the shorts, thanking her profusely for saving my life.

She said, “You’re beautiful. Good luck in your pageant!”

I thanked her again and left. As I was going down the elevator, I remembered again what she said to me about not having my size. 

White shorts purchased + being told at Lane Bryant “we don’t have your size” = day made! 😀

Q is for Queen

When I got my beautiful American Beauty crown, I decided I would store it in the closet in the office when I wasn’t using it. I put it on a very high shelf. 

“Why?” you ask. 

Because we have a little princess in the family who loves wearing crowns. I knew if she saw it that she would want to have it and I didn’t want to tell her no.

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One day, when she was visiting, I had to get something out of the closet and she saw the crown. You see, it’s very, very sparkly and even sitting up on that high shelf, she saw it, she knew what it was, and she wanted it.

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“Can I have the crown, Glammie?” she asked , hope shining in her big blue eyes.

“Oh Haniston, I’m sorry, you can’t have it right now. Glammie needs it,” I replied.

Those big blue eyes started filling with tears as her lower lip pushed out and started trembling. 

“But I want it,” she said, starting to cry.

I picked her up and sat down with her facing me in my office chair.  Trying to make her feel better, I said, “You know how you are a princess?

She nodded her head.

“Well, Glammie is a queen,” I said. “When I don’t need this crown anymore, I promise you can wear it.”

She took this information and mulled it over for a few seconds.

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“I a princess and you a queen,” she finally said, with a smile beginning to form.

“Yes! That’s it!” I exclaimed, my own smile growing big.

We hugged each other and the sad moment passed. I never want to have to tell her no ever again. 😀

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

O is for Over

Okay, y’all. O was a hard one for me. It’s still kind of a stretch but it’s what I’ve got. O is for Over. 

This morning, when we were walking the dog, we saw an earthworm on the concrete. It was flipping over and over. You know, how a bug looks when it gets stuck on it’s back and it’s trying to get back on it’s feet? It looked crazy and I’ve never seen a worm do that. I thought, “Can worms get stuck on their backs?”

When I asked David, he laughed. When I came back and asked twitter, they laughed. 

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David told me it needed dirt so I took a stick and moved the worm back over to the dirt. Thinking I had done my good deed for the day, I started heading over to where David and Rabi were. I took one last look at the worm, who’s life I’d saved, and noticed it was crawling, in regular worm style, back onto the concrete. 

What the heck? 

Friends on facebook didn’t seem any more enlightened on the subject although Joe’s answer seemed pretty good. 

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I’ve looked around the internet to see if anyone has seen a worm do this before but came up empty. Maybe I don’t know the right words to search. Do you know how creepish searching worms is?

 

I finally came to the conclusion that maybe I just interrupted that worm’s Friday happy dance. 😀

H is for Hunting

Not in the traditional sense but I am on the hunt for the perfect dress. And it’s been tough so far.

I thought I had all of my wardrobe picked out for the pageant that’s coming up at the end of June. A couple of days ago, the person I thought was going to be doing my hair and make up said she really didn’t want to do pageant hair and make up anymore so I was left scrambling to find someone else to do that. I’m glad I learned that when I could still find someone!

Anyway, that prompted me to go through and look at my wardrobe again, see how it looked as I continue to lose weight since I purchased everything. I put on the dress I got for my judges interview and I hated it!  I hated it so bad that I’m not sure I will like it any better in two months time and so I began my hunt.

The first order of business was to find a shop here in San Jose that sells the kinds of clothes I’m looking for which I did. I ended up at Designer’s Corner looking through what they had. The girl who helped me, Semra, was so nice and so helpful but, after trying a couple of things on, there wasn’t really anything there that I thought would work. I will for sure shop in that store again, though, because they have great customer service and lovely clothes. 

I then wandered around the mall. With my pageant coach sitting on my shoulder saying, “no black or white” every time I gravitated towards a black dress. I felt like I was on “What Not To Wear”.  I found nothing.

I really detest shopping, too, so a trip to the mall wasn’t any fun. Go ahead, take my woman card if you must.

I then came home and began scouring the internet for the perfect dress. Alas, I found nothing. I don’t even know where else to look. I do know that I’ve only been looking for one day and I will continue to look but I’m sincerely open to any places you might know where I can get an awesome dress. 

You know how you have that idea in your head about how you want to look and you can’t completely describe it and you certainly can’t find it? I’m there. 

So there you have it, the big hunt is on. Share your choice hunting grounds with me, please! 🙂