One ending equals another beginning...

Wow! I can't believe it is June and I am in the midst of preparing for my farewell pageant. The journey to Miss America has taught me so much, and to know that I accomplished my dream is amazing. The journey has been full of emotional struggles and successes, blood, sweat and tears, sore muscles, tired feet, long hours, lonely car trips, crazy reality tv moments, amazing friendships, and events that I will never forget. God paved the road and led me through the speed bumps, curves, hills, and straight-aways, and His plan has been far better than anything I could've imagined!



A small recap of what I've done this year.... 63 platform appearances, 14 events with Children's Miracle Network, including establishing a formal partnership/working relationship, was part of a reality tv show, spoke about my faith on several occiasions, was a guest at Senator McCain's Election night watch party where I was interviewed by media from around the world, gave the Keynote address at Buena's 2009 graduation ceremony, and made over 230 appearances around our state, traveling over 30,000 miles! I met some incredible women, made some great friends and will always think back on this year with fond memories! To know that a dream 12 years in the making has come true and is about to end is so bittersweet! Its going to be tough to close this chapter in my life....to put the dance shoes and costumes away.... to pack the gowns and swimsuits up.... to mark competing at Miss America off my list of things to do in my life..... no doubt there will be tears. But its been a great ride and I know the tears are not of sadness, but rather they are tears of accomplishment, gratitude and happiness. Tears that represent the payoff of all the hours in the gym, studio, classroom....all the doubters who were wrong (not just this year, but every year since I was about 10), the personal triumph over low self esteem and self-doubt that came as a result of listening to the doubters for so many years..... Just tears that will represent all the emotions I've experienced along the way.

But as this chapter ends, I also know the next chapter that opens will be full of new experiences, new dreams, and new goals. Starting when I get back I will be leading a non-profit and we will start the process of filing for 501c3 status. I will be speaking about my faith at a conference for Christian athletes, and in July, I will start my career in Public Health, as a curriculum development specialist with the Arizona Nutrition Network. I will also start thinking about getting married to Adam, the most amazing guy who has been by my side through all of this! And of course....spending lots of time with my pups, Mollie and Bruce (and Wrigley!). I'm looking forward to UA football and basketball games as a normal spectator, normal work week hours, a steady income, and life as an ordinary person outside the spotlight! I'm also excited to travel more....Vegas to see B Mills pitch, LA to see Jess and Chris, NYC to see Maria and Tim again, and Abq to visit mom and dad! There's so much life yet to live and I am excited!!!!!!

So yes....closing this chapter will be emotional. Its an end to a very long journey, knowing that the mission was accomplished! But it's also the beginning of a new journey....one that looks like it will have just as much excitement as the road I'm leaving behind!

I look ahead knowing no matter what path life takes us all down, we always have a rearview mirror full of memories, a path before us to travel, and a lots GPS navigators called friends! Thanks to everyone who's been a part of this journey!

Now...on to the next chapter, right??!!

Back to work!

After a wonderful weekend in ABQ with the parents, I'm home and back to work! Gotta love Nutrition Network interviews, Miss AZ Staff gifts (and clothes and such), appearances, traveling and a bit of normalcy with Adam and company. I was thinking May would be a slow month, but I've got 16 appearances, a trip to NYC, plus all the Miss AZ farewell stuff like thank yous, letters, ads, collages, speeches, gifts, and production stuff! Oh my!!!! So much to do, so little time! I guess that's how I work best though.... I will try to keep you updated as much as possible! Until then, let's pray I get everything done!

Oh the stresses of working with Teachers!

Have any of you seen this picture? The Food Guide Pyramid looks a lot different than the old one, huh? They've even changed it since I was in school, but I like this new design. One thing I've learned though is that it is difficult to teach kids in K-2 about this pyramid....I mean... when kids are that age, they learn to group things by color. To a kindergarten student, grapes would probably go in the purple group, blueberries in the blue group, carrots in the orange group etc. However, that's not the case. The grapes, blueberries, strawberries and green apples all go in the red group, the carrots go with the spinach, tomoatos and onions in the green group and so on....That could be pretty confusing for young kids, and as a result, teachers are looking for simple ways to teach about the food guide pyramid. So....my new job will partly be to create lesson plans and resources that do just that! But...how did I learn this was a difficult thing for students to learn? Well...I have been conducting interviews for the Arizona Nutrition Network, conducting an impact evaluation to determine why teachers are or aren't teaching nutrition in schools! It's been a fascinating process, but it's getting a little stressful now!

I only have 11 school days left to complete 13 interviews with teachers! Theoretically, that's not too hard. However, I've been calling and calling and calling the 13 remaining teachers and they never answer their phones! So.....I just emailed the contact person at each school to get the emails of the teachers I haven't talked with and all I can do is hope they get back to me and that the teachers get back to me too! I mean....42 surveys takes a lot of time, and getting 29 of them done is great, but 42 isn't necessarily the best sample size and I MUST complete these before school is out otherwise my project will be majorly delayed. NOT GOOD AT ALL! The Nutrition Network has already been so patient with me, allowing me to travel and do Miss AZ stuff, and they never complained when my priority was Miss America Prep and not Nutrition Network Impact Evaluation, so I feel even more pressure to finish on time and do a good job, ya know?

And as if that weren't difficult enough.... I can't just call any of my teacher friends and interview them. There are very specific guidelines for who can be intereviewed, and all the teachers must be elementary school teachers in the Sunnyside School District! Oh well....guess we just keep trying!

On a lighter note though....I LOVE what I'm doing! I get to interview teachers about an amazing nutrition education program and I get to learn why teachers don't teach nutrition, what's so difficult about it, and I find out lots of interesting facts about how many know their wellness policies, how many of them enforce the state snack policy, etc. They also give amazing feedback and suggestions on how we can improve the program, and in July, when I'm a part time Graduate Assistant at the Network, I will be have the cool job of analyzing all the data and making the improvements suggested, as well as create any resources and materials we don't have but teachers want! It's a pretty cool process and I love what I do!

In the end, I guess the stress of completing the interviews isn't that big of a deal, as long as I love what I do, right???

Big Opportunity came up today.....

As many of you may or may not know, I have been a member of the Healthiest Town in America committee, where we were trying to get people in Oro Valley, Arizona to wear pedometers, track their steps, and commit to not gain one pound. Well...one man had the vision, he brought all the right people to the table, but he lacked organization and public health management skills. As a result, he felt overwhelmed with all the activities going on, and no one on the committee felt any sense of ownership about the project. The visionary decided it was too much to do alone, so he stepped down. This left us in quite a predicament. The visionary who had been the only person doing the work was stepping down and no one else knew what to do or how to do it. We met today to re-evaluate where we are going, and only 5 of the 15 committee members came to the meeting. I hope it's just because everyone forgot, but my gut says most people walked away when the visionary gave up. Having a background in public health certainly came into play today though! I suggested we step back and clearly define our mission statement, and our objectives. We then brainstormed the different committees and projects we would need to pursue our mission. What we established is that we need a President so we can incorporate, and a corporation so we can apply for 501c3 status. Well...being that no one else at the meeting wanted to be the President or assume the responsibility, and because running a non-profit is on my list of things to do, I threw my name out there as a possible leader for the group. Crazy how life comes at you sometimes! So....After leading the small group through an organizational planning process, I am now ready to email possible committee members, bring people back to the table, and move forward with an initiative that's already off the ground. What's even more amazing is that this is really a cutting edge project. We will apply for a few grants, but won't present this as a research project. This is a true community initiative to improve the health of its citizens. It's also a very small segment of Tucson, which makes it a rather small project, and is the first step in building my resume so that I can run a state health department some day. While I love the hands on nutrition education, I also love leadership and management. I guess I'm like my mother in that I just have a leadership instinct and love being able to create effective community groups! If this all works out, I will be so excited! I mean....eventually we could get a paper out of this too (being published in an academic journal is another lifetime goal of mine....could do it with this project too!). So in closing...I have no idea where this will go, or if we will even succeed, but I am willing to give it my best shot! If it works, amazing! If not, well that's okay too because it will be a real world life lesson in public health leadership. Its a win-win for me either way! When an opportunity knocks, you have to be willing to invite it in for dinner!

If anyone is interested in checking out what Healthiest Town in America is all about, you can visit www.healthiesttowninamerica.com

The Slow Down

Wow.... Only 46 days left in my year as Miss AZ! My how time flies! This has been a year full of friendships, once in a life time memories, personal growth, challenges, and more miles on one car than I care to count! But...it's all been worth it! Will I see the mark I made in obesity statistics? Of course not! But I do hope that I've helped a few people along the way lead healthier lifestyles!

Since I realize that it would be quite a shock to go full speed ahead until June 20 and then expect life to just magically return to normal isn't going to happen, I've begun slowing down my appearances and spending more time working on my Master's internship project. I must say that working with the Arizona Nutrition Network has certainly made me excited for the next phase in my life....I mean...on July 1 I will start my career in nutrition education and public health! Every time I do an interview with a teacher about the Network, I leave there feeling like I have the best job ever! Its so interesting and I think I've found my calling!

I also realized the other day that after June 20, for the first time in my life....I won't have an extra curricular activity. No dance, no gymnastics, no platform presentations and pageant prep, no pomline practice, no UA games. I will just be Erin the grad student and Adam's girlfriend. I know that I am way too involved to be okay with that, and I had an event this past weekend raising money for a great organization called Parent Aide, which aims to prevent child abuse in Tucson. I love nutrition but also feel like I can do more to give back, so I'm hoping to start volunteering with them once all this is done too!

And of course...I'm super excited for a cruise with Jess (Adam's sister) for her bachelorette party, Internationals for Cinderella as Madison's chaperone, and Jess and Chris's wedding! Then it will be back to school and the life I had before it all changed a year ago!

Life is good and I am so incredibly blessed!

Good night all!