Orientation & Passing on my crown

The first weekend in March is notoriously the Miss Michigan orientation weekend. Also held that weekend is the Miss Lighthouse Coast pageant, where it was time for me to pass on my crown.



Sometimes I can't believe I even won Miss Lighthouse Coast. Maybe I was lucky, or in the right place at the right time...but either way, I won the final sweeps pageant that sends one last girl on to state. This year I passed the title on to Tiffany Rogers, and we are all very excited for her. It was sad for me to say goodbye to my ED Shelby, but we remain friends and still talk quite a bit.



Now I'm all Miss SCS as my director Liz would say! At orientation I chose my contestant number- 15, the final contestant of the Alpha group. I was also assigned my roommate...drumroll please...none other than my pageant friend Morgan Lind! We are going to have so much fun and hopefully not get into so much trouble along the way.



I am really looking forward to the state pageant this June. Self-improvement is a lot of hard work, but ultimately very, very worthwhile.

Angela

Project Alert, Teen Intervene & IHOP Pancake Day!

Woooohooooooooo it's pageant season!


On the 22nd of February I visited with 3 middle school classrooms at Clintondale Middle School as part of the Project Alert campaign through CARE. It was a segment for middle school students about ATOD (alcohol, tobacco and other drugs.) I helped give a 'drug quiz' to find out about what the students knew about drugs...and found that numerous students believed some pretty common myths. I got to help debunk those myths. We also discussed goals: why it's important to have goals, how to achieve them and when to begin working to achieve them. The time to begin is always- NOW!




I then spent my Saturday volunteering with Teen Intervene. This is a program for high school kids who have experimented with drugs/alcohol, have run into problems because of it and a family member has signed them up for this all-day seminar. The parents have their own meeting for most of the day, and the students have a separate meeting. We discussed various things like how to avoid a full-fledged addiction: stopping NOW while they are still in the experimentation or misuse stage. We did the 'slippery slope' activity, one of my favorites, and I found that every student really bought into this activity. We also did some interactive coordination experiments involving "drunk goggles."






On 2/28 (National Pancake Day!) I visited two IHOP locations to help raise funds for Children's Miracle Network Hospitals, Miss America's National Platform, of course! I met some fun friends along the way and had just a great time. I really enjoyed being a part of Pancake Day!








xoxo,
Ang

Chili Cook Off, Miss LTU & Oh so much more

This week I attended ST. Clair Shores annual Nautical Mile Chili Cook Off at Blossom Heath Inn. I had so much fun sampling chili with my Teen & Little and meeting all kinds of new faces at this event. Oh, and how could I forget- our very own Miss SCS Gobble It Up Chili made by Sara-rose placed 1st in it's category! A proud moment for all parties involved ;)



It's been a crazy time of preparations! I've gotten headshots done, worked on talent and interview preparations all while gearing up for Miss Lighthouse Coast where I will be passing on my 2011 title. From making up the opening number, cutting music and phone powwows with my lovely ED, this has kept me quite busy!

Tonight I attended the Miss Lawrence Tech University pageant, won by Rachel Sweet. Now, there's an original Rachelle Sweet who is one of my very good friends- but this is a new Rachel Sweet! I look forward to heading to Muskegon with Rachel Sweet- once again :p





Only a few more pageants left to round out our class of 2012, and I'm so excited for each new girl who is crowned. My heart is in this hobby of mine and I plan to stick around for years to come. I have way too much fun with my pageant family to feel any other way!

xoxo,
Angela

Holiday Party & Miss America!

Wrapping up the holiday season in December, the Miss St. Clair Shores family held our annual Christmas party. We exchanged gifts, had dinner and had a great time together. It was wonderful to feel the love from everyone- and not to mention the abundance of gifts that we all received. Thank you, SCS family, for everything!

Little, Teen & Miss SCS with Committee Member Sara-rose.

Opening a few of our cute presents!

The moms, swagger jacking our style! :p

On January 12th I departed for Viva Las Vegas for the Miss America pageant! I attended Thursday night's preliminary competition (and had great seats, might I add!) I got to see Miss Michigan compete in evening gown and turn up the heat in swimsuit.

Some cuties hittin' the town!

I rode in a gondola with Miss Saginaw, attended Le Reve, a Cirque du Soleil performance (for the second time) and had a blast with all of my pageant sisters in Vegas. We attended a former Miss America autograph signing and did a lot of shopping!

Preliminary night Thursday with Brenna and her teen, Sabrina.

The fun weekend culminated in the crowning of Miss America 2012, Laura Kaeppeler from Wisconsin! What a wonderful Miss America she will be. I am glad I was there to 'see fame crowned!' Our own Miss Michigan was 2nd runner up to the Quality of Life Award- wow, what an achievement. Proud to be from the mitten state!

Today marks five months from the Miss MI pageant...get ready everyone, because here we come!

xoxo,

Angela

WERK Miss Michigan!

Song of the week: Domino by Jessie J

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Christmas events galore!

I've been pretty busy with holiday events around the shores!

The tree lighting on 12/2 was the kickoff event. Held in front of City Hall, we got to meet a reindeer, listen to choirs of children singing and watch some dancers perform. Of course, Santa lit up the tree and everyone loved it.

The next morning I attended a Christmas party at Bon Brae Manor with the seniors with my own Little and Teen. We had a blast chatting with so many of the seniors, and even got some good advice. I asked a woman in her nineties what her secret was to a longand healthy life. She answered,'All my life, I've worked very hard, and played hard too!'

Then that night we wereoff to a get together at Rhythm N Jump dance studio. We helped the group collect presents for a sponsored family in the area. I loved seeing all of the wonderful gifts this family would receive, and I'm glad to have been a part of this event.

On Wednesday 12/7 I attended the Pointsetta Ball at Blossom Heath Inn. The ball was a benefit for Toys for Tots as well as Cops for Kids.It was fun to mingle with the guests and help Santa collect all of those toys. I brought a few toys of my own too!

The holidays are almost here! Who's done with their Christmas shopping?!

xoxo,

Angela

Song of the week- Dog Days are Over by Florence & the Machine

Eventful Weeks! Mayor Retiring, Pageants, Violet Elementary & MORE! :)

Teen & Miss with our fab director, LIZ MUNGER!

I've had some eventful weeks! Kicking off the craziness was Mayor Hison's retirement dinner on 11/17. He served as the mayor of SCS for 28 years- and attended the Miss SCS pageant every single year. What a great guy! I'm glad I got to attendhis retirement dinner and say a big THANK YOU to him for supporting our program.

Thank you Mayor Hison!

Us with Mark Hackel, Macomb County Executive

Then was the Miss Capital City pageant in Lansing on 11/20, won by none other than Sydney Learman! Yayyyy, another friend going to Miss MI with me this summer. Great job, Syd and all competitors.

CONGRATS Syd!

The next week on 11/22 I visited the 3rd graders at Violet Elementary. It's always rewarding going into classrooms and talking to kids about peer pressure and staying away from drugs. I was a guest presenter as part of the Protecting You, Protecting Me program with CARE of Southeastern Michigan. I read a story and we discussed how to deal with 'uncomfortable emotions.'

We talked about how your BRAIN is the boss of your BODY. A boy with a puzzled look on his face asked, " If the brain is the boss of your body, what is your HEART the boss of?" Good question...I'll get back to you when I figure that out...If I ever do!

Then was Thanksgiving. Yes beauty queens like carbs too! Well...this one sure does ;) I'm thankful for my family & friends the most. Without them, I'd be nothing....I'm THANKFULfor them.

Then the next morning we had the Santa Claus Mt. Clemens Christmas Parade! My teen and little were in the parade with me and we had so much fun- it was a beautiful day, too! We had so much fun meeting the kids in the parade and taking pictures.

Looking forward to the holidays and my upcoming events. We have quite a few this weekend! I'll be posting soon. MUAH!

xoxo,

Ang

Song of the week- Dance With Me Tonight by Olly Murs. Download it!

Growing Great Girls & Miss GVSU

Lot's of G's in that title! This weekend I presented at the Growing Great Girls event in Allegan, MI- a fundraiser put on by the Miss Allegan County pageant. I had a great time presenting to two different age groups of girls about exactly how to stay drug-free and what it means to have high self esteem. The kids were wonderful!

This was the description from the event's brochure about my session: "It's More Than That!" Plenty gets said about saying no to illegal drugs and alcohol, but how do girls learn to steer clear from those things that don't seem so dangerous? How do they learn to stand up to their peers? Angela Venditti, Miss SCS presents an age-appropriate program designed to address these very issues."

Other guests at the event were Miss MI 2011, Hannah Montgomery (& her puppy Dash, with Dash to Read!) & Miss Allegan County Reed and her OT, Erica.

Then we were off to the Miss GVSU pageant, won by Alexa Allor! It's always fun to cheer from the audience. I also loved seeing my roomie from Miss MI 2011 KRYSTAL WILSON give up the crown. She did such a great job and I teared up doing her last walk....#sappy! I was proud of her for doing such a great job. Thanks to Judy for inviting me for this fun weekend!

The 3 Miss GVSU's!

Special moments with Krystal!

Special moments with Judy!

xoxo,

Angela