Wow, what a busy week!

On Monday, I gave three speeches to three different elementary schools: Oil Hill, Benton and Towanda (Where our very own Miss Kansas 2006, Michelle Loss is from). What was so cool was that Michelle even showed up! I must say it is great to have the support from all of the previous Miss Ks that I have been able to keep in contact with. On top of that, the kids were incredible!!! All of the tricks I had up my sleeve worked. I would love to write all about some of the things we did, but I definitely do not want to give it away, just in case any of you reading this happen to be at one of my presentations.

On Tuesday, I drove up to Topeka to meet with the United School Administrators of Kansas. I was also able to pick up material to hand out to kids in schools at the Kansas Family Partnership. Then, I was lucky enough to grab dinner with a friend and his wife from the Kansas Advisory Group. From there, I made my way to Kansas City to stay with my older brother, his wife, Jade (their dog) and Kitty (their cat).

I love my trips to KC because I get to stay with my brother and his dog. The thing you do not know is that their dog Jade was originally my dog. I used to work at a dog kennel and at the time had a white lab named Dolly. A different dog at work had too many puppies than she could take care of, and my dog miscarried her dogs but still had milk. We took a few of the dogs from the dog at the kennel and put them on my dog, Dolly. One of those puppies grew up to be Jade, a red labradoodle. Jade is quite possibly one of the coolest dogs ever! Of course I think this because I raised her, so she is just the perfect dog for me. Sadly, when I went to college, my parents gave Jade to my brother to take care of her, but at least she is still in the family!

Today, I went to Cheney Grade School, Middle School and High School. I gave five presentations at the middle school and one each at the grade school and the high school. It was such a full day. It was very cool to be in Cheney (and Towanda I should say) because they are celebrating Red Ribbon Week. Red Ribbon Week ties directly into my platform because it deals with not doing drugs. I was given a red ribbon by a couple of the high school students at Cheney and wore it the rest of the day. Giving that many talks in a day was scary at first, but it went by much faster than I thought it would have. Now I know that I can do it!

Tomorrow is Halloween!!!!! I absolutely love Halloween! I think I have dressed up almost every year as a pirate for some time now. This year, however, I will be dressing up with a group of friends as an emo band--at least I hope everyone else dresses up too. We all have short, dark hair, so it is just perfect!

I have been told my many different sources that people like it when I put music I listen to on here. Right now, I am listening to Explosions in the Sky. This is a completely instrumental band. If you want to give this band a try, you have to listen to the songs the entire way through and you have to listen to more than one. This is the kind of music that either you like it or you don't. Hope you are able to check it out. A great way to test if you like Explosions in the Sky is to listen to them on www.pandora.com.

All right. I think I will head to bed early tonight!!!

In Peace

Emily

I am back.

Of course I have been back for about a week now, but due to some jet lag, I have had to catch up to real time here in Kansas.

I had a wonderful time in Cali with the other 51 Miss America Contestants. I really had some great experiences on both our days taping and our days off and look forward to how the show turns out in January.

Now, it is back to business. Last Sunday, I had an appearance down in Old Town for Lucinda's clothing store, and let me tell you, I love their clothes! To my surprise, there was even a small jazz combo--which, if you know me, this is my forte. It was a really great!

Later in the week, I continued with the Miss America Prep. I must say, every time I go into working on the interview part, I feel incredibly terrified. The good thing, though, is that that terrified feeling is slowly leaving and beginning to turn into excitement and curiosity.

Next week, I look forward to going to the Circle and Cheney school districts to talk to the students.

Even though it is Sunday, some squats and push ups wouldn't hurt a thing!

In Peace

Emily