Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

I am so happy with how the last couple days have been. It has been very eventful and I have been able to appreciate the people I have been with and around. I have been pretty busy, on Tuesday and Thursday I was at the Cecil County Fair. Now if you live in Cecil County please don't be offended but this fair was in the middle of hicks-ville. I didn't know they had hills and mountains and forests anywhere around this area. But apparently they do, I felt like I was in the boondocks. But I still had a good time. The people were very nice and it was a very enjoyable experience. I got my roasted sweet corn, and cotton candy. I was very much a happy camper. I got to meet spectacular people and just have a great time. I will have to say that the highlight of my events did not happy actually at the events themselves. It happened after the event. On Thursday after spending alot of time outside in the heat, I was all sweaty and gross but I was heading to pick up my husband from work right after I was finished at the fair. I was waiting outside for my husband to finish work, when a family approached the door and I couldn't keep my eyes off their beautiful little daughter. She was so cute and she had lost can I say about half of her hair. But despite that she was a very beautiful and healthy looking little girl. I had decided to take my boys inside the building to wait in the AC. After my boys starting playing a little with this little girl, her mother and I got to talking. Now I don't know how I managed to get the nerve to ask, but I managed to ask why her daughter didn't have all her hair. She proceeded to tell me her daughter had alopecia. Now a year ago I would have had no clue what that meant, but since I know Kayla Martell (Miss Delaware America) who suffers from the same thing, I knew what it was. The mother and I (her name is Jill) started talking about Kayla and how much she has accomplished and how good of a role model she is. I found out that Jill and Katie (the little girls name) had attended a conference where Kayla spoke, they had wanted to meet Kayla after the conference but were not able to. Jill said something about Kayla was letting all the girls try on her crown. Well, surprisingly enough since I had just come from an event I had my crown in my car. So I went out and grabbed it and let Katie try it on. She was such a sweet heart and I think being able to do that for someone and seeing her smile like she did, blessed me more and touched my heart more than it did hers. No wonder why Kayla does this, seeing the light in others eyes and knowing that you are making a difference (even if that difference means bringing joy to someone for just a moment) how can you not want to do it. So thank you Jill and Katie for bringing light in to my life. I might never see you again (which I hope I will get another opportunity to see you) but know that you changed my life in the few moments we shared. Well, moving along to unrelated pageant events. My husband and I were able to go out and spend a nice evening with our friends Donovan (Landon's godfather) and Christina. We went to this fabulous restaurant called Ole' Tapas. Now if you have never been to this restaurant or a Tapas style restaurant you are missing out! I had never experienced this place before now but I am so glad we went. And I am so happy with the people we went with. A Tapas style restaurant evidently is smaller portions. So when you eat there you order 2 or 3 things but the portions are really small so you can eat all that you order. Even better, like with us, we all ordered different things and shared it all. What a fun time! And what made it even better is that I got to try things that I would never have ordered. The atmosphere was great the company and food were amazing, we just had a great time. So the place is called Ole' Tapas, you need to get a bunch of friends together and go over there, take your time and just enjoy each others company and some great food. Also, Wednesday night I got to spend the evening with my girl Shana. It was so relaxing to just hang out, eat some Chinese, and just watch a movie. It wasn't just any movie, it was the Mrs. Delaware America video. Now watching that made me realize how desperately I need to work on my walk for the upcoming pageant. It was quite depressing at how bad my walk is. But its good to know what I need to work on to improve myself. Well for now I am done. Have a fantastic weekend everyone

Kids: they dance before they learn there is anything that isn't music.

What a beautiful day it is today. Do me a favor, if you are reading this and you haven't been outside yet today please just step outside for a moment and enjoy the nice breeze and the pretty weather that is not 100 degrees. What a refreshing way to start the week. Although work has been a little hectic this morning, I still feel very good about this week. Well, recapping my weekend. I had a great family weekend. I got a call from my sister on Friday saying that her, her husband and children were going to be going to the Dover Air Force Base Museum on Saturday and asked me if I would like to join. Since I don't get to see my sister as much as I would like I agreed and the moment I told me sons they were excited. They loving seeing their cousins and getting to see airplanes on top of it all was almost too much excitement for their little bodies to handle. So we trekked out into the heat on Saturday to take a look at some airplanes. Although it was hot it was totally worth it because the boys had a blast. And I had a great time as well. So I highly suggest the museum as a nice place to spend a few hours. It was completely free and we got to go into a few planes. We took lots of pictures and just really enjoyed ourselves despite the heat. After the museum and saying our goodbyes to our family we headed back up to Newark and straight to my favorite place, the mall. In case you don't know me I am such a shopper and I had a few things I needed to look for Saturday. While grabbing a bite to eat I ran into my friend Shana and her husband Geoffrey (Geoffrey every time I write your name I can't help but think of the toys r us giraffe, sorry). This was such and unexpected and nice surprise. It had been a few weeks since I had seen my girl and I was in desperate need of girly conversation. So after about an hour of talking and just catching up a little (my sons were so good the whole time, especially after Mr. Geoffrey got them some ice cream!) we were off in search of a book and a peach dress. Fortunately I was able to find both! In August I will be participating in the Peach Blossom pageant (I will be crowning the Mrs. winner) and the Peach Blossom Parade, so I figured I needed a peach dress and was fortunate to find one. Moving on, on Sunday my parents came up to church and we went to lunch after. Lately my parents have been coming to the church that I am a member at. I always love seeing my parents and getting to spend time with just them is always a nice way to spend any part of the day. All in all I had a spectacular weekend and I hope all of you did too. Tomorrow I will be making an appearance at the Cecil County fair, as well as Thursday. I am always excited about doing appearances, it will be fun. And to be honest any excuse to wear my crown again is a plus, lol. My recent undertaking has been making these little totes (see pic). I made them for the state title holders before they left to go to the national pageant. I put a few little odd and end stuff in them that I thought they might need for the pageant. It was fun to make them and I figured I would share them with you guys. Have a great week guys and I will probably do another update later this week

Wherever you go, no matter what the weather, always bring your own sunshine.

This week so far has been a roller coaster of a week. I am very glad tomorrow is Friday. Its so nice to know that this weekend I will have off. Hopefully it will be a nice relaxing weekend. In my previous post I was informing everyone that I will be at the Delaware State Fair on the 24th, 25th and 31st. Well it turns out that they no longer need me for the event. Which is fine, it was a little disappointing because I was looking forward to being there. But things happen and you just need to move on. Although the whole situation was not in vain because I did learn alot about the importance of recycling not only on the earth but on the economy as well. And I feel lucky that I was able to be educated on this. Well, moving on the more things in the life of Hilary. I feel very accomplished about the fact that I have lost 3 pounds since I started Insanity!!! And I can already feel that I am starting to tighten up jiggly areas. If things keep going this well then I know I will feel fantastic when I step on that stage. I was thinking about how fantastic all the girls looked at the Mrs. Delaware United States pageant this year. In swimwear the ladies looked so good. It got me to thinking about how I wanted to look while I am up there on stage. I came to this conclusion, I am never going to look like some of those girls. I can try and try and try but my body isn't like theirs and it never will be. But if I keep working hard and keep working out like I have been then I know I will get my body into fantastic shape. So what if I don't look like some of those other girls, my body is totally different then theirs. And if I can feel like I look fantastic, then that confidence will show on stage whether my body is the best looking or not. Knowing that I can accomplish what I want in my body and what works for my body (which might be totally different then what works for other people) that confidence is what is going to be shining most to those judges. I can't compare myself to those other girls. Well, actually I could compare myself to those other girls, and I could say "man I wish I looked like her or that my body was a nice as hers" but how does that help me reach my ultimate goal. Which in all reality is to win the pageant. That kind of thinking will do me more harm then good. So I am determined that when I walk on that stage I am going to be looking fantastic and I am going to feel wonderful because I know that I will be in wonderful shape and that my body will be looking great even if my body doesn't the same as some of the other ladies I am still going to be shining with confidence!! Moving on to other things, My friend Shana Williams pulled me into doing this 5K Mud run. What was I thinking? I am going to try it, but I might have to end up attaching a cord to Shana and have her drag me. But its for a good cause and I am sure I will have fun with Shana and a few other girls. Ok guys this is me signing off have a great day!

Can you imagine a world without men? No crime and lots of happy fat women.

Another day, another week. It feels like time has been going by so quickly as of lately. I can't believe that July is almost over. Before we know it Christmas time will be here (and I am definitely not ready for that). I have been pretty busy planning my scheduled lately. I am so thankful for winning the title of Mrs. Patriotic United States, it has opened up so many doors and opportunities for me. This weekend I will be at the Delaware State Fair to promote a Coca-Cola Recycle program. Although I will not be appearing as Mrs. Patriotic it is a great opportunity to really educate people on the importance of Recycling. It not only directs things away from landfills, it also saves alot of energy and generates jobs and money (which in turn helps our economy). Did you know that recycling one aluminum can saves enough energy to run a TV for 3 hours? Also, plastic soft drink bottles can be recycled into polyester fiber, the same as that used in clothing. Five bottles make enough polyester for one t-shirt! I didn't know this stuff before and I think its fantastic we are taking the steps to educate people. I feel excited to have this opportunity and to share with others about the importance of doing our part in keeping our earth healthy. So anyway, I will be at the Delaware State Fair on the 24th, 25th and 31st. So if you are there come by the Coca-Cola Recycling center and say hi. I always love to see familiar faces and meet new people. More on the pageant front, my beautiful ladies are in Vegas now for the Mrs. United States pageant. I am so thrilled for them all and I know each and every one will be spectacular. One of the hardest things that I have come across preparing for the Mrs. Delaware United States pageant is figuring out my platform. For those of you who are not familiar with what a platform is, I will explain. In pageants a platform is very essential, and it is a cause that during your rein you will raise awareness for. Now this platform can be anything you are passionate about. Since I am very new back into the pageant world I am struggling what my platform will be. There are so man causes that are worth my time and effort, that I have trouble picking one to focus on. So recently the hunt for a platform has ensued. Yes, I have an idea on what would be sufficient for me but just figuring out what I want to represent is a little easier then going about representing it. Now for those of you who don't know pageants, when I decide on a pageant I am not bound to only represent that cause. I can still participate and raise funds toward any other cause. But my platform will be my main focus.If you are still a little confused go to Google and type the name Kayla Martell and read. She is a wonderful example when it come to representing her platform which is awareness of alopecia. Kayla is Miss Delaware America 2010 and she is such an amazing woman and an inspiration to many. Anyway, enough about platform. I feel as long as I am helping people and making a difference then the platform will come to me. And making a difference in others lives is so important.In other news I am going to be doing an event called Skydive for a Cure. Its with the American Lung Association and if I raise $300 I will be jumping out of a plane in support of this great association. I have always wanted to skydive and I have never really had the guts to actually do it. But I figure if I am going to do it I might as well do it for a good cause. I am so excited about this. The date of the event is August 22nd. If you would like to sponsor me please go to this website http://action.lungusa.org/site/TR/General/ALAMA_Mid-Atlantic?px=4273368&pg=personal&fr_id=2191&et=gRYW_nUPYn3QPQxLsMmbNg..&s_tafId=13535 this is a good opportunity for me to mix fundraising and fun!! I need as much help as I can get to reach my goal of $300. Another aspect of preparing for the Mrs. Delaware United States pageant has been my workout. It has been coming along so nicely and I have really been pushing myself to get my body into shape. Along with a not so strict diet plan (it started out as strict) I have been working out daily and I feel great. I was thinking about participating in a 5k event in September but I am not sure how ready I am for that. I doubt I am in good enough shape to do any kind of distance running. Although hopefully I will be there eventually. I have thought about adding a running regime to my workout but I am not sure that I will really be able to find the time to do that. We will see, I am dead set on getting this body stage ready come June 12, 2011. So I am starting to become long winded with my blog today so I am going to end here. I hope you all have an amazing week!

People say that losing weight is no walk in the park. When I hear that I think, yeah, that's the problem.

It begins. My fight for fitness. I have to admit that when it comes to eating healthy and working out I am no expert. I slack sometimes....well all the time. Exercising and working out does not come easy to me by any means. I try to rationalize that its because I am busy and I have kids blah blah blah. Which is very true. Its hard to find time to go to the gym or even turn on a video when you have 2 kids and a dog trying to jump on your back. But when it boils down to it I can only say I am making excuses. So enough is enough I am going to do it. I started last night with this workout video called Insanity. Don't let the name fool you, Insane is a complete understatement for what this workout is like. I have had workouts where I was so sore the next day that I couldn't move. Well this is like that but it wore me out so bad I am still exhausted from it! Which is a good thing cause now I know I am so bad at it that I can only get better. So officially day one starts today. Yesterday was the Fit Test so now I am going to get down and dirty with it tonight. I am not going to quit, I gotta get in shape, bikini body here I come! I have a year before the Mrs. Delaware United States and I plan on looking fabulous is the dreaded swimwear portion of the competition. I figure if I start working really hard at it now that I will be able to cheat a little bit when Thanksgiving and Christmas time arrives. Alot of people told me I need to take before and after pics. Well as much as I love you guys I will not be taking any before pics, they are far too depressing and I already know how bad I look in a swimsuit, thank you. So heres to the beginning of my year long fight for the perfect bikini body. I have friends that will help me stay on the band wagon and I have the best hubby ever to make sure I am doing everything right. I am going to really fight for it but it will be worth it. I guess it was a good thing that when I bought my evening gown and interview outfit that I got the size that was a little bit too small. So now if I want any of my wardrobe to fit I am going to have to work at it. What I am striving for is the jaw drop at the pageant. I don't want people to believe me when I say I have 2 kids lol. And let me tell you the day after the pageant my breakfast, lunch and dinner will consist of Cold Stone Ice Cream. Until then bye bye my dear friend you have treated me all too often to yummy goodness that is so not healthy for me any way you slice it.

A friend knows the song in my heart and sings it to me when my memory fails.

What a great couple days. I don't think I have ever said how much I truly love my life, my family, my husband, and my friends. Yeah it is never really "perfect" but I can always sit back and say how blessed I am. I have come across so many amazing people in the past 6 months. It really does my heart good to meet new people and to instantly become friends with the wonderful women I have come into contact with. I am also blessed to have such an amazing husband. I will be the first to admit that being married to me is like a bed of roses with lots of thorns. I am not the easiest person to be around 100% of the time. But my husband makes me want to be that person because he is such a wonderful and supportive person. Yes, we have our ups and downs but the ups more than outweigh the downs and I still am totally and deeply in love with him. And my love for him just keeps growing. Being in pageants has really given me this wonderful peace about me. So I might not win every pageant I enter, but at least I try and that is very fulfilling for me. Of course it is more fulfilling when I do win but I have such amazing friends and family that when I do not win, I still feel like a winner. Speaking of pageants I want to say a big good luck to our fabulous Mr. title holders who will be leaving this weekend to go to Mrs. United States in Vegas!!! Lots of hugs and well wishes to Mrs. Delaware Carrie Richey, Mrs. Maryland Allison Zmuda, Mrs. Pennsylvania Susan Huntley and Mrs. Virginia Angie Ashby-Whittle you guys will be fantastic!! We had a send off party for these ladies yesterday. It was so much fun meeting the girls I had not met before, and just being around such fun and positive ladies. Being around their energy made my day. Here these ladies are about to compete against each other for the Mrs. united States pageant but they were acting like they were all old friends, what a good testament about what pageants are really about. Yes pageants are about pretty women, and pretty crowns but they are mostly about the embodiment or what true beauty is on the inside and out. The most important thing we can do when we go to these pageants is to make our voices heard about the causes we support. Its alot of fun getting dressed up and all glammed up but in the end if we can change one persons life, then for me its worth it all. Thank you ladies for not only being an inspiration for me but for the other people around you and for being a good role model. You can't ask for much more. Moving on, I am very excited about the fact that I am helping a girl enter a pageant. She is going to be in the Jr Miss division of a pageant coming up. Her name is Jenna and she is already looking spectacular. I am helping her out with her speech and with her walk. Its alot of fun and I think I am probably more excited about it then she is. I already think she is going to take home the crown! Ok enough is enough I am going to get off this thing. Going to start my workout tonight. I am very excited, this is my first jump start into pageant mode. I am going to be doing a program called Insanity and it sure looks insane so we will see if I can function tomorrow, wish me luck!

When you have only two pennies left in the world, buy a loaf of bread with one, and a lily with the other.

What a short work week I have had. Its so nice to have only worked 3 days and then off for 2. I am sure it has been a short work week for many people due to the past holiday weekend. I am looking forward to relaxing this weekend from a busy holiday. Its nice to actually take a break from life. And just sit at home and enjoy your family time. So, I have been thinking alot about beauty and beautiful people lately. I can't really help but think about this because I am surrounded by beautiful people on a daily basis. I am consistently around ladies from the pageant system (I call it a pageant sorority because you don't have to know all the ladies but you still feel close to them), and even when I am at work and just going out into the world beautiful people are everywhere. To be brutally honest the kind of beauty I am speaking of is outward beauty. Now I am a firm believer in the fact that true beauty truly comes from within (have you read the title of my blog). But what is is about these people that makes my eye go to them? Now of course that is such an easy question to answer, because they are beautiful duh! But some of the people that I classify as beautiful are actually pretty average looking. But maybe that is just my opinion. But some people, maybe if they wouldn't dress quite as nicely or if they didn't spend as much time on their hair, wouldn't have even caught my attention. So why am I so stuck on this? Truthfully I don't even know. I consider myself one of those average people. I feel that if I didn't take that extra little bit of time in the morning I could go by my day completely unnoticed. It wasn't until very recently that I really grasped the concept of confidence being like an accessory that you have to put on everyday to complete your outfit. Confidence can get you just as much attention as say a well fitting pair of jeans. For example, when I am wearing a dress that I feel really killer in, then I know that someone is going to say something to me. Whether that someone be a girl saying she liked my dress or a guy trying to flirt with me, I know I will get noticed. And I know part of that is from the way I feel in that dress, my attitude while I am wearing it. So learning how to carry this attitude with me while I am wearing jeans and a t-shirt is key. And I do say learning because for many people this attitude doesn't come naturally. I know for me it doesn't. So I guess this really goes back to the fact that some beauty comes from within. Beauty is as much an attitude as it is physical. Now I will be the first to admit that there are many people who are beautiful physically, so much so that they don't even need that attitude. There are so many women that I know could fall out of bed into a potato sack and run out of the house barefoot without running a comb through their hair and they would get attention for looking so beautiful. Why is attention so valuable to some people? I will admit that I am one of those people that likes to be noticed. I enjoy going to appearances with my crown and sash on because I know I will stand out in a way. So is this a good or bad attitude to have? I feel it is a very normal attitude because people like approval. So you might be asking yourself at this point where am I going with this. In all honesty I have not the foggiest idea. But in conclusion attitude is such a factor in beauty as with many other things in life. Although taking care of yourself and caring enough about yourself to go that extra little bit to present yourself makes a difference too. But doesn't wanting to go that little extra also stem from attitude and the way you perceive yourself? Ha! I finally actually made some kind of point

Always act like you're wearing an invisible crown.

Wow, what a weekend! I hope everyone had a fantastic 4th of July, I know I did. what an amazing time to spend with families and friend, and to even make new friends. This past Saturday was my first appearance as Mrs. patriotic and what a wonderful experience it was! On the 3rd I was able to participate in the first annual Middletown Jaycees 4th of July parade. I am still smiling from the experience it was such a blast. Everyone who was in the parade looked spectacular! What a great way to kick off my year. Thank you to everyone who made it happen. I really enjoyed all of the happy and friendly people waving as we drove by. One of the more memorable things for me was when we were driving by a little girl and her mom, as she was waving to me she said to her mom "look mommy she looks just like Cinderella". I was also able to see Carrie Mrs. Delaware US and Kayla Miss Delaware America. They both looked fantastic and I was so thrilled to see them both. My husband and my sons were able to participate in the parade. My work, Advance Inc participated in the parade and my husband and sons were able to ride on the truck and wave. They were so adorable. Another highlight to the weekend was that I finally got to meet my new nephew Gideon. He is only about a week old and he is cute and so little. It was nice to be able to spend some time with my family on Saturday. My sons enjoyed the fireworks they liked all the different colors. Sunday was also very eventful. My parents came to church with me in the morning. It is always nice when they decide to make the trip up here. Sunday evening I made an appearance at the Liberty Day in Newark. It was a different kind of appearance with lots of pictures and conversing with many people. But it was equally as fun as the previous appearance. I like being around people and just enjoying others company even if it is only for a moment while I take a picture with them. Thank you to everyone who attributed to such a successful weekend for me. I look forward to future appearances. I can't wait for what this year has in store!