Being a queen isn't just about winning a crown for your head, its about deserving one for your heart!

What an exciting week it has been, more so this weekend. I am so happy for my fellow queens. Two of the most amazing women won pageants this weekend and they definitely deserve it. Now I have not known these ladies for a long period of time, but I do know that they both deserved it. One of my good friends Allison Funds won the Ms. Hope Eastern Shore pageant. And looking at the pic, man does she look stunning. She did well and I didn't even need to be there to know that! She is such a loving and giving person that there was no one the judges couldn't see that. I love you lady and congrats! And anther amazing person to won her pageant was Dawn Hicks who won Mrs. Pennsylvania International! Congratulations lady, I have only gotten the pleasure to meet Dawn briefly but she has such a big heart and cares about the people around her. She has such a sincere countenance and is just beautiful! Congratulations to both of you wonderful ladies, you deserve it. Another girl I had to give a shout out to is Shana Williams. Now her name is no stranger to my blog, she is probably in more posts than I am lol. But she is going to be leaving this week to go to the Mrs. America pageant. I am so happy for her and proud of her accomplishments. She is truly a woman of class and beauty. It hasn't always been super easy for her and there have been many people that try to tear her down, but she keeps going and holds her head up high. I cannot wait to cheer her on while she is at nationals. I know Kevin and I are both looking forward to being there to support her. Good luck to all these ladies, and thank you for being such amazing personifications of what a true queen is! Love you all
P.S. I want to do another quick mention of another lady that I have not had an honor to meet yet but I hopefully will meet her soon. Congratulations to Kate Mack for winning Mrs. Pennsylvania United States (hopefully we will be at nationals together)!

The greatest gift you'll ever learn, is just to love and be loved in return

What a whirlwind it has been the last couple weeks!! I love being busy and having stuff to do, but most importantly I love helping other people when I can. And fortunately I have been able to do that in abundance recently. I feel like helping others helps me find a greater value in myself. I have also noticed that if I feel like I am lacking in a certain area (whether it be pageant related or personal) I can learn alot about it if I help another with a situation that they are going with that might be a similar scenario. Anyways, I have to send a big shout out to my girl Emily Rufo for winning first runner up at the Miss Delaware Outstanding Teen pageant! Girl you made me so proud! You are a force to be reckoned with! I know I would never want to compete against you, your amazing! I have gotten to opportunity to see Emily from the beginning and she has grown so much in such a short period of time, I am like a proud pageant mama. Also, another big thing going on is my friend Mrs. Delaware America, Shana Williams, will be heading off to nationals soon!! I am so excited for her and I can't wait for her to bring back that crown (and my wardrobe.....lol). If anyone can put this little state on the map and bring home a national title like that, its her. I can promise I will probably be the loudest person in that audience (besides her hubby, and we might want to clear out all the glass for the his scream). We recently had her send off party and she is all ready. She is going to kick some royal booty. So as far as pageant prep goes for me, I have started to really kick it into gear. My diet is getting better and I am working out. I have started to go tanning cause I was really starting to resemble Casper the friendly ghost. I read an article not too long ago and I think it has helped me the most prepare for the pageant (and the article was by a great pageant coach names Rhonda Shappert). The article said that when it comes to beauty pageants, you can't compare your worst to someone elses best, thats like comparing apples to oranges (so I can't compare my thunder thighs to someone elses flat stomach it just doesn't work like that). It also went on to say that just because you don't win doesn't mean there was anything wrong with you. You might be the perfect orange but the judges might be looking for an apple. This helped me so much with my pageant prep. I am not striving anymore to get my body in as good a shape as someone elses, I am getting my body in the best shape that Hilarys body can be. Its true when they say that you are your own biggest competition. I need to get myself ready and not worry about what the other girls are doing because that isn't important. Being the best me that I can be is the most important thing. And I can't be the best "me" if I reduce the amazing things I have to bring to the table by comparing them to others. This is going to be a wonderful experience and I want to bring that crown home, but if I don't it won't be because I did something wrong or I messed up in something, or becuase my body wasn't fit enough. It will be because I am the most perfect orange there is, but the judges wanted an apple.

I hope you dance!

So when it comes to events lately I haven't had as many that I have been involved in. Besides my anti-bullying presentation last month I didn't do many things (partially due to the fact that I was extremely sick most of the month, ugh) Anyways, I was going through withdraw when the Heart and Stroke ball came along. This was such a wonderful event. I got the opportunity to put on a gown, get my hubby dressed up and go out to volunteer for this event. This event took place last week at the Chase Center on the Waterfront in Wilmington, DE. Thank you Krista Brazell for the opportunity. They had a great turn out and I am not sure how well the auctions went but me and my pageant sisters were in charge of encouraging people to bid on the silent auction items. This was great for me because, since I like to talk, I got to do exactly that talk to all the attendees. They were all so wonderful and in such a happy mood. Plus hanging out with my pageant sisters was a big plus as well. And I will tell you that my hubby cleans up well, he looked fantastic and I was so happy he was able to attend and volunteer with me. Love you honey! Well, this week is a very very busy week. My favorite teen contestant Emily Rufo is competing this weekend for the Miss Delaware Outstanding Teen. She is going to do a wonderful job and she has been working hard. I can't wait to be there to cheer her on Sunday! Good luck girl! Anyway, I am going to go for now. I hope all of you have a great weekend and if you aren't attending the Miss Delaware Outstanding Teen pageant, shame on you.