Miss Illinois Blog

Follow My Blog After Miss Illinois!

June 10, 2009 | BLOG ENTRY #29

As my final days as Miss Illinois draw nearer, I wanted to make sure I had a way to keep in touch with you all on the web. I created my independent blog "Grilled Cheese Fridays" (You'll have to log on to find out what on Earth that means) and you can find it here: grilledcheesefridays.blogspot.com. I've archived most of my old blogs and hope to keep you updated on the latest and greatest happenings for me post Miss Illinois Land. Thank you for reading this past year and for taking an interest in my year of service – I've enjoyed it so much more knowing that I could share it with you!

Last Monday morning, I toured Marianjoy Rehabilitation Hospital in Wheaton and met with the Golf Outing Committee to discuss their upcoming event on July 13th. Marianjoy is a state-of-the-art facility and I was excited to see the ways this center helps patients of all ages rehabilitate in mind, body, and soul.

The next day, I drove over to Oak Park to participate in one of the many ceremonies for Marine Week. I was excited to meet up with Don Haines again (a retired Marine himself) and had my very own Marine escort, SGT Delgado, for the entire evening. I signed tons of autographs that day and spoke to the crowd about being thankful for the service of these brave men and women. We came across some familiar faces like the Patriot Guard Riders, USO members, and Gold Star Families and met many media outlets who were there to cover the event! My favorite part of the evening, however, was dining with the Marines in the "mess hall," if you will, over delicious Buona Beef! A beauty queen, scores of brave men, and beef – what more could you ask for?

Friday brought me downtown to the Chicago Board of Trade with Children's Memorial Hospital and CMN! We sold tickets for their annual car raffle and received a great response from people wanting to support the children. Children's Memorial has a great group of volunteers and I had a wonderful afternoon with them!

The weekend took me to Gurnee and Winthrop Harbor for a Pageant and a Fashion Show! Kristen Ruchti was kind enough to host me overnight at her home while I judged the Miss Winthrop Harbor Pageant on Saturday. I had a wonderful afternoon with the other judges and organizers and loved meeting the contestants of all age levels. The pageant was a first-rate show and thank you to Robin Ruchti for continuing the tradition with Miss Illinois as a judge!

The next morning I helped support the Miss Northern Suburbs Pageant as a model in their Fashion Show! Sherrie Gearheart, Miss Northern Suburbs, gave two wonderful performances and many local titleholders modeled the latest fashions from Kohl's! (During my fitting earlier in the week I loved my outfit so much that I bought it right there!) The event was a huge success and thank you to the Ruchti's, again, for having me.

I reached a nice touchstone this week when I was able to speak at the Chicago Financial District's Rotary Club. This club has been with me throughout my entire journey as Miss Illinois from my very first appearance as Miss Chicago, to making me an honorary member as Miss Illinois, to having me back again to reflect on my year. I can't thank them enough for their support and would like to encourage you all to participate, volunteer, or donate to their Race To The Finish to eradicate polio on Sunday, June 14th in Chicago – you can find out more information here: http://www.racetothefinish.org.

Our Miss Illinois Outstanding Teen and Preteen Competitions as well as our Illinois Talent Competition were both held the weekend of the 23rd and 24th. All the shows were a huge success and a big "thank you" and "congratulations" are in order for Scott Billadeau, Tiffanie Rafdahl, Rebecca Cutler, and our many volunteers for their hard work making these events possible! Congratulations to our new MIOT Andrea Novak, our very first MIOPT Peyton Tucker, and our talent winner Kole Bossong! One of the highlights for me was being able to perform with my Princess – Jessica Durante (J. Dur). After two months of practices at the Durante's home, we did a duet to "Popular" from Wicked. We had so much fun with this musical theatre number and we're still receiving compliments! Thank you to Laura Durante for letting us dance around your basement, eat your food, and, of course, for your costuming, ideas, and inspiration.

On Memorial Day, I traveled out to Hoffman Estates to honor our service men and women who died in action as well as to recognize those currently serving and our veterans. I enjoyed researching the history of the day and was proud to find that Illinois' own John A. Logan was instrumental in garnering national attention and participation. I encouraged my audience to take this day as a reminder to ask our local heroes about their experiences and to share the stories of the fallen. It is through these stories that their memories live on and they shall not have died in vain. The reception afterward was wonderful and I was happy to meet so many patriots in Hoffman Estates!

Wrapping up the school year, I spoke at St. John's Lutheran in Elgin and Pleasantdale Middle School in Burr Ridge. Great audiences as always but, even after all the schools I've done, these two still surprised me. At St. John's, I did my first presentation ever in the pulpit of a church and at Pleasantdale I judged their amazing talent show! I have to give a "shout out" to "Four Bullets Left", an 8th grade band that handed me a signed mini guitar afterward! (I remained objective in my scoring of course!) Thank you to Jennifer and Mike for a great lunch as well.

I was thrilled to be able to spend so many of my last days as Miss Illinois with our National Partner to raise funds for a Children's Miracle Network hospital. I signed autographs and took photos at a Chicago Costco and participated in one of my favorite appearances to date. On Sunday, I spent the entire day speaking Spanish at the La Que Buena Radiothon in the Little Village of Chicago and loved every second of it. I signed autographs and took photos with the adorable children who came "por los ninos" and even conducted an entire interview on air in Spanish! I was terrified to go on stage to speak but everyone encouraged me to say what I could and to switch to English if I was at a loss for words. "El Pistolero" was the nationally syndicated host who interviewed me and I even got to meet one of the stars from "La Nuestra Belleza Latina"- a cross between a beauty pageant and a reality show that airs on Univision! It was wonderful to see the generosity of so many individuals and to see the community come together to support Children's.

My path happily crossed with Joe Cantafio and the 101st Rock Division band at the Chicago Machine Lacrosse game. They were awesome, as always, and I found myself singing along with the great classic rock they played! I had a great time greeting the fans and was happy to attend my first ever lacrosse game AND my first trip to Soldier Field!

I wrapped up this week with the Little Miss Wonder Lake Pageant. In their inaugural year, the pageant was beautifully run and every detail was taken care of! I was head judge with two other community members and we listened as the 5-7-year-olds answered questions about themselves, their pets, and their annoying brothers and sisters. Little Miss Wonder Lake was the epitome of the kind of self-esteem and confidence building experience that children's pageants should be (no makeup or crazy dresses) and I was happy to be a part of such a positive experience for these girls.

Less than two weeks until we have our next Miss Illinois – ah! Good luck girls!

KT :)
Miss Illinois 2008
MissIllinois2008@gmail.com