Bell Minor Nursing Home Visit: Valentines

Sunday, February 17, the day after Miss Whimsical beauty, some of our girls gathered at Bell Minor Nursing Home for our February Valentine's visit. I looked forward to this more than the pageant I think! WORDS CANNOT EXPRESS HOW PROUD I AM OF THE ONES WHO CAME! 

Words also cannot express how appreciative I am to these sweet and caring mamas who brought the children that day and are teaching them what it means to give back and spend some time with those who don't have a lot of people surrounding them. 

These kids are AMAZING! 

We want to give a huge thank you to our NE crew member, Brianna and also Sabrina who make this possible for us! We are truly a family environment and these girls love each one of them.

We have such a good time! It isn't a sad day that most might think. Its a very uplifting day..for me, the moms and the kids. They get to see how they can touch the hearts of these residents by smiles, hugs and cheap heartfelt crafts. Taking a small ONE or TWO hours out of our busy schedules can change a life. There were several residents who remembered these girls from our Christmas visit. How much more touching can you get?

I wish everyone could understand what it means to these residents when the girls come. I'm crying as I write this because I grew up doing this, I know what it means to them. Those who have never or don't have a want to experience this is truly missing out and the children are missing out. Each of these girls didn't just give a blessing that day, they received one. The won't remember which crowns they won or what sashes looked like when they are 30. They will remember THIS. 

My sweet girls know Im addicted to the Shamrock Shakes. I think every one of them went and got one afterwards! For our Saint Patrick's day visit next month, Im going to take them all out and buy them one myself! Love them! 

So thank you again to the mamas who have had their children a part of this, thank you to Brianna and Sabrina for making this possible and thank you to these girls who have hearts the size of Texas. You ARE making a difference, one life and craft at a time! 

Miss Whimsical Beauty 2013

Saturday, February 16 was our "Valentine's" pageant, Miss Whimsical Beauty. The entire concept behind this pageant was for it to be different and unique, which is what is becoming known of Natural Elegance. I didn't want the typical hearts, puppies, bows and arrows type pageant. So, I thought back to my own childhood of something that I loved, something that made my feel happy and wispy: Miss Whimsical Beauty was born :)

 

I had a vision for this pageant from the very beginning! I was seeing angel wings, flowers, mushrooms, moss! Most everyone around me thought I was a little off my rocker, but I knew it was going to be gorgeous! This was our largest pageant since May with a total of 72 contestants! That is unbelievable! I allowed the divisions to split, so we grew pretty large! 

3 days of making all those tissue paper balls and flowers on the arbor! It turned out STUNNING! We stuffed every nook and cranny we could find. I also spent 3.5 days making huge mushrooms for the floor decor. We took 2 of those with some greenery and moss and placed on each side of the arbor. 

Our Whimsy Buffet was our biggest hit, yet! Colored gourmet marshmallows, cupcakes, popcorn and cotton candy! Huge pickles and drinks sold out! By pageant 3, we were scrounging to find people to make cup, drink and cupcake runs for us!

 Crowns for this pageant were unbelievably elegant. They fit the theme to a "T". The girls had a fit! 6 inches for Queens and 8 inches for our Supremes. Alternates and Princesses also received their very own tiaras, as usual :)

 Something different I wanted to add was something to the Supremes. I purchased huge real feather white angel wings to add to their awards. Then, I felt bad for the Queens, so I ordered a little smaller size for all of them! They were PRECIOUS!

Since this was our biggest pageant since May, I was really running around like crazy making sure everything was going as planned and being sure the girls were comfortable and happy. I think this was one of the funnest pageants, yet for them! Everyone loved the theme and loved the decor!

Check out some of the pics below of some of our GORGEOUS girls! The whimsy wear was adorable! 

I was overwhelmed that day by something else. I received so many gifts from my girls for Valentine's Day it brought tears to my eyes! I received cookies, cakes, cards, bears, flowers! It was SO Sweet the pure hearts these girls had! Absolutely made my day more than they will ever know!!! 

 

Congratulations to the EVERYONE! All the girls did amazing and worked it! Here is a collage of all of our Miss Whimsical Beauty 2013 Queens and Supremes! WHAT A FUN DAY! 

Queen's Excursion: Feb 2013: GA Aquarium

One of the big perks of being active with Natural Elegance and being a Queen is having the chance to partake in our Queen's Excursions. These are days every quarter I gather a few queens, take them for a day, spend some time with them and let them have some fun!

For our first one, I took 3 Queens, Mackenzie, Hannah Faith and Anna, to the Georgia Aquarium. I was as excited for this as much as the girls.....if not more! We made sure to get tickets to see Dolphin Tales, which was as good as a SeaWorld show ever wished to be.

The whole purpose for these is to spend some time with these girls, get to know them a little better, take them to some places they can enjoy and give back to their mamas as a "thank you" for being such a special part of NE.

These sweet girls had such a good time! It was so special to watch them soak up every minute. To me, spending time with my girls is VERY important. Whether it is our nursing home visits, pageants or taking them out for a day, I want them to know how special they are. 

We spent about 4 hours at the aquarium! They went to the touching tanks, Mackenzie touched the stingrays a few times, but Anna and Hannah Faith were having NO part in that! So cute...they'd follow them just above the water with their two fingers out..but just never made it INTO the water to actually do it!

After we left and the girls were done, we were starving. We took them to a cute little Pizzaria and got their little bellies full. I will never forget watching them sitting at their own little table, chatting away and laughing, talking about pageants and realizing this 3 girls compete against each other in the same division. There was absolutely no hostility, no competition...just pure fun and love. My heart must have grown 4 sizes.

Thank you to the mama's for allowing Billy and I to take them away for a few hours!

Miss Dazzling Empress: Online Pageant

Miss Dazzling Empress was our January Photo/Online Pageant and, boy, did we have some GORGEOUS girls who entered! These are so fun! Everyone has such a great shot of winning each time and they are super affordable with AMAZING awards!

Take a look at our prestigious and wonderful judge, Debbie Hope below, along with our winners! Congrats to all the girls!

Debbie Hope of Eclipse Photograph: Debbie is owner and principal photographer of Eclipse Photography in Gainesville GA, which she also calls home. For the past 21 years she has photographed kids, families, business people and high school seniors, her specialty. She also shoots for several Atlanta Modeling Agencies including Babes and beaus and Click. Once a year, Eclipse hosts many local and aspiring models and actors. Over the years her model search folks have been featured in print work, commercials, tv and movies.

 http://eclipsephoto.com/

Empress and Duchess crowns! 

Laney is a straight-A student who loves to dance, tumble, and compete in pageants.  She is a high school freshman and member of the varsity cheer squad, Beta Club, and Public Display of Faith.  Laney is very active in her church youth group and is also involved with several volunteer organizations in her community.  Her guilty pleasures are eating Twizzlers and watching “Toddlers and Tiaras”.  Laney’s goal is to graduate with honors from Clemson University and become a pediatric physical therapist.  After that she plans to become Mrs. Justin Bieber.

SUMMARY               Born June 29, 2009.  Collins is a polite but sassy little girl who all girl; princesses, purple, pink and sparkles keep her attention all while she idolizes her big brother.

FUN FACT                Collins was born in Semey, Kazakhstan.

EXPERIENCE          Natural Elegance, Gainesville, GA                                 2013

                                    First Duchess

Phi Mu Fraternity, Atlanta, GA                                         2012

Clothing Model

                                    Natural Elegance, Gainesville, GA                                 2012

                                    Second Alternate, 3 year old division

                                    Photogenic, 3 year old division

Phi Mu Fraternity, Atlanta, GA                                         2011

Clothing Model

Madison is the daugher of Chase and Brandi Black. She is 10 months old and has been competing in pageants since she was 8 weeks. She mostly goes by her nickname "Maddie". Maddie is a very kind hearted, sweet, and loving child. She can also be a lil stubborn diva with that said she gets what she wants. She enjoys dancing and singing in her cute lil baby ways. Her parents are very proud of her in everything she does and all of her achievements. She is a shining star! 

Natural Elegance is Represented at the Special Olympics

I am so honored to write this blog for several reasons. NE is growing by leaps and bounds and we are not even a year old. I was so honored to find out that one of our reining Queens, Anna would be representing Natural Elegance at the Special Olympics here in Georgia. I am so very proud of this young lady and the woman she is becoming. Anna has been with me since the very beginning. I've seen her show grace and good sportsmanship at each event. 

Anna had a wonderful time, meeting new people and making special memories she will cherish forever. See some of the photos below. 

I am SO proud at how a lot of our girls are embracing community service and what it really means to give back and use their crowns for the good. I cannot wait to see what 2013 will bring for our system and our girls! 

Thank you, Anna and Christy (Anna's Mom) for another example of how to truly donate your time for others! We are so very proud of you!

 For more information on the Special Olympics, you can visit their website at http://www.specialolympicsga.org. For information on upcoming events and pageants, you may also visit our website at http://naturalelegancepageants.com/.