The Minnesota State Fair is what Minnesota is all about! Great greasy food on a stick, family time, and all braving MN's crazy seasons. Of course we chose one of the hottest days to attend the fair. I opted for the necessary tank, shorts, and natural hair. A thanks to my AXO sisters as they dressed me with a bright colored tank and white wedges. I love how sorority girls have great fashion sense.
At the fair of course I had to try something on a stick but being a vegetarian limited my options of crazy foods to try. However, I found a vegetarian friendly deep fried vegetables on a stick. With some sweet and sour sauce, it was actually really good! I also picked up some flavored honey sticks were are my favorite study snack. I had just a cheese curd or two because they were so salty! And because it was around 90 degrees that day, lots and LOTS of water and liquids.
With my sister queens and their families (especially Ava's little brother, Parker), we slid down the Giant Slide, visited Kayla (Teen) as well as the other Vikings Cheerleaders, tried a whole bunch of yummy food on a stick, and visited the Butterfly garden. Such a fun day! And I survived it all in heels. Success!

What a weekend! Going straight from a 5 day week of recruitment practice for my sorority, my mom and I hopped in the car and headed off to Wisconsin State Pageant. It took us a good 4 and a half hours to get up there (but only 3 to get back...hmmm?) Being visiting royalty is one of my favorite experiences of being a state queen. Knowing little girls can't get close enough or talk enough to you while the older girls look up to you and follow your example reminds me of what an honor it is to be a NAM queen. It takes a lot of effort and energy, but when you have Jr. Pre Teens complimenting every aspect of your outfit or connecting with Teens while you learn how active they are in their high schools, it's totally worth it. I had 2 full days of helping out with registration, rehearsals, formal wear competitions, and final pageants.

As I've grown with National American Miss since 6th grade, I've expanded my "NAMily" aka my NAM family. When I attend pageants like Wisconsin, I get to see them all! This includes the staff who have been around for years or 2010 queens I met at Nationals and current queens who were at the Minnesota state pageant.

Along with queens from across the country, I had fun being glamorous onstage helping with final pageants. Who doesn't like presenting huge trophies and beautiful medals? I was also able to be in the production number dance to You Make Me Feel. It was a challenge because usually queens learn a similar dance at Nationals. I didn't learn it at Nationals or Minnesota so just like the contestants, this was my very first time learning and preforming the dance but I rocked it and had fun dancing my heart out.

And even queens and staff get a little goofy at times! Here are a few great shots during our down times.

It was quite the unpleasant task to get my photoshoot hair from the previous day to de-tangle enough to be presentable at the Miracles of Mitch Triathlon this morning. With some help from my great friend Starbucks, I was able to make it through the 4:45am wake up call. I don't think I'll ever be a morning person.
But if I was fully awake or not, the triathletes were! I soon got rolling as I helped hand out t-shirts (which were an awesome turquoise/dark blue/orange) to the triathletes. I saw all ages, from 7 to 17 participating for a great reason. Returners or first-timers, these athletes were ready and excited to get the race started.
After a quick stop at the Prize Central tent which was loaded with Miracles of Mitch cow-bells, t-shirts, trading cards, mugs, dog tags etc., I lined up to cheer on the kids as they began their procession to the water to start the first leg of the triathlon: swimming. Then came biking and then finally running to the finish line where each participant got a medal. Together, Miracles of Mitch had 1,100 kids participating at the Lake Ann race and raised over $500,000 this year. WOW! 

What a great and exhausting day! I got to shoot with the incredible Dan Davis with Hair and Makeup by the fabulous Jamie. We went through 4 looks: two headshots, my formal gown, and a fun crazy look. I got a quick glimpse at a few of the pictures and I'm so excited to view them all. I feel I'm going to have some tough decisions. I love being Miss Minnesota!
Besides hanging out with two great professionals that lovingly bicker like siblings, my day was made when a woman in line paid for my coffee! It was her birthday and wanted to do something sweet for another person. So, I passed it on and paid for the person behind me. I love being part of things bigger than just myself.

This morning was better than Christmas when I received the package I've been dying to get. MY CROWN AND BANNER!!!!!  I was squealing like a little kid when I saw it sitting on my counter and immediately knew what it was. The banner is so white without any makeup stains and my crown is so sparkly! Needless to say, it made my day. Thanks NAM Nationals for getting it to me so quickly.
Please excuse the totally "True Beauty" Brittany without any makeup and maybe not dressed in the most fashionable clothes. Hey, it's a Saturday.

Our first parade of the season was at the Clearwater Heritage Days celebration. And no, I didn't actually check to see if the water was clear, but I'll take their word. The three day long festival celebrates the town's history. Clearwater once had the longest Ferry on the Mississippi River and although the Ferry and river crossing are no longer there, the town all comes out to celebrate its heritage.
Holly (Jr. Teen queen) and I had a fabulous time riding in style in a 2013 Ford Mustang Convertible that was just built in June! It's the same model of car which will be given away at NAM Nationals to one lucky girl. Keep the fingers crossed because I loved that car.
The grand parade was at 7pm and the weather couldn't have been any better. Once we got there (which is a whole other hour and a half long in traffic story), I was ready to get waving! Also in the parade were horses, awesome old cars, a crazy band, and a giant shopping cart. Companies, politicians, churches and lots and lots of royalty waved, walked, and threw candy along the parade route. A lot of the city royalty have their own floats they use year after year. We were right behind the Montrose royalty when half way through the parade, their music stopped. Soon I see one of the moms running around back, opening a latch, and half crawling, half jumping inside as the float was still moving. After some quick handiwork, the music started again and all was well. The mom jumped out again and ran around to the front. What would we do without pageant moms? The incident kept me laughing throughout the parade.
After grabbing some dinner at a cute family owned restaurant, my family and I were just about to head back to the car when the fireworks started! We were able to stay and watch the show which was the perfect end to the day.

It's Sunday and after getting some much needed sleep after two appearances the day before, I was rocking my pink accessories at The Hartford & ReMAX Results Breast Cancer Ride. Holly, my Junior Teen, and I volunteered for hours, getting the bikers lunch and welcoming them home after 2 full days of biking. The riders raised over $750 each and dedicated an entire weekend to biking 121 miles. WOW! Holly wants to bike next year and I was a little hesitant until I meet a 14 year old girl that had just finished. Perhaps I could do it!
We had the honor to meet some amazing and inspiring people including Breast Cancer survivors and the founder of the ride, Carrie. For the past 5 years Carrie has honored her mother's memory by organizing this ride which has now raised over 1 million dollars to aid people fighting breast cancer just like her mother did. We were also able to meet cyclist Oz Sanchez who is headed to the Paralympics! Best wishes to him as he heads to London later this month.

Right after, Kayla (Teen) met me at the Mall of America to do a little gown shopping. GLITZ is becoming my second home. Gotta love the sales!

A girl's gotta eat! The annual Eden Prairie Corn Feed is a fun and buttery community event which raises money for The Lions Club. For $6, I enjoyed an all you could eat buttery, salted and peppered corn on the cob...but I had to take my sash off. Giant butter stains on my Miss Minnesota banner aren't that acceptable. I was able to share the amazing food with my sister queen, Kayla. We met two little girls who were so excited to meet royalty and even bowed to us after taking pictures and said, "Your Majesties." How adorable! Now that's queen treatment. We were also able to say hi to Jenifer Loon, our state representative and mom of a friend. But being a queen isn't just pictures with politicians, they put us to work! Kayla and I tried our hand at shucking corn and saw the whole process of how our buttery goodness of corn was cooked.

No time for a quick change! Right from the corn feed I went to meet up with our Jr. Teen, Holly at the Miracles of Mitch Triathlon at Lake Nokomis. We were only able to attend the very end, but I got to meet some amazing kids. One that inspired me was Courtney, a cancer survivor. She is what the race calls "All Stars," kids who have battled cancer or other diseases and come out strong! Courtney was racing today and with her sister, raised $1,048 to help other kids just like her. Now that's impressive.