Here is to 2011

I got this idea from a wonderful business coach Nancy Roberts, she is the founder of Insights
This is my second annual year in review

Top 25 Accomplishments

Moving to Rochester

Completing Leadership Genesee

Accepting a Board Position

Being a Star Consultant

Competing in a Pageant

Celebrating my Dad’s 80^th birthday

Planning 9/11, Martin Luther King Day Events

3^rd term in AmeriCorps

4^th year on team for Young Christians at Work

Becoming a Godmother J

Judging a Pageant

Mary Kay Fall Retreat

First Wine Tour

Annual Bills Trip

Welcoming Luca and Melena

Taking part in the We Live United Summit

Visiting the Ko family..twice once with AJ surviving it

Becoming a Graduate Assistant

Being the Speaker at Fabulous Females

Planning Voice of Experience

Creating a new fundraising event for YWCA

Getting my kitty J

Spending St, Patrick’s Day with a real Irishman

Doing the Bethany Frankel 30 day cleanse and restore

Completing a Month of Supreme 90 Days

Top 10 distractions

Not celebrating along the way

Not focusing on me

Letting the urgent cloud my focus

Forgetting how much I have done

Self doubt

Letting bad people influence me

Trying to fix everything

Blaming myself for everything

Missing the big picture

Not listening enough

Top 10 goals for 2012

Complete my Masters

Become a Star Consultant

Pay off credit card debt

Spend more time with family

Read one “good for me” book a month

Start back on my workout plan

Plan a vacation just for me

See a Broadway show

Start a 401K

Celebrate along the way

Year in Review

AJ and Vicky’s Year in Review

That’s right, this year AJ and myself have joined forces to bring you our year in review. If there was a word to describe this year it might be CATS. We started the year off by welcoming Topcat into our lives and by April he was joined by Baby, they are happily settled into their ownership of us and make sure things run smoothly at the apartment. Baby has taken to making sure that we are up daily by 6:30am, sometimes she is nice on the weekends at lets us sleep till 8. Topcat has made it his job to stand watch at our front window and make sure no one weird comes into the apartment building.

Another word we could use to describe the past year would be FOOTBALL, or as most American’s call it, Soccer. Our household is truly filled with soccer every day. On any given day AJ can be leaving or coming back from one of his four games depending on the season, the cats have taken to making sure his stinky socks move around the whole apartment. We could also be talking about our 2014 trip to Brazil to watch the World Cup or getting ready for a Premier League game at our favorite Irish Pub Mage Pies (Go Arsenal!). AJ this past year traveled with the Rochester Chapter of the American Outlaws to watch the USA vs. Mexico friendly game and he came back to tell about it.

We are also please to let everyone know that all the members of my family under 4 feet, or as I collectively call them the Babies, know that AJ’s name is really AJ and not CJ as they thought last Christmas J. He has taken to spreading is love of soccer to them near and far. He also survived is first trip to New Jersey and is hopefully that my newest baby cousin Luca will be the next great USA player and that possible Dylan will be the next great goalie.

A word that has for many years described me was PAGEANTS, sadly April marked my 24^th birthday and the end of my eligibility in the Miss America System.  I have so many wonderful experiences throughout my years in the system and truly meet so the greatest girls and volunteers ever. I competed again in October in the Miss New York International Pageant and was so happy to be able to be there to support a good friend of mine as she gave up her crown. I am also happy to announce that while I am not competing anymore I have accepted a board position with the Miss Greater Rochester Scholarship Program, which was my first pageant even in the Miss America System I will be serving as their Public Relations Chair.

BIRTHDAY was something else we celebrated a lot of this past year. We celebrated my father’s 80^th Birthday. AJ also celebrated his last birthday in his 20s, he celebrated it in fine fashion along with St. Patrick’s Day in March. I participated in Relay for Life this year, helping to raise money for the American Cancer Society’s campaign for more birthdays. I celebrated my birthday this past year the Zonta’s Annual Lucky Numbers Luncheon, the first one I have attended as a member of Zonta International.

Those words really bring to focus a lot of what we have done over the past year….now on to 2012! Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year we hope this letter fines you happy and healthy.

Love,

AJ, Vicky, Topcat and Baby

Its been so long!

Hi Everyone!

I can't believe how long it has been since I last posted. So much has been going on its hard to know where you start. Life has been busy and I have learn alot of lessons. I time I will tell you everything!!!!!

Right now I am in the middle of my final papers!!!! I finish the semester next week and then I will be on vacation :) School has been great but I am soo excited about  graduation in May!!! I will have my masters and its really hard to believe that I am finishing school and getting ready to start the next chapter in my life.

I think back to four short years ago and how much my life has change since then. It feels like time is flying by however there were points that it seems like time was dragging on and on.

The journey truly never ends and I am so excited to tell you about this next part in my journey..stay to there is so much to come.

The Winning Crown

I found this great poem and I thought it was really cute and I thought I would share with you all. I am starting another new adventure and I am scary nervous about it. Sometimes being scared is the best motivation however.

It's not the title, nor the crown that counts.
It's not the weight that's lost that really amounts.
It's not the makeup design, or the gown that you wear,
Or the shape of your build or the length of your hair.
You see, the growth of a Queen is all done inside.
It's nothing support hose or makeup can hide.
The real preparation is done in the mind
It's leaving your fears and faults behind.
It's lifting your soul to a place that's far seen
It's molding a woman to the height of a Queen.
It's hard and it's work, it's not easily done
But when it's over, you'll know who has won.
When the pageant is through and the lights are turned down,
You'll know you're a winner and you'll have your crown.
You see, all crowns are different, it's really an art.
Yours can be rhinestones or the growth of the heart.

You know you're a pageant girl when...

This list was posted on a message board and I thought it was too funny not to share

You know the difference between a crown and a tiara.

When you watch a coronation on television, you can guess the diameter and height of the crown.

You have 10 crowns collecting dust in the attic, and 30 more in a glass showcase in your living room.

You own 2 pairs of taupe leather pumps.

You have won a swimsuit competition thanks to glue.

You think 5-inch acrylic heels go with everything.

You always stand in model stance, aka, the model "T".

Your coach has never caught a football. But they sure do know how to train winners and pick them from the start!

Your body was designed by Mike.

You have every issue of Pageantry magazine, but have never bought a single copy.

Diet Coke is the breakfast of champions.

You watch a televised pageant and have the winner, and all four runner-ups picked from introductions.

You have a platform, but have never stood on it.

You have practiced your "winning reaction" in the mirror.

You paid more for your evening gown than for your car.

You know Bert's last name.

You know the names and home states of the last ten Miss Americas and all Miss Americas' Outstanding Teens

You postponed your wedding due to a pageant.

You do your modeling routine in your sleep.

Your western wear doesn't include jeans.

You consider a week long pageant short.

Your wedding party consisted of fellow contestants.

You have been serenaded on stage by a gay man in a tuxedo.

Your headshot looks like an oil painting.

You have an oil painting... of yourself, in your sash and crown.

You have a runway in your garage.

Your teeth aren't just white, they are porcelain.

You have been winning photo contests since the age of 3.

You have two pairs of breasts... the ones on your body, and the ones in your drawer.

Three suitcases for a vacation is considered "packing light."

You have perfected "elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist, wrist."

You have bought an entire competition wardrobe at a trunk show.

You have been in more parades than Mickey Mouse.

You have an entire scrapbook dedicated to each one of your titles.

You put your hands on top in the winner's circle.

You have seen every pageant movie ever made.

Your Christmas cards are autographed headshots of yourself.

Your hair stylist, dentist, trainer, and coach are on speed dial.

You consider RHINESTONES to be a girl's best friend.

You really do want world peace

Failure

This is probably the one thing we all worry about, however looking back at my life. Fear of failure has been a driving force in my life. It was made me work hard even when I was in the darkest parts of my depression in high school. It what made me figure out a new plan in life as others began to feel impossible to reach.

The problem with failure is while it can be a great motivator; it can also stop you from reaching your real goals. Trying and failing is a lot scarier then really wanting to do something and deciding not to even if you really want to. That isn’t always the easiest thing to admit. There have been a ton of times in life that I have choice the path that was easier then maybe the one I really wanted to take. Sometimes it was because it wasn’t practical, other times because I was just too scared too.

I am currently reading “The Power of Now” by Eckhart Tolle, it spends a lot of the book talking about staying in the present and that worrying about the future or thinking and reliving the past are not good for your soul and to be truly enlighten human being. Fear to him lives in those two areas the past and the future because we can completely control the present but nothing else.

So really have goals but just focus on the next step you must take in front of you and in doing this you will not have the fear of failure in your mind. This is much easier said than done, believe me! This isn’t something that I am even close to being good at or mastering.

Mary Kay Ashe once said she had the bloodies knees in the room because she fell down more times than anyone else to get where she was. While I have no doubt that this is true…doesn’t that scare us all a little bit? The idea how many times you have to try and fail to get what we want. At what point have we fallen enough to know it will never happen? In reality, that is something each person must figure out for themselves. I just read an article that the writer of “The Help” got over 90 rejection letters before someone would pick up her book. Only you know when you are done.

“Life's real failure is when you do not realize how close you were to success when you gave up.”

Stay

I have been a horrible blogger as of late and I promise I will catch you all up on all the amazing things that have been going on as of late. However I have to take a short break and talk about this perfect summer read I was lucky enough to come across. Stay is a book by a local Rochester writer name Allie Larkin. It is such an amazing book. In focuses around Savannah “Van” Leone who finds herself a maid of honor in her best friend Janie’s wedding, but instead of celebrating, Van is mourning because Janie’s new husband is the man who Van has been secretly in love with for years, ever since they meet on the first day of college classes at U of R. After the wedding, Van retreats to her condo and gets steadily drunk on vodka and cool-aid drinks while watching re-runs of Rin Tin Tin. In her alcohol haze, she has a sudden insight into what she needs in her life.

So she does what any 20 something women would do… she sends her credit card number out into cyberspace and purchases a German Shepherd puppy from a breeder in Slovakia. When her Slovakian canine arrives, looking more like a full grown dog than a puppy, Van names him Joe. Van takes Joe to his first veterinarian appointment, and discovers that not only does her new dog have a really nice temperament, but so does the veterinarian named Alex. What follows is a hilarious and heart-warming story about the power of animals to heal emotional wounds and help us move forward after loss. In the book she demonstrates how animals, especially dogs, can heal our deepest wounds.

I loved the character of Van – a young woman who has recently lost her mother to cancer and is trying to find her place in the world. Van is smart, funny, and seems to find herself embroiled in outrageous situations on a daily basis. Her immediate love for Joe reminds me of my own love of animals and how important they have been during my healing processes of losing my mom. My cat, Follow, yes Follow. Was my best friend and gave me so much comfort during the healing process. Somehow animals just know when you are upset and them just being there to hold makes you feel better.

In Stay, Larkin explores women’s friendships (with all the drama, ambivalence, and support they bring), along with love, loss and identity. Her characters are real and genuine, and Larkin writes with an honesty which is refreshing. This is the success of the book how amazing the characters are depicted. Larkin is as authentic as her characters, and clearly knows how to spin a plot to pull the reader in. I loved watching Van work through her emotions with Joe at her side. I also loved the fact the book was set in Rochester and has at points reminds me of things I do every day, at one point Peter is on the phone and is talking about the University Ave Wegmans…aka my Wegmans!!!

Stay is an enjoyable and well written debut novel which will appeal to those readers who love women’s fiction, and also a great and perfect book for all of us 20 somethings in the world. I am soo looking forward to what Larkin will write about in the future. I am highly recommended this book to anyone!!!!!.

PS as a side note she will be signing books in Batavia, NY at Present Tense Bookstore on Wednesday, August 31^st at 6 PM.