Mrs. California Pageant and a week in the life of.......

This past week I was able to attend my 1st pageant event in California!! It was the Mrs. California United States Pageant, held in Thousand Oaks, CA. It was a great production, with a ballroom dancing introduction (worthy of Dancing with the Stars!), and wonderful talented women who all brought their A-game! Christy Van Der Westhuizen was the well deserving winner in the end..... I also got the chance to spend time with my director Quiana Anderson (former Ms. United States 2009) and my teen counterpart Gabby (Miss Teen California). It was a great day and I left feeling really excited that even though I miss my pageant friends back in Texas, I am making new friends here in California =) My life is feeling complete....LOL!! Other highlights of my week were that I discovered an AWESOME farmers market only 3 blocks from my apt, AND it is open 7 days a week from 9am-6pm. It not only has fresh produce, but all kinds of food stands. For those of you that may not know, I am a huge foodie and I am always looking for those "hidden gems" of authentic food cuisines (a la Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations)! Also I started my on-camera hosting classes in Hollywood. I really enjoy public speaking, being a conversationalist, and emceeing live events, and feel that the next steps would be to learn how to translate that on-camera. My class has started out really fun, focusing on different areas of on-camera work each week..... Also the California United States Pageant set up a Twitter account for me. So you can follow me @mscaus11, and I also just got in my new blog camcorder (SO EXCITED!! Now I will be posting videos up on my blog)!! That's all for now, good night!

XOXO -Jade

Going, going....back, back.... to Cali

I have not updated my blog for the last 8 months or so, and during that time I decided to take a huge leap of faith and move back to California. I previously lived in San Francisco for college, when I attended The Art Institute of California. This time I decided that I wanted to see what it was like living in Southern California. I traded in my apartment in downtown Dallas, Texas for an apartment 1500 miles away in downtown Los Angeles, California! Everyone asks me why? Why would you want to move when you have a good job and family in Texas? I don't really have a clear answer, but some of the reasons were that I needed more and that I wasn't satisfied being chained to a desk for 40+ hours a week. I wasn't too sure what I wanted to do in Los Angeles, but I had a few things that I could fall back on. For the 1st month or so, I didn't have too much to do so I took a vacation to Hawaii and saw my family. I was also doing some promotional modeling jobs(since I have experience doing that from high school and college), and background extra work. Here is a picture of some of the other extras and I that will be in a new Justin Timberlake movie being released in 2012. Also during this time I found an organization (www.paceshow.org) that was looking for an emcee to host upcoming musicians and bands in a school setting. I thought that this was the PERFECT opportunity to be able to talk to middle and high school students and continue to spread my message as a positive role model. What can I say I LOVE IT! I go with the show and talk to schools all around the L.A. area. I even got to start my own teen advice column, that provides then a safe place to ask their personal questions....anonymously!! As of right now, I got a great opportunity to work for the Ritz Carlton hotel as a bartender (another one of my jobs from college), I get to talk to people from all over the world everyday which is REALLY interesting and fun! So far I even got to squeeze in judging the California International Miss Pageant (of course, pageants......one of my FAVORITE pastimes). I have to say that right now in my life I am so happy that I am living my life to the fullest. Right before I was leaving Texas I was having awful dreams at night that would wake me up and I could tell that I should be doing something different with my life. My new motto is: "If you can't wake up everyday and enjoy what you are going to do, then it is time to find something else that will make you feel fulfilled". I really feel that that saying can be applied to all areas of your life. I will be updating my blog regurarly now, as I was just awarded the title of Ms. California United States (www.misscaliforniaunitedstates.com) and will be competing at the national pageant on July 15th in Las Vegas for the title of Ms. United States (yes it is Ms. I have officially graduated to the next level! lol). I am so honored to be representing this wonderful and diverse state!! So you can watch my blog for all the latest and greatest pageant related activities AND all of my new adventures in California (come and explore the "Golden State" with me)!!! =)