Our day with FREE

Kim (Miss Teen LI) and I had the pleasure of spending the day at Family Residences and Essential Enterprises, Melville New York.  I use to spend countless ours on a stage before I entered law school and was thrilled when we were invited to sing and dance with the Free Players.  FREE's mission is providing community living alternatives for people with developmental disabilities.  Using the performing arts is an amazing way to gain confidence, gain new skills and have fun socializing with other through the freedom of expression.  The allure of acting and performing for me has always been the ability to really cut loose and live in the moment-- it's pretty amazing. We had the honor of performing a song and dance that the Free Players taught us and we were all nervous because Verizon's PushPause was there to film us :)  Here's a little sneak peek...

Bizarre Foods and Opportunities....

Being interviewed for Push Pause on Fios

I have been Miss Long Island for less than two months and all I can say is that it has been too much fun. This past weekend I had the pleasure of hanging out with my little "sis" Miss LI Teen Kimberley Taff! It is safe to say that we might be related because most people this weekend wanted to know how judges were allowed to crown sisters.  We spent Saturday at the Long Island Fall Festival hanging out with Party 105.3 (who had been advertising our appearance on the radio all week) and taking pics with our fellow Long Islanders.  One of the coolest things we did that day was meet Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods on the Travel Channel.  I love watching Bizarre Foods and seeing all the amazing places he gets to visit.  I consider myself pretty adventurous when it comes to life including my food-- as long as its not moving-- I will eat it... but his show brings it to a whole other level.  

Kim and I also did an interview with Push Pause for Verizon Fios for an upcoming Thanksgiving segment on what people are most thankful for (my answer...100% my family and friends).  Even better than that...when I began talking to the reporter about my platform of raising awareness of teen depression and anti-bullying legislation she said right away, "I want to do a segment."   Bringing awareness to this issue is a huge part of the battle, especially with the unfortunate wave of suicides that the tri-state has experienced recently.  Being Miss Long Island really provides me with the amazing opportunity to advocate for my platform...I will be sure to keep you posted on the segment.

Love getting on rides with my crown!

Andrew Zimmern from Bizarre Foods

Congrats to the new Miss Manhattan and Miss Manhattan Teen!!

Miss Manhattan 2011

I had the pleasure of attending the Miss Manhattan pageant this past weekend!! Congratulations to Gunjan Sewhani, Miss Manhattan 2011 and Lisa E. Drouillard, Miss Manhattan Teen 2011! Great job to all the ladies!!! 

Miss Long Island is On the Go with Sam Edelman!

Hey everyone... sorry I have not  blogged in a while.  I have had a crazy couple of weeks with preparing for Miss New York USA (in only 11 weeks!) and starting my new job in Washington, DC.   I am a extern at the Securities and Exchange Commission for the next 10-weeks during the weekday and then return to Long Island on the weekends to attend events and prepare for Miss New York USA.  Its kind of a crazy schedule, but it was such an amazing opportunity that I could not turn  down. 

Hanging out at Four

Anyway, back to being On the Go with Sam Edelman.  I was so excited when Bloomingdale's asked me to be a Fashion Influencer on Long Island for Sam Edelman shoes!! I was happy to receive my fabulous shoes from the Fall 2010 Collection and visit amazing restaurants and spots on the Island.  Luckily, my friend and photographer, Art Koch agreed to come with me and photograph our crazy journey throughout Long Island in my Sam Edelman shoes.

First stop was Four in Melville.  I had been to Four before and loved the atmosphere.  It was really nice to visit Four during the day and get to hang outside.

Talking to the manager at Four.

Second stop was the restaurant Prime on the beautiful waterfront in Huntington.

 

The fabulous owner, and chef of Prime in Huntington.

Although, I have not had the pleasure of dining at Prime - the restaurant is gorgeous and I am sure I will be back to eat.  It smelled sooo good...and the owners and chef were wonderful.

But I was only there for a quick visit-  because I was off to visit Caumsett State National Park, where I got to take some really fun photos outside in my fabulous shoes.  Art and I loved this location so much that we will be shooting there for my photo shoot on October 9th!

The day ended at Bloomingale's at Roosevelt Field Mall in Garden City, where I had the pleasure of meeting the other three sexy and stylish Fashion Influencers on Long Island! We all had an amazing night, rocking to the the DJ and eating amazing cupcakes --while trying on more fabulous Sam Edleman shoes and talking to others about our visits to all our amazing places.  Overall, the event was a success even though the rain kept some away!  Had a great time and I am literally obssessed with my Sam Edelmans, especially  my boots! 



Me blogging and facebooking about my SEs!

Miss Long Island 2011

Goodness....where to begin.  Two weeks ago I had the privilege of competing for the title of Miss Long Island, held in the beautiful Patchogue Theater.  For those who are not familiar with pageantry, I will try to provide a brief summarization on what my day was like.

To start, my morning  (5:45 am) was kind of crazy per usual (as many of my pageant sisters know) due to a missing bathing suit bottom, the realization that I left my favorite pair of competition shoes in North Carolina and because the firm grip I ordered had not yet arrived on time.  But nonetheless, I finished packing my suitcase, blowing out my hair and steaming my dress and was out the door by 8 am to make one last pitstop at Walmart for those last minute items, where in my previous day of shopping, I had managed to forget.  By 8:30am, I was at my father's house to pick up my second favorite pair of competition shoes and to eat breakfast and 30 minutes later was out the door and off to the Patchogue Theater.  For those of you  who have not been to Patchogue Theater, it one of the most beautiful venues on Long Island and is a wonderful place to compete.  After I was all settled in my dressing room, it was off to rehearse the opening number, the evening gown parade and take a tour where our interview would be held.  That's when I got my first butterfly. 

I blinked, and it was 2:30pm and my name was being called for my interview.  My five judges were fierce: Michelle Glittlen, the General Counsel and the COO for Joe Torre's Safe at Home Foundation (and countless other non-profit organizations); Dr. Kaveh Alizadeh, Cornell graduate and President of Long Island Plastic Surgical Group, who had just returned from Haiti where he was providing surgical care to its earthquake victims; Jennifer Farris, a seasoned pageant queen who is a spokesperson for the National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) and Bully Police USA; Donnamarie Blaustein, an award winning colorist and hair stylist, who is no stranger to the the runway and last but not least, Todd Shapiro, a public relations guru who's public relations firm, Todd Shapiro and Associates has worked with countless celebrities and both local and national businesses.   My interview flew by.  The judges asked really engaging questions about my future endeavors, my involvement in pageantry and  my platform on broadening the awareness of teen depression. 


The rest of the pageant is all kind of a blur....and then there were two....when they didn't call my name for first-runner up, I almost lost it.  I could see my mom and my boyfriend jump out of their seats when they announced my name as Miss Long Island 2011.  I am sooo excited to representing Long Island and competing in Miss New York USA this November!!  Long Island and New York have always been home-- and I am going to work extremely hard to represent it well and bring the Miss New York USA crown to Long Island. 

I will be posting videos, blogging, photos, and information about community and charity events, my preparation for Miss NY USA 2011 and my time as Miss Long Island!!! Thanks so much for visiting and check back soon!!!

Congrats to all the girls, especially my lil' sister (pageantly-related) Miss Long Island Teen, Kimberely Taff!!

Also, please subscribe to my YouTube channel, Miss Long Island 2011 at  http://www.youtube.com/user/misslongisland2011, where I will be posting all my videos. Currently, there are no videos posted - but there will be soon! Promise!!