Miss North Metro Outstanding Teen 2010: Lakeside Elementary and Day 1 in Atlanta, Georgia!

Yesterday, Mom and I traveled to the small town of Silver Lake, just west of the cities. I was asked to speak to 3 classes of 6th graders at their elementary school, Lakeside. It was so great to speak to them! This was my first time speaking to 6th graders. It was a change, but in good ways! They had a lot of great questions, and of course I got the "Are you a princess?" question many times. I always leave a school feeling completly inspired by the children. They remind me why I do everything I do with the Alzheimer's cause.

Then this morning, I was off to Atlanta, Georgia for an Alzheimer's conference and to accept an award for the Brainerd Walk to End Alzheimer's :) My flight left at 10:30 AM and I landed in Georgia around 2 PM.

I am constantly reminded of God's amazing love and power. While still in Minneapolis, we came across a woman. My Mom and I were just sitting, waiting to board our flight when she came up and asked to sit by us. She and my Mom started talking and I started to get in on the conversation too. We got to talking about why we were headed to Georgia, which lead us into q conversation about pageants and my platform. I gave her one of my business cards and she asked me about being Miss North Metro Outstanding Teen. Mom told her that right when my father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's was about the same time that I wanted to get involved in pageants and it was the perfect platform for me. She turned to me and said: "You know... Everything happens for a reason." She is completly right! I try to live by this quote everyday, and for her to say that, was just amazing.

Our first day in Atlanta has been great! We picked up our bags at baggage claim and walked outside to 60 degrees, sunny, and NO SNOW! Compared to -20, snow, and ice, it felt almost like Heaven :) We then got into our shuttle that was going to take us to our hotel. We got to talking to our shuttle driver, Don, who asked us what hotel we were staying at. Mom told him we were staying at Loews. He then said that, when all of the famous people come to Atlanta, they stay here! He said Justin Bieber, Rihanna, Chris Brown, and P. Diddy were at this same hotel just last weekend and we might see someone when we are here! Exciting!! But I have yet to see someone famous so we will see if that actually happens :)

After getting everything situated in our hotel room, we headed out to do some shopping at the Atlantic Station. They have great shops, so for Mom and I to hit them is a no-brainer! We ate dinner at Rosa Mexicano, a Mexican (shocker!) restaurant that was sooooo good!