over and out

well, this is going to be my last post my friends!

It is a bittersweet feeling, kinda makes my tummy feel funny actually. I have learned so much from this year. Thinking back at myself from a year ago, the girl who hardly knew how to wear makeup, didn't have a facebook, wasn't connected with politics all that much, and hadn't a clue how to blog (still not sure if that last one has changed! hehehe). I know that the experience of holding this title has helped me to grow in ways that I never would have without it. I feel much more like I know who I am as a person and what I stand for if that makes any sense at all. I am sure much of that comes from interview experiences and resume writing. I feel confident that whatever I do in my future there will be lessons taken from this experience that I will always be leaning on. I thank God often that I have been so privileged to be called Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen 08 for these 14 months. Just thinking about that is a humbling fact. I am really just a small-town girl who did this pageant as a sort of shot-in-the-dark thing hoping to learn things and have fun and excited about possibilities it might bring for my career future. The many ways that I have been blessed by the people in this organization, the people who have really made me part of their family, is really mind blowing! These relationships have touched my life and I am so grateful for that. I also think fondly about the pretty things of pageantry! I know this sounds really silly but I just have to say it because it is so true! I have really loved being able to wear the crown! It is really a small part of pageantry in essence and this organization obviously stands for so much more but it is really really fun to wear the crown! It is a wonderful feeling to put on a pretty dress, and wave in a parade as Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen. I know there are people who think that that part of the year of service isn't what really counts and to a certain extent they are right. It is really the community service that is incorporated and all of those types of aspects that are truly important. But the parades are just fun! So I just had to say that those have been a very exciting part of my year. My blog wouldn't be complete without saying that.

I also have a ton of people that I could thank, however, I have thanked them in my welcome letter in the program book, in my farewell video, in past blogs, and in thank you cards, so I will not thank them again here. I will generally say that I am forever grateful to all the people who helped shape my year.

Now I absolutely have to say CONGRATULATIONS SARAH!!!!! I am so proud of you hunny! You are going to make an absolutely fantastic teen titleholder and I cannot wait to watch your year unfold. Congrats also to Laura Hall our new Miss Vermont. I really was so impressed with all of the amazing talent and poise displayed by all of our teens and miss contestants on Saturday. We have some extremely smart and talented ladies in our state! It was a fantastic show and I couldn't have been happier with the results. One thing I must mention is the bumpit!

Probably the funniest crowning ever occurred Saturday night when Sarah crampton's name was called. She had worn Bumpit in her hair. This is a hairpiece that is place underneath the hair to give it a teased/lifted look. It is impossible to pin a crown to this! So, when miss Sarah won I spent a few moments untangling this lovely bumpit from her hair much to the confusement of Dana our MC. This joke will never be lived down. Congratulations also to Caroline Bright and Mary Branagin our Miss runners up. and also to Brooke Connor and Jacki Chace our teen runners up. You were fantastic ladies!

Well, Id better be off to bed soon it is late. I am beginning to get used to being a "hasbeen" haha. Its a funny title to hold but rather carefree! I am so glad to forever be part of the pageant sisterhood. Who knows? Maybe I will compete in the Miss category in a few years. Or perhaps life with take me in another direction. Whatever happens I am grateful for my time spent as Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen and am honored to forever hold the 2008 title.

Much love to all my friends new and old from this year, many thanks, and good luck Sarah! May your reign be completely fantastic!

yours

Blaize Hall

Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen 2008

.......Over and out

and this is when it's really hard to say quite how i feel

hey there friends

I'm sure a lot of you know this weekend is the 2009 Miss Vermont and Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen pageant. That means that I will be giving up my title, performing as the state teen for the last time and crowning somebody new. WOw! A whole year went by that fast? how did that happen? it's funny because as the pageant draws closer every minute I am not really sure how I even feel about this! I am excited to be passing on the crown! I really am so thrilled to see all of the contestants and watch them compete and to give the title to the new girl! But of course I also feel sad because after Saturday is over I will no longer be the state titleholder. I will never again sit in a car with signs with my name on them in the windows and wave at people with a crown on my head as this title. I will never perform on the piano as this title again. I am sad to see this year ending and there is always of course the feeling of wishing I had done more, wondering if there was some other way I could have used the title that was given me. Was there something different I should have done? Did I represent my state well? I am full of questions, regrets, happy memories,satisfaction, anticipation, excitement! I feel a bit relieved in a way that I will now be moving on. I somehow feel resolved, like my time has come, I have served my term and now it is someone else's turn to do the job. Yet at the same time I know that I will miss it! I have many things to look forward to this summer and the coming school year. I recently received the role of Cinderella in the Rogers and Hammerstein musical with a local theatre company and I am thrilled to be spending my time performing. I will be on the xcountry running team this fall which is also exciting. I have all of these things to look forward to but at the same time I know that probably nothing I do this summer could possibly be as exciting as nationals was last summer!

I feel like throughout this year Miss Vermont's Outstanding teen 08 has become a part of my identity and after Saturday that part of me might be lost! It's a little bit scary! But I guess what's really important is knowing that I will always hold the title of the 2008 teen. The many things I've learned this year will go with me wherever life takes me. The memories I have can never be taken away and the things I've learned about pageantry, about how people work, and mostly about myself are things that will benefit me my whole life! and I guess it's good to remember that I will always be me no matter what title I hold. That I need to stay true to who I am and what I believe in no matter who is interviewing me or what organization I represent.

Well, thanks for listening to me think myself through all this! au revior for now!

Blaize Hall

your miss VT Outstanding Teen 08

p.s. special special thanks to Caroline my mentor in SO MANY WAYS!!! thank you for everything you did to help me last summer and for all that you taught me. you are the best!

thanks to my mom, grandmother,Dave and Marie, Red Clover, Sue, Pam, Belinda and many others! It wouldn't have happened without you!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!!! (and happy new year too! )

Merry Christmas too all my bloggers and blog readers! I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday yesterday. I don't know about the rest of you but this month always flies by so quickly! Once I get through thanksgiving, I always feel like there are just endless days until christmas will finally be here, but before I know it, the presents are spread around a colorful tree and there are tins of cookies made and then I am singing "Silent Night" in my church full of candles and before I know it, I'm waking up to a beautiful snowy christmas! Now, I can only catch my breath for a second before the New Year will be upon us! So, resolutions anyone? I always plan to up my grades, eat more veggies, say nicer things to my family, go running more often, ect... the usual that lasts about a month tops. Well, this year I've decided not to make resolutions, but to make little changes in my lifestyle that will last the whole year. Drastic changes are like diets, they last for a little while but I eventually give them up. My hope is that if I just make little commitments, like to eat at least one fruit and vegetable every day and to still enjoy all the holiday treats I love so much, that my "resolution" will be much more manageable. anyway, I'll have to give an update on how my un-resolution commitments work out.

Have a very Happy New Year and enjoy the excitment of entering 2009. and eat christmas cookies! ; )

Blaize

graduation from Dale Carnegie Course

Hey! so a few weeks ago I successfully graduated from the Dale Carnegie Course of human relations and leadership development. This 12 session class was a great experience in so many ways. I met the coolest people and each week we all learned new ways to present information in more compelling, captivating and comprehensive styles. I am so glad to have had this experience and I know that the skills I have obtained through this course will help me throughout my life. A quick thank you to everyone involved in teaching the class as well as to my fellow participants!

yours,

Blaize Hall

MVOT '08

a quick note about being sweet 16

so, as you can probably guess by the title I am now 16 and yes it really is so sweet! It is also very confusing and I still don't have the answer to the meaning of life. Bummer! well, I did at least have a very nice celebration. On my actually birthday last month, my Mom was out of town so my family and I celebrated a couple of days before. I was given a lapful of exciting Miss America's Outstanding Teen goodies from the tradeshow in Orlando this summer. Among my treasures were a poster, wonderful pink travel mug for hot tea and cocoa, the DVD set, and a coveted little shoe-shaped clock. A few weeks later I celebrated again with what I must say was an awesome party. True, not as many ppl as I'd hoped were able to come but we sang the night away with karaoke and dancing and yummy cake designed by my best friend and when it was over, the deafening roar of music was left in my ears and the complete exhaustion that can only come from good clean fun was my only though as I drifted off into a blissful sweet 16 sleep with dreams of the year to come.....
k, so that was a little corny, but I'm allowed to have fun with this right?
anyway, just wanted to say that I love birthdays. They're never what you expected, sometimes not what you hoped for but they are always somehow just right and leave you feeling loved and at the same time expectantly waiting for more days to fill your life with memories and good times, lessons and love, and many jobs worth doing.
May birthdays always be happy!
Blaize Hall
MVOT
p.s. and if you don't have a facebook, get one because birthday wall posts from friends online will totally make your day! :)

MAOT continued and an update on life

O.K., so it has been way to long since I last wrote and I apologize to all the faithful readers of my blog. Life has been absolutely insane as usual, but I will try to catch up now. I guess I'll start right where I left off.

The next day we got up early, had breakfast in our lovely hostesses' suite, and went over to the theatre for a LOOOONNNNGGGGG rehearsal day. It was the longest rehearsal day of the whole week and we learned almost all of the production numbers that day. We had a break for lunch and a few short water/snack breaks, but besides that we were busy dancing the entire day! It was actually incredibly fun but entirely exhausting. We learned a lot of our opening High School Musical medley number, we learned "It's our time to shine Girls!" the opening number tradition, we learned our fitness number, and our evening wear opening parade. It was a great day, and at the end of the day, we went to Medieval Times. This was a completely new experience for me and I really enjoyed it. When we stepped off of the bus the "King" was there to greet us and there were trumpeters! After pictures were taken we went inside and took more pictures by the throne. After that, we paraded our state flags in the arena and then sat down for an evening of entertainment and a medieval meal. We ate the food with our fingers off of the plate just like in medieval times and it was actually pretty fun!
We had many exciting outings at MAOT including visiting a cafe and hearing a local band play, a shopping trip at Bloomingdale's with complementary makeovers (my personal favorite), a 50's sock hop and more!
We also had many similar rehearsal days of lots of sweat and sore muscles, and brain overload, but believe it or not, it was all wonderful in a strange way. We would have moments where we would all fall asleep on a ten minute bus ride because we were that tired, but we'd also have moments of uncontrollable excitement where it honestly didn't matter how tired we were because the experience was just that wonderful!
Part of what made the experience so great was the girls. Even during competition when true colors showed through, I think each of the girls showed exactly why they were there and just how truly outstanding they were! Yes, we were all emotionally exhausted and there were things that happened that I'm sure we will all laugh at later on...but bottom line, I met people that I will be friends with for life and we shared moments that are completely unforgettable - in a good way.
Not only were the people amazing (including the judges I must add) but the actual experience of performing at a national level, of proudly carrying the state flag onto the stage with 51 other titleholders is something that has touched me in a way that will never cease to affect my life. I am so grateful to have been chosen for the honor of representing my state and would not have traded the experience for the world.

I would love to write more in detail but for now I must go.

Your very own Miss Vermont's Outstanding Teen '08

Blaize Hall : )

p.s. the above pictures are obviously of Maot, one is of opening number, a couple are of just me and the last one is of my roommate Crystal from California. SHE IS AWESOME!!!!!

MAOT, I don't even know where to start!

Wow! I seriously don't even know where to start! I guess first of all, MAOT is probably one of the most amazing experiences EVER!!!!!
If I had to describe it in three phrases I would probably call it insanely fun, once-in-a-lifetime learning, and to be honest, absolutely exhausting!
I,sadly, did not journal while I was in Orlando, but I will try to remeber every awesome moment.
Caroline, my wonderful traveling companion and I left early on the morning of Wed. the 6th. Our flight left on time and my two, HUGE suitcases were barely under the weight limit. On the plane we watched a beautiful sunrise and ate white chocolate and lime cookies (they were really good!) We were slightly delayed in JFK airport NYC, but we arrived in Orlando with pleanty of time to check out the gorgeous Rosen Center and the pool before supper. The rumors are true, the deli in the Rosen Center has perfectly delicious food and all of the servers, waiters, bell hops, etc. are the nicest people! Anyway, I tend to go off on tangents so back to my story. After a thorough investigation and delicious food, we went to bed and normally this wouldn't be an important detail but I just have to say that these beds were the most comfortable beds I'd ever slept in with the perfect softness so that you sink into them, but enough firmness to be pleasant.
The next morning we went to registration. I was immediately given Caitlin's line of makeup Be...ybf, had some autograph signing to do, a short video clip taken and went off to my Tony Bowls photo shoot. All 52 girls got to have a professional photo shoot done in a Tony Bowls gown with a hair and makeup artist. It was so much fun! I was put in an animal print that fit beautifully and my hair was curled with a butterfly clipped to one side. Again, so much fun! After that, Caroline had to catch her flight home and I basically had the whole day to check into my new room and meet my roommate, Crystal, from California. Later in the evening we had our official orientation meeting where we got the run-down for our stay and learned all the rules such as no cell phones allowed ever! We also recieved amazing duffel bags full of little surprizes from generous sponsors. Finally after a delicious dinner, gifts from our speaker Rhonda Shear, and some dancing time, we went exhausted to bed. Little did we know what was in store for us the next day...


To Be Continued