Miss Oakland 2011

Today was my first opportunity to attend a local pageant as Miss Marin County 2011! It was also my 23rd birthday, but I really love the Miss Oakland Committee and would not miss this for the world.

 This was taken when I was on-stage speaking as a visiting titleholder.

 With my two of my wonderful committee members, Michele Moser, my executive director and Vera Hartsock. Thank you Michele for my birthday presents! I can't wait to use my new mug and drink the hot chocolate with marshmallows.

 Miss California 2010 Arianna Afsar was in attendance and sang a beautiful song during the show! Such an amazing and talented representative for our organization and I am so proud she is our Miss California. Watch her on January 15th on ABC when she competes for Miss America. We will be cheering her on at our Miss America Party!

 Sara Dadoo, the new Miss Alameda Cities Outstanding Teen 2011 with my cousin Yvette Hernandez, Miss Solano's Outstanding Teen 2010.

 Congratulations to Nanxi Liu, the new Miss Oakland 2011! She did an amazing job during the show and played a piece that she composed herself on the piano and it was great! Can't wait to get to know you better throughout our year as 2011 titleholders.

 Shelby Sinkler, Miss California's Outstanding Teen 2010 and I. So proud of her and all of her accomplishments and even more proud because she was my former teen when I was Miss Northern California Regional 2009!

At the end of the night before we were heading home. This is me with my cousin Yvette and one of my best friends Danny. Thank you for coming all the way from San Jose to spend my birthday weekend with me!

Great weekend!

Love,

Sarah

Mill Valley, CA - Winter Faire at the Greenwood School

Yesterday, I had the honor of being a "Wandering Angel" for the Greenwood School in Mill Valley for their Annual Winter Faire. When I arrived, they put me in full costume that included a white dress, blonde wig and of course, angel wings! For this event, I participated in their ribbon cutting ceremony and handed out "wishes" (pieces of paper with good fortunes) to children who attended the event. The only catch was that I could not talk as an angel. It was such a neat experience!

 Here I am at the beginning of the event welcoming everyone to the Winter Faire! This was right before I cut the ribbon to let everyone to the festivities inside of the school.

This was in full costume as an Angel and my first time as a blonde! 

At this time I handed out my first "wish" to a beautiful little girl who attended the Winter Faire.

Thanks to Ann for inviting me to participate in this wonderful event at the Greenwood School. I had a wonderful time!

Cheers,

Sarah

San Rafael Parade of Lights

This past weekend was great for many reasons: first - it was Thanksgiving, second - I had Friday off, and third - it was my first appearance as Miss Marin County!

The San Rafael Parade of Lights took place in Downtown San Rafael and included community members, students and holiday characters. It was such an organized parade and so much fun to be a part of. Unfortunately, I was feeling extremely sick with a cold but I still had an amazing time! Luckily I was feeling much better by Sunday just in time for work today. :)

Here is Soila Lopez adding some highlighting color to the signs I made the night before. My mom suggested we add something so they didn't look too plain. Thanks Mom! You always know best.

Here is Soila and I after the sign was all finished being decorated.

Gabino was my driver for the night and his aunt Teresa let us borrow her convertible BMW for the parade. Thank you Teresa for letting us borrow the car! We brought it back safe and sound.

My parents brought my godbrother Steven to the parade to watch. I love his hat! (It's my mom's but she let him borrow it because it was so cold!)

Here was the whole view of the car at the parade! Great weekend and a fun event.

Hooray!

Sarah

Team Marin County Shopping Trip Number 1!

Hi Everyone,

I know this post is a little late but I wanted to share my first adventure as Miss Marin! The Saturday after  the program, Michele, our executive director and I, went on our first shopping trip. It was such a great afternoon and we were able to find my interview dress for Miss California, a couple of gorgeous cocktail dresses and shoes! Afterward we ended the day at one of my favorite places to eat on a cold day -  Boudin's. Its late as I write this but clam chowder in a bread bowl sounds good all the time.

Til the next blog!

Cheers,

Sarah

Miss Marin County 2011 Scholarship Program

Wow, I can hardly believe it has been two weeks since the Miss Marin County 2011 Scholarship Program. I remember four months ago, buying a large calendar and posting it on my apartment wall with the date of the program, November 14, 2010, circled real big so I could remind myself of the big day. I remember friends coming over and saying, "that's so far away!" and then all of a sudden it was here.

Through rehearsals at Michele's and the day of the program, this has truly been an incredible experience. I know every program is run differently and I have to say, Michele's rehearsals won the favorite spot because she fed us every weekend and the food was amazing! I don't know how to cook really well but I love to eat so anyone willing to feed me wins my heart real fast.

Below I wanted to share some pictures from the program taken by Gabino Lopez, my best friend in the whole world. Thanks for your incredible pictures, I love you very much!

For Opening Number we danced to Katy Perry's "California Girls" and thank goodness this part isn't judged! I have two left feet and it took me a little practice to learn it. What I did wrong was practice too much in flats so the minute I got on-stage in my high heels, I felt like a new born calf. The ladies did such a great job because when I forgot something, I would glance over and they would always be doing the right moves. It was such a cute number and so much fun to perform!

On-Stage Question was our first phase of competition and was worth 5% of our overall score. What I loved the most about this part was that we were first asked a question on our platform and then an on-stage question. My platform is "The Power of Positive Thinking" and it was so nice to have the opportunity to share my goals for my promoting my platform with the audience. It was neat because I could see my grandma from the stage and she was smiling from ear to ear the whole time. It made me feel at ease because I was a bit nervous and I was happy to see her there. For my on-stage question,  I was asked whether or not we should still invest money in Space Programs (not the exact words but close...).

Talent was next and was worth 35% of our overall score. For my performance, I sang "Fever" in the style of Peggy Lee.

Lifestyle and Fitness in Swimsuit followed and is worth 15% of our overall score.

Finally the last phase...Evening Wear! It is worth 20% of our overall score and in the beginning, we were escorted by our "Little Sisters" and they looked beautiful! My Little Sister was Bella and she did a wonderful job and when she was about to leave stage, she even did a curtsy! I have to ask her how to do one of those since I have never learned how to do that before.

While we were anxiously waiting backstage, Laura Jones, the beautiful, talented and fun Miss Marin County 2010 was giving her Farewell. She did such an amazing job as Miss Marin County 2010 and I have some big shoes to fill! She also wore the aqua blue dress she wore for evening wear at Miss California 2010 where she represented our county so well.

We were then brought back to the stage while the talented Caryn sang for our audience and she sang beautifully!

When I was announced Miss Marin County 2011, it was such an amazing feeling and looking back now, I think I may have squeezed Laura really hard because I was so excited!

 My family came to support me and are awesome cheerleaders. From left to right is my brother Jeff, my mommy, Grandpa, Grandma, Tia Rosa and cousin Yvette (also Miss Solano's Outstanding Teen!)

 Here is a picture with my grandparents Pete and Antonia Gonzalez. They are some of the most amazing people you will ever meet and have been married 54 years.

 Here are my parents Ana and George Gong. Thank you so much for coming and supporting me! I love you both very very much.

Here we all are! The 2011 Miss Marin County Contestants and we all walked away with scholarships to further our education. Thank you to our committee, our generous sponsors and audience for making all of this possible.

This is going to be an amazing year!

Love,

Sarah

Welcome

November 14, 2010 - After being crowned Miss Marin County 2011

Hi Everyone!

It is an honor to have been chosen to represent our community as Miss Marin County 2011 and I am very excited about the upcoming year. This blog will be used to post my adventures throughout the year and to share pictures with you. Come by and visit each week to see updates!

Love,

Sarah