Miss Teen, Miss, & Mrs. Minnesota International!

On Sunday, March 9th I attended the Miss Teen, Miss, and Mrs. Minnesota International pageant in St. Cloud, Minnesota. It was a wonderful pageant since it was my first time attending. I was not allowed to take pictures even with my flash turned off so I still decided to sneak some pictures in. Unfortunately, I don't have any of the winners, but you can google it and see pictures on their site.

Here is Alyssa Tryggeseth, Miss Teen Buffalo, who came in 4th runner-up. Great job Alyssa!

Here is Keisha Levitz, Miss Mankato who came in 2nd runner-up. You did great Keisha!

Here is Meghan Retzlaff, Miss Teen Clear Lake, who came in as 1st runner-up! Awesome job Meghan. Meghan also won the award for "Best in Fashion Fun Wear" that she rented from my boutique.

Keisha competing in her evening gown looking gorgeous.

That is all the pictures I have since I was not allowed to take anymore. Sorry but do check out their site. :)

Grand Opening for Bessie's Boutique

On Sunday, January 27th I had a grand opening for my new boutique. It was a great turnout and everyone really enjoyed seeing the new trends for spring. Thank you to everyone who attended and for your support. I am so excited about this new venture and I have plans already to do alot of traveling throughout the year to bring back the latest in couture fashion. Please visit my site weekly at http://www.bessieboutique.com/ where I update it every week with new and one of a kind items. If you can't find it on my site, just email me with any requests.

I am having my logo done in clear swarovski rhinestones and made into tank tops, so if you are interested in wearing one of my shirts, just let me know. Hope you enjoy my site!

Here is the cake I ordered with the store's logo on it.

Women's Expo, Jan. 18th-20th

On Friday, Jan. 18th I attended the women's expo at the Minneapolis Convention Center as Mrs. Minnesota-America and joining Faith Schway, RaeAnne, Sarah Sprayberry, Miss Minnesota Teen USA and Shonna Ochu, who was a contestant at last year's pageant.

It was a great weekend, I spent 3 days talking to people about the pageant and my experience at Mrs. America. It was also fun shopping and meeting all the different vendors at the expo. Even though it was one of the coldest weekend's in January, we had a good crowd as the weekend progressed.

Here we are having fun at the expo, me, Faith, Sara Sprayberry, Miss Teen Minnesota USA, and one of my students at the Premiere school of modeling and a top 10 contestant at this year's

Miss Teen Minnesota USA pageant, Delanie Neal.

RaeAnne, Samantha, Sara, Faith, me, and Kaylee, Miss Minnesota USA.

Here I am with Dr. Crutchfield and his adorable daughter. He was one of the speakers at the expo talking about skin care.

Having fun with a band that was performing at the expo.

Trip to Miami, Florida!

On Saturday, Dec. 29th my husband Sam and I were invited by my directors Faith and Carl Schway to join them in Florida. We stayed in beautiful Ft. Lauderdale which I have never visited before and it was just gorgeous there. Everybody had a bigger yacht then the next person, it was crazy. We celebrated New year's Eve and New Year's Day there and did alot of shopping for my new boutique. The styles are number one down in Miami's South Beach.
Here we are celebrating New Year's Eve at the famous Joe's Restaurant in South Beach. It was the best shrimp and chocolate cake I ever had!

Here is Carl enjoying some crab at Joe's Restaurant.

After dinner we decided to stroll along Miami's South Beach and what a sight it was. I would say around 300,000 people were all over the street just partying and having a great time. Before the fireworks we decided to check out some stores, (or course) and we walked into this really cool store called Wild Thing.




Here I am with Dennis who was a super nice guy who surprisingly new a little Greek. As a gift he gave me a Swarovski green pen with a matching green Swarovski watch! They are both super sparkly and Dennis thank you very much for the gorgeous gift! Oh, he also said that it looked like I was going to have a boy even though my doctor has told me it's a girl. We shall see Dennis!



Here we are modeling my new gifts! Thank you again Dennis!














Faith and Carl just before the New Year's fireworks were to begin. Thank you Faith and Carl for the wonderful hospitality. We had a blast with tons of laughs and great places to visit with you both.

My husband Sam and I just before the fireworks were to begin overlooking South Beach. The weather was perfect and the fireworks show was incredible!

The fireworks overlooking Miami's South Beach. It was truly one of the best fireworks show I have ever seen.

After the fireworks we thought we would beat the crowd and head back to the car to get an early start out of the ramp. When we got to the car, it wouldn't start! Apparently the lights were on and the battery went out! Faith and I couldn't stop laughing because Sam was on the phone with the rental car guy who was in Utah trying to help us and Carl was under the hood!

After we got the car to start, the next day we went and did some more shopping. We had so many bags that Carl had to buy a suitcase! haha. We would throw all our shopping bags into the suitcase and Carl was nice enough to pull the suitcase to all the shops! It was hysterical!

That evening we went to a fantastic shopping mall and ate at the Grand Lux Cafe which is owned by the Cheesecake Factory. I had one of the best burgers ever! The decor was gorgeous and we all had a great time relaxing after a long day of shopping.

There was one day that was in the 60's but felt a little colder than that with the high winds. So Faith and I are dressed pretty warm. Thanks for the hat Faith! Here we are at the Bal Harbour shops. That mall had the best shops I have ever seen. Stores like Dior, Hermes, Fendi, Gucci, Versace, and really every couture brand you can think of. Here we are at a really cool store, Lulu Couture.

Here is just some of the scenery, every day was in the 80's except for one day. The palm trees are so beautiful.

As we're driving to Miami, you can see all the beautiful cruise lines.

Here is a boat that we decided to purchase, hahaha, yeah I wish!!

Oh, and here is the house that we purchased right on Miami's harbor. O.k. once again, I wish! It's nice to dream :)

The design of each home we passed was incredible. Here is just one of them.

All in all, it was a fantastic time and we're glad we decided to take a winter vacation before the baby arrives in March.

Celebrity Bell Ringing Day at the Mall of America!

On Friday, December 14th I was asked by the Salvation Army to be a part of their Celebrity Bell Ringing Day at the Mall of America. It was alot of fun, meeting so many shoppers and taking tons of pictures. The decorations at the Mall of America are incredible every year, and there was a live orchestra playing holiday music right behind me in the rotunda.

Here I am with another local celebrity, Sharky from Underwater Adventures which is located inside the Mall of America.

Here I am with the Star Wars cast. They were very popular with all the kids.

Here I am with some of the Vikings Cheerleaders where they also took part in such a wonderful cause.

R.F. Moeller Jewelry show, Friday, Dec. 7th

On Friday, Dec. 7th, I was asked to be a part of R. F. Moeller's jewelry show day on 50th and France in Edina. I was given 4 carat diamond earrings to wear, a diamond pendant necklace, ring, and an 18 karat diamond tennis bracelet all totaling $400,000!! They were Lazar diamonds which are amazing and very clear and shiny.
Lazar diamonds also had on display for one day these magnificient diamond shoes and diamond handbag which were both worn on the red carpet. There were pictures displayed of famous celebrities wearing Lazar diamonds on the red carpet such as Jayme Fox and Jessica Alba. Believe it or not the handbag was $50,000 and the shoes were almost $200,000!! Now that is an expensive pair of shoes!! If your wondering, they were a size 7 in case anybody wants to purchase them. :))













The handbag worth $50,000 was encrusted with pave diamonds on the sides as well as the bottom of the bag.

Here I am with Curtis Blomberg one of the sales people that work at R.F. Moeller displaying these wonderful items. I also enjoyed wearing all that jewelry, it was alot of fun and I thank R. F. Moeller for letting me be a part of their jewelry show.

My Baby Shower! Sunday, December 2nd

Today I had my first baby shower held by my friends Donna Baklund and Ann Sangpan at my house. I thought it would be nice to have it at my house because we kind of go crazy with our holiday lights inside the house and out. I think those that attended would agree, haha.

I want to also thank Emily and Jaime from the Hair District for attending and making me look so beautiful on such a special day. Here I am with my husband Sam after the last group was leaving. It was a great party, tons of desserts and food, great party favors with white choc. lollipops made in pink and purple colors of bottles, and flowers, the ittle pink bottles filled with jelly belly beans, and all the wonderful decorations.

Here I am with my husband Sam opening up tons of presents that everyone bought for the baby. Of course I got anything that had to do with princess, crowns, and anything with rhinestones on it! haha! I hope you enjoy some of the pictures.

My good friend Donna who was one of the girls that threw me my shower bought me a silver spoon and fork that had crowns on them and said Princess. Thank you Donna!

This was another wonderful present from my friend Dessi, she gave me this beautiful silver album, a doll for the baby and some clothes that were from Bulgaria. Thanks Dessi!

Isn't this the cutest pink fur jacket? My good friend Kristine bought me this and a bunch of other fun stuff. Thanks Kristine!

I loved this small blanket that was from Skip and Debbie Thomas. I can't wait to put it in the baby's stroller. Thanks Skip and Debbie!

Here I am excited that I got the high chair I wanted.

Here I am with Carl and Faith Schway at my house. We had a great time and thank you to Carl, Faith, Robin and Mark Duffney, and Cheryl and Dennis Trainor for the beautiful high chair! I'm sure the baby will love it!