It was a Royal...Pain, I mean, TEA! haha

I am happy to report that the Court's fundraiser was a success! We raised over $500 and as you will see, got TONS of food donated to the Food Pantry (my platform) and lots of items for the Animal Sanctuary and the Homeless (the girls' platforms).

It turned out really well, lots of people showed up, and we had GREAT food. I was very happy with the results. We raffled off prizes, much of which were generously donated by local businesses. It was a lot of fun!

Setting up!
Some of the prizes- which you can't see but there were some generous gift certificates to local shops and boutiques in town, which I struggled to give away!



These were the ULTIMATE scones, I insisted we had to order some from our local bakery, the Sweet Sicilian! haha, they were FABULOUS!
Us with the 08-09 Honorary Mayor, Rebecca Waranch and the later-announced (we didn't know it at the time), 09-10 Honorary Mayor, Gail Martin.

ACTION POSE! Selling raffle tickets! (and can I mention that dress was only $13!)

Some of my friends that were our lovely guests!


Two volunteers at the Food Pantry came to support us at the Tea- thanks Mr. and Mrs. Russell!

We crowned a "queen" and "princess" for a day from a random drawing, my friend Vickie was crowned queen, so exciting!


My boss, Margaret, donated a fun summer basket for raffle!

Some of my lovely friends that came to support the project- you can see some of the donations in the background!

weee!
I ALWAYS wanted a picture like this!


Me with just the FOOD donated- so there were pet items and lots of other stuff too not shown- people were so generous!



All-in-all it was a great event, I'm so glad we put it together! We had cute little name tags with crowns on them, and little ribbon crowns for the younger guests. Anyone who brought an item to donate got a free Mary Kay gift set from me (it had Journey perfume, Satin Hands Smoothie, and a ton of travel-sized stuff in it). I can't remember who won that, but I think it was one of our wonderful helpers, which made me happy!


Anyhoo- I just got back from Vegas today, so I will have pictures up soon! I start school on the 31st, and am taking the GRE of doom on Aug. 27th- wish me luck! There have been some issues on campus with budget cuts, furlows, and lameness all around, so standing up for my right to graduate in a timely fashion is keeping me busy! ;)

Love and miss ya'll! Update your blogs!!!!!

It's Time to Party- Young, Broke and Fabulous Style!

Yep, it's official! I'm 23, and life is as fabulous as ever! I celebrated with a "Young, Broke and Fabulous," Party at mi casa, and had a lot of friends stop by to party! I will let the pictures speak for themselves!










Fun times with a few of my AxiD sisters!

Gather 'round children!
:) Fun times!

Isn't that adorable? My friend Amanda made me cookies and the pugs some cookies of their own! The card was handmade too- love it!

Anita's "hangover survival kit," (which I haven't had to use, but is useful!) Includes Pepto Bismol, Advil, Ice Pack, and much more, soo cute!

My friend Nina cross-stitched this for me, gorgeous huh?


AHHH! My friend Christiana, our Miss Fallbrook, made me this AWESOME jacket. We're in the same sorority..you can;t see inside the hoodie, it's a princess crown print!

I want to wear this even if it's 100 degrees outside!

I start school in a few short weeks, and am still waiting on my internship schedule at Girls, Inc to be established. I am taking mostly evening classes, and some online courses, so we will see how it works out! I'll keep you posted!

Each Day is a Gift! Happy Birthday to Me!

You know, I know you either love pugs, or you hate pugs....but seriously, to me, they never stop being cute. I still get up each morning and go to their crates and say "awwww." The serve as a good motivation to get up, even on "sleep in days," seeing that I feel guilty leaving them crated for too long. I love these girls so much, and their antics make for interesting bouts of entertainment!
John Stewart came on, and she started barking at the tv- Not sure if Bailey is a Republican (barking at him) or a Democrat (barking with him.) But she hasn't barked at the tv when either Sarah Palin or Barack Obama came on lately, so perhaps she just like the Daily Show?

Steven Colbert? She could care less. hahaha.
Kahlua's gangsta one-ear pose.

"Pweease, you know you wants to feed us a cookie."

Eyes that peer into your soul....and demand "nom noms" for Princess.

I'm 23! YAY (I think!) I got to drink out of a "birthday boot," at Barley and Hops beer bar and restaurant.....this beer seriously tasted like flowers, but it was fabulous..better than the Bacon Beer I was dared to try later...Needless to say, after the Bacon Beer I was DONE and woke up with a migrane the next morning. Chris and Whit were smart enough to take a sip and go "gross" and move on, I, on the other hand, was stubborn........no bueno.

For my birthday, Chris made me Curried Chicken, nom nom nom. Then Whit, Chris and I went to Barley and Hops to drink some cold ones. :)

Then we went out to In-N-Out for French Fries and Shakes, very tasty!



All in all, it was a good birthday! I have more pictures to come of the pugs and I all dressed up for my birthday (yes, I am that brand of nerdy) and will have pictures from my party that's happening this Saturday! :)

AND CONGRATS TO BETH, ANDY AND JENNAH ON THEIR NEW HOME, We want pictures as soon as you're settled!

I can't think of a clever title...sad.

More pictures from my year as a princess! I'm finally understanding my role, and with that understanding, I totally revamp that role and make it my own. That's how we do.

I'm very excited, this summer has a lot of fun things on the calendar- JULY 4th BABY!!!! But besides, that splendid holiday weekend, there is a lot of philanthropy on the calendar. I wanted this office to be more than mastering the "princess wave," and wearing a tiara, I knew it was an opportunity to make a difference.

In July we'll be baking cookies for our firefighters, in August we have a "Royal-Tea." I was able to get the venue for FREE (thank you Masons!), and we're going to have it as a fundraiser for our various platforms, mine being the Fallbrook Food Pantry. We are going to have a raffle, and are looking for donations of various items. Our Miss Fallbrook's mom is making a quilt to raffle off as well!

I'm trying to coordinate a "Knit-A-Long" at our local yarn shop....the owner's kids are on summer vacay right now so it's been a bit iffy but it will happen eventually!

Me with a wad of cash from selling "quilt raffle" tickets at the Fallbrook Animal Sanctuary benefit tea.
Destiny and I trying on some Silpada jewelry...I LOVE that stuff!

One of the raffle prizes at the Animal Sanctuary benefit tea, the kitty as a tiara!!!

The "crowns" with Micheal from the "Lone Wolf Garage" a local classic car restoration shop.

Hot Summer Nites- an event on various Fridays in the summertime that hightlights local vendors, and allows different classes of cars (Imports, Classics, etc.) to be shown off on Main Street!

Hilarious Moment- "How do you feel about Gay Marriage?" Ya'll know how I feel about it, hahaha Everytime I wear this tiara I get asked that question! Thank you Miss California...let's hope I can answer more eloquently.


Oh yes, I love to SHOP! We were able to work out a deal with Catherine from Divas to get a lil discount!!! I did some damage!

It's so important to support your local economy, I take that job VERY seriously.


A Fallbrook Chamber of Commerce "Sundowner," which is an event for local businesses to mingle, network and of course, support the chamber by buying raffle tickets for prizes and cash!

We sell a LOT Of raffle tickets! I must be a pro by now!
Is it wrong I love holding the cash basket??
The beautiful Miss Melissa, who was the 2008 2nd Princess, who crowned me. She has been a dear friend since we ran together in 2008, and now she is running for Honorary Mayor of Fallbrook! I hope she wins!




A random one from the Animal Sanctuary Benefit!


Well ya'll, that's it for now! I have been a busy little bee this week, but just had to update you with my dorky pictures! I send my love- toodle loo for now!

Holy Cow!

THE PUGS ARE WATCHING YOU!!!!



Hi everyone, Shannyn reporting in again. Life has been a bit stressful lately, as I have had to sit down and try to get a vague idea of where my life is headed in the next year. As you know, I have made the decision to apply to graduate school- and the process really involves a lot of soul searching.

I have to write my first post-high school resume, get letters of recommendation from my professors, take the GRE (which requires months of studying) and worst of all, DECIDE WHERE I'M APPLYING TO! haha! Sofar, my portfolio consists of the following: SDSU, UCSB, Harvard, USC, UCSD, Stanford and perhaps University of Colorado at Boulder. I may or may not actually apply to these schools, I'm still in the sniffing out process. I am applying to two Ivy Leagues because well, having a letter of rejection to frame on my wall from an Ivy League would be kinda cool.

After the inital freak out of having to get the ball rolling on this process, and scrambling to wrap my head around this lengthy app process, I finally was able to break it down into bits. Right now, I'm studying vocab for the GRE, building my portfolio (with application requirements and program information from schools I like), and working on my resume. I was SO lucky to get into a GRE prep course down in San Diego which is $200 (as opposed to the one that's 10 minutes away from my home and costs $1,100). My friend Misty is letting me room with her for those GRE weekends..yay!

This month, we got to celebrate my best friend Whitney graduating from CSUSM..yay Whitney! Chris graduates from LLU this Sunday,....Yay Chris!


Misty and I went Wine Tasting, which involved one quick stop at the House of Jerky.Leonesse Winery, amazing!
Misty and I at Wilson Creek....true Winos!
Making an appearance at the Fairy Tea, I was sick as a dog from the luau food the day before...ugh!



So adorable! The Fairy Tea was a great event, if I hadn't been so ill and it not so chilly it would have been perfect!Our other princess Destiny and I selling tickets at the Fallbrook Film Festival in May!

The Summer Wind, is Blowing In!

Another pic of us at initiation....it's our family within a family...Lacey, top left is the oldest member who took Liz as a little sis last year, and Christiana as a little this year...since I'm Liz's little, Lacey is my "grand big" hope that makes sense!

Two ladies I'll really miss who just graduated.. this is our senior dinner where the soon-to-be graduates get presented with their stoles to wear with their cap and gown!

Some of our "family" in AxiD before semi-formal... peace! :)
Some of the girls and me at AxiD's semi-formal!




Christiana and I before Alpha Xi Delta initiation

My Big Sis and I in our new matching letters... (it's tradition for the little to give her sis a painted paddle and the big to give her little sis a set of matching letters) You cannot wear greek letters untill you are initiated so I was super happy to be able to get these! You can't really see, but the pink part has hearts on it! :)

Another funny picture of me from pageant night! hahahha


Preparing for the Little Miss and Mister Avocado (a contest for kids ages 4-10)...you can see our excited police escorts, hahaha
The avocado derby 500. Destiny, our other princess beat Christiana and I....boo!

This is me and a former contestant from my first year, and awesome chick named Rachel...she works where we had our chamber golf tournament fundraiser!

Right now I'm about to make a phone call to one of my professors to talk about Grad School options. I'm still in the very, VERY early stages....meaning, I am still looking into what program interests me, where to go, etc. I haven't even scheduled my GRE exam yet, but got a book about it, and found a free info session on the GRE exam.

So far, I'm looking into getting a MA degree (most schools now-a-days that I've looked into only allow you to get an MA with the idea you'll stay for a PhD...oh god!) at UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC and maybe an Ivy League School for kicks and giggles. hahaha!

I just started pawing around their websites, so it's still in it's infancy stages...I haven't even decided where I'm applying, so don't quote me on those schools later! ;) I met with a friend yesterday who got into George Washington University in DC (holy COW!) and she gave me some pointers on how to start this whole process- it is NOTHING like applying to an undergraduate program I come to find out. Eeeek!

I have officially formulated my "Grad School folder (of doom)" as I call it..which has tabs for all the schools I'm seriously thinking about, for addresses, due dates, etc. Apparently, I've been warned...you must keep organized or you may miss a due date or forget to submit a required document!!!!!

Failure is not an option...but PRAY FOR ME! I'm really intimidated by this whole process!

Love you all and hope we can get together SOON for some fun times and good food! :) Miss you!

Introducing Shannyn, Princess of Genovia, I mean, Fallbrook!

If you haven't heard the news, Shannyn is officially a Fallbrook Princess! The pageant was April 18th, and I'm sorry I don't have the pictures of all my family and friends, those weren't taken on my camera!

I actually LOST MY VOICE on the day of the pageant, and you can imagine how devastated I was. Luckily for me, I was able to get through the interview, and after that I didn't speak for 4 hours to conserve my voice for the introduction and on-stage impromptu question. Talk about a nervous breakdown...I was so dissapointed.....but it worked out just fine!

I got crowned with two other awesome ladies, Christiana Monarez my friend and Alpha Xi sister, and Destiny Altvater, a new buddy! They are beautiful inside and out, and check out www.thevillagenews.com and look up Pageant 2009 photos to see more!




The casual wear competition! (saying "I love you" in sign language!) The cheers made me smile!


My evening gown!

Hearing my name!

Miss Fallbrook! :)

Us with one of the Judges and Fallbrook's Honorary Mayor before the awards began!


The very next day at the Avocado Festival...wow, big day! It's werid wearing a tiara for me still!


My wonderful Aunt Norie who came down to support me! Like I said, I had lots of family/friends at the pageant, but sadly don't have the photos yet!

Thanks to everyone who came to support me, and those who were there in spirit! I am so excited for this opportunity and love each of you! The next year will involve me going to ribbon cutting ceremonies, Chamber of Commerce Mixers (twice a month for Bonsall and Fallbrook), Parades, Festivals and Charitable Events.

My personal platform is promoting the Fallbrook Food Pantry and I am ready for action! I have so much love and gratitude, I hope to make you proud!