Youth Day and Photo Shoot!

After a week full of intense studying (save for a trip to Seattle on Monday which included a superb lunch date with the beautiful Miss Eastside, Mandy), yesterday I headed to Moses Lake and joined Mandy and Miss Moses Lake Teen, Erin Carter, for Youth Day.  Youth Day celebrates the opening of baseball season in the Columbia Basin, and consists of a morning parade, a ceremony and a day full of tournaments all around the town.

The parade was short and festive, and I sat in the back of a pickup with four young, adorable “Little Sisters” (a mentoring program through Miss Moses Lake) surrounding me, and I did my best to emulate, and learn from the young girls, the proper “elbow, elbow, wrist, wrist”.  Following the parade, we headed to the Larson Baseball fields where we took pictures with teams, signed autographs, led the stadium in the National Anthem (with Distiguished Young Women finalists Madi and Sarah singing), and simply laughed, smiled and did the “royalty thang”. 

Signing autographs and hanging out with the Miss Moses Lake Little Sisters

With the Local White Sox team!  I played on this team when I was their age!!!

Mandy, Erin and I with the local high school team.

These men sure are lady charmers ;).

Next up, Erin and I had the absolute privilege of having a photo shoot with the ever so talented and beautiful Rosalie Black.  Rosalie is, without question, one of the best in her field in eastern Washington, and for her to donate three hours of her time to photograph Erin and me, was and is an absolute phenomenal gift!   A little camera shy at first, Rosalie quickly took us to model heaven within the depths of local orchards, and I cannot WAIT to see the finished product!  PLUS, just a hint, there is talk of a reprise with some extreme creativity including myself, my crown, an old formal gown and water, and I cannot wait to share ALL of these when all is done and said!

After the photo shoot I dropped Erin off at one baseball field, and took off to another on the other side of town to cheer on some local teams.  A sunburn and mass exhaustion later, I retired to Inca’s Mexican Restaurant with my dear friend, Tashauna, and then headed back to Spokane to face my awaiting fate….exam preparation!!!  Duh, duh, duh, dummmmmm!!!!

And that is where I sit now…..behind a laptop, clipboard, textbooks, and a cup of hot chocolate!  Two exams tomorrow (my last “normal exams” of the year), two finals on Thursday, two finals the following Monday, and finally my last final the following Thursday.  Goodbye life as I knew it! ;)

Where I sit now, and all I will know for the next week.