Busy, busy, busy!

I want to start by saying that I leave for Miss Iowa in 14 days!!! And the finals are in 20 days!  I will keep saying this but I have no idea where all this time has gone!

With all that being said these next 14 days are going to fly by even faster!  Before I get to these next 14 days I want to recap these past fews days.  Friday was a fun filled day starting with zip lining with the current Miss Iowa and other current Miss Iowa contestants!

I enjoyed spending time and getting to know these ladies even better on a beautiful day.

After zip lining, my Miss Iowa roommate Alison and I drove from Dubuque to Davenport to join Miss Iowa and other contestants at the Boys and Girls club for their Dance for Diversity.  It was great to get out in the community and support these wonderful kids!  While we were there we were able to play various games with the kids, watch performances and then test out our dance moves ourselves!

Saturday I found out that I have finally become a Circle of Champions member! This means I have personally raised $1,000 for the March of Dimes this year!  I am very happy with my accomplishment and couldn't of done it without the support of so many people.

Sunday morning, I was able to spend time with my wonderful ED Ashley, as we picked out all my outfits for the entire Miss Iowa week! We had a blast doing it and my cat Kinnick even helped out a little bit!  It is now Sunday later afternoon and I am sitting at the studio passing out tickets and recital t-shirts during daddy/ daughter rehearsal because tomorrow starts tech week for our recital. This next week is a really busy but very exciting week!  Having a busy schedule all the time and juggling so many things at once is one of my weaknesses but it actually keeps me motivated and on track.  Being busy with recital will make me wake up early and get to the gym and pack all my meals for the day so I can stay on track.  It will keep my focused on preparing for Miss Iowa but it won't let me obsess on getting ready for Miss Iowa.  It will also prepare me on keeping a very positive attitude under stressful situations all while being a role model for all of my students!  Recital is a time to celebrate all of the success of the students hard work throughout the year and this is a big year for us as it is the Nolte Academy's 15th anniversary!

Miss Iowa week and finals will be here before I know it and that makes me both very excited and very nervous.  I was put at ease when I was reading the Pageant Junkie Newsletter.  Here is the excerpt that resonated with me:

"Pageantry isn’t about being ‘the best’ in interview, or having ‘the best’ talent, or having ‘the best’ body, or offering ‘the best’ stage presence. Pageantry isn’t even about being well-rounded in each of these categories! Rather, pageantry is about making 5 different people (the judges) love you."

It resonated with me because it reminded me that I will never be the best contestant in every category but I can be my best self.  As long as I stay true to myself all week and compete as myself I will be happy with my results.  

I will sign off today with these two quotes that encompass the same thought.  If I can be a role model to anyone, specifically to my students, I want them to get these messages.  I will compete for the title of Miss Iowa 2015 as Christy Scimeca and for everything I stand for and believe in and that will be enough.  

XOXO, and enjoy the rest of your Sunday evening!

Christy Scimeca, Miss Pearl City 2015 

"I am not telling you it is going to be easy, but I am telling you it is going to be worth it"

Art Williams, the man who spoke this quote, was a very smart man when he said this.  This quote applies to a lot in life and specifically to my past, current and future Miss Iowa prep.  Preparing for Miss Iowa is not all sunshine and rainbows like it may appear to be.  Now when I say that I don't mean it is all bad but getting down to the wire it is definitely hard.  

There are only 38 days until a new Miss Iowa is crowned.  I don't know whether I want to look at 38 days as a half full or half empty situation.  For my mental stability I will force myself to look at it half full.  There ARE 38 wonderful days (and 912 hours) until Miss Iowa and a lot can still be done in those 38 days.  Some of those things on my list that are just for Miss Iowa will be; intense workouts, meticulous nutrition, multiple interview conference calls and mock interviews per week, talent rehearsals, rhine stoning my talent costume, packing for the week, a few March of Dimes events and appearances and several fittings. That is just to prep for Miss Iowa, that doesn't even include the craziness of recital that always finishes up May. The weeks to come at the Nolte Academy will include a full week of pictures, the last week of classes, tech week and then three full days of shows.  After recital, I will have a week to catch up on sleep and mental stability to then get ready to embark on a full week of Miss Iowa activities in Davenport.  Looking now at my calendar at the next 38 days, there isn't a single day that is blank.  I am both thankful and stressing out about that.  I will just keep repeating " I can and I will do this".

No matter what happens in 38 days, I know I have gained an immense amount of life skills and experiences through this process.  Yes, it may be hard.  Yes, people may think I am crazy.  Yes, there are moments that I question why I do this.  And yes, I would do it all again in a heartbeat.  No part of me wants to quit or give up, and these are the moments that make us stronger and keep us chasing our dreams.

As I said before, preparing for Miss Iowa is not all sunshine and rainbows, but neither is life.  We learn to embrace the storms that get thrown at us so we can appreciate the sun when it does shine or cherish the rainbow when we catch a glimpse of it.  Those are the moments that make life special.


I absolutely can not wait to shine on that stage June 11th, 12th and 13th and give it everything I have.  I can only control myself, my preparation and my performance.  From there it is out of my hands, it is out of my control, but again that is life.  There is only so much we can do. But on that stage, in that moment it will absolutely be worth it.

Until next time,
Miss Pearl City 2015
Christy Scimeca

Where does time go?

I have to start out by saying every morning when I wake up I know exactly how many days it is until Miss Iowa Finals because I have a countdown on my phone.. I mean who doesn't?!  With that being said, where do those days go?  Where does that time go? It's too deep of a question for me to ponder for too long but it really does make you think.  I have to hope that that time is spent doing things you love and things you want to do.  Yes, some days are more stressful than others but that's all a part of life.  These past two weeks since I have blogged have been just that, busy and some days more stressful than others.  I kept trying to find a time to sit down a blog but there was always something else that needed to be done first.   As we all know the list of things to get done is never ending and as soon as you cross one thing off you add at least two more to the list.  My list these past two weeks has ranged from daily activities of cleaning, taking care of my cat and grocery shopping to packing for the next dance competition or heading to work, to finishing up all the Miss Iowa paperwork, putting together my scholarship scrapbook or putting the final touches on my wardrobe to gathering and finalizing all the details of my benefit coming up!  These activities are all apart of my daily life and to me they are all equally important.  Even though my days may be long an stressful and scheduled to the minute, I wouldn't change any part of my life.

With all this being said there are only 51 days until Miss Iowa Finals… with each day that passes the amount of anxiety, nervousness and excitement grows and it starts to be real that in 51 days one of the sixteen girls in the Miss Iowa class will be crowned Miss Iowa 2015.  From here to there the only thing I can control is myself and what I do to better myself. I am back off to work now and I will keep this blog short and sweet even though there is a ton to catch up on.  Here's to another crazy weekend and finding time to just enjoy the ride!

XOXO- Christy
Miss Pearl City 2015

March for Babies: Iowa City!

Today was the day!! It was finally the day of the March for Babies in Iowa City for the March of Dimes.  The day started out bright at early at 5 AM to get myself ready to get to lower city park for 6 AM for set up! Set up went so smooth thanks to our great planning committee and our wonderful volunteers who dedicated their Saturday morning to helping babies! Once everything was set up it was 8 AM and time for registration and for the teams and participants to arrive!! Once this started we also had a super special guest.. HERKY!!  It's always great to have HAWKEYE spirit at any event!!

Herky and I supporting the March of Dimes!

My brother Steve and I snapped a quick photo with Herky.

Once the teams and participants started to arrive there were a few announcements about the event and what we were all doing.  I was able to share my story and speak with the crowd about why I chose the March of Dimes as my platform.

Sharing my story before the walk started. 

Then it was time for the walk!!  The walk started at 9 AM and took us from Lower City Park in Iowa City up Dubuque street into downtown Iowa City. It was a great route to walk and it ended up being a wonderful day to march around Iowa City for babies!  The amount of people who came to the event was absolutely amazing and to hear other peoples stories and reasons they support the March of Dimes was humbling.

My family came out to support me in the walk and the March of Dimes.

At the starting line of the walk.

We were able to walk right past the beautiful Pentacrest.

Trivia facts were dispersed around th 

The large group of walkers!!

It was a great day for the walk and I don't think it could of gone smoother!! I am happy to say the first walk I helped to plan is in the books!! This walk wouldn't of been possible with out the planning committee, the volunteers,  the sponsors and Andrea Skow. Thank you so much for not only planning this event, for all you do for the March of Dimes but for also accepting me into this wonderful organization.  I am very proud everyday but especially today to call the March of Dimes my platform!

I DID IT!!

With Jenny Waddilove fellow committee member and Andrea Skow the Hawkeye Division Representative for the March of Dimes.

Thank you for walking!

With Chris Garrett, the Iowa State director for the March of Dimes. 

Thank you to a personal team sponsor, Dr. Lori Wenzel of OBGYN of Iowa City and Coralville for her generous donation. 

Thank you to the National Sponsors of the March of Dimes.

             

Rest, relaxation and some vitamin D!

For those of you that know my family and I know we are avid travelers and whenever there is a "break" we try to get in a vacation!! This year was different because I am no longer in school and my spring break at the dance studio didn't match up with my dad and brother's spring break for school.  Because of this I was lucky to finagle TWO spring breaks.  One a few weeks back to just spend at home and with family and then these past fews days in florida with my family!

This past Wednesday I was able to jump on a plane and meet my family in Tampa, Florida.  In just a few short days we have had a lot of fun AND I have been able to keep up on my Miss Iowa prep!  The first day on the beach I ended up carrying my brother around 200 yards on the beach and after a day of traveling I counted that as part of my work out! While we had plenty of time for fun we also had plenty of down time to work on Miss Iowa paperwork and work out details for my upcoming benefit and doing some shopping where I found a key piece of my Miss Iowa wardrobe!  With only 69 days til Miss Iowa there is no time for a break but this break for warm weather was gladly welcomed!

The highlight, by far in the trip, was on our last full day!! We rented a boat for two hours out on Tampa Bay and just drove around the bay.  While we were boating I spotted something in the distant that was jumping and splashing around and to my excitement it was a small pod of DOLPHINS!! I have seen and been around dolphins before in my life but there is something utterly breathtaking of seeing dolphins out of no where in the ocean!  We just floated on our boat for about 20 minutes just watching the dolphins play!

It was wonderful to get away and take time for myself, this journey is not easy and it does take a toll on you.  Luckily, I know myself very well and know when I need time to chill and recharge! With that being said this break doesn't last forever, tomorrow I will get in a quick talent costume fitting, hopefully a visit to 8one8 and then back to work at the studio!  It is always great to have a break and get some vitamin D especially after winter but it is even better to get back to a schedule.

Hope you all have a wonderful Easter and stay tuned for the next few weeks are a little busy and filled with a ton of exciting things!!

XOXO
Miss Pearl City 2015, Christy Scimeca

It takes a village

It takes a village and boy am I thankful that I have an amazing village! I haven't had much time to blog lately because I have been busy do all sorts of things! Last week, which I can not believe it was already last week, was spring break and I took this time to really lay back and embrace not having a schedule.  I was able to spend the week at home with my family who is my true support system and I have no idea where I would be without them.  I used this week to revive my sanity and reboot my system, getting ready for these last 78 days before the Miss Iowa Finals. I did everything from sleep in, to eat my favorite meals at my favorite restaurants to spend a day shopping with my mom and brother to working on the details of the event I am working on.  (More about that later!)  I am thankful that I was able to spend this week at home and to get things done that get pushed aside in everyday life.  One of the big tasks I had while home was finding the perfect clothing and jewelry for head shots which we have tomorrow!!  This was fun and frustrating at the same time and I am pretty sure my brother never wants to do another pageant shopping trip with me again!

With head shots tomorrow, this is where I am thankful for my village!! For anyone that thinks getting to Miss Iowa is a solo journey is a fool.  I have grown so much in the past few months since winning Miss Pearl City and I still have plenty of time and drive to improve myself before hopefully fitting in the shoes of Miss Iowa.  The Miss Muscatine Scholarship program has AMAZINGLY, WONDERFUL, GIVING and SELFLESS sponsors that will do anything to help us out!  I always enjoy working with our sponsors and I am pretty sure I have seen almost all of them in the past 72 hours!  I have had a workout with Jon at 8One8 and boy did my arms feel that the next day and I even had a nutrition check in with Jennifer Lintz, to make sure I am right on track for these next 78 days AND a lovely and very helpful conference call with Michelle and Jessica at Legacy pageant consulting!  I was also able to fit in a hair cut and color touch up at ANewU Salon in Muscatine, which was relaxing and fun as always.  Then I was able to get some color from a spray tan from the fabulous Nicki Boyd who owns Jet De Soleil in Iowa City.  Nicki is one of my dance mom at the studio but more importantly she is an impeccable spray tanner!  Then tomorrow when we get our head shots taken I will be in the company of the wonderful photographer Michale who owns Mississippi Pearl Photography.  Michale did my last head shots as well as other things for me in the past and it is always a pleasure working with Michale and I can't wait to work with her again tomorrow to get the perfect Miss Iowa head shot!  Then lastly, I will be heading to a very familiar place on my journey to Miss Iowa, which is 8One8 studio.  For the first time I will NOT be working out or walking aways sore because we are grateful to use the studio space as the place for our head shots! This is what I mean about how wonderful our sponsors are.  They help out in as many ways as they possibly can!  Once I am done with head shots I will head down the street to the Adler Theater where we will have our second Affect competition of the season.  I am excited for this competition because there will be a lot of familiar faces in the audience and competing, including the adorable ladies of River City All Stars, whom I was able to guest choreograph for!

Then, I can not forget the phenomenal board of Miss Muscatine.  Our head shots and these sponsors wouldn't be around with the fabulous help of Ashley and Kindra. I can't wait to see them tomorrow as well because it has been too long!

I can't wait to share my new head shots with you all and can't wait to share some more exciting news soon!! Until next time-
XOXO Miss Pearl City, Christy Scimeca

Steve is...

I sat here and tried to think of a witty title to this post. But in the end there is no witty title to tell this story. Steve, is an inspiration, a joy, a blessing, a lover, a pain, a brother, a fighter, a son, a miracle and most importantly, Steve had the chance to grow up and be Steve.  There is no perfect word to describe Steve because since day one he has surpassed all expectations that were set for him.  Some of you know Steve's story because you have lived it through our family but others don't know anything about my family and our story.

When I was five years old I found out I was going to become a big sister.  Little did I know at that time that he would teach me the most valuable lessons in life and he would shape me to become the person I am today.  At 26 weeks Steve was born via emergency c-section because my mom suffered placental abruption.  He was born March 16th 1997 at only 1 pound 13 ounces.  I personally do not remember much from this day because I was only five, but I do remember getting a phone call from my mom and dad telling me his name and not quite understanding why I couldn't see my new brother.  Neither did I know at this time that we wouldn't be able to bring Steve home for 125 days.  When Steve was born he suffered grade 3, grade 4 brain intraventricular bleeds that caused him to develop hydrocephalus.  Hydrocephalus is the build up of cerebral spinal fluid in the brain that puts harmful pressure on the brain.  To get rid of that fluid Steve received an external shunt in his brain for 2 month while we waited for him to grow big enough for a Ventriculoperitoneal (VP) shunt.   A VP shunt was placed in his head at day 70 when he was only 3 pounds 3 ounces.  As a result of Steve's prematurity and the brain bleeds at birth Steve still suffers today from cerebral palsy.  Steve's cerebral palsy is classified as left sided hemiplegia, where is affects only the left side of his body.  For Steve, he can still use the left side of his body to an extent but it takes more effort and concentration.  He wears AFO's on his legs to walk, a full one on his left side and a half one on his right side and he wears a hand brace on the left side at night and during certain activities to keep his wrist muscles in a straight line.  

When he was only 2 1/2 weeks old he had surgery for PDA (opening in heart that didn't close at birth) and still has a large scar on his chest today.  While in the NICU Steve was intubated to help him breath and because of damage that occurred when doing this he now has a paralyzed vocal cord.  He also has vision issues called ROP (retinopathy of prematurity) his bad eyesight as a result most of the ROP resolved now but he still wears glasses 24/7.  Along with all these major and minor surgeries during his 125 day stay in the NICU Steve had issues with sucking/eating where it took him over an 1/2 hour to drink 20 cc's because of this he was tube feed via a NG (nasal gastric) tube.  They had to regulate his sucking, swallowing and breathing because his heart rate and breathing would drop into apneic spells which means he would hold his breath and stop breathing.  This required constant regulation.  Also during his NICU stay he suffered from sudden onset kidney failure from toxic levels of antibiotics.  Luckily, it all resolved and was not an underlying issue.   Lastly, he was on oxygen his entire hospital stay, and even came home on oxygen and continued to use the NG feeding tube to eat.

When, I read that back it truly shows how much of a miracle Steve really is.  For those of you that know him he lives each day with a smile on his face even though he has faced all these hardships.  Therefore, the perfect word to describe Steve is a MIRACLE.

Christy Scimeca, Miss Pearl City 2015