Miss Florida USA Pre-Taping

It's Finally Pre-Taping Weekend! :) After a 5 hour drive, I arrived in Hollywood FLORIDA!

I was so nervous at first but I'm having a blast! Everyone is so nice, and we are all clicking really well. 5am was an early start! Espceially since I'm not used to going to bed early  due to my late night gym visits! I didn't get to sleep till about 2, but that didn't stop me from waking up, ready to take the day on!  By 6:20 I was at the Diplomat Country Club in Hollywood FL, Ready to model some beautiful jewelry from our Miss FL USA Sponsor, Medina! You know you're in a room full of beauty queens when everyone looks beautiful at 6:30am! :)

By 7am, we were shooting! It was exciting having cameras in your face the whole time! haha

After about 3and a half hours of shooting, it was off to Pollo Tropical for lunch at another sponsor's venue! Can you delicious? :) It was soo good, and I gotta a chance to get to know some of the girls! Chicken, beans and rice, and plantains! I think it was cuban? Whatever it was, it was good! :)

After the wrap of the shooting for the day, I went back to my room for a lonnngggg needed nap! Dinner was at 730 so I set my alarm for 3:45. Unfortunately, it was one of those naps where you keep waking up anticipating the alarm... :( So, I got up early and ran some errands. I was in the mood for Cereal, and there was a kmart right across from my hotel. After grabbing the Froot Loops and Milk, i realized I needed something to eat it out of. I found bowls, but you can't just buy one spoon. SOOO it was off to te baby sections haha. I found little mini spoons. They say you're supposed to challenge yourself everyday. Well, two froot loops at a time was definitely a challenge.... and frustrating! haha

I got back to my hotel and started getting ready for dinner at Mama Mia's! 6:30 came around and I had a knock at my door! Melissa (Miss Miami USA) and Lauren (Miss Fort Walton Beach USA) were ready to go! And the road trip began. I quickly learned, I don't know how to follow my GPS lol, but we got there safe and sound! :) When we got to Mama Mia's there were heads turning everywhere! Especially when we walked up. The private dining room was filled with FL USA Royalty! :) Definitely felt like VIPS! Before and after our dinner, there were tons of pictures taken! It's like being a movie star! Oh, by the way, I plan on being famous!

Time to get ready for Seminar day! I'll Blog more tomorrow night after my 5 hr drive home! :) One day my signature will be an autograph! <3

Events events events!!!

Hey everyone!!! Time to play catch up again! I Finally got some time to upload some pics and to sit down and write about all the fun I've been having!!! These past few weeks have flew by! I can't believe that Pre-Taping is next week! :) So excited to meet everyone and to get started.... It's time to see what I'm getting myself into! ;)

Anyways... After the Queen Bling Pageant, the next weekend it was back to my roots for the Newberry Watermelon Festival and Pageants! The first weekend, I was the Guest Emcee, filling in for KCounty's Lewis Stokes! It was so fun, and so enjoyable to be apart of what got me into pageants to begin with! The babies were adorable and they crowned some cute kids! The next weekend was the Festival and the "Big" Queen Pageant... The Newberry Watermelon Queen is like the "Miss" Division for watermelon pageants... Some tough competition and a weekend of fun! Friday night, the girls compete in Sportswear, speech, and evening wear. After hearing all the girls talk, and listening to their knowledge of the watermelon and agricultural industry, I felt bad for the judges! They had a hard competition in front of them, and only interviews Saturday would determine the results. The next morning started with the Newberry Watermelon Festival parade! Again, it was so good to be back in my hometown with a new title! :) Support from the community is amazing! Being a past watermelon queen, I was invited to all the queen and contestant events throughout the day. After the parade, we went straight to the sponsor luncheon to get to know the girls, and mingle with their awesome sponsors. After interviews, it was off to the festival for some fun in the sun... and boy was it sunny! Some of the contestants and queens and I walked around talking to people and taking pictures with kids! I love the how excited the children get to see "Princesses!" Each year, the festival holds an auction to benifit next year's festival. The visiting queens and contestants all help with the auction, showing items, and trying to get bids higher. Well, needless to say, that's where I was to be found around 3pm that Saturday afternoon! After auction was the time that everyone had been anticipating... The crowning of the 2011 Newberry Watermelon Queen. After a tough competition, the judges agreed that the crown was earned by Miss Jenna Garret! She will be competiting for the Florida Watermelon Queen Title in February of 2012! Until then, she will be around the community and Florida promoting Florida Watermelon! :) Congrats Jenna!

Part of my job as a Life Coach at the North Florida Retirement Village entails creating an event and activity calendar for our residents each month. After a few of my residents found out about my title, they started asking questions :) What better way to explain what "We do" than to have a day where my sister queens could join and we could mingle with these amazing people and explain what we stand for. I created an event called "More than Just a Crown!" They loved it! My little sister queen, Miss Gainesville Teen USA, Brittany Lakhani joined me in speaking with the residents. It was like a talk show interview. :) They asked questions like what got us into pageants, and what our goals are. After meeting with our first group, one very nice couple invited us to dinner. We got to be the "Guests of Honor" joining a few of the residents at dinner! It was so sweet, and we got to learn about their pasts and children. There a lot of stories to come from someone who's over 90! It was amazing! When we were done with dinner, we went over to another venue to do the same time. Questions, answers, and this time we got input. I got the biggest compliment that I've ever recieved from one of our 95 year old residents. After we were done speaking, she told us that we inspired her... from confidence to poise, we were an inspiration. Coming from someone who's seen so much and accomplished so many things, that was such an honor! I definitely feel like they now understand that there's a lot more to pageants and titles than just looking pretty and wearing a crown! :)

I'm loving my reign. I'm so excited for the rest of this year, and I'm really enjoying getting out into the community and meeting so many amazing people. Next week starts the real fun! Pre-taping in the sunnnn! Can't wait! Until next time friends! <3

Catching Up!

Hey Everyone! Oh my goodness... Can we say hectic? That pretty much desribes my life lately. Boy, have I been Busy! Between work appearances and gym time, I'm trying to find time to breath. But I LOVE every minute of it. So here's the latest.

My first appearance was at the Community Unity Day in Newberry, Florida. There I met a ton of  new people and helped out with Newberry Main Street Booth. I enjoyed meeting with people and got a chance to speak with our newest Mayor and commisioners. Both who I already knew :) The Joys of a small town!

My next adventure was "O2B A Kid Again!" That's where the real fun began. O2B A Kid Again is a fundraiser for the Alachua County Public Schools. It's an event where the grown-up get to relive their childhood and do all the stuff kids do everyday! From Cheese Wall climbing to tricyle races, i did it all! And Had a blast! I held the record for the Tricycle race up until the very end! The child size tricycle had nothing on me and my heels! haha. "The Chubby Bunny..." That was amusing! That was contest to see how many marshmellows you could stuff in your mouth! I got 10! The record was 17!!! I don't know how they did it! lol My favorite was the Cheese wall. Basically like a rock wall, but it looks like cheese. I made it to the top without dropping my crown! I had a ton of people cheering! The event did very well and raised a ton of money for the schools!

From there it was on to the Relay for Life! Last weekend was crazy! Being on the committee for my hometown, I had to be at the field at 8am to start setting up. After getting signs, and campsites set up, I went home to change to multitask as a committee member, and as Miss North Central Fl USA. I manned the Survivor Booth and met some amazing people, with incredible survival stories from cancer. I relay for my mother, who is also a survivor, so the organization means a lot to me! After a long night, I finally got home toa\ good nap around 10 am the next morning. The event raised a little over $41,000! Not too shabby for a two light  town! :)

That evening I was a guest judge at the Inaugural Miss Queen Bling pageant in Lake City. From sparkly binkies on the babies, to bedazzled gowns on the Misses, it was a great pageant! 37 contestants for their first running! Southern Exposure put on a great show!

Other than that, it's been gym gym gym and work work work. I love my job and working with my residents, so  luckily, my "work" isn't always "work!" I apologize for not blogging more sooner,  but it's been work, eat, gym, sleep lately! :) I promise to write more! Especially closer to state! Pre-Taping is coming up! I'm so excited! I wish Blogger would make an iPhone app! hmm.... Alrighty, well I'm gonna get to bed. Speaking at a Lion's Club meeting tomorrow and serving dessert to the homeless at the St. Francis house in the evening! :) Goodnight!

Olivia Zebley Photography

Today was so much fun! :) Had a photoshoot with my friend Olivia Zebley! She's a new photographer in Gainesville and I'm so happy I get to be apart of her growing career! We started at a railroad track in downtown Newberry! Who knew pageant queens liked getting dirty? haha. After risking my life for a few railroad shots, we went to a local park garden, also in Newberry! It's great being a resident of a really nice small town. They vintage scenery makes it great for a photoshoot, especially on a nice day like today! Later it was on to Town of Tioga! That's where the real fun began! A waterfall and a red bridge... :) Together we had some great creative activities! I can't wait to show everyone the water pictures! Be sure to check out my Facebook fan page- top right of the screen! Also, please "Like" it and Olivia Zebley Photography! She's great! :)

Let the Fun Begin!

This weekend was very exciting! It was the first time I got to sit down with my director and sister queens to get a real perspective of what I have gotten myself into... I'm STOKED! Just with my director and sister queens alone, this year is going to be a blast! We had a sleepover last night! haha! It sounds silly, but we had a great time! Our night started with dinner at BJ's (The picture), where the conversation went from daily activities, to WWE wrestlers... When we got to Chelsee's house was when the real fun started! We played a game, which of course I forgot the name of :), that basically consisted of everyone being asked a question, then one person had to guess who said what. What a great way to get to know each other! I learned that if caught sleepwalking, 5 out of the 7 of us would be found in the kitchen! Hahahaha! I found it amazing that 6 different girls, from all different areas of North Central Florida would be able to get along so well. It was like we've been best friends for years! :) Talk about a great group! After getting distracted after every question, and having 10 minute conversations between each question, it was.... MIDNIGHT COOKIE TIME! Natalie entertained us with her cookie dance <3 and then we enjoyed half baked, mushy, hot cookies! :) After asking each other practice interview questions, we watch Miss Florida USA 2011 and then it was time for bed... Needless to say, I'll be working with a great group of beautiful, silly girls this year, and I wouldn't want it any other way! Here's to a great year! Let the fun begin!

And your new Miss North Central Florida USA is...

Hey Everyone! My name is Leslie Ann Torres. I am the reigning Miss North Central Florida USA 2012! I am 21 years old, and I was born in Corpus Christi, Texas! When I was two years old, my amazing parents, Hector Torres and Maria Castellanos, moved to Florida. I LOVE IT! I grew up mostly in Gainesville and attended high school in Newberry. It's a small town with probably less that 4,500 people. I wouldn't trade it for anything. Although I didn't reside in Newberry until my high school days, I quickly adopted it as my own!

In February of 2011, I decided to run for Miss North Central Florida USA. I had no idea how it would turn out. When I first decided to compete, I was extremely nervous. I wasn't quite sure what I was getting myself into. Looking at all competition information I began feeling overwhelmed. I had competed in a few local pageants in my home town, won a few titles, and competed for higher ones. But never in the USA system. When I finally put my mind to it, I was ready, and more confident than ever. I had the most support that anyone could ask for! From my family and friends, to my hometown organizations, I had a real support team. The day before the pageant, a friend sent me a screen shot from the Facebook newsfeed... Newberry Mainstreet, Newberry FL, AND Newberry Jonesville Chamber of Commerce had all posted "Our own Leslie Torres (Watermelon Queen 2009) is competing in Miss Gainesville USA 2morrow @ 1 PM @ Oak Hall #newberryFL" That was when I KNEW I really wanted this. 

The pageant started with an onstage speech and interview. My speech was about  my passion for education and children, and nutrition! I nailed it! Next was the impromptu question... It was about what being a role model meant to me... As involved as I am with children I feel I had a pretty good perspective of what that is. :) Then we had our swimsuit competition. Although I enjoy working out, I was a little nervous, but when I heard my "fan club" cheering for me, it came easily! I felt like I was on a runway! Finally was evening wear... I wore a BEAUTIFUL customized white dress, and I was more confident than ever! The pageant is not all about who's prettiest, tallest, or even the skinniest. It's about how confident she is. It's about how she carries herself. And with my support team, Insecurity was the last thing on my mind. 


About 15 minutes after competing, it was time for crowning. And THAT's when the nerves kicked in! Name after name after name for trophies and runners up were called. And then our beautiful MCs said
"And you new Miss North Central Florida USA is..." my heart sank, but... I won! :) More excited than I've been in a while, I knew this was going to be the beginning of something great!  This is the blog of my reign and the journey to Miss Florida USA. Hopefully it will end up as my journey to MISS UNIVERSE!