"Shoot for the moon.. even if you miss you will still land amongst the stars!"

WOW.. wow is all I can say as I reflect upon this past weekend. Over the last year I have tirelessly worked hard towards my goal of becoming Miss Illinois. There were times of tears, happiness, excitement, stress, and amazement and I in the midst of not winning the local pageants I was competing in, even almost gave up. I am sure glad that I didn't.

This past weekend as I competed for the title of Miss Illinois I realized that with hard work, dedication, and a dream.. anything is possible. Being called in the top five on Saturday evening was one of the most amazing moments of my life. I had given my all, and felt so proud and honored to be standing next to the beautiful, talented and intelligent women next to me. As I was called 3rd runner up and having received prelim swimsuit award winner, I felt so blessed and kept relating the experience to a quote I have heard many times "Shoot for the moon.. even if you miss you'll still land amongst the stars!" I shot for the moon this time and I am so happy to have landed amongst the "stars." I will never give up my dream of becoming Miss Illinois, and although this year was not my time, I believe that someday my dream will come true.

I owe thank yous to SO many people who have helped me make it this far. God, thank you for the strength you have given me. Mom, thank you for being my biggest fan and supporter. I will never forget hearing Babia Majora at the end of the runway, love you! Grandma, thank you for all that you do for me and always believing in me, love you! Jeffery, you always know what to do to make us all laugh, thank you for always doing our infamous pageant announcements and making us smile love you! Brad- you are my best friend, I love you with all my heart! Thank you for putting up with me and supporting me in everything I do! My director Troy thank you for supporting me and encouraging me, I will never forget your cheers and smile from the stage!!

To the beautiful Mollie Ramsey, Jenn Carr, and my roommate Sherri Gearheart, THANK YOU from the bottom of my heart for all the help, pumping up, encouragement and support you have given me, I am so thankful for all your help this week.

To the beautiful Rachel Brock, I loved every second of being backstage buddies again this year! You inspire me, always make me laugh ( cough Patrice cough ) I will miss you next year! Congrats on 2nd runner up girl!!! I'm looking forward to Miss Central Diamond! :)

To the new Miss Illinois Erin O'Connor- Congratulations!! From the bottom of my heart I wish you the best this year! You are a beautiful, talented and eloquent queen, and I know you will represent Illinois well!!

To all the other contestants, I had so much fun this week with all of you! I wish the best to you all in whatever the future brings you! I hope we all will compete again together next year!

As Miss Illinois has past, I am still 110% devoted to being the best Miss Central Illinois I can be. Please check back often for updates on my journey!

Thank you and God Bless!

Jamie Johnson
Miss Central Illinois 2009

http://www.thinkb4youdrink.com/

http://www.missillinois.org/

Spring Forum, Illinois Kids, and Sleeping Beauty!

Hello all! Wow, have these past few weeks been busy! The weekend of May 22-24 all of the Miss Illinois contestants met in Springfield for our Spring Forum. The weekend began with turning in paperwork, and that night 10 of us girls and our very own Miss Illinois Katie Lorenz went out for dinner! We had a great time getting to know each other as well as learning from Katie! Saturday we spent the day learning our opening number, attending meetings, as well as listening to 3 wonderful speakers. Carl Chu, Staci Boyer, and Jojo Sayson all helped motivate, and give us tips. Saturday night we attended the Illinois Got Talent Competition, and I was so impressed! All of the performers did a fantastic job. Congrats to Kole Bossong for winning!

Sunday, after attending a few more meetings, we went to the Miss Illinois Outstanding Teen and Pre-teen pageants. The young women did a beautiful job! Congrats Peyton Tucker (pre-teen) and Andrea Novak (teen)!

Friday May 29th, my princess Victoria and I rode in the Belleville Shriner's parade. Unfortunately I was feeling a bit under the weather, but the smiles, cheers, and little girls in the crowd who believed I was a real princess made all of the sickness go away! Victoria and I had a fun time and even created our very own handshake.. haha! At the end of the night my princess was so worn out, we looked in the back of the car and found our very own sleeping beauty! :)

Saturday May 30th, I was the emcee for the Illinois Kids talent competition at O'Fallon High School. Illinois Kids is a state competition in the America Kids program. I had a great time introducing the talented acts, and talking about my journey as Miss Central Illinois, and the Miss America Organization.

Tomorrow I am speaking to young women at Moye School "Manners and Modeling" camp about Character Counts and following your dreams! I am looking forward to this and will talk more about it in my next entry.

Today is exactly 2 weeks before I leave for Miss Illinois. Time has gone by so quickly! I have been dreaming of this, and I know everything is in God's hands!

Thank you for reading my blog! Check back soon!

Blessings to you!

Jamie Johnson

Miss Central Illinois

http://www.thinkb4youdrink.com/

http://www.missillinois.org/

http://www.misscentralillinois.org/

"Sharing Tea With the Queen Learning Character In Between!"

Hello again! This past week I had 2 very exciting appearances. On Wednesday May 6, I had the opportunity to speak to the 8th grade at Holy Trinity School in Fairview Heights. We spent an hour talking about alcoholism and ways to avoid negative peer pressures in our lives. I also had the chance to hand out materials from the National Institute of Drug Abuse, which allows the students to see the effects of alcohol and drug abuse first hand. We had a fun activity where the students worked in groups going over different scenarios that can happen in high school. The students were very receptive, and were eager to share their thoughts and ideas. Thank you Holy Trinity School for welcoming me and allowing me to speak to your students!

Saturday May 9 I hosted a mother daughter tea party called "Sharing Tea With the Queen Learning Character In Between!" All the proceeds from this event were donated to the Children's Miracle Network! The day began with my Princess Victoria and I greeting the moms and daughters. We then crowned the "princesses" and had our pictures taken. The girls then made beautiful picture frames decorated with crowns, castles and of course glitter! Next it was time for tea! We drank tea and had delectable cupcakes and an assortment of cookies. After we had our fabulous treats I talked to the girls about Character Counts, and the importance of character in their lives. The girls were very good listeners! To end the fun afternoon we played "Little Sally Walker," musical chairs, and freeze dance. Thank you so much to Beverly Fulton, Dana Fulton, and my mom Lynn Johnson for all of your hard work to making this event so special for the girls and I! I appreciate all that you do!

Thank you for reading my blog! Please check back often! For more information on Miss Illinois or Miss Central Illinois please visit http://www.missillinois.org/. Also my website is http://www.thinkb4youdrink.com/!

Until next time,

Jamie Johnson
Miss Central Illinois

Eating Ice Cream For A Good Cause and My First Time Emceeing!

Hello to all of you again! I hope everyone is doing well! I am sitting here just one day after having all 4 of my wisdom teeth removed :/ but am doing ok just a bit puffy! I figured this would be a good time to catch up on some wonderful events that I have done this last week!

On Thursday April 23 my BEAUTIFUL princess Victoria Fulton and I spent 4 hours working at Coldstone Ice Cream Shop to raise funds and awareness for the Children's Miracle Network. We both had so much fun making the ice cream treats for the customers and dancing along with the Coldstone Crew. If anyone needs advice on which Coldstone flavor to try you can always ask my Princess since she tried them all LOL! Special

thanks to my Brother Jeffery Johnson, for setting up this wonderful event! :)

On Sunday April 26 I headed up to Champaign for the Sweeps Pageant! I was so excited to meet the contestants and to emcee! Miss Kankakee the beautiful Mariciana Lee and I emceed this fantastic show! Each contestant did a great job! Congratulations to Miss Northern Illinois Season Winesburg, Miss Illinois Valley Debbie Dobbins, and Miss Central Valley Mollie Ramsey! I wish you all the best luck in your

reigns!

Thank you for reading my blog! For more information please visit www.thinkb4youdrink.com, www.misscentralillinois.org, and www.missillinois.org. Please check back soon! Blessings to you all! - Jamie Johnson Miss Central Illinois

"Glasses can change your life.. especially when they are emptied quickly"

On Tuesday March 31, I was a guest speaker at O'Fallon Township High School's Blizzard. Blizzard is an event that all incoming freshman go to, to learn about high school, the peer pressures that they may face, how to make smart decisions, and the importance of getting involved. As a student of OTHS, I attended Blizzard and was a Blizzard group leader. It was an honor to be invited back.

I had the opportunity to give a speech about my personal story of living with an alcoholic father. I talked to them about how making the decision to get involved with alcohol, or drugs will have its consequences. I paid special attention to make sure that the consequences I was educating them on related to them, such as ; health for the future ( permanent brain damage), not being able to participate in sports or activities, losing drivers licenses, and many other consequences. Most importantly we talked about surrounding ourselves with positive friends who have the same views on alcohol and drugs as we do, getting involved in school clubs and activities, and the importance of knowing your plan to say no before you are confronted with these peer pressures.

I reminded them that as high school starts, so does a new chapter of our lives, and we can be the people we want to be despite anything that has happened to us in the past. I asked the students what they wanted their legacy to be in high school, and reminded them that one bad decision can change our lives forever!

Thank you OTHS for inviting me to Blizzard! I loved participating!

Until next time :) - Jamie

http://www.thinkb4youdrink.com/

http://www.misscentralillinois.org/

Do you live in a mansion? :)

On Friday March 27th I was honored to be the Guest Speaker at Lebanon IL Elementary School's D.A.R.E graduation. The day began with an introduction about the D.A.R.E program from officer David Tutterow. The graduates then received their diplomas. Next up was me! I had put forth much effort to make sure that I 1) related to the students, and 2) really got my message across. I shared with them how to take the lessons they have learned in D.A.R.E about alcohol, drugs, and violence and use that to help them make smart decisions for the rest of their lives. I used the Character Counts six pillars of Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring and Citizenship to help them learn the importance of character and being our best self. The students were extremely responsive and attentive! Thank you students for being a fantastic audience and thank you parents for participating as well :) . After my speech the students closed their graduation singing two songs about what they learned in D.A.R.E. They did a fabulous job! Next we attended a reception in celebration of the students. This was really fun! I was quickly approached by a group of girls to see if I would sit with them...I said "Well Of Course!!" I had a blast getting to know the kids and answering their funny questions. Some of my favorites were " Do you live in a mansion? Did a limo take you here? and What celebrities do you know?" It really is humbling and heart warming just to realize the impact we have on children as titleholders. We also took some funny pictures, and learned how to sit like a queen! Thank you to Lebanon school for the wonderful Experience!

The same day, I visited my princess Tori Fulton's Kindergarten class. I could only stop by for a minute because they were making daffodils :). At school, a girl has been bullying my princess, and I wanted to bring a smile to her face and let her classmates know that they have a real princess in their class. The students thought Tori was the coolest girl in the world, and needless to say the girl is no longer bullying Tori!

Thank you for reading my blog! Check back soon! - Jamie

http://www.thinkb4youdrink.com/

http://www.misscentralillinois.org/

Exciting News and Events!

Ever since being crowned Miss Central Illinois, amazing opportunities have been coming my way! I have been heavily promoting my platform trying to get into as many schools, and be involved with as many organizations relating to my platform so that I can to reach out to as many people possible. I am so proud to announce that I am a new advocate for the National Institute of Drug Abuse. I will now be able to work with NIDA spreading the message of alcohol and substance abuse education. I will continuously update my blog with information for events that are coming up with NIDA. I urge you to visit their website http://www.nida.nih.gov/ for more information on the wonderful programs they have! I have also booked an appearance for March 31 at O'Fallon Township High school speaking at their Blizzard event. Blizzard is an event where all of the incoming freshman come to learn about high school, and about making good decisions. I will be a speak about alcohol education, and the importance of being active and involved in school activities. I would like to give a special thanks to Beverly Fulton for all of her help with my day fit for a queen! Thank you your work is appreciated :)! Thank you for reading my blog! Check back often! - Jamie