Here are a few more photos from the Popcorn Festival Pageant taken by Sean DeWitt for www.Mariononline.com. As you can see, from the first photo, this year's crown for the queen was much larger than the normal Miss Ohio crown and I had some difficulty pinning it to Jessica's head. I was finally able to stabilize it enough for her to take her first walk as 2006 Miss Marion Popcorn Festival.





This is my good friend Holly Blinn. She was named first runner-up. I'm not sure what I said to her to make her laugh like that, but I'm sure it was something about the sash.

The ever-lovely Rachel Maris, first runner-up.

Bob Nunnally, handing over the emcee duties to me for the casual wear competition. Bob is extremely funny with a very dry sense of humor.

My "goodbye" speech.

Dancing.....

Crowning.....

I had one of these funny faces last year, too!

The Court....Rachel Maris, 2nd RU, Holly Blinn, 1st RU, Jessica Dyer, Queen, Amanda Sterling, 3rd RU and Sarah Neff, 4th RU.

Saturday night a new Popcorn Festival queen was crowned. Jessica Dyer, a recent graduate of Marion Elgin High School and incoming freshman at Baldwin Wallace, was crowned the winner. I participated in the program as co-emcee with Bob Nunnally and fellow OU Bobcat Amy Pinnick. Even though I was not supposed to dance (due to an injury), I went ahead and danced my Miss Ohio dance without pointe shoes. Here are a few photos from Saturday night. Enjoy!

Remind me next time I volunteer to watch someone's pet, I make sure the pet is well-behaved. Last Thursday night, my dad came over to pick up a few items for storage and we went out to pick up a bite to eat. No big deal, but Molly (the lab mix I was watching) decided to wreak havoc in my apartment. We were gone no more than 10 minutes and she destroyed the wood trim around my front door, 6 vertical blinds hanging at my sliding door and took a bite out of our coffee table. I was devastated. My little puppy behaves better than this 11 year old dog! In any event, I am searching the web for replacement vertical blind louvers and David will replace the trim around the door when he is finished with classes this week. What a pain....

My mom came down Friday night and we had a great time doing artwork for my bedroom. We painted a fairly large, 36x24, piece and four smaller abstract pieces incorporating the colors in my new quilt. Fuchsia, coral, orange, gold, red....really pretty colors.

On Saturday, we went to Walmart and she spoiled Izzy by purchasing a "Bobo" stuffed animal that squeeks and several other toys and treats for her. If you have seen the Petsmart commercial with the little Dachsund who carries around a stuffed animal (the salesman scans the stuffed animal he calls "Bobo" while the dog is hanging onto it) that is what we got Izzy. My mom also brought her rhinestones, so of course Izzy now has rhinestones on her collar!

She also spoiled me a little, too! I have a new welcome mat that says "Wipe your Paws!", a new shower curtain and bath rug, and, of course, groceries!

This weekend I will "give up my title" at the Popcorn pageant in Marion. My friend, Katelyn Osborne, will be there entertaining and I'm looking forward to seeing her. I will not be dancing because the toes on my left foot have been numb since the end of Miss Ohio. Very weird, but I'm not supposed to dance and definitely not supposed to dance on pointe. So, I will be there to crown the new popcorn queen and her court and have some clever reparte with Bob Nunnally, a Marion native and WCMH weather personality. Since Marion Popcorn is not renewing their local franchise with Miss Ohio, the girls will compete in interview, talent, casual wear and evening gown. The girls will receive the same amount of money in scholarship, which of course, is a big draw.

I am working on a HUGE project for the Scripps School. It is keeping me extremely busy and the hours fly by.

I'm Melting.....

The air conditioning at the office (Scripp's School) is out of order. It is so hot and stuffy in the building and I'm uncomfortable and sweaty! Yuk!

The good news is that my new apartment has excellent air conditioning (unlike my old apartment).

Izzy is feeling better, but is still coughing and snotty. So, I will take her back to the vet tonight for another check-up. Last weekend, my friend Joe F. was in town. Joe used to work in a pet store and showed me some training tricks. Izzy is now sitting on command (for a treat, of course) and continues to be a "good girl" in the area of housebreaking.

I am watching a graduate student's dog starting tonight. Molly, the dog, is 11 years old and a lab mix. I was supposed to stay at Molly's house, but there is no air conditioning, and to be honest, I don't want to stay anywhere without air conditioning. So, Molly will stay at the apartment with Izzy and me.