This past Tuesday, I had the opportunity to help out one of my fantastic sponsors, Construction Fasteners, at their Milwaukee tool sale and barbeque.  I had the pleasure of selling 50/50 tickets with the proceeds going to Telemiracle which is an annual telethon  that raises funds for people in Saskatchewan who require special needs equipment but unfortunately can’t afford it.

I actually attended Telemiracle for the first time this past March! There were so many different people and performers there, it was really inspiring to see that so many people wanted to help!  I got the chance to catch up with The Saskatoon Expressions which is a performing group I used to be in about 5 years ago.  They did an amazing job and I know that they are an inspiration to the entire studio.

Anyways, I had so much fun with the guys that worked there.  They were all so welcoming!  It reminded me of when I used to work construction during the summers in high school.  I think they were impressed with how well I actually fit in with them.  I had an awesome day and I hope I get the opportunity to work with these guys again sometime soon!

As for the rest of my week, I’ve been looking for new sponsors to help support me on my journey, scheduling myself into community events to attended and also planning fundraisers for Free The Children and for myself!  Hopefully more on all that soon!

Enjoy the long weekend!!

Jillian, oxox

To My Mom on Mother’s Day,

Thank you for all the laughs and the smiles, for every ponytail and curl, for piling on the hairspray and eyeliner for dance and rhythmic gymnastics even when I didn’t want it.  Thank you for always being the team mom and being so involved with everything I did, it helped knowing someone knew exactly what I was talking about especially when I was frustrated.  Thank you for taking me on mall therapy after getting in a fight with my best friend for the one hundredth time.  Even if I didn’t buy anything, it always helped just having you there.  Thank you for putting up with every meltdown I had, no matter how ridiculous the reason or how heated the argument became, and never leaving until I had a smile on my face again.  Thank you for supporting me in everything I decided to take on whether it was ballet, gymnastics, piano, musical theatre, rhythmic gymnastics, performing groups, musicals , tap,  jazz, singing lessons, cheerleading, pom and now my new title.  I honestly could not have done any of it without you by my side and much as I may never say it, I love always having you and dad in the crowd.  Thank you for just being you.

I love you forever and always,

Jillian, oxox

This past Sunday, I had a bowling night with some of my friends at Eastview bowl to help me get to Toronto this summer! It was so much fun to catch up with some people that I hadn’t seen in a while as meet some new faces that came along for some fun! Some people even made some new friends! There were door prizes (bunny hugs) donated by Bluewater Graphics and cake thanks to my lovely mother!

The part that amazed me was my friend told me to try bowling while holding a heel stretch, which is holding your foot with one hand with both legs straight. I just threw the ball with no hope of it going anywhere and I got a strike! One of the only ones I had all night!

I’m so thankful for Rick at Eastview who is wonderful and gave me an incredible deal and to all my friends who came out to support me!!

All the pictures are up on my facebook page which is linked in my bio!

This morning, I had the pleasure of attending the Big Brothers Big Sisters Big Breakfast which is a fundraiser for Big Brothers Big Sisters of Saskatoon. I knew a little bit about the organization when I went but I had no idea how much it helped kids. BBBS is an organization dedicated to mentoring kids at risk and giving them hope for the future. Here is a video that can explain it probably much better than I can; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HmLvYB1pLPM

The new Saskatchewan Roughriders’ receiver Geroy Simon also spoke at the event about how your attitude about life can completely change your outcome. I also had the chance to met him! I can’t wait to see how is “team first” attitude helps the Riders get to the Grey Cup this year in Regina!

I’ve been spending a lot of time working on the calendar layout and I hope to have it done by the end of the week! please email me if you are interested in buying one! My email is also in my bio.

Jillian, oxox

This past weekend I had Miss Teen Western Saskatchewan, Jessy Palanciuc, Miss Teen Southern Saskatchewan, Tara Mignon, Miss Teen Eastern Saskatchewan, Kennedy Todosichuk, Miss Teen South Central Saskatchewan, Justine Farago, Miss Teen Regina, Danyelle Dreger, and Miss Teen Weyburn, Brooklyn Rinas met me at the dress shop where I worked, for evening gowns dress fitting for the next day! We spent the night at my house, telling stories and watching none other than Miss Congeniality!! It was so much fun to have all the girls again under a less pressured situation!

We were up bright and early with curling irons and eye shadow brushes flying! This was the morning of our CALENDAR SHOOT! We decided a couple of months ago that we wanted to do a calendar together to help raise money for us to get to Toronto this summer! We started out with cocktail dresses. We decided to wear black, white and red for the colours of Canada. Th pictures were taken on the University Of Saskatchewan campus and they turned out really good!

Next, we went to the Delta Bessbourgh Hotel where we met Exquisite Fashions and Bridal with our evening gowns. I felt like we were princesses in a castle. We had fun taking pictures in the mirrors and acting like Pretty Little Liars even in a couple shots. The dresses were perfect. They really suited each of the girls’ personalities!

We then proceed across the street in all our beach, summer wear to the Sheraton Cavalier pool were we took our summer fun session! There was a 10 year old boy’s birthday party going on at the same time so we were pretty popular with that crowd! It was a lot of fun to act like it was summer even though there is still snow on the ground here!

Finally we finished off the day in some fun Roughrider gear outside! The CFL Grey Cup is in Regina this year and the Riders are a HUGE deal out here so we thought it would be the perfect opportunity to show off our Rider Pride! We took cheesy best friend pictures, serious team photos and even ones of us attempting to play football! It was such an awesome way to end a fun weekend with the girls!

I was really thankful for this weekend. I learned a lot about the other Saskatchewan finalists and I feel like we grew a lot closer over the weekend. I can’t wait to take on Toronto with these girls beside me. I can’t believe it’s only 2 months away!

Jillian, oxox

This September, I began my first year of university at the University of Saskatchewan. The first semester, I took three classes in order to not overwhelm myself right off the get go. I took drama, French and Scenic Construction, which is building and designing sets for theater.

I chose to take drama because I started out in musical theater when I was 7 years old and It has always been a passion of mine. Throughout elementary and high school, I was always involved in the production, one act plays or coffee house whether it was acting or performing or tech crew or sometimes all at once! In grade 12, I finally had the time to be in the fall production and I received the lead role of Adelaide in Guys & Dolls. It was one of the best experiences I’ve ever had in high school! I love the feeling of being on stage and becoming another person just for a night! I chose to take drama in university to see what other professors had to see and to discover what kind of potential I had.

French has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember! My mom used to yell at me in french when I wasn’t listening when I was little. I took core french from grades 3-12 and attended a month long french immersion program in Trois-Rivèriès, QC. Once I got to university, I was put into 2nd year french and took it both semesters. They were the hardest french class I have ever taken! But I feel as though I learned a lot!

Finally, Scenic Construction. I started working construction when I was about 12 or 13 and I finished my last summer of construction in 2011. I found the Scenic Construction class and thought it would be a lot of fun since it combine 2 things I really like; drama and working on construction was so rewarding. Aside from building the sets for the two productions over the semester we were assigned a drafting project, and a flat project. For the flat project we had to build an easel, a flat which is a flat box, more or less and then paint a scene or picture on the flat.

Second semester, I had Kinesiology, French and Spanish. I was really looking forward to taking Kinesiology because my end goal of university is Sports Medicine and I was hoping it would be a good building block for it. From grades 9-11 I was a football manager so I spent a lot of time taping sore ankles, thumbs, shin splints and I absolutely loved it! Sports Medicine is really the professional version of that, and I would love to do it for a living. It was really interesting course but it was a lot of memorization! But I loved the topics it brought up!

I was so excited to take Spanish because I have traveled to Mexico twice and I just love the sound of Spanish. It just sounds so pretty! It was again, a lot of memorization with a lot of different vocabulary to know. I was really glad I was also taking french because the grammatical structure of the languages are really similar which made the concepts easier to understand. I now kind of sound like Dora the Explorer when I speak Spanish but I can understand quite a bit!

So I didn’t post last week because I have been trying my best to stay focused on studying for my finals these past two weeks because I know I could easily get distracted very quickly with all my pageant work! Now that I have officially finished my first year of university, I will have a lot more time to prepare for the pageant! I’ve got a lot to do in the next 2 months!

Jillian, oxox

As it had come to the world’s attention yesterday, 2 bombs were set off near the finish line of the Boston Marathon yesterday. As a result, 2 lives were lost and many were injured. The part that scares me the most about this is that the marathon was supposed to be ran in honor of the victums from the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting and instead of this being an inspiration tribute, it became yet another tragedy.

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the friends and family of the victums who have passed and I hope all those who are injured a speedy recovery and a safe return home.

In the time of yet an other tragedy in our world, I invite you to spread a little more kindness to all those you pass in the hopes that it will make that person’s day and make the world not seem like such a horrible place as it is sometimes made out to be.

Jillian, oxox