I started off Saturday morning off at 7am with a 7 mile jog in 29 degree weather, NO slacking because I am doing a half marathon, on March 30th!
Then spent some time with my family and grandparents that were in town from Texas and got ready for the 3-hour trek to Conway.
I left at noon so I could make a stop in Russellville, Arkansas to see my second family and visit with them. While attending Arkansas Tech University, Houston and Carol Townsend took me in (you could say) and welcomed me into their family along with 2 horses, a donkey, several cats, 3 dogs and a raccoon. Stopping to see them helped to break the trip up a little.
I made it to Conway right on time to jump right into getting ready for the Miss Rodeo Arkansas 2014 Coronation & fundraiser. I had to opportunity to visit with several other reining queens as we participated in the fashion show and helped sell 50/50 raffle tickets. The fashion show was a whirlwind but so much fun! Ladies modeled western outfits by Barbara Ware Western Wear, Jewelry by Cali Worthen and clothes by The Flirty Chick. We also got to highlight the sponsor, Daniel's electric. The night was filled with entertainment, fashion and celebration as we officially welcomed Stephanie Kaeppel to her duties as Miss Rodeo Arkansas 2014. I am so excited to follow her adventures throughout the coming year! After the dinner and live auction, the queens congregated for pictures. We were asked to put our Daniel's Electric T-shirts back on to get a photo with the sponsor. I got caught up chatting (imagine that). So I rushed to change into my T-shirt and hurried back to the stage, we all get posed and put on our biggest smiles... when the princess next to me graciously points out that my shirt was on backwards!! Of course that would happen... Leave it to me, to livin' things up a little. Thankfully, at that point, almost everyone had cleared out. I am not quite sure how I manage sometimes!
Thanks to Daniel's Electric, I already had a comfy T-Shirt on so I loaded up and headed for home around 8:15pm. Thankfully, Alma makes for the perfect Braums Ice Cream stop to give the extra kick I needed to stay awake. I enjoy road trips by myself because it gives me much needed time to reflect and think. It made me so excited to think about the possibility of one day being in Stephanie's shoes and embarking upon such a life changing experience. I concocted a game plan for the practice and preparation I plan to do as I prepare to hopefully become the next Miss Rodeo Arkansas! I made it home around 11:30pm. Ya know, people give me a hard time about driving my "old farm truck" but for a '93 model with 195,000 miles, he sure is reliable and probably has a lot less problems than most modern vehicles.
Wishing you much sunshine in the days to come!
KP
