These past few weeks have been extremely busy, to say the least. I had four final exams, one presentation and a dance performance all within the last week of April. The Miss Delaware Gala was about a week ago and it was a beautiful event, honoring our Miss Delaware 2009 Heather Lehman and the incredible service she has given our state this year.
Just after the Miss Delaware Gala, my mother and I hopped on a plane to San Francisco, CA for the Children Youth and Families At-Risk Conference (CYFAR). My amazing mother was presenting a training of Kreative Kamps for Kids- which is something she has much success in. We were able to cover as many of the hot tourist spots as we could, during my 48 hours there. Mom and I rode a trolley, saw Alcatraz and ate some terrific food! We enjoyed family style food and a tea-tasting (like a wine tasting) in Chinatown. We sought out to find Bubble Tea, my favorite food product in the entire world, and we were successful. But the bubble tea was not as good as St. Alp's in NYC. We also visited the Fortune Cookie Factory, where the fortune cookie originated. Who knew that fortune cookies were not an authentic Chinese staple??? Also while in San Francisco we visited Ghiardelli Square and sampled some outstanding chocolate (we shared a banana split, but don't tell anyone)! We walked around and ate seafood at Pier 39 and spent time watching the sea lions! I enjoyed spending some quality time with my mother, and we even opened our own oysters and made rings with the pearls we found! What a fun trip!
The minute I landed in San Francisco, I received a very exciting voice mail with some life-changing news. I am not allowed to publicly discuss the contents of the voice mail until the press release has been published, but I will be sure to update you as soon as I can! I made a mistake and almost posted the news on Facebook, but luckily I took down the post as soon as I could.
I spent a few days in Delaware after returning from San Francisco to finish the choreography for my Miss Delaware talent piece. Saturday was Miss Delaware Orientation and it was wonderful to be around all of the girls and begin preparing for the pageant in June! I will be contestant #9 of 16 which means I will be first of my group during the preliminary competitions. Thursday June 10th I will compete in Talent and Evening Wear, and Friday I will compete in Swimsuit and On Stage Question. Some of the most exciting news of all is that Marcie Smith, Miss Rehoboth Beach, will be my roommate the week Miss Delaware! Marcie and I were roommates two years ago and we have been close friends ever since. She is such a wonderful woman and it will be a relief to have a friendly and positive roommate.
This past Sunday was Mother's Day and I hosted a Princess/Queen Tea Party for women in the military and their children. The event was a huge success and we all had a blast! I spoke about how we all are Princesses, Queens, Princes and Kings and that we should all embrace what makes us unique. My own mother was at the event, and so we spent time together there. Thank you so much to my friend and mentor, Brittany Dempsey and her mother Vicky for helping to setup the event.
Miss Delaware is just weeks away and everything is coming together! I have all of my wardrobe and my talent is complete! Tickets went on sale today, please visit
the Miss Delaware website to find out where to purchase your tickets! Have a wonderful day everyone!Love, Kayla
Congratulations, you are such an inspiration! I'm following your blog now :)
ReplyDelete~Victoria
http://ourlifewithjake.blogspot.com
I have met you by yahoo news and I'm proud about the women like you. Take care of you. God Bless you!!
ReplyDeleteJust wanted to say congrats on being crowned Miss Delaware 2010. You were also great on the Early Show. Thanks for being such a great role model. I am 33 years old and have had alopecia universalis since I was 10 years old. I too am interested in speaking to groups of people but am unsure of how to get involved. Could you send me some pointers to shanebevell@hotmail.com.
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla,
ReplyDeleteI am 30+ years old and have lost 75% of my hair in less than 1 week. Yesterday, I was diagnosed with a version of an autoimmune disease which is making all my hair disappear. I don't even know which version of aolopecia I have! This all happened in 1 week and to be honest, I haven't been able to get out of bed. I wanted to die. My hair was the one thing I had that made me feel "okay". I was hit by a drunk driver a few years ago so I gained a lot of weight through the surgeries. My dr. told me about you, explaining I have the same disease, and I looked you up last night. You have made me feel so much better. I still cry every hour but I feel a little "better" with hearing and seeing your story, and knowing someone else out understands. I can't believe you are so strong. I believe everything happens for a reason. I read that you said that you hoped to make a difference in one person's life. I can tell you that you have already made a difference in AT LEAST one person's life. You're helping me to get up out of bed in the morning and helping me to cope with this horrible disease!!! Otherwise...I don't know where I'd be right now. So THANK YOU. THANK YOU for being strong. THANK YOU for being "open", THANK YOU for being so beautiful.
Hi Kayla,
ReplyDeleteYour success at Miss Delaware, your beauty and your attitude is really a good example for all of us who are forced to live together with Alopecia.
I write a blog in Hungarian about AA and AU which I have been living together since my childhood.
I have linked some of your interviews to one of my posts and hope that awareness and acceptance of AU will increase also in Hungary. I am on my way to contribute to it!
Congratulations to you!
Hi! I just wanted to let you know that you are an inspiration to our family. My eight year old competes in natural beauty pageants and has alopecia. She has debated whether or not to get a hair piece in order to compete. Now she sees she can do it with or without one. True beauty comes within. She would love to hear from you personally, as she thinks you are true "royalty" :) You can email us at delgado2134@netzero.com . We would love to know more about where you got your hair piece from too. It looks so natural :) Good luck in January, we are hoping to attend. Even if we don't, we will be rooting for you from our home! Have a blast and keep in being an inspiration to all little girls!
ReplyDeleteHi Kayla,
ReplyDeleteI just saw your article from People Magazine. I am a mom with a 3 year old diagnosed with alopecia in the past year. I showed her your pictures and read her your quote, and told her you were picked as the prettiest girl in Delaware.
You are an inspiration to SO many people and I commend you on sticking to your platform and using your title to help so many people. You are beautiful inside and out!!!
Hello I am laura, am Spanish, am 18 years old and I started losing the hair at the age of 15, it seems to me to be incredible what you have done, I almost have it assumed but still there are things that I do not manage to understand ... I am a good girl, a good student and a good person and do not understand many things ... in end,i want to ask you: have you lost the eyelashes and the eyebrows (I yes)? I want to know something to solve at least this minimum detail and want to know what you have done to be so incredible, good since I have blog you can see since I am, but he would be grateful to you that you were answering me in the best mail, I do not have it so assumed of the alopecia as to publish it in my personal blog, but i want to speak with you please: lrsmpdr@gmail.com
ReplyDeletexoxo
I just want to say thank you. I am a military wife with four children. After months of tests and multiple doctors, my oldest daughter was diagnosed was alopecia in May of this year, she is eleven. She had hair to her waist at Christmas and always took pride in her hair. January came and everything changed. Its August and this is the seventh time her hair has grown back and then fallen out. She became so depressed with other children picking on her I was forced to homeschool her. She is so proud of you and you give her so much hope. She has decided not to miss this year's soccer season which starts next month! I am in tears at just how confident she is now after hearing about your story! Thank you. You have given me back my daughter!
ReplyDeleteHey Kayla. My name is Alice and I recently found out that I have alopecia areata. You are such an inspiration but I'm not as strong as you are. I don't really know what to do with my hair. I find locks of it on the floor and it stresses me out. Is there anything I can do?
ReplyDeleteDear Kayla,
ReplyDeleteCongratulations on all your success. You are indeed a wonderful role model for children and adults with alopecia. I’ve been a NAAF supporter for many years and share the same goal as you to create awareness and empower young adults so they see themselves as strong and beautiful individuals.
A few years ago, a friend of mine cut and donated her long hair. This simple, random act of kindness deeply resonated with me, always having had long hair. I set out to write a book about kids who donate their hair. I’d written 80 pages of the novel when I realized the story I needed to tell was about the girl who LOST her hair so I started all over again.
A CLOSER LOOK is my first young adult novel that is coming out in the Spring of 2011. If you’d like to read it before that, my publisher at WestSide Books will happily arrange it.
Thank you for inspiring so many young people. I wish you continued success and I’ll be rooting for you in January!
Sincerely,
Karen DelleCava
Kayla,
ReplyDeleteHello! My name is Geneva Heyn. I am 11 years old and I have Alopecia. I've had it since I was 10. I watched you in the MISS AMERICA beauty pagent I you were AMAZING. You are truely my hero. I can wake up knowing that I can do anything with my condition. Ever since I watched you I don't where my wig much.You are very beautiful!
-Geneva
Emotional shock
ReplyDeleteIn most cases, Vicky Terry starts with clean and purify the scalp with a natural oxygenating cleaning (note: natural does not necessarily mean that your skin will react are not) based on sulfur. A procedure that takes about an hour, but the result is stunning (see cons). After this step, the Trichologist prescribe shampoos and lotions, always natural, specific to each person.