Cassandra Tracy Miss Teen Maple Ridge World and her encounters with spaces and adventures.

    The morning of September the 13th, 2009 began bright and early for me with the Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows Terry Fox Run.  For those of you that don't know, Terry fox was a courageous young man who lost a leg to cancer.  Soon after he began his Marathon of Hope, a run across Canada to raise money for cancer research.  He hoped to collect one dollar from every Canadian.  Unfortunately his run ended early in Thunder Bay, Ontario when he became seriously ill.  The cancer had returned to take his life.  Though Terri has passed away, his dreams live on as millions of dollars are raised for cancer research by Terry Fox  Runs in Canada every Year.

    Being right next to Terry's hometown of Port Coquitlam, British Columbia we were lucky enough to have Terry's brother Fred come speak to the runners and volunteers as well as cheer on everyone as they finished the run.  We also were priviledged to have the van from Terry's run at our event. I participated in the 5 kilometre run.  The weather was beautiful, but man was it ever hot.  Hopefully next year it will be a little cooler.  For more information or to donate you should check out the Terry Fox Foundation online.

Here's a bit of a re-introduction to me in honour of the new school year.

Hello,

     I am a second year student. I graduated from in Maple Ridge in 2008. I am currently working on my Bachelor of Arts with a Major in Geography and a minor in Theatre. However, I am taking this course because I will need it when I pursue teaching in my fifth year of post-secondary for the PDP program.
Though I have a good mental map of Canada, there are only certain areas of our country that I know very well. I was born in Langley and raised in Maple Ridge, just like the Golden Ears Bridge. Even though I've been many places throughout the Lower Mainland and BC it is just recently that I've started to learn exactly how to get to all these places. For instance this summer I drove to a variety of weddings (for work) including one in Harrison Hot Springs and then to one in Richmond on the same day.
     I also visited Toronto and Nova Scotia this past summer. Since I was downtown in Toronto most of the time I didn't really form a mental map of the area. Nova Scotia on the hand has almost burned its landmarks into my retinas. I was lucky enough to drive the highways there and visit a few different towns including Windsor and Halifax. The differences between Nova Scotia and here are incredible!
     Before I start to write a novel about my summer though, I best explain one of my favourite pictures of Canada.
     The photo I chose I found while browsing through my grandparents photos of Nova Scotia. It was taken near Dartmouth, Nova Scotia. This photo reminds me of Nova Scotia because of how unlike Vancouver it is. There's no people, no mountains, no logs, and best of all, no big, sharp rocks to trip over. Though I love Vancouver and couldn't be happier to live in the lower mainland, this picture reminds me that even at the opposite end of this grand country there is still a beautiful land waiting for me to unlock its secrets. Even if it does sound cheesy, I love that fact. It helps me to feel small in a world full of adventure.

Thanks for Reading my thoughts!

Till nest time- Ciao!

Sincerely,

Cassandra Tracy.

(More to come)

Breakfast-

CN Tower-

Rehearsal-

Lunch @ RICH TREE-

Rehearsal

Medieval Times-

For this challenge we had to choose a picture from Free The Children that we would use in marketing for the organization.  Instantly I was drawn to this particular image.  It is a great way to show the Me to We idea.  It has children of different races and ages all united in a positive image.  And that's what Free The Children is all about.  Kids helping children through education.

First off I'd like to tell you a little about me...

-I am 19 years old and yes, a natural blonde.

-My eyes are two different colours, blue/green

-I am a Scout, a Rover, a Beaver Leader, and a youth area commissioner

-My dad died of cancer in 2006

-I can give you a "thumbs up" with my toes

-AND I have an awesome blog at www.cassandratracy.onsugar.com

A Quaint Little Town with Character Galore.

Maple Ridge may be small but it's my hometown and I love it. Here's just a few of the reasons that Maple Ridge is a lovely destination to visit on your next trip to Vancouver.  We have a a New Spirit Square, a theatre, mountians, lakes, and so much more to offer.

Nature

From the dikes to our parks Maple Ridge has lots of nature to enjoy. You can hike through the UBC research forest, kayak or waterski on one of our many lakes, or even camp in Golden Ears Park next to the mountains. If you enjoy cycling or horseback riding you should definitely check out the dikes. Not only are the functional but they also overlook kilometres of peaceful marshland where no matter what the weather you can always spot a majestic crane.

Shopping

Maple Ridge is full of unique stores full of personality. One of my favourite shops is Sweet. It's décor is as cute as its cupcakes. The soft pink walls house delicate and delicious cupcakes and marvelous wedding cakes. You can order everything from Fondant to to a sunflower cake.

Careers

I have had the amazing opportunity to work at a variety of workplaces to of my favourites are Maple Meadows Chiropractic and Wedding Design Studio.

You have check ups on your teeth right, so why not your back? Maple Meadows Chiropractic gets you back on track. Located right next to the West Coast Express which takes you to downtown Vancouver, Maple Meadows Chiropractic is a calm place to receive your adjustments.

Wedding Design Studio is one of Vancouver's Premier Wedding Decorators. There is an amazing array of colours to choose from, helping to make every wedding unique. You receive personal attention and you're own consultation where you get to help create your vision in the hands on studio. They make your dreams come alive because the first day of the rest of your life should be perfect.

Today was a crazy day.  Here's how it went...

5:00am-We woke up and got ready for Breakfast Television.

5:45am-Leave for Breakfast Television.

6:10am-Arrive at BT(Breakfast Television.) Everyone was filmed coming off the bus and filing into our seats.

7:00am-Breakfast Television starts.  We all sat in the studio audience.  And had a moment on set where Jen, one of the show's hosts interviewed Katie Stark (The current Miss Teen Canada-World.)  At the end some of us even got to participate in a just for fun game of music guessing.

9:10am-Leave BT and go on a Hippo Bus tour. (A hippo bus is a bus that can go on land and in the water.  Did you know that a Hippo Bus costs $1 000 000?)  We went into Lake Ontario and toured around Ontario Place.   Afterwards we paused briefly in Toronto's version of Times Square to walk through the Eaton's Centre.  Unfortunately there was no time for shopping.

12:00pm(ish)- We switched to a coach bus after bidding farewell to our Hippo Bus (Happy Hippo) and headed out to lunch at a greek restaurant called Omonia.  The food was amazing and the owner's sons who were ages 9 and 12 came and took pictures with us. They were so sweet. One of them was quite the charmer and called us all gorgeous.

1:30pm-The school of PRO MAKEUP professional makeup was nice enough to give us a lesson on smoky eyes and answer all our questions.  They had a lot of neat stff including a silicon Alfred Hitchcock head and a foam Yoda.  I bought their colour pallet and a pair of false eyelashes.  They also gave us our own MTC-W lip gloss.  I can't wait to test everything out.

4:00pm-Once more we hopped on the bus and headed over to MTV Live!!! We got to sit in the audience and because my roomates and I were older than 15 we were able to sit on the comfy couches.  We cheered our heads off and had a ball.  Some of the girls even won some sidebags and we were all given a Venus Embrace Razor. It was a blast.  Be sure to check it out at 10am and 10pm Toronto Time.

7:00pm-Acting Class.  Okay, it wasn't actually a class but that's what we all thought it was going to be.  It ended up being so much more.  Chris Healey, the head acting coach talked to us about why people fail at life. There are three reasons.  Fear of failing, procrastination and nerves.  Then he had some girls come up and he asked them, “If you won Miss Teen Canada-World, what would you do afterwards?”  The answers varied from stutters to touching stories.  Near the end, Mr. Healey asked us to visualize us as successful and achieving our dreams.  I started to tear up.  I could see myself at the the front of a classroom with all my students smiling at the desks.  One student walks up to me and hands me a single wildflower. I can't help but smile.  Later I see myself headed to perform in a play at my community's thatre. I reminisc on my younger days in film.  This vision is so clear and beautiful in my head that the emotions are overwhelming.  This is how the motivational speech anded.  I made sure to give Mr. Healey an extra thank-you, making sure to shake hands left-handed and explaining that it's a Scouting thing.

8:30pm-Back to the Hotel. Bagels, Sup of Soup and Pizza.

9:30pm- Rob Campbell (the judge of our blogs) talked with us about blogging and how our blogs now are building blocks for the future.  I'm so excited.  I'm an avid follower of geekologie and I look forward to continuing my blog for years to come.

12:00am-Write up this blog.

?-Sleep and bed. (Good night!:)

Today started off nice and early with my plane arriving in Toronto at 6am.  After getting picked up at the airport I was dropped off at our Hotel, Novotel Hotel where I got a few hours sleep. Then all the girls got our hair and make-up down for our photo shoot and video clip.  (whoever is in the top 20 will have their video clip shown at the final show)  After that we had some downtime where I hung out with my absolutely amazing roomates and watched Momma Mia.  At 8:30 we had our welcome dinner and briefing on the itinerary for the week.  But it's getting late and I have to get up at 5:00 so I'll keep you updated!