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

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!

It was a dark and stormy sunday afternoon when three conniving and deadly beautiful villainesses were plotting to turn the C.N. tower into a rocketship and f=go to Alpha Centauri.  Little did they know that disaster was on its way.  After finally deciding what to wear to their evil planning meeting they realized that none of them had shoes to go with their dresses.  Chaos ensued.  To Be continued...

Fun facts...

Chels...Can kill a fly with a stilletto.

Julie...Once performed her juggling potatoe act for the queen while she secretly stole the crown jewels.

Cass...Built her first Ray-gun at age 4.

What If?

For my television for show I came up with the idea of What If? Basically its about a girl who's in highschool.  She's pretty normal except for one thing.  When she overhears someone say What if...?  Whatever that person says actually comes true.  For instance, What if you won a million dollars? Well if Cassie, the main character overheard your friend say that it would become true.  But not all What If? questions are fun.  What if you were in the jungle right now instead of at your computer?  The tricky part is how Cassie and her friends manage to escape wild and crazy circumstances.  You'll have to watch to find out!

Where and when Can I watch it?

What If? is a TV sitcom.  It's featured on Disney channel weekdays at 4:30pm, just in time for kids to watch it after school.  The characters all start out as live action but after the What If? question comes into play things turn animated.  It keeps the audience of seven to eighteen-year-olds enthralled with its unpredictability.

The show's sponsors.

In the show, the character of Cassie works as an assistant at Faze Magazine.  With the constant array of characters that travel through the office of Faze, lots of drama is sure to unfold.

One of the most popular hangouts for Cassie and her friends is The Yorkville Club.  Not only is it an amazing place to relax, rejuvenate and have fun, it's also the perfect setting for excitement.

Perhaps the most interesting and unique sponsor however, is Carry Clean.  Cassie is always sure to keep planty of the Carry Clean products around because she nevers knows where she could end up.

So it's been awhile since I've been posting.  It might have something to do with it being wedding season ;) (more to come on that note)  Anyways... On Canada Day I helped out with my Rover group.  I ran a free bean-bag toss for the kids. It was a great way for the kids to have fun and promote scouting.

Sunday June 14th was an amazing day for the towns of Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge, Langley, and Surrey.  The Golden Ears Bridge, which spans the dividing Fraser River was opened, therefore uniting these communities.  The day started at 8:30 in the morning with the winner of the bridge naming contest riding his prize, a bike across the bridge, followed by about 300 runners in a Fund Run.  Later on at about 9:30 I was able to drive on the bridge with about thirty other antique cars.  After the cars were parked I was free to meander.

The day started off cloudy with a small chill.  I headed towards the centre of the bridge where a small stage had been erected as well as a red carpet.  Standing among a crowd of media,  ready and waiting with my camera, I watched as parades of people from either side of the river walked upon the bridge until they met at the Red Carpet at my feet.  Friendly exchanges were made as the four communities merged.   I was able to cut my own piece of "ribbon" for the bridge upon the red carpet.

Quickly the hour passed and more and more people crowded onto the bridge for the opening ceremonies in which the mayors, organizers, and premier, Gordon Campbell would cut a material ribbon onstage.  The crowds grew so thick in the lead-up to this ceremony that I could barely get through to where I needed to be.  Some people got anxious. One woman, very pregnant, even started contractions!

Eventually, I made it backstage.  I assisted backstage  where I could, helping the scouts get ready to go on stage and keeping a watchful eye on the gifts for the mayors.

After the ceremony, the premier came backstage and a member of Mr. Campbell's entourage was kind enough to offer a picutre as she could tell that security was paying little attention to those wishing to meet Mr. Campbell.

Soon the crowds broke up a little and the flow of people increased.  It is estimated that between 30 000 and 50 000 onlookers came to admire the bridge on Sunday.  My guess is about half left sunburnt as even I managed to get a little toasty.

On June 1st A few friends and I helped me run a car wash for Free The Children.  Most people were very generous and the weather was once again beautiful.  Thanks yu guys, you know who you are.

On May 30th, I was lucky enough to attend the Aldergrove Credit Union's Bank Appreciation Day.  There was music by the Fraser Valley Fiddlers, free food, the 4-H club and even bobbing for apples.  I was happy to help serve hot dogs to customers of the bank enjoying the sunshine and joy of the day.  Most that attended tended to belong to an older crowd, however the younger children that came shared enough enthusiasm for everyone.  After the Credit Union's customer appreciation day, I was able to end the day by attending the BC Oldsmobile clubs potluck.  They ended up frying a turkey! It was something completely new to me and I couldn't have enjoyed it more, though I wouldn't advise eating large amounts of it or very often.  It was definitely neat to try and I suggest that if you get the opportunity to try deep-fried turkey, try it. You never know what will happen if you don't.