Let’s play ball, or maybe stand around and act like I know what’s going on lol. I am not a sports girl by any means yet, I get excited watching everyone else have fun. Do you like baseball? My husband played in high school and ever since he told me the story of how he ran into the fence trying to catch the ball associate baseball with the reason he can’t seem to hear me when I ask him to do something (Insert sarcasm).

Me and my sister queens had the opportunity to visit the Trenton Thunder baseball game and of course I have the biggest grin on my face. No matter the negative press or media coverage my city gets I will always have Trenton pride. This city raised me and taught me lessons you can’t learn in school. Street smarts is a different type of education and it gives you an edge. I have to embrace it and it has helped me get very far in life and to that I owe my beloved city. Now, if you ask me anything about the game I can tell you two things. First, I had no idea baseball games are as long as they are. I felt like I was there all afternoon.

Second, the best thing to me is watching the players run and slide into the base. I am a previous track runner and I appreciate a fast runner. The slide gets me excited as well. Now if I was to see my daughters run and slide like that it would be a totally different story. I would be thinking about getting stains out of clothes and laundry lol.

Overall, we had an amazing after noon and of course took tons of photos with supporters in the crowd. The food was amazing as well. Crab fries and funnel cake, ugh. I was in the gym the next day with regret but it was so worth it. Like I mentioned, I have a ton of pageant and community service pictures in my phone that I need to post so make sure you follow me on social media. It’s ChimereNicole everywhere! Love you guys, XO.

This year is about taking it to the Next Level and for the past 2 months that’s exactly what I’ve been doing. If you haven’t noticed by now we are half way through 2019 and that has definitely added some fuel to my fire. I’ve been working hard to cross off somethings I have on my life goals list. I’m also noticing I’m adding things just as fast as I’m crossing things off. Typical me I suppose. I wanted to share some of the wonderful things I’ve been able to do in these past few weeks. This past weekend I entered my second pageant and WON, I ran a 5k for charity, and did some appearances around my city. To say I need a long vacation is an understatement. It has been an amazing journey thus far and I can’t wait to continue to crush some more goals. The hardest part about this season in my life is time management. There’s always an event or appearance I’m invited too but I have religious and family obligations as well. So, my new favorite word will have to be no. I know this may be a hard concept for most but I have learned to embrace the word. It simply means that I can’t stretch myself to thin and that I’m making ME and my family a priority. As I always have to remind myself, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Additionally, my YouTube channel and subscribers are felling neglected so I need to get back on track asap.

As I mentioned, last weekend I participated in my second pageant and WON! I am so excited, and this pageant was for a wonderful mentorship program called the NEXT LEVEL. This was the 10^th year anniversary pageant and I am honored to be representing such a wonder organization as the 2019 Mrs. Next Level. As my goal is to represent my state as Mrs. New Jersey, the NL program gives you the fundamentals to progress in my pageantry journey to get there. My director, Mrs. Evelyn was and is still a current Mrs. New Jersey so I am blessed to be able to learn from the best. I love to create my own pathways in life, but sometimes to have to walk along the paths created for you by others. I hope as a mentor is to light up those same pathway for young woman who look at me the same way I’m currently looking to her and many others. The mentor becomes the men-tee and I’m taking in everything she says. My drive has kicked in full gear and my eye is on the prize, literally. Some of the key components we learn can be applied to many aspects of our daily lives.  I personally have learned poise, confidence in my public speaking, my official pageant walk, and the four stages of a pageant smile. Yes, there are four and if you’ve followed me long enough you know I always jump to the fourth one, all teeth and small eyes lol. I smile so hard and it makes me giggle thinking about it. As I have been so behind on my blog post I’m going to make this one a gumbo of pictures from my recent events as well as my pageant. As always, I post to my social media quite often so you can always be updated there as well. Until next time, keep smiling.  

I don’t even know where to begin. This past weekend has been such a whirlwind for me and I’m filled with so many emotions. I will do my best to articulate how I’m feeling and share my journey with you all as I always do.  As many of you know I recently competed for the title of Mrs. New Jersey United States. This is my first pageant experience and to say it was amazing is an understatement. Not only was I able to represent the city of Trenton, New Jersey but I was able to promote my platform Girl Yes. This mentor ship program means the world to me and to be able to speak about it to a large crowd for the first time was amazing. This past Sunday I shared the stage with 9 other beautiful women with the hopes of gaining the title of Mrs. New Jersey. The Mrs. Pennsylvania competition was also taking place so in total there were 14 other women on stage with me.

I’ll start by telling you what happens during a beauty pageant. There are four categories in which you are judged. The most important being the interview portion of competition. This is when you spend five minutes with five different judges and you talk about your platform and explain your plans if you win the title. This is critical because the judges want to make sure that you are the right person for the job of Mrs. New Jersey. Please keep in mind this was my first pageant and all of this was completely new to me. Out of all 15 of us I was the only woman who was new to pageantry so to say I was a little nervous is an understatement. The funny thing about this is I was not nervous about being on stage at all I mean I’m clearly comfortable in front of the camera. I was more nervous about speaking to the judges and rightfully so. These are five people you have never met that you have to convince about giving you the title. One of the judges in particular was grilling me like he was in the army. I tried my best not to give him the side I but you never know. My face tells no lies and he was really trying to get me out of my element.

Once the interview portion of the show is complete you then move on to the fun part of competition. Well in my opinion anyway. I love being on stage and that is where I believe I flourish. Next, we moved onto the costume parade and let me tell you these women had some of the best costumes I’ve ever seen in my life. The theme for the costume portion of the show was to represent your state within your costume. As I stated these costumes were amazing.

Next, we moved on to swim wear and then the final portion of the show which is evening gown and then on-stage question. I was a bit nervous for on stage question because you never know what the judges are going to ask you. The format for the on-stage question is fishbowl and that means you pick a question out of a fishbowl and then the MC will read it off to you to answer. My question was about my platform and how I would promote it throughout the state. I think I did a really good job of answering the question and so I was happy with my performance overall. The results of my first pageant are, I receive the People’s Choice Award. Although I did not receive the title of Mrs. New Jersey I could not have prayed for a better outcome. In a little over eight weeks I stepped completely out of my element and I enjoyed every minute of it.

As I’m writing this post for you or I have been getting so many emails and messages online for me to compete in other pageant as well as becoming a spokesperson different organization. This one pageant has opened up so many doors and opportunities for me and I am so grateful for the experience. Although I don’t know what’s next for me I do know that I want to continue this journey of self-discovery and allowing God to make my pathway clear. The reason I started my mentor ship program Girl Yes is to show other women that you can do any and everything that you set out to do. There are no stipulations on your success. We are not to ever set limitations for ourselves because we are able to do any in anything we set out to do. Girl Yes you can start a business, Girl Yes you can apply for that job, Girl Yes you can go back to school, Girl Yes you can compete in a beauty pageant. You are capable of achieving great things. I am on a mission is to show the world that the future is female and I’m just getting warmed up.

 

I have fallen of the grid for a little bit. This was very intentional as I wanted to refocus on some very important things in my personal life. My days are filled with to do list, enlist responsibilities and a lot of stress. In pursuing these daily goals it’s easy to lose sight on what’s important in life. Building and maintaining relationships while actively pursuing a fulfilling life. Unfortunately, I recently lost my grandfather and the sudden lose has taught me to live my life like there’s no tomorrow. I mean really operate in my purpose. Travel, make memories, and realign my focus on my ultimate goal which is to use my platform to cultivate a generation of young woman to discover their purpose. We like to wait until tomorrow to do things that can be done today. This use to describe me to a T as I would wait until the perfect opportunity to do something.  I love the wow factor when I’m creating, thus this translates into often waiting for the “right time”. But I have learned that there never will be a perfect time. There are momentary seconds in time where you contemplate your actions before the deed is done. I can elaborate on this for a few pages but I’ll keep this post short and sweet. Tomorrow truly isn’t promised. So, what exactly are you waiting for. Will there ever be the “right time”? The answer is NO. Now that you know this, start NOW.

 If you’ve ever experienced death of a loved one the loss and grief you feel is overwhelming. One of the things you may think of is all the what if’s and should of could of’s. All of the things you wish you could have said or differently. I’m trying my best not to focus on this aspect of my loss but to focus on the good memories we shared. Grief can allow you the opportunity to put things into the proper preceptive. We do not know the time or hour of our demise so live within the dash. This is the time in between your birth and death. The dash is the time in your life where to try to live an abundant life. A life full of memories. A life full of service. A life full of meaning, while praying that I impact as many people along the way. This is my ultimate goal. To accomplish all my goals but letting God’s will be done. Whether that’s from teaching you through my tutorials or giving you a peak into my life and struggles. The motive is to incite in you the will to live within your own dash. This life is filled with so many ups and downs and through it all I encourage you to live. This post is dedicated to Abraham Johnson Sr, my grandfather. Rest in peace Pop. You have inspired me to live without regret. This next chapter is dedicated to you.

You are good enough. You are good enough. Yes you! You are good enough. Sometimes you have to repeat it until it sticks and I had to remind myself of this recently. It’s ironic, people can say things to you, thinking that they are “helping” you but don’t realize they are deflecting. Deflecting their own insecurities, emotions, and baggage onto you. In this, the words that are being spoken to you can make you feel sad, insecure, and even depressed. I’m speaking against that right now. That’s why we have to be very careful who we allow to speak into our lives as well as mindful of what we say to others. I’ve learned that sometimes silence is best. Not for them but for you. In these silent moments you must remind yourself that you are enough. Your mistakes don’t define you. Even in your weakest moments, you are enough. When you don’t feel beautiful, you are enough. When the world seems to be against you, YOU ARE ENOUGH. I can’t stress this enough.

As I write this, I’m reminded of a conversation I had recently that made me feel so broken and unworthy. It seemed as though no matter how hard I tried to please people I was never good enough. I just couldn’t get it right. My efforts were being overlooked and only my flaws were highlighted. Does this sound like you? Have you also been in this position or were you the one with the magic marker highlighting all the negative you see in others. If so I encourage you to read my previous blog post (HERE).  My best didn’t seem meet their standards or expectations of what or who I should be. Boy ole boy, I can write a few pages on other people’s expectations for YOUR life. I digress, as I thought over what was said to me I realized that although I’m not perfect my best needs to be enough for me. I can’t and won’t allow anyone to put their expectations of what I should or should not do, feel, or say affect me to the point I feel less than. Not today or any other day for that matter. I AM ENOUGH.

In short, as you continue on your journey to improve yourself mentally and spiritually be mindful of the thoughts you allow to settle into your mind. Speak positivity to yourself and to others. You would be surprised at what a kind word or gesture can do for others. If you are enough then make sure the people you surround yourself with feel like they are enough also. Speak life into your friends and family and continue to encourage yourself.