My Year as Miss Florida USA

Mr UCF Contestants pay tribute to UCF Dancers

2010-10-09T07:53:00.000-07:00

Tribute to UCF Dancers from Mr UCF Contestants from Megan Clementi on Vimeo.

Tears For Fears/Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant 2010

2010-09-19T14:06:00.000-07:00

Aeropostale's REAL TEEN Homecoming in honor of Kaitlyn Chana

2010-09-19T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sweethearts For Soldiers Calendar Autograph Session at Mayport Naval Base in Jacksonville Florida

2010-09-19T13:53:00.000-07:00

7th Annual Ovarian Cancer Alliance of Florida Golf Tournament

2010-09-19T13:45:00.000-07:00

Tonight! Free Tears For Fears Concert...I am hosting

2010-08-28T07:52:00.000-07:00

Check it out in Downtown Orlando!

I will be hosting the Sonny's BBQ Rib eating contest with Shawn from 98.9 WMMO

http://wmmo.com/dcs/dcsschedule.html

Final Day of Curve NV Show!

2010-08-19T07:25:00.000-07:00

Yay! Yesterday was my final day of 'work' in Vegas. The Curve NV show was great and I met a lot of good contacts for future jobs including the people in the picture below. The gentleman in the middle is Jack Frost, photographer and magazine owner/creator. We were fortunate that he decided to feature Desiree Nercessian Swimwear in his upcoming edition. Myself and two models took lots of pics in Desiree Necessian swimsuits and coverups on Tuesday and then he interviewed Desiree and myself on Wednesday. You can see myself and Nicole (in orange) wearing Desiree's designs.

During the interview, Jack had a friend sketch me while we spoke. You can his sketch below. I have to say that my drawing is really pretty...I am happy!

Vegas Sunday - Tuesday

2010-08-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

More Pics from the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

2010-08-15T12:15:00.000-07:00

My dad, me, our contact Jim, and Sonny (my original military contact)

Ken Smith, FLA President Elect, Dad, and Jim

Cape Canaveral Lighthouse

2010-08-14T16:14:00.001-07:00

Today was the annual meeting for the Cape Canaveral Lighthouse Foundation. I was honored to be apart of the days event as this lighthouse has been difficult to visit due to the fact it has been under construction for quite some time. Plus, it is located on military soil so it makes it that much more difficult to gain access. We started the afternoon with lunch, several presentations, and some lighthouse shopping.

Anyway, it was a perfect day starting with the rocket launch around 7:15am and then the climb at 1pm. It was great to see my friends Ken and Dede Smith especially since Ken will be celebrating his 60th birthday this weekend! Come October Ken will take his reign as the President of the Florida Lighthouse Association and I am excited to say he has lots of plans for the future of the FLA!

You can the lighthouse on the left. It was original constructed in 1848, but due to shore erosion it was 1.5 miles inland. It was relit at its current location in 1868.

I was told in advance that the lighthouse was still not complete and therefore we could only climb as high as the third deck. That is the reasoning behind my pouty pie face (BTW that was a nickname for when I was upset.....sad meggiepie = pouty pie...lol) in the picture. The sign says STAIRS ARE CLOSED :(

One thing different about this lighthouse compared to the other 17 I have climbed thus far is the wrap staircase on the outside of the lighthouse. It is quite breathtaking to look at....should have more pics to post tomorrow.

Now, I am at the Ft Lauderdale Airport heading to VEGAS BABY!!! Miss Universe hear I come :)

Palm Beach County Science Symposium

2010-08-13T16:09:00.000-07:00

Happy Friday the 13th! While most people stay at home hoping that this scary day will pass, I went back to high school....well Lake Worth High School that is!

Today was the annual Palm Beach County Science Symposium. This is where the educational community comes together to pump one another up for the school year. This year was unlike any other as Palm Beach County School District inducted Jane Hart into the Hall of Fame (by the way she is the first member!). We also had Dr Kenneth Miller as the Keynote speaker. He gave one of the best speeches I have ever heard regarding science. I was intrigued with every word that came out of his mouth.

The best part of the day was running into my former science teachers....Mrs Reyes (now Bellodoumo) and Mrs Mooney. They were my book end science teachers as I had Mrs Reyes for 9th grade Earth Space Science and Mrs Mooney for Senior year Physics. Mrs Mooney also taught my brother when he was a junior. It was definitely worth the early morning drive to catch up with two of the people who motivated me to pursue a career in the sciences! I hope I can have the same impact on today's youth as these two teachers did on me!

Florida Lighthouse Digest

2010-08-05T09:02:00.001-07:00

Cassie McFarland, Miss Emerald Coast Teen USA 2011 and myself at the Cape St George Island Lighthouse in April during the first ever Forgotten Lighthouse Challenge.

Forgotten Lighthouse Challenge

2010-08-03T17:06:00.000-07:00

This video was composed by Ken Smith who happens to be next in line as President of the Florida Lighthouse Association. My name is mention at 1:05 and then there is a quick little interview from 7minutes to 7:28. Enjoy!

3d Annual Monsters Bowl A Rama!

2010-08-03T07:37:00.000-07:00

Saturday July 31st marked the 3d Annual Monsters in the Morning Celebrity Bowl A Rama! This event was created by Rock Pink ( http://www.rockpink.com/) and combined with Real Radio 104.1 to raise over $36,000 in the effort to raise breast health awareness and donate funds to local breast cancer programs. Last year, this event was my first non-media appearance of my reign and I witnessed first hand the power a community can make on behalf of an organization. Every year the program gains strength and I cannot wait to join forces again next year!

(LEFT)Helping KLAW, the Orlando Predator's Mascot, tie his bowling shoes.

My crowning moment! haha.....J/K I am the worst bowler ever. Never broke 100, but as soon as that crown popped up on the screen, I had to figure out a way to be 'crowned' :)

My buddy Scott connected a bobby pin with a "Fight Like A

Girl" key chain to make an ultra cool earring.

I never back down from a challenge. When the competition from BJs challenged me to an arm wrestling match, I put on my mean-mugging face and it was "on". Needless to say I lost, but if you had been there you would know I put on one heck of a fight!

Monsters in the Morning!

2010-07-30T08:25:00.000-07:00

Boy, do I love my monsters! At 9:30 I was featured on the Monsters in the Morning show on Real Radio 104.1. We talked about everything including my involvement in tomorrows event, Rock Pink's Celebrity Bowl-A-Thon! I wish I had realized earlier that I was being bid on as a celebrity bowler...had I known I would have publicized it more. Nevertheless, I sold for $212 dollars and will be bowling my heart out from 11-4pm. If you are free come check it up!

http://rockpink.com/bowling.html

Get R.E.A.L. at Plaza Cinemas

2010-07-29T21:36:00.000-07:00

Tonight was about getting R.E.A.L. that is Realistic Expectations and Attitude for Life. Through H.O.P.E. (Helping Other People Eat), Allison Kreiger has launched the Get R.E.A.L. program in which a dvd has been created as a marketing tool in the school system. It is being shipped out and watched at 7000 schools!!! Amazing! The dvd focuses on a 16 yr girls struggle with anorexia. It then continues on with professionals in the mental health industry so the viewer can better understand the disease. Turns out 42% of people with eating disorders are in 3d-6th grade...I found this absolutely startling! Eating disorders do not discriminate; They effect all races, genders, and ages. To learn more visit http://www.allisonkreiger.com/ or contact Allison through her website.

Allison! Congratulations on the premiere tonight! You were amazing!

Susan G Komen Recognition Dinner

2010-07-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Tuesday July 27th, Susan G Komen's Central Florida Affiliate celebrated The Million Dollar Year! We honored our grant recipients with a delicious dinner and great conversation. It was the perfect chance to hear stories about how the money raised in this area and how it has directly impacted our community. With this gracious community, maybe next year I can attend the 2 Million Dollar Year!!!!! Fingers Crossed!

Central Florida Affiliate Board

Guirola Wedding

2010-07-26T21:31:00.000-07:00

On Sunday July 25th at 2pm, friends and family gathered at St Augustine's Church in Troy New York to see Peter Guirola wed Theresa Tokarowski. The ceremony was stunning, the cocktail hour was filled with food, and the reception was unlike any other I have witnessed. Theresa and Peter are meant to be and I wish them all the happiness this world has to offer!

Taking part in the sliders bar at the end of the evening :)

After the wedding, recapping in the lobby.

The beautiful couple as I said goodbye!

Love you both! Have a phenomenal honeymoon!

Miss USA 2010 Reunion

2010-07-25T21:44:00.000-07:00

Miss Teen USA

2010-07-25T21:43:00.000-07:00

Baby Ella is Baptised

2010-07-19T21:39:00.000-07:00

Alyssa's Teen USA Fundraiser

2010-07-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

Miss Florida USA 2011

2010-07-15T14:45:00.000-07:00

Miss Florida USA 2011 Prelim Night

2010-07-15T14:42:00.000-07:00

Judges Dinner at The Westin Diplomat

2010-07-08T18:15:00.000-07:00

Press Photo Day

2010-07-08T08:34:00.000-07:00

Wednesday of Miss Fl USA week!

2010-07-07T17:44:00.000-07:00

Started my morning visiting Local 10 which just so happened to be my very first interview after I was crowned last year :) I thought that was ironic to start and end with the same local TV station :)

http://www.justnews.com/news/24169054/detail.html Click on slideshow for more pictures!

Then it was time to meet the girls for rehearsal!

Time for fun! For the first time in Miss Florida USA history, we spent an evening at Georgio's Grille on the Intracoastal Waterway in Hollywood! It was yummy!

We LOVE Muscle Milk!

2010-07-07T17:35:00.000-07:00

I am all checked in !

2010-07-05T18:24:00.000-07:00

Hello Westin Diplomat! About one year ago, I checked into this hotel knowing that I could be the next Miss Florida USA. Today, I return knowing I had one of the most amazing years of my life! As sad as I am to see this year come to an end, I am excited for another young lady to hear her name and have her life changed forever. I will do my best to update pics throughout the week.

Tonight I have a phone interview with the Super Duper Sports Show in Orlando at 7:30pm followed by dinner with the Contestant Directors. Tomorrow morning it is another phone interview at 7:30am with Monsters in the Morning on Real Radio 104.1 followed by a swimsuit shoot for Telair, and finally the official start of Miss Florida USA week….registration! Stay tuned!

Happy 4th of July!

2010-07-05T14:37:00.000-07:00

Did you know the Declaration of Independence was not signed until August 2nd 1776? Interesting right! Well apparently, it was written and 200 some copies were made on July 4th, but our Forefathers were too busy to sign the document until the following month. Anyway, the mere writing and production was enough to excite the people of America and the Fourth of July holiday was born…fun!

I spent my afternoon in the neighboring village of my hometown of Jupiter, Village of Tequesta. The 2nd Annual Wounded Warriors 4th of July celebration was taking place at Constitution Park. I had the rare opportunity to meet the first official Mayor of Jupiter at this event. Carlin White was born in 1907 near the Square Grouper on the beach. He is now 102 years old going on 60! He is a really cool guy to talk to because he has seen it all. He is ‘all there’ if you know what I mean and has vast knowledge of Jupiter’s history. After all, not many people are born and raised in Jupiter…..especially born in the early 1900’s!!! The main bridge in Jupiter is named after him and the local park (Carlin Park) is named after his father.

Another high-light was mingling with locals. Have you heard of the idea of 6 degrees of separation? Well, it seemed as though I knew someone’s sister or they knew my brother ....a young girl and I even had the same 5th grade teacher……it was really neat…memory lane :)

As I was leaving, I was so proud of myself for not eating the beautiful chocolaty brownies sitting on the table screaming my name. I was almost out the gate when a lady came up to me asking how I could pass up Cake Kingdom Brownies! WHAT?????!!!! Cake Kingdom…..my favorite bakery in South Florida! Obviously, I made a donation and gobbled it up in 2.4 seconds. It was the best 2.4 seconds of my life. I look forward to purchasing a small carrot cake from Cake Kingdon on July 11th 2010 after I give up my title…lol

Congressman Tom Rooney and his kids.

That night, the goal was to go to 4th on Flagler but the weather was dreadful, so I ended up at Dave’s home watching the annual Coney Island hot dog eating contest on DVR….It was a fun and relaxing night!

OMD Auditions, Round 1!

2010-07-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

Day one for the Orlando Magic Dancer Auditions took place on Saturday July 3d at the RDV Sportsplex in Orlando. There was a great turnout, over 150 dancers with lots of talent. You never know what to expect as far as who shows up and what they are capable of, but last weekend did not disappoint. I was excited to once again assist throughout the day. Anthony Williams and his assistant Dorothy taught a fun jazz/hip hop combo routine that tested the dancers technically as well as mentally. After an 8 hour day, the group was narrowed down to the Top 30 in which those dancers advance to boot camp. Best of luck to all the dancers especially the returning veterans :)

Love you girls!

WQYK 99.5, Tampa Bay's Country Station

2010-07-01T14:00:00.000-07:00

To hear the interview, click on the link below :)
http://wqyk.radio.com/2010/07/01/miss-florida-megan-clementi/

Article and Pics from the Sanibel Islander, posted June 30th 2010

2010-07-01T12:21:00.000-07:00

Article and Pictures
http://www.captivasanibel.com/page/content.detail/id/507816/Miss-Florida-USA-climbs-Sanibel-Lighthouse.html?nav=0

Tampa Area Lighthouses and Radio Stations

2010-07-01T11:38:00.000-07:00

I spent the next two hours jumping between radio stations to highlight my Climb For The Cure as well as to promote the upcoming state pageant on July 10th. I feel like I connected with the entire Tampa area as I was featured on 1010 Sports
WQYK Country 99.5,

Smooth Jazz 98.7

, and WILD Hits and Hip Hop 94.1Before I knew it, it was 10 am and we had only an hour before our ferry was leaving Ft Desoto Park to Egmont Key Light. That is me driving the boat...lol
Upon arrival we were greeted by Tom Watson, Park Ranger, who has lived on the island for 9 years and absolutely loves it. We had just enough time to climb the light and travel the island via golf cart. There was definitely way to much to see as this island used to be a military community.
My dad and I plan on traveling back to Egmont Key Island soon. If you notice in the pic this light has no top!

Egmont Key fun fact…..The island has decreased in size by over 50% by sand washing away into the ocean. In recent years, sand was brought to the island to keep it intact. There is an old power plant that was orginally in the center of the island. When we passed it, you can see it has completely crumbled and half of it is in the ocean.

We hit the road again for our final lighthouse stop of this crazy week! We hopped on the boat with Chris B, Assistant Park Ranger of Anclote Key Island and Linda Seabol, President of the Friends of Anclote Key Lighthouse.

We had worried about the weather, but it seemed clear enough to cross the 3½ miles from the marina to the island.

Chris, like Tom, lives on the island and manages the surroundings. He has been there for 4 years and is also very passionate about his job. As we were finishing up, the rain came and we hid in Chris’s home on the island.

We waited out the storm for an hour or so and then came to the brilliant decision to weather the storm for the 3.5 miles……kids do not do this at home! I do not want to say it was scary, but it was. Needless to say, we survived…lol

Anclote Key Fun fact….opposite of Egmont, the island’s beach has expanded due to natural beach renurishment. There is an area below the flag pole next to the lighthouse where people donate to the lighthouse an in return receive an engraved brick. Within the next few months there will be a new brick with MEGAN CLEMENTI, MISS FLORIDA USA 2010 written on it.

Now, I am writing you from the car, 1250 miles from where I began this journey on Sunday! I cannot put into words how exhausted we are from the sun exposure, lighthouse climbs, long drives and little sleep…….BUT WHO CARES! This week was amazing! I have some awesome pictures, videos and great new friends. I cannot wait to return to all these stops in the near future!

Love Always,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Ft Myers Lighthouses

2010-07-01T11:25:00.000-07:00

Dad and I met our contacts John and Kathy Kennedy at The Lighthouse Café for breakfast and then the Sanibel Island Light where the press were awaiting. Several TV news stations and local papers were there to learn about Climb For The Cure. From what I was told, the interviews were seen on the local news that evening on the 4pm and 5pm hours. The climb was a simple one. It was just Dad, me and my two favorite Coast Guards (Eric Smith and Erick Toval).

The Sanibel Island Light was recently taken over by the city of Sanibel in which the city requires a waiver to be signed and notarized before a climb is to occur. You can assume that this light is not open to the public….I was fortunate that I was approved by the city and the U.S. Coast Guard. Anyway, the view was beautiful and I am happy to report there was NO OIL in sight. It seems there is a misconception amongst many that the oil spill has reached the west coast of Florida. This is simply not true as you can see from the posted photographs. Next, we made detours at the City of Sanibel offices, and the Sanibel Historical Society and Museum. We finished our time in Sanibel with lunch at Doc Ford’s Rum Bar and Grille. I spent most of my lunch signing autographs for locals and mingling with staff. The owner, Marty Harrity, was so sweet as he sponsored Climb For The Cure for $500 and wished me luck on my journey. By the time I boxed up my lunch, I was 30 minutes late to Boca Grande, but Climb For The Cure was $600 richer! YAY!

Sanibel fun fact…..there are no fast food restaurants, or big businesses (Target, Walmart etc) on the island except for a single Dairy Queen!

Being late was not an option as it was too difficult to leave the people of Sanibel! They were so sweet and supportive of my cause. 2 hours later, I was happy to find my contact Sharon McKenzie, my coast guard guys, media, and locals waiting for my arrival at Boca Grande. One family actually saw that I was coming to the light, ran home to get their camera, and came back to meet me :) Isn’t that nice! Ft Myers rocks! Sharon (and her daughter Alex) gave us a complete VIP tour of Boca Grande including visits to both Boca Grande Lighthouse, Gasparilla Island Lighthouse, and a golf cart tour of the island. Last leg of the day was dinner at PJ’s Seagrille.

Dad and I enjoyed the best dinner we have ever had. Just imagine Tomato Basil Crab Bisque, Shrimp Pad Thai, Bread with coconut and pineapple, and Tuxedo Bomb dessert (dark chocolate filled with milk and dark chocolate mousse!) I highly recommend it to anyone traveling in the area.

Boca Grande fun fact….there is nearly no crime despite the occasional spring break incident due to out of towners. The middle and high schools are located off the island.

After dinner, we traveled north to St Petersburg Florida. We checked into our hotel around 11:30pm. Just enough time to catch a few Z’s before arriving at the local radio station before the 7am hour!

South Florida Lighthouses

2010-07-01T11:12:00.000-07:00

Hello CrAzY Week! Ummmm…where do I begin??? The last three days have to be the most action packed days of my reign. There was never a dull moment and barely time to breathe.

I started my week at 7am shooting stand-ups for Tel Air at the Westin Diplomat Resort and Spa. From there it was off to Pompano Beach to visit the Hilsboro Light (stop 11 of the 30 Florida Lighthouses). Grant, Dad and I met up with several people including Hib Casselberry, a lighthouse enthusiast. Hib is 88 years old and believe it or not he climbed to the top of the Light! He is a very interesting guy. Apparently, his parents founded the city of Casselberry in the Orlando area…pretty cool.

Another fun fact….Grant is scared of heights! He was so cute. Grant almost made it to the top when he looked at me and said, “You can video tape right??? I do not do heights!” I had no clue! I told him no problem as my dad was the King of home videos growing up. Sure enough Dad took over video duties. I would not be surprised if he used the entire video memory as my dad never stopped ‘rolling’….

Our next and final appearance for the day was an hour away at the southern tip of Key Biscayne, Fl. There we met Art Levy who gave us a guided tour of Cape Florida Light. All these lighthouses have fascinating history, but Cape Florida really caught my attention. In 1836, Cape Florida was under attack by the Seminole Indians. The lighthouse keeper, John W Thompson, ended up surviving the attack and wrote his account in a diary which was later published as part of book titled Captured By The Indians. John survived being trapped in the burning lighthouse, his friend dead by his side, and 3 rifle balls in each foot. If not for the U.S. NAVY, he would have died a miserable death. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we had a long drive to the west coast. We said goodbye to Art, but before we even left the ranger station there was a ‘situation’.

Apparently, there have been random break-ins for the last several months and another one had occurred while we were there. As we waited, we listened to the two-way radio as rangers chased down a white BMW. Once the situation was under control, Dad and I headed to Sanibel Island. The next day Art informed us that the criminals were caught and the stolen items were returned! Great Job guys!

Going Away To Miss Teen USA!

2010-06-27T22:53:00.000-07:00

I started the day nice and early…which I must admit felt good being up at the crack of dawn. As you may have noticed I have been sleeping in until 9am. The next two weeks are definitely going to be different so I am getting my body ready for the excitement. It is all about muscle memory!

Anyway, off of my tangent and back to my day. I spent the morning in Ormond Beach speaking with the titleholders from Exquisite Coaching. Kim Antos had planned a full day of fun to give insight on competition week as well as life after the state pageant for the winner (that is where I come in :). Unfortunately, I did have to leave early as I had a 4 hour drive to South Florida for my sister queen’s Miss Teen USA Send Off party.

I made one pit stop at the infamous Flying J’ and a second at a Publix near my destination. All of my friends make fun of me because I actually really like the Flying J truck stop. My dad introduced me to it years ago and I think it is fabulous! I filled up on gas using my dad’s Reward Card (lol), re-curled my hair and re-applied my make-up in the rather spacious restroom, purchased celery/carrot sticks with ranch and a XXL chocolate chip cookie! My car was full….I was full….the rest of the drive was a breeze! By 3:30 I arrived at the Crowne Hotel to support Miss Florida Teen USA Alyssa Rivera!

I am so proud of the young woman she has become and I am so excited to see what the future has in store for her. She is beautiful from the inside out and has worked incredibly hard to get to where she is today. I know she will make Florida proud at Miss Teen USA…..Alyssa has already made us proud throughout her year!

I finished my day at IHOP with my dad and then watching Entourage with my guy….Tomorrow starts a crazy week!

Good Night!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Lighthouses Galore!

2010-06-27T22:43:00.000-07:00

Good evening everyone! With Miss Florida USA 2011 right around the corner, I am stretching my reign as much as I possibly can…shocking, I know! This is going to be a busy week and next week will be even crazier! Here’s the run down!

Monday June 28th – 7am shoot at Westin Diplomat with Grant
10am ‘Climb For the Cure’ Hillsboro Light in Pompano Beach, interview
with local paper
3pm ‘Climb For the Cure’ Cape Florida Lighthouse in Key Biscayne,
Interview with Islander News
6pm drive to Sanibel Island
Tuesday June 29th – 10am ‘Climb For the Cure’ Sanibel Island Lighthouse in Sanibel
3pm ‘Climb For the Cure’ Boca Grande and Gasparilla Island
Lighthouse in Boca Grande
Drive to St Petersburg
Wednesday June 30th – On air with Sports 1010, WILD 98.7 Hip Hop, WQYK 99.5 Country,
WSJT 94.1 Smooth Jazz from 7am to 9am
11am Catch Ferry to ‘Climb For the Cure’ Egmont Key Lighthouse in
Ft Desoto Park
3pm Catch boat to ‘Climb For the Cure’ Anclote Key Lighthouse in
Tarpon Springs
7:30pm Orlando Magic Pre-audition Jazz class in Orlando
Thursday July 1st – SLEEP, PACK, SLEEP, WORKOUT, EAT, Wash my hair…lol
Friday July 2nd – On air as female host on Mix 105.1 Scott and Jay in the Morning 5:30am-
8:30am
On air with Real Radio the Buckethead Show at 12:50
Appointments throughout the day to get pretty for final pageant: Nails,
eyelashes etc
Saturday July 3d – Assist with Orlando Magic Dancer Auditions 11am-6pm

Sound exhausting? Yep, feels exhausting and I have not even done anything yet…lol In the end it will all be worth it; lots of great memories and pictures for my scrapbooks…hehe. To me this will be a fun week. I will be sure to post pictures :)

Sweetheart Photoshoot!

2010-06-13T13:15:00.000-07:00

This weekend was so much fun! I have spoken about Sweethearts for Soldiers in the past and this was my first opportunity to be a part of the team. The Florida Sweethearts met up at Mayport Naval Station in Jacksonville Florida for a calendar photoshoot. Our goal is to compile the best pictures from our shoots in Fl, DC, and CA to make an incredible Calendar to send to our troops as a thank you for serving our country. We stepped outside the box at all three photoshoots and we are exciting about the final product. Unfortunately, I was never one to ruin a surprise and therefore I cannot show you any of the real shots, but here are some behind the scenes :)

Home from LA!!!!

2010-06-13T13:10:00.000-07:00

I am HOME!!!!! Goodness gracious! What a crazy weekend! I got off the plan at 11am on Saturday June 6th and before I knew it I was speaking to the 65 delegates at the Miss Florida USA 2011 orientation. It was wonderful to finally meet the girls that are vying for my title. I met some very worthy candidates and I am even more excited to see what happens on July 10th!

That night I stayed in the Pink Room at the Gravitt's home and we spent some quality time together over dinner. We decided that since Sunday pretaping was a 6am call, we better hit the hay by 11pm! Pretaping went well. We knocked out the jewelry, Florida Hair Extensions, and Elan segments without a hitch. As we were getting ready to leave I was happily surprised to see Mr Carrol from Carrol's Jewelers with my customized necklace. It is a tradition for the Carroll's to custom design a necklace for the reigning Miss Florida USA...they have done so for 30 years! As usual, he did an amazing job! I absolutely love it. He figured out what I liked by looking at my blog...yay for blogs...lol

Thank you Carrol Jewelers for designing me a gorgeous necklace!

On Tuesday June 8th, I was honored to be the Keynote Speaker at the Avalon Middle School Night of Excellence. I spoke to over 500 students and their families about the amazing opportunities that are to come for these kids. All 500 students were being honored for maintaining Honor Roll Status or better for the entire year! I was surprised to meet several graduating 8th graders who had never even received a B! Definitely some smarty pants in the room!

Mrs. Besley, Mrs. Fadia, and Principal Frank

The Lange sisters. Hallie was my sunshine princess when she was 8 years old...now she is an honor roll 7th grader at Avalon Middle School!

I cannot forget about my Magic family! Our very own Kimberly Meyers is saying Sayonara to Orlando and Hello Chicago! Kim and I spent 4 years dancing together with the Orlando Magic and we were rookie captains together. All us formers got together to say our goodbyes and wish her the best!

We LOVE YOU KIM!

This weekend is about supporting our troops....in an unconventional way! Tell you more soon!

Love Always,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Life continues after Miss USA :)

2010-06-13T13:06:00.000-07:00

Goodness! It has been a while since I have posted anything so I am attempting to catch up today! Bare with me :)

When I returned from Miss USA, I decided I needed a breather. But first I had some obligantions. I promised the Buckethead radio show that they would be my first interview the moment I got home. Sure enough they took me up on that offer! I got home at 9pm on Monday May 17th and a t 1pm on Tuesday I shared all my Miss USA experiences with Orlando. It did not stop there as I continued the day by emceeing Game 2 of the Eastern Conference Finals at the Amway Arena that evening. We lost that game :( But the series was not over!

It was definitely time for a breather! Vegas was awesome; 17 amazing days filled with fun memories and incredible individuals, but it was 17 days of non-stop events nonethless! The weekend I returned, I went to Jupiter to spend time with my mom. Most of you will be surprised to learn that my mom is deathly afraid of flying so she did not come to Vegas. We were able to spend the entire weekend together catching up on DVRed shows...lol. We even watched her interview with the local news :)

The week of May 24th was filled with random fun. I had an interview with Professional Engineer Magazine, a photoshoot with HardKnock Orlando, and I emceed Game 5 of Magic vs Celtics in which we won...yay! Thursday May 27th was the WEC Fashion Show (pictures are below with myself and some of the models). Way back when I spoke at the WEC Luncheon, I was invited to model in their fashion show at the Citrus Club in Orlando!

Patrick and Denise Carroll
The models in our stylish Stein Mart clothing!

The dinner and show felt like a reunion. These are women that I have known for years and are incredibly supportive of my title and reign. Thank you WEC for a a great evening!

Friday morning was an early one! One of my favorite radio shows is Mix 105.1 with Jay Edwards. I totally forgot that I had this interview planned for weeks...luckily Jay is on top of his game and he called me the night before to check-in! Sure enough I was on-air at 8am and once again recapped all the Vegas fun, my future plans, and the upcoming Miss Florida USA pageant in Hollywood Fl!

Enough about me! Let's talk about my girls! On Sunday May 30th, I met up with the Rivera's as little miss Tiffany was competing in a pageant in my neck of the woods! I was able to watch her prelims and she was fierce! I am so proud of her! Nothing is stopping her from her dreams! You go girl!

I ended the month by flying to Los Angeles! It was an interesting 5 days and I will leave it at that :)

Talk soon!

Love Always!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

ProCheerleader.com Article

2010-06-09T09:31:00.000-07:00

http://ultimatecheerleaders.com/2010/05/page/11/

http://ultimatecheerleaders.com/2010/05/page/7/

http://ultimatecheerleaders.com/2010/05/former-orlando-magic-dancer-to-compete-for-miss-usa/

Magic Overtime with Dante and Galante: May 13th 2010

2010-06-09T09:26:00.000-07:00

First Video with IFLIP Camera

2010-06-04T12:19:00.000-07:00

More Fun Pics from Miss USA!

2010-06-04T11:45:00.000-07:00

This was my arrival day. As soon as I got to my hotel it was off to the infamous Fidel photo shoot. As I was going back to my room Roston (Creative Director) and I snapped a pic.
So exciting! I absolutely love my Fidel shot and was proud to stand by it as it was displayed on the Planet Hollywood Wall.
Me and Trace! We definitely hit it off backstage...lol This pic was taken after the pageant was over as I was heading out. He also signed my FLORIDA sash!

I cannot tell you how much I adore our MUO Protection (aka Body guards). This is Michael and his two sons. We became like a family out there. I cannot wait til he brings the fam to Florida to catch a Magic home game :)

Michael, Vic, Nelson, and Angel: You four were amazing and appreciate all your efforts to keep us safe!

Since the moment I arrived, I waited for the massive Miss USA Billboard to go up. When it finally did there was never any down time to actually stand by it. After the pageant, I decided to leave the hotel and stay with friends at Tahiti Village. When I left, I finally got my chance and it was one of my favorite pictures!

Interview

2010-05-11T14:04:00.001-07:00

MANILOW!

2010-05-09T21:44:00.000-07:00

Forever 21 Fasion Show at Fashion Show Mall

2010-05-09T11:33:00.000-07:00

Pajama Brunch

2010-05-09T11:19:00.000-07:00

Best Buddies!

2010-05-09T07:39:00.000-07:00

bUCCA dI bEPPO

2010-05-09T07:32:00.001-07:00

More TO COME TONIGHT!

2010-05-09T07:27:00.000-07:00

Wacky Talent Time!!!!!

Move over Miss America, Miss USA has talent too...lol I love the Miss America system, but I am excited that the Miss Universe Organization decided to hi-lite our titleholders that have 'wacky talent' since we are more than just pretty girls. Standing with me is Miss Maine who is a former professional basketball player. She played in Switzerland and Italy! Impressive, right?! All of you know that I am a dancer, but you may not know that I am a Sweetheart. After leaving the Magic, I applied for a position with the Sweethearts For Soldiers. This group is comprised of former NBA and NFL Dancers/Cheerleaders with our mission being to support our troops. Now Miss Maine is over 6 feet tall so you may assume that there is a trampoline under me...hint hint :)

I will be sure to post the video as soon as it comes out :)

After the wack talent segment, the ten of us had a short break and it was off to lunch :)

YAY! Did you watch the Price is Right growing up? I sure did! All of us reunited at Bally's for The Price Is Right LIVE! Although we did not get to play, it was fun watching everyone else get excited. Plus, our very own Miss USA Kristen Dalton did some imprompto modeling of the prizes. Oh ! AND we got the cool price tage name tags..lol

From there we had a phenomenal night! No shows, no VIP events, NO rehearsal, not even dinner out. We stayed in and relaxed...yay! It was much needed. We were in our rooms by 5:15pm. All we had to do was get our evening gown checked for approval. Good thing because Texas and I were up at 4am for the annual poolside swimsuit shot!

Morning Workout!

2010-05-07T15:38:00.000-07:00

Sushi Samba

2010-05-05T21:08:00.001-07:00

End of the night posing in front of the Palazzo Hotel where we ate dinner and sang karaoke at Sushi Samba. (Katya, Brittany, Jessica)

Simone and I jamming out while DJ-ing!

Julie and I rocking our sponsored bracelets from Same Sky: Bracelets made by Women in Rwanda

Arrival

2010-05-05T16:42:00.000-07:00

My new roomie, Kelsey Moore Miss TX USA, and I are dressed and ready to start our first official day of the 2010 Miss USA Competition!
It was a really busy day. We started with breakfast at 7:30am and then it was on to Registration, hair, make-up, opening number fittings, shoe fittings, swimsuit fittings, evening gown/swimsuit photoshoot, and finally interviews. Unfortunately not everybody finished everything so many of us (including Tx and myself) had to wake up early on Tuesday to finish up our interviews. Monday was over 13hrs long, but it allowed a lot of time to meet all the contestants and HELLO...I am at Miss USA! It was amazing despite the long hours!.

Lunch on Tuesday at Cabo Wabo, PA Gina, LA Sara, SC Rachel

By noon Tuesday, I had finished my last interview so I was invited to be a part of a mini appearance. 10 of us visited throughout the casino and ate mexican food at Cabo Wabo for lunch....I had Mahi Mahi!

Brittany, Roseanne, Renee, MacKenzie, Rachel, Me, Sara

That evening was our BIG Introduction night outside of the Planet Hollywood! It was the first time I was announced to the public as Miss Florida USA during the Miss USA Compeition. I think we all thought that was pretty cool.
Below are all 51 contestants including Kristen Dalton , Miss USA 2009.

From there we split into 3 groups based on Alphabetical order. I was obviously in group 1 so we went to the Paris Hotel. We started with an autograph session inside the hotel. Of course I just happen to notice that the Orlando Magic game was playing so I could not help but to point out the score...>>>Magic ended up winning by 43 points! Big Win!

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!GO MAGIC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Off to dinner! Now it looks like Renee, Audrey and I are outside on a balcony but that is inside Paris! So neat!!! We indulged on a 4 course meal; salad wedge, crab cake appe, chicken with veggies, and white chocolate cheesecake. Perfect ending to the perfect day!

Cassady and MacKenzie at Planet Hollywood.

Day 3! FUN DAY!!!!!! The day started with Orientation. We had the honor of listening to Paula Shugart, President of the Miss Universe Organization, speak on the many opportunities that Miss USA 2010 will have presented to her and what is expected upon her during her reign. It was excited knowing that there a chance that that could be me! (Above: me and Sarah )

After breakfast we traveled via bus to Caesar Palace. We were welcomed by Roman gods and spent the day in the sun. We enjoyed lunch poolside and I even got to do a taping with a chef in which he made an alaskan king crab salad. It was filling but light as well which was nice considering we were in our bikinis.

It was incredibly relaxing......

First Day in Vegas.......DONE!

2010-05-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

I woke up this morning feeling amazing. The flight was great, the shuttle bus was fast, Planet Hollwood is the perfect hotel and I had so much fun with my first photoshoot! I wish I could say more, but I am pretty sure that I am not supposed to give anything away as far as the theme of the shoot. These pictures will be posted online and they will be used in the program book. All I can say is......THEY ARE HOT! WHEW!

I was able to meet several of the girls at the photoshoot; Wyoming, North Carolina, Arizona, Nevada, and Oklahoma. Nadia Moffett, Miss NC USA and I were back to back in the photoshoot so we were done around the same time. We were starving so we hit up PF Chang's for dinner. The wait was 90 minutes so we decided to sit at the bar upstairs. I must admit, it was nice being able to see the Boston vs Cleveland playoff game...lol We split lettuce wraps and devoured our main courses. Us East Coast girls were so exhausted and it was only 8:30pm!!! But remember it was really 11:30pm eastern standard time. Poor Nadia only had an hour of sleep the night before so we headed back to our rooms and crashed.

Day 1 was a success! Today is chill.....catching up on emails and unpacking. Everything starts tomorrow at 9am...YAY!

Talk Soon!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Road To Vegas! I am on the Plane! YAY!

2010-05-02T08:52:00.000-07:00

Wake me up ‘cause I feel like I am dreaming! Am I really on a plane heading to Vegas to compete for the title of Miss USA 2010? Wow…..this is surreal! As exhausted as I am, I cannot seem to stop smiling. This is the opportunity of a lifetime and I feel privileged to represent my home state of Florida, the state I was born and raised! It seems like just yesterday, I captured the title of Miss Florida USA 2010….amazing how quickly 9 ½ months flies by!

In that time, I have traveled from Pensacola to the Keys, from Ft Myers to Merritt Island. I have become ‘one’ with my car as I have put nearly 35,000 miles on her since July 18th 2009. I have enjoyed my time with various non-profits including my personal platforms Give Kids The World, Climb For The Cure, and the Future Female Scientist Award. My platforms have allowed me the opportunity to speak throughout the state and make a positive impact in each community I visit. To date, I have made 193 appearances and there is no reason to stop now! If I am chosen to be your next Miss USA, you can bet I will be as devoted to our country as I was to my state. I hope to travel constantly speaking on behalf of Susan G. Komen and Give Kids The World as well as visiting schools to inspire the next generation of engineers. I plan to make a difference one city at a time!

One of the best compliments I have received was from a patient at the Watson Clinic in Lakeland, Fl. I was there learning the ins and outs of what a cancer patient goes through, focusing on Breast Cancer but learning about ovarian, prostate, anal, and skin cancer as well. I was told later by my mentor, Dr Sandra Sha, that one patient said she did not think ‘pageant girls’ were anything more than pretty girls that know they are pretty. She was shocked to see how involved I was with Susan G. Komen and honored to know that I am speaking out about Breast Cancer on behalf of her and all patients past, present, and future! You never know if you are making a difference, but every once in a while you will see or hear something that puts a smile on your face. These little moments remind me why I love my job and why I devote my time to the community. Turns out this woman happens to be a lighthouse enthusiast and I have seen her at 2 of my lighthouse visits; once in St Augustine and again last weekend at St George Island. I am thrilled to see her around the state as I know she has fought cancer and won! She is a success story and should be used as inspiration for those who are currently battling the disease. She is the reason why it is important to speak out. Early detection is key. Knowing this, I have hope for a very close family friend who was diagnosed on March 1st, 2010. She is currently healing from a double mastectomy and will begin radiation and chemotherapy shortly. Please keep her in your prayers.

I am 4 hours from landing in Las Vegas. This is the perfect time to reflect on my life, my accomplishments, and my support system. Although many people credit my success on my determination and perseverance, I cannot help to credit my success to my wonderful team of family , friends and sponsors.

Thank you to my PERSONAL SPONSORS

Exquisite Coaching

Kim Antos: You have given me peace from past experiences that would have prevented me from achieving my dreams. I will never forget seeing you and James outside my hotel door at 4:30 am in Miami the night I won Miss Florida USA 2010. You were going through one of the most traumatic experiences of your life and somehow managed to drive 7 hours from Wolfson Children's Hospital in Jacksonville to congratulate me in person. You are an amazing person with the biggest heart I have ever seen. I love you so much and appreciate everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) you have done for me! You are not a ‘pageant friend’ but a lifelong friend that I care deeply about. I am fortunate to have you and James in my life!

Revive Lifestyle Management
Arnold Kolozsvari: I must admit, I was not so sure about starting with a new trainer 2 years ago. I had a good thing going on in Orlando and I could not imagine how special you could possibly be for me to drive an hour to Ormond Beach to train with you. Well when I woke up the next morning and could feel the results….I knew I needed to make a change. You have a unique way of balancing weights, cardio, and ply metrics. Sometimes I think 'wow that was not so bad' until I wake up the next day and I cannot move…lol You challenge me in new ways and I like it! You have great intuition; you know my breaking point, you know when I need take a break. On the days where I have been sick, you have saved me from myself! My body looks better than it has ever looked which I did not think was possible after state last year :) YOU are one of a kind! THANK YOU Csaba!

Kim and Arnold- I am so fortunate to have both of you in my life. Together you have balanced my body and soul.

Florida Hair Extensions and Great Lengths
Natalie Dyson-Thank you for making my hair look amazing. I have never felt more beautiful!!!

Regalia Magnificent Apparel Forte Salon and Spa
Lush Lash Dr Lach Dr Costello
Melanie Pace-personal stylist for my Miss USA wardrobe

Thank you to the OFFICIAL Miss Florida USA SPONSORS
La Casa Hermosa
Don Baker Communications

Thank you to the Prize SPONSORS
Bejeweled
Bijoux Terner
Carroll's Jewelers
Bob Lasky Ritchie Swimwear
Elan
Fredrico Leone
FICA

Thank you all for providing me with needed services throughout my reign!

Thank you to my Family and Friends!

I could not possibly remember everyone who has impacted my life over the years, but there are several who I will never forget (in no particular order…lol)!

Mary Lou, Grant Sr., and Grant Jr. Gravitt
Kim and James Antos
Becky and Gary Bangert
Rachael Denney
Sean Ocando
Jeanine Klem-Thomas
The Orlando Magic Dancers (2004-2009)
The Orlando Magic Organization
Veronica Livesay
David Lang and Carry O’Neal ver
Strever Family
Kreiger Family, Mr and Mrs Brian Walsh
Melissa Witek
Alan Goldstein
Chris Bischoff

Jeff Higuera, BodyTecz
Dan Hrabko and my Miss South Florida Fair Family
Keep Flippin Gymnastics
Jill’s Dance Center/Jupiter Dance Academy
The University of Central Florida College of Engineering and Computer Science

And Lastly….MOM, DAD, MIKEY, DAVE , THE MACK FAMILY, AND THE DARREY FAMILY

I appreciate all your love and support!

Love Always,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Forgotten Lighthouse Challenge!

2010-05-02T06:47:00.000-07:00

Such a cool weekend! It was non-stop from Thursday evening until Monday morning. I began my weekend Thursday night as Kim Antos and I traveled to Tampa to attend the Miss Florida’s Outstanding Teen Pageant. Before we got very far, we made a pit stop in Kissimmee to visit Give Kids The World. I had a $500 check for GKTW that was made by the wonderful people who attended my Central Florida Send Off Party. We raised a total $1500 for charity in which there are 3 beneficiaries.

Anyway, being that the families that visit GKTW stay for exactly 7 days, GKTW is able to plan weekly celebrations like morning visits from Disney Characters, Wednesday night Village Idol, and the Friday night Pirates and Princess Party. Every Thursday Mayor Clayton Celebrates Christmas which I should mention that Mayor Clayton is a very handsome 6 foot tall bunny rabbit who happens to be the Mayor of Kids Village. His wife, Merry, loves celebrating Christmas by having an evening Christmas parade. Now, I intended to be in the parade, but I never left the Gingerbread house (this is where all meals are served). I spent a couple hours mingling with the families and signing autographs. Before you knew it, it was 8:10pm and I had missed the parade! It is ok though…the families appreciate me being in the Gingerbread house with them especially since many of the families were leaving the next day to go back to their home.

Kim and I stayed in Tampa that night and planned our schedules for the next day. With only one car, there was figuring out of who gets the car when. I slept in (YAY) while Kim spent the morning training clients in Ocala. When she returned, she was able to take a nap while I headed to Tampa as I had a new family member to meet! Ella Lynn Darrey was born on the morning of Wednesday April 21st weighing 6 lbs 11 oz.

She is absolutely beautiful!!! I told Ella how much I love her and that she was my good luck charm at Miss USA…I promised to make her proud :) It was so nice to be able to spend a few hours with my cousins…I wish I could have stayed longer!

From there I scooped up Kim and we were off to Dade City for the 2010 Miss Florida's Oustanding Teen Pageant.

Kim, me and David at pageant. David emceed with Galen.

Rachel Strever after preliminary competition. She was awesome!

Both Kim and I worked with girls who were competing so we were there for moral support. The teens were fabulous and very talented. My dad met us out in Dade City so I went home to Orlando with him while Kim stayed for Saturday night finals. I believe we got home around 1:30am. I barely closed my eyes and next thing I knew, I was back in the car for a 4 hour trip to St Mark’s to begin my Forgotten Lighthouse Challenge!!!

I could go on and on about the various lighthouses, but I realize that 6 lighthouses and 1 festival later this blog would be massive. So I am going to post a few pictures with comments instead:)

Saturday April 24th: Florida Lighthouse Day
St Mark’s Lighthouse

First Lighthouse of the weekend!
Posing on the beach with titleholders Morgan Mount Miss Northwest Florida, Natalie Martinez Miss Alachua Cty Teen USA and Cassi McFarland Miss Emerald Coast Teen USA.

20th Anniversary of the River Front Festival in Carrabelle
Natalie and I were posing with an iguana which I need to mention that he is a heavy little guy. Holy cow, that was my workout for the day. Anyway, Mr iguana was posing nicely until his owner said 'you should kiss him'. As soon as Mr iguana heard the word 'kiss', he turned really fast and tried to lick us! He was cute :)

Crooked River Lighthouse
2nd Lighthouse of the weekend!
Signing autographs for those in line :)

St George Lighthouse
Inside of the 3d Lighthouse of the day!
My dad, Cassi's mom and Cassi at the top of the St George Lighthouse. You can see behind me little beach homes in the background. That is where I stayed for the evening. They were the most adorable skinny houses with the most gorgeous views!

Low Country Boil (St George Lighthouse Fundraiser)
BIG JUMBO Shrimp....yum!
The two bookends are Terry and Jim Kemp. They were so wonderful to set up this appearance for me and to find a home for me to stay. Thank you Terry and Jim..you two are awesome :)

Sunday April 25th
Cape San Blas
Interviewed by Panhandle Outdoors at the Cape San Blas Lighthouse
Titleholders at the base of our 4th lighthouse. Jami Lynn Daniels is the reigning Miss Emerald Coast USA. as well as the director of the Miss Northwest Florida Pageant. She brought her girls as well as her USA lil sis Cassi McFarland. Together they presented me a good luck gift with handmade cards. It was so sweet!

Port St Joe
Port St Joe was my favorite lighthouse because it was converted into a home. It is a private lighthouse for that very reason. Pictured above is the owner Danny. We are standing next to the stairs to the top of the lighthouse. That room is only 5'7" in height since that was the average height of a lighthouse keeper in the 1800's.

Signing the lighthouse keepers diary. Cassi and I each posted a diary blog about our visit and then signed it. Now we are apart of the Port St Joe Lighthouse History :)

Pensacola
Warm welcome by confederate soldiers during the Pensacola Lighthouse Visit.

Miss Pensacola USA 2011, Chelsea Cooper and myself. In the background is the Lighthouse Keepers home and the Pensacola Lighthouse.

Inside the lighthouse in the dark tunnel leading tothe Keeper's Room. The captain just finished telling us about the infamous Pensacola Lighthouse Ghost Stories! This lighthouse was featured on a special lightouse episode of Ghost Hunters.

Artist of the Pelican. He autographed a minature pelican for me :)

As you can see, it was quite the weekend! By 6pm CT, it was time to begin our journey back to Orlando. Around midnight ET, I noticed my dad nodding off at the wheel so I spent the remaining 3 ½ hours driving us home. Not sure how, but I was wide awake! Must have been all the cat naps betweens lighthouses :) The drive home was rather therapeutic. 1100 miles later, we just looked at one another and reflected on how much fun we had in the last 72 hours. It was an awesome weekend!

Now, it is time to pack for Miss USA. This entire week will be filled with fittings, appointments, workouts, and hopefully sleep….but I am not going to count on it :) Next time I talk I will probably be on the plane. Wish me luck and I will see YOU in VEGAS!!!!!!

Until Next Time!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Happy Ending for the Week!

2010-04-17T06:04:00.000-07:00

Good Morning Florida!

It is 9am on Saturday morning and I just finished breakfast....eggs and oatmeal :) It was nice to wake up sans alarm clock although I am surprised I woke up so early. Last night was awesome! I attended my South Florida Send Off Party in Sunny Isles, Fl. My Tel Air Family with the assistance of Barbara Ewald and Lulu Orange planned my party and approximately 100 people mingled at Kitchen 305 inside the Newport Beachside Resort. There are a ton of pics on the Miss Florida USA Flicker site http://www.flickr.com/photos/missfloridausa/ Check it out and feel free to download any of the pics for free.

I was a little emotional last night and had a brain freeze when it was time to THANK my wonderful sponsors, so I figured I would give some shout outs via my Blog :)

Let's start with last nights sponsors!

Thank you to...
Newport Beachside Resort's Kitchen 305
for hosting my send-off party and being
incredibly gracious

Barbara Ewald and Lulu Orange for assisting in putting together my South Florida Send Off

Cake Kingdom (Tequesta Fl) for baking the yummiest and most elegant cake

La Casa Hermosa for dressing me in a fabulous white lace Sherri Hill cocktail dress

I have to go workout with Arnold now! But the rest of the thank yous are on the way!

More Thank Yous to come!

Nice message from a scholarship winner's parent :)

2010-04-12T15:34:00.000-07:00

Dear Megan,

Thank you so much for taking the time to encourage the young women of Florida. My daughter, Erica, used the prize money to buy a walking robot kit. Oh, and a video game!

Here is the picture I took of the two of you at the Florida State Science and Engineering Fair. Her project that won the Harris Corp. prize in Manatee County was; Affect of Launch Rod Length on the Flight of a Model Rocket.

Picture; Erica Zampello, Megan Clementi

Mike Zampello

This is exactly why I started this scholarship! So that young girls can be inspired to pursue their passion for the science and use their scholarship money in that manner. I congratulate Erica for her winning the scholarship and congratulate her parents for assisting her in choosing how to spend her winnings wisely :)

This message put a HUGE smile on my face when I read it :)

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Florida Science and Engineering State Fair in Orlando

2010-04-11T19:16:00.000-07:00

April 7th-9th was the big finale to my Future Female Scientist Award as it was the Florida Science and Engineering Science State Fair in Orlando Fl. Thursday morning I traveled to the Orange County Convention Center to meet the 874 students competing on the state level. These kids are the brightest science students in the state. If you had seen the projects that these students produced you would have been blown away! I was able to meet and greet with many of the students as well as the judges. Once registration ended, I was off to a full day of Miss USA preparation.

I returned Friday evening for the Awards Ceremony. Unfortunately, I missed the Special Awards Presentation as I was emceeing the Orlando Magic vs New York Knicks game. I left the game after the 4th Quarter 1st Time Out which was my last spot. I made the last 20 minutes of the Awards just in time to speak to all the students, teachers, and parents and to shake hands with each of the First Place Award recipients. When all was said and done, there was a line of students for photo ops. It was a pleasure to stay the extra 20 minutes for these amazing kids. I was delighted that several of my Future Female Science Award recipients went out of there away to introduce themselves to me. I am looking forward to their parents sending me the pictures from that night.

Congratulations to all the Florida Science and Engineering State Competitors

and

Best of Luck to those who are competing at Internationals in Arizona this May!!!!

I wish you all the Best!

Saturday morning was a big day for my personal trainer Arnold Kolozsvari! He had the Grand Opening of his new Ormond Beach gym REVIVE Fitness and Lifestyle Management! http://ormondbeachbootcamps.com/ From 10am-2pm locals attended the opening participating in various classes and enjoying food, massages, and a local band. Arnold declared it 'Cheat Day' making sure that everyone had cake and champagne. Arnold worked really hard to open this gym...his dream has come true! YAY for Arnold...Love you Csaba!

Today was awesome! I slept in until 10:30am! Yep, that's right! It felt amazing to not wake up to a blaring alarm clock. I took my time, laid out for an hour, and then headed to Windermere for a send off party. Five teens celebrated there soon departure for the 2010 Miss Florida's Outstanding Teen Pageant. The young lady to my left is Rachel Strever. She has been a part of my life since I began pageants. She was my Sunshine Princess when I was Miss South Florida Fair 2005. Now she is all grown up and will be competing at state on April 23d and 24th. All these young women are as sweet as can be. They are beautiful, talented and most importantly intelligent! I was listening to there conversation as they candidly spoke about how excited they were. They were not focused on winning, but on having fun and doing there personal best....they have a great attitude and will be great at state. I wish the all the luck and I hope they have memories to last a lifetime :)

Tomorrow is a random day to myself. Have not seen one of those in a while...lol. I plan to workout with Arnold, lay out if the day is as beautiful as it has been, work on the reformer with Darla at Fitness Partners and work with Rachel Strever on her talent. All in all it should be a relaxing day. Do not worry though, Tuesday I am back to be out of the house at 8am and returning at 10pm :) Never a dull moment!

Love Always,

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Thank you Central Florida!

2010-04-09T09:48:00.000-07:00

I cannot explain how appreciative I am to all my Central Florida Family, Friends and the Community! My Central Florida Send Off Party was on Friday night April 2nd and it was a complete success. There were over 200 people in attendance and at least 20 of them were titleholders. I am proud to say that the food was yummy, the auction was awesome and we were able to raise $1500 for my causes. Yay! Also, thank you to Toby Unwin, Console of Austria and Roman Inochovsky, Console of the Czech Republic for attending my send-off as well as participating in our Mr. USA Pageant :)

I want to give a big shout out to a very close friend of mine, Wayne Sysock. He has been the Unofficial photographer for the Magic Dancers ever since I remember making the team in 2004. He graciously accepted my plea for him to be the photographer at my send off party. The pictures came out awesome and they are available for you to view and even copy at no cost. Instructions are as follows.

Please go to http://sysock.com/

Then to: events

And then to: Miss Florida USA – Send off party

If you want to check out his work feel free. He has taken great shots in the past :)

Thank you to everyone for making April 2nd so special

Love Always,

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Week at a glance

2010-04-01T15:27:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning March 27th in Orlando at the 9th Annual Teal Magnolia Luncheon with Melissa Witek, Miss Florida USA 2005.

This luncheon began in 2001 with 99 attendees and grew to over 650 attendees raising over $124, 000 in the matter of 4 hours in 2009. This years theme was "Celebrating the music of Broadway". I had no inkling that my friend Kendal Jolly was going to be entertaining the crowd. He has the most amazing voice. That was definitely one of the highlights of my afternoon. The big award of the evening went to Shelley Morgan who just happens to be an Orlando Magic Season Ticket Holder. Listening to her bio...I was floored. She cannot possibly have any time for herself as she is completely dedicated to her community. Her bio was quite impressive and I instantly had a huge amount of respect for how selfless and humble she is. Congratulations Shelley!

After the luncheon, I made the drive to Wellington for the All That Glitter Fashion Show for La Casa Hermosa

This was my first year participating in the All That Glitter Fashion Show. The event took place at the home of Robin Fleming, the owner of La Casa Hermosa. She built a 'T' shaped runway over the pool and had little lights sporadically in the pool to really make the runway pop. I along with 15-20 titleholders stomped it out to show-off Robin's latest fashions. I had the opportunity to wear two super cute cocktails by Scala; including the dress shown above.

Check out the video to see all the hot cocktails and gowns !

The Next Morning it was back to Central Florida for the WWII Reenactment at the Scottish Rite in Winter Park.

That was really cool. Two separate WWII Reenactment clubs came together to bring to life a battle from the 1940's. Spectators watched as Germany invaded France and eventually Americans took them down. Guns were firing, grenades were flying, and people were dying. It was surreal to think that this is what reality is for so many of our men and women serving our country.

When the reenactment ended, spectators were able to see up close and personal the guns and armored cars used for the show. The picture above is of myself inside the Armored Car which by the way looks like a tank, but tanks have tracks and armored cars have 4 tires :)

It was back to my part time job Sunday night....Emceeing the Orlando Magic Game. Check out the post below to watch the 3D, Dancing Dancer Dads !

Usually, Monday's are my off days as there is not a whole lot happening on the first day of the week, but March 29th was an exception. I woke up bright and early to visit the Monsters in Morning on Real Rock 104.1 for a 7:15AM interview and then Johnny and Jade on XL 106.7 for a 9:35AM interview to feature my Give Kids The World Charity Nights.

Sonny's BBQ, Oviedo location, and I hosted Charity Night benefiting Give Kids The World in which 10% of the evenings proceeds from 5pm-9pm went to my charity. Between this evening and last Tuesday March 23 $1000 was donated from Sonny's to Give Kids The World!

Tuesday March 30th, I was able to highlight the new and improved Pollo Tropical in Sanford on K92 FM Morning Show. This location was not new....but it is improved. It has been completely revamped with new decor, food items and drink items. They used the Grand Opening week to host the Charity Challenge in which 3 charities would benefit by receiving 20% of the proceeds between 4pm-9pm on different days of the week. Tuesday night benefited Give Kids The World so of course I was there to sign autographs and thank people for coming out. I was shocked at how many people said they heard me on the radio. It was really neat to think they heard my story and made the effort to come out for my cause! At this point, I am still waiting to hear what the total came to. Keep your fingers crossed as the charity that raised themost money will receive an addiotnal $1000 from Pollo Tropical :)

I spent all of Wednesday and Thursday preparing for my Central Florida Send Off Party......Tune in to see how it went :)

Love Always,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Sunday March 28th

2010-03-31T06:53:00.000-07:00

After a very fun Saturday night, it was back to Orlando for a WWII reenactment in Winter Park Fl.....

Later that evening, the Amway Arena hosted the Orlando Magic vs Minnesota Timberwolves. It was awesome game that ended with another 'W' for the Magic...YAY! The highlight of the night was definitely watching the 3D Dancing Dancer Dads get their Stank Leg 'ON'...lol Take a look at this! My dad is the second to last person on the right :)

ENJOY!

March 26th Update!

2010-03-30T20:26:00.000-07:00

Very cute article with some fun pictures written by Scott Maxwell (one of the celebrity waiters)
http://blogs.orlandosentinel.com/news_local_namesblog/2010/03/for-charity-legs-shaved-fairy-wings-donned-face-pied.html#more-1941

Mix 105.1 Interview

2010-03-30T19:40:00.000-07:00

March 26th.....Big Day!

2010-03-26T06:44:00.000-07:00

Well, it is has been quite some time since I have sat down and recapped on my life as Miss Florida USA 2010. I have been preoccupied with making appearance, preparing for Miss USA and planning my Central Florida Send Off Party that I did not make the time to inform the public on what is going happening in my life. It would be quite tedious to back track but I will try to start fresh from here on out. It is difficult to know how productive a titleholder is if she does not update you consistently. I know many of times if you do not hear the news one assumes that nothing is being done. Well, in 8 months I have completed over 150 appearances and I am not done!

Today I feel great! I had an awesome morning as I had the opportunity to inspire our up and coming generation. This morning began the state wide competition for Math Counts. 300 students gathered at the Hilton Hotel in Altamonte Springs to compete in group and individual competitions in which they are challenged to solve different types of problems. These kids are the brightest kids in our state and they are excited about the world of math. speaking to them was so much fun because they understood everything I was preaching. Math is fun and it is 'cool'......I am amazed at their level of intelligence!

I am 'on break' for another 30 minutes as I have a completely different type of appearance from 11-1:30. I am not sure if I shared with you the Celebrity Dinner I emceed back on October 30th of 2009. The idea of the event was to have celebrity waiters wait on tables in which the guests 'tipped' the waiter to participate in various activities. It could be as innocent as bringing utensils to the table or it could be to pie another celebrity in the face. Before you knew it Joey Fatone was singing, Commissioner Fernandez and

Commissioner Segal were doing the Tango, Bo Outlaw (Orlando Magic) was dancing the Stanky Leg, and as a birthday present someone 'tipped' me to pie Bo in the face :).

The whole event was hysterical and today B.A.S..E. Camp as at it again. This time it is a luncheon at Flemings in Winter Park and there is a new group of celebrities. I am very much looking forward to it...hopefully no one will 'tip' me to do anything crazy :)

As soon as that event ends it is back to the Hilton for the Math Counts Awards Ceremony. Once pictures are done it is off to the Orlando Magic Basketball Game. I will be emceeing as the Orlando Magic take on the Minnesota Timberwolves. All 300 of the students and volunteers from today's competition will be in attendance. I hope that this will be a great day for them to remember :)

Please Vote for Kaitlyn Chana

2010-03-17T05:12:00.000-07:00

Aeropostale is celebrating everyday 'real teenagers' who are contributing to society by rewarding the recipient with a $5,000 scholarship. As a nominee, Kaitlyn needs your support in voting, so please follow the link below and become 'mouse friendly' voters. Each day you can submit a VOTE to help her become a candidate in the running.
http://www.realteens2010.com/contest-entry/show/4643/

Kaitlyn is one of the most active people I know in her community. She loves all people and enjoys being a positive role model. If you have a moment support her so she can continue to make a difference :)

Thanks!
Megan

Miss USA dates, Send-off Info and More!

2010-03-10T15:16:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone! Can you believe we are almost half way through March! I am shocked at how quickly time has gotten away from me. I am 7 1/2 weeks away from departing for Vegas and 9 1/2 weeks away from knowing who our next Miss USA will be! These are exciting times and there is a lot going on. Besides preparing for Miss USA and attending various appearances, I would like to invite you all to some of my events that I am involved with :) The one thing everyone can do to support me is vote ! :) That information will be in the Miss USA portion of this email near the bottom!

To warn you this is long, so skim if needed :)

Starting with this weekend, my good friend Chris has put together a Corn Husker Bean Bag Tournament. So if you have a mean bean bag toss than this is the event for you! It is this Saturday March 13th from 12pm-5pm in Winter Park inside of the Wing House Plaza Parking Lot located at 227 South Semoran Blvd., Winter Park, FL 32792. It is $5 a person to compete and it is a double elimination challenge. I will be there signing autographs and taking pictures as well as assisting with the tournament. A portion of the proceeds will go toward my quest to become Miss USA :) There will also be a car wash in which those proceeds go directly to the Vietnam Brotherhood (which will then go to either the Central Florida Children's Home or the Veterans Nursing Home). If you are available, come on out and bring the family! There will be food, drinks, and a ton of fun!

Saturday March 20th Climb for the Cure in St. Augustine Fl. As many of you know, I am climbing all 30 lighthouse in Fl to raise awareness and funds for Susan G Komen. Last weekend, I along with 10 titleholders completed my 3d climb and collected over $550 at Ponce Inlet in Daytona Beach. On March 20th, I am traveling up to St Augustine for their 18th Annual Lighthouse Festival
http://www.staugustinelighthouse.com/events/details.php?month=3&year=2010&day=20&eid=718
ST. AUGUSTINE, FL - On Saturday, March 20, join thousands at the St. Augustine Lighthouse & Museum’s 18th Annual Lighthouse Festival for a celebration of community and maritime history. Admission to the tower, museum and grounds is free from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. The maritime museum will be filled with children’s games and maritime crafts, pony rides, live entertainment, and refreshments. Please remember that for their safety, children need to be 44” tall in order to climb the tower, and an adult must accompany children under 12. As is part of the annual tradition, the Junior Service League of St. Augustine’s 5K Run/Walk will be held during Festival. The 5K Run begins at 4:30 p.m. and the Fun Run will begin shortly after. Both races will start and finish in front of the lawn of the Keepers’ house. The Lighthouse & Museum’s maritime festival will feature hands-on activities for children including the opportunity to buy, build and sail their own model boat. Radio Disney AM 600 and the Disney Fun Squad Cast, returns for the fifth consecutive year, and will broadcast live from 11 am – 1 pm; and local entertainers will perform throughout the day.

Last year over 4000 people were in attendance. If you can make it, come on by and help me climb for the cure. To date I have raised over $1700 and climbed three lighthouses. My goal is to reach $10,000 by the 30th lighthouse! Visit my website at
http://www.info-komen.org/site/TR/PassionatelyPink/PassionatelyPink?px=6685301&pg=personal&fr_id=1130 to make a donation or to see where and when my next climb will be :) I will try to update it as often as possible!

The St Augustine Lighthouse address is below

81 Lighthouse AvenueSt Augustine, FL 32080-4650(904) 829-0745

I am very excited about my new partnership with Sonny's BBQ. We have come together for a common cause, Give Kids The World. Read below from their press release.

Sonny’s Franchise Company, the parent company of Sonny’s Real Pit Bar-B-Q (Sonny’s), is excited to announce charity nights to benefit Give Kids The World (GKTW), featuring Miss Florida USA 2010, Megan Clementi.

Megan Clementi and Sonny’s will host two charity nights, whereby a portion of the sales, between 5pm and 9pm will be donated to Give Kids the World. Dates and locations are as follows:
Tuesday, March 23rd Sonny’s at 310 S. Alafaya Trail, Orlando, FL 32825 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm
Monday, March 29th Sonny’s at 7460 Dover Garden Lane, Oviedo, FL 32765 from 5:00pm to 9:00pm

All sales whether it is dining in or to-go count toward Give Kids The World. Between these two nights I hope we can do a lot of good for GKTW. As many of you know I have been volunteering their since 1997 first with Keep Flippin and then on my own starting in 2004. Give Kids holds a special place in my heart.

For anyone who loves Sweet Tomatoes Restaurants, they are selling $2 bags of cookies the entire month of March in which 100% of the sale goes to GKTW. So if you prefer cookies to BBQ then that is another option for you.

My Central Florida Send-Off Party is April 2 from 7pm-11:30pm at the Bahia Shrine in Orlando Fl. We are going all out to make this a great event! With Miss USA just around the corner, we have decided to bring Miss USA to you! Therefore you will send me off to Vegas by assisting me with my on-stage question practice by filling out a question when you come through the door, see my evening wear (which very few have seen) and possibly witness the first Mr USA pageant...lol If you are not into that kind of stuff then there will be gambling tables for you to play...ie hint hint for all the boyfriends :) This is intended to be a fundraiser so there is a $10 cover at the door. The $10 entitles you to food (Sweet Tomatoes, plus other restaurants TBD), some 'Vegas money' to gamble, and a whole lot of fun. There will be a silent auction area where you will find Magic Memoriabilia, gift certificates to various restaurants, Limo services, jewelry, and much more. There is more information to come but you can count on this much for sure :) This is a family event so feel free to bring any kids. I plan to have some areas where titleholders will sit with kids while they color or play dress up so the parents can gamble and have fun :) Cash Bar Available

The Bahia Shrine is really easy to find. Exit Maitland Blvd exit 90 or 90B from I-4. Merge right onto Maitland Blvd. Left at Keller Rd, Rt on Pembrooke. It will be on the left hand side
2300 Pembrook DriveOrlando, FL 32810-2469(407) 660-8811
Please contact myself or Kim Antos at kim@exquisitecoaching.com for more information.

My South Florida Send-Off Party will be Friday April 16th, the rest TBA. Contact Mary Lou or Grant Jr at telair@aol.com for more information.

One more Lighthouse travel before Miss USA. The first ever Florida Lighthouse Challenge is coming to North Florida April 24th and 25th. This is very common up North, but the first time Florida is taking a crack at it. The state of Florida is challenging the community to climb the 4 lighthouses in the middle of the panhandle in a two day period. After each climb, you will receive a momento as a congratulations before traveling to the next lighthouse. I will be among the many who participate. Here is my schedule

Sat April 24th- St Marks from 11:30am-1pm, Crooked River from 2:15pm-3:45pm, St George from 4:30pm-5pm and then I am attending the Country Boil from 5:30pm-8pm
Sunday April 25th-Cape San Blas 10am-11am, Pensacola 3-4pm

I will be climbing, signing autographs, taking pictures, and collecting donations for Susan G Komen. I do not make it to the Panhandle often, so this should be pretty neat.

And the moment we are all waiting for......................................
Miss USA !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Headshots are up and the vote has started. Please visit http://www.missuniverse.com/missusa/members/contestants and vote for Florida! You will have to Log in to vote. It is very simple and you will not get any emails from MUO as long as you uncheck the little boxes. You can vote once a day per email address. So if you have more than one, which most of us do, use all the email addresses you can :)

TELECAST. The 2010 MISS USA Pageant will be held live at 4:00pm local time (7:00pm ET) at Planet Hollywood’s Theater of the Performing Arts on Sunday, May 16, 2010.

ARRIVAL/DEPARTURE. The arrival date for all contestants competing in the 2010 MISS USA Pageant is Monday, May 3, 2010. The departure day is Monday, May 17, 2010. When making flight arrangements, please book flights to and departing from McCarran International Airport (LAS) in Las Vegas, Nevada.

PRESENTATION SHOW. The Presentation Show will be held at 8:00pm on Wednesday, May 12 at Planet Hollywood’s Theater of the Performing Arts.

HOST HOTEL. We are pleased to confirm the 2010 MISS USA Pageant Contestant Host Hotel and special discounts for you and your contestants’ friends and families attending the 2010 MISS USA Pageant in Las Vegas:

Planet Hollywood Resort & Casino
3667 Las Vegas Boulevard South
Las Vegas, NV 89109

The special friends and family rates are as follows:

$89.00 Sunday through Thursday

$149.00 Friday and Saturday

Currently you may make reservations on line by utilizing the link below or by going to http://www.missusa.com/.

https://resweb.passkey.com/Resweb.do?mode=welcome_ei_new&eventID=2496329

Or by calling directly 1-877-344-9474

The Group reference code for booking reservations is AMISUSA.

CAR RENTAL DISCOUNT. We are also pleased to announce that Enterprise Rent-a-Car is offering special discounted rates for Friends & Family attending the 2010 MISS USA Pageant. See the attached information for further details.

Well that is a lot of info.......I promise I am done! This is the most exciting time of my life and I am so glad all of you are able to experience it with me :) Talk soon!

Ponce Inlet Climb For The Cure

2010-03-07T19:46:00.001-08:00

Sweet Tomatoes partners with Give Kids The World!

2010-03-03T07:45:00.000-08:00

Join Sweet Tomatoes all month long to give back to our Central Florida community. They are asking guests to eat their cookies and milk!

Guests can purchase Sweet Tomatoes' famous chocolate chip cookies for $2. For each cookie bag sold, Sweet Tomatoes in the Orlando area will donate 100% of the proceeds to Give Kids the World, an organization that exists only to fulfill the wishes of children with life-threatening illnesses and their families from around the world to experience a memorable, joyful, cost-free visit to the Central Florida attractions, and to enjoy the magic of Give Kids the World Village.

This March, eat your cookies and milk, and support a great cause!
For more information about Give Kids the World, visit

http://newman.reddoor.biz/ct/13159735:3441392997:m:1:282396514:E3729083DDE07DE7A73748CAB8DA0EF8.
Hope to see you soon!

I have been working with Give Kids The World since 1997 and I can truly say it is a magical place. Children facing a life-threatening disease can be a kid for a week and participate in all the fun Central Florida has to offer. Please take the time to pick up an extra bag of cookies to help make an ill child's life a little bit brighter!

Love,

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Miss Florida USA climbs Cedar Keys Lighthouse, printed Feb 27th, 2010

2010-02-28T19:26:00.000-08:00

By Kellie Parkin

To help spread the word about Visit Our Lights, the Florida Lighthouse Association specialty license plate, FLA has joined forces with Megan Clementi, Miss Florida USA 2010.

Beginning this year, Megan has combined her love of lighthouses with her desire to bring awareness to another important issue: breast cancer.

“One in every eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer,” Megan said. “When I looked around me at all the women in my life, I knew that I needed to do something.”

So Megan created the Climb for the Cure initiative. “I’d heard of people who ‘Race for the Cure,’ so I decided that I would climb for it,” she said. Megan chose the foundation Susan G Komen for the Cure as her charity and will climb all 30 lighthouses in Florida as a way to draw attention to the cause.

“My hopes are that I am able to raise awareness and funds for Susan G Komen and encourage locals to learn about the maritime heritage of their lighthouse,” said Megan, who graduated last year with her Bachelors of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Central Florida.

According to its Web site www.komen.org, Susan G Komen for the Cure has invested more than $1.3 billion in cancer research and awareness since its inception in 1982.

On Friday afternoon, Megan and her dad Mike met up with FLA president Stan Farnham, Stan’s wife Mary, and FLA members David and Alice D’Amicol for a tour of the island and a climb of the Cedar Keys Lighthouse.

David and Alice were in charge of organizing FLA’s events in the Cedar Keys and arranging for Miss Florida’s visit. “This is my favorite lighthouse,” Alice said. “David and I have been giving the tours of the lighthouse and cemeteries for the last 10 years during the Seafood Festival weekend. We enjoy sharing the lighthouse and grounds and educating many enthused visitors each year.” Approximately 300-450 people visit Seahorse Key during the festival weekend, she said.

Alice noted that Visit Our Lights is the only license plate designated for preservation. “We feel the visit by Miss Florida USA will help us get the information out about the tag so more people will be aware of it and purchase it,” she said. “Cedar Key lighthouse is in grave danger structurally and we want to be able to get a grant from the FLA to keep the lighthouse from falling into further disrepair.”

For more information about the Florida Lighthouse Association or its specialty license plate tag, visit www.floridalighthouses.org.
For more information about Megan Clementi’s Climb for the Cure, visit www.info-komen.org/goto/climb_for_ the_cure.

To see the article visit http://www.cedarkeybeacon.com/cgi-bin/c2.cgi?124+article+News+20100227084452124124002

Pro Am Tennis Tourne in Delray Beach

2010-02-22T20:00:00.000-08:00

Sat Feb 20th: EYH, UCF Baseball Game, Seminole Cty Science Fair Award Banquet

2010-02-21T19:51:00.000-08:00

Cedar Key

2010-02-19T19:39:00.000-08:00

HAPPY SUPER BOWL SUNDAY!!!

2010-02-07T13:48:00.001-08:00

GO COLTS! GO SAINTS!

2010-02-07T08:50:00.000-08:00

2010-02-07T08:43:00.000-08:00

2010-02-07T08:34:00.000-08:00

Visiting Timber Trace , Super Clematis

2010-02-07T08:25:00.000-08:00

2010-02-03T14:01:00.000-08:00

How early is too early!?

2010-02-03T01:57:00.000-08:00

Good Morning World!

I am a tired girl...lol It is 4:58AM and I am already about to board my plane to South Carolina. My flight leaves at 5:30AM so I needed to be here by 4:45AM. Being the anal person I am, I had to be super early. I did not realize how early I was until I followed the signs to my departure gate and found a real 'gate'! It is so early that the gate to the security area is still locked! I am guessing that that was a good sign that I am going to make my flight :)

I am sitting in the boarding area anxiously waiting for my name to pop up on the Cleared List. I have a good friend who works for Delta and was able to score a single Buddy Pass. The price is right, but the down fall is there is no guarantee that your name will go from Stand-By to Cleared. Lucky for me, I ate up some time by losing my cell phone. Yep, that is right. It is never to early to misplace your belongings. I am sure when my dad reads this I will get a phone call reminding me how irresponsible I can be. In my defense......

7:40AM
Sorry about that! I ended abruptly as I got called to board the plane. Yay! One step closer to SC! Continuing on….In my defense, I had my phone out to text my parents and let them know I was leaving soon (like the good daughter I am). I had to place it in my jacket which was placed in the bin to run through security. I have never taken a laptop on a plane before so I did not realize the computer had to be separate from shoes, outerwear and my phone. My tray was searched thoroughly while simultaneously, another security member was checking my carry-on due to my jewelry. I think this is when I lost my phone. I realized I left my phone when I reached my gate. I asked the guy next to me if I could borrow his phone. He said “yea, but by the way are you looking for yours?” He stated that the security guard found a blackberry. He watched my stuff as I ran back to the Security Check Point. And yes I did run in my 5 inch heels…lol When I got there I asked around and nobody knew what I was talking about. So now I am thinking, GREAT! I left all my stuff with strangers and I still have no phone. I called my phone using a security guard’s cell…NO ANSWER! So annoying! Then, like a knight in shining uniform, the security guard that had searched my belongings came running over from my gate. He had found my phone and chased after me when he realized I had forgotten it….he was so nice. Well, that was a long story for such a non-long-story-worthy story…lol Yea, makes no sense, I know. That is what happens when you sleep for 3 hrs! Anyway, all is good and I am alive…lol

I basically passed out on the plane. I had two seats to myself and took full advantage of it :) I was able to sleep off and on for about 90 minutes. Not sure if I will get any sleep on this next flight as it is only an hour in length. Once again, I am patiently awaiting for CLEM, M to pop up on the Cleared List.
I guess as long as I have time, I can tell you about last night. Nice transition, huh?

Last night was the Super Extravagant Tailgate Party hosted by the Super Bowl Committee in which I was invited by Mike Zimmer, President of the Super Bowl Committee.

Let me tell you….that was quite the event. It was a massive media party held on Miami Beach literally ON the beach in the sand. Anything remotely related to tailgate food, drink, or activities was present at this event. There were ribs, pulled pork, hot dogs, hamburgers, fajitas, tacos, subs, sandwiches, desserts of all sorts, a candy bar, soda, water, games, Miami Dolphin cheerleaders, a band and much much more. Mike said that his goal was to have enough food stations that there would never be more than two people waiting in line for food or drink. Mission Accomplished!

I spoke to a ton of people and the verdict was unanimous....best Super Bowl Party in several years. Mike was creative having the party on the beach and made the whole event so much fun. One game that stands out in my mind was the Cookie Eating Contest! I know, I know. It is NOT on my Miss USA health plan, but sometimes you have to stray for the good of the party :)

I had just finished dinner when I was approached by 2 of Dave's friends. One had just competed and won the contest; eating 4 cookies in 1 minute. Immediately, I thought that that was lame. I could devour 4 cookies in 30 seconds if I had the chance!! My boyfriend calls me the cookie monster...he knows cookies are my favorite sweet. Knowing it was 1 minute of my time and I could run an extra couple miles to burn it off, I knew I could walk away with the Cookie Eating Champ Title. I went for it! The only girl of the entire evening was Miss Florida USA 2010...lol

Unfortunately, plans did not go as I expected. The time changed from 1 minute to 5 minutes and I could not back down. There was an audience rooting for me to beat the guys. I tried, I swear I tried! It was not as simple as I thought. The cookies were huge and extremely chewy. So chewy that my jaw is still sore TODAY!!!!!! I end up only eating 4 in the 5 minutes. I still got cheers, but I felt totally lame :(

The evening ended with a beautiful surprise display of fireworks. It really was a fantastic laid-back feel-good type of event.

Check back soon to hear the update of my SC adventure :)

Talk soon!

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Front Page, Aventura News Feb 3d-9th

2010-02-01T07:36:00.000-08:00

Serving Aventura, Bal Harbour, Bay Harbor, Golden Beach, Hallandale Beach, Hollywood, Sunny Isles Beach, Surfside www.communitynewspapers.com February 3 - 9, 2010
BY BARI AUERBACH

The Aventura Marketing Council kicked off its 2010 season of superlative business building with a super Super Bowl / Pro Bowl-themed breakfast meeting hosted by JGB Bank featuring Frank Supovitz, the National Football League's senior vice president of special events. Instrumental in staging the Super Bowl,Pro Bowl NFL draft and international games,Supovitz was inducted into the Event Industry Hall of Fame and has earned literary acclaim for writing The Sports Event Management and Marketing Playbook. AMC Chair Cliff Schulman of Greenberg Traurig helped welcome hundreds of business and community leaders to The Fairmont Turnberry Isle Resort & Club, where donations were being collected for the Haitian earthquake victims. Everyone joined in getting psyched up for Super Bowl / Pro Bowl excitement along with all-star guests including Host Committee Chair Rodney Barreto, President Mike Zimmer and Sun Life Stadium President M. Bruce Schulze and Miami Dolphins President & CEO Mike Dee; and Nicki Grossman, president of the Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

This year marked the tenth time South Florida hosted the Super Bowl; the first time
ever that the Super Bowl and Pro Bowl were played in the same city; and one of the most successful efforts of the Host Committee to recruit thousands of volunteers.
During the event, guests had the opportunity to meet JGB Bank President and CEO Robert Brookes, Vice President and Aventura Branch Manager Leslie Stein as well as expert financial associates dedicated to providing high-tech banking and personalized service - the old fashioned way. "We've served the South Florida community since 1957 and Aventura since 1999," Brookes said. "JGB is among the highest-rated banks in the country for safety and soundness consistently achieving high ratings from independent bank rating services. In these financially challenging times, it's good to know JGB is poised for significant, conservativelymanaged growth and ready to serve the needs of corporate and personal clients." He also announced the opening of their newest branch in Miami Beach in February.

JGB Bank hosts Frank Supovitz, NFL Special Events 'First and Tenth - Pro Bowl and Super Bowl Together in South Florida' Photography by Andrew Goldstein

Standing (L-R) Aventura Marketing Council Chairman Cliff Schulman, Greenberg Traurig; Mike Dee, Miami Dolphins; Miss Florida USA 2010 Megan
Clementi; Miss Florida USA 2008 Jessica Rafalowski; Mike Zimmer, South Florida Pro Bowl / Super Bowl Host Committee; Nicki Grossman, Greater Fort
Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau; Rodney Barreto, South Florida Pro Bowl / Super Bowl Host Committee; Bruce Schulze, Sun Life Stadium
Seated (L-R) JGB Bank's VP / Aventura Branch Manager Leslie Stein; President & CEO Robert L. Brookes; Supovitz; EVP / Chief Financial Officer
Carlos Bell; EVP / Chief Lending Officer Abel Iglesias

“The Super Bowl brings in $500-$600 million of economic impact. We expect to see 100,000 people coming into the market who would not normally be here just to be at the Super Bowl, Pro Bowl or one of the many celebrations.” Frank Supovitz

PROBOWL 2010

2010-02-01T06:32:00.000-08:00

2010-02-01T06:29:00.000-08:00

Shriners East West College Game

2010-01-25T20:14:00.001-08:00

Front Page News!

2010-01-22T08:59:00.000-08:00

http://www.floridassef.net/

January 18th-20th

2010-01-22T07:37:00.002-08:00

Tim Ackert, Project Director of Orlando Venues Project Office, and Michael Davis, Florida Engineering Society Central Florida Chapter President.

Can you believe it??!!!! I actually stayed in the same area for more than 2 days! WOOHOO! Now, I am different than most. I am so used to driving all over the place so being within 75 minutes of my apartment means I am near home. I know, weird…right???? Even before I won Miss Florida USA, I was the same way. The Orlando Magic corporate offices were 30 minutes away from home and when you add traffic it took anywhere from 45 minutes to an hour to get to work! Anyway, I arrived back from Miami on Monday, but instead of going to Orlando I decided to drive to Ormond Beach and stay at Kim Antos’ home. We spent the night catching up and continuing my preparations for Miss USA. The next day was the same story except I added in a workout with my trainer, Arnold. I love the both of them, they are truly a team. They are not preparing me for Miss USA , they are preparing me for life!

Wednesday was a jam packed day! Of all the days to leave my cell phone at home this was probably not the best day for it to happen. I felt like I was floating from one thing to the next with no concept of time. I just hoped that all my events ended on time as not to make me late to the next. It worked out, but I do not plan on doing that again any time soon.

I started my day at the Marriott in Downtown Orlando. Michael Davis, President of the Florida Engineering Society's Central Florida Chapter, had asked me to speak at their monthly chapter meeting. Typically, the meetings are closed to members only, but they decided to open it up to professional engineers in the effort to raise funds for five $1000 high school scholarships and one $1500 college scholarship. It was the perfect audience for me to speak to about my engineering scholarship, the Future Female Scientist Award. I met some great contacts who are thrilled to hear about my mission and want to see my scholarship succeed. It was invigorating to be amongst individuals who have the same desire and passion as me. I delivered my speech following Tim Ackert . He gave a detailed description of the new Orlando Events Center, the Amway Center. It is going to be state of the art…I am almost jealous that I am not dancing for the Magic! The Orlando community is going to LOVE the new arena, as well as ther Dr P. Phillips Orlando Performing Arts Center and the New Citrus Bowl!

From there I made a quick pit-stop at Regalia Magnificent Apparel in Thornton Park to drop off a gown and spend time with my favorite guys, David and Carry. David was on a trip, but Carry and I had about 30 minutes together. I always love catching up with him. They have dressed me for my state pageant all 5 of my years including the years when I was first runner up at Miss Florida, Prelim Evening Gown winner at Miss Florida and National Sweetheart, and this year when I won Miss Florida USA. We have developed a friendship that is unbreakable. I value their opinion and I trust them. Carry and David leave in a few days for the Miss America Pageant in Vegas so I will not be seeing them until mid-February. I miss my Regalia boys !

I rushed off to Baldwin Park to visit my favorite Veterans at the Orlando Vets Nursing Home. I first met them in December for BINGO and I promised to return in January. They are all so sweet and I enjoy spending an hour with them every month. It is not much, but with my schedule they are appreciative that I can at least do that. BINGO happens the third Wednesday of every month and they play for a full hour. Anyone who wins gets a dollar and this week the vets had a choice between bills or silver dollars. Many vets won multiple times and one guy was playing two boards and literally had BINGO on both boards at the exact same time! That may seem like a lame story, but it was very random and I was floored when it happened! What are the odds…I guess pretty good…lol

I said my goodbyes and it was to my last stop of the day, Magic vs Pacers home game. Scotty B was out of town so it was all me that night. If you have been following the Magic then you know they have been on a dry spell. We lost four or five games in a row…YIKES! I am happy to report that we finally won. I hope this means we are back in the game, but only time will tell. Gosh I am exhausted just reliving that day!

Well, I am going to put the computer down and finish watching Hope For Haiti. It is incredible to hear the stories of survival. I can only imagine what life must be like in Haiti right now. I want to cry every time I watch CNN and I do not even know anyone over there. I made a simple donation at Publix last week; I wish I could do more. If you can afford to make a donation financially, please consider to do so. If we all made a small donation then it would add up very quickly and do an immense amount of good. Visit HopeforHaitinow.org

Good Night!

La Casa Hermosa Photoshoot/South Florida Fair

2010-01-18T07:23:00.000-08:00

Not only is La Casa Hermosa the premier gown shop in South Florida, but they are also the Official Gown Sponsor of Miss Florida USA. Therefore, I was fortunate to receive an invite to participate in the LCH photo shoot featuring the dresses and accessories for their Spring Prom line. We met at Robin Fleming’s home in Wellington early Saturday morning and got started immediately. There were so many dresses and only 8 hours to squeeze everything in!!!!! Dresses were flying, photos were getting snapped and smiles were everywhere :)

Grant would not miss out on the opportunity to make a youtube video for the Miss Florida USA channel so you better believe he drove up from Miami to get in on the action…lol Anastasia Pierre, Miss Florida USA 2009, made a guest appearance as she had to leave before lunch for another photo shoot on the West Coast of Florida. Also present was our Miss Florida Teen USA Alyssa Rivera, Amanda Zitzman, Annilie Hastey, Sheri Riley, Kelly Saks, Jessica Wittenbrink, Lisette Garcia, Kelly Haffner, Christie Nowels, Alex Ming and Jules Meyer.

I am able to post some of our pics, but to see them all you will have to stay tuned for when the professional photos are revealed!

As soon as the shoot was over, I scooped up my boyfriend and we made our way to the South Florida Fair for the annual Miss South Florida Fair pageant. I am very close to those involved with the fair as Miss SFF 2005 was my first title in the Miss America System. Since then, I have my own “Fair Family” as I call them :) Dan, Lisa, Carrie, Pamela, Vicki, Rita, Henry, Maryanne and Chris! I look forward to seeing all of them every January!

I usually spend all day and night at the fair, but because of the shoot there was only time for one perfectly cooked, greasy corndog (which is probably a good thing…lol) before the pageant began. The Miss SFF titleholders have had many success stories in the past decade as myself and Shannon Ford have gone on to win the title of Miss Florida USA, and several of our past titleholders have placed in the Top 15 and Top 5 at Miss Florida USA and Top 10 and Top 5 at Miss Florida America. Along with the title comes a very generous $3000 college scholarship and a $1000 cash scholarship which draws heavy competition from the neighboring counties. This is why there is always a talent audition in November to narrow the girls down to 15-20 contestants. The year I competed, 60 young women auditioned and 20 of us competed.

This year was no different! I am proud to announce that Courtney McKenzie, a former Miss Florida USA local titleholder is the new Miss South Florida Fair 2010! She was so excited as this was her second year competing. It goes to show you that persistence pays off.

I had the opportunity to speak with Courtney on Sunday as she stopped by my autograph table in the EXPO Center on the fairgrounds. She took full advantage of her title arriving hours earlier to tour the fair. She held a rooster, milked a cow and is preparing herself to KISS A PIG! Kissing a pig is a Miss SFF tradition and all titleholders, though they will not admit, enjoy doing it:) I cannot wait to see that picture…lol Congratulations Courtney! Knock ‘em dead at state!

Home Sweet Home!

2010-01-13T16:21:00.000-08:00

Hey Everyone!

So, somehow I managed to not leave the house today. I have been glued to my laptop attempting to catch up on emails, facebook and of course MY BLOG!I have done pretty good for the month of January, but you may have noticed I have some gaps in the other months. Weeks with no blogs!!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHH! Well, it is not that I am sitting on the couch eating bon bons, it is because I am off traveling making appearances.

My Christmas present to myself was my new laptop, so I am hoping this means I will be able to be a better blogger for you :)

I just updated my Oct 12th Play Golf-Fight Cancer blog with a picture of myself and Chris Doering. He and I are exchanging autographs in the picture...lol I also posted that the event raised over $72,000....which is very exciting considering how bad the economy was in October and still is today. I also added my appearance with the Anti-Defamation League on December 8th.

I promise to keep up on blogs in 2010...that is my New Year's Resolution to YOU!

Love you all!
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

150th Anniversary of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse

2010-01-10T17:28:00.000-08:00

What a fantastic day for Jupiter! Today was the 150th Anniversary of the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. The historic celebration honored the January 1860 arrival of Captain Edward Yorke and the hardy men who built the landmark Jupiter Light. The day began at 1pm with authentic Children's Maritime Heritage games.
An hour later the ceremony began with guest speakers James Snyder, Loxahatchee River Historical Society Board Chairman, Bob Abbey, Director of the U.S. Department of Interior’s Bureau of Land Management (BLM), Rear Admiral Steve Branham, Commander Seventh Coast Guard District, and Bruce Dawson, Field Manager, BLM Eastern States. Event sponsors included the BLM, the Village of Tequesta and the Town of Jupiter. As soon as the ceremony ended, it was off to the Light to take the first climb.

As you can see, the line was wrapping around the lighthouse. I spoke to several people who ended up waiting a full hour and a half just to see the view from the top of the lighthouse. From what I saw and from what I heard, the wait was completely worth it!

The last time I climbed the Jupiter Light was in August of 1989! I was 6 years old and it was the first time my family traveled to the light. I have to dig up the old Jupiter Courier Newspaper in which my family was on the cover with an article about the days event :) Anyway, I was excited to start Climb For The Cure with the hometown lighthouse I had climbed 20 years prior. Lucky for me, both my parents and Alyssa Rivera's family made the climb with me. 105 steps up and we saw the most breathtaking view. We took out time to explore and when we came down we were rushed over to the next activity.....the Cake Off!

The Lighthouse Anniversary Cake-Off competition had 5 entrants including cakes from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa, Jupiter Beach Resort & Spa, Seagull's Diner, Cake Kingdom and Publix. Alyssa and I assisted in judging the Cake Off and let me tell you.....not ONLY were the Cakes gorgeously creative, but they were absolutely delicious! That was my last hurrah as it's time to get serious about my Miss USA diet. The public was served cake and refreshments by volunteers from the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club & Spa and asked to vote for the People’s Choice Award. I had the honor of announcing the winners of the day and the were:

Best Tasting:Jupiter Beach Resort.........Best Historical: Seagull's Diner

Most Creative, People's Choice, and Judges Chioce: Cake Kingdom

Once the difficult choices were made, all of us enjoyed the rest of the day mingling and signing autographs with Jupiter locals and tourists. We met people from Poland, Germany, New York and more. I even ran into former classmates, old friends, my high school debate teacher (Mr D) and parents of dance students that I taught when I still lived in Jupiter! I am so glad I participated in this event, it was like a homecoming! Thank you to Jamie Stuve and Kathleen Glover for allowing me to be a part of this event and start my Climb For The Cure. Both Jamie and Kathleen are so passionate about Lighthouse Restoration and life in general. You cannot help but to feel inspired when you are around them :)

What a great way to start 2010! Hope to see you all soon!

Sincerely,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA

Happy 2010.....6 month Update!

2010-01-09T17:52:00.000-08:00

Happy 2010 to my Family and Friends!

It has been nearly 6 months since becoming Miss Florida USA and I have accomplished a lot. I feel so privileged to represent Florida, the state in which I was born and raised. I am so excited for this year although it is hard to imagine 2010 being better than 2009. Last year was filled with milestones; I graduated from the University of Central Florida, went to the NBA FINALS with the Orlando Magic, won Miss Florida USA 2010, raised enough funds for my engineering scholarship (Harris Corporation Future Female Scientist Award), and made over 85 appearances.

With the new year comes new goals and new challenges. I have set my goals high, but they are all realistic. In the next few months, I plan to distribute my scholarship awards, start CLIMB FOR THE CURE (read below), and prepare for the Miss USA Pageant while continuing to make appearances when possible. I will have the opportunity to attend several of the Florida Science and Engineering Regional Fair Awards Ceremonies to distribute my scholarship. All 34 regional fairs will receive a single $100 scholarship for a female in the Junior Section (middle school ages) for an outstanding engineering project exhibiting originality and creativity. In addition, the Florida Science and Engineering State Fair will receive a single $250 scholarship. I would like to take this time to once again thank HARRIS CORPORATION and my friends and family who have contributed to this scholarship.

There is much to do in preparation for Miss USA, but I am excited for it all. Every workout inspires me to eat healthy while every conversation excites me for the future. The state of Florida has yet to produce a Miss USA and the thought of being the first motivates me to be better in every way possible. I cannot guarantee a win or evening placing at Nationals, but I can promise you that I am living my life as a Miss USA should. I am devoting myself to my community, raising awareness/funds for various non-profits and staying true to my moral standards.

I am so blessed to have all of you in my life. My friends and family know how crazy my life has been since July 18th. Although, it is not much different than being an Orlando Magic Dancer, it does require more traveling and less time with them. I have been to Tallahassee down to the Florida Keys traveling over 18,000 miles. The support has been endless and I thank my parents, Tel Air Family, Kim Antos, Arnold Kolozsvari, Orlando Magic family, friends and my wonderful boyfriend for supporting my new job.

CLIMB FOR THE CURE

In the next 6 months, I plan to visit all 30 remaining lighthouses in the state of Florida and climb as many as allowed. One of my fondest childhood memories was visiting the Jupiter Inlet Lighthouse. Because of this, I decided to make the Jupiter Lighthouse my first climb on January 10th, 2010. There will be a full day of activities as the lighthouse is celebrating its 150th Anniversary. My hopes are that I am able to raise awareness/funds for Susan G Komen and encourage locals to learn about the maritime heritage of their lighthouse.

I am really excited about this endeavor as it is something completely different and very fun.

Please take the time to my support my cause by either making a donation, attending a climb, forwarding this email or all of the above! I appreciation your support! Visit http://www.info-komen.org/goto/climb_for_the_cure for my information

As of now, I only have three dates set for climbs; Jupiter Inlet on Jan 10th, Cedar Key on Feb 19th, and St Augustine on March 20th. I plan to add Ponce Inlet hopefully in the month of March. Most likely I will complete the rest of my climbs either upon my return from Miss USA or after my reign as Miss USA J No matter what, I will complete this project!!!

I will probably have one last update prior to departing for the Miss USA Pageant. To see what I am up to visit my blog at http://missfloridausa2010.blogspot.com

THANK YOU EVERYONE! Best of Luck in 2010!

Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010

Vanessa's Baby Shower

2010-01-09T07:21:00.000-08:00

Vanessa's Mother-In-Law and Mother

I love babies! Although, I am not ready to have kids just yet, I am so excited for all my girlfriends who are soon-to-be-mommies!

Today, was my first baby shower of 2010 (I had several last year and more coming up). Vanessa was my Team Leader on the Orlando Magic Dance Team my rookie season. She is one of the most amazing individuals I have ever met. The best way to describe Vanessa is that she is one of those people that most girls want to hate, but cannot because she genuinely cares about everyone around her. I know in my heart she is going to be a very affectionate and hands-on mom. Vanessa and her husband Shane are going to be amazing parents and little Savanna is fortunate to have them both :)

Pictured below is Vanessa's sister Michelle and her newborn Chloe who is 2 months old!

Congratulations again Shane and Vanessa! Love you guys!

Climb For the Cure starts this Sunday Jan 10th!!!

2010-01-08T11:47:00.000-08:00

MISS FL TEEN USA® 2010 BROADCAST SCHEDULE:

2009-12-31T13:28:00.000-08:00

Don't miss watching the 2010 Miss Florida Teen USA Pageant from Bailey Auditorium in Hollywood, Florida! Hosted by Luis Aguirre and myself :)

MIAMI/FT LAUDERDALE, WSVN-FOX
Channel 7
January 9, 2010 4-5PM

NAPLES/FT MEYERS, WXCW
Channel 46
January 1st, 2010 12 noon

TAMPA/ST PETE/CLEARWATER, WTOG CW44
TBD

ORLANDO/DAYTONA BEACH, WRDQ-IND
Channel 27
January 3, 2010 4-5PM

TALLAHASSEE, WTLH FOX 49
TBD

PANAMA CITY, WJHG-TV My3
January 17, 2010 Noon-1PM CST

PENSACOLA/MOBILE, WEAR-ABC
January 10, 2010 3PM CST

GAINESVILLE, WMYG MY11
January 10, 2010 9-10PM
JACKSONVILLE, WXCW CH17
TBD

WEST PALM BEACH / STUART / FT PIERCE, WTVX-TV
CW 34
Dec. 26, 2009 1PM

Miss Florida USA lends pageantry to shelter giveaway

2009-12-24T07:37:00.000-08:00

Front Page of the Daytona New Journal
http://www.news-journalonline.com/NewsJournalOnline/News/Headlines/frtHEAD03122409.htm

By DEBORAH CIRCELLI
Staff writer

DAYTONA BEACH -- Barely able to make her way up the sidewalk into the entrance of the STAR Family shelter, Miss Florida USA was surrounded by elementary school girls touching her beaded white and black bracelet and long necklace.

Once inside the homeless shelter off North and Segrave streets, Megan Clementi slipped on her sash and crown and was ready to hand out presents to close to 50 children.

Clementi, 26, a recent graduate of the University of Central Florida, joined Daytona Beach Fire Department officials and volunteers from God's Willing Workers as children filled a room in the shelter, each picking out a couple of toys and a stuffed animal.

"It's so much fun. I feel like Santa Claus," said Clementi, after picking out a doll for Jasmine Coleman, 2.

Lisa Marie Kieffer said the toys made her two children's Christmas come true. Her 11-year old daughter, Lily Gutman, spent a lot of time in the room trying to pick out the right two toys. She finally settled on a doll and a small stuffed animal dog. They've lived at the shelter for two months after coming here from Sarasota. Kieffer is planning to start classes at a truck driving school in February.

"God bless everybody who came here and donated," Kieffer said. "It's good for the children to feel that people care."

Toys were donated from many sources, including "Our" Children First and the Fire Department, which stepped up and got extra toys from Port Orange Fire Rescue and the Daytona Beach Police Department.

Event organizer Verlinda Johnson, 61, founder and director of God's Willing Workers, who gave out toys last year at the shelter, was thrilled that other organizations helped, as well as some area stores.

"My Christmas is to put a smile on the face of a child, especially those who are homeless," Johnson said. "I want them to see real love today."

Clementi was named Miss Florida USA 2010 in July and will compete in Miss USA in April. She said her platform is centered around children. The Orlando resident heard about the homeless shelter from a friend in the area and wanted to "give some amazing kids some presents."

She also volunteered to feed the homeless on Thanksgiving Day with the Salvation Army in Daytona Beach. She hopes to raise awareness for philanthropic organizations and encourage volunteerism.

The former Orlando Magic dancer of five years and captain for three is still involved in helping to emcee the home games. After being at the shelter, she was headed to the game Wednesday night against the Houston Rockets.

The children also met Tia McDonald, 16, of Edgewater, who has won numerous titles including Miss Florida Junior National Teenager and Miss Space Coast Teen USA. McDonald went to the shelter last year to give the children toys and organized an Easter Egg hunt.

McDonald said she's been through hard times, losing her house to a fire when she was little and being raised by a single mom, and she thinks "it's important to help those in need."

Some of the girls were fascinated by their crowns and said they can dance and sing and want to be in a pageant one day.

"I love watching pageants," said Jelea Singleton, 11, who recently organized a talent show at the shelter. "I want to be in one -- any one that I can win at."

deborah.circelli@news-jrnl.com

I'm Home :)

2009-12-14T13:37:00.000-08:00

After 10 days of non-stop traveling in South Florida, I am finally back in Orlando. I came home just in time to emcee the Magic vs Pacers home game. GO MAGIC!

Here is a recap of what I had going on down south:

Last I wrote, the Annual Daytona Christmas Parade was rained out. I was hoping for better weather and I sort of got my wish. I drove down to Davie with my dad and we fought the rain the entire ride. By the time we reached Davie, it was only drizzling. I am happy to say that the 10th Annual Holly Day Parade did NOT get rained out as it was a 'Rain or Shine' parade. I was told no matter what....the parade shall go on! And it did!

As you can see from the pic below, I rode on the back of a convertible, umbrella and all...lol The driver had her own personal umbrella as did my dad in the passenger seat. It was the funniest thing to see all these umbrellas and a convertible with the top down! Luckily, the rain did not pick up and the car was not ruined (although it was slightly flooded!)My driver, Michelle was so sweet and her kids were the cutest elves I had ever seen.

As soon as my car finished the parade, it started to pour! Like I said, I sort of got my wish :) I made it through the parade without rain, but the rest of the floats were not so lucky. I ran to my car, hopped in, said goodbye to dad, and started my trip to Miami. I scooped up Dave in Miami and then we were off to Marathon. Habitat of Humanity of the Middle Keys's Christmas Gala was one of the first appearances Mary Lou booked back in July. I had been looking forward to this trip especially since it was Dave's 27th birthday :)

We arrived around 5:30pm giving us about an hour to get ready for the gala. The event was taking place only a few miles away at D'Asign Source. My contact arranged for us as well as the key note speaker, Max Mayfield (WPLG-TV Hurricane Specialist and former Director of the National Hurricane Center), and his wife to be picked up and driven to the gala. After all the rain and 6 hours of driving, it was really nice to sit back and relax.

The event was down-to-earth glamour. I just made-up that term so now I must explain. Everyone was dressed up in formal attire, but the attitude was like the old TV show CHEERS....where everybody knows your name. Each person we met knew the person we were just speaking with. It was like a family affair. The gala was approximately 3 1/2 hours, but it felt like 30 minutes because conversation just kept flowing. The best part of the evening was when the President of Habitat for Humanity of the Middle Keys, Bruce Ferraro, surprised TWO families with keys to their new homes! Both families thought their homes would be done in 2010, and were shocked to discover that they were finished early!!! There were tears of joy....their Christmas wishes had come true!

When the shindig ended, it was back to the resort. It has become a 3 year tradtion that on Dave's birthday I make him an elaborate cake. The first year I made the FSU Stadium, last year I made a 3D basketball, and this year.....are you kidding me! There is no time for elaborate cake making when you are Miss Florida USA...lol I did my best and baked a huge cupcake. It was the only thing I could do where I could throw it in the trunk and it would not be effected by luggage being tossed around or long distance driving. Anyway, it was yummy and he loved it :)

Happy 27th Birthday Dave!

The resort was amazing and the weather was finally PERFECT. I wish we could have stayed longer, but we were back on the road at 11am for South Miami's Santa's Parade of the Elves. That was a fun parade as I had the privilege of riding with former Mayor and current State Representative Julio Robaina. We led the parade through South Miami throwing out a ridiculous amount of candy! It could not have been a more beautiful day. Also in attendance were several Florida USA local titleholders and my sister queen Alyssa Rivera, Miss Florida Teen USA.

MORE TO COME!

Anti-Defamation League's " Aventura Community of Respect Awards Luncheon"

2009-12-08T15:34:00.000-08:00

December 8th...wow I cannot believe we are almost half way through December! This is crazy! I wish time would slow down, just a little not a lot. I just need to catch up with everything and some extra time would definitely help my cause...lol

Anyway, back to the reason why you are reading this. Today, I assisted Aventura Commissioner Billy Joel (No not the singer, this guy is way cooler!) during the opening address for the Anti-Defamation League's "Aventura Community of Respect Awards Luncheon". Commissioner Joel, or Billy as he asked me to call him, was such a neat guy. He was down-to-earth and very family oriented, I can see why his community speaks so highly of him! His wife was a riot. She had the funniest stories about fashion. It seems that she is always in the right place at the right time. I commented on how cute her shoes were and she had a story for me. Apparently the shoes were by an Italian designer and she had fallen in love with them! You know us girls have a tendency to do that with shoes:) So she went to Italy to find them. Well, her size was no where to been found. She came back to the States upset that she could not find the shoes in Italy or neighboring countries. Then one day she found herself staring at them in an outlet mall for 50% off in her size!!!! It was fate! Obviously, she bought them and lived happily ever after...lol She is too cute!

The welcome address went great and the luncheon was out exactly on time which always makes people happy. The focus of the event was to recognize three individuals in the Aventura Community who really went above and beyond to make a difference. The ADL recognized Rubin Salant, a retired real estate developer, with its Torch of Liberty award for his support, through both his time and donations, of charities and events that promote ADL's mission. The ADL also recognized Heather Rohan, CEO of the Aventura Hospital and Medical Center, with the Community of Respect Award, and Thomas R. Oliveri, senior vice president of Northern Trust, with the Community Service Award. Joel said he thought the ADL is more important now than ever. ``Increased terrorism, bigotry, hatred, bias, prejudice, and acts of anti-Semitism have all created a new crisis for us,'' he said. ``The ADL is our bulwark, our strength to protect us against such vicious acts.''

The luncheon was extremely powerful and dug deep into the wounds of so many who have been hurt by anti-semetic deeds. Although I have never participated in any unacceptable behaviors spoken about today, I have developed a new found understanding of what so many people went through over the decades and even now. The ADL is still alive because anti-semitism is NOT dead! Only we as individuals can make a difference. For more information on the ADL of Aventura visit http://regions.adl.org/florida/

Until Next Time!

Megan Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Hello Holiday Spirit!!!!

2009-12-04T13:24:00.000-08:00

Happy December Everyone :)

Can you believe how quickly 2009 has gone by? Just crazy! This month has already been pretty awesome even though I am only 4 days in. On December 1st I had the entire day to myself!!!!! That NEVER happens! I spent the day in Miami washing clothes, doing dishes, attempting to catch up on emails and of course planning Climb For the Cure. I heard back from many of the lighthouse caretakers and scheduled 5 dates to climb. As of now, Jupiter Inlet is Jan 10, Cedar Key is February 19th, St Augustine is March 20th, and all 4 Forgotten Lighthouses (Crooked River, St Mark's, St. George, and Cape San Blas) plus Pensacola will be climbed on Florida Lighthouse Day (weekend) in April! I am so excited to see this idea become a reality. I hope all of you will be able to find at least one lighthouse near you that you can climb with me :)

Wednesday morning, I made the long drive back to Orlando. I made a pit stop in Delray Beach to visit Natalie Dyson at Paradise Salon. She is the stylist who has made my hair look so fabulous :) From there it was straight to Orlando for the Orlando Magic vs New York Knicks game. I am not sure if I have mentioned this, but shortly after I won my title, the Magic asked me to sign on as the weekday female emcee. Scotty B usually works the game with me, but that night I was on my own. There was a lot to do, but it was so much fun. This new job has really pushed me out of my comfort zone (being a dancer is much different than being an emcee) and I am finally to the point where I feel like I belong :) BTW...the Magic won :)

The next day it was all about Miss USA. I spent the day in Ormond Beach with Kim Antos and Arnold Kolozsvari from Exquisite Coaching. Arnold and I workout in the morning while I spent the afternoon with Kim going over many things. I try to make it out to Ormond once a week, but that is not always possible. Every time I leave Kim and Arnold, I feel so much more confident and prepared for the future. They are a great team :)

And that bring us to today...it is Friday December 4th and I believe it is the first day that I have experienced chilly weather this holiday season. I am wearing pants and a long-sleeved shirt and I am freezing! There seems to be a cold-front moving through Central Florida. It is currently 57 degrees outside and it is raining, the low will be 54. As nice as it is to have cool weather, I am sad to say that the rain has washed out my evening appearance.

Tonight was the annual Daytona Beach Holiday Parade. I have participated in this parade the last two years and it was the first appearance I booked after winning my title in July. They have rescheduled for December 12th, but I have previous commitments and therefore cannot not participate. I know the parade will be a great success, I just wish I could have been a part of it.

I am crossing my fingers that this yucky weather (which is heading South) moves quickly. I have the Forest Ridge Holly Day Parade in Davie tomorrow and the annual Santa's Parade of Elves in South Miami on Sunday. Both of these parades will have current USA titleholders participating. South Miami will be especially fun as that was the city I was representing when I won Miss Florida USA 2010. I have always loved parades so I am wishing for the rain to go away!

That is all for now, I will update you again next week :)

Love Always,

Megan
Clementi

Miss Florida USA 2010

Featured in Silke Endress Winter edition

2009-12-01T06:32:00.000-08:00

After participating in the 1st Annual Pink Tealies Event back in September, the CEO of Silke Endress magazine, CeCe Cole, asked to feature myself and several of our Florida USA titleholders in their 'Success by Design' Winter Edition of her magazine. "Silke Endress, Lifestyle of The Lady CEO, International Professional Women's Magazine, where WOMEN are celebrated. Our Motto: "Everybody Has A Story...What's Your Story of Glory?". Silke Endress celebrates the success of women, we embrace their courage, the tears of their strength, the fears of hope, their childhood aspirations, their influences of yesterday, inspirations of today, and most importantly, the audacity of their will and tenacity to finish the job! Silke Endress, Lifestyle of the Lady CEO is published six times a year. "Everybody Has A Story...What's Your Story of Glory?"."

If you click on the link below you can view the magazine through the website. Shout out to Britteny Castles for being chosen to me in the feature :)

http://www.silkeendress.com/successbydesignmissfloridameganclementi.html

Love Always,
Megan Clementi
Miss Florida USA 2010