CALEA Gala

Miss GG at CHOC Hospital

CHOC Hospital + wonderful kids + Disney songs on the harp + Miss Garden Grove = a perfect day.  

I had the most perfect day today.  I was asked to play for some of the kids as Miss GG at CHOC Hospital and I had so much fun!  I visited three different playrooms in the hospital. In each playroom, I played some Disney songs and had them guess which ones they were.  I sang a couple songs from “The Little Mermaid” and the girls in the rooms loved that song. I got to know a lot of kids today!  The first room I visited had five of them in there and they were already getting started on their craft for the day.  I first got their attention with the harp cadenza from the Nutcracker’s Waltz of the Flowers.  

Women's Division Luncheon

Today was the Garden Grove Women’s Division Luncheon.  The Women’s Division is an

I was honored to play background music on my harp for them as they ate their lunch.  Stacy and I were the guest speakers for the day and we spoke about the Miss Garden Grove Program.  After Stacy spoke about her experiences as the Executive Director, she had show off my harping skills with a fun song before I spoke.  I was able to talk about my journey to become Miss GG, what is expected of me this year, etc.  I spoke with them about my platform “Compassion for the Convalescing” and how important it is in my life.  I was able to share with them the opportunity was going to have to play the harp for the kids at CHOC Hospital (that’s my next entry). 

Being a part of events like this makes me thrilled to be Miss Garden Grove.  I love playing music for people, especially when I get to play a variety of pieces as background music.  And talking about the Miss GG Program is one of my favorite things to do because I love being a part of it so much.

Surprisingly, a member of the Women’s Division and a journalist on the side wrote an article about this event in the OC News! I am so honored.  Thank you Denise!

Hyundai Chamber Mixer

It was that time of the month again, time for another Chamber Mixer!  This time, the Chamber brought their business to Garden Grove Hyundai.  There was food, a raffle, and an awesome live band!  It was a great turn out!  The funny thing is that there wasn’t much parking space because, well you know, because it was at a car dealership, the cars for sale took up the parking lot.  I had the honor to go to this Chamber Mixer to help sell raffle tickets and mingle around with people.  I even got to meet Scott the Plumber from Scott Harrison Plumbing.  I always look forward to the monthly Chamber Mixers!

I got to meet Scott the Plumber from Scott Harrison Plumbing!  My parents have used his expertise before!

located on GG Blvd and Brookhurst....

CALEA Hospitality Night

This week was CALEA's Fall Conference and Garden Grove was lucky enough to host this great event. CALEA (The Commission on Accreditation on Law Enforcement Agencies) is a credentialing authority for law enforcement agencies. The programs in CALEA are made to ensure that standards and initiatives within law enforcement are being upheld. This information is from the website:

Specifically, CALEA’s goals are to:

• Strengthen crime prevention and control capabilities;
• Formalize essential management procedures;
• Establish fair and nondiscriminatory personnel practices;
• Improve service delivery;
• Solidify interagency cooperation and coordination; and
• Increase community and staff confidence in the agency.

Watch this video for more info:

CALEA held its conference at the Hyatt Regency and a lot of fun events took place throughout the week! Tonight was a Hospitality Night, which is basically a fundraiser full of delicious food and fun prizes! This event was at Fandango's, which is the restaurant next-door to the Hyatt. Court Princesses Valerie and Ally were able to come and help with the festivities. We got to sell raffle tickets (as usual) but it was a lot of fun! Practically bought tickets, and a lot of them! There were a lot of fun prizes up for grabs, like restaurant gift cards, Coca-Cola products, trips, etc. And we have to talk about the food! It was delicious! The food was served buffet-style and the girls and I were able to indulge in foods from many local restaurants, including: Oggi's Pizza, Buca di Beppo, Red Robin, and some Mexican and Korean Restaurants. I met a lot of people tonight and I am glad I got to be there. And of course, this event is not official until I sell raffle tickets! :)

Me with the Teen Princesses: Valerie and Ally.... love them!

Stacy and I

Here, I am standing in front of a display for the new Great Wolf Lodge that it being built in Garden Grove. It will be located on Harbor, just south of Disneyland. This is a development that Garden Grove is proud to announce!

Follow these Links to get more info:

www.CALEA.org

www.calea.ggpd.org

Miss GG and KFI's Bill Handel Show

For those of you who don't know, Bill Handel and his crew were at the Anaheim White House Restaurant last Friday morning to raise money for Bruno's community service. Just for some background info, Bruno Serato, the owner, has been feeding underprivileged motel kids in OC for the past 5 years. It's about time the public becomes aware of this great cause! He humbly and willingly feeds 150 kids, 6 nights a week..amazing! He says that is costs him about $2,000 a month and even though he was asked how he can manage to afford this, he responded with "How can I afford NOT to?" The Anaheim White House is known as "OC's Hidden Treasure", but I think Bruno is one of OC's hidden heroes. I have known Bruno for the past 4 years and I am so grateful for our friendship. I first met Bruno when I was Anaheim's Outstanding Teen in 2007; Chasta (Miss Anaheim) and I were participating in a charity event at the restaurant. I would go to a lot of events throughout that year and I grew to love Bruno. Even after my Anaheim title was over, I stayed well acquainted with Bruno and his restaurant. Bruno wanted me to be his restaurant harpist for weddings and other events there and I have been doing that ever since. I have known Bruno for this long and I only found out about his charity work about a year ago! That just shows how humble he is with his service.

Bruno's service has been featured in documentaries, People magazine, and is hopefully on it's way to Oprah's show! There is even a Facebook page called "Bruno on Oprah", just so we all can request Bruno on her show. I encourage all of you reading this to click on the link above, "Like" and then request Bruno!

In addition to the publicity listed above, the Bill Handel Show promoted Bruno's service as well. The Handel show set up their radio equipment in the West Wing of the restaurant and did their broadcast live! This was a fundraiser as well as a pasta drive. Since pasta is what Bruno serves the kids, Handel was asking people to come and donate some dry pasta and even some sauces. They were also asking for donations, even donations to match Bill Handel's of $5,000! Several people ended up matching Handel's donation! The Bill Handel Show raised over $72,000 that morning, and they're accepting more!

I had a great experience at this event. I decided to go so I could donate some pasta and support my good friend Bruno and his restaurant. I also listen to the show EVERY morning as I commute to CSUF, so I wanted to meet the faces of the voices I listen to! I wasn't there as Miss GG- I was just Leah. But I was able to meet Bill Handel and his crew and tell them that I was Miss GG. The set up was so nice! There was an area for dry pasta donations and for monetary donations as well.

First, I met Todd Wilson outside who is one of the co-hosts and he is SO funny. Poor guy, he's the main target for mockery...hahaha but he's always got some good comebacks. Then I walked up to the front table with the hosts and I got to meet them all.

One of my favorite guys is Rich Marotta. His laugh is hilarious and once he starts laughing at whatever Hoffman or Handel are doing, I start laughing because I love it! When I met Rich, I told him that hearing his laugh is my favorite part of the morning. :) He was glad because he said that he got a couple letters telling him that his laugh is annoying, but I told him that they are stupid...haha

Then I got to meet the brilliant and witty Bill Handel. He was so friendly (even though he may not seem that way on the air)! We talked for a bit and I got to tell him that I am Miss GG and he was excited. He wanted to know everything about me and because he was a lawyer previous to radio, I told him that my boyfriend goes to law school and he had some nice things to say...other than that he has no career chance as a lawyer...haha

I finally got to the meet the Hoffman! He is SO smart and I love listening to his show on the weekends. It was so cool to meet the faces of the voices that I listen to every morning. They are all so cool and friendly.

I stayed at the White House for about an hour and then I had to get on my way to work in Diamond Bar (I'm the harp instructor there). I wish I could have stayed the whole time, but I am glad that I got to be there for a while. Something else happened on top of all of this too. Bill Handel and his co-hosts talked about me on the air! I was in the car, almost to Diamond Bar when I heard Bill mention that Miss GG (when he actually called me Miss Gardena) was there and that she just left out the door. That was so cool! I was mentioned 3 different times on the air and I have the clip to prove it! Thanks for the compliments, guys! And Bill (or Michelle), if you're reading this, I would love to come on your show sometime! You could interview me about the Miss America Program and my platform, "Compassion for the Convalescing". That would be a blast! Just remember, I'm your only "blonde shiksa goddess of love" fan. :)

Here's the sound clip:

I am so glad that I decided to come to this event. I am amazed at the amount of community support Bruno has! It was a proud moment to hear that they raised over $72,000! I am so happy for Bruno; I know he appreciated everyone's love and support.