A big thank you to Casey Li for taking my headshot the other day! You've been a great support for the Ottawa Centre.
SO today is a big day. My biography is now listed on the official Rose of Tralee website http://roseoftralee.ie/catalog/ , if you click on the dropdown menu titled 'Roses' and select 'Canadian Regional Final Roses 2011' and you'll see my biography if you click on my picture. Tara Keigher (Edmonton) is also listed and I'm so very excited to meet my fellow Canadians in Ireland in 3 weeks....did I just say 3 weeks!? Eeeek! So excited.
The Toronto Rose is to be selected this coming weekend and although I would love to attend, I have to work on Sunday and don't know that I will be able to make it back in time for work. I can't help, but feel bad for the Toronto Rose. She has almost no time to get prepared for the Regional Finals in Ireland poor thing. There is so much to think about and so many things to get ready. I'm a little stressed about my waredobe selections and I have three weeks left to pack!
On another note, I wanted to send a huge thank you to Laura Hay (Ottawa Rose 2010) and Sarah Thorenton (Ottawa Rose 2009) for helping me out, giving me pointers, and lending me some fantastic summer hats for the Regional Final. Laura has been of great assistance here in Ottawa and Sarah has been exceptional at making me feel prepared for heading over to Ireland and has even offered to put me up for a few days in Dublin following the Regional Final and before I head home to Ottawa.
For all the ladies out there wondering about the dress...
I said yes to the dress on Saturday at Cantas on Sussex Drive here in Ottawa and could not be more pleased. I will be calling for alternations in a moment and cannot wait to slip into it once it fits properly. I'm sure the alternations will cost an arm and a leg considering it has a hand made lace overlay and is all hand beaded...but it will be well worth it in the end.
I've been watching Youtube videos of the festivities in Ireland from previous years and I cannot believe I am getting a change to take part in such a fabulous event. I was reading through Clare's (the 2010 Rose of Tralee) diary online and am so amazed by the fabulous year she has had. So many opportunities present themselves as a result of being selected as the Rose...I really hope I get the opportunity to at least be in the company of the 2011 Rose of Tralee at this years Final in August.
I have read a few of the biographies and I was amazed at the wonderful things these girls are doing with their lives. I kept reading names ex: "Molly O'Sea" (not really one of the girls...yet anyways haha), then reading the bio, and thinking to myself: "more like super women O'Sea!!"
I'm not sure that my biography reads as well as others however I can only hope that my genuine enthusiasm about the whole thing will come across all week and carry me through to the Final.
I'm sure we will have a pile of fun travelling around Ireland a few short weeks from now - I really can't wait!
I'll leave it at that for now. Hope everyone in Ottawa is enjoying the weather - finally!
Cheers!
Kate
