PHOTOS
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SONAL PHOTOS (AGE 20-PRESENT)
"Finally, something for people to see besides me posing next to people I've interviewed."


Photos 5-8 by Chris Cantoya.
1. "At the house in Austin, Texas." [October 2008]
2. "That day was when I went to some US Open events. Very fun!" [August 2008]
3. "Joking around with the Time Warner giant statue lady. I had always wanted to take a picture with her and finally did it. She has to be several stories tall and a little wide." pAugust 2008]
3-12. "These are from my different 21st birthday celebrations - count them, three! [June 26, 2008 and two on June 28, 2008] I feel so lucky to have been able to do something special this time around, because the last time I celebrated was for my 16th and 17th birthdays in Illinois, and your 21st is a big deal. It has to be memorable."
13. "Go ahead and make fun of my paleness here. I look like I haven't seen the sun in days! Well, I don't like having a tan unless it's a fake one." [May 31, 2008]
PRESS CLIPPINGS & OTHER PHOTOS



Last three photos by Doug Lloyd of Imagography
1. "ELLE Magazine, January 2008. The shortest my hair will ever be in my life. It actually looks longer in the photo than it was in real life."
2. Others. "Those are just some photos of me looking nice. Because you have to have some of those, right? It's for when, sometimes, people need to use a photo of me that's a little more 'done up.' Funny thing about the desk one. In real life, I do have a bad habit of sitting on top of furniture or counters in the kitchen, and I have to consistently remind myself what bad etiquette that is!"
MISS TEXAS USA 2008
"My first and only time in a beauty pageant..."

1. "I was singing '...Baby One More Time' there. That's my favorite 'cheesy but fun' karaoke song! I hogged the mic that night, because I love singing for a crowd." (Photo by ValleyQueens.com)
2 & 3. I love that white gown. It's by Carmen Marc Volvo. When I tried it on the first time, I said, 'That's the gown I'm getting married in someday.'"
4. "If there was one thing I did perfectly, it's that I nailed my interview. I just know it!"
5. "'Disco night' and my Cher costume. I got to bust (lousily-copied) disco moves on the restaurant stage that I stole from Travolta and some friends back in Illinois. After that, other girls came up and danced along too. It was fun!" (Photo by ValleyQueens.com)
6. "The pageant wasn't quite the 100 percent pleasant experience I thought it would be. But the people of Laredo, Texas and Nuevo Laredo? I'll never forget them! I've never encountered such a welcoming city with all their support for me and the girls and what they did for us everywhere, such as getting gift bags everywhere, getting taken out to restaurants like in this picture from 'fiesta night,' and Mayor Raul Salinas was a very cool guy to come join us for karaoke!" (Photo by ValleyQueens.com)
7. "When I learned that the Miss Texas theme was going to be disco, I decided that my headshot had to have disco mirrors, lighting, and of course, disco-themed makeup."
POLITICAL EVENTS (FROM AGE 14 TO 18)
"Covering politics as a teen back in the day."

1. "Me, Andrea Zinga, and her campaign manager. We had just eaten at the Pier. I remember we hardly had any portions at lunch, and her husband made me laugh when he asked, 'Did you enjoy your crabcakes? I mean, crabcake!'"
2. "Me with Bob Biggins, a state rep. I always love getting to meet people in person. Like him, I did get to meet him, but only way after I had done the interview. It's so different to see what someone's like in real life."
3. "Rod Blagojevich! I don't care what you think of his politics. That's for people to debate. As a person, he's the hippest governor Illinois has had. He's really into Elvis, has funny stories to share, is a generally personable guy when you meet him."
4. "Me and Miss Casey Chenoweth. [Laughs] She was the president of Illinois Teen Republicans, and I remember I was always trying to take everything so seriously with the club duties. That's one of the hard things about running a teen club is that teens are, well, immature! I was 16 right there. Young and immature."
5. "Me at an event. Laura Kent Donahue is to my left in the photo. She was one of the only women in the State Senate. Still, there aren't very women in there. Sen. Donahue is not only beautiful, she's smart and a good role model."
6. "Oh, the 'engagement photo!' People always joked with me, 'You're getting engaged to Jack Ryan here,' because of the way it looks like he's holding a ring, and I'm standing there, looking up at him. In reality, it was nothing like that! He was very respectful, sort of him talking to a little sister. I didn't realize anyone had taken a photo until I saw it up on the Internet. Jack Ryan was the original GOP candidate pitted against Obama. You know what happened next." [Ryan was forced to drop out of the race in mid-2004 after The Chicago Tribune and national press ran stories on his scandalous divorce papers.]
7 & 8. "I remember this well. This was the night of my high school graduation. I was also given the opportunity to introduce Sen. Lauzen at a dinner. I said, 'Graduation sounds really boring!' and skipped over to Springfield that night to speak about him. Chris Lauzen has to be the most genuine politician. He calls people back when they leave messages with his secretary. I'm not kidding. He even makes an effort to call back the rude responses people give about things. He's always getting involved in his community, and to give you an idea of how real of a person he is - the day before an Illinois Teen Republicans event, he was in Springfield and drove straight up to Aurora [Chicago suburb], hours, for an event there. Then the next day, he drove to Springfield for the teen event, stayed late, then drove back to Aurora for some stuff the next day. He could've said he didn't want to do it, but no, he spent six or seven hours that day driving back and forth for us kids."
9. "Me at the Illinois Leader party. I was speaking to this lady who was active in some political groups. It's really the people you don't always hear about who help make things happen too, not only the politicians."
PERSONAL PHOTOS (TEEN YEARS)
"Teen years? You mean, you want me to talk about the 'nerdy years.' I was a complete dork."

1. "Jake's gonna kill me for putting this one up! How old are we here!? [Laughs] That's me and Jacob Dean. He also started getting into Illinois politics really young, actually, younger than I did. See, right there, I'm 16, and Jake's 14! Jake's still very involved with things over there, politically. I'm happy to call him a friend. Yuck. Look at my makeup. That looks terrible. I think I only applied that much to look older, because without any makeup on, I would've looked 12."
2. "That's from the same day. My best friend, Matt, picked me up with his family in Springfield to go back home. We went to O'Charlie's to have some fun before heading to the mall."
3. "There I am over in Georgia with Trey Ragsdale. He's my boss over at PurePolitics.com. A very sweet guy. I'm lucky to have a boss like him."
4. "Where's this from? It must've been from going out somewhere, because that's kind of like an event background. Oh yeah. I think I wore those sunglasses, because I didn't have much makeup on! That's some campaign thing."
5. "Oh yeah, that's me with a guy from school, Robert Bentley. That's from the day he drove us to St. Louis. I remember feeling like I was about to fall into the water there!"
VINTAGE PHOTOS
"Growing up in the 90's!"

1. "Some ugly kid with strawberry blonde hair. This was the last sighting of any natural hair color you'll see in photos. [Laughs]"
2. "I think that was in Atlanta."
3. "Me with my dad. He looks handsome here."
4. "Me at the mall. Mall rats start young, don't they?"
5. "Pluto! Oh, is that that night? I think that was the night we were at a hotel, and I saw the safe there in the bedroom. I locked Pluto and Mickey and a bunch of stuffed animals inside the safe, and the front desk had to get them out! Little kids are such trouble makers."
FUN PHOTOS
"Everything that's plain silly and unexplainable."

1. "That's a picture from the high school yearbook. I wore an afro wig to look like 'Foxy Cleopatra' from Austin Powers 3."
2 & 3. "Me with my best friend Matt at Halloween 2003. He was himself. I was a biker chick."