Another Haven Manor...This Time in Lincoln!

We had a great time in Hickman visiting Haven Manor so we thought we would visit the Lincoln Haven Manor also! :) I was a bit sad that South Central had to cancel their Christmas party due to the weather but I'm hoping to make it down there for a meeting in the near future since I haven't had much of a chance to work with the South Central Chapter. Wouldn't want to leave out any of the wonderful chapters around Nebraska!!

We got there and they didn't know we were going to be there so it took them a few minutes to round up all the residents. I let Brad play a few songs as everyone was coming into the room and getting settled. I had a great time talking about my experiences as queen (as I always do!) We played a few songs together and then I sang a few. I love singing the Blue Skirt Waltz in English at these events because there is almost always several people singing along. This time as ususal there were a few out there singing or humming along. It's also fun to watch those feet start tapping along to the beat during the Polkas. You just can't help it when that music starts! I'm definitely glad we got to visit and look forward to many more visits around Lincoln soon.

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Haven Manor in Hickman

I emailed a large number of assisted living and nursing home facilities in and around Lincoln a few weeks back. I asked if there would be any time that I would have an opportunity to come and perform for their residents. The first response I got was from Haven Manor in Hickman. I had actually tried to go out there in July but found out they wanted me to attend the same weekend that we went to Kansas for the Miss Czech Slovak Kansas pageant. I was excited to find a time to visit and spend some time with the residents there.

Brad and I got there at 6:10 because we thought they wanted us to perform at 6:30 but found out they just wanted us there at 6:30 to perform at 7. I had a good time talking to all of the residents as they came in. At 7pm we started by having Brad play a few songs as the last few people filed in. I took over the show and talked a bit about being queen and why my Czech heritage is so important to me. We then played some songs together and I sang a few. It was great because there were even some people singing and/or humming along. :) We closed by singing Silent Night with everyone and while packing up we got quite a few more questions. They all kept saying that they hope we'll come back sometime soon. I let them know that their activities director has my information and to just tell her to email me and we would come back again. We had a great time with this group and hope to go back sometime in the next few months (maybe even take Shandra along or something!) Tomorrow is the Lincoln Czechs Christmas party and it's gonna be a blast! :)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

OCCC Christmas Party

I got to see the Omaha group yet again this weekend! I've had a blast getting to know some of them better and look forward to many more events in the future with them!!!

I decided to try to make it to as many of the Christmas parties of the Nebraska Chapters as possible. I emailed around and was excited to get responses from several. I planed to attend the Omaha and South Central parties but couldn't' make it to York due to a commitment at an assisted living center in Hickman. I headed to Omaha in the morning as their party started at noon and was not very happy about the snow that started to fall on our way. I was definitely glad to be inside and warm when we arrived. :) We started by saying hello to some of the members while being entertained by some accordion music and found our seats. It was good to get to see everyone. Some people I've seen recently while others I haven't seen in what seems like months. We then were visited by Saint Mikolas and it was time for food. I was excited to see that they had the traditional turkey, potatoes, gravy, etc but they added a special dish too...SAUERKRAUT AND DUMPLINGS! :) Yummy!!!!! The food was wonderful! Next they gave out awards to the members and then had one of their members read "Carl the Christmas Carp" to everyone. They then did giveaways and I couldn't believe how many prizes they had. It was a ton of fun and I hope to get to see the Omaha crew again soon!

We had a concert to go to in the evening so we shopped around town. We stopped at Bohemian Cafe to say hello and got a few kolace for the road. We also stopped in a Christmas store in the old market and got a Christmas Ornament that says Veselé Vánoce on it. It was another great Czech day! :) Onto Hastings to celebrate next weekend!!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Hometown Holidays

I haven't been back to Wilber much since Czech Days in August so I was excited to hear about their Hometown Holidays event. They have different vendors all day and people can decorate a Christmas Tree in any theme they want for display. We got there to look around a bit before I had to perform. There were some very traditional trees and some that were completely off the wall. For example there was one that everyone walked by and didn't notice till they walked around looking at all the trees. They had stuffed the trees into kroj! :) The trees totally looked like mannequins dressed in kroj. LOL! I also looked at all the booths. They had the woven rugs from the Czech Museum we used to make when we were there and LOTS of other Czech heritage items. After visiting for a while it was time for the queens to make our appearance.

They started with Laura, the Wilber Czech Slovak Queen, and had her introduce herself and tell a bit about what she had done as queen so far. She couldn't' perform her talent as she is having problems with her foot and well...dancing isn't an option. I was up next! :) I told everyone what an honor it was to represent the wonderful Czech people from Nebraska. I talked about how far I had traveled and what I plan to do in the future as queen. I then had Brad come up on stage and talked a bit about playing the accordion. I told them how long I had been playing etc. We performed the Blue Skirt Waltz then passed the stage onto Shandra Korbelik (2007 NE Czech Queen) to play a few songs and next to Sheyenne (the Wilber Princess)to play a song for everyone. It was AMAZING to see so many young LADIES playing accordion right along side me. We then all joined together and played 2 songs in a mini jam. It was great to see Sheyenne play with a group like this for the first time and do so well. After we played the songs she knew Brad, Shandra, and I played a few more for everyone. It was a lot of fun and can't wait to play with all of them again in the near future. :) After we all finished playing we looked around a bit more and had to head back to Lincoln. It was a lot of fun and it was great to see some of the Wilber group that I haven't seen for a few months! Seems to be filling up my schedule again which is good...I felt lost not wearing my kroj once a week or so!! HEHE!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Durham Museum Ethnic Holiday Festival and Prague Kolace Korner

Another long traveling night. :) I had never been to the Durham museum in Omaha and was excited to attend the Ethnic Festival with the Omaha Czech Cultural Club. I wasn't expecting what I saw when I walked in...it was H...U...G...E...HUGE!! From what I heard this used to be the old train station so it was a really pretty building with REALLY tall ceilings. They had a tree bigger than I think I've ever seen. I started walking around and there were booths everywhere. I looked at a few and was excited to quickly see a few familiar faces. Sandy S and Donna G from the pageant committee were there. I said hello and mentioned that I was looking for the Czech booth. They told us it was downstairs. As soon as I started going down the stairs I could hear accordion music and knew I was going in the right direction. :) I spent some time at the Czech booth with members of the club. They had arts and crafts, food, and information about Czech Christmas traditions. They also had Don Daniels and Don Trouba playing polka music. We also went and saw the ethnic Christmas trees and miniatures displays. After listening to the music for a while I got asked to dance. We started dancing and eventually people gathered around to watch us but nobody else would dance. LOL! I definitely recommend going to this event if you ever have the chance. Kids would like it too because they get a passport and get a stamp at every country they visit. It was a great time but I was only there for about 2 hours before heading onto my next destination...Praha!

Ok not the one in the Czech Republic (although I wish!) but the one here in good ole Nebraska. Brad was playing at Kolace Korner and I made an appearance as queen there. I played a few songs and sang some too. I was joined by Shandra Korbelik and Matthew Austry in helping Brad as they didn't line up a drummer for him when they scheduled it. It turned into a mini accordion jam. We had a good time and it was fun meeting some new people in Prague and seeing some people who I've seen at many previous polka events. They joked that I was "on tour" for the night in my travels from one place to the next. :)

Hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. I guess I didn't post that at all before! I am thankful for SO MANY people in my life. I definitely couldn't do all of the things I do without the support of my family, friends, boyfriend, and the list goes on...and on...and on! Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone for all of your support. I'm working my hardest to make all of the Czech-Americans in Nebraska proud!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Worldfest

Omaha had a few upcoming holiday events and I was excited to get to go out there to help them celebrate. The first was Worldfest in Bellevue. I had actually talked about it with Monica, Carrie, and Sandy on our way to Oklahoma. I was excited to see the different cultures celebrating. I got there and got to walk around to the different booths and see some of the special things that the different groups were doing to celebrate their heritage for the holidays. I got a packet of music to sing with the Czech singers and read over some of the words. I got to try a few different types of food and in what seemed like no time at all it was time to go and sing with the group. The Omaha Czech Cultural Club had a group of all ages there to sing. They had everyone in some sort of kroj and all of the kids had instruments (even a very small accordion up front!!) We sang a variety of Christmas songs in Czech and the kids played along. It was a lot of fun but I'm still not great at sight reading Czech words but couldn't make it to either of the practices they had. Thanks for letting me sing with you anyways OCCC! Carrie let Brad and I perform before her since I had to work that afternoon. We played a few songs and I sang Blue Skirt Walt. My grandpa's cousin from MO was even in town so he came to listen to us since he LOVES polka music and can't make it up to hear us play very often. After we finished up Carrie explained and played her Dudy for everyone. It was a great day and lots of fun to see other cultures represented.

Brad and I made it onto their website's photo album. To see pictures of us and some of the other performers visit the site.
http://www.bellevueworldfest.com/

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Tiny Town Called Touhy

Well I had only heard of the town of Touhy once when Brad said he was meeting his parents there. We had been talking with Dottie Sladky and thought it would be fun to go to the Touhy bar for accordion practice sometime and just have a mini jam. We got there to eat and then play and were joined by one other to play for the evening. We had a blast and they covered our meals for playing. I think the whole place was packed the whole time we were there and they asked us to come back again any time! :) It was a fun impromptu performance and we definitely plan to go back again sometime soon. The nice thing was I could practice and it wasn't a huge deal if I made mistakes. Hope everyone is having a great week!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

PS...I got a cute thank you card from the Girl Scouts. They all wrote their names inside the card with a picture of me on it. Then they printed out a big photo of me with the girls and had them sign their names by their name. Super fun! :) I also got a card from the teacher who invited me to Roper. It was a cute Dr Suess card...love Dr Suess! LOL

Back to Roper a Whole Day of Fun! :) Lincoln Czech Club Accordion History Lesson

A few months back I had gone and spoke at Roper Elementary (where I had gone to school.) I was featured in our neighborhood newspaper, the Westword, after I had won the Miss Czech Slovak Nebraska title and got a call a few weeks ago about this. One of the 2nd grade teachers (who happened to be a past teacher of my younger brother) was reading it and thought of something she had been thinking for a while. She had seen that I play accordion and thought about the author study that the whole school would be doing in November. There was a book by this author about some uncommon instruments and she thought it would be fun to have me come and talk to the 2nd graders about my accordion. She was really excited when she called my mom and I happened to be there so we set up a date and time and it was in the books! :) I was excited to get to talk to another age group at Roper and well...just to go back to Roper period!! I emailed the 4th grade teachers again also and asked if I could come back again as the last group of 4th graders that I spoke to were now 5th graders. We tried and tried to set it up but with my work schedule it was hard. The day before I was attending to speak to 2nd grade one of the speakers that the 4th grade class canceled and I was able to take their place. (I think it was meant to be! HEHE!)

I started by speaking to the 2nd graders. I went through the normal information by talking about heritage and where my family came from. On of the teachers even brought me a globe to show them where it was. I told them about the LONG trip to the US and why they had come here. I also asked them what kind of things that they think these families would have to bring. Then I talk to them about my accordion and how I can't give up when I get frustrated with playing because it's hard but I can do it if I just keep practicing. I played a few songs and answered LOTS of questions! I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz also so they could hear the Czech words. (They had fun giggling hearing how different the words are.) I had lots of fun talking to this group. I went into the classroom of the teacher who invited me and talked to the kids more one on one. They were WONDERFUL listeners! :)

I had a few hours until I had to speak again so I went to the principals office and visited and also went and said hello to a few other teachers. It's always fun seeing some of the teachers I haven't seen in a few years. Hard to believe it's been 11 years since I went to school there! EEK! I also got to meet the author himself and got a signed copy of one of his books. Next stop was the 4th grade pod!

I got to spend my time in one 4th grade classroom and each of the classes rotated in. I talked about all of the same things as I did with the 2nd graders but in a different way. It was fun to hear the kids tell me what they know about their heritage. :) One kid said "I know Czech but I'm only allowed to say one word that I know because the rest are bad." LOL! Later on he raised his hand again and asked if he could share the word he knows and he said Husak and told everyone it means Goose. They were also great listeners and had lots of questions for me. I had a blast with each and every one of these classes!

After a few hours with the kids I had a bit of rest then headed to the Moose Lodge for the Lincoln Czech's meeting. We had our normal business meeting and for the first time I got to stand up and talk a bit about membership as the new membership chair person. I also told them a bit about my queenly duties to keep them updated. The entertainment for the night was Don and Emma Trouba and the history of accordions. It was AWESOME to see as a new accordion player. They first told the actual history of the accordion then went through all of the accordions that Don owns and told a bit about the differences and how he came upon that specific one. It's so much fun to me now to see all of the different accordions and how much different they each sound. I hope someday I'll have a collection 1/2 that size. LOL! Too bad they're not a bit cheaper. HAHA! Well I'll write after the next event.

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

PS...I got a packet from Sherridan Elementary and opened it up to find handmade cards from the class I spoke to a few weeks back. They are SO AWESOME! :) It seriously made my day. Some drew pictures of me, my accordion, my crown, etc and each of them wrote me a small letter thanking me and telling me their favorite part of having me visit. Some said things on the front like "The Czech Queen Rocks!" or "I hope you win for USA." :) This is one of my favorite things I've gotten so far as queen!!!

Wilson Opera House and a New Adventure...Speaking to Girl Scouts!

Before I write about speaking to the Girl Scouts I have to share something. If you remember me traveling to Wilson, KS in a previous post we had gone to the Wilson Opera House to see the Miss Czech Slovak Kansas pageant. I was very sad to hear about a fire there on November 6 but didn't know how much damage was done. The Wilson Opera House and Czech museum in the basement were COMPLETELY destroyed. I am praying for the Czech community in and around Wilson. This is such a tragety and I can't believe that this has happened again. It seems like just yesterday we were trying to help out with the museum in Cedar Rapids. If you would like to make a donation please send it to:

Czech Opera House Museum Rebuilding Fund
Att. John Casper
136 Eight Rd
Wilson, KS 67490

Anything will help and I pray that they can rebuild and hopefully replace some of the items in the museum. This community is definitely in my thoughts and prayers and I hope you put them in your prayers also.

When I was looking for events to attend and opportunities to speak to youth about heritage my brother's girlfriend (Harleena) asked if I had ever spoken to a Girl Scout troupe. I hadn't but was excited when she asked if I would come and speak to the Daisy Troupe she leads. I was very excited to get to talk to a group of girls and maybe spark a little interest in a few future Czech queens. ;) A few nights before the meeting Harleena and I went over to my mom's house and helped to make kolace. We were laughing so hard all night when we goofed up then were talking too much and forgot to take one pan of them out of the oven...they were a little darker than they should have been (but we saved them and gave them to the boys. HAHA!) I arrived at the school a few minutes before the meeting started and already had all the girls attention. I had invited my cousins wife to bring their daughter along to see me speak and meet some of the girls since they had just moved from Albuquerque, NM. They all sat down and Harleena had them say the girl scout promise and law then introduced me. I had each of the girls go around and tell me their names. I started by talking a bit about heritage and what it means. I told them about my family coming to the US and asked them if they know what they would bring with them if they left their house forever and all they could take is what they could fit in their school backpack. I explained that this is what many families did but they couldn't pack it with toys because they had to have clothes and other necessities. I told them about my kroj and showed them some of the special pieces. Next was accordion time. :) They were all excited to tell me that they sing or play an instrument so I went around the group and had them tell me which they prefer and if they play an instrument. They had fun getting to share with me instead of me talking the whole time. I played a few songs on the accordion and was surprised when all of the girls started singing when I played "Apples, Peaches, Pumpkin Pie." I thought it was great that they all knew at least a little polka music! :) After playing a few I sang for them so they could hear Czech words. I left lots of time through the whole meeting for questions. Once I finished presenting and they finished up their questions we took a group picture and then had kolace for snack. I signed a picture for each of them and talked to them a bit more. I had SO MUCH FUN and Tarin decided that she wanted to join Girl Scouts because she did too! :) I told them I would come back any time! Well this is just the first of my journeys with kids this week...read more later!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Back to Bohemian Cafe (YUMMY!)

A few months back Brad had played at Bohemian Cafe and I was honored to have joined him to sing and play. The Bohemian Cafe asked Brad to come back and play and asked if I would come along again in kroj to perform. We had such a wonderful time last time we were there of course we accepted! I agreed to meet Brad there so he could get there quicker and get everything set up. My family and I headed to Omaha as soon as we were all off work. I ate as soon as I got there and more family joined us for the night. My mom's cousin even came out to celebrate her birthday with us. By the time I was finished eating Brad was ready to have me come and sing and play a few songs with them. I sang some on my own and even joined Math Sladky's brother in singing one song as he had come and was singing a few with the band also. I also played a few songs on the accordion with them. We had a good time again and I stayed to help the band pack up to head home and rode home with them. As before...it was a blast and we can't wait to go back and play or at least visit again!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Last Night at Blue River Lodge

We heard rumors flying around about this being the last year for BRL under the current ownership but we ignored because I think more than anything...we didn't want it to be true! The last Sunday night of the year (well the part of the year that it is warm enough to have dances) was this Sunday and I wished it hadn't come so quickly. I hadn't been to BRL before this year and I had a BLAST every single time I went. We went out to watch Sue and the Blue River Czechs perform and danced the night away. They even asked me to come up on stage to sing and play few with them. It was a great night and I will miss having this place to come together and enjoy some good Czech polka music on Sundays! :*( Hopefully someone else will take over where the owners left off so we can keep our music alive. Hope to see each of you who reads this at a polka event in the near future. If we don't support these places they won't be around much longer!!!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Sherridan Elementary

I was excited to hear from another elementary school this year. Sheridan Elementary had contacted and we found a time that I could go out and visit. I quickly made plans to visit and just made my visit yesterday! :)

Their class had just started talking a bit about heritage and immigrants coming to Nebraska so it worked perfectly for me to come and talk to them. I started by telling them about my family and where they came from. I told them stories about their trip here and the land they received due to the Homestead Act. I asked the kids to tell me any stories they knew about their families and some raised their hands to share. Next I told them a bit about my kroj and how the kroj is different in every region. I told them how my family brought over many traditions that I try to keep alive today and one of them is music. I told them how playing the accordion was lost for several generations in my family but I am proud to have started and hopefully maybe it will get carried along further. I talked a bit about my journey in playing the accordion and showed them my accordion. Let me tell you...you would never think you would get kids so excited about an instrument like that! :) I played Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie for them and they wanted to hear more. I sang Blue Skirt Waltz for them so they could hear a bit of the Czech Language and then played a few more songs. There were lots of questions after I had finished and I did my best to answer them all before our time was up. I had a great time speaking to Sherridan and they seemed to really enjoy what I spoke about. :) They were a great audience!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Something New - Fall Festival

I decided it was time for another trip out of state...but not TOO far out of Nebraska. :) Munden, KS to be exact!

A while back when I was in Kansas for their Czech Festival in Wilson, I met the president of the Republic County Czechs from Kansas. He had told me about a festival they would be having in the fall and we exchanged contact information. I received a letter in the mail inviting me to come as the event got closer. We got up and headed down that morning and I was excited to see how yet another club celebrates together. Upon arriving I went straight to the stage as the accordion jam was already in progress. They were excited to have the only female accordionist join them. They introduced me and even had me play one with the mic on my accordion. (I still get really nervous when they do that.) They had a potluck dinner with EVERYTHING YOU COULD IMAGINE! Ring bologna, liver and onions, sauerkraut and sausage, macaroni and cheese, and the list goes on...and on...and on. :) I tried not to take too much of anything so I could try lots of things...and I did but still hardly touched anything that they had. I was excited to see one of the Lincoln Czechs (Mel) there as this is the area where he grew up. After lunch they introduced each of the queens and gave us a chance to talk a bit about ourselves and being queen. After I spoke I talked to Sue Underwood about playing accordion for me to sing along to. She agreed and we did one quick run through behind the building. I played and sang the Blue Skirt Waltz for everyone. Once we all spoke and performed and everyone was done eating they had everyone help move all of the tables off the floor and started the dance. Sue and the Blue River Czechs played for the rest of the day. I had a blast dancing with whoever I could and then headed home. Before we went home we stopped at the graveyard to see a few graves of family members. Some of them the first who came to the US and started life here. (After living in Nebraska they moved to Kansas where they are now buried.) There is even rumor of one of the graves being dug up in Wilber and moved to Kansas. I was pretty tired from the busy weekend and ready to get a good nights sleep before it all started over again. Hope everyone is doing well!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Vala's Pumpkin Patch

A few months back Sandy from the state pageant asked me if I would be willing to come out to Vala's Pumpkin Patch and visit while they were open this fall. She works there part time and knows that they usually had an accordion player come out and perform at least once each year. I thought this sounded like a blast and had never been to Vala's so what a great way to get to see it all! :) I got in touch with their activities coordinator and was asked to be a "Strolling Celebrity" for the day. Basically my job was to walk around and meet people. It was a lot of fun. Lots of "Mommy It's a PRINCESS!" comments. :) I had my picture taken with Darth Vader and some of the Storm Troopers (more celebrities at Vala's for the day. After walking through a bunch of the different areas in Vala's I headed back to the main barn to meet Brad. The place is HUGE...I had no idea how much they had out there. We got our accordions out and played a few songs inside the main food barn and then went outside and drew quite a crowd around us to listen. (He even borrowed a vest so he would match me better.) We had a lot of fun playing for everyone and they seemed to enjoy it. After playing for about an hour we were able to change and walk through the park some more. It was a great day (just wish it would have been a BIT warmer.) I definitely recommend going out to Vala's if you have never been (even if you don't have kids...we had a blast just being kids ourselves!HAHA!)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Brad Husak Combo in Ashland

A few weeks back Brad told me that he was going to be playing in Ashland for the first time. I decided to surprise him so I told him I had to be at an event I had later in the day much earlier than I really needed to be. On our way my mom and I stopped in Ashand to visit. There weren't a whole lot of people at the event but I was introduced and got to perform a few songs with the band. It was a lot of fun and we totally surprised him. Unfortunately, we couldn't stay for long before heading to the next event for the day!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Lincoln Czech Club...Home Sweet Home!

In all of the rush traveling around the state and even to different states I was VERY excited to get to go back to the Lincoln Czech Club and speak. This is where it all started in 2004! :) I was invited to come back and speak to the club about the things I've done so far this year as their queen and now as the Nebraska queen. I put together a PowerPoint of EVERYTHING...which is a lot if you haven't noticed. HAHA! I couldn't believe how nervous I got in front of all of them STILL after all of these years. The only explanation I have for it is that they are my core group of fans...my extended family who has stuck by me through all this time! The LAST thing I would ever want to do is disappoint them. I talked through all the things I've done then modeled my kroj as I did in Clarkson and performed my talent so the people who couldn't make it were able to get an idea of what went on at the pageant. After I finished my talent we had Brad Husak and Dottie Sladky join me and we played a few songs for everyone. It was really fun because the Choraliers were all singing along. I also sang a few more songs and we got a few requests. It was a blast as usual and I look forward to many more meetings with the group! It was an honor to be invited to entertain all of them.

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

October Czechfest

I was really bummed to attend the last Nebraska Czech Festival of the year...I don't want them all to be over yet!!! :(

We got up early on Sunday morning and finished our trek from Oklahoma. We didn't get settled into our hotel room until around midnight (if I remember right...I fell asleep in the car.) When we got to York I got into my kroj and was ready for the day. I played a few songs in the accordion jam before stepping off stage to enjoy some lunch. I knew I wouldn't have much time to eat after that. They did have me featured during one song we played. I got a little frustrated with myself because I couldn't figure out where we were in a few of the songs but caught back up eventually. After the accordion jam I was asked to sing the Czech and US national anthem. I asked Carrie Brown to join me in singing. Once they finished opening ceremonies they introduced each of the queens. We were able to talk a bit about ourselves and then if we wanted we could perform our talent. My mom was flying back from Hawaii so I asked to be last so she could POSSIBLY make it in time to see me perform. It's always much harder to perform my talent without a wireless mic as some of my kroj are pretty heavy to hold with one and and turn around so you can see both sides. Right before we all started to perform our talents my mom made it! :) I was so happy that she was there to watch me...ON HER 50th BIRTHDAY! Little did she know what we had planned next. After performing my talent it was time for the dumpling roll off. Well I got asked to participate and when I told my mom about it she laughed at me because she said I didn't know how to make dumplings. We decided to try to be funny and "tag teamed" in and out of mixing...rolling etc. :) They said we cheated...I think I was just being smart in opting out of the parts I didn't want to have to do. HAHA! Once we finished up I had to run to the back of the room to meet with everyone who had come to help us celebrate Mom's birthday. My dad, older brother and his girlfriend, and younger brother all came to help surprise her. I had gone to Dollar Tree a few weeks ahead of time and bought noisemakers, "Over the Hill" signs, party hats/headbands, etc. We all met in the back of the room and she started walking back. My dad quickly said "Shandra really needs to talk to you, she keeps asking where you are. You better go find her!" so she headed to ask Shandra what was up. When she got to Shandra...she had no clue what my mom was talking about. We by then had all gotten organized ans started marching towards her and tooting our horns. We pretty much stole the show then sang Happy Birthday. Brad even announced AGAIN that it was her 50th Birthday. I spent some time asking people to write a birthday wish in cards I had bought for her and then had to head back to Lincoln to get to work at Best Buy. I had a BLAST at the York October Czechfest!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Oklahoma Czech Festival

Well I decided it had been long enough since I went out of state to celebrate the wonderful Czech heritage so off to Oklahoma we went. :)

I rode down with Sandy Schnackenberg (one of the pageant committee members,) Carrie Brown (Miss Czech Slovak US 2009 2nd Runner Up and Nebraska Czech Slovak Queen 2008,) and Monica Brown (Carrie's mom.) We had been talking a few weeks before and all agreed that we wanted to go. My poor mom had to be in Hawaii to celebrate my parents 30th Anniversary and her 50th Birthday so she had to miss out on all the fun. HA! Well one thing I did learn from my mother in is our packing strategy when leaving for a trip. I was up all night then slept for a few hours just to get up and finish. Of course I was trying to finish about 10 things for the York festival before leaving too!

We started our trek after lunch and headed straight down to Choctaw, OK. We arrived at Christy Kessler's (Miss Czech Slovak US 2008 1st Runner Up and Oklahoma Czech Slovak Queen 2007) house around 10pm. Her family was kind enough to let all of us queens stay at their house rather than paying for a hotel! We moved all of our stuff in and sat to visit for a while. Debbie Kessler went to high school and graduated with Garth Brooks so she told us some fun stories and showed us pictures of him throughout the years. Carrie and Monica finished some car signs and then Sandy and Monica headed to their hotel for the night. It was after midnight by the time Shandra Korbelik (Nebraska Czech Slovak Queen 2007) and Brianna Tichy (Miss Czech Slovak US 2009) arrived. Brianna had to make signs when she arrived so we were up till around 2 or 3am when we all layed down and tried to go to sleep. We had to get up early so some of the girls could shower and get ready for the day. Before we went to bed we left a note for the Kessler's on the window with sticky letters. "Thanks Kesslers! Love, Queens!" The morning came a bit earlier than we all had hoped! Debbie got to be a Mega Queen Mom in helping 5 queens get dressed and ready for the day. After everyone was dressed and ready we headed to Yukon to start the day with their parade. It was neat because we got to ride through in some neat old cars. As we were going through the parade every once and a while I would hear "GO HUSKERS!" or "YEA NEBRASKA!" and look out to see one lone Husker fan out there. :) Then I heard my name yelled out and saw someone I hadn't seen in MANY YEARS. Well when I was 11 I was a little sister in the Miss Czech Slovak US pageant. My queen was Traci Crofford from Oklahoma. When I knew I would be heading to Oklahoma I tried to find her....and thanks to Facebook....I did and told her that I would be there for the festival. She lives in Yukon so we exchanged numbers and agreed to meet up sometime that day. It just seems crazy that in August...I'LL BE THE BIG SISTER AT THE NATIONAL PAGEANT! After the parade we headed to their main stage for the festival and got some lunch. It's always fun to have Czech dinners at different places because they are all so different! Traci came over and found me and we took a few pictures together. They had a big group of dancers so they entertained quite a bit. They had them dancing and singing and then had time for everyone to join in and dance too. I learned the 7 step polka...I think that's what it's called. LOL! They had us come up and introduce ourselves at one point also. After we all introduced ourselves I made sure to thank the Kessler's for their hospitality...it was definitely above and beyond anything they had to do and I know all of us girls appreciated it. We shopped through all of the little stands they had in the craft area and stayed until the end of events in that part of town. At the very end of the day they crowned their 2009 Oklahoma Czech Royalty. They crown a Prince, Princess, Junior Queen, and Queen. I met their new queen Jacey Jedlicka who will be in Wilber with me next year and we took a few pictures. After their crowning everyone heads over to their Czech Hall for a dance in congratulations to the new royalty. We were escorted into the dance and lucky for us...again the Kessler's helped us out! After we were all walked in and introduced we danced the first dance with our escort to get the dance started. We didn't stay for too long after that as we planned to get halfway back to York that night so we wouldn't have to get up QUITE as early in the morning. We had a great time and I met even more wonderful Czech people...I still don't' think you'll find better people around! I look forward to attending the Oklahoma festival again in the future! If you're around the area...definitely Czech it out! :)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Prague Heritage Day

I was excited to get to participate in Prague's Heritage day this year! I wasn't sure who would be there but I reminded all of the queens on Facebook because I miss all of them!

I actually had gone back to Columbus with Brad to meet some of his friends back home so we headed to Prague from Columbus on Sunday morning. I finally got to listen to Mark V on his Polka show and even called in to say hello and thanks to everyone for supporting me so far this year! We got to Prague around 11:15 and ate a WONDERFUL duck dinner (with dumplings, kraut, stuffing, and rye bread....YUMMY!!) at Kolace Corner. I headed over to the National Hall to see if anyone needed any help and ended up finding a garnet ring that I liked at the Czech Cottage booth...surprise surprise....once again Heidi had something I wanted! :-D I didn't buy it though...WILLPOWER! I went back to Kolace Corner and ran into Rabecca (the Prague Czech Queen) and her family. Everything started to come together by the time I made it back over to the National Hall! The program started a bit late but I was able to talk about myself and what I've done so far as queen and perform my talent (minus all of my props.) After I performed with Brad playing I invited Shandra up to the stage and had her play a few songs with us also. It was great to get to play with her again! They had Shandra and Rabecca speak a little bit about themselves and even had Sandy S come up and talk about the state pageant. Next was Sue Underwood and Carrie Brown (Miss Czech-Slovak US 2nd Runner Up and past Nebraska Queen) to do their demonstration and performance on the Dudy (Czech Bagpipes.) It was great to hear them play together and they did an awesome job especially since they had to throw it all together a few minutes before the performance!! I got to draw a few raffle tickets (hope nobody is mad if I didn't pick them!) Brad and I stuck around until it was all over and they were cleaning up. I ran into Annette's sister again and told her that I had actually met her sister only a few days before. There was also members of Studio Trio (who I sang with in Dwight) and a few from the night we went to Abie's Place. It was a great day and I can't wait to attend more events with the Prague Czech Chapter! Oh and I forgot to telly you...I gave in and bought the ring...yupp...another SILVER Garnet ring (so i can wear it everyday...and I do!) My every day jewelry now consists of 2 garnet rings, a garnet necklace, and sometimes a garnet bracelet if I feel like wearing one. ;)

I have a TON of stuff to get done this week before Oklahoma and the York Festival! WISH ME LUCK ON KNOCKING A HUGE TO DO LIST OUTTA THE WAY!

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Nebraska Czech Brass Band at Bohemian Cafe

I was excited to have another chance to go to the Bohemian Cafe! :) I had also never heard the Nebraska Czech Brass Band play so this was even more exciting. Brad and I decided to head up there and mom asked if she could come along at the last minute. We got there late as I wasn't feeling too well but at least made it in time to have some wonderful food and hear some great music. When we got there I realized one of the judges from the state pageant was in the band. I remembered him talking about a band and traveling to the Czech Republic with them etc but didn't realize it was THIS BAND! I also had the honor of meeting Annette Vanek, the first ever Miss Czech-Slovak US. We had been Facebook friends for a while but it was great to actually meet her. :) Oh and I had actually met her older sister in Abie a few months back if you remember so it was fun to tell her about that also. After they finished playing we talked a few people and everyone kept asking when Brad and I would be back...HOPEFULLY SOON! (Kinda made me feel good that they asked about me too! HEHE!) We also got to meet Barry Boyce in the back of the restaurant. Glad we didn't miss it!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Just Go to the Hot Air Bloon on the Interstate...Yorkfest!

Well I felt like a bad queen last weekend! I didn't do anything in kroj at all or at least get introduced and sing...hmmmm gonna have to work on that so it doesn't happen again! ;)

I remembered going to a Yorkfest parade several years ago before York had it's own Czech Festival so I started looking into it. I haven't had a chance to work with the York Czechs much yet. My mom gave me the email address of one of the York Czechs so I emailed here and asked if I could attend. I started making plans and also told her that I would be at the dumpling cook-off and if they needed a server or judge or anything let me know. (I'm sneakier than you though huh? FREE DUMPLINGS...I'M THERE!) She asked if I would be a judge and of course I said YES! LOL! I was definitely excited for this event.

I arrived with my dad Saturday morning and after getting the cars unloaded went and lined up with the rest of the York Czechs for the parade. It was great to see such a wide variety of people supporting the York Czechs. I asked if everyone would take a picture together before we had to start on our way through the parade to show that there were people young and old to support this chapter. After the parade Pam agreed to take me around town so I wouldn't be left on my own. :) We stopped by the kolace booth for a bit to see everyone and then headed back to her house for a bit before we had to run a few errands. We first grabbed some lunch then headed to the local Chinese food restaurant to pick up some Chinese Dumplings that they had entered in the dumpling cook-off. They also had asked me to call Brad and have him come early to play with a few other people before/during the cook-off. We headed to the college to start setting up and I helped her carry in all of the things she needed. After setting up I got to be a judge and eat some of each of the 8 different entries....YUMM! :) There were fruit dumplings, potato dumplings, and Chinese dumplings...how on earth do you decide!?!?! Each of the 3 judges got to pick our 1st - 3rd choices and we tallied the results. Then all of the other guests got to try them all and vote too. They picked both a Judges Choice and a Peoples Choice winner and they got a bowl, wooden spoon, dumpling mix, and dumpling potholder. They actually had dumpling mix for sale...what a great idea if you don't have time to throw it all together yourself it's only about a 2 min job this way just to mix in the wet ingredients. Keep an eye out for that at the York festival this year...I bet they'll have it there. After stuffing myself full of dumplings I played a few songs with the group of accordion players and then spoke a little bit about what I've been doing so far this year and thanked everyone. I am definitely excited for the York Czech festival in a few weeks! :)

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Come on Down and Join in the Fun

....Nebraska State Fair

I know you know the jingle! Don't try to pretend you didn't hear it 1,000 on the TV and radio this year. :) I actually hadn't made it to the state fair at all this year with my busy schedule. (Surprise, surprise. LOL) It was a late night as I said before but luckily I slept quite a bit in the car on the way home so I wasn't too incredibly tired when we got up to get ready for the fair. My parents just dropped Brad off at home and then dropped Laura and Me off at my house to sleep but we left everything in the car. Luckily....my dad doesn't like to sleep in so he had everything unloaded when we got up and got to their house to get ready. :P Oh and BONUS...mom warmed up everything they got from the bakery in West for breakfast! We got ready and headed down to the fairgrounds and met Laura's parents to get all of her stuff back with them. We headed in and found our float. They had several queens participating from rodeo queens to beauty pageant queens to Czech queens so they just had a float for all of us to ride on. Lane (the Wilber Czech Prince) was also riding with us so the sign they had said "Nebraska Queens (and One Prince Too!)" We thought that was just too cute! After the parade we went to the family activity tent and had an autograph signing/meet and greet. Unfortunately I didn't know what exactly we would be doing so I didn't bring autograph sheets. I made a sign up sheet for people to give me their email address or physical address for a photograph. I emailed a photograph of me to each kid with their name and mine along with a special message. I definitely need to get my autograph sheets and business cards ready for the next event. EEK! It was a lot of fun and after the signing we went out and changed so we could walk around a bit. Laura decided to head back home with her parents right after that because she had to get back to class but Sheyenne, Brad, and I walked around for a while together and Sheyenne and I got to wear our shirts we got made in TX. We even stopped by the Franks booth from Wilber and took a picture with them. :) After Kiesels left Brad and I walked around till the booths started shutting down. A fun day at the fair and most likely the last time I'll be going for the next few years.

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

WESTFEST! (The Furthest Journey Yet!)

Well everyone I just got back from Westfest and had a blast! I definitely recommend heading down to West, TX over Labor Day Weekend if you have a chance. It wasn't Wilber but I figure I have a biased opinion. :-D I had been in contact with Sharon Middlebrook (the mother of Sarah Middlebrook, Miss Czech-Slovak US 2006) on Facebook for a few months and she was so helpful and welcoming when we began talking about traveling to West for the festival. If you haven't already you should definitely check out her blog. She has made several replica kroj for Sarah...COMPLETELY by hand and she has been kind enough to share her secrets in case you are looking to make one or something similar. Click Here to Visit Sharon's Czech Costumes Blog I can't thank her and her family for their hospitality over the weekend enough. You truly made myself and my WHOLE family feel like royalty and you are the type of people who keep people coming back to events like this again and again!

We left around 6am on Friday morning (as usual we were a bit late.) HAHA! I didn't get to sleep until around 4am and had to pack up the van at 5am. Nothing like waiting till the last minute to pack and get ready for a trip. :) I swear traveling with 5 was a lot easier when we were all little kids! HEHE! Both of my parents went along with myself, Laura, and Brad. We drove and drove and drove then stopped in Oklahoma City to visit some relatives. They were cousins of my Grandmother's on the Rezabek side of the family which made it even more fun because they were my relatives AND Laura's. We thought while we were driving through we would stop by and since Brad and I had brought our accordions...we had a small concert in their commons area of their apartment. Their names are Mary Ann and Erma Rezabek. They have been sending me Birthday...Christmas...Easter...Valentines Day...St Patricks Day...etc cards since I was little. :) They never had grand kids of their own so I guess they just adopted us and we think they are the sweetest ever so it was well appreciated! A few months back I received a package from Mary Anne after my parents and brother had stopped by on their last trip to TX and showed them all of the pictures and videos from the state pageant. She had sent me several books about Czech heritage, 2 records one of which was from the Czech Choraliers that I now sing with, a piece of Czech trim, and the last was a complete shock. She had sent me a beautiful garnet necklace. With the necklace she had handwritten it's story. It was several pages long so I'll summarize. Basically she used to be a teacher on military bases for children of US soldiers. She was getting sent to Germany when a soldier asked her to do him a favor and if she ever went to Prague to find his elementary school pen pal. She did find him on her first trip to Prague and continued to visit him and his wife each time that she visited the country. Before she came back to the US she visited one last time and they gave her this garnet necklace. The man has since passes away but she told me that whenever I wear it that she would be proud along with him, his wife, and a now free Czech Republic. Mom and I cried when we read this. They loved having all of us stop by and hearing a bit of our music and in the last card I received from them they said that they still get questions about who we were and why we stopped and why we were playing. :) After leaving their apartment we stopped at the Oklahoma City Bombing Memorial. I still wish I could go into the museum but it is like 4 stories tall and I'm sure I could spend a whole day just looking through it. I recommend stopping at least to see the outdoor memorial if you are ever in the area. I had been there before but now being older and really knowing what happened that day it literally took my breath away to walk in there. I held back the tears more than once. After those 2 stops we were set to drive the rest of the way with no other major stops....wrong....apparently traffic decided to make us stop ON THE INTERSTATE...MULTIPLE TIMES! We even took a 50 mile detour once to try to get around an accident that happened in a construction zone and were still at a stop when we got back on the interstate. Next we hit rush hour traffic in Dallas....LOVELY! By the time we checked into our hotel...our 11 hour drive had turned into a 14.5 hour drive. We were definitely ready to get out of the car when we got there. We hopped into the pool for a bit to relax when we got there which was fun. Mom and I tried doing flips together in the pool and almost drown each other then Brad and I tried our shot at a lyrical synchronized swimming duet. HAHA! Poor Laura had to get some homework done so she decided not to swim the first night. After winding down we tried to get some rest for a busy day on Saturday.

Saturday started early as we were trying to be to West by 7am and we were 20 mins away. Plus we had to be in kroj and ready for the day. We got up and started getting ready. Laura and I were runnin around with our tights already on and shorts and puttin on makeup and doing our hair. It was kinda like having a sister! Then while I was pulling my curlers out of my hair...I dropped one in the toilet! I told my mom I wasn't grabbing it and it was either staying there or she had to pull it out. :) Don't worry...I got pictures. HAHA! When we got to the Middlebrook's house we met up with the wonderful Kiesel family also. We didn't have a lot of time before we had to head to the parade but got to meet everyone and say hello at least. The Middlebrook's had a float made for us "Nebraska Czech Royalty" so Myself, Laura, Sheyenne, Carrie, and Konner got to ride through in the parade. I couldn't believe how fast they drove through the parade! We originally wanted to dance on the float but we stood up a few times and almost fell...not good. :) On the parade route I found out that my Texas family had met up with my parents. It was wonderful to see them and have them support me! My uncle Russ, aunt Linda, her parents Ann and Earl, my cousin Angie and her husband Dan and their 2 kids Nathan and Brayden ALL came down to West to see me. After the parade we got to watch some of the entertainment before the parade of kroj. I LOVED seeing all of the different and unique kroj and what better way than to have each person parade through and describe their kroj a little bit. LOVED IT!!! Once we were done walking through the open air auditorium they had us parade through the whole festival then take a picture under the Vitame Vas na Westfest (Welcome to Westfest) sign. They wanted some pictures with all of the queens so we had to wait to get all of us together too. After all of that I was pretty worn out and ready to go back to the hotel and swim/relax. It was hot which I had been hoping for but I definitely didn't ask for all of that humidity. We didn't have much time to walk around but Laura and I had a shirt made by the airbrush people with our titles but had to wait until the following day to pick them up. We left early to go cool off and my parents didn't want to come back the next day because they had see everything but Laura,Brad, and I decided we were coming back to see everything the next day. We had fun visiting my aunt and uncles campsite and swimming but we were definitely ready to crash when we went to to bed...AFTER waiting forever for the showers. LOL...5 of us and 1 shower = lots of time waiting if you're the last one to shower (ME AND I WAS THE FASTEST ONE OF ALL!)

Sunday morning we got up and had breakfast. We ran into the Kiesels at breakfast and had a few issues with the waffle making! LOL! We went back to Westfest and walked around for a few hours. We bought some of the stuff from the craft section and I had to make another stop by the outdoor air conditioning because I thought it was just too funny. I even walked through several purse booths...AND DIDN'T EVEN BUY ONE!!! Mom and Dad made it to the bakery in West to grab some goodies and called when they ran out of things to do. We grabbed some food (WE FINALLY FOUND THE CZECH FOOD) and headed back to the gates to meet them. Oh I didn't mention this was a lot like a fair...craft booths....fair style food....and entertainment only with a Czech twist. We stopped by my aunt and uncles campsite on our way out of town to say goodbye to everyone before we headed for our HOPEFULLY NOT SO LONG trip home! I had such a good time and wish I could have stayed longer but had to be back in Lincoln for a parade at the Nebraska State Fair. On our way home we decided NOT to go through Dallas this time and stopped to show Brad and Laura my aunt and uncles outdoor living area that I am IN LOVE WITH! The basically have a living room, dining room, and bar under a shelter with fans etc so most of the year you can sit out there instead of being stuck in the house all of the time. They also put in a wood burning stove and heaters plus screens you can drop down so you can spend some of the "cold Texas months" out there too. Someday.... :) We had a less crazy drive home but it was 2:30am when we finally got home and headed to bed!! I was definitely happy to be home and see my puppies! (I'm pathetic...I know.)

Spanem Bohem!
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Brad Husak Combo Bohemian Cafe

Well Brad is snagging jobs all over the place and you know his #1 fan has to make an appearance as often as possible! :) This time he had the chance to play at Bohemian Cafe. If you remember we had gone there to hear Less Talk More Polka play a few months back and when he was there he started talking to the owners/managers. He gave them a CD and asked if they would be interested in having him come and play sometime. He was excited to play as he hasn't played much around the Omaha area. (I didn't complain either because this meant I had an excuse to eat there!!!!) We got there a bit later than we hoped to because my mom and I had to work until 5 but we were lucky to make it there before they started to play. It also took a bit longer because I wore my full kroj. A group of us said we would but I ended up being the ONLY one. We had dinner (this time I decided to just get sides because I ALWAYS order way too much when we go there) and as usual the food was wonderful. I at least got to eat my food before they started asking me to go up and play/sing. The crowd was AWESOME! I started to sing and they all joined in. :) I've never been anywhere where they have done that. I got to play my accordion and Brad as usual thought he needed to play it quite a bit too. I even tried hiding it from him under my table but he found it when I walked away! We can't wait to go back as we have more fun every time we go!!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Brad and Band at Kolace Corner, Bellvue, and Milford

Well another fun and eventful weekend filled with a variety of different things. Friday night I got a group of family and friends to go to Kolace Corner in Prague to watch Brad and his band play. It was a blast to get to spend some time with my family and friends and run into some people I haven't seen in a while. After I finished eating Brad announced that they were going to take a break and then some special guests would be up to play with them. It was really funny because he said he had to go get something and ran to the car. Well...a few weeks back my mom made him "Brad Husak Trio" and "Brad Husak Combo" signs...yea you're probably catching on here. He ran out to the car to get the combo sign and put it up when Shandra and I played. I messed up several times because I was using the Kuchar and I'm not used to the spacing on the square keys yet. I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz and played some songs with the band. I got to enjoy the music a bit longer. I kept telling Brad to put the black Kuchar down so he wouldn't get attached. He seems to have played that one more than his own in the evening. Later in the evening I decided to try to sing a few more songs since someone had the words. I TOTALLY messed up because the words are a bit different than the ones I knew. I sang Musicians Come and Play, Wide Meadow, and the Prune Song. Lots of fun and I know there are many more to come!

Saturday morning I had to get up early to head to Bellvue, NE for their parade. I was excited to get to go through the parade with Carrie Brown (2008 NE Czech-Slovak Queen and 2009 Miss Czech-Slovak US 2nd Runner Up.) Sandy S (from the NE pageant committee) was kind enough to borrow a friends convertible for us to ride through in so we met up with her and headed to the parade. There was a group from the Omaha Czech Cultural Club who walked through with a banner and Carrie and I rode in the convertible. It was fun and a BEAUTIFUL day for a parade but there was A LOT of sitting and waiting and moving a foot forward and sitting and waiting....yea you get the idea. I think we waited about an hour and a half before we were actually up to the beginning of the parade route. There were lots of people there and for once I heard "I love your tiara" or "I like your crown" or "You're pretty" INSTEAD of "Nice car" or "Burn out." They actually noticed us back there and not just the car! :) After the parade was over we decided to go have lunch at Ruby Tuesday. Mom and I joined Sandy, Carrie, and Monica. It was fun to sit down and talk to them about events around the state and the national pageant. When I finally looked at the clock I got a bit nervous as I had to be in Milford by 4pm and it was already 1:45.

We ran back home on our way through Lincoln to make some signs for my special guests for the 2nd parade and headed to Milford. I was excited to get to ride through the Milford Fun Days parade as SCC has been such a big supporter of me in my journeys as queen for the past few years. Dad was on a golfing trip so he couldn't drive me through so Donna Havener agreed to drive us through. Once again Donna saves the day! :) I always tell people I can tell you what not to do in WebAdvisor when registering for classes because I've done everything you shouldn't do. Donna has bailed me out of quite a few little situations when I've messed something up in my account! LOL! We met her at the High School along with Blair and Blaze Miller from Friend. They got to ride through the parade with me together this time. This was Blaze's first parade so he was pretty excited...his sister however didn't want me to get too attached. :) We had fun riding through the parade and parted ways. I was pretty tired after all of that. Mom and I got some food from the Milford Fire Dept and headed back to Lincoln. It was good to see some of my old/current instructors and go through this parade again as the Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen this time.

Well another fun filled weekend and more to come this week! Oh and I have to tell this story. I've been trying to figure out how I was going to pay for my accordion. My dad said he would have to check his farm account (from the farm land he inherited from grandpa Eddie Vocasek.) I told him that I know grandpa would have wanted me to spend the money on the accordion. :) As much as I joke about it I know he's smiling down on me every time I pick an accordion up. I miss him but he'll be with me always!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

First Look at MY Accordion! :-D

Well I've officially fell in love...with an accordion. HAHA! I've been looking for a Kuchar accordion for a few months now. It is to the point where I really needed my own to play since I really do love it and don't plan on giving it up anytime soon. :) Well the hard part is nobody else wants to sell their Kuchar. Well a few months ago I was lucky to have met Math and Dottie Sladky. Brad was very close to them and I started to get to know them through him. Well Dottie bought 3 accordions a few weeks back and knew how much I wanted a Kuchar. Although she originally was getting the Kuchar for herself she said that she would sell it to me because I may not have the opportunity to buy one again soon and she may. I couldn't believe it! Well Brad and I went out to see it and got to play it for a while. We looked at all 3 accordions first then went and had dinner. After we got back to the house she let us go through a bunch of CDs and Tapes from artists around the US and even some that Math had brought back from the Czech Republic. After going through all of those we played together for a while and we had to head back to Lincoln because I had an early morning at work. It was a great night and we definitely plan on going to visit her more often. I love the accordion...you'll have to check out the pictures of all 3 of them!! Hopefully I'll get the money situation in line so I can buy it soon. I am blessed to have met so many great people who are so supportive of me and my love of my Czech heritage. I don't think I could say thanks enough to all of you!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Playing at Aunt Pam's Wedding

Well as usual I didn't plan anything Czech for this weekend but ended up adding something to the list. My aunt got married this weekend and had asked Brad to play a song or 2 at the reception. This way she could have a few polka songs and also give the DJ a bit of a break. Well guess who got volunteered to help. :) We played several songs and I decided to sing the Blue Skirt Waltz too. A few of my family members like to polka so they were out doin their thing. It was a lot of fun and at least I got to do something Czech this week. I made Brad do a few on his own so he could show off a bit too. Another example that my family is really supportive of me!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Wilber Czech Days 2009 = THE COOLEST CZECH DAYS EVER

Well I can't believe Wilber Czech Days has gone by already...EEK! Only one more year till I'm IN THE PAGEANT IN WILBER! (Well actually it's 366 days from today...yes I'm already counting down!)

Well I headed to Wilber on Friday night this year. I had a really early morning as I started my new shift at work. I worked from 6am-2pm and didn't take a lunch so I could get out of there early. I got everything together and got dressed so Brad and I could head to the accordion jam. (Of course I was a bit behind. HEHE!) When we got there Shandra was just running up to the stage too so I didn't feel too bad. :) We played for a bit...or rather he played and I tried. Then I had to get Shandra off the stage. She was getting an award and I couldn't tell her about it so I told her that we were walking through the children's parade and needed to stop by the bandstand so I could accept an award for my dad first. We totally got her...she had NO IDEA and didn't even hear Laura when she called her name. :) My dad really did get the award too so I accepted it for him. We spent a bit more time walking the streets etc. We stopped in Sokol and ran into Grandma Dorothy there which was good because we were going to head to her house next to catch her before she went to bed. She said nobody else was coming till Saturday so I was really surprised to run into my cousin Dana there (she's a past Wilber Czech Queen!) I changed and we all headed out for the evening. We went to the Fox Hole to watch Sue and Gaylen and Deb play and didn't leave from there as it started pouring rain not too long after we got inside. Brad left early because he had to drive back to Wilber the next morning and we went back to Grandma's and got our beds put together etc. Nothing too crazy and a good night overall. :)

The next morning I got up and tried to get ready early but did a lot more sitting around that I should have! When I did get ready, Brad came and picked me up and we headed to the accordion jam at the bandstand. We hid in the back which was good for me because I had some room around me and was able to hear myself play. But towards the end of the jam they wanted everyone in the back to come to the front. Of course they wanted me front and center but I told them I would only come up there if they played songs I knew. We played Apples Peaches Pumpkin Pie, Koline, and When We Parted. It was fun to feel like I can play along now that I'm improving. After the jam we had a bit of time to wander around town because I had to do introductions of the chapter queens at noon. We met up with my prince and princess and watched the dancers perform. When we went on stage I COMPLETELY forgot my introduction but I just made a joke about it and moved on. I introduced Sidney and Jackson and made an announcement that it was Sid's 9th Birthday that day...nobody believed it because she is so stinkin little! We watched all of the National queens introduce themselves then headed up to the Czech Village for our dignitary luncheon. Before we got there we stopped at the Czech Craft Shop to get Jake a hat to wear with his vest in the parade (he got to ride through the parade in the front seat with us) and to Czech Cottage and bought me and Sidney new crown pins for our sashes (hers was broken.) We had time to run there while the national queens took pictures and then headed on our way. As usual my dad and younger brother were there to greet everyone and grandma was there serving food. We all grabbed some food then sat down for introductions. Well I had been trying to keep my dads award a secret...but CHARLIE KELLER spilled the beans at the bandstand and everyone started asking him where his sash was and telling him congrats. After Charlie introduced the mayor, senator, and Wilber Queen he introduced me. I spoke a bit and then asked for someone special to come up to the front. I explained that it was an honor to accept this award for my dad the night before and tried to choke down the tears when I explained that my grandpa had gotten this award when I was the Lincoln queen and now dad is getting it as I am the Nebraska queen. He was pretty proud. After that I did a few quick introductions and we had to run and get to the cars. I couldn't believe how cool it was! This couldn't possibly be Czech Days! :) The kids had fun and as usual bickered about who had more people on their side and which side their family was on. LOL! After the parade they went to get candy and I started to get ready for the talent show. There were several Friends/family members who weren't able to travel to Clarkson to see me perform my talent so I decided to do my talent in Wilber for everyone who missed it to see. After the parade was over the talent show started. I love watching all of the kids perform...they never stop surprising me! After all of the younger divisions were complete we started on the 18 and older division. The people in my division were Laura Shestak (the Wilber Czech Queen) who danced, Sydnee Kiesel (the Wilber Czech Princess' Older Sister) who sang, the Kiesel Quartet (Sydnee, Savanna, Sheyenne the Wilber Princess, and Conner) who danced, Myself, and 2 Girls who did a marshal arts performance. As usual...I definitely wouldn't want to be a judge in this competition. Everyone did an awesome job. Sydnee won 4th place, Kiesel Quartet won 3rd place, I won 2nd Place (which I've one for the past several years...I was really shootin for 1st this time,) and the marshal arts duo won 1st. After the talent show we watched the kids dance and then wandered around a bit before night 1 of the pageant. I was really excited to watch the pageant this year...hard to believe that my turn is only a year away. I've been watching this since I was a baby! The first night was kroj modeling and on stage interviews. I will tell you right now that things have changed! The interview questions just get harder and harder every year but they're looking for the best candidate and this is a great way to do that. I think there was 2 questions out of all of them that I may have stumbled on if I had to answer them right then and there. I was mentally going through what I would have said etc the WHOLE TIME! The kroj this year were BEAUTIFUL...but I say that every year. After the pageant my dad walked me back to grandma's house after a quick stop in the Hotel Wilber Beer Garden to see Vo (aka my uncle Gary) and Aunt Laurie because I haven't seen them in a while and they were there for his class reunion. I was SCARED TO DEATH that somebody was going to spill beer on me but I made it out of there clean and dry. YIPPEE! After changing we walked around a bit and I finally found some of the family to meet up with and it was already 11pm. We stayed out until the beer garden closed and walked back to grandma's house. I fell asleep on the recliner not too long after we got back and I was out for the night.

Sunday morning came too quickly...mostly because the recliner wasn't the most comfortable place to sleep and I was in the living room so as people started getting up I heard them walking around etc. I took a shower and cleaned up a bit but put off getting ready for the day. I put it off a bit too long because I was rushing like crazy to make it to the bandstand for introductions at noon. I got there right on time but they were running behind with the dancers so I was fine. PHEW! I did introductions of the chapter queens (and got my introduction right this time) then me and the kids listened to the national queen introductions. After they all did their introductions we walked with them to the Czech Village for the luncheon again. This one was shorter as there wasn't as many people there as the previous day. We rode through in a different car on the 2nd day (I'm lucky to have the hookup on cars!!!) Jake decided not to be my little Jr Prince on Sunday because he wanted to stay and catch candy. Toward the end of the parade someone had turned off about 3 or 4 blocks early...so everyone else followed. When we got up there I told dad to keep going and go to the end of the normal parade route. Everyone started cheering really loud and standing up when we came thorough. They were so excited that now the parade would actually come past them like it should have. I think I may have made some extra fans for next year. ;) After the parade we walked down to the Outdoor Theater and sat in the shade for a while (it was actually ALMOST Czech Days weather by this time.) Laura and I sent my mom and her dad on a mission to find us some sauerkraut/good Czech food so when they couldn't find anything else they told us to meet them at Sokol. We had lunch then headed back to the Outdoor Theater. They did introductions of the Wilber Royalty and then asked me to come up and speak a bit. I was really nervous...I think I started to realize that I would be on that same stage in a year competing for a title I have always dreamed to have. Once we were done with that I went back to Sokol and found Uncle Dan because I've always wanted to dance in the dance contest but never had a partner. Well in the beer garden the night before we "practiced for next year" because I thought that the dance contest was on Saturday. I kept trying to get him to say he would dance with me and so did the rest of the family...even Aunt Jan! :) I finally wore him down. We had to dance one polka and one waltz. After we finished they called us all back up and told us they needed one more polka. What was that...an endurance test?! LOL! We were in the 55+ age division and didn't place...there were like 7 other couples out there. Oh well...it was fun and at least I can say I finally did it! After the dance contest the kids danced one more time and then it was time for the pageant again. The 2nd night is always really exciting...the talents and awards! The talent was awesome! I was surprised to see no accordion players this year. After all of the girls did their talend, Sandy Ptak (the outgoing Miss Czech-Slovak US,) performed her talent...with a twist. Her court and Shandra Korbelik came out and danced while she was singing...it was HILLARIOUS. I posted it on YouTube and it is spreading around like crazy. :) Just click here to watch it! Next she gave her farewell speech and surprisingly...we all held it together. Then they brought all of the girls on stage for awards....drumroll please! Here were the results:
TJ Sokol Award (For the Best Sokol Like Routine) - Olivia Cada, Miss Minnesota
Heritage Award (Based on Application) - Tanya Jech, Miss Illinois
Lois Fiala Spirit Heritage Award - Leilani Kurtak, Miss Arizona
Miss Congeniality (Voted by Contestants) - Olivia Cada, Miss Minnesota
Oratory Award (Public Speaking) - Teresa Mahoney, Miss Oregon
Americanized Kroj (Costume) - Christy Dowling, Miss Kansas
Authentic Kroj (Costume) - Teresa Mahoney, Miss Oregon
Talent Runner Up - Briana Tichy, Miss New Jersey
Grand Talent - Christy Dowling, Miss Kansas
2nd Runner Up - Carrie Brown, Miss Nebraska
1st Runner Up - Teresa Mahoney, Miss Oregon
Miss Czech-Slovak US 2009 - Briana Tichy, Miss New Jersey
They all did an AMAZING job! I loved watching all of these girls and look forward to being in the pageant next year and I'm sure that the competition will only get harder...it always does. After the pageant they took tons of pictures and then headed to Sokol for the queen reception. We danced and had cake/punch and spent time with all of the girls. It was a blast. Definitely a great way to end the weekend. I STILL CAN'T BELIEVE MY TURN IS A YEAR AWAY NOW! I'm sure the time is going to fly by but I'm gonna do everything I can to make it a wonderful and memorable year.

If any of you can suggest anything or can help me prepare for the pageant next year...I would love your help. You can send me a comment here or email me at stefanievocaek@hotmail.com I appreciate all of your support up to this point and hope to make all of you proud in the months to come!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

A Trip to Kansas for a Czech Festival! :)

Well I made my first out of state appearance as the Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen this weekend. :) I wanted to travel around Nebraska as much as possible as the Nebraska queen this year but I also wanted to make it to a few of the other state's festivals to see how different things are everywhere you go. We had to get up super early so we could be on the road by 5:30am (which turned into 6am with me and mom traveling. LOL) I wanted to sleep the whole way down there but couldn't fall asleep for the first hour or so. I finally crashed after we grabbed some breakfast in York. I was going to put my hair in curlers on the way but my curlers took too much power so we couldn't get them powered on. LOL! DANG IT! When we pulled up I got dressed (the rest of the way...Donna and Sandy could see me trying to get dressed in the back of the van...it worked much better when I was six...or any time before I was 6'1". HEHE!) It started to sprinkle so we were hoping to make it through the parade before it rained. Well that definitely didn't happen. I did OK keeping myself somewhat dry but it wasn't the most fun parade we've been through this year. My mom had just made me new signs to go with my Nebraska signs so she found someone with Saran wrap to cover them with. :) After the parade we went down to the beer garden to hear the polka band play. Brad knew the band leader Dave Salmons so he sent out a song to us and introduced me as the Nebraska Queen. We walked around the park a bit to see all the vendors and I got a t-shirt made. I had them put Wilson Czech Festival 2009 on the front and the back has a list of things about being Czech. (I'll post what it says later.) Mom started being sneaky after this and we figured out that she was buying Brad a hat but wasn't sure what exactly it would say etc. We went to get some food and found out their buffet was running out. We thought there would be enough to get a bit but it was very well picked over. Oh well...live and learn. :) After we ate we headed back to the beer garden/vendors. Dave let Brad play a few songs with the band and of course they sounded really good. After he played a bit and had put the accordion back down Mom walked up and I knew what she was up to...surprise surprise....he asked Me and Brad to come up for The Blue Skirt Waltz. My voice hurt a bit and I had a headache so I didn't really want to sing but...all in a day's work as queen right? After that we went back to the vendors and had our picture taken in one of those cutouts where you put your face in. They were little Czech dancers. I started getting tired and hot so we grabbed some food and headed to the Pageant. There were only 2 contestants competing for the Kansas Czech-Slovak Queen title this year and they both did a great job. Once again...I don't envy the judges in any of these pageants. I couldn't believe how fast the pageant went with only 2 contestants! A few of the things that I noticed that are very different from our pageant are that it is indoors and they have the contestants walk off stage during kroj modeling so the audience gets a better look. Their judges sit all the way in the balcony so I hope that they got to see the beautiful kroj up closer (maybe during private interview?) They also give a huge variety of prizes to the contestants (luggage, crystal, gift certificates, etc.) We knew there were Vocasek's in Wilson at one time and we kept running into the name. We saw a plaque for Dorothy Vocasek in the Opera House and a certificate for Peppy Joe Vocasek. Dad went out to the graveyard and found several Vocasek graves. We also got to see Peppy Joe's old barber shop which is now the home of a family in town. We took some pictures in front of it. We heard stories about him being a POW and being thrown on a pile of bodies when someone saw him moved. Had they not been there at that moment he wouldn't have lived. Dad and the new owner of the house exchanged information so hopefully we may hear more about him someday. After chatting for a while we headed for the car to head home. It was a great day with some of my favorite Czech people. :) (Yes...SOME of them...there are too too many!) I'm so excited to have met Aubrey and so glad to have seen their pageant.

So far I have met Aubrey the 2009-10 Kansas Czech-Slovak Queen and talked to Jennifer the 2009-10 South Dakota Czech-Slovak Queen. These are 2 of the girls who will be in Wilber with me next year. The only one I haven't talked to (that I know has been crowned so far)is Stephanie from Wisconsin and I actually emailed their pageant director and asked her to send my information on so maybe I can talk to her soon too. Who knows she may even be coming to Wilber! :) I'm so excited!!!

Just a few words of wisdom from myself and Shandra Korbelik (a past Nebraska Queen.) Well we were talking...you know how they say that the best way to a mans heart is through his stomach. Well we decided this is a lie because it works for us too. We have revised this phrase and it is now "The Best Way to a Czechs Heart is Through Their Stomach!" Keep that in mind ladies and gents! :0)

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Bickford Cottage Visit

I don't get to do a whole lot around Lincoln so I'm always excited to be invited to events around Lincoln. Bickford Cottage contacted my mom a few months back asking if the Lincoln Czech-Slovak Queen would perform for their Czech week in July. (For those of you who don't know...my mom is the President of the Lincoln Czechs this year.) I started working with them and agreed to come on the 22nd of July. When I walked in on Wed it was hilarious. The activities coordinator announced that she had invited the Lincoln Queen to come and speak and couldn't believe that she just didn't show up like this. But luckily the Nebraska Queen was here to take her place. Then she said oh wait...that's because she's the same person. :) I thought that was pretty cute. I spoke about what I've done as the Lincoln Queen previously and my plans for the future as the newly crowned Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen. I told them about how I was raised with my Czech heritage being an important part of my life and have chosen to keep it as a big part of my life as I've gotten older. I told them about the pageant and all of the girls in Clarkson. I was proud to again get to describe my kroj a bit and show of some of the very important pieces to me. I showed them what Anne had embroidered and then they said the Choraliers would be there that evening. I told them to tell her how beautiful her work was. After talking for a while I performed my talent for them and even did my old talent from a few years ago. They had kolaces for a snack and I walked around a bit in case anyone had questions or wanted to see my kroj up close. I had to rush out of there because I had to be back to work. It was a great visit and I told them I would love to come back again next year. Now I'm preparing for a longer trip all the way down to Wilson, KS on Saturday.


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Another Busy Weekend! Gretna, Western, and Dwight

Well another busy Czech filled weekend! :) We started the weekend by going to Gretna for a parade. Sandy Schnakenberg from the Omaha Czech Cultural Club and the State Pageant Committee asked if I could come so I was excited to get to see her there. They had one of the Omaha members on a small float playing the accordion right in front of me. I couldn't believe how big the parade was! It was long and there were TONS of people. It was great to see Sandy again and it was the first time that my Lincoln Prince and Princess were able to come to an event with me. I've been able to have one of them come to one event but never both. They had fun but we had some typical brother/sister moments. They were arguing over who had more people on their side of the car etc. HAHA! They did a good job and then we had a break because we didn't have another event until that evening.

I had lunch with some of my friends at Grisanti's and didn't have time to go home and change or I would have had to cancel on them...so I did what I had to and had lunch in kroj. :) I got some funny looks but we got some first class service. ;)We also had several people walk by and ask to read my sash or asked why I was dressed up etc. LOL! I had a quick 20 min nap when we got home and had to get back into kroj to head to Western for the parade.

I got up and started to get dressed to go to the parade but had to redo my hair etc and surprise surprise...I wasn't ready when Brad came to pick me up. HEHE! I'm so glad he is understanding with me. I rushed around and got everything that I needed and hopped in the car to head to Western. Of course he wouldn't let me forget my accordion so he grabbed it on the way out the door. We got to the parade a bit early (see I wasn't running late...I was just getting us there at a good time so we wouldn't be waiting for too long. LOL) We actually ended up waiting for my parents to get there because they went to see Grandma Dorothy. She was really excited to see some pictures from the pageant. Mary Jean Keller gave her one of my fans from the pageant when she was still at the Wilber Care Center and she said Grandma was really excited to get it. I know Grandpa would be really proud of me too. I miss him a lot and it's been hard doing all of this without him there but I know he's with me always. My prince and princess were running a bit late and we were afraid that they weren't gonna make it before the parade began but they showed up about 2 mins before we went. Their little brother Jake rode in the front seat with my dad and he was excited to be in the parade. After the parade dad dropped us off by the bar where Sue and band would be playing. The kids were only out on the parade route for about 10 mins and they walked out with a whole bag full of candy. They went crazy! (Plus they're super cute so I think they got a lot more thrown to them than anyone else. LOL) We walked down and said hi to Uncle Bob and Phyllis and then headed back to the bar for the band to start playing. I stayed in kroj as I knew they would make me play. They introduced me as the newly crowned Nebraska queen and then had me sing Blue Skirt and play then went through all of the songs I can play and had everyone play with me. After playing all of them that I knew...I was ready to change. I had been in kroj all day. I changed into some regular clothes and sat around and listened to the band play. All of the other royalty had left but Charlie Keller was still there in full force. He was SO FUNNY! :) Not that it's unusual for him to get the crowd going. About 30 mins after I got done playing Shandra showed up and played with the band for a while too. It was a great night but we were a bit nervous to drive home. The band quit playing around 12:40 and then had to pack up. We left around 1:30 and my dad had already hit a deer around 8pm when it was still light so it was scary. My parents said they saw 3 or 4 more deer on the way home but we didn't see any. Thank goodness! I was very tired when we got home and crashed. I had to get up before leaving for Dwight to finish a bit of homework.

I got up the next morning to finish homework and start the day in kroj again. We left for Dwight around noon so we would get there around the same time as Laura and family. We had free meal coupons so we went to eat first and found out that introductions would be in the same place as where we were eating. It was nice to not have to run across town several times. When we walked in the band who was playing (Studio Trio) asked which one of us was going to sing. :) We polka danced for a minute in front of the stage (I was the boy this time because I made Laura be the boy last time.) After we got our food sat down at the table they took us to the front and introduced us. Laura went first and introduced herself and invited everyone to come to Wilber in a few short weeks. I introduced myself in Czech and then in English. I told everyone that I had just won the Nebraska title in June and was excited for what the year would bring. They had asked us again who was going to sing before we started talking. I agreed this time and so after introductions I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz. It was a bit high but I survived. :) We got to go watch all of the kids dance after we ate lunch and they did a WONDERFUL job! I'm so proud to see so many kids involved and having fun dancing. It was really neat becuase after they danced their director told that she had been teaching the dancer for 20 years and before that she was a queen too! She performed her talent for the kids....twirling a flaming baton to a polka. It was so neat and it was amazing that she can still do it. (I would kill myself if I had to be that coordinated! HEHE!) Next we stopped by the Legion to hear Mark Vyhlidal play but they were on break by the time we got there and we had to head to the parade route before they started playing again. Brad was going to ride through the parade with me on the back of the car for the parade so we practiced accordion for a bit. Sheyenne and I both played Brad's accordion and then it was time to head on through the parade. Lane got sick right before the parade so his family headed out to get him feeling better. People loved hearing Brad play in the parade. They were clapping etc. it was great. After the parade we tried to walk back to where my supervisor from Time Warner was sitting with his son (who speaks a bit of Czech) but he had already left. We grabbed a snow cone and headed out of town. I was a bit grouchy because I was so tired so I was ready to head home and get to bed. It was a great weekend!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

Savannah Pines, Diller, Wilber, and Blue River Lodge

I know you'll all be surprised to hear I did more than one Czech thing this weekend! ;)

My Czech events started with Friday evening at Savannah Pines. I got off work a bit early and changed quickly to go there. They had us there to talk about being Czech royalty in Nebraska and perform our talents. I was so sad to have to show up late because I didn't get to see Sheyenne, Lane, or Laura's talents. I got to hear Laura talking a bit as I walked in and she was doing a great job. It's hard to just come up with stuff when you're up there talking. She introduced me and I talked a bit about myself and how great it is to represent Nebraska. I told them about where I had been this year and where I planned to go in the future. I talked a bit about my kroj and then performed my talent. I didn't have all of my old kroje but I told them about how I had displayed all of them at the state pageant. We walked around a bit and talked to a few of the residents. We ran into one of my older brother's elementary teachers there too. Lane's talent is showing how to make kolaces so I got to try one on the way out. YUMMY! We also stopped and took some pictures in front of the fountain in their entryway. Very pretty! Momma Vocasek and Momma Shestak agreed to take us girls out to dinner for doing a good job so we went to Runza after we finished. We got a few funny looks (as usual when we go out in kroj and people don't know why we are dressed like this) but we had fun. It was funny because our moms ordered the same thing and so did we! :) We got told that we could be sisters when we were there and discovered we eat our kolaces the same way! LOL! We said our goodbyes for a whole day and I headed home. When I got home I changed and immediately started practicing my accordion. I don't remember if I wrote about this so I'm gonna write it again. Brad knows I like to make deals (I tried to make a deal with him several times about the dancing thing before I was forced to play hardball and just make him do it.) So last week at lessons he tells me that if I learn to play all of the songs on his current CD that he'll record a new one...with one catch that I'll sing. Well...now I'm on a mission to learn them all ASAP! I practiced with his CD and got part of the way through several that we have never practiced. :) After a bit of practice I headed to bed because I had to be up earlier than normal for work.

I had to go into work at 8am...YUCK! :) I normally don't work till 10am every day but had to work an earlier shift so I could make it to Diller in time for the parade. As soon as I got home from work I had to change quickly and get in the truck to head to Diller. The parade wasn't huge but it was fun anyways. My mom tried to take out the whole Wilber crew out with candy when they happened to walk next to our car. I swear she'll kill someone with that stuff one of these days! I gave Laura a hard time that nobody noticed me in the parade because they threw out kolaces...who cares about the girl with candy when they get kolaces?! :) We stopped downtown to grab a drink and I had a polish dog with EVERYTHING on it (AKA kroj suicide...) I didn't drip anything! We also went by to say hi to Pam, Amanda, and Liz Busboom on our way out. The first year I was the Lincoln Queen, Amanda was the Wilber queen so we had gone to Diller because her grandparents lived there (if I remember right) so I figured they would be there. It was good to see them as they sent me a good luck card and a congratulations card for the pageant. :)

I was looking forward to Sunday all week so I was excited when it finally came around! All of the wonderful Jr Beseda Dancers in Wilber were performing and I was so excited to surprise Blair, Blaze, and Shayla Miller when I got there. I made their mom keep the secret and they weren't shy to let her know she lied to them. I told them they had to blame me because she made a promise to me! They were excited to see me there and I was so excited to see them dance. They did a wonderful job (not that I expected anything less.) After they danced they introduced the Wilber Royalty and they each performed their talents (this time I actually got to watch.) Sheyenne is doing so great on the accordion(they tried to get me to play but I've never played a 2 row so I didn't do it.) She has only been playing for 2 weeks and she played 2 songs for everyone. I love seeing younger GIRLS playing! :) Lane did his demonstration on how to make kolaces. Charlie helped him out with the speaking as there wasn't a microphone or anything there. He did a great job and I got another kolace! 3 days in a row!!! Definitely can't beat that! I had pineapple on Friday, apple on Saturday, and cherry on Sunday! Laura danced beautifully (I am definitely impressed that she can be that graceful on concrete...I would have fallen and broken my teeth out or somethin!) Then Charlie introduced me and I spoke a little bit about being the state queen and how I would compete in Wilber next year at the national pageant. I introduced Shayla and had her tell a bit about herself and even got to introduce Blair! I sang the Blue Skirt Waltz in Czech then in English and then we wrapped things up. We took a few pictures as requested and headed on to the next stop. Blair asked if she could ride with me so she got to come with me and Laura's family to Blue River Lodge to hear Brad play. I was so excite to see how many people showed up. The whole Miller crew, Shandra Korbelik, Erin Spicka, Shestaks, Sue Underwood, Charlie and MaryJean Keller, Gaylen Beck, and even Uncle Bob and Phyllis were there! I had some good food and sang/played the Blue Skirt Waltz again. I was excited for several people to hear that hadn't heard previously. After I sang I changed into jeans and Brad made me come up and play again....surprise surprise! :) I told him that if I had to play again he had to get Shandra up there so we played 2 songs together with Dottie. He was to introduce the all female front row! She played a few more with him after I snuck off stage and before we knew it the night was over. It was so much fun...I definitely didn't want to go! I helped Brad pack up and sat and chatted with Sue for a little while before we left. A wonderful night as I expected!

I'm planning to practice with Brad 2 times this week as I'm going to sit in on John's lesson on Tuesday and practice as usual on Wednesday. (John is the band leader of Less Talk More Polka.) I figure the more practice to learn all of those songs the better! ;) Hope everyone has a good week and I'll write again after another fun filled weekend next week!!!


Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen

4th of July Weekend

I know you'll all be surprised...but I planned a busy weekend again. :-D I have been telling Brad Husak (my wonderful accordion teacher) that we want to know whenever he plays so I can try to bring a group out to hear him play and try to get a younger group out and about to the different polka dances etc around. We went to Abie's Place in Abie, NE to hear him play on the 3rd. It was the 1 year anniversary of Abie's place so they had him come play. I ended up getting my parents, my aunt and her fiancee, and Laura to join me. We had some good food then I found an awesome little dance partner (after getting denied twice first) and then another soon after. A request for the Blue Skirt Waltz was brought up for a 90th Birthday and of course mom convinced Brad to have me come up and sing. Well since we didn't plan for it he was playing it way higher than I normally sing it and with my allergies...it was definitely a strain. I sang it in Czech and English. Then we really started plotting...dun dun dunnnnnnnnnn. I can't remember if I wrote this in here before so I'm gonna explain it again. A few months back I asked Brad if he knew how to polka and he doesn't. Needless to say....I've been on a mission ever since then. :) I tried quitting the accordion, refusing to play the left hand till he learns, etc. etc. etc. Yes...I tried it all. Mom had an idea that if we got his accordion off of him I had a better chance. Well we did (but I had to play one song in return) and he finally agreed. Everyone who knows him couldn't believe he did it. It pretty much made my night. :) He did say that he's never going to dance again but I don't buy it. You have to start somewhere! (Now I have to start working on that left hand dang it! HEHE!) We handed out some info about the Wilber festival and met the lady they requested the Blue Skirt Waltz for (it was her 90th Birthday.) One of the guys had even bought me a beer and sent it to my table after I sang and didn't tell me it was him till they left. I told them all if they saw me anywhere to remind me that they met me in Abie. I chatted a bit with Brad's parents and had an awesome meal. We hung around and helped Brad get everything loaded so he wouldn't be there too late and headed home. It was an awesome night but I needed some rest so I could make it through the next day.

Saturday morning I woke up at 8am (again...I HATE mornings...) to get ready for the first parade in Friend so I could go see the wonderful Miller family. Shayla sent me a text to be sure I would be out there for the parade and I thought it was at 10:30 so I planned on getting there at 10am. GOOD THING SHE SENT A TEXT! The parade started at 10am so I would have been really late. Blair was looking forward to riding through with me so they played a few pranks on her telling her that she couldn't ride with me etc. She saw me pull up and started running towards me. :) We got loaded into the car and took a few pictures. I even made her a sign that says "Substitute Princess Blair Miller" for whenever she rides with me. She was super excited (plus I think she was excited be in the car with me in front of all of her friends and family.) She got the Little Sister for the Wisconsin queen in the national pageant and I'm a bit disappointed because that means she probably won't get to be little sister for me next year but we both agreed that we'll be special to each other no matter what. We didn't do very well handing out fliers in the parade so after we were done and stopped at the Miller's house we went walking back from the end to hand them out. We only made it about 5 blocks and we ran out. We went back and played with the lambs and I even got to feed them. We were crackin up because there I was...in full kroj...feeding lambs...with beer bottles! :) They showed us the rest of the animals and then we had to head to Seward.

Seward's 4th of July parade is awesome because it is HUGE! One of my favorite things that they do is find a random family who is traveling through the state on vacation and happens to stop in Seward. They ask them to be the tourist family and they become the guests of honor. They get to ride through the parade etc...just for being in the right place at the right time. There are always lots of people and lots of queens of all sorts there. We walked around downtown a bit and then headed back to meet with all of the other royalty that was there. They had several speakers and then we took group photos. Off to the parade we went! I saw several people there and as usual missed even more as I found out afterward. I saw Chris, Harley, one of the guys from Abie, John, Stephanie, Grandma/pa, Lavern, and the list goes on. We grabbed our free meals on the way out of town and had to rush back to Milford to drop off the car and back home as quickly as possible. We were going to see Larry the Cable Guy that night.

It was a great day and I had an awesome time at Larry the Cable Guy and saw the Oak Lake Fireworks last nigh. Fortunately Brad doesn't hate me too much for making him dance because he hung out with me on Saturday and Sunday (his Birthday) after that. :) Phew...I was a bit nervous!

Na Shledanou,
Stefanie Vocasek
2009-10 Nebraska Czech-Slovak Queen