Miss Colorado is Homeless: A queen without a castle

(CBS) - After winning the title of Miss Colorado USA in October, Blair Griffith was on top of the world. But the 23-year-old pageant winner had no place to hang her crown.

Griffith and her mother were evicted from their home last November and have been homeless for months.

Pictures: Miss USA pageant 2010

The life of a beauty queen is not as glamorous at it would seem. Griffith works in a mall most days, and her family's finances were crippled when her mother underwent heart surgery three years ago, she tells Denver news station KUSA.

"It was a difficult thing to go through to sit there and go, 'Where are we going to go now,'" Miss Colorado said in an interview with KUSA. She and her mother are currently staying with friends.

Unfortunately, life is not getting any easier for Griffith. The Saks Fifth Avenue store she works at is closing in March.

"I was telling my mother the other day, 'You know what would be really shocking? To hear great news," Griffith joked in an interview. "It seems to happen once a month. Something new is being thrown at me."

But the beauty queen is still optimistic and plans on competing in the Miss USA pageant in June. She continues to work, and spends her days off making appearances at schools and children's hospitals.

"I hope that people will see this," Griffith told KUSA, "and realize, "Wow, she is a real person,' or 'Hey, I didn't think there was someone out there going through something similar as me.'"