Here she comes, Miss America 2011

I was so excited that I got to visit with Teresa Scanlan, Miss America 2011, yesterday.  She was in Michigan to discuss Constitution Week and I happen to be quite a fan of the constitution myself.  

It was also great to see a former pageant friend.  Kendra Nichols, Mrs. Michigan American Beauty, competed with me at Miss Michigan USA.

Side note - I spilled chili from my coney dog all over myself immediately after this photo was taken.  

Fashion in Detroit 2012

Yesterday I was lucky enough to score tickets to Fashion in Detroit 2012, in Sound Board at Motor City Casino.  The event is co-hosted by Project Runway's Joe Faris and Ambassador Magazine Publisher and Jewelry Designer, Denise Ilitch.

A portion of the Fashion in Detroit proceeds will benefit the Ronald McDonald Houses of Ann Arbor and Detroit – The mission of the Ronald McDonald House is to provide families of children experiencing a serious illness or injury a “home away from home” that assists in alleviating the families’ emotional and financial stress.

Ashleigh and I hitting the red carpet for Fashion in Detroit 2012

Joe Faris, a top competitor from season 5 Project Runway.

The special guest hosts, Miss Michigan 2012 Kristen Danyal and Ken Dewey, Style Advisor for Neiman Marcus 

Morada Blue Swimwear

Denise Ilitch Designs and Motor City Blues by Joe Faris

Denise Ilitch and Joe Faris

Miss Michigan USA Competition Photos

So, I realize that this is incredibly late, but I never posted my Miss Michigan competition photos.  Here they are.

Not Miss Michigan 2012

A week ago today, I was headed up to Port Huron to compete for Miss Michigan USA one last time I would be eligible.  I had been preparing for this weekend for nearly a year.  I worked with my trainer, with my pageant coach, stuck to a diet, and learned how to do a perfect smokey eye. 

Don't get me wrong, I WANTED to win, but through the entire preparation, my goal was to be the best I could be.  I didn't want to leave one stone unturned.  I had to give it my all, my best.  I needed to be in the best shape, have the best walk, the biggest hair, the most impressive bio, and the perfect gown.  I did all of those things and I felt great, I looked great, and I was happy and confident. 

I did not place in the top 15, but I did do my best.  I feel confident that there wasn't one thing that I could have done different or better.  I have no regrets.  So, there just really isn't any way that I can feel bad about last weekend.  I'm disappointed in the outcome, because I really wanted to win, but I am SOOO happy with my performance.  Here's some pictures from my weekend!

 

The Competition

See all the contestants here.

4 Days

4 days until crowning, 3 days until preliminary competition, and 2 days until I drive up to Port Huron!  I feel so ready, I have been pageant strutting all around Lansing.  I have also been downing water like CRAZY!  It's time to hydrate so I'm not retaining any water for the swimsuit competition.  Tonight I have to get everything I need organized/steamed/packed/purchased. 

Tomorrow is my last workout with Jason before the pageant (I'll probably still workout with him regularly after the competition).  Also, tomorrow, I need to make sure I have all the makeup I need.   I typically don't wear very much and everything I have right now is old, dried up and the wrong colors...

So, I am also pretty excited about Pulaski Days!  It's coming up next weekend.  Here's Sarah and I in 2009 at the Pulaski Day Parade.

Also, here's what I looked like when I made the top 15 at Miss Michigan Teen 2003!

10 Days Until Pageant Time

Only ten days left.  Tomorrow I have my LAST meeting with my pageant coach and the second to last workout with Jason.  I can't believe that it's almost HERE. 

I have been pushing myself really hard in the gym lately.  I love the Nike Women videos on youtube and have been doing 100 of these every day.  Jason showed me that if you tip your hands forward as if you are pouring a pitcher, it targets your back rather than your shoulders - much easier.

Miss Lansing USA

12 days until the pageant and I am officially Miss Lansing USA!  I am finally starting to feel like things are coming together and I'm ready to get this show on the road.  I feel really prepared and I can't wait!  I was also excited to see that my evening gown looks a lot like Jennifer Carpenter's Emmy Gown.

Hers is Tony Ward, mine's MacDuggal.  Still on the agenda for today - class and gym.

Monday Night Football vs. Miss Universe

Tonight we may have an answer to THIS chicken/egg, half full/empty question... Which do men love more - women or football?  Well, the Miss Universe Pageant is on NBC tonight at 9pm!  You can see all of the contestants here.  Some of my favorites are:

Bahamas
Brazil
Chile
China
Curacao
Dominican Republic
Egypt
Finland
France
Kosovo
Puerto Rico
Russia
Ukraine
And of course USA!

I'll be watching from my treadmill. :-)

YES to the Dress!

I found a gown!  Finally.  A little over budget, but I could NOT say no.  It's perfect.  I'm so excited to wear it.  It's a MacDuggal, nude, sequined and feathered!  All I need now is something for interview and hopefully one of the dresses I ordered from Boston Proper will work. 

Only 19 days left so it's all business and a LITTLE fun.

Yesterday I spent the day at Cedar Point, after a good morning strength workout.  I skipped cardio at the gym since I spent about 8 hours walking the park.  It was such a perfect day, 7 times on Millennium Force and 10 rounds of Top Thrill Dragster!

Back to reality today - work, class, gym.

Interview Dress

The Limited's possible interview dresses were very cute, but just not what I had in mind.  I think I am going to need a trip to 12 Oaks Mall.  It is such a relief that I have my swimsuit, opening number dress, shoes, and orientation outfit.  I still need to find my interview outfit and evening gown and there are only 32 days left!

 

Tonight I plan on getting in a really great workout and deep cleaning my house.  Then, hopefully knocking out a good chunck of The Help, I'm so addicted to this book, I'm going to fall into a depression when I'm finished.

Miss Michigan Orientation

Just made it home from the Miss Michigan Orientation!  It was lots of fun - I got tons of information about the pageant weekend and had two photo shoots.  I won't be able to see any of the pictures until closer to the pageant, but I have a great pic of my makeup by Lindsey Galas Smith.

40 Days - Weekend in Grand Rapids

Back to reality after a fun weekend in GR!  I got my Friday workout in before work so I could get on the road to Grand Rapids asap.  When I got there, I headed straight to my cousin Lisa's jewelry party with my mom and grandma. 

Here they are supporting me when I gave up my title as Pulaski Court 2009. 

Late on Friday, I headed out to spend some time bachelorette party planning with Ashleigh and Ashley!  It was fun to have a grown up girls sleep over! 

On Saturday morning I had to get a good workout in before I started my day.  So, I picked up Aunt Jackie (my sisters dog) and we headed to Riverside Park. 

Aunt Jackie before our run.

The sky was looking pretty dark when we got there, but it wasn't raining.  It is a two mile stretch from one end of the park to the other.  I had intended to run the two miles to the other end and walk the two miles back to the car.  As soon as we turned around to head back... DOWNPOUR!  We weren't going to be wasting any time, so we ran the whole way back to the car.

Here is Aunt Jacki and I after our run.  Poor Aunt Jackie. 

The rain quit in time for the West Michigan Whitecaps game and I spent the night shaking my hips to some salsa and bachata at Pietro's Salsa Night. 

Sunday was my workout rest day - mostly because my shoes were soaked!  I spent the afternoon cheering our Whitecaps on to a victory over the South Bend Silver Hawks and got a picture with my two favorite players.

Outfielders Luis Castillo (left) and Steven Moya.

I'm excited to get in a good hard workout tonight!

Dresses, Treadmill, MasterChef!

I left Fantastic Finds last night empty handed.  They didn't have anything that would work for opening number since all the yellow cocktail length dresses looked like this...

I tried two of them on and I looked like a cupcake.  It's not cute to look like a cupcake if you are older than 10.  I wouldn't even want that if I were going to prom... :( 

So, I am still lacking a yellow opening number dress.  I did try on some awesome evening gowns though!  Coincidentally, both of the ones I picked out were Tony Bowls.  One was red with a sweetheart neck and the other was a champagne colored with a sexy slit.  I think I like the red one best.  You can see them on my Pageant Pinterest.  They are labeled 'Fantastic Finds Tony Bowls.'

I was able to get through another 5 miles on the treadmill last night!  I tried to forget I was running by keeping my attention on MasterChef.  I was rooting for Adrian's Mexican food, but was happy to see former Miss Delaware USA, Jennifer Behm, win the title. 

Wow, it's hard to believe such an unflattering swimsuit was in style.  Here she is as the new MasterChef!  Is that a yellow dress she's wearing!?  Where did she FIND that!



I Said Do It How You Do It Gone And Walk It Out

Walk it out the Miss USA way.

Day 62

Yesterday I was lucky enough to see Miss New Mexico, Kristen Little, crowned Miss US International.  I was really rooting for Miss Southern States, but here she is, the current title holder!



Growing up as a military brat, Kristen Little was born in Wurzburg, Germany and has since lived in 8 different states and 2 different countries. She is a future honor graduate of Georgia State University where she studies for a Bachelors Degree in Biology.

Thanks Harrison Productions for the invitation!  I had a wonderful time!

Day 66 - Official Contestant!

I have been training and preparing for Miss Michigan for a few months now, even though I didn't know if I would be accepted as an official contestant.  Well, I just got my email confirming that I will compete to be the next Miss Michigan USA 2012! 

So, since reading my handbook and new contestant information, I've chewed off all my finger nails and have a nervous/excited butterfly feeling looming in the pit of my stomach.  It seems like the pageant is much more of a reality now.  I need to get it together though, I want to have a very composed attitude by September 30th.  I guess I have some work to do.  Meeting with Jason tonight!

Day 68 - FIRE!

I was up pretty late last night so I didn't make it to the gym this morning.  Also, I was late for work because there was a FIRE in my garage!  I have my own garage door to my condo, but inside the garage is open and accessible to all the other garages in my building.  The neighbor children decided to lite a pile of charcoal on fire and burn things they found around the garage.  I was obviously upset when I saw this scene - 5 kids between the age 8-2 unsupervised tending a small bon fire in my garage.  I asked to talk to their parents and they told me there was no adult home.  So, I had to call the fire department.  All is well now - thankfully there were no injuries and no damage.

Lots to do tonight - Jason's workout at the gym, cooking food for this week, and loading Don Baker's CD onto my Ipod!

Don Baker is the communication guru and to whom I credit every successful job interview, my college GPA,  my advantageous networking ability, and my method for keeping my cool when faced with the Socratic Method.  If I could pick out the one most beneficial thing from 10 years of pageants, it would be the time I spent working with Don!