What a weekend! I’m still recovering from the combination of my 8 hour class Friday, driving to Shawnee late that night, sleeping napping for three hours, and waking up at 5 am to pack up and head to Tulsa. I was in the early group (lucky me!), and danced fifth. In terms of my talent, it’s not where I want it to be at Miss Oklahoma, but I’m pleased with the improvement I’ve made over the past few months. I received several compliments and even my mom said the quality of the dance was much more entertaining compared to my previous performances. Over the next two months, I’ll be tweaking my dance and pushing myself to perform the best that I possibly can. Here’s a clip of my song:
After talent, we had a short meeting with Kent and then lunch. It was great to sit with a few old friends and meet new girls at lunch, since we didn’t have any other down time to chat! Kent did announce the theme: “On the Line.” He wants us to focus on bringing everything we have to Miss O and putting it all on the line. Our opening number dresses have great movement to them (example below). He described the stage which sounds fantastic, especially for swimsuit. I won’t give any more away, but think Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show! (If only we got to wear huge wings!!!)
After lunch we had time with Kent to learn a part of the opening number dance, but we also had walking lessons! Kent moves so well. Seriously – far better than ANY of us could ever hope to walk. He is always pushing us to get out of our comfort zone, be more natural and increase the sex appeal. When you are 5’2″, blonde, and often mistaken for a high school senior – sexy is the last thing which comes to mind! Looks like someone will have to practice being sexy for the next two months….
Later, Jack and Mignon spoke with us about the duties of Miss Oklahoma, what to expect, and what the judges will be looking to crown. The Miss Oklahoma Organization is fantastic for so many reasons, but one of them is because they give us the same list they provide for the judges. When we came back, we were able to watch Miss America 2011, Teresa Scanlan’s interview at Miss America. I love watching the interviews because when watching a pageant, you see everything except that – and it accounts for 25%! After the video, we were given the judge’s bios for Miss O 2011. The judges are from every background and are extremely well qualified! There is a past Miss America, Miss Florida, NFL superstar (Selby wanted to ask if he was single. Now I bet she comments on this post!), local Oklahomans from backgrounds including education and business, and a few others! Interview is absolutely, hands down my favorite part of competing and I’m too excited to meet the judges!
THEN we finally moved on to the best part of the day – placement selection! The three teens and miss contestants who sold the most ads were able to select their placement first, and then titles were drawn and we had 30 seconds to choose a group/number. Sidenote: Congrats to Sarah Simpson, Miss Elk City for selling 52 ad pages! Looks like the program book will be bigger and better than ever! I was hoping to be drawn somewhere in the middle, but I was the fifth or sixth to choose! Selby and I thought fast, and selected number 18 in the Omega group. Somehow, there are 4 tappers in this group, something I was hoping to spread out. Fortunately, I am the first one!
I’m so excited about the girls in my group – they’re all really nice and I already know several! I’ll be on their same dorm hall, in the same chauffeured cars as them, and we will be getting ready alongside each other before the competition. In the Omega group, I will have my interview Monday afternoon, perform talent Tuesday, compete in on-stage question/evening gown Wednesday and swimsuit Thursday.
We left around 5, and between Selby, my mom and I – we were starving. I took advantage of my cheat meal (didn’t make a day out of it! YAY ME!) and ate at Red Rock Canyon. I put away a filet, roasted garlic mashed potatoes and best of all – cornbread! Oh, the taste of carbs….it just cannot be explained. I had so much fun getting to sit with Selby for a large portion of the day and didn’t want to send her back to Lawton/Houston! She’ll be back in a few weeks, and I may be able to meet up with her next week as well. I’m beyond fortunate to have a director who is supportive, enthusiastic, and above all – a dear, dear friend.
Now that my placement has been set, I can continue working on each portion of the competition and intend to perform my very best. Someone made a good point and said to treat every aspect as if it were weighted equally. I completely agree and I think contestant’s day was great motivation to put it all “On the Line” in June! Last night I drove back to Shawnee, then back to Norman, and am now off for another 8 hours of Strategic Fashion Communication! Needless to say, I look forward to sleeping. 🙂
P.S. At the end of the day there was a VERY big announcement….
THERE WILL BE A TOP FIFTEEN!!!!!