Prelim #3

The final preliminary day was my favorite yet! With a later rehearsal, we set evening gown and on-stage question, then got to have lunch with our Oklahoma Stars! The Oklahoma Stars program is for girls ages 5-11 who are matched with a Miss Oklahoma contestant and accompany then during part of the evening gown competition. It is a great mentoring opportunity and my little Miss Maddy could not be more fun!

We had such a great time and she was very excited about her glow in the dark gifts. We enjoyed our GiGi’s cupcakes and took silly pictures together too! Maddy has also experienced extreme relational aggression at such a tender age, which is why I believe she was placed in my life. It is inspiring to see how maturely she handles any situation and how much love she has to give.

After lunch we were able to relax, and head off to a delicious dinner at Charleston’s, where we anxiously awaited teen prelim results. I was thrilled for my teen, Mi’Shell Garrett, who tied for overall talent in her group!!! Soon, we left for the Mabee Center and our final preliminary competition night.

I love interview, therefore I love on-stage question! My evening gown is my favorite part of my wardrobe, amazing as it almost wasn’t. I like to see the way it came together out of nowhere last year as a “God thing,” and have to thank Kayne again for creating something which makes me feel like Katniss Everdeen… The girl on fire! (Please refer to the Hunger Games trilogy.)

Congratulations goes out to Alicia, Damaris and Autumn for their preliminary wins! I cannot imagine being a judge, as I know talented, fit and confident our contestants are.

Miss Oklahoma 2012 Contestant Groupings

Here is the line-up for Miss Oklahoma 2012!

Sparkles and Stars

A few weeks ago I competed at Miss Edmond Libertyfest. The ELF organization has a mentoring program much like the Oklahoma Stars. It is for local girls who wish to walk on-stage with contestants during evening gown and also attend a picnic before the pageant with their contestant. I didn’t know my two “stars” prior to the pageant – but  boy were they a hoot! So much personality in such precious, tiny little beings!!!

We had rehearsed what we intended to do – walk straight towards the audience, curtsy(they had never done a curtsy so this was super fun to practice!) and blow kisses to each other. These two had it DOWN! On the night of the competition I walked out from the middle of the stage and stopped for the two sisters to join me. The oldest took my left hand while the smaller one stood there staring at me. I took her hand in my right hand and guided her to my right side. We paused to look at the audience (I like to do this since they really don’t get a lot of time on-stage!) and I felt something on my side.

Confused, I looked down to see the littlest star touching my dress with her free hand! Immediately, the audience and myself, began laughing hysterically as she drug her hand down my dress in bewilderment. Her eyes were locked and her sweet little mouth was hanging open. After she was done touching all the stones to see what they felt like, she looked behind me to make sure the back had the same thing!

We walked forward, did our curtsy and blew kisses. I watched the girls walk off stage – and of course the tiny star had her hands on her waist while she gave a sassy, hip-throwing walk off-stage. I couldn’t even keep a straight face! Hopefully my students will have just as much personality! Luckily, Leigh was at Miss ELF to capture it all on film – thanks for the great pics Leigh!!!

Day 5

Yes, I know it’s 1:30 am and yes, I am admittedly, pretty tired by now! I had to look back at my last post to actually remember what day this is! Sorry, but this will be short and sweet – Gown rehearsal this morning, rehearsal, lunch with Selby, a bit of relaxing at the dorms, gave an interview for the Shawnee News-Star, then dinner at McNellies (I want sweet potato fries almost as much as I want a cinnamon roll!!). Tonight my group competed in on-stage question and talent. My on-stage question was not my best. I actually got off track when Lauren mentioned that RA is more prevalent in girls (I couldn’t stop myself), and had to ask what the second part of the question was. The questions overall were fairly lengthy, but I would rather have answered the entire question(s) than not answered completely.

Evening gown went really well! My stars, Kaylin and Teegan, are two of the most precious girls ever. They are absolutely radiant in this picture! I love my gown and am so thankful to Kayne and his staff for the countless, last minute hours spent creating something which I love. Congratulations to Betty Thompson, swimsuit winner, and Sarah Klein, rookie and overall talent winner! Tonight I had a HUGE group of supporters and was excited to see each and every one of them! Tomorrow is swimsuit….so I need my rest! Here is a picture from gown, thanks to Amanda Barfield!

Slowly but Surely

Between the cardio, weights, dancing, packing, preparing pre-institute work, packing, organizing, school appearances, and trying to maintain my sanity – things are MOVING around here! I leave a week from today for Tulsa and still cannot believe the time has come. Whether I’m more excited about soon competing or eating a cheeseburger (or real, flavorful coffee, or french toast, or croissant, or cinnamon roll, or….well…you understand) I’m not sure! There is still so much to do, and not as much time as I wish I had allotted!

Yesterday I picked up my talent costume and today I picked up my opening number dress, white ramp gown, and swimsuit from alterations. That talent costume is like wearing a trash bag – it’s SUPER hot, but talent is first so I should be able to sweat out a few pounds before swimsuit! (That is, if the red coats can peel it off my body!)I also dropped off my interview dress (after FINALLY finding a pair of heels which somewhat matched!) for alterations as well. It won’t be ready until Wednesday – let’s hope it fits! Sunday I will have a fitting for my evening gown (props to Kayne for making it in just under two weeks!) and could not be more excited to see what it looks like! My sarong and silver swimsuit/opening number shoes are in the mail, and I have started sorting through clothes which I will be taking to Tulsa and Phoenix. Around the Mills house we are Keeping Calm and Carrying On!

Now, if that sounds like a lot of clothing for one week, I’ll be the first to agree with you! These are all items which must be packed before the week begins (complete with checklist):

Talent: Talent costume, tap shoes.

Swimsuit: Swimsuit, sarong, silver heels. 

Evening gown: Gown, gown heels, jewelry.

Interview: Interview dress, interview heels, jewelry (in hand, but undecided!)

Ramp gown: White gown, gown heels, jewelry. 

Opening number: Opening number dress, silver heels, jewelry.

Red Carpet Premiere: Dress, heels, jewelry. (that’s right, none of that is crossed off!)

Various: bedding, room decorations, secret pal gift, four “nice” dinner outfits, Kiwanis luncheon outfit, Family brunch outfit, rehearsal clothes, Black pants/bright top for CMN hospital visit, college t-shirt, local title t-shirt, every color of shorts since you don’t know what color the shirts are, additional “just in case” clothing, robe, shoes and jewelry for all of the above, necessities (pajamas, curling irons, straighteners, rollers, bath mats, etc.), and oh so very much more…

To be perfectly honest, I will probably pack the same amount (if not more!) for one week at Miss Oklahoma than six weeks in Phoenix! It’s all coming together, it’s just taking a bit of time!

 

P.S. Watch for me on KSBI 52 Tuesday at 10 am – I’ll be co-hosting All About You!

20% Complete

If you’re not familiar with the Miss America Organization, it might be interesting for you to know that Evening Gown accounts for 20% of the overall score! Last weekend, Selby and her momma, Margie, came into town for a weekend of pageanting. My mom and I met Selby and Margie in Oklahoma City at 10 am. I was super excited since I had saved my “cheat day” (the day I can eat what I like….as long as I don’t go buck wild!) for when Selby came into town so we could have a fun meal! Since I was able to attend the trunk shows at Miss America, I had already tried on about 150-200 gowns while in Vegas. This is not a joke…some were so heavily beaded that I could hardly lift them!

After four hours of trying on and re-trying on gowns, we finally picked “the dress.” What amazes me about my selection is that it really is a great cross between red carpet and pageant – something which I’ve always found to be difficult. It’s exactly what I wanted but nothing I ever thought I would purchase. Go figure! I also was able to see several of my pageant friends and meet new friends who I’ll be spending a week with at Miss O in June. After lunch, we headed over to the Cheesecake Factory (YUM!) where I had one epic meal. Seriously, I must have tried a bite of at least 3 kinds of cheesecakes. Shh! It was cheat day!

On Sunday, we woke up early again and met Selby in Edmond for the Miss Oklahoma Winter Meeting. Last year, the meeting lasted from 9 am until around 2 or 3 pm. This year, we were completely done by 12:30! The board was on their A game and probably over-prepared since their fearless leader, Kay, was unable to attend. Kay was visiting her daughter in Texas since she is now a new, first-time grandmother! Selby showed me a picture of baby Kinley and she really is absolutely beautiful.

At Winter meeting, we are given ad page, wardrobe and paperwork information. This year I’ll be looking for a white ramp gown, orange or yellow swimsuit, white top/black skirt for top 5 interview and several sponsors to purchase ad pages in the program book! Luckily, the paperwork hasn’t changed much so Selby and I can begin tackling that ASAP. After the meeting, I was able to hang out with Selby before she left for Houston. I really enjoy spending time with her and while I don’t mind her living so far away, it’s probably a good thing! If she were closer, I would probably be making trips several times a week to just chat and taking up all her time!

On another note, I am proud to say that I have followed the workout 100% and have figured out the healthy eating thing! It really is easy, you just have to plan ahead. Sometimes I’ll prepare food 24 hours+ in advance if I know I’m going to be too busy to grill chicken or throw together a sandwich. I’m great with time management, but when it comes time to drive to class I always seem to lose 10 minutes somewhere. By planning my meals out in advance, along with the times and extent to which I’ll be working out, I’ve been able to maintain a healthy lifestyle!

While I would love to share my gown with you, I’d rather wait until it comes in and add pictures later. For now, enjoy these pictures of celebrities at the Academy Awards and the Golden Globes!