Contestant’s Day

I’m now sure how time flies faster with each year, but Contestant’s Day has already come and gone! Yesterday, we gathered every Miss and Teen contestant, their local directors and volunteers, and several family members at Jenks Performing Arts Center.

I was SO thrilled to drive a short five minutes to something Miss Oklahoma related, since normally we are Tulsa bound from Shawnee at 6 am!!! We turned in our ad sales information and the talent run-throughs began. Though I had taken allergy medicine, drank a tall glass of green tea and used a neti-pot for the first time, seasonal allergies were giving me a run for my money! Fortunately, I made it through and was happy with how I performed. In fact, it makes me anticipate singing on the Miss Oklahoma stage that much more! This year, I will be singing “Come Rain or Come Shine.”

Watching talent rehearsals reminded me of the amazing talent our contestants possess. Makes me glad I am not a judge!!! After talent rehearsal, we spent some time dancing around with Kent – the nation’s best choreographer (I’m not biased or anything…), and working on a bit of modeling. The show this year is going to be unbelievable! Kent said it currently stands at about sixteen minutes, with contestants performing back up to SEVERAL former Miss O’s dancing and singing. How he tops himself every year, I will never know!

Mignon spoke with us (I have always loved Mignon – what a role model!), about the job of Miss Oklahoma in great detail and what qualities Miss Oklahoma 2012 should possess. She greatly emphasized “committed to educational goals,” which is such an important aspect of Miss Oklahoma, being a scholarship organization, and a mentor for students.

Once we had learned the chorus of our opening number, we gathered with our pageant families to hear from Betty and watch her interview from Miss America. I think it’s quite obvious that her interview was nothing short of fantastic. Betty has done an excellent job as Miss Oklahoma, and it is apparent by the way the board speaks of her as well. They told of her incredible work ethic and how she has never been late. Betty also gave each contestant a gift – a light up (LED) lip gloss with a mirror from Artistry by Amway, a Miss America sponsor! It is seriously super cool. She attached a wonderful poem reading, “If your lips would keep from slips, Five things observe with care; To whom you speak, of whom you speak, And how, and when and where.” She explained how important it is as Miss Oklahoma to always “be” Miss Oklahoma, regardless of how bad your day is going, because someone is looking up to you.

After watching Betty’s interview, we drew for placement! I am very excited to be in the MU group! My schedule will be:

Monday AM: Interview

Tuesday: Swimsuit

Wednesday: Talent

Thursday: OSQ/Evening Gown

The judges were revealed and HOO BOY – what an amazing panel! They are a fascinating group, which I would like to interview, though I will be interviewed by them! Miss Oklahoma has selected an extremely well-rounded panel with entrepreneurs, philanthropists, high achievers, and names with national recognition. We even have an NBA basketball player, a former Miss Oklahoma and a former Miss AMERICA!

Contestant’s Day is special for many reasons, but most of all I love getting to visit with the extended members of the “pageant family.” Those who I have known since the teen system, former directors, contestants, and many who have judged me in past competitions. Much like other families who are separated by distance, it takes a pretty big deal to get us all in the same room together – but when we are, it is just  the most enjoyable day ever! Thank you to everyone who has sent such kind words my way with feedback about talent and more. Here’s looking to June!

Day 3

I’m going to try to make this a short one – today was too full and my eyes and feet need a break! This morning we had rehearsals, then the Kiwanis luncheon. I absolutely love the Kiwanis luncheon and was able to meet several Kiwanians – always wonderful hosts. Sarah Klein and I sat next to Steve, who you may remember normally runs the stage. Steve is awesome and has been volunteering for years (even in my one year of Outstanding Teen competition!), but is unable to help backstage due to job commitments. I think I speak for all of the girls who have been joked with or calmed down by Steve backstage!

At the Kiwanis luncheon the community service awards were given out: 3rd place Talia Berning, 2nd place Alex Eppler, 1st place Heather Harris. Heather also won the Miss America Community Service award and Sarah Jensen won the academic award. Congrats!!! Afterwards, we jetted back to the Mabee Center to prepare for interviews. The judges were fantastic and meshed so well! Can’t give away the questions – but I truly enjoyed my time with them!

I was able to see Selby after dinner… a much needed break! It was great to discuss my interview and she brought me ANOTHER wonderful gift!! I am so spoiled… but I’m definitely not going to complain. 🙂 More rehearsals, dinner at Rib Crib, and a night filled with rehearsals later – and I am here!

On a side note, this is the conversation which occurred in our car earlier

Me: Have you guys had issues with there not being a toilet lid in your room? I’ve nearly dropped my phone, make up, and brushes in that thing!

Car: No, we just close the lid.

Me: What lid?

Car: The lid on the toilet…

Me: Oh….I don’t have one of those.

 

Please say an extra prayer for me tonight that I do not drop anything into my lid-less bathroom toilet and that God blesses me with the ability to dance between now and 7:30 am. I’m kind of kidding…but really. It wouldn’t hurt. 🙂 I’ll be praying for an inner calmness and may throw in a request for a non-slick stage….couldn’t hurt to ask, right?!

Day 2

Day 2 is complete! This morning was the Miss Oklahoma church service – a perfect way to begin our week! Corbi Winters delivered a wonderful and incredibly relevant message and we were fortunate to be led in worship by Lauren Nelson Faram. Emoly West, Heather Rasmussen and Lacey Russ also spoke. We closed with one of my favorite songs, which we also sing before each competition, “Surely the Presence.” The church service reminds us that the winner has already been chosen and a perfect plan made for her – now all we can do is our personal best and find out Saturday who He has provided the most amazing opportunity.

After church, we met our families and friends for brunch at the Hilton! I was able to sit with my mom, dad, sister, “Grand MaMa,” (a nice French accent makes it all the better) and Selby. “Graaaaaaaaaaand MaaaaMa” is Selby’s mom, Margie, and my adopted grandmother. Margie is a handful – loads of personality and a heart deeper than the South! Since two of my biggest supporters live in Lawton and Houston (Selbs and Margie), I love to soak up every minute I get with them. At the brunch, I was so thrilled for a very worthy winner, Sarah Klein, to receive the Esther Scholarship! Ad sales were also applauded, and after avoiding the seemingly delicious muffins (talk about self-control!), we headed off to rehearsal.

First, I would like to say that I thought last year was the year to “expect the unexpected!” Kent, while keeping everything fresh, likes to keep us on our toes…literally! Not only will we be performing two opening numbers, but we also learned the swimsuit production (yes that’s right – dancing IN bikinis on-stage!), along with introductions and the closing ceremonies. After several hours of rehearsal, we were given roughly 20-30 minutes to put on as much make up as possible and make our hair Victoria’s Secret sexy for our swimsuit video. After that, I think it’s safe to say any of the 43 contestants could get ready at Miss America on time for a live pageant! Remember how I don’t know how to curl hair? I was determined to get the luscious curls Kent had requested. Having a limited amount of time, I received a 60 second demo from Talia (thank goodness for her) about how to curl your hair with a straightening iron! Hopefully it wasn’t beginner’s luck, but her trick was fantastic! Larry would fall over if he could have seen my wavy hair!!!

The red coats then rushed us over to Schlotzsky’s for a great dinner, and headed to North Tulsa for the video taping. Kristen is my red coat chauffeur this year and I LOOOOOOVE her!!! Kent prepared an awesome swimsuit video and after it was complete, we went back for more rehearsals. During our practice, a few very important guests were introduced to us…THE JUDGES!

Did your heart just stop? Mine totally did. Expect the Unexpected – 2.0! We were all floored to see them walk in, introduce themselves, and provide a few words about what they were looking for in the next Miss Oklahoma. THEN Kent asked us to perform our second dance in front of our judges. After that dance, we were all so exhausted that all personality had left us! Guess we need to have another 6 hours of rehearsals tomorrow if we intend to do this dance that well (or better!) every night! 🙂

I’m sure Kent could tell we were beyond surprised and worn out, because he let us out of rehearsal an hour early AND gave us an extra hour to sleep in tomorrow. Good thing, since I can’t seem to close my eyes! Tomorrow is another full day of interviews, the Kiwanis lunch and more rehearsals. I can’t believe it’s already the Monday of Miss Oklahoma week…wasn’t I just crowned yesterday?!

Contestant’s Day

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!!!!!