Monday, Monday

I cannot believe Monday has already passed! This morning we awoke to a wild thunderstorm (foreshadowing for the big Thunder win tonight!!!), and left the dorms at 6:45 for our interviews. After a very hard evening, I was in shock, disbelief, and then a flood of tears as I learned of the incredibly tragic passing of a sorority sister. We have been reminded of how precious life is and how quickly we can lose those who have touched our own. I was appalled to reach my dorm and find a voicemail from a newspaper inquiring about information of her death – the last contact I expected and the one I did not return out of respect. It is so difficult to wrap my head around the loss, and my thoughts and prayers are with Casey’s family during this nightmare. It is now probably understandable as to why I did not blog last night and I encourage you to remember her family in prayer as well.

Later this morning I had my interview and then it was off to the Kiwanis luncheon. I feel so humbled to have received 2nd place in the Kiwanis Community Service Award!!! My platform means the world to me and I am very honored to receive the $500 scholarship. Thank you Kiwanians, for ALL you do! No one could have thanked our beloved Kiwanis Club better than Miss America 2007, Lauren Nelson did today. She is such an inspirational speaker and we are fortunate to have her with us this week.

We were able to preview a bit of the show – including guest performers tonight! The amount of talent in our former Miss Oklahomas is unbelievable. Kent has, once again, outdone himself. I am looking very forward to our first preliminary tomorrow, though I cannot believe it is here! Thanky ou for all your support and kind words. I have been blessed with a great red coat hostess, new friends, a scholarship and so much more that my week has already been a success.

It’s Only Just Begun

I am all moved in at the ORU dorms and ready for the week ahead! We began the morning with orientation and many, many hours of rehearsals. Wendy’s is so kind to donate a delicious lunch for the contestants and I always love seeing the owner’s daughter dressed up like Wendy! She’s a doll – really!

Though Kent has bronchitis, that certainly didn’t slow him down! We learned more dances than I can currently remember, but just be prepared for an amazing show. The atmosphere with the contestants has been very relaxed here and I see the Lord working through so many young women. It’s almost surreal to think that a week from tonight a new Miss Oklahoma will be crowned!

When we arrived to the dorms, I immediately checked out which red coat and contestants I would be driving with, and nearly squealed in excitement to be in ELIZABETH KINNEY’S mom’s car! Elizabeth is the first Miss Oklahoma I ever saw crowned and I fell in love with her on that stage. She is dynamite and I admire her more than words can express. Her mom, Melinda, is such a joy to be around – you’ve got to meet this woman!! I also found out she is from Shawnee and went to high school with my dad! what a small world. Lindsey Allen and I are in for a real treat with her!

After seeing our rooms (I cannot wait to post more pictures of my Come Rain or Come Shine themed room!), we ate and headed off to the Red Carpet premiere. I love this event because it is an opportunity to destress with family and friends before competition gets underway.

After walking the red carpet, we were corralled to a room and I was later told that when Rich came in, I needed to follow him. Thinking I needed to gather others and make room for the end of the alphabetical procession, I started herding… Someone told me to stop and I followed Rich, thinking we were just moving the miss contestants alphabetically.

As I was walking with Alex Eppler, Megan Johnson, Alicia Clifton, Brittany Bisel and Georgia Frazier I realized we were not in the right order. As I was about to pipe up, I realized the most exciting news possible – WE WERE COMMUNITY SERVICE FINALISTS!!!!!

I must have lit up like a Christmas tree and haven’t stopped glowing since! It is the highest honor to be considered for an award of this caliber and I feel blessed to be part of this group. Our interviews are in the morning and I cannot wait to share my passion with the Kiwanians.

Thank you to the Girl Scouts, school groups, and community leaders who have taken relational aggression seriously and have shared this journey with me! You are the reason I live to serve and I already feel so accomplished after the progress we have made together.

Have a wonderful evening and on to day two!!

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?!

Day 1

WHEW! My feet are aching – thanks Kent! 🙂 This morning we checked in for the week and had an orientation, then directly off to our full Kent-filled day. If you haven’t met Kent, you really should. He choreographs the opening numbers, creates our walking patterns, and even designs the set – and those are just the things I can remember right now! I’ve never met anyone who doesn’t love him. Not only does he continually create exciting, cutting edge choreography and sets, but his personality is ideal for 43 stressed out girls to be around. I wish every state pageant could have the experience he provides for the Oklahoma contestants!

This morning we learned our first opening number dance, and later our second routine. Both are fast paced and full of energy…typical of the best state pageant in the nation! The dances are so fun, even when you accidentally do a move (or two) backwards. The dances were going so well (though running together in our minds!), and Veronica pulled me aside to let  me  know I was doing a step backwards. When I showed my choreography group what I had been doing they all burst out in laughter- we’ll just say it was definitely, maybe a bit too sexy! Ask me sometime and I’ll demonstrate…it’s pretty comical!!!

Wendy’s provided our lunch (something I could eat AND it was tasty! Thanks Wendy’s!!), and the owner’s daughter arrived in a Wendy’s outfit! She was adorable, and I later was able to speak with her at the Red Carpet event. After lunch, we had more rehearsals (probably about 6 hours overall) and also learned the swimsuit walking patterns. Today we had our swimsuits approved (this ensures that everyone is covered and the colors are correct), and I think we all passed! YAY!

We came back to the dorms and got to chat with our directors/families for a bit after checking out the decorations they put up. My room is wonderful and feels homey, British, and most importantly – calm! I’ll be sure to post pictures of my “Keep Calm and Carry On” room tomorrow. Tonight we threw on our cocktail dresses and headed to the Premiere, sponsored by BodyTrends. It took quite a while to introduce every Miss, Teen and Star,  but we made it and were able to enjoy a nice evening at the Hilton hotel.

Tonight they also announced the Kiwanis Community Service Finalists. Though I was disappointed not to be a part of it, I know I can take this opportunity to learn and grow, coming back prepared for the Community Service award next year! Congrats to Talia Berning, Alex Eppler, Alicia Clifton, Heather Harris, Bailey Robinson and Veronica Wisniewski for making the finals! Community service is one of my favorite aspects of the Miss America Organization and I love seeing the difference my pageant friends and competitors are making off-stage!

It’s time for Miss Sooner State to catch up on some sleep, but I have loved my first day of Miss Oklahoma 2011 and look forward to what else this week holds. Tomorrow we are off to church, brunch and another very Kent-filled day. Can’t wait to experience it all!!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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!