There She Is...

...Miss America. There she is, your ideal. Oh, how I love Bert Parks singing that song. Somehow, pageants have yet to make it onto my blog. Probably because there hasn't been a big pageant since I began writing in August. For the record, I L-O-V-E PAGEANTS. I came about this obsession in an interesting way. I ALWAYS watched the big pageants on TV and sat in awe of the beautiful women in their beautiful gowns and all that they represented. When I was a junior in high school, I participated in our high school pageant, Miss Mandarin, and won. Don't get me wrong, I most certainly wanted to win, but I didn't really think I would. I didn't have any pageant experience, but I was comfortable on stage and in the interview room. So, I then went on to compete in the Miss Senior High Pageant and did not place. I didn't put much effort into it, but I had a great time and met some great girls, including the eventual winner of the pageant. She and I are still good friends to this day, and I actually helped coach her to a top 10 placement and preliminary evening gown and newcomer of the year award for Miss Florida (America) in 2004. In my freshman year of college, I participated in the Miss University of Florida/Miss Florida Gator Scholarship Pageant, which is a preliminary in the Miss America system. Once again, I didn't place, but I had a great time. I also decided I'd rather direct the pageants and be behind the scenes. The next year I was an assistant director and the following I was the executive director. The year I was an AD, Melissa Witek and Allison Kreiger took the titles of Miss Florida Gator and Miss University of Florida, respectively. I ended up becoming good friends with both of them. Melissa went on to win the Miss Florida USA pageant in the summer of 2004 and competed in Miss USA 2005, taking 4th Runner Up! It was my first national pageant, and my mom and I were thrilled to be there. It also introduced me to pageant message boards, which I have become somewhat addicted to. The following year, Allison won the title of Miss Florida (America) 2006. So, once again, I headed off to the national pageant. It was so thrilling, and even though Allison was robbed of a top 10 spot, she was amazing and it was so awesome to watch her fulfill a dream. Last year, the three of us went to Vegas for the Miss USA pageant and had an amazing time!

So, now pageant season is back upon us. Miss America is Saturday night at 8:00 pm Eastern on TLC. I wait with bated breath to find out who the judges will choose. I have my favorites - Florida, Georgia, District of Columbia, Oklahoma and Indiana, but there are so many other amazing girls competing this year. I've been following via pictures and reviews on the message boards, but I can't wait to watch tomorrow night and see what these girls are made of.