My Super Bowl

Good morning from Florida!!!! Yay!!! It's sunny and bright and warm!!!!

The land of flavorful food, expressive people, and giant sized everything!!! This warrants one more YAYYYYY!!!!!

Phew, yesterday was a whirlwind.

I was so exhausted, and I swear I tried to sleep past 8:30, but with Miss America looming on my DVR, it was like Christmas morning and I couldn't wait another minute!!!

So, if you know me at all, you know I'm going to give you a play by play of the pageant, because Miss America is one of my favorite things in the WHOLE world!

Many would consider this an actual choice to make during the night of the Miss America pageant...

It is Tim Tebow after all…

I thought about it for 1.6 seconds, and then realized, oh yeah, I don't like football in the least. Miss America is my Super Bowl.

Phew, that's a relief that I don't have to choose.

So here we go…a small novel...

My Super Bowl: A Play-by-play of the Miss America Pageant (every good title has a colon)

Chapter 1

Loved the flash mob start!

They did flash mob introductions all around famous landmarks in Las Vegas. Holy cow though, I wonder just how long that took for them to film that, with all the switching and speaking and choreo and wind!!!!

I’d hate tryin to look my best on top of a building or dam with the wind blowing every which way… talk about a weave mishap…

it was so cute though and a great way to incorporate Joseph Ribkoff, an imperative sponsor, into the opening number!

Good start, Miss America, good start.

Chapter 2

Announcement of the Semifinalists and America's choice..

America’s Choice: Miss Oklahoma- Betty Thompson (this chick is A-FREAKIN-DORABLE, I am totally in love with her!)

Other Semifinalists:

Miss South Carolina Bree Boyce (she's the one that lost over 100 pounds)

Miss Florida- Kristina Janolo- YAYYYYYYYY!!!!!!!!

Miss New York- Kaitlyn Monte (from Florida)

Miss Iowa- Jessica Prey

Miss Texas- Kendall Morris

Miss Virginia- Elizabeth Crot

Miss Illinois- Hannah Smith

Miss Arizona- Jennifer Sedler

Miss Alabama- Courtney Porter

Miss Tennessee- Erin Hatley

Miss Wisconsin- Laura Kaeppler

Miss North Carolina- Hailey Best

Miss California- Noelle Freeman

Miss Louisiana- Hope Anderson

Sooo happy to see all the girls wearing outfits by Express too. The sparkly tops and black skinnies were perfect.

Chapter 3- The competition begins…

You guys, I absolutely LOVE the use of There She…

As in There She is, Miss America!!!

But this year, they featured different Miss Americas in what they did AFTER they were Miss Americas.

For example they did "There she inspires" "There she creates" There she advocates" There she heals" etc….

Here were some of my favorite Miss Americas featured:

Diedre Downs- pediatric oncologist (I think???)

Vanessa Williams- no description needed

Phyllis George- alzheimers association

Heather French henry- fashion designer- met her after I won Sweetheart! She told me to go ahead and become Miss America because Katie Stam needed a Miss America sister :) Ok Heather, got it!

Look at her! She is so precious.

Angela Baraquio Grey- teacher and educational philanthropist

Top Ten

Swimsuit:

Loved the new swimsuits and that they were different colors! The red retro one was my fav!

All the girls looked very healthy and confident, VERY impressed.

Elizabeth (Miss Orlando little sister), Miss America’s Outstanding Teen, just waved! Sooooo exciting!!

Here's her performing at Miss America...

You look beautiful Liz!

Top ten were then called …

Here they are in no particular order :)

Louisiana- Hope Anderson

Iowa- Jessica prey

Illinois- Hannah Smith

South Carolia- Bree Boyce (this is the girl that used to be 234 pounds!!!) You go girl.

New York- Kaitlyn Monte

Wisconfin- Laura Kaeppler'

Florida- Kristina Janolo

Tennesee- Erin Hatley

Arizona- Jennifer Sedler

Texas- Kandall Morris…ummmm……are you kidding me?? 

Obviously she won swimsuit and the hearts of all the men in America, including me.

California- Noelle Freeman…did you guys notice that she wore hers without straps?

Oklahoma- Betty Thompson…oh Betty…. you look good….

Then something happened that has never happened before on the history of Miss America..

They asked the remaining contestants to stand behind the lady you want to move on in the competition.

Ok, I don't know about you guys. But this made me sooo uncomfortable.

First of all, what would happen if no one stood behind one girl? That poor thing! It was like a popularity contest!

Plus, they're in a swimsuit!! Literally, these girls could not have been more vulnerable than to be in a bathing suit on national TV while their sisters are forced to choose between them.

What the??? I was pretty shocked that Miss America let this happen.

Ok, anyway, the winner was obviously Alabama by a mile.

Chapter 4 

The evening gowns this year kicked butt!!

Hope Anderson (Louisiana) had a beautiful, backless white gown that was very classic Miss America, reminds me of Jennifer Berry's...

Jessica prey (Iowa) had a very simple jersey red dress on. That dress was BRAVE! She rocked it.

Hannah Smith (Illinois) had a gold beaded gown…

Bree Boyce (South Carolina) wore a simple, beadless white gown. She looked like a movie star! Love that she said confidence was what was holding her gown up :) Statement dress. Unforgettable.

Kaitlyn Monte (Miss New York) also work a white dress. Wow. She was absolutely breathtaking in this.  She was right, perfect mix of classic beauty and modern red carpet.

Laura Kaeppler (Wisconsin) wore a simple black gown with a lace top. She said she designed it with Kate Middleton's dress in mind. So I automatically like it. And her. She seems like she's very sweet.

Kristina Janolo (Florida obviously) wore an awesome black dress with a sheer back. She worked it just like she worked her dress at state! She looked super sexy and confident!

Get it girl.

Erin Hatley (Tennesee) wore a classic silver one shoulder gown. It was pretty traditional. This girl would radiate in a burlap sac.

Jennifer Sedley (Arizona) wore a goldish gown with cut outs. I actually REALLY liked this (I think it's a house divided on this one)… The cut outs were a breath of fresh air! Way to take a risk Jen (we're BFF's)!

Kendall Morris (Texas) wore a gold sequin gown with a deep V back. Her back was s-t-u-n-n-i-n-g!!! It was hard to tell what it really looked like in person, but when she said it was like the one in Britney Spears' Toxic video, I could tell strategic areas were sheer. Hot stuff.

Noelle Freeman (California) wore my future wedding dress. Long sleeve, backless, white. Not other words. OBSESSED.

Betty Thompson (Oklahoma). My BFF wore a white Roman culture-inspired Grecian style dress. This was sooo flattering on her tiny little body! Holy cow, this girl is sooo adorable and sooo Miss America!

Courtney Porter (Bama) wore a very risky gun metal beaded gown with a bow on her shoulder. Wouldn't have been my first choice for her, but she's so sweet, I can't even be mad.

Chapter 5

Beautiful, confident, talented….

Top 10 in talent...

Arizona- Jazz dance to "About That Walk"… She started with a giant hat.. I thought that was adorable! She put forth a lot of character and energy. She even had a sense of humor in her dance, that's hard to do!

Fun fact: She had a poem in fifth grade... 

Illinois did ballet en pointe to "Pillado" aka diamon music. She started off very robotic, which was different. Wow, this girl has some serious biceps. Note to self, don't get in a fight with Miss Illinois. Her precense and presentation is incredible. Technique is strong and she is very expressive!

Oklahoma did an Irish Step dance to "Warriors" which she won talent with in the preliminaries.  I  actually used to do Irish Step, so I know how hard the things she is doing can be. I have a ton of respect for this girl! She's very precise in her steps not to mention super fast! I LOVE her costume!

Fun fact: Knows how to give a cow a pedicure…

Texas was a pianist who performed New World Symphony but had the famous Jaws notes to start it out. She was very expressive in her playing, but I have no idea how to judge piano…

Fun fact: She can play piana and hula hoop at the same time! awesome

Wisconsin did a vocal performance to Il Bacio with which she won talent in prelims. This girl reminds me of a Disney princess when she sings, like birds should be flocking to her the whole time!!!!

Miss New York performed to "Disney Land" which I've never heard! Sweet song. She was VERY theatrical!

Fun fact: She was accepted to college at 16!!! 

Louisiana performed ballet en pointe to "Sway." This dance totally gave her some flavor and sex appeal!!! She was so sweet in everything else, so this made her well rounded! 

Fun fact: Almost swallowed a diamond?! Wait….

Tennessee sang "Memory" from CATS. I loved the snow falling behid her. She was very confident and very dramatic.

Fun fact: Suffers from beiber fever….me too Erin, me too.

I was hoping Iowa just because her dress was so cute! She sang "You raise me up" by Josh Groban. I love this song, but it's hard to compete with Josh. She is very approachable and seems like we could be friends. :)

California performed ballet en pointe to the Black Swan from Swan Lake. I LOVED her outfit, and she designed it just like me!!! It was backless and STUNNING.

She is incredible. You could have heard a pin drop while she was onstage. She does a good emotional swan, which not many can pull off.…she pulled out the wings out at the ends….soooo cool!!!!

Chapter 6

Wisconsin

Question- Divide between republicans and democrats seems to be getting wider and nastier, do you think miss America should be free to declare her political affiliation?

Answer-Miss America represents everyone and I think it should be a message to the political candidates that they represent everyone as well and so in these economic times we need to be looking forward to what America needs and I think miss America needs to represent all…

Kind of vague…but politically correct, I don’t think she should be able to, we don’t need anymore division!

Oklahoma

Q: Obesity is threatening our childrens’ health, their future, even their lives…theres’ talk of the government stepping in with new regulations, is it any of the governments business what we feed our kids

A: My personal opinion is that it is the parents responsibility, that child is raised in that home and that is where they’re getting all of their habits, I believe that parents should be the ones that are teaching their children how to eat and that it wouldn’t be the governments responsibility to have to step in.

Solid answer.

Arizona... never seen a long dress before! Very different!

Q: Star quarterback Tim Tebow seems almost as well known for his religion as for sports. Is it ok for him and other celebrities to use their fame to spred their faith?

A: I think one of the greatest attributes of a celebrity is someone who is strong in their faiths and their beiliefs in themselves but then if you’r representing an organization such as miss America, you need to keep in mind that you ARE representing that organization and that you’re representing a wide variety of people so not to be forcing your faith on others but strong and convicted in who you are.

Good answer without taking sides...

New York

Q: The occupy wall street moevement became a national story in 2011, with thousands of Americans protesting that 1% of the population controls 99% of the wealth. Do the protestors have a point, and what should be done?

A: I think what the Occupy Wall Street Movement did was bring discourse into the political campaigns going on now and it has changed how things are gonna go, but the thing about Occupy Wall Street is if they’re gonna come up and complain about a problem, they have to come up with some solutions too. You can’t just say that there’s a problem without trying to troubleshoot so it’s up to them to try to push and try to come up with some solutions to do that, but they had every right to do that.

I think she may get eaten alive on this one… hard question...

California

Q: Many critcs have bashed reality tv show Teen Mom, a spin off of 16 and pregenant for glorifying  teen pregnancy. What do you think about TV turning these teen moms into celebritites?

A: It absolutely does glorify being pregnant at a young age, but I have to recognize that there is an appetite for reality television. IT is the responsibility of the viewers to understand that we want to live our lives different from these reality stars. It’s an entertainment industry and I support those TV shows, but it is our responsibility to make sure that we’re taking responsibility for our actions.

Agree with her….

Chapter 7

Loved that they called Theresa Scanlan a "Miss America of the ages" since she was only 17 when she won….

Here are all the orgnizations she has worked with over her year of service:

Children's Miracle Network

Association for Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders

The US Pentagon

The US Military

NFL

Indy 500

Education initiatives/agriculture

Artistry by Amway

Joseph Ribkoff

I was able to e-mail back and forth with Theresa several times this year about my platform. She helped me a lot and I am forever grateful to have met her and formed a relationship with her. Good bye Theresa, you are leaving big shoes to fill!!! 

Chapter 8 

The moment we've all been waiting for…

The results:

4^th runner up- California- Noelle Freeman

3^rd runner up- Arizona- Jennider Sedlers

2^nd runner up- New York- Kaitlyn Monte

And YOUR Miss America 2012 is….

1^st runner up- Betty Thompson

Miss America 2012 is……LAURA KAEPPLER, MISS WISCONSIN!

Chapter 9

I am sooo proud of my friends from Sweetheart for what they did in the Miss America. Here are some of their awards and pictures of them onstage:

Ann-Blair Thornton- Miss Kentucky- Quality of Life Award for her work with Alzheimers

Kayla Batt- Miss Nebraska- Miss Congeniality and non finalist talent award

Lauren Cheape- Miss Hawaii- Preliminary talent award

Genevive Nutting- Quality of Life Finalist

Katy Lovegreen- did an AMAZING job all week!!

Spenser Wempe- SOOO elegant and full of class…

Girls, it was sooo fun watching you compete and rooting for you!!! Know that I am living vicariously and am soo proud of you!

Chapter 10- The Final Chapter


Now, the journey of our next Miss America will begin…

Get to know her a little bit, I think you'll be impressed :)