Preliminary Competition Day #1

It's Here! It's Here! It's Finally HERE!!!!!

The first night of on-stage Preliminary Competition for Miss America 2011 starts TONIGHT!!! I've been studying the individual groups as listed below (Mu, Alpha, Sigma) and it's my job to narrow the field down to 4 possible winners out of 13 girls competing. I'll do this today, tomorrow and Thursday - and while I don't necessarily 'win' anything by doing it, it helps me get into the Judges heads to see if we're on the same page or not. Each day, I'll offer my picks for the winners in both Swimsuit and Talent (they don't announce a winner for Evening Wear or the On-Stage Question)... and I usually have a bit of commentary associated to back up my picks. Typically, I get 4 out of 6 winners correct over the course of the week. A good year would be 5 out of 6 (which is what I'm shooting for this year), a 'less than average' year is 3 out of 6 (although, I'm thinking of asking the officials to place an asterisk next to the year Miss Vermont won Talent) and we'll all know I have completely fallen off my rocker if I only get 2 out of 6 correct (I mean, almost anyone can do that!).

So! Without further adieu, here are my picks for TUESDAY'S PRELIMINARIES:

Swimsuit = Florida, Hawaii, Illinois, and DC. Florida is a GORGEOUS blond and all of 5'11!!! If they let her wear her black, silver-studded, over-the-knee leather boots during the swimsuit competition, i think she would (she can be seen in several photos with them on this past week!). Also, Illinois and DC won swimsuit at their state competition - and Hawaii is a former Miss America Outstanding Teen for Hawaii (more on that later).

Talent = WOW! This is a PACKED group for Talent --- Lots of girls won Talent at their states from this night! I could miss this one - but hopefully not!

Talent Picks = Pennsylvania, California, Texas, Tennessee. Seriously - this one was HARD! These are all strong pageant states - and I'm guessing it's going to be close! Penn plays the Electric Fiddle, the others are vocalists. California made it to the Top 36 at American Idol (just missed going to Hollywood) and she was 1st Runner up at the Miss American Outstanding Teen national competition in 2005. The vocalist judge on the panel is a country music singer - so, I'm not sure 'classical vocalists' are going to win any preliminaries this year... we'll see. Georgia could sneak out and win tonight - but I'm sticking with my original 4 states.

OK! And - this just in! The Prelims will be streamed on the web tonight - starting at 8pm Pacific! Yay for Technology!!!

Finally - as soon as I get the chance, I'll put together a form for our contest this year... I'm giving away a Vera Wang "Princess" Perfume gift pack to the person who scores the most points by choosing the most finalists correctly! You don't wanna miss out!

OH! And I'm anxiously waiting until Thursday morning when I'll get to fly to Vegas to see it all in person!!! Honestly - I'm having a hard time getting my rest because... "I'm too excited to sleep!!!" :)

Must Press On! Results from my picks will be available on Miss America's Facebook page around 11:30 tonight! Whoooooooooooooooooooo Hoooooooooooooooooooooooo!!! :)

crl

Let's Learn About Judges!!!

Whoooooooooooo Hooooooooooooooooo for Competition Day #1!!!!!

For those of you who are newly introduced to this blog and/or my emails - Today is officially the beginning of the selection process for our new Miss America! How does it work? Glad you asked! All 53 contestants are divided into 3 different groups. There are 4 different categories that each contestant participates in... Swimsuit (Lifestyle and Fitness), Evening Wear, Talent and Private Interview. In order to determine the Top 10 or Top 15 finalists, the judges will see each contestant in each phase of competition and give them a score between 1-10. The Top 10/Top 15 girls with the highest scores are named 'finalists' and that's who you see compete live on Saturday night.

Private Interviews start today... and account for 25% of a contestant's total score. Other breakdowns are as follows:

Swimsuit = 15%
Evening Wear = 20%
Talent = 35%
On-Stage Question (during Evening Wear) = 5%

Why is interview so important? Well, we don't want a 'dummy' for Miss America, but more importantly, the private interview sets the tone for how the judges view you for the remainder of the competition (even though it shouldn't). If you have a bad or a good interview, they likely will remember such when it's time to score you in another area.

Now - for the most important part of the competition ---- JUDGES!!!!!!





"But why are the judges so important?" you ask... because one set of judges may have a completely different take on the winner than a different group of judges. It all depends on how THEY score you.

Click on the judges photos if you would like to read the fine print about each Judge... Important items of note include:

1. Joy Behar. Crazy glad I didn't have her for a judge. Wondering if she'll try to dominate the questioning/conversation as opposed to hearing from the girls themselves. I think the only reason she was chosen is because Rush Limbaugh judged the pageant last year and this is the response for all the Lefties who were upset about it. Look for Ann Coulter to judge next year (HA! - Wouldn't she be a hoot!).

2. Dancing With The Stars and Desperate Housewives. Obviously, ABC got to have some infulence this year, since the pageant is on their channel. Hope Tony and Mark have a clue how to judge a pageant.

3. Debbye Turner. A Fabulous Miss America who tried to win in 2 different states over several years before she decided to play the Marimba as her Talent, not the drums. She was fantastic on the drums, but let's face it - you can't crown a Miss America who plays 'wipe out' on the drums as her talent. Very glad she's in this group to guide others and offer insights on her year as Miss America.

Not that the other judges aren't important - but these are my highlights for consideration. Now, they do throw out the high and the low score on each girl, so no one judge can single handily choose the winner (giving one girl all 10's and giving everyone else 1's or 2's), but just know, if you can't charm Joy, I'm guessing you're not going to win this year.

OK - Long Post today during my lunch break --- hope you found it to be worth it!

OH - and thanks to Angela for being the second person in addition to my own sister who's officially 'following' this blog! Good to know i have 2 fans :)

Later!!!

crl

Heaven's to Betsy!!! I'm over-come with excitement!!! :)

Click Here for a Sneak Peek at the Miss America Shoe Line at DSW

WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW! WOW!

For the Truly Hard Core...

Big Props to my Handsome Hubby for helping me figure out how to get this stuff to you EASILY!!! This is for those of you who are 'hard core' about this whole thing (and let's face it - i might be the only one who needs a support group, but there are plenty of you whose curiosity is just starting to pique!) - Here are several links to take you directly to a bunch of photos on the Miss America Facebook site...

Bucca Di Beppo Photos
Fashion Show Photos
Rehearsal Photos
Arrival Ceremony Photos

It's just starting to get interesting... Tomorrow we'll announce plans for this year's Miss America Pick 'Em Contest!!! It's just like The Final Four - Only BETTER!

AND - TOMORROW -- WE TALK JUDGES!!!

Too much fun to walk away now!!! :)

crl

Queens with Carbs!

I may be on a low-carb diet as I desperately prepare to fit into my favorite clothes... but these ladies dove into the spaghetti and such at Bucca Di Beppo yesterday! Full photos at Miss America's Facebook page (see photos), but here are a few of my favorites!

Speaking of Favorites... Is there a reason why my sister is the only person to be officially following my blog? Should I be taking that personally? :)

Photos, Photos and More Photos!!!

Just wanted to give you a rundown of all the lovely ladies competing for the crown!!! This is over 2 posts, because I can only post 5 photos at a time...

Enjoy!!!

Photos, Photos and More Photos Take 2!!!

And here are the rest of the lovely ladies... :)