The 2011 Miss Massachusetts Pageant: Day 1

Today I woke up bright and early at 4:30 in the morning to get ready for my first day at Miss Massachusetts pageant-week! We were supposed to get here at 8:30, but being the OCD nerd I am, I got here at 8:00. Luckily several other girls had my same sentiment in mind and were pulling up with me. After a very stressful morning in which I backed my dad's pick up truck into a house and totally scraped up the side, I was very excited to get settled into our rooms at the hotel. But alas, Cherise- my lovely roommate and I's room was not ready, so Molly Whalen (Miss Taunton) and Taylor Kinzler (Miss New Bedford) were amazing and let me put my stuff in their room. Once everyone was settled in all the girls and I loaded up into the bus at 9:30 to get shipped off to the Hanover. Again, Cherise and I were totally ahead of the game and got on the bus a good 10 minutes before anyone else...

The bus ride over was super fun, and it was really nice to be together with all the girls. I got to sit with my lovely Miss Boston sister- Ashley Rizzo, and the gorgeous Cecilie Pope, who just happen to be adorable roomies.

Once we got to the theater we had a tour of our AWESOME dressing rooms which are so incredible! We each have our own station, and it is a super cute set up- this is my area!

So after settling in, we got right into learning our production numbers. I totally get the finale but dear god help me the opening number will be the end of me. Cecilie and Jenna even made me cute lyrics and I still feel like I am going to mess it up. I belly dance for a reason, real dance choreography is not my strong suit (to say the least...)

The girls that are teaching us all the dances are so wonderful, and I totally slow everyone down oodles by making them break things down for me like I am a small child every time we learn a new move. Since it is my last year competing, I was totally that girl who takes pictures of everyone doing everything, but I feel as though posterity will appreciate it.

After we ran opening number so many times that even I had a handle on it, we broke for lunch, and then we ran talents. I tried taking pictures of the girls doing their thing, but it totally did not work. When I was dancing I realized my top was totally too big, and I was a little afraid that I was going to be giving everyone a free show, so needless to say the costume came home with me tonight for some alterations...

Once all the girls had run their talents it was time for walking patterns, which was super smooth and easy and I feel totally confident with them. Then we ran everything else two hundred times, and by 5:15 we were all totally pooped and ready for our dinner at Friendly's. Which by the way was totally cruel, so many things I wanted to eat and could not. Sigh.

Being pageant girls, we all took the spare time waiting for the bus as a great opportunity for photos! So here are a bunch of pictures of lots of girls in a parking lot with crowns on....

Miss Boston's Unite!

Roomies!

The Grandma's of the pageant... Sigh.

Our dinner's at Friendly were totally sad... "can I please have the chicken sandwhich without the bun, and the stir fry without the chicken? Oh and by the way can you take our picture?" Those poor waitresses must have wanted to kill us.

So now we are back at the hotel and I am so not tired, but I have my interview at 10:20 tomorrow morning so I should probably try to go to sleep.

Hearts

Miss Boston.

Miss Massachusetts Orientation!

So back in the end of May all the local contestants in the state went to our Miss Massachusetts Orientation. First we went to a local high school and heard all about what the job of being Miss Massachusetts entails, and how the pageant is organized and scored. Then we chose our placements for the actual pageant and did a wardrobe and talent check. It was so nice to see all the girls talents- we certainly have a talented group of girls this year!

After this we all rendezvoused at the Asa Waters Mansion, which was absolutely breath taking. All the girls introduced themselves and we got a chance to talk with the girls and their families more.

One of the other things we did at orientation was choose our roommates for the pageant. I have known Cherise for years from competing at Miss Western Massachusetts, and I am so excited to get the opportunity to be able to room with her for pageant week! She is such a fantastic and inspirational girl and I love her! Here we are at the gorgeous mansion.

Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen Pageant!

Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen Pageant!

So I am totally behind the ball on this one, but better late than never right? So April 10th was the Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen Pageant, and it was a lovely production! The winner was Miss Western Massachusetts Outstanding Teen, Sydney Rachael Levin-Epstein who did an Irish Dance for her talent. The first runner-up was Amy de Silva, and the second runner-up was Miss New Bedford's Outstanding Teen, Kelsey DeGouveia.

The whole experience was such a blast, when we got there the other titleholders and I helped sell raffle tickets and program books, and it was a really nice opportunity to get to hang out with the other girls.

Above is me with Miss Fall River, Maggie Wakim. Below is me with (L-R) Miss Western Massachusetts- Emma Gilbert, Miss Middlesex County- Cherise Leclerc, and Miss Bristol County- Kelli McBee.

So this is Kelsey- Miss New Bedford's Outstanding Teen, who totally captured my heart by not only quoting Anne Frank in her onstage question, but also singing "On My Own"- my all time favorite pageant song! She is such an accomplished and amazing young woman and she is only 13!!

Here are all the girls and me with the newly crowned Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen, who totally rocked all the phases of competition and I am sure she will make MA proud at the national pageant later this summer!

Rockin' Runway Fashion Show

The Anthem Group Presents: Rockin' Runway!

I have been so busy getting ready for the Miss Massachusetts Pageant that I have completely abandoned my blog! There are a few appearances that I did that I still want to mention, one of them being a model at the "Rockin' Runway" fashion show back in March.

My two favorite photographers- Raj of Light Filters Studio, and Dimonika of Dimonika Photography were there and took some great pictures! There were also some amazing designers dressing us, and I had such a blast modeling.

This was one of my favorite outfits of the night, super vintage inspired which is totally my style. It was so much fun getting my hair and make up done too, and the hair stylist loved my jew fro! Yay!

Below are two pictures with my favorite model of all time, the lovely Lizzy Amas. She is such a gorgeous girl and a fierce model! I met some awesome girls at this show, and tried to recruit a couple of them for Miss Boston 2012 ;)

Boston's St. Patrick Days Parade!

So for the St. Patty's day parade in Boston I thought I could just use my fathers convertible... wrong! I guess stick shifts do not equate well with the stopping and slow going of a parade route. So in a matter of days I needed to find a convertible for the parade, and thank everything for our old barn manager, Tricia Murrey, who so kindly lent me her Mercedes convertible!

Needless to say I had to get this convertible from Acton, where Tricia lives, to the city. Oh, and did I mention my parents were gone so I had to transport Charlie and Luna, the two dogs back to the city in it? Hmm... Well the drive was probably the most stressed out I have ever been in the history of my life. Thankfully my student Leah was with me, and spent the vast majority of the ride in the back seat attempting to keep the dogs on the towels that were protecting the seats. Oy vey.

Well I finally got the car to Somerville, and the next morning departed to South Boston to the parade route. Actually, this may have taken first place for the most stressful drive ever as every time I attempted to get to South Boston I was re-routed by angry police officers telling me I couldn't enter. Finally after about the 7th time of being told I could not enter the street I needed to, despite my protests that I was in the parade, I pulled over and started hysterically crying. The officer came over and gruffly told me to stop crying, and let me explain that I was supposed to be in the parade, and FINALLY let me through the barricade towards the parade route. Victory!

Once I finally got there, we lined up and started mingling with the other parade-ers. Here I am with what Billy Costa said on tv was the best ride in the whole parade! Again gigantic thanks to Tricia for letting me borrow her gorgeous car! Dana is also in this picture, and was so sweet to drive me in the parade! He was also a genius and snuck our way to the front of the parade route, since it was totally a bit unorganized....

The line up was a very eclectic group of different people, and it was nice getting to meet everyone. My favorite by far was the Ghost Busters group, as that is totally my favorite childhood movie.

The parade itself was so much fun, and it seems like I saw everyone I know there! This includes... my sisters best friend from high school, my boyfriends favorite co-worker, two boys I went to high school with, and one of my good friends from college. I received about a hundred marriage requests, and smiled so much my cheeks hurt. The parade itself was ridiculously long! It took three hours from start to finish, and there were over 600,000 people there.

The Middlesex County Pageant

The Miss Middlesex County Pageant is something that is very near and dear to my heart. This is a pageant I have been participating in ever since I started pageant-ing, and is the title representing my childhood county.

This pageant was one of the most competitive I have seen all year! It was amazing- everyone totally rocked it. There were 18 girls so they could give 4 titles out. The first group was vying for the titles of Miss Middlesex County and Miss Collegiate Area. Cherise Leclerc has been playing the harp for years and played a beautiful song for her talent segment. After owning all the phases of competition she won the title of Miss Middlesex County.

I have been competing with Cherise for almost as long as I have been pageant-ing. She is such a wonderful person, and one of my favorite girls in the program. She was Miss Massachusetts Outstanding Teen and has placed top five for the past three years at Miss Mass!

The title of Miss Collegiate Area was awarded to Ashley Rizzo, who by the way is Miss Boston 2010! She did a lovely job as always and sang a beautiful aria from Carmen. I am so excited to get to compete this year with my fellow Miss Boston sister and to get to know her better!

My pictures of the crowning of the other two titles did not come out which breaks my heart because they are two girls that I absolutely LOVE. Emily Bird has been competing with me for years, and I feel like is totally a fellow underdog. She scored her first title at this pageant and is now the reigning Miss Eastern Massachusetts! She was so lovely, and it has been such a privilege to watch her grow and succeed over the years.

The last title of the evening went to Cecilie Pope, who has one of the best talents I have ever seen on a Miss America stage- including states and nationals. This was her first pageant ever and she did such an amazing job! She is a phenomenal competitive ballroom dancer, and I was totally blown away after her talent. I think if she had not have won I would have demanded a recount.