And here are the rest of the lovely ladies… 🙂

Whew! Sorry I didn’t get a post up yesterday – I was busy taking the final day I had (in good weather) to do some last minute shopping in Denver before heading to Vegas this week. I’m excited to say I’ve found some excellent bargains in shoes, handbags, jewelry and dresses (yes, I said dresses). In fact, I don’t think I bought this many dresses since I was competing umpteen years ago (yes, there will be photos).

But I digress – It’s time to ‘catch up’ on a few posts – so let’s get this party started!

This post is about the Quality of Life Finalists for 2011. For those of you who are new to the whole Miss America Junkie posse — The QoL award is given to the state who has “excelled in their commitment to enhance the Quality of Life for others through volunteerism and community service.” In essence, every state has a ’cause’ they personally choose to champion for their year as “Miss State”. According to the Miss America website, the QoL winner is determined based on “depth of service, creativity in the project and the significant effects upon the lives of others.” The photo is of this year’s finalists – and their ’causes’ include:

Miss Delaware Kayla Martell – Alopecia Areata Support & Awareness

Miss Florida Jaclyn Raulerson – Stop Bullying Now!

Miss Georgia Christina McCauley – “Let’s Get it Straight” – Scoliosis Awareness

Miss Maryland Lindsay Staniszewski – Beyond Beauty: Building Self-Esteem and Positive Body Image in Girls

Miss Michigan Katie Lynn LaRoche – Bringing Awareness to Human Trafficking

Miss Minnesota Kathryn Knuttila – Inspiring America

Miss New Jersey Ashleigh Udalovas – Read to Succeed: Improving America’s Future through Literacy

Miss Virginia Caitlin Uze – Uniquely You – Building Positive Self-Image

The Quality of Life finalists don’t determine the Top 10 or who is likely to win on Saturday night — but it does mean these girls have a great deal of actual substance to talk about during their personal interview with the judges. So – keep ’em in mind, but don’t automatically go to the ‘big dance’ with one of these girls just yet! 🙂

More Posts to come! Have you been doing your research??? Everything you need is at one of these websites:

MissAmerica.org (although, it’s really slow)
Miss America Organization on Facebook (look under the VIDEO CONTEST tab!!! or just the regular wall has lots of videos and photos)
TFTJ.com (stands for ‘Turn For the Judges’ – look up individual states in the right year)
AbbyBollenbacher.blogspot.com (i’ve been following Abby Bollenbacher for a few years – she seems to share my level of obsession from Ohio)

OK – more pictures to come! Stay Tuned!!! 🙂

crl

From “Marketwire”…

“In what could easily be described as playful pancake pandemonium, all 53 Miss America 2011 Contestants got “all shook up” in Las Vegas this morning as they joined together for the ultimate pancake breakfast announcing their support of Children’s Miracle Network Hospitals and their upcoming IHOP National Pancake Day fundraising effort set for March 1, 2011…”

Check out these photos!!! Seriously – Who doesn’t love Elvis, Miss America and Pancakes???

More posts are on their way – but I wanted you to check these out first! 🙂

Bring on the Butter!

crl

P.S. – You can click on each photo to get a larger view!!!

Whoooooo Hoooooooo for the first day of introductions to the Ladies who would be Miss America! I’ve got a couple of photos here as well… these aren’t official press photos, they’re actually photos I found on Facebook from different ‘fan’ pages. BTW – you don’t have to be an official ‘fan’ to see the Miss America Organization, or many of the “Miss States”… just look up Miss America, Miss Kansas, Miss Colorado, etc in your ‘search friends’ box and you’ll be able to have a different peek at your favorite contestants (since I know all of you are desperately looking for new ways to get pertinent information before you choose your Top 15 – lol!).

Love the photo of (from left to right) Miss North Carolina, Miss Connecticut and Miss Colorado who were all on the same plane on their way to Vegas! Also – you can see all the contestants together outside Planet Hollywood for their ‘Welcome Ceremony’. They were welcomed by Boyz II Men — and if you have 34 minutes to kill, you can see the entire video of every contestant on the Miss America Facebook page (not super interesting even for me, so i’m guessing you’d have to be an insomniac to put yourself through it).

ALSO – you can start checking out videos created by the girls themselves on the Miss America Facebook page under “VIDEO CONTEST”… some are impressive, some not so much. As I’ve said before… Videos are a great opportunity to get a sneak peek at each girl before the whole pageant actually begins… and this is your chance to see who’s well-spoken and who’s a bimbo. 🙂 Check it out here:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/MissAmericaOrganization?v=app_10442206389

So – Enjoy the Videos and start the short-list on your Top 15! We start preliminaries on Tuesday!!!

Until Next Time!

crl