Whoooooooo Hoooooooooo! I’m allowed to celebrate because the new Miss America 2009 is MISS MICHIGAN!!!!!!!!!!

If you didn’t see my picks on Friday, it’s because I over-loaded your inbox previously during the week and the email I sent you on Friday bounced back. I think I had 3 different addresses bounce back – and I sincerely apologize for sending too large of files. Every year the internet gets more and more info and apparently I get more and more carried away. 🙂

I do have to admit (ask my husband) – that throughout the broadcast I swore they were going to give it to California or Washington. When they called Michigan not once BUT TWICE as the “first contestant” to perform her talent and the first contestant in swimsuit… I thought they were going to go another direction. However – Michigan prevailed! Very Exciting Indeed!

Here’s the skinny on our winner… Miss Michigan is Kirsten Haglund from Farmington Hills, Michigan. Her Grandmother was Miss Michigan at Miss America in 1944. She’s only 19 years old – and Miss America was her 3rd pageant in her entire lifetime! She won her local on the first try, she won Miss Michigan on her first try and then won Miss America! Funny – because that was the exact same path that Kaye Lani Rae Rafko took 20 years ago as Miss America 1988, also from Michigan! 🙂 Kirsten Haglund will be promoting “Eating Disorder Awareness” as her platform this year – something she struggled with earlier in her teenage years. She’s a student at the University of Cincinnati Conservatory School of Music (only 60 students across the US are accepted each year).

In case you missed the pageant – here were the final results…

Winner = Michigan
1st Runner Up = Indiana
2nd Runner Up = Washington
3rd Runner Up = Virginia
4th Runner Up = North Carolina

Remaining Top 10
California, Wisconsin, Texas, Georgia and Iowa

Remaining Top 16
Florida, South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Arkansas

America’s Choice for the 16th Finalist
UTAH!!!! 🙂

So – here are a couple of remaining thoughts…

1. Miss Utah did push-ups ON STAGE when it was announced that she would not be moving on! Then – she got about 6 other girls to join her! Absolutely Hilarious!

2. Three different Preliminary winners didn’t make it into the Top 16!!!! That’s amazing!!! Rhode Island, Connecticut and Massachusetts were all left standing on the sidelines when the top 16 were announced. That’s really something!

3. Although I couldn’t figure out why they were doing it at the time… I realized that Miss America was trying to emulate other “reality shows”. Until the very end – they called the names of the girls who were ELIMINATED rather than the names of the girls who ADVANCED. It’s a subtle difference… and doesn’t allow the girls who didn’t make it to throw a fit off stage. Maybe that’s a good thing??? It’s kind of like when Donald Trump singles you out and says “Your fired”…. Miss America said… “I’m sorry – the next girl eliminated from the competition is… Miss Florida”. So sad and yet – very much like what we’re used to watching on regular reality TV.

4. NOBODY changed their look ALL NIGHT!!! There just wasn’t any time to pull your hair back or get a different color of lipstick during the commercials! Poor Miss Michigan probably didn’t even get to warm up her voice before singing her talent! One minute everyone’s in swimsuit – the next minute you’ve got everyone on stage in a talent costume preparing to perform! Even Miss Wisconsin was still buckling her shoes when they came back from the commercial break! Guess that “prepares” you to be ready for anything!?!

5. A little too weird for me to see mom’s and dad’s on stage. I don’t mind seeing the girls on stage – but seeing the parents was a little strange.

6. Clinton Kelly of TLC’s “What Not To Wear” sold me on why he should be the next host of Miss America 2009!!!! He was FUNNY!!!! And he’s FABULOUS “off the cuff” — I thought much better than the other guy who only got the gig because he’s married to Leanza Cornett, MA 1993.

7. Finally – if Texas would have had any talent whatsoever, she could have been Top 3. My husband is sure she could have won – but you can’t be a “jazz dancer” wearing white gloves and win. Sorry.

Big Kudos go out to Jillian Scott – who picked 9 out of the Top 16, 5 out of the Top 10 and 3 out of the Top 5!!!! She picked Indiana to win it all – WHICH WAS PRETTY DARN CLOSE – All before the program even started!!!! Nice Work Jill!!!

Otherwise – Again, I apologize for filling your inboxes – and Thank You for your time and attention the past several weeks. If you’d like to see pictures – feel free to email me… I’ve got an entire montage available! OH! And if you see our winner on the morning talk shows today – let me know how she does!!! 🙂

Hopefully you had some fun with this – even if it was at my expense!!!

Until Next Year….

Well – Congratulations! You made it! It’s now officially the day before MISS AMERICA 2008!!!!!!!! Which means we’ll have a new Miss America in about 36 hours!!!! Will she be the “it-girl” everyone keeps talking about? Will she be stylish, but have no talent? Or will she weigh what everyone else in America weighs instead of super skinny (’cause that would be someone I could relate to, ya know?)??? We shall soon find out!!!!

Here are the results from last night’s preliminaries…. For the record, I’m 3 for 3 with Swimsuits this year and 0 for 3 for Talent. Perhaps this means I’m becoming more shallow the longer I live.

Swimsuit = Texas (all swimsuit awards went to blondes this year… and for the record – the Miss Longview, Texas blog says that Miss Texas told her directors that she had the best interview she’s ever had. Look for her in top 10 – maybe even top 5).

Talent = Connecticut (NO DANCERS won talent this go-around… interesting. There was lots of “buzz” about the talent from last night… apparently it was quite competitive. Washington, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Florida and Michigan were all listed as potential winners last night… but Connecticut came away with the win).

Which brings me to a few things I need to say…

1. I don’t think Utah can make Top 16. She’s on a highly competitive night and doesn’t seem to have the fashion thing working. Plus, she’s one of 3 girls who wore a 1 piece swimsuit instead of a 2 piece. Not a good sign for such a nice, relate-able, girl. My apologies for picking her early and steering some of you that direction. Maybe she’ll be the “16th” pick of the night from all of America… but I doubt it.

2. My apologies also for some of my comments on yesterday’s photos… I meant to warn you in yesterday’s email, but forgot. Just my personal opinions… take ’em or leave ’em. Hope they weren’t offensive (some of my favorite people were given their father’s body instead of the mother’s! Like me!).

3. Some of the states that have done amazingly well over the past couple of years are normally where I go for inspiration. In this case, Alabama, Georgia and Oklahoma are the obvious choices for programs that know what they’re doing (3 Miss Americas, 2 second runner-ups, a 3rd and a 4th runner up between all of them over just 3 years). However – I’m not convinced that these states can even make Top 16 this year… based on what the judges are awarding, these states which are typically “safe bets” are not showing me they can make the transformation.

4. THERE’S ONE MORE EPISODE OF “MISS AMERICA REALITY CHECK” TONIGHT!!!!!!!! Use your Tivo if you’ve got other plans – Jimmy and I will be at a birthday party so I’ll be watching it Saturday morning…. And then getting my hair done Saturday afternoon before the big event that night!!!! Talk about a whole “day of Miss America”!!!! Throw in a massage and I might be in heaven!!!

Ok – I feel better now. Thanks for listening to the thoughts rolling around in my head. 🙂 Now – on to the good stuff!

I’ve included MANY photographs from last night’s competition… and this link is AMAZING!!!

http://www.pbase.com/nikonbuff/2008missamericapageant

Click on the top where it says what he’s photographing. Some of the pictures aren’t of the greatest quality (I’m guessing he’s up in the rafters somewhere) – but you get a good idea of what each girl wore each night of their competition. If you want to go over-board, this is the best place to do it this year. You can also click on any of the photos I’ve sent and expand them to a bigger size if you need to see something close-up!

Also – I’m including the individual groups that the girls commeted in. Chances are, you’re not gonna have more than 6 girls come out of the same night – so if you’re serious about this (and of course, YOU ARE! lol) then that means you should examine the groupings.

Finally – If you’d like to send me your personal picks – they’re due before the program starts Saturday night! Then, I’ll keep them and send out an update on Monday about the winner! I’m filling out my picks today – because everyone else at the office has to fill theirs out today… and I would technically have an unfair advantage if I waited until I watched the last “Reality Check” episode. THEREFORE —- If you don’t want to be biased based on my picks…. Don’t look any further…

Otherwise – here are my picks!!!

Top 16
Florida, Michigan, Mississippi, Washington, Connecticut, Texas, Georgia, Iowa, South Carolina, Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, Tennessee, Virginia, Alabama

Top 10
Florida, Michigan, Washington, Texas, Illinois, California, Massachusetts, Georgia, South Carolina, Rhode Island

Top 5
Michigan, Texas, Illinois, California, Florida

Winner
Michigan

That’s what I got! Send me your picks tonight or tomorrow! Can’t Wait to see if we’re on target or not —– !!!!! Should be FABULOUS!!!

Thanks again for following along this year and putting up with me and my somewhat sick and twisted commentary. Someday I PROMISE to return the favor in your life 🙂

You can’t see me – but I’m waving at you… right now… with my fancy pageant wave!

Love You All!

crl

Hello Again Friends and Family!!!!

You’re not gonna believe what I’m about to tell you… so you better sit down while you read this (who reads their email standing up anyway?).

I have the results from last night’s preliminaries… prepare to laugh out loud.

The Swimsuit winner was Miss Rhode Island — as I was telling someone around here, swimsuit winners are easier to pick in my book. You just do a little research, find out who won swimsuit in their state competition, find out how tall they are and if they know how to “work it” and you’re done. Congrats to me – I picked Rhode Island.

Here’s the crazy part.

The Talent winner… from last night… was Miss Iowa… A BATON TWIRLER!!!!!!!

I wish I were kidding.

You should have heard me laughing this morning when I saw the results! So much for a “new image” of Miss America! The only baton twirler out of 52 contestants and she wins the stinking talent competition!

Now – I had to do some extra research after discovering this dumbfounding possibility had actually occurred. So – I found a blog that is from the folks with the Miss Texas organization and they did an AMAZING job covering everything you ever wanted to know about last night’s preliminary competition… http://www.misslongview.org/missamerica/Miss%20America%20Blog.htm . They’ll tell you all kinds of details regarding what color of gown each of the girls had on, what question they were asked when they were on stage, and what song they sang for their talent! Talk about THOROUGH!

Anyway – I discovered… that apparently this is the “best baton routine” anyone in the Miss Texas organization had ever seen – and she received a standing ovation for her performance! Ending the performance with 3, count ’em 3 BATONS!!!

Here’s what I know. Maybe it really was amazing. Maybe it would have been the best baton routine I’ve ever seen in my life as well. But you know what? Miss Iowa… was the final talent performance of the night. That means – the judges didn’t like ANYTHING else they saw earlier in the evening enough to beat a freaking baton twirler!!!!!! C’Mon!!!!

Further research indicates that Miss Washington answered her on-stage question the best (in their opinion) and other potential swimsuit winners could have been California and Oklahoma.

So – I have no clue who to pick for tonight. I’m guessing that unless you have the ability to make it on American Idol, the judges aren’t going to think you’re a very good vocalist (since they’re all “Hollywood-style” judges). None of these girls have a recording contract – so I’m stumped as to who to pick. But here goes –

Talent = California, Oklahoma, Oregon and Colorado (Colorado does an Irish Step Dance for her talent… I’m thinking if they went with a Baton Twirler, they may go for “flailing legs” as well).

Swimsuit = Florida, Michigan, Virginia, Louisiana. Truthfully, there are a lot of girls who could win swimsuit tonight – so I’m preparing to miss this one (after stating it was “easier”… now I’m at a loss!).

And I was able to locate some additional photos of the girls in Vegas this week — Robin Leach (Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous fame) has a blog and is quite a big-wig in Vegas. http://blogs.lasvegasmagazine.com/VegasLuxeLife/ . If you have “sensitive eyes” you might want to proceed with caution… it is Vegas after all and he does post many photos of minor and major celebrities enjoying themselves in Vegas!

OH! And the head judge (Robin Meade, former Miss Ohio) is keeping her own blog as well. She makes a funny comment about the Miss America contestants seemingly naming a “Mr. America” in Barack Obama! www.robinmeadeblog.com .

Soooooooooooooooooooo – we’ll find out the results tomorrow morning… Hope you’re still enjoying the photos and highlights… hope my personal commentary didn’t get too out of hand today. And please – may we not crown the baton twirler in hopes of connecting with today’s “it girl”!

ENJOY!!!!!
crl

IT’S HERE! IT’S FINALLY HERE! OUR FIRST ROUND OF PRELIMINARIES FOR MISS AMERICA 2008!!!!

Can’t believe we finally made it – and more importantly, I can’t believe how stinking hard it’s going to be for me to pick a winner this year!!! The whole “reality” thing is making me think twice – and it’s no longer as easy as it used to be!

Just as a reminder – all of the girls have been divided into 3 groups (which I’ve attached to this email). You can see what order they’re going to be competing in and who else is competing against them on their night. Everyone had their interview with the judges either yesterday or this morning… so they’ve all been “seen” and initial impressions have been made. Now it’s up to the judges to reward those they liked in interview with additional points in talent and swimsuit 🙂

Here are my initial picks for tonight’s winners:

Swimsuit = Tennessee, Illinois, California, Rhode Island (the gal with the great haircut and killer body, with no charisma)

Talent = South Carolina, New Mexico, Georgia, Ohio (all of these ladies are vocalists.. And none of them are “classical vocalist or opera singers. I think the judges are going to go for entertainment value on opening night, more than raw talent).

And for whatever reason – I can’t find any photos of the girls “out and about” this week… other than their initial “arrival” photos which took place on THURSDAY of last week! Maybe they’re all working hard on some fabulous choreography numbers to do during the show and there’s no time to eat or get pictures of them anywhere in Vegas. If you’ve found some in your spare time – please let me know where!

I have also included some final “Michael Urie” photos of the girls after their makeovers in California – kind a interesting to see who sticks with their look and who will change it between these photos and now (I did see that Miss Kansas has cut her hair shorter – to more like a sleek bob – with not as much fluff).

So – that’s it! We’ll give you the results from tonight’s preliminaries along with an entirely new set of picks tomorrow!!! Enjoy!!!

crl

WHOOOOOO HOOOOOO!!!! It’s finally here!!! Miss America Pageant Week!!!

I know all of you have been anxiously awaiting this week as well – In fact,
I’m sure you were all glued to your TIVO’s this weekend watching Miss
America Reality Check Part 3 on TLC (ok – maybe not all of you. In fact,
maybe none of you!). Much to my surprise – they’re airing a 4th episode
this Friday, which is truly exciting (the entire time they’ve only listed 3
episodes when I’ve checked out the TLC website — so I’m THRILLED to know
there’s more yet to come!!!)!

Just a reminder to those of you who don’t “live” in pageant-land and only
make the journey when I drag you kicking and screaming… This week the
girls will be competing in preliminary competitions. They’ve been split
into three groups and will all be performing their talent, swimsuit, evening
wear and interview PRIOR to the main event this Saturday night. These
“preliminary” competitions determine who makes the Top 16 and who doesn’t
(yes – that’s not a typo… There will be a Top 16 this year). As always
I’ll be sharing who the winners of each category are each night – and making
some predictions of my own for each night. Prelim’s run Tue, Wed and
Thur… And the final night is Saturday, January 26th.

But for today —- I’m attaching a list of this year’s judges to this email
so you can learn a little more about the people who are going to be picking
this year’s Miss America. From what I can tell – this is a group of
“Hollywood” judges… The only person who’s even been in a pageant was Robin
Meade – who was a Miss Ohio back in the day… Everyone else is part of the
“new it-girl crowd” and will obviously be looking for that kind of girl.

Also included are some press photos (I’m having a hard time finding pic’s
this year) of the girls during their first days in Vegas. Always important
to see who’s getting press coverage 🙂 The second photo is of the girls who
are the finalists for their platform issues – also known as the Quality of
Life Award.

And of course – if you missed the latest Miss America Reality Check episode
– you missed another doozie! Here’s who was chosen top 3 and bottom 3:

Top 3 = Florida (with such a traumatic past of having her face blown off
when she was a teenager… Sorry, did that sound insensitive? I actually
like her!), Virginia and Alaska (like her or not, get ready for Alaska to be
in the Top 10… She’s a former Miss USA Alaska in 2004 when she was only
20… Which means she knows what it takes to “walk” and be a “fashion
girl”).

Bottom 3 = Iowa (the only baton twirler of the group), Tennessee (first time
pageant girl) and Rhode Island (“great hair but no charisma or
personality…” lol… That was funny!)

Tomorrow we’ll look at the individual groups everyone is in and you’ll see
my first set of predictions! Although – may I just say, that any of you
have the ability to win the pool this year — because I’m not sure I have
the first clue who they’re gonna crown with this whole new “it-girl”
fascination. I may lose the pool at my office because of that as well (how
embarrassing!).

OH – I found a new website that has all the individual state pageant
webistes listed….

http://www.fourpointsmagazine.com/mags/fourpoints/statepageants/

This is a great site if you’re looking for something that shows all the
contestants in one location (which I’m sure you are)!

OK – That’s it for today!!! Prelim’s tomorrow!!! Let the Excitement
Begin!!!

crl