Every year, about this time, I begin to wonder if I’ve fallen off the deep end.

Truth is, I don’t actually FALL off the deep end until about June 20th or so… But by that point, I’ve already been drifting in the deep end of the crazy-pool for a few weeks and it doesn’t even matter. I don’t get much sleep, my husband leaves the house, the dog is sporadically fed, and my personal hygiene routine becomes questionable.

“My name is Carrie Lakey…  And I’m a Junkie…  A Pageant Junkie”

What’s the plight of my ruin…?

It’s called – State Pageant Season.

In case you’re new to Pageant Junkies, here’s a little background for you…

Once upon a time many, many stilettos ago, I was on social media, desperately trying to find more information about who had already won their state title and would be heading to Miss America. Honestly, I was pretty frustrated – simply because the information was out there, but I was surprised at how L O N G it took for the information to be posted to social media! Sometimes the state winner wasn’t even announced until a day or two later!

Fast forward a few years, and boy howdy – times have certainly changed! Now, the information is available within seconds of the winner’s name being announced (as it should be)! In addition, you can pretty much learn anything you want to learn about a given contestant, thanks to social media. That’s when it hit me…

Could I predict who might win each state title,
simply by researching all of the contestants online???

Soon after, I began posting my predictions, and more and more people became members of the “Junkie Nation” by following along to see how well I did. Truth is, we did pretty good – with 82-87% accuracy in 2013 and 2014, and the Pageant Junkies became known for our “Here’s Who to Watch List”.

Then, with thousands of hours of research and a lot of glitter behind us, I challenged myself to ONLY LIST 5 NAMES for each state title in 2015.

Frankly, it’s a little crazy trying to pick only 5 names when so many incredibly talented, beautiful, accomplished young women enter state pageants each year (there were actually 1400 young women who competed at the state level in 2015)… But, I’d say we did alright! Seventy-Five percent of the time, the woman who went on to win her state title, was on our Top 5 list (which was kinda surprising, even for us!)

So – This year, we’re doing the Top 5 list again – But with one significant change.

This year, our predictions are only available though Pageant Junkies Newsletter…

In the meantime, if you want to know HOW we go about predicting potential state winners, we have a couple of resources for you!

First – Video Number One – Recorded about this time last year…

For all the rest of you Junkies who already know how this works – Here’s the full list of state pageants coming up over the next several weeks!  We kick off in April, have a few more in May, and officially go kooky-wacko in June with 38 state titles awarded, before finishing up in July. 🙂

And there you have it! Once again, if you’d like to see our predictions, just sign up asap! Our Miss Maine predictions will officially be released on April 22nd!

Oh – And don’t forget my favorite phrase when it comes to state prediction season…

“If we say your name, we hope you prove us right!

And if we don’t say your name,
WE HOPE YOU PROVE US WRONG!!!”

Cue the Bert Parks – and let’s ALL sing along…

“There she is… Miss America…”

GOOD LUCK LADIES!!!

#BigJunkieLove

Carrie Lakey

Not gonna lie… I’m pretty excited about today’s post featuring the lovely Mickey Deputy…

Mickey Deputy is an 18 year old pageant contestant who was born with down syndrome and a heart defect… She was also diagnosed with Leukemia at the age of 7, and battled spinal taps, blood transfusions, and bone marrow aspirations before beating it. And, in case you can’t tell – Mickey also happens to LOVE pageantry!

Mickey entered and won her state “Miss Amazing” title (the Miss Amazing system is a pageant for ladies with disabilities) and then went on to finish as the 1st RU at the National Miss Amazing Pageant!  Now, Mickey has competed in a couple of locals in her home state of Indiana, with the hopes of one day making it to the Miss America stage.

If you’ve missed the videos, here’s a couple of them… It’s absolutely worth it to take a moment and watch the PopSugar video here… or this one from USA Today, at this link…

The reason why we’re posting about Mickey today, is because I believe she offers a few lessons that all of us can apply to our own lives… In fact, whether you’re in pageants or not, Mickey’s life is pretty darn inspirational for each and every one of us…

ARE YOU TRYING TO HIDE SOMETHING?

When you watch the videos above, you’ll see that Mickey is the perfect example of someone who is “fully herself” on stage.  She’s not trying to hide behind her “imperfections” – She’s not trying to “act” like a pageant contestant – She’s just being herself.

Mickey seems to be the kind of contestant we all aspire to become… Someone who doesn’t worry about what other ladies are doing… Someone who isn’t trying to be like the current titleholder… Someone who just is who she is, and walks on stage fully grounded in her own abilities. To that point, I’ve read additional interviews online where Mickey says that she’s NEVER nervous when she’s competing.

Why would she be? There’s nothing for her to be nervous about – because she’s not trying to BE anything! Mickey is Mickey. Nobody else could ever be Mickey! She’s not wasting her time worrying about what other people do – She’s only trying be the very best that she can be. Take a lesson from Miss Mickey – Be You and you’ll feel super comfortable when you walk out on any stage in life. 🙂

DO YOU CHANGE THE ATMOSPHERE FOR THE BETTER?

In the video above, one of the quotes is how “Mickey changes the atmosphere”… when she competes. The truth is, all pageant contestants have the ability to “change the atmosphere” – but not everyone changes the atmosphere in a positive way. Some contestants make power-plays, or feel like they need to cut others down, or even avoid the most basic conversations with ladies who are considered the “front-runners”.

When someone like Mickey takes the stage, we’re all reminded that we’re not competing against each other. We’re simply trying to compete with ourselves. How can I be better at my talent? How can I improve my fitness? What’s something I can do that will make my interview more memorable?

The next time you find yourself competing in a pageant, ask yourself if you’re contributing to the atmosphere in a negative way, or a positive way… AND – I’d encourage you to really challenge yourself to answer that question as objectively as possible!

Wherever you go, people should not see you as a competitor. They should see you as someone who’s only trying to improve herself. One way to do that – is for other contestants to see that you’re excited about everyone’s success/personal improvement – not just your own.

ARE YOU PURSUING YOUR DREAMS?

One of the hardest things to do in life is to go after something you really, really want. Why? Because if it doesn’t work out – Well – that could crush you, right? I mean, this is your DREAM! And sometimes, it’s a whole lot easier to “think about” or even “dream about” your dream, than it is to “totally go for” your dream – and fail.

The truth is, if you don’t pursue your dreams, you’ll spend a lot of time wishing you had. And it doesn’t matter if they’re big dreams like Mickey’s dream of becoming Miss America, or if they’re small dreams, like trying something new. Either way – if you don’t pursue your dreams, you’ll look back and always wonder, “what if I would have…”

If you like pageants because of one reason or another (the scholarships, performing on stage, meeting new people), but your dream isn’t to become a state or national titleholder – THAT’S COMPLETELY FINE! Discover what IS your dream, add it to your bucket list, and get moving in that direction. 🙂 Not everyone who enters a pageant has a dream to win the whole darn thing! However, you DO need to pursue your dreams – regardless of who you are, and regardless of how you may feel about your chances of ever reaching them. Pursue them. Period.

And there you have it! Three lessons learned from Miss Mickey’s pageant journey, that can apply to each and every one of us today. 🙂 Keep these three things in mind when you compete in your next pageant – and keep an eye out for Mickey Deputy! I have a feeling, she’s going to be someone worth watching in the years to come 🙂 #TeamMickey #MissAmazing

#BigJunkieLove

Carrie Lakey

If you’d like to see more #ThursdayBlogDay posts like this one, just click here…

Carrie Lakey is kind of obsessed with Miss America…
So are 15,000 of her closest friends.

As an avid fan of the Miss America Organization, Carrie began
publicly predicting pageant winners over 10 years ago.
Now, she’s galvanizing an online movement of fans
known as “Pageant Junkies”.
Learn more about the Junkie Nation
by clicking here.