Samantha Russo has a gift.  The girl can sing!

I told you… THE GIRL CAN SING!  And – she just started taking lessons AFTER she was named Miss New Hampshire!

In addition, we loved Samantha’s “Top Things Learned at Miss America” post from her own blog… If you’re a contestant this year, do yourself a favor a read it here!  Well worth the time!!! 🙂

We’re pretty sure we’re going to be seeing great things from Sam Russo over the coming years… She won Miss NH on her first try – which might now feel like a ‘detour’ on her journey towards a career in sports broadcasting.  In fact, she has a love of baseball that warms our Junkie hearts!  Here’s wishing BIG SUCCESS to Samantha in the years to come! 🙂

Regarding this year’s competition – Lucky for us – we got to meet a WHOLE BUNCH of Junkies from NH at Miss America in Atlantic City!  Don’t think we haven’t forgotten about you 🙂  We LOVE our NH Junkies and can’t wait to see how this week’s competition plays out 🙂

Now – Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Sarah Mousseau – 2nd runner up ’12 and ’13, Prelim SS in ’13
Kendall Wipff – 1st runner up ’13, Miss Mass OT ’10, 3rd time at Miss NH
Jessica Avelar – 3rd runner up in ’13
Holly Blanchard – Prelim Talent winner, Top 12 in ’13
Joanna Shields – Miss CT competitor twice, lovely body

Big Shout Out to Stephanie and Nichole Iacuzio – sisters competing together at Miss NH!  And Junkies also wanna say “Good Luck” to Kat Howland who sent us some fabulous New Hampshire maple syrup plus other goodies from the Granite State (You Look Great Kat!!!) 🙂  

GOOD LUCK TO ALL AT MISS NEW HAMPSHIRE 2014!!!

Collage courtesy of Miss America Class Updates 🙂

MAJ

Whenever you start to think you’re busy… Remind yourself of Miss Vermont, Jeanelle Achee’s schedule the year BEFORE she was named Miss VT.  According to an online article in the Hearld of Randolph, Jeanelle juggled 2 jobs, logged over 600 hours of community service, completed her third year of nursing school and pursued a minor in global studies.  Oh – and did we mention she was also named a Truman Scholar?  Whew!  The Junkies are tired just thinking of it all!

But we shouldn’t be surprised… After all, Vermont has been crowning super smart, accomplished, women for decades and Jeanelle was no exception.  We look forward to watching Jeanelle in the years ahead and watching her excel in her field of choice. 🙂

Now – Regarding Miss Vermont 2014 – there’s a wonderful group of girls to choose from.  Different states have different preferences on what they’re looking for – but in Vermont, there’s no way you can win if you don’t have a stellar interview.  That’s what makes it a little hard for the Junkies to choose a winner – because someone’s interview ability isn’t typically something you can research online.  However, we’ve done our best – and here’s what we’ve got!

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Jackie Croft – 1st runner up ’12, 2nd runner up ’13
Nina Merriman – 1st runner up ’13
Alayna Westcom – 4th runner up ’11, scholar award in ’11
Ashley Bourdeau – rookie, articulate, lovely headshot, zumba instructor

ALL THE BEST TO EVERYONE AT MISS VERMONT!!!  GOOD LUCK!!!

Miss Vermont 2014 collage courtesy of Miss America Class Updates!  To see a larger image, just click on the photo! 🙂

MAJ

Wowzers.

Are we really here again?  Is it really time to take another spin on the Junkie Merry-Go-Round of insanity as we predict the 53 women who will compete for the title of Miss America 2015?  I’m trying to remember why I put myself thought this… LOL!  Truth is, I think this is why I’m called a “Junkie”… It’s the sickness that slowly takes over… and before you realize it… you’re googling girls left and right, day and night… combing and searching for a bit of insight… 🙂

Could someone please do me a favor and stage an intervention next year…?

Awesome.  Thanks 🙂

OK – Here’s the list of each and every state pageant coming up – Starting, with Miss Vermont this weekend!

In case you haven’t seen this before – Here’s how it works… I’ll post a blog about each state and who I see as the front-runners to win the crown.  The number of girls competing a State varies dramatically – which means, there’s no rule regarding how many names get listed.  If you wanna know how we choose the ladies on our “Here’s Who to Watch” list, check out our explanation at our blogpost here from 2013 or our follow up post here – which explains things a little further…

Please know – I’M NOT PERFECT which means sometimes I get it right – sometimes I get it wrong… Last year, we were correct 86% of the time – Which frankly, was a little surprising even to us! 🙂  However – it’s worthy to note that last year, we missed the very first state of the year (which happened to be New Hampshire) and strangely enough, we also missed all of the states that start with the letter “I”… Iowa, Indiana, Illinois AND Idaho!  Intriguing… Inexplicable… Incomprehensible… Inconceivable for everyone, we know… 🙂

One of our favorite posts of last year was telling you which states received the Top 5 hits out of all 53 states… And let’s face it – if you clicked the previous 2 links, you might as well click this one too!  To see the “Top 5 of 2013” just click here…   It’s pretty amazing to see where the best “Junkies” in the nation come from and which states they follow 🙂

So – without further adieu, we’ll get started tomorrow with Miss Vermont!  Stay Tuned – Another year’s worth of addiction is about to commence…

MAJ