Five times…

That’s how many time Miss Texas 2013, Ivana Hall competed before winning the Miss Texas crown… But what’s even more amazing – is that as far as we can tell – Ivana NEVER ONCE won an award during her first 4 trips to Miss Texas!  Never a runner up, never in the Top 15, never a preliminary award, never a non-finalist award…  Zip – Zilch – Nada!  But she didn’t quit.  And you can tell – LOTS of people were shocked (including Ivana and several contestants on stage behind her) when she was named Miss Texas 2013 (love this photo – just click on it to see a larger version!).

And not only did Ivana win Miss Texas after not winning any awards in her previous 4 attempts, she then goes on to finish in the Top 10 at Miss America!  No doubt she had a stellar interview and we know she looked amazing on stage – Talk about “peaking” at the right time!!! 🙂

But Ivana’s journey isn’t just about her years of competition… At the age of 10, Ivana’s uncle was diagnosed with AIDS.  After watching him battle and eventually losing him to the disease, Ivana decided her platform would be HIV/AIDS: Education and Resources.  Her uncle lived with the disease for 22 years before sucombing to it when she was only 17.  And as Ivana states in an article from TheDallasVoice.com, finding something that fits your passion at the age of 17, is a good thing. 🙂

          “Since you first started working with the HIV/AIDS cause, is it possible to articulate the changes it has made in you? Oh, there has been so much change in me.  I’m not the same girl as I was starting out as a 17-year-old. I have always been a very opinionated person, even for my age, but I stand firmer on my beliefs now. I don’t question myself any more. My maturity level I think is much higher than a regular 23-year-old. To be able to give myself emotionally to others is another thing. I have always thought it’s important to be a compassionate person, and no matter where I go in life, I have to keep that intact. I think that is my most important attribute.”

 

Without question – big things are in store for Ivana Hall… Regardless of how many times she attempts to do something – We know if she wants it, she’ll get it!  🙂

Now – before we get to this year’s predictions, we’d like to hijack this post for a little “Junkies in Training Moment”…  

Something to remember… Since 1972, Miss Texas has only missed the cut at Miss America 10 times!  Yes, you read that correctly – over the past 42 years – FOR MORE THAN 4 DECADES – Miss Texas has been named a semi-finalist 76% of the time at Miss America!!!  Do yourselves a favor and ALWAYS list TX on your top 15 list come September… 🙂  Got it?  Cool… This Junkies in Training moment has been brought to you by people who have way too much time on their hands… Thank God we do have a life outside of pageants. 🙂

OK – Now – Speaking of competition… last year, we didn’t list Ivana Hall on our “Here’s Who to Watch” list – but obviously, that didn’t stop her from winning the title!  And truth be known, I wouldn’t put it past a dark horse to come out of nowhere and win the title again!  There are 52 girls in this year’s Miss Texas pageant – and this is going to be one tough competition…

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Christine Tang – 1st runner up ’13, Prelim SS and Talent ’13, 4th runner up ’12
Callie Thompson – 4th runner up 13, Top 10 ’12, TX OT ’07
Katherine Dunn – 4th runner up TX USA ’11 4th runner up ’09
Morgan Fuller – Top 15 ’13,  Prelim Talent and Alpha Talent
Madison Fuller – TX OT ’10 (yup! they’re sisters!)
Monique Evans – Prelim SS ’13, Top 15 ’12, Top 10 ’11
Ameera Swaidan – Top 10 ’13, Prelim SS ’12
Christa Widjaja – Top 15 in ’13, 2nd runner up TX OT ’11
Elise Martinez – Top 10 in ’12
Brittney Bennett – Top 15 in ’12
Keli Kryfko – Getting lots of press for losing 100 pounds including GMA 

Others to Watch:
Isis Smalls – Younger sister of Miss IL Jade Smalls, 1st runner up to Miss America 2000, Heather French
Logan McCormick – Strong local prep team behind her – beautiful girl
Destiny Velez – 2nd RU TX OT ’09, drums for talent!
Laryssa Bonacquisti – 3rd runner up TX OT ’12, Int Cinderella Teen ’13

Another Big Round of Applause for all the “Texas Junkies” who sent us your inside scoop – including our Junkie Research King!  Life is good when there’s a King in  your corner!!! 🙂

ALL THE BEST LADIES!!!  GOD BLESS TEXAS!!!

MAJ

Well Hello Again Junkies!!!  Time for another wrap-up post regarding this week’s competitions!

This official “morning after blog” is always interesting… And trust me… After watching who was winning preliminary awards this week, I’ll admit… Junkies were slightly nervous about the results!  Let’s just say it was a nail-biting, nerve-racking, hair-pulling, popcorn-munching, kind of evening!

Now, before we evaluate our results, I hope you’ll let me take just a few moments to remind all of our awesome and loyal followers of a few things…

1. JUNKIES AREN’T PERFECT.  We’ve said it once, we’ll say it a million times and we’re not ashamed to admit it – Junkies are not perfect!!!  Just because we don’t list “your favorite girl” in our “Here’s Who To Watch List” it doesn’t mean she’s not worthy of the crown.  It doesn’t mean she has no chance.  It doesn’t mean we have a secret agenda to sabatoge her confidence in hopes of getting ‘our girl’ to win or any other crazy theory you can come up with… (lol)… It only means we aren’t perfect.

2. JUNKIES PREDICT FROM WHAT’S ON PAPER.  In 95% of the pageants held, we’ve never met a single girl competing for the title of Miss State.  You many find that hard to believe – but it’s true! When we make our predictions, our picks are based off information we find online and previous finishes (and in some cases – you’d be surprised how hard it is to find accurate information regarding previous finishes!)… RARELY have we ever seen any of these ladies compete on stage and it’s even rarer that we’ve actually met one of them in person.  Hence the reason why (see point #1 above…) We’re not perfect! 🙂

3. JUNKIES JUST WANNA HAVE FUN.  That’s how this all started and what it’s supposed to be for everyone reading – FUN!!!  🙂  If it’s not fun for you and your friends/family, that’s ok… We don’t ‘demand’ that anyone have fun while following us – but FUN is the whole reason we play the game!  We’re just out here in cyber-space, blogging our little hearts out, trying to see if we can pick winners having never met these ladies – and believe it or not, to us, IT’S FUN!!! 🙂  Trust me, we don’t spend hours of our lives researching and writing and posting because we have ‘something to prove’.  To us, our end goal isn’t about “being right” – We do this, because Junkies Just Wanna Have Fun.  🙂

Capiche? 🙂

Cool – Reminders over… Thanks for indulging me.  Now, let’s get to the results from this week’s state pageants!!! 🙂

Even though we had nine state pageants last night – we also had Miss West Virginia take place on Tuesday of this past week… So, let’s start with WV – How did Junkies do???

West Virginia – 4 for 5, Missed the Winner

Congrats to Paige Madden – the new Miss WV and the only girl we didn’t have on our watch list from the Top 5!  Nice Work!

And now – moving to last night’s results… Junkies are excited to report – we didn’t miss a single winner last night!!! WHOOOOO HOOOOOO!  Our first perfect weekend since the pageant season started!!!

Connecticut – 5 for 5, listed the Winner
Maryland – 5 for 5, listed the Winner
South Carolina – 3 for 5, listed the Winner
Virginia – 4 for 5, listed the Winner
Oregon – 5 for 5, listed the Winner
California – 2 for 5, listed the Winner
Louisiana – 5 for 5, listed the Winner
New Mexico – 5 for 5, listed the Winner
Puerto Rico – 4 for 5, listed the Winner (LOL!  Crazy Lucky!!!)

So – 9 for 9 last night – YAY!  And when you include Miss West Virginia – Here’s where we land!

9 for 10 = 90% for listing winners
42 for 50 = 84% for listing Top 5 finishers

Which means… (drum roll please)… Junkies have our BEST WEEKEND OF THE YEAR!!! 🙂

Now – if you haven’t already glazed over with stats and numbers, we still need to give you our over-all, cumulative totals for the year… We’ll try to keep it simple… Here’s Where We Land…

GRAND TOTAL

39 for 45 = 87% when listing the winners
162 for 223 = 73% when listing Top 5 finishers

THERE YOU HAVE IT!!!  Miss Massachusetts takes place at 3pm EST today (Sunday) – and the only remaining pageants are Texas, Washington, Mississippi, Idaho and Kentucky!!!

And just for the record – YES – WE’RE HAVING FUN!!! Hope you are too!!!

Until Next Week – JUNKIES UNITE!!!

MAJ

For years, we’ve been saying essentially the same thing when we write our blog on Puerto Rico.  It’s the truest definition of “a broken record” if we ever heard one.  Honestly, you can go back through the archeives of this blog over the past several years, choose the Puerto Rico post and somewhere within it, you’ll find the following phrase…

“Why didn’t I take that Spanish internship to Mexico when I was in college?” (And don’t you love how Miss Puerto Rico 2013 Shenti Lauren seems to be asking us the same question in her photo above???).

Had we done it – we would be in much better shape when it comes to writing about the lovely ladies who have competed and been named Miss Puerto Rico – (not to mention, a thousand times more marketable in the workforce and able to function beyond the survival level during vacations to Cancun).

So – here’s the deal… Just because we can’t find an article written in English describing how lovely Shenti Lauren, Miss PR 2013 is – it doesn’t means she’s not lovely indeed.  After all – she made her way to the Miss America stage – and we all know you don’t make it to Miss America unless you have something special.

So – here’s to Shenti Lauren, Miss Puerto Rico 2013 as she pursues her graduate degree in meteorology!  ALL THE BEST!!! 🙂

As you might be able to guess, when it comes to making our picks for Miss PR, we basically throw a few thoughts against the wall and then beg for one of our picks to win.  Seriously, have you ever tried to research the competency of pageant women when all their accolades are written IN SPANISH??? LOL!  You can’t make this stuff up, people…  Life is so hard…  So, without further adieu…

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:   

Stephanie Ramos – former Miss KY contestant
Rubhi Garcia – attended Miss Sweetheart ’13
Glenys Carbonell – Miss Teen World PR contestant ’13
Beverly Alvarez – Top 15 Miss PR Universe
Yarelis Salgado – Model, stunning
Jelissa Reynoso – another model, stunning

JUNKIES LOVE PUERTO RICO!!! 🙂  STAY IN SCHOOL, KIDS!!!  TAKE THE INTERNSHIP!!!  🙂

MAJ

Most people reading this blog know first hand how hard it is to lose a pageant.  After all, VERY FEW people cruise to the Miss America title having never lost a single pageant in their entire lifetime.

But just because you know what it feels like to stand on a stage, in front of hundreds of people and lose a pageant, it doesn’t mean you know what it’s like to finish as the 1st runner up 2 years in a row…

Miss Massachusetts 2013, Amanda Narciso does.  It seems like every year, there’s at least one contestant who has been in those shoes… finishing as the 1st runner up 2 years in a row.  To come so close back to back – and then have the gumption to come back for the 3rd year in a row takes chutzpah indeed!

Amanda had been competing since she was 17 – so no doubt, she was elated to be named Miss Mass after all of her time in the program.  That kind of tenacity will serve Amanda well in the years to come – and we wish her all the best as she moves into life “post pageant” 🙂

AND – Miss Massachusetts is celebrating their 75th Anniversary this year!  Junkies offer big CONGRATULATIONS and know it’s going to be a Fabulous Show!!! Who will be the 75th Miss Mass???

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Meagan Fuller – 1st RU ’13, Prelim Talent and SS, 1st RU Miss Sweetheart, MA Jr. Miss ’10, 1st RU MA OT ’09
Brianna Bostwick – 2nd RU ’12, MA OT ’09
Nicole DiBlasi -3rd RU and prelim Talent ’13, 4th RU ’12
Lauren Kuhn – 4th runner up WA ’10, Top 8 ’11, Top 10 ’12, 1st runner up OT, 2nd runner up ’10 WA Teen USA
Michelle Nigro – Patriot’s Cheerleader, pageant veteran
Kira Kopazek – Non-finalist talent award ’13
Courtney Stern – Top 10, interview award ’13
Jillian Zucco – Top 10 ’13
Victoria DeKoatz – Top 10 ’13

JUNKIES LOVE MASSACHUSETTS!!!  GOOD LUCK EVERYONE!!! 🙂

MAJ

Miss Connecticut 2013 Kaitlyn Tarpey, brings ‘stubbornness’ to a whole new level…

Kaitlyn was admitted to the hospital on a weekend with a collapsed lung due to a rare disease called Lemierre’s Syndome.  Doctors told her there was a 90% chance she wouldn’t even live until Monday.

“I said, ‘No, that’s not happening and you’re wrong,'”

“I have a very Type-A personality. I’m fine now, but it was scary… I’m so thankful for my parents, who raised me to be athletic, in a health-conscious household. It was a habit for me to be healthy, and if I didn’t have that sort of upbringing, I wouldn’t have made it. So that was the first lesson I took from that. The second lesson was everything in life is mental. Absolutely everything. I think if I laid back in that bed and said, ‘Okay, I’m not going to live to see Monday. I’ll say my goodbyes,’ I don’t think I would have made it. But I’m so stubborn.”

Dang Girl…  Defying doctors who give you a 1 out of 10 shot of survival – is pretty much as stubborn as you can get!  No wonder Kaitlyn finished in the Top 10 at Miss America!  She probably told everyone she would – and they had no choice but to believe her (and that’s a compliment!)  LOL! 🙂

Truth be known, Junkies have a little “Type-A” personality in us as well… So, Kaitlyn’s attitude can’t help but make us smile 🙂  It also makes us kick ourselves for not picking her to make our Top 15 list at Miss America!  What were we thinking???  Junkies wish you all the best Kaitlyn!  It’s pretty darn obvious you’re going to succeed, because failure (or dying) isn’t part of your nature! 🙂

When it comes to Miss Connecticut 2014 – Kaitlyn’s Miss America performance has certainly generated a strong amount of interest in following in her footsteps!  Please note – Kaitlyn’s Top 10 finish was the first for Miss CT in 12 years!  Who can put Connecticut on the Miss America map again?

Junkies Say Here’s Who to Watch:

Acacia Courtney – 2nd runner up NY ’13, Top 10 NY ’12, 3rd runner up CT Teen USA ’11, CT OT ’09
Valerie Voccio – 2nd runner up ’13, CT DYW ’11, Talent Award
Elizabeth Wong – 3rd runner up ’13, law student
Brianna Munoz – 2nd runner up MA Teen USA ’08, 4th runner up MA Teen USA ’07, Patriot’s Cheerleader ’11, Top 15 MA USA ’11 
Molly Westfall – Prelim Talent ’13, strong dancer
Kirsten Yerger – 4th runner up ’10, Prelim SS
Alexandria Puglisi – Top 10 ’12 and Overall Talent ’12
Alyssa Taglia – CT Teen USA ’10, 1st runner up ’13

GOOD LUCK LADIES!!!  JUNKIES LOVE KAITLYN TARPEY AND CONNECTICUT!!! 🙂

MAJ