Hello! I cannot believe that I am actually here in Las Vegas to see Miss
America. I have only been here for a little under 24 hours, but I have already seen so much that makes me proud and
excited to be a part of this wonderful organization.
My mom and I landed in Vegas yesterday evening at 6:20
p.m. (40 minutes early thank goodness!) and made it to the Planet Hollywood Theater just in time to view the first night of
preliminary competition. The talent competition was first, and I thoroughly enjoyed watching as each of these women
put all of their hard work on the Miss America stage. Miss Delaware, a very talented pianist, won the preliminary award
for talent. She gave a wonderful performance, as did Miss Maine, my personal favorite, on the violin.
Following the first half of talent was the swimsuit competition. Our very own Miss Tennessee, Ellen Carrington, represented
the state well. She was beautiful and fit, and she did a wonderful job! Ellen also competed in the eveningwear
competition in a soft and feminine light blue gown that was very elegant indeed! Both of these phases of competition
were very tough. It is easy to see that all of the state titleholders have been working very hard. Miss Indiana
was awarded the preliminary swimsuit award for the evening, and no award was given for evenginwear or onstage question.
Today was our first full day in Vegas. We began the day by sitting in on the Sigma group's talent rehearsals.
Sitting in on the rehearsal was very interesting. It is so helpful to see how things work at this level of competition
and to see what I am working for! Following the rehearsal, we went upstairs to the trade show and had fun looking at
all of the merchandise for sale by some of the pageant industries top vendors. While we were there, I was able to meet
Miss America 2000, Heather French Henry. She has started her own line of formalwear and was so sweet and easy to talk
with. We discussed the shocking lack of coffee makers in Vegas hotel rooms (sad day!) and she encouraged me to continue
working towards my dream of competiting at Miss America. She also took a picture with me and let me try on her crown!
She said it was good luck (Jennifer Berry tried it on the year before she won Miss America) and I'm hoping she's right
:-).
After I finished talking to Heather, I had the opportunity to meet with Sherri Hill to decide on what dresses I will
be modeling in Friday night's Glam It Up! Fashion Show. I had so much fun getting to try on all those dresses (what
girl wouldn't?) and am looking forward to meeting with her again tomorrow.
The day is not over yet, and we
will soon be heading to this evening's preliminary competition to cheer on Ellen as she performs her talent. We
will hope for the best and I will be back to give you all a full update tomorrow!
Love and Blessings,
Victoria
*MINI UPDATE*
Tonight's
preliminary competitions were wonderful. The emcee was especially hilarious and really made the evening even more enjoyable.
Ellen competed in the talent competition tonight and did a FABULOUS job.
She should be so proud of the way that she is holding her own in this competition. She looks great and you can tell that she
has been working very hard. Other notable talents that I really enjoyed were Miss Georgia (vocal-prelim winner), Miss Arizona
(beautiful dancer), and Miss Utah (very impressive on the piano!) Those were my personal favorites, but all of the girls
did an amazing job.
The swimsuit competition was very
tough tonight, but I completely agreed with the judges on their pick of Miss Mississippi as tonight's preliminary winner.
This phase of competition was followed by the on-stage question portion. All of the questions were platform based, which
in my opinion is wonderful. We all choose our platforms because they mean something to us and because we believe that
they are causes that need the world's attention. I am so glad that these girls were able to promote their platforms
publicly, and that we as the audience were able to hear about the ways that they are each making a difference in our society.
Eveningwear was beautiful as always, but it was given a little extra touch of
elegance by it's very special emcee, Lee Meriweather, Miss America 1955.
Altogether, it was a great night. I had a wonderful time, and I promise I will share a
little more tomorrow after I've gotten some sleep!
Blessings,
Victoria
