Haha... I'm so late with this, but it's ok. All the girls were beautiful. I do want to note that when I call someone "big", I mean pageant big because if they were normal person... they're all skinny! As I said before, I did not take very good notes since I was just soooo happy to be at the Prelims. These are my views on all 51 contestants. Don't get mad!
Alabama - She's short and her thigh looked a bit big. She's very cute and her interview is one of my favorites.
Alaska - Weird walk and I didn't like her interview.
Arizona - She's half Chinese, so I was rooting for her. But she's OK, her interview seemed a bit... fake.
Arkansas - She leads with her head during the gown presentation but her swimsuit presentation was good
California - Ugly gown and it made her look wide.
Colorado - I liked her better during the swimsuit round than the gown.
Connecticut - Gown presentation was not impressive. I think she looks very cute, but at 26 may be too old for Miss USA
Delaware - She's too big for the pageant, and with what happened to her before Miss USA, I doubt she'll make it
District of Columbia - Very Perky, but short (5'5") and old (26)
Florida - One of the favorites since the beginning of the pageant. Swimsuit walk was very good, but gown was not as impressive
Georgia - Not impressed, and a bit short
Hawaii - She seems to fun and happy. Very confidant presentations and became one of my favorites. 25 and 5'7" she probably will not win. :-(
Idaho - She's a Nigerian tribal Princess. She's too skinny.
Illinois - Too much makeup and her arms are a bit dead when she walks. She has a great face though.
Indiana - Very tall and great body.
Iowa - Ok performance, ok face, great height.
Kansas - A little tummy action during the swimsuit round and not the best facial features
Kentucky - She had a good swimsuit walk, but her gown one was very weird. Perhaps the bottom of her gown was the problem.
Louisiana - Underrated, but not my favorite gown
Maine - Had a slow swimsuit walk.
Maryland - She has spunk and will make the top 15. Personally not my favorite for 1st, but top 5 isn't bad.
Massachusetts - Her catwalk was ok.
Michigan - Hate her gown, ok presentation
Minnesota - She has an ok presentation, but it was boring. Her interview was horrible.
Mississippi - Very good intro to her swimsuit presentation. Her gown is too shiny for me. I looked more at her gown than at her. Her head is a bit small for her body.
Missouri - Too big and short for the Miss USA
Montana - Very sexy walk, but her face is too fake for me.
Nebraska - Her head is sooo much smaller than her body, it's weird. Love her eyes though
Nevada - I had no notes on this girl... perhpas she didn't shine
New Hampshire - Great leg work on her gown presentation, she's a bit short at 5'6" though.
New Jersey - She winked at the judges, spunky walk.
New Mexico - I had no notes on this girl... perhaps she didn't shine
New York - I had no notes on this girl... perhaps she didn't shine
North Carolina - Pretty and her gown presentation was good, however she didn't shine
North Dakota - Perky swimsuit presentation and gown was ok
Ohio - Hot swimsuit presentation, Her gown wasn't as good, but everything else about her seems great.
Oklahoma - Looked a bit timid in her swimsuit presentation. If you watch her interview, you'll know why she's not one of my favorites.
Oregon - Was not too impressed.
Pennsylvania - Very hot walk, and I wrote down she did great in both presentations.
Rhode Island - Her walk didn't stand out, and she's the shortest contestant. But everything else I really like about her.
South Carolina - Beautiful Hair!! Great walk as well.
South Dakota - Her gown presentation was much better than her swimsuit.
Tennessee - She was very natural on stage, but not my favorite face.
Texas - BIG HAIR haha... that makes her very memorable. Surprised she wasn't better since she is Miss Texas.
Utah - Killer body and her walk wasn't bad at all.
Vermont - Had a ackward walk in both presentations
Virginia - Very spunky! If only she was younger and taller she would be a favorite imo.
Washington - Her gown made her look very curvy, when actually she's just built. Won't make it to the top 15.
West Virginia - Cute and slim, but too short and didn't stand out
Wisconsin - Bad walk, and not the best face. Part of her gown looks like she used red duck tape.
Wyoming - Not too bad, but she looks a lot older than 21.
My Top 10 Favorites: Alabama, Florida, Hawaii, Kentucky, Maryland, Mississippi, Montana, Ohio, Pennsylvania and South Carolina
Next 5 (Could give or take): Indiana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, North Carolina, Utah
Close Calls: Arizonia, California, Colorado and Maine
Yay! I went to the Miss USA Presentation (Preliminaries). My first time at a pageant (well, this counts as a pageant too!). How cool. *sigh* Can't believe it's all over.
All About Me
I had no clue what to wear for the Prelims. After a talk with a pageant friend of mine (who will remain nameless :-P) I decided to wear jeans with a nice preppy pink top with a white lacy tank underneath. I also brought some slacks and a red top. Well as I am leaving my house in a hurry because I was a little late (as usual), I ended up leaving half my makeup (my blush!!!), some jewelry, my backup purse, and money (*slap myself over the head*) at home. Once I get there, I see that I am way too underdressed. Even my backup outfit was too causal!! So I ended up putting on my slack with my tanktop from my original outfit. I put a pin on it and left my earrings on (even though it didn't match my pants). I looked horrible, but at least not causal.
I arrived 5 minutes before the start of the show. My seat was at the center right next to the official photographers. I thought it was a good seat, until I saw how good their camera was and how pewny mine was. Oh well, I will still treasure my blurry photos. I also sat right next to Miss Delaware Teen USA, and let me tell you, the girl can scream. Too bad I had a horrible headache all day before the show, and needless to say, after as well.
The Show
The Show lasted under 2 hours. The stage looked really small to me. The girls also looked very cluttered together. I hope it'll look bigger on TV. First the contestants came on stage in their red Tadashi gown. The contestants did a little walk before Shandi came out in a blue gown. There were 4 microphones on stage, and the girls went two at a time to introduce themselves before they turned away to let the next 2 girls intorduce themselves. Then they all did a little dance. After teh musical guest performed, Shandi came back out in a gold dress. Then the contestants came out in swimsuit and did a routine. Each girl then did a walk in swimsuit. They did the same for the gown. Lastly was a routine in gown before the show was all over. I hope they will practice A LOT before the final show. All the routines looked a bit messy.
I finally got the nerves to ask Miss Delaware Teen USA for a picture. Luckily she was super nice about it. I then met up with Rafa from CriticalBeauty.com. He showed me where to get a program book and I realized I had forgotten to bring money (I was able to find 7 bucks in my car for parking though!) The sweetheart lent me 10 for a program book. I got the LAST ONE!!! What would I have done without Rafa?!?! We talked for a bit about the pageant and the girls. He then told me that we weren't suppose to use flash, OOPS! I saw the guy in front of me use it, so I just followed. Besides I figure either the official photographers or the guy who was sat behind me running back and forth to them would of told me to stop if I wasn't suppose to use it. Oh well. I then took pictures with two Mrs. Globe winners. It wasn't until later that I realized I had forgotten to ask Rafa for a picture!!! I also somehow got talked out of paying him back (I blame my headache!) I will have to call him up and meet with him. Especially since it sounds like he hasn't been eating too well (Coffee and fig bars are not good for every meal!)
Review?
I will give my review at a later time. Honestly, I was so excited to be there, I really didn't take great notes. But I'll give my opinion about the pageant tomorrow. For how, you can read Rafa's favorites at his blog. I will say that I love Hawaii and am a bit sad he doesn't have her on his list.
Until next time!
Carmen
Miss USA Day
Howard County (where the Columbia hotel is located) has announced that March 28th is officially Miss USA Day. Hmm... what are we going to do on this day? Perhaps hand out mini tiaras to students around the county?
The official Miss USA website has updated with a headshot as well as a close up video of all the contestants. The first question is, "If you could be invisible for one hour, where would you go and what would you do?" It seems like half (maybe more) said they would go to the white house and listen in. What's so fun about the White House? Maybe it's the answer they were taught in Pageant School. As boring as that answer may of been, it was better than those who answered the question... well... wrong. Arizona said she would shrink to a molecular cell. Great answer, but the question is if you could be invisible, not if you could be anything. There were also answers that made me think, "What a waste!" Missouri said she would go to the beach to relax. You can't do that when you're not invisible? The 2nd question was, "If you could get an answer to one great unknown question, what question would you choose?" Many of the contestants asked, "What came first the chicken or the egg?" Now I remember why I never watched these videos... after the first few, you're bored to death. However, it is interesting to see how different the girls look from their headshots.
So the reality has set in that I will most likely not be able to see the delegates around town. But I came close yesterday, and I wasn't even trying! So, I went to The Mall in Columbia with my friends which is right next to the hotels the delegates are at. As I'm leaving in my car, I see these police cars and a big bus passing by me. I'm about 99% sure it was the delegates since it came from the hotel's "drive way" and who else is so important that's in town?
Who's going to the Preliminaries?
I am! hehe... After taking forever to decide, I've finally bought the tickets. $55 not including parking. I figure, how many times can Miss USA be held in Maryland? I've also never been to anything close to a pageant before, so this will be a great experience. But... the final straw that made me get the tickets was because of the seats. When I looked at the tickets a few days before, the best seats were at Row CC. Row CC is the last row before the seats in the back. When I saw them today, the best seats were at Row U, up 8 rows from before. So I had to get them! haha... anyways... I wonder if we need to dress up for the Prelims. Anyone know? I'm quite excited!
Carmen
I am not Paparazzi Material
Somehow, I lack the ability to track down 51 beautiful ladies wearing sashes walking around Maryland. So, I tried going to Savage Mills today, which, as you may of guessed, didn't turn out so well. :-) When I got there, there was no sign of the girls. Also, Savage Mills was closed for Easter Sunday (aside from the restaurants). So I wonder what they'd be looking at if they went. I guess they could still walk around, but the shops are all closed. Oh well, who wants to buy a key chain with a crab in it anyways?
According to PageantGossip.com, the girls were going to have a "Historic Savage Mill Mall trip & Easter dinner" at 6:30pm. I was thinking about staying until then, but it was getting dark and since the place was closed, I didn't think I'd get to run into them. So I went home.
Why Maryland?
As I was driving down Route 1, I'm thinking, "Why Maryland?" There's really not much here besides crab cakes (which the crabs are mostly imported since we polluted the Bay). Also, why are the contestants going to Savage Mills Mall? Which by the way is not a Shopping Mall, although it's called a Mall (confused my Mom the first time). Next thing you'd know, the girls will tour the gas station next to their hotel.
Back to High School
The delegates will be practicing at River Hill High school (RHHS) in Columbia while the students are away for spring break. Is it just me, or does this not seem right? For a National pageant, you'd think they could find something better than a high school. But, RHHS does hold all the rich kids. I once read that they gave away PDAs to the students. RHHS is actually in the same county as my high school, so I've been there a million times for meetings. Just the fact that the contestants are here in the same county is so cool to me (I'm sure the rest of you are thinking I'm so lame. But it's ok. :-) ) Anyways, do the Miss USA delegates usually practice in a high school, or is Maryland just cheap?
If you don't know already, Miss Delaware and a little run in with the law... and alcohol... and a car. She plead guilty to DUI after falling asleep at the wheel of her car in Feburary 2004. The Miss USA officials were unsure whether or not to disqualify Miss Delaware, Sheena Benton from Miss USA 2005. However it is reported that Sheena Benton will compete at Miss USA 2005 in Baltimore. I'm going out on a limb here, but I'm going to say she's most likely not going to win the title. Oddly enough, one of the judges for the Miss USA pageant, Michael Phelps plead guilty to drunk driving himself last year. Hey... maybe he'll give some extra points her way.
Where will the contestants go next?
According the Baltimore Sun, the contestants will be touring Historic Ellicott City on Monday. However, according to PageantGossip.com, the delegates are going to BWI Airport. I wish someone could tell me the schedule!
I wish I was the press
But I'm not, so I'll just have to try and try again to track the girls down like normal people. :-( I'm thinking I'll go to the Prelims now. haha... but I dunno... still need more time to think about it. I wonder if we need to dress up for it.
Until Next Time!
Carmen
Contestant have arrived!
Most of the contestants arrived yesterday (Friday) and a few will arrive today. Some even took the time to answer questions from local reporters. Although they only arrived yesterday, some have started taking their official portraits and online interviews. Can't wait to see those up on the official website!
Tracking down Miss USA contestants
Tomorrow (Sunday) will be the first day I'm going to try and see if I can catch a glimpse of the girls. I'm going to head down to Savage Mills (which is about 10 minutes away from where I live) and see if I'll see them there. The hard part is that I have no clue what time they'll be there. :-( Wish they went to historic Ellicott City as originally planned instead. I know my way around. As for Savage Mills, I once had a school graduation party there. haha... got lost trying to find my way out. :-) Nevertheless, I will venture out there and hope I'll run into them.
If anyone knows the time and dates of where the contestants are going, please let me know. I have a feeling I'll be unsucessful tomorrow.
Should I go to the Preliminaries?
Well, I really want to go since I've never been to something like this before! However, it will cost me around $60 USD to go to the Preliminaries. Why not the Finals? It cost a lot to go watch a pageant from a crappy view. It's not like I'll get to meet the contestants anyways. I'll have a better view watching at home.
Wish me Luck!
Carmen