Miss New York....Update!!

For those of you who haven't heard -- It's been a GRRREAT week!!

Tuesday:
Early AM I struggled to get my HEAVY bag down the 4 flights of stairs to then stuff into Marina's car. And we were off!

We arrived in Albany at the Crowne Plaza Hotel to meet my roomie Melanie, Miss Southeast New York. Straight off to rehearsals for hours and hours with Kent Parnham, who absolutely rivals Bridget Bobel for the hottest walk. :) "Temptation Eyes" is the opening number and it is a DANCE number. A few of us have a SERIOUS dance break ... in heels. It's great though. Mid-way through rehearsals we get the news that we will be eating at a 5 star restaurant, 677 Prime, and that there will be lots of media there. Awesome. 9 hours of rehearsal and sweat ... television. So we all ponytailed it up and through on cocktail dresses (mine courtesy of Tennessee legend Brooke Waddell) and went out for a trolly ride around Albany with Henry Hudson and then to dinner. I was in the paper! I'll have to find the link for it and post it here soon. Cute photo with 5 girls at dinner. Dinner was... amazing. Good thing it was the first night! Back to more rehearsals - luckily this day was in tennis shoes.


Wednesday:

Wednesday we did not leave The Egg theatre or our heels all day. Swimsuit walks & patterns, evening gown, opening number, parade of contestants, on stage question, talent run throughs, and wait for it....we started to learn our swimsuit production number dance. I got lucky -- I'm just in the walking group, not the dancing group. Get ready for that one. Anyway - hours upon hours of rehearsals and getting to know the girls better. I'm pretty sure I'll give Colleen Gagne, Miss Central Region, my favorite award. :) She's fantastic.



Thursday:

Interviews. Wait a second though - who knocked on my door while I'm in a towel and no makeup? The Insider for Entertainment Tonight. They are doing a "Behind the Scenes" spot on Miss New York. Art, our new PR director has done an amazing job of promoting the pageant in Albany and beyond. We talked to my sister Sarah in Africa on Skype, did my makeup - well eyeshadow and ONE eye in eyeliner...ummmm - and then I revealed my interview outfit, including the Judith Leiber belt I have on loan. Melanie and I had a funny little recap of our friendship, roommate proposal, and both of our desire for the title of Miss New York 2009. (She's a great roommate). So that left me 25 min pre-interview, in a towel. Hurry. I seem to do well under pressure though!! I had a great interview that was very personal and about ME. Not one current event question (oh well...thanks Marni for sending the questions) but instead the judges were very knowledgeable about each of us individually.

The dress. So one of my questions was about designing my own gown. I was able to tell the story of that process but also the test of flexibility that it has been. My dress arrived in a box in Albany at the hotel. And it did not fit. So, luckily, Sherri Hill's people were here from Red Carpet Pageant and Prom, and they saved my life. well, my dress' life. They altered away while I was in rehearsals (running gown with our swimsuit fabric stuck in my shorts to create a skirt to practice the stairs, etc). I get the gown and it fits!!! Two steps on stage....rrrrrip. Luckily we're still in rehearsals at this point, but I ripped a hole in the dress because it's way too long. So I have people to thank: Red Carpet for alterations, Melanie for her patience and walking with me to figure out where to pin my dress together so I wouldn't trip, Keelie for her sewing kit so that I could sew my dress together, Kristen for steaming my (and everyone's) dress. So after all of that, you could guess my utter shock when I won Evening Gown later that evening. (sorry to spoil that one...)



Prelims. Opening number was A BLAST!! So fun to get out there and dance and perform. I'm sure it looks amazing from stage in our blinding silver dresses! I did swimsuit and evening gown prelims tonight and felt great in both! I did come away as the Preliminary Swimsuit and Evening Gown winner in my group, while Talent went to vocalist Danielle Roundtree, Miss Greater Gotham. Sooooo exciting!!!! I need to divide my bouquet among those people I mentioned above for my gown award. And I think I'll give Chris, my trainer, a nice little flower when I get home :) Hard work pays off!!



It was wonderful to see my mom and sister afterwards!! yipeeeee!!!



OK - I realize I'm cutting this off...but I'ts 6:25 and I really need to go put some curlers in my hair and sit in the splits for a while. :) Talent Prelims tonight for me -- dancing my little feet off! And avoiding a Miss CA USA moment in On Stage Question...but you can still ask me about gay marriage...... snicker...snicker :)

HERE'S A LINK!! THEY JUST PUT PICTURES UP ON www.missnyorg.com !!

Sorry - uploading my pics takes too long :( <-- they're on facebook now!