February 24, 2007 – A penny for your wish

Accepting a check on behalf of the Make-A-Wish Foundation from MSU Greek Week!

Saturday I had the honor to return to Michigan State University for the conclusion of Greek Week 2007 and one of MSU Stars’ signature fundraisers!

MSU Greek Week is a week-long competition between sorority and fraternities and is the largest philanthropic Greek event. Penny Wars is an MSU Stars signature fundraiser and a Greek Week competition. Throughout the week at each Greek Week event, coins are collected. A penny counts as positive points for the team and any silver coins or paper money counts as negative points (equal to the value of the money). The point is to put pennies in your own bottle and silver and paper in the other teams'. The team with the most points at the end of the week is the winner. Since Saturday is the last event, it is the last chance for teams to pick up extra points. Most chapters arrive early with bricks upon bricks of pennies and a pocket full of twenties to knock out their competition’s points - it is very competitive! Of course all of the money goes to MSU Stars to help grant a wish for the Make-A-Wish Foundation and last year we raised more than $5,000!

This year was very special for us, not only was it the 5th anniversary of Penny Wars, it was the first year that MSU Stars was named one of five charities chosen to receive a portion of the proceeds raised during the week. This year Penny Wars raised more than $7,304! In addition, the MSU Greek Week Leadership Team donated an additional $2,000 for the Make-A-Wish Foundation of Michigan!

Congratulations to MSU Stars for collecting about $9,304 – more than enough to sponsor a wishes!

Congratulations and Thank you to my chapter, Sigma Kappa and their teammates Tau Kappa Epsilon and Alpha Sigma Phi who won Penny Wars!

Finally, thank you to the MSU Greek Week Leadership team and the MSU Greek Community for 5 years of support of MSU Stars and Make-A-Wish! Here’s to many, many more years of granting wishes for Michigan children!

February 20, 2007 – My big Valentine’s Day

I was originally scheduled to spend my Valentine’s Day with our American Heroes at the Veteran’s Medical Center in Ann Arbor. Unfortunately, cupid’s arrow hit a big snow cloud and there was no way I would make it to Ann Arbor because of weather. Not to despair! We simply rescheduled Valentine’s Day to February 20th.

It was one of the best Valentine’s Day of my life. We visited rooms for nearly 4 and a half hours and I signed more than 100 autographs. I really enjoyed listening to their stories and getting to know the Michigan (and some Ohio) veterans. 19 year-old Tim was wounded by an explosive back in October and is now fighting to keep his foot, but he was excited to show me his new cell phone and talk about his beautiful girlfriend Sarah. Ken from Redford who agrees that my family makes the best pizza, is losing his fight with cancer. He had such a twinkle in his eye and looked and sounded so healthy, I was shocked to learn of his diagnosis. Lynn from Gaylord is the “Dog Whisperer” of Michigan and claims that he can train any dog in 3 hours as long as the owners will let him train them too. He is paralyzed from the waist down and a recent surgery has temporarily left him without the use of his right arm. His service dog Kit (who just before we walked in finished cleaning his hospital room) was one of his best students!

I can only hope our Valentine’s visit may have raised some spirits and reminded them that there are so many of us who remember and are grateful. They certintly reminded me that the strength and bravery of our U.S. troops (among other things) endures long after the war they fight is over.

A special thank you to our guide for the day, John Kinzinger from the Washtenaw County Vietnam Veteran’s of America and volunteer for the Medical Center for all his patience and time.

February 25, 2007 – Post-Miss America: Practicing what I preach

I have already come to realize that my year as Miss Michigan will always be divided into two distinctly different eras: pre-Miss America and Post-Miss America. This is not at all a bad thing, but an unexpected funny thing. . .

Pre-Miss America was something like this: Complete Miss America paperwork, shop for Miss America, fittings for Miss America wardrobe, work-out for Miss America, rehearse Miss America talent, mock Miss America interviews, promote Miss America telecast and programming, send everyone you meet to www.missamerica/cmt.com, interview about the Miss America Pageant and the Becoming Miss America: Pageant School experience. Oh yeah, and in my spare time, complete appearances as Miss Michigan across the state. Even with my Miss Michigan appearances, I considered tattooing “January 29th on CMT” on my forehead as no appearance was complete without promoting the Miss America Pageant. And of course, after each appearance evaluating my performance and measuring it up to what is expected of Miss America.

Post-Miss America has gone something like this: Unpacking, doing laundry, writing thank you notes, answering emails and phone calls, enjoying cookies and ice-cream without any guilt, convincing my non-pageant friends and family that no, in fact the Miss America Pageant was not fixed (but thank you very much for your support and love), and politely listening to my pageant friends proclaiming that the judges must have been on something (again thank you for your love and support), and trying to figure out exactly how to say whatever it is I am supposed to say on this blog about my Miss America experience.

It took me nearly a month to figure out that the difficulty is that what I’m expected to write and what I need to write are also two distinctly different things – both true, but one much harder than the other. You see, what I’m expected to write about is how much fun I had in Vegas, all the funny stories and antidotes (preferably about Lauren Nelson or any of the other finalists), how cute Mario Lopez is in person, and how I feel so blessed to have been a part of it all and I’ll never forget it. Well, you’ve already read all my stories and heard me gush about Mario. You’ve also heard me say a million times that I know I am so fortunate to have become one of the less than 5,000 people to have ever competed on the Miss America stage. And not only will I never forget it, I’m collecting photos, DVDs and program books to show my future children and anyone else who may be patient enough to endure it.

While all of this is true, it’s not the whole story. The part that’s hardest to say is the part that I feel I need to say. It’s the part that all but one contestant in any pageant is feels when it’s all over . . . Disappointment.

Somewhere along the line, people got the impression that Miss Michigan (and other titleholders) must be all sunshine and rainbows all the time no matter what. But guess what? I’d rather be real than perfect – so I’ll admit it, I’m disappointed. And guess what else? That’s okay. In fact, it’s natural!

It should be no surprise that I had set certain goals for myself when I went to Miss America. After preparing non-stop for about 6 months (not to mention the previous 5 years that it took just to get there) I would have been silly not to have goals and expectations of my own performance. It should also be no surprise that I attained some of them and fell short on others.

I’ve spoken candidly about “losing” and “disappointment” in the past, but this time it just seems harder to talk about. There are the familiar awkward wishes of congratulations for showing up and of course all the “what-if’s” that cloud your memories. But this time, there was another familiar feeling that I had forgotten about – the feeling that I had let someone else down. But this time it was more than my family and friends that would love me no matter what – it was an entire state. And this time there is no “maybe next year”. And this time, there is an expectation to not only be visible around the state, but also upbeat and, well . . . perfect.

Then I remember the words of a very wise young woman. She said “In life, we have the opportunity to gain so much – win or lose. Look for it. Find it. Claim it. Live it. And never again will you rely on someone else to control how you finish.” (scroll down to the Aug 29 post for more).

For the record, I still firmly believe that – maybe more so now than ever. There is so much that I have learned about myself, about life, about the people around me – things that I probably would not have had I made the top ten. So, why did I have to talk about my disappointment and ruin the guise that all of us state titleholders are perfect? Because I may not be Miss America, I may not have made the top ten or won a preliminary competition, but I’m still Miss Michigan. I promised to wear this crown with integrity, class and honesty and I know from my email inbox that there are many people out there who still look up to me because of that. For you, I want to make it perfectly clear that no only is it okay and normal to be disappointed when you don’t achieve a goal you set out to accomplish; it’s nothing to be embarrassed about.

Now, I don’t want you to think that I condone temper tantrums on stage if you don’t win nor am I telling you to scream at the judges or take away from other contestants’ success. You must take ownership of everything you do and say and represent yourself with class. But you must also be true to yourself and your emotions.

Finally, I want to leave you with my favorite definition of success from Sir Winston Churchill. . .

“Success is the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm.”

As I try to stretch the post-Miss America era of my year and accomplish as mush as possible while I still have this incredible job, I realize that my enthusiasm for the Miss America Organization has never been stronger and therefore, I have never been more successful!

February 2, 2007 - Miss America 2007 Preliminaries

I cannot believe that my Miss America experience is already over! It is difficult to comprehend that the one event I have worked so hard for the last 6 years have come and gone. Don’t get me wrong, I knew it would fly by. I took lots of pictures, collected many friends, and tried to create as many memories as possible – and yet it still seems impossible to believe that not only was I there, but also that it’s over. So as I look at my photographs, email my friends and tell the stories I’ve collected, it seems like the only way to make it last just a little bit longer is to share those with you.

First of all old friends, let me first apologize for making you wait so long! Here’s a quick overview of all the adventures I have not yet had the chance to tell you about. . .

Tuesday night after rehearsals, we boarded our buses and headed down the Las Vegas Strip to The Forum at Caesar’s to dine at the Planet Hollywood restaurant. Unfortunately in the interest of security we entered through a loading dock directly across from the restaurant – so I never did get a chance to see any of the hotel or the Forum. I did get to see something even better though . . . Noddea and Dave! After giving them each a quick hug and snapping a few photos, I went back to my table in a section reserved for the contestants. After eating one of our favorite meals of the week and receiving more Planet Hollywood presents (they spoiled us) – it was time to have some fun. I and a few of the other girls at my table went to the Planet Hollywood store and through the restaurant to snap some fun pictures. I finally got photograph with RockyJ Then the manager helped us clear away some of the tables and played some of our favorite “old school” songs and we had an instant dance party. It was the perfect, fun-filled and relaxing evening before interviews the next morning.

Wednesday was a long day. With everyone doing interviews at different times and rehearsals things could have been a little chaotic – but our hostesses were quite organized. Rehearsals ended early on Wednesday and those of us who had already finished interviews had the rest of the evening off. I took the opportunity to go to the gym for a little while, mostly just to get out of the hotel room. Then Tiffany and I treated ourselves to a room service dinner and relaxed with a TV movie! We knew this was not going to happen again for the rest of the week and we decided to take advantage of it. . .

We were right. During competition days we became very accustomed to the “hurry up and wait” routine (this was not a problem because aside from the cold theater, we actually relished the downtime when another group was on stage.) Many contestants brought their laptops, and ipods. Some brought pillows and blankets to nap. Some brought card games and socialized. Still others were happy just watching the stage and the show take shape and trying to soak it all in. I fell somewhere in between those last two groups. It will be these rehearsals in the theater that I will remember the most. I just sat in awe of the whole spectacle. The glamorous and incredible stage. The professionalism of the stage crew, lighting design, choreographers, producers, etc. The scattered media throughout the theater snapping up photographs and quotes. The state banners appearing slowly one after another. The family and friends who sat through all the rehearsals to cheer for their girl. Best of all – watching each of my fellow contestants do her thing. It was exhilarating to see each of my friends strut their stuff (and all their hard work) in their swimsuits, model their gowns, and best of all perform their hearts out! I was watching the Miss America class of 2006 and I felt proud and honored to be a part of that. It wasn’t until these rehearsals that I started to feel like I was at Miss America!

Monday - The Venetian

On the bus with Amber Bennett, Miss Arkansas.














Sharing a Romanic Gondola ride with Katie Millar, Miss Utah. . .

Sunday - Dreamgirls

The shorties in the group must stick together!

(Left to Right: WV, WY, ND, SC, VT, MI, NC, NM)


















Waiting for the show to begin . . .

(L to R: AZ, MI, ID, NM)

Saturday - Fashion Show Mall

In our dressing rooms before heading off to the Fashion Show Mall . . .


(Left to Right: MI, MS, AR, CO)

Our First Day of rehersals . . .

Thank you to Cathy Veri of Rhinestone Studio who designed and made our fantastic zip-ups! The back is personalized with our state titles. They are a huge hit Cathy!

www.rhinestonestudio.com

(Left to Right: NH, MA, MI, MD, PA, OR, MN)

Miss America Week Cont.

January 22, 2007 - 2007 Miss America Pageant!

Okay, it's still very much surreal but I am finally starting to feel like I am at Miss America. Our productions and walks are coming together, the camera's are always on (and so must we), and the set is beautiful! It is going to be such an incredible show and I feel so lucky to be a part of this year's production. Without giving too much away, the show will have much more of a viewer geared theme and those at home will feel like we are right there in your living rooms. And those of you coming out for the show - we'll practically be in your laps! I can't wait to get out on the stage!

Yesterday after rehearsals we had some extra time to ourselves before our next event - which was a wonderful luxury that will not last much longer! So when it was time to depart for our next event, we were all relaxed and refreshed. We loaded on the the bus and arrived at the IMAX theater in the Palms Hotel to enjoy a private screening of the new Dreamgirls film - and I must say it is just as good the second time around! I felt a special connection to the story as much of it takes place in Motown :) As we exited the theater, CMT cameras were right around the corner to catch our reactions and reviews!

This morning Tiffany (Miss West Virgina) and I started with our new favorite part of the day - a bagel with cream cheese, a Large Cafe Americano and a USA Today - then headed for our dressing rooms! Rehearsals flew by and Jennifer Berry joined us for awhile as we posed for some individual press photos. Since we are genius contestants and are just flying through all that we have to learn for production we were released early yet again today! Rather than relaxing the whole time, Tiffany and I decided to take a stroll through the Dessert Passage Mall. We ordered room service for dinner and took our time preparing for tonight's appearance . . . Gondola rides at the Venetian Hotel & Casino!

Tonight was amazing. When we pulled up to the Venetian and exited our buses, we stepped onto a Red Carpet complete with cameras, screaming fans and trumpets! The Miss America people really know how to make an entrance! From the breathtaking hotel, the singing Gondoliers, the decadent desserts and the never ending camera flashes . . . we all left feeling like stars. Even Robin Leach from Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous joined us! (You know you've made it when . . . :)

Time for my beauty rest now . . . bona sera!

Live from Las Vegas . . .

January 20, 2007 - The 2007 Miss America Pageant

Hello Michigan!

Well Day 2 is now complete here on the strip and let me tell you we are all having a ball!

I was one of the first contestants to arrive yesterday morning. All of my luggage and competition wardrobe made it as well (whew!). I had all afternoon to meet my hostess, Shirley (who is fantastic), check into the hotel, unpack, and try on competition wardrobe for the MAO staff.

Our first official event of the week was a red carpet arrival ceremony in the newly renovated lobby of Planet Hollywood! Each of us were introduced and presented a rose from the mayor of Las Vegas and we posed for the endless flashes from the paparazzi! At the conclusion of the ceremony, the top 7 finalists for the prestigious Quality of Life Award was announced. . . and I was one of them!!! As you know, my work with the Make-A-Wish Foundation and America's Stars is very close to my heart so it was such an honor to be recognized. What a way to start the week! Next Saturday morning we will have a separate interview and the runners up and winner will be announced at a press conference later that day.

Afterwards, we were able to change into some comfortable clothes for dinner, an orientation and a special surprise . . . a preview of the Becoming Miss America: Pageant School special that we filmed in September. The show will air Friday night on CMT and you won't want to miss it!

Today after our rehearsals, we got all glammed up and headed to the Fashion Show Mall. I think this appearance takes the award for "best entrance" . . . we appeared in a glass box that rose out of the floor in the middle of the mall! When the box opened we were each introduced and had a chance to strut our stuff on a (seemingly) mile long runway before hundreds of onlookers! Next the crowds converged on us and we signed autographs until we ran out!

Then it was back to the Aladdin/Planet Hollywood for dinner and a private reception where we met some of the hotel's guests, signed more autographs and posed for photos. I was surprised to meet so many people from Michigan - two guys from Muskegon, one from Ann Arbor and one from Birmingham were headed into the second round in a blackjack tournament. Here's hoping that Lady Luck will shine on all of us Michiganders here in Las Vegas!

I think that the one thing I am most grateful for is that all of us contestants are already so close. This Miss America class made history in September when we all met in Los Angles to attend pageant school. In addition to that, I've been able to get to know some of the other contestants in Orlando for Miss America's Outstanding Teen Pageant and just last month for the Rocky Balboa Premiere! I can't imagine showing up here for competition not knowing the other ladies, let alone not having so many close friends. We are all so relaxed, having fun catching up and truly relying on each other as we share this incredible experience.

It's almost as if this is just another weekend appearance with the girls. It still hasn't sunk in that this is competition, THE competition and that in 8 days one of us will be Miss America! When we walk through the Casino in our crowns and everyone turns, when we walk by the stage as it's the set is being built, when we were fitted for our competition wardrobe - I have to remind myself that this is Miss America! After so many years of dedication, hard work and perseverance it's almost incomprehensible that it all comes down to this week. So I don't think about it. The way I see it, all the work is done, we are ready and we are prepared - all that's left to do now is have fun, take it all in and enjoy!

I can't wait for all of you - my family and friends - to arrive and experience this with me!

Love to you all!
-Angela