Before the Interview, Ready to go in!
Just coming out, I was all smiles!
On the stage in the practice session. (I'm in the blue Tshirt, Jasmin to my left, Virginia is on my right and Ariel is on Virginia's right. Jessi & Tannen are to Jasmin's left.)
Photo blurry but I'm the second from the right. I think we're all in shock!
At Panera with my T-town Girl, Alyssa! No wonder she won first runner up in Photogenic, huh?! Even with those big old hot rollers in, she is absolutely beautiful!
This past weekend was my first pageant! It was, to put it plainly, SIMPLY AMAZING!!!
It was lots of fun, especially performing for the audience. I met a lot of really cool girls.
Let me give a shout out here, in case you're reading this, to my Jr Teen girls- Brittany, Taylor, Mariaul, Anastatia, Cristina, Jessica, Ashley, Katie, Culisa, Kayleigh, Jasmin, Virginia and Lacey.
Special Props to Ariel (go Miss Jr Teen!), Danielle, Victoria, Tannen & Bridgett!
You girls had better send me a note back, I know you have my email!
To all my PreTeen Girls- Alyssa, Sarah, Rosalie, Gabrielle, Lillian, Kaitlin, Destiny, Chelly, Kaitlyn and Rachel!
Still more Props to Deja, Sarah, Amy, Ieisha, Victoria, Deven, Ashli, Carissa, Caitlin, and Christina.
Raise your hands for all the helpful people, Sarah, Kelly, Bryan, Sal, Lee and especially my girl, Jillian! Good luck with the California modeling! You rock! Bryan Chasm, I will see you in NYC someday, I know. (Only one more year, man!)
Now, let's break it down for you- Bet you're wondering what happened?! Where shall I begin?
We started off Saturday with interviews, which were good but I am sure I could have done better on mine. Although I still did well and I was happy with my performance. After interview we did photo shoot. I am definitely getting better at having my picture taken, I'm more relaxed now in front of the camera. We had our interview photo and then we had our choice of our favorite outfits for the 3 other shots. This will be the beginning of my modeling portfolio.
I had an awesome black beaded dress, that everyone loved. Mom says you should have seen the construction workers stopping their work to watch me walk by. We thought it was funny.
My casual shot was a red zippered jacket with white capris and my red suede heels. I love those shoes!
My last outfit for that day was my new favorite dress, it's a teal color and is very attractive. Boy, is it comfortable!
On Sunday we woke up and went to rehearsal. They taught us the run-through of what we would be doing. We learned the different back stage areas and where we could get changed. We also had time to vote for Miss Congeniality. (This is, of course, the girl who is most friendly or most well-liked.) I had a really hard time picking my choice for Miss Congeniality, as there were so many friendly girls, but I'm so happy with the choice I made in the end.
After rehearsal was over, my mom and I went to Panera. After a quick bite to eat, we started curling my hair. Apparently we weren't the only people to come to Panera to curl our hair, because that's where I met Alyssa, my new girl from T-town! (See the pic above) Hey, hey, Alyssa! Alyssa was the runner up of the Miss Photogenic in her age category. Great Job, Alyssa (and to her mom, for curling that hair!)!
The first competition that afternoon was casual wear. We were introduced then and did our walk for the audience. I was so excited. I wore a cute red knit dress with my black go-go boots. The headscarf really set it off and we had just gotten it right before lunch at, of course, Wal*Mart! Nothing like a last minute dash for accessories! One of the moms even loaned me her earrings! That was so sweet!
After casual wear was over, my mom met me backstage to help me get dressed for formal wear. My friend Tannen loaned me a beautiful rhinestone bracelet and it was terrific. My Granny had bought a beautiful necklace and earring set to match the dress, it was so elegant.
My dress was a baby blue ball gown with a white inlay and shiny rhinestones. I got many compliments on it. It has spaghetti straps and apparently a few girls have one like it at home. It was sweet and that was our biggest clothing challenge, not making me look too old for the age category. My mom thinks I looked like Cinderella without the puffy sleeves in that dress.
I felt like it was very pretty and puffy, VERY puffy! There were layers and layers of crinoline underneath to keep it standing out during the performance. All the other girls had dresses which were very different from each other. There were a few that were similar but mostly they were different.
During formal wear, we were asked a question to answer for the audience and judges. Fortunately, we all had the same question and we had been told the question at the end of morning practice. The question for the Jr. Teen category was, "What is your most rewarding experience and why?"
My answer was, "My Mother Helper Business has been my most rewarding experience because I get to work with my sister, I learned how to run a business and I get to work with children."
I really don't remember much detail about what I said because I have blanked out. It must have been the excitement of being on stage. It went so fast, I wasn't really worried about what I was going to say, I just said it. I forgot to do my walk so Lee had to remind me, it was funny, but my family didn't even notice that I had almost walked back to my spot without doing the walk to show my dress.
NOW, for the really big news-
I was named a Top 10 Finalist!!!
It surprised me a little bit! I was just standing up there and hoping I could sit down because my feet hurt sooooooo much! I kept telling myself, "You can go sit down after this part, it will be okay. You can survive a few more minutes in these tight shoes. Just hang in there!"
THEN, at the 9th spot of 10, they called my number. "Number 77, Elizabeth Maddox!"
I went into shock and my family went nuts! Everyone was screaming my name, my friend Aubree was there and she was screaming, too!
My friend Danielle won Miss Congeniality for our age group! She is just about the nicest girl you would ever meet, I'm glad she got that award. (Go Danielle!! You are awesome!)
After the announcing of the top 10, the remaining girls were dismissed and the top 10 contestants in each age category were escorted back stage. We got one more chance to be in the front and center when we were asked a surprise question of which we didn't know the content.
I don't even remember what my question was. My mom doesn't even remember, we were all in shock. She says I was all grins, though. Of course! After all, I was in front of an audience!
Even though I did not win the top prizes of the top 5, I am happy that I am a top 10 finalist.
The only hard part was that I wasn't going to be able to see my new friends again, we had gotten so close, but I am going to work to keep up with the ones who email me. I will see some of them again in Florida, too! (Girls, if you are reading this and you got my contact card, you need to email me so we can keep in touch!)
This also means that I am going to be raising money all summer to be able to compete in the National Level competition in December. This one will be in Florida. All the girls are on the same level at this competition. So I can still win my age category's title.
It's a good thing it's in December, on December 17th, because my birthday is December 18th. You see, your age on the day of the pageant is the level that you will be competing in. So I will still be in the Junior Teen level. Next year I will be in the Teen level. This is great because it gives me one extra year to add to my odds of getting massive scholarships to pay for college.I'm going to do even better this time in Florida. I will be working hard and having fun. Next step- Massive Fundraising to get me and my family there. As a top ten finalist, my entrance fee is paid, I just have to take care of the rest of the money for expenses and airfare.
Then on to Florida and the Nationals Incorporated Cities of America Miss Junior Teen crown!
Pictures are above, we will have more later when the photo package arrives with the cd of all the pageant shots. These were all taken with my mom's digital camera. Boy will that thing get a lot of action in Florida!
See ya soon!
