The Results Are In ...

And surprisingly enough, I was never actually crowned Miss NJ USA. Even more surprising was the fact that I didn't even make semi-finalist! Some may wonder how I sleep at night, but the truth is, with 106 girls and only 16 semi-finalists, the odds were against me to begin with. (I was probably number 17, anyway.)

The entire experience was very surreal. I walked into the hotel on Friday afternoon expecting to see a bunch of blonde, plastic, big-haired and even bigger chested, borderline anorexic girls. Surprisingly enough, I couldn't have been more wrong. I was surrounded by an extremely diverse group of girls. There was the extremely talkative actress who only did the pageant because her fiance dared her to, the slightly larger girl who, surprisingly enough, had been doing pageants forever, the blonde-haired sweetheart who seemed like she should have been in the Miss GA pageant instead of the Miss NJ one, the girl "from the block," and then there was me. We were all so different but we were all there for the same thing. It made the weekend both more relaxed and more competitive all at once.

Never in my life have I seen more fake eyelashes, aerosol hairspray cans, fake breasts and glittery body lotion than I did in those three days. Seriously, I think I'm still suffering respiratory problems from all the hair spray, and stomach issues from all the lipstick I accidentally consumed. (I never wear anything other than chap stick - cut me a break, here.) The weekend was definitely full of firsts, and not just because I was doing a pageant for the first time. I had my butt hair sprayed by a pageant mom (it keep your bathing suit bottom from riding up), I not only walked, but strutted, in 4 inch heels (which, by the way, did not come off my feet all weekend. If you're going to wear them during the show, you're going to practice in them ... No one likes a clunky-looking pageant girl!), I told people they looked "fabulous" and "so cute," I cast my vote for Miss Amity (aka Miss Congeniality), and I stressed about only having 2 hours to get ready before the show. In short, I did everything the typical pageant girl would. I figured if I was going to immerse myself in what was essentially an entirely new culture, I might as well go all out. It was definitely the right decision.

I want to thank everyone who supported me through all of this. It was a wild experience which was extremely stressful at times, and I couldn't have gotten through it without everyone supporting me like they did. I don't think you'll see me in any more Miss NJ USA pageants (although I may move on to the more low-key regional ones and see if I can get myself to Miss America ... We'll see how much money they want me to give them) but the memories I've gotten out of this one will last me a lifetime. And then some. I mean it, that was A LOT of hairspray - enough for 3 lifetimes.

Tickets, Tickets, Tickets

For all those interested, here is the ticket information for the pageant. Which, in case you didn't realize, is this weekend.

Saturday (Preliminary Judgings):
Miss NJ USA begins at 2:00 PM.
Tickets are $25 and can be bought at the door.
Sunday (Final Competition):
Miss NJ USA begins at 6:00 PM.
Tickets are $35 and can be bought at the door.
**You must pay with cash. Credit cards and checks are not accepted.

The pageant is held at the Parsippany Hilton Hotel. 1 Hilton Court, Parsippany NJ.

That's all I've got for now. I swear, I'll keep you updated over the next week to let you know what happens. Seriously.

Doctor Nightingale, Former Miss NJ USA

That's what I intend on having my title be in a few years. Which is my excuse for not updating this in forever. An aspiring doctor needs to spend all her free time studying (and occasionally browsing Facebook), not updating a blog! That said, I do appologize for being so responsible with my studies ... I neglected the blog which I promised to keep updated, which ironically, seems rather irresponsible. I just can't win.

Since it's been so long since I've last updated, I've got about a million and one things to say. I'll try to keep it short, since other than my parents, I'm sure everyone else out there has lives and doesn't want to spend hours reading this. (Dear Mom and Dad, I love you. Please don't threaten to stop sending me to school because I said you don't have lives.)

About a month or so ago we had our ADPi recruitment. And on the second night, one of my sisters tapped me on the shoulder and said, "This is Lexi. She wanted to talk to you." Little did I know, Lexi is Miss Keystone, and after hearing that I was on my way to becoming Miss NJ USA, she just HAD to talk to me. She's been giving me little tips, and gave me the name of a place to buy a pageant swimsuit, a tailor and a shoe repair store. She's actually one of our newest members, so we have a fun little bond there.

I bought two pairs of shoes online, one for the swim suit and one for my evening gown. The swimsuit ones are pretty boring - apparently it's supposed to look like I'm not wearing shoes, and have the magical ability to defy gravity, but just in regard to my feet. I really like the evening gown ones, though. Too bad they're covered by my dress! They both have heels around 4 inches, which is just ridiculous if you ask me. I've been practicing walking in them, which my roommates mock me mercilessly for. I ended up taking out the garbage while wearing them a few weeks ago, and when I came back into the room my roommate informed me that she hoped I didn't stand on any corners, because I looked like a prostitute. I think it was less the shoes, and more the fact that I was wearing them with shorts. I'll post some pictures on here, and you can decide for yourself.

Up until I talked to Lexi, I had no idea that pageant suits were different from regular swimsuits. But apparently, they are. Which means I had to get a special swimsuit shipped to me from Hawaii, because that's where all the REAL pageant queens get their swimsuits. If I'm going to do this, I'm going to do it right! I was worried that it wouldn't fit me ... According to the measurements on the website, I was a small. But I am 5'9", and have never been a small in anything. Much to my relief, I got the swimsuit and it not only fit perfectly, but looked great. Again, I'll stick a picture of that on here. The picture shows it in silver, but the one I got is black.

I went shopping with Mom (again ... she's my official fashion consultant) for my interview outfit. We picked up three outfits that would work - A blue knit dress, a white sweater dress, and a cute pink shirt with grey textured dress pants. I really love the dress pants, so I'm leaning more towards wearing those.

What else, what else? I'm working on filling out all the papers that I need to bring with me over the weekend, which is actually fairly stressful. I need 7 copies of my interview information packet, and a sheet of information for the Emcee to read when I'm on stage. I'll talk more about the crazy questions on there later, right now I need to go to dinner. Because despite the jokes I may make, Miss NJ USA does need to eat!