And the Winner Is....

So I realize it's been a ridiculously long time since I've blogged so I thought I'd treat you all to another post. Life has been moving approximately 5,467 miles an hour and it's finally slowed down to a manageable pace. I finished my last final about 90 minutes ago and I'm overjoyed by the amount of free time I have. It feels good to have no obligations for the next week. Springclasses start again on Tuesday so I'm going to have to really enjoy this next week and be completely lazy. Last weekend I was a contestant in the Days of '47 Royalty pageant for the second time. Thanks to Kristy and Lucy for helping me get my application polished and submitted on the last day they were accepted. Last year my number was 37 out of nearly 50. I made the top 20 then and was satisfied with that result. This year there was only 35 contestants. My number was 30 and it seems to be a little better luck. After an interview with five judges, giving a 40 second speech, and answering a question on stage I made the top 10. As the announcer was calling the girls to the front of the stage, (in no particular order), I came to terms with the fact that there weren't many spots and I wouldn't be likely to get one. To my surprise I was the 7th one called and I even made the jaw-drop-shocked face. Each girl was asked the same question and then the winners wereannounced. Aside from the Royalty they have a Miss Congeniality award. The recipient gets a $500 scholarship. I wasaware of this opportunity because of my experience last year so I was extra attentive at the seminar and triedto learn everyones names. I even brought name tags on the second day which I thought would make me a shoe-in since everyone knew my name. Sadly, I didn't win this award either. Overall I had a wonderful experience participating in the pageant. I was a little relieved not to win since all the activities you have to participate in take up your whole summer, but a crown would have been nice. The highlight and ultimate draw of being in the pageant is the gift bag each participant gets at the end. Last year Nu Skin was a sponsor and we got some cosmetic items along with a few things from other sponsors. This year the high ticket item was a paper cutter. I guess they'll hope we'll scrap book ourexperience.

Now that I've sufficiently filled you in on the recent events of my life, I'll leave you with a few pictures from the event.