On Thursday I went to Metter, GA (near Savannah) and got to hang out with the girls of Metter High School as they competed for Miss Metter HS.  The 10 girls competing really represented a large swath of the school and I couldn’t be prouder of how they competed and carried themselves throughout the day.  They competed in interview, casual wear, evening gown, and on stage question.  The winner got a 500 dollar scholarship—which I think is absolutely fabulous for a high school pageant!  I also have to comment on the amount of support the pageant has.  From the principal of the school taking the judges and I out to dinner and attending the pageant to the 200-ish people who came to support their girls!  It was so great to see that much enthusiasm and excitement for pageants.  Although there was only one winner, I know each of those girls will take what they have learned from that experience with them.

Right now, I’m just getting back from Little Miss Troup County.  They promised me it would be one of the easiest appearances I would have all year, but what they didn’t tell me how was how much fun I would have!  There were 30 young’uns competing and they were absolutely adorable all afternoon!  They had this little interview onstage with each girl…even the 4 and 5 year olds….so you know some funny things were said!  Highlights include:

The first runner up in funny comment land..

Pam Kennedy: “What’s your favorite food?”

5 or 6 year old: “Everything because I have a hollow leg.”

and the winner for the afternoon.

PK: “What do you like to do for fun?”

6 year old: “I like to play with rocks.”

PK: “Do you collect rocks?”

6 year old: ” Well, yeah.”

PK: “How many do you have?”

6 year old: “Well I don’t want to count that high!”

Brianna (GAOT) and I absolutely died laughing during the ‘rocks’ episode.

The whole afternoon was wonderful.  Brianna played her violin, I played my Gershwin, PK sang two songs–I had never heard her before; very impressive; and both Miss Troup and Miss Troup OT sang.  The afternoon moved along very well and I think all the girls had a great time.  Wonderful turnout too!

For now, I’m off to a post Miss America celebratory dinner!  Happy Superbowl!

ps…I’m still basking in my post Miss America glow.  I had so much fun and it is literally one of the coolest experiences I have ever had!

I started off this morning at 7:50 with fittings for our opening number dresses. They are WAY cuter than I expected! We’re gonna look fabulous!

I’m starting the meet the hostesses and get closer with the girls. It’s nice that we already know each other from Orlando!

For now, I’m about to enjoy a salad and get a little bit of sleep before the arrival ceremony this afternoon!

For the record—yes, I’m excited! I can’t believe I’m here!!!

I have done almost all my shopping for the days when I’m out in Vegas, which, to put it mildly, involves a lot of clothes!  Now I’m trying to figure out which outfits goes for each event and how in the world I’m going to get it all there.  It’s much more difficult to be dressed to the nine’s all the time than it is to be “normal”.  —On that note, we were de-Christmasing my house and discovered that Santa left me a present in my stocking.  It was a coaster for my car that has a queen on it and the words high maintenance!  Now I don’t know where Santa is getting his info, but I’m not high maintenance, being Miss Georgia just requires a lot of maintenance!!!!    Hopefully Santa means it in a good way!

My new oboe arrangement is AWESOME!  I’m actually excited for talent, which is new for me.  I still have residual nerd issues from all the time I spent in a band uniform, so for me to love playing a piece of music and feel cool while I do it, is amazing!  I literally can’t wait for Tuesday, January 26 and to play my oboe for everyone at Planet Hollywood!  (I’m grinning as I write this I’m so happy)

Finally, I had one of my favorite treats today: oreos!  The only time I allow myself to have oreos is when I donate blood, because I figure they cancel each other out!  So besides saving as many as 3 lives with my donation, I got delicious chocolaty goodness.  And the Red Cross is giving out these awesome aluminum water bottles that are very pretty and save the environment, so winners, winners, everywhere!

Till next time.

17 days out btw.

So anyway, the whole reason I was writing it because I’m so proud that I made fire! We’re in a log cabin and it’s very chilly up here, so naturally, we need fire. (I’m intentionally omitting the presence high speed internet, central heating, and cable. What can I say? We rough it in style!). Although my dad tried to start it initially, my mom has gently pointed it out that I’ve kept it going! It’s been fun and I feel a little bit like I’m back at summer camp! Who knew that a beauty queen could be a lumberjane too!

Anywho, I’m having fun and hope your holidays are wonderful as well. For the moment, my fire is blazing and Georgia is finally making this game exciting so there is hope for football yet! Have a good night!

I drove up to Atlanta on Friday and attended a Christmas party with my parents that evening.  Saturday morning wasn’t too early, but man was it cold!!!!!  As I got ready in the morning, I even saw snow!  Despite it being 31 with a wind chill of 20, my mom and I went to downtown Atlanta for the Children’s Christmas Parade.  I had no idea it was as big of a deal as it was!  There were giant balloons like at Macy’s (I had Mr. Potato Head behind me), marching bands, dancers, and TONS of people braving the cold!  I’m not going to lie…..I was colder than I have been in months.  A convertible in a drafty downtown may be a classy way to travel, but it is definitely not the warmest.  Still, I made it and finished the parade,  smiled and waved my heart out, and hopefully made some people happy along the way.

That evening I participated in the Kingsize Entertainment holiday show.  It is an annual show that helps Toys for Tots and I must say it was a great success!  I just got word that we raised upwards of 3500 dollars for ToTs and collected 3 carloads of toys!  I actually sang “I’ll be home for Christmas” and helped out the show as much as I could.  I think it went well and was definitely well received by the crowd.  Great job to all the performers!

The judges were announced by Sam Haskell, III, Chairman of the Board for the Miss America Organization (MAO), Art McMaster, President and CEO of MAO, and Anthony Eaton, Producer of the 2010 Miss America Pageant. This year’s panel of judges is comprised of experts in each of the fields that a young woman must excel in, in order to be named Miss America. Miss America must be talented, intelligent and well-spoken, a leader, have a commitment to her community, be contemporary in her style and fashion — a relatable and individual ‘it girl’ who can connect with today’s modern woman, as well as being physically fit. To determine who will be Miss America 2010 the following panel of judges has been selected:

From the Field of Beauty - Vivica A. Fox - Fox is an accomplished actress and producer that has appeared on both the small and big screens in every type of genre. She is currently the host of the new reality series, “The Cougar,” and returned for the new 2009 season of Larry David’s HBO hit comedy, Curb Your Enthusiasm as the feisty “Loretta Black.” She is the recipient of numerous awards including the NAACP Spirit Award, the NAACP Image Award and Prism Award, the Trumpet Award for Outstanding Career Achievements in Film, the Lady of Soul Lena Horne Career Achievement Award and an MTV Movie Award. She was also named as one of People Magazine’s fifty most beautiful people.

From the Field of Community Service - Miss America 2002 Katie Harman - Since her year, Harman tours nationally and internationally as an acclaimed classical and operatic vocalist with a myriad of opera and musical theater companies, symphony orchestras, and special events. Also a recording artist and television personality, she can next be seen in a principal role as a singer on HBO’s Big Love (airing March 2010). An active cancer advocate, she serves on numerous boards of cancer organizations and hospitals and is the National Spokesperson for the Touched by Cancer Organization. Additionally, her philanthropic efforts target women’s issues, homelessness, and arts education.

From the Field of Fitness - Shawn Johnson - Johnson is an 2008 Olympic gold medalist for gymnastics. She was named the 79th Amateur Athletic Union Sullivan Award recipient, one of the most prestigious honors in amateur sports and became the youngest ever contestant and season eight champion on ABC’s Dancing with the Stars. Johnson is also involved in programs that promote healthy nutrition and exercise and help build good character amongst youth across the country.

From the Field of Talent - Dave Koz - Koz is a six-time Grammy nominee, multi platinum pop instrumentalist. Recently honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Koz hosts an afternoon radio show that’s nationally distributed on the Smooth Jazz Radio Network as well as the syndicated Dave Koz Radio Show, now in its 15th year and airing on weekends in approximately 120 markets. He has served for 17 years as global ambassador for the Starlight Children’s Foundation and is an ongoing member of the Board Of Governors for the Grammy® Foundation.

From the Field of Communications/Interview - Rush Limbaugh - Limbaugh is the outspoken, conservative and ultra-popular host of The Rush Limbaugh Show, an AM/FM radio show about American politics with an audience of 20 million. Limbaugh is involved in charities including the Marine Corps - Law Enforcement Foundation and the Leukemia Lymphoma Foundation. He is a best-selling author and was nominated in 2007 for the Nobel Peace Prize.

From the Field of Entertainment - Paul Rodriguez - Rodriguez is an actor and comedian whose career spans more than two decades and includes starring roles and featured appearances in over 40 films and countless television series and specials. Throughout his career Paul has remained involved with various charitable, civic and educational organizations including the Hispanic Scholarship Fund, Juvenile Diabetes Foundation and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation. As Chairman of the California Latino Water Coalition, Rodriguez was recently honored with a Humanitarian of the Year Award for his work on behalf of water conservation.

From the Field of Creating America’s Rising Talent - Brooke White - White is a singer and songwriter who is most known for her appearance as a finalist on season seven of American Idol. She recently released her debut album, High Hopes & Heartbreak, in which she shares with the world, her love for the music that has shaped her.

I met with my make up artist for Miss America on Saturday and we worked on my different looks for Miss A. I’m really excited with what we came up with!  Make up isn’t the whole thing, but it is an important part!

On a totally different note, I hope you were able to see the space shuttle and international space station go by on Thursday night. It was SOOOO COOL! If you missed it, maybe there are pictures online. I felt like a little kid staring up at the sky watching two bright lights streak by, but man was it awesome! I guess it’s just that human instinct to explore, but to think that there were people orbiting the Earth in those two little dots was awe inspiring!

Hope you and yours had a wonderful Thanksgiving!

And now on to Holiday Season!

A definite highpoint of this week was my visit to Reynolds plantation.  The entire staff and group of residents made every effort to make me feel like a VIP.  I played golf with 6 ladies from the Plantation Ladies Club and one of the female golf pro’s.  We only got 12 holes in before it started raining, but we had a great time and I even outdrove the pro a number of times!  Miss Georgia has officially gotten street credit for her golf game!!!  Later that evening the ladies took me out to dinner and introduced me to the culinary staff.  They knew I liked to cook so the chefs prepared a couple of dishes that were figure friendly for me and still incredibly delicious!  I stayed the evening in one of the cottages they have there.  The cottages are immaculately designed and truly awesome to stay in!  I hope I get to go back soon!  Wednesday I spoke at the Ladies Luncheon and played my Miss America piece for the first time in public!  It went really well and was well received (which is almost more important).

Thursday I was in Albany for the PX grand opening at the Marine Corps Base.  My very first appearance as Miss GA was at this base so it was really special to go back there.  I saw some of the staff and marines that made my first visit so nice and made new friends too!  Mandy Cavanaugh was my chaperone and we had fun until she got stung by a bee!  On the head!  I did my very best primate grooming impersonation and took the stinger out of her hair!  I felt so bad for her, but she told me this morning that the swelling is finally going down.

Last night I went to this really awesome event in Buckhead for a special type of wine from France.  It was put on by the French American Chamber of Commerce and I have to say I was really impressed, not only by the scale of the event, but because they asked me to be there.  It’s not the normal or usual group that invites Miss Georgia to events, but I think that’s a really good sign.  All of the people there now know about Miss America and Miss Georgia so this is a step forward!  I hope this is

Earlier this week I went out with the awesome Trivino brothers, as Emily, not Miss Georgia…which, every now and then, is really nice! I did some fabulous networking and a little relaxing!

The rest of the week has been a blur of workouts and oboe practicing, but very productive nonetheless.

Listen for me tomorrow on 101.1 FM in Thomaston. If you can’t pick it up where you are, you can listen live at http://www.Fun101FM.com. I will be a cohost on their morning show starting around 7:30 and going til 8:30 or so.

I have a very busy weekend but I’ll save it for a recap rather than a preview!

Hope you have a good one!

Friday night I was treated like a queen at the Countryside festival in Butler, GA.  When I got there, they had a red convertible and two police cars escort me through the town with the sirens blaring!  It was so funny!  To say it is a big deal when Miss Georgia comes to town in Butler is an understatement!.  I heard that Butler has the longest or one of the longest running arrangements with Miss Georgia and has had her come to the Countryside festival for somewhere around 40 years!  Once I was there, I signed autographs and posed for pictures then judged the Miss Countryside festival.  There were 34 beautiful little girls in 4 categories and I think everyone had fun!  My fellow judges were also very familiar to me as they were Ms. Helen Turner from the Miss Georgia Board and my roomie from Miss Georgia, Jessica Scott!  I had so much fun with them!

Saturday I had a Christmas photo shoot with two of my favs, Matt and Meredith Boyd.  We had a great time goofing off in Santa hats and playing with over-sized ornaments while trying to look regal!  Many thanks to the Boyds for volunteering their time and talents for this!  I can’t wait to see the results!

Saturday evening I went to the Cattlebarron’s Ball in Peachtree City which raised money for the American Cancer Society.  It was western themed so wearing jeans to a fancy ball was a nice change!  My friend Sara who also went to UM and now teaches up in Cobb County now was my chaperone and an excellent one at that!  Someone even asked if she was my body guard!!!  We had such a great time dancing to country music and helping with the auction items.  I believe this event, which has been going on for 7 years, crossed the 1,000,000 dollar mark this year so many congratulations to them!!!!

As for today, I just got done exercising and now I’m trying to rest up a little bit before a dinner tonight and a return to Columbus tomorrow.  It has been nice seeing my family this weekend and a welcomed diversion for me!

Hope your week is wonderful and isn’t too Rainy!!!