Thank you!

I just wanted to say a big "Thank You" to everyone involved in the Mrs. America Pageant. I had a wonderful experience in Tucson and am thrilled to have such a genuine, sincere woman to represent us as Mrs. America! The women competing this year were simply top notch - accomplished, intelligent, poised, personable, helpful and involved.





A special thanks to my husband, family, friends, sponsors, mentors and the Mrs. Oklahoma staff for your support and encouragement!!

Top 12 Swimsuit and Gown

Photos

I'm still waiting to receive photos from finals. The Mrs. America website (www.mrsamerica.com) has posted some so make sure you visit their site.

Results --

Mrs. America: Maureen MacDonald, North Carolina

Top 6 Finalists: Britni McMillan, Alabama, Melba Oren, Connecticut, Jaclyn Stapp, Florida, Andrea Stine, Nebraska, Kimberly Sullivan, South Carolina

Top 12 Semi-Finalists: Tiffany Kay Nelson, Utah, Siobhan Davenport, Maryland, Lise Niewolny, Illinois, Tiffany Ellison, California, Denise Brown, New Mexico and me

Mrs. Congeniality: Rhonda Randolph, Missouri

Mrs. Photogenic: Jaclyn Stapp, Florida

Mrs. Fitness: Laura Diers, Iowa

Best Costume: Kim Huitt, Alaska (my roommate!)

Top 12

I made Top 12!!! Our new Mrs. America is Maureen MacDonald from North Carolina. I hope to post photos from finals later tonight, so check back soon!

Finals

Tonight we will crown Mrs. America 2009! The past day and a half has been very hectic preparing for the final show. Yesterday we had rehearsal from 9am until 10pm then had another half day of rehearsals this morning. Our choreographers are pushing us hard so that we will look fantastic on stage tonight.


Preliminaries went well on Sunday evening. We competed in swimsuit, evening wear, then presented our state costumes!

Tonight will start with our opening number. Then we will present Tucson's mayor with a gift representing our state. Next we'll have the parade of state costumes. Finally, we will arrive at the annoucement of Top 12 and the competition will continue with swimsuit and evening wear. The Top 6 will be asked an on-stage question.

News Story

The Enid News & Eagle ran a story about my preparation for the Mrs. America Pageant in today's paper! You can read it here http://www.enidnews.com/archivesearch/local_story_243234947.html

Day 6 - Interviews

Interview Day! This afternoon I had a 4 minute one-on-one interview with each of the 5 judges. All of the judges were personable and quite accomplished. Since I'm number 37 of 51 contestants I had most of the morning to relax and watch football. Boomer Sooner! This evening we have dinner then more rehearsals.

Day 5 - Friday!

Last night we went out to eat at a local Italian restaurant and had a blast! We had almost the entire restaurant to ourselves. After dinner we went to the patio and had a dance party. It was great to just relax! Today began with a presentation from the National Anthem Project, Mrs. America's platform.

We spent the rest of the day rehearsing for the preliminary pageant. Then we ended the day by exchanging contestant gifts with each other. We recevied some amazing gifts from every state!

Tomorrow is a big day. I have my interview in the afternoon and my family will start arriving in Tucson!

Day 4 - Thursday

Last night, we had the opportunity to meet Brian Johnson, the President of the hotel, at a formal dinner. Each contestant presented him with a gift representing her state. I gave Mr. Johnson an OU football autographed by head coach Bob Stoops!

This morning we started bright and early with our group swim photo shoot before sunrise! We all wore our matching red swimsuits and enormous red Kentucky Derby type hats.

The rest of the morning we spent rehearsing evening gown and opening number. At the preliminary competition, we will do an opening number in swimsuit, then compete in swimsuit and evening gown. We'll wrap up with state costumes and present our second gift to the mayor of Tucson.

At finals, we'll perform our opening production number (singing and dancing), participate in the parade of costumes and then anxiously await the announcement of top 10!

We finally have a break this afternoon! We're going to spend a few hours touring Tucson then we'll dine at an Italian restaurant.

President's Dinner

Last night we had a fabulous dinner/reception at the President's Suite.

Today we received our competition swimsuits - red one piece. Now, back to rehearsals!

First Day at Mrs. America

I arrived in Tucson late yesterday afternoon with just enough time to unpack and meet my roomate, Mrs. Alaska, before we headed to our first event - Orientation Dinner. The food was wonderful! We are certainly going to be spoiled here at Loew's with our 5 diamond meals. I had the opportunity to meet all of the other contestants as well as the President of Mrs. America.

Tuesday - Day 2

Early this morning, I went on a nature hike on the trail behind the resort that leads to an 80 foot waterfall. The trail offered fantastic views of the hotel. The rattlesnake sign was a bit intimidating, but the hotel staff has reassured me that in the 25 years they have been operating the hotel, only 2 people have ever been bitten by a rattlesnake (one of them was a Mrs. America contestant!!).

Next I went on a mile jog through a trail weaving through the championship golf course. This resort is truly first class!

Since the pageant will not be televised this year, today we have been focusing on learning the opening number. We've had a great time laughing at ourselves trying to learn the choreography while also learning the song we are going to sing! We have more rehearsals this afternoon then a nice dinner with the Mrs. America President, David Marmel.

Tomorrow!

I can't believe the time has come! I will be flying to Tucson, AZ tomorrow morning for 9 days of rehearsals, appearances and competitions at the Mrs. America Pageant. Check back each day as I will try to keep you updated on all of our activities!

Allison