Miss Arizona 2006

I love it! I have so much fun when I’m out and about in the community, so I had a great week last week.

The weekend was definitely the busiest. On Saturday, I was the emcee for the John C. Lincoln Hospital Fall Festival. I hosted the event, introduced the acts, announced raffle winners, judged a costume contest, and performed…phew! I was at that event from 11:30 a.m. until 3:30 p.m., and then it was off to another appearance!

Later that evening, I spoke at Christ’s Church of the Valley, which is my home church. I did two services on Saturday evening, and then I was back on Sunday for two more. It was so great to speak at my church and get to joke around with my pastor. One minor problem, though… my sister was there with her husband and her baby, and some people thought the pastor said it was MY baby! So I’ve had a ton of people coming up to me at other events and telling me I have a really cute kid. I’ve been passing along the compliments to my sister, but just for the record, I am not married and I don’t have a child! I can see the rumors flying now… hehe!

Today I did an interview with a fellow journalism student from Arizona State University. I was glad to help her out, since last year I took the same class that she’s in now. I know from experience that it’s a killer class, so hopefully she can get one story out of the way. It was nice to just hang out at Starbucks and talk to another aspiring journalist like myself. I also did a little shopping before that… I’m starting to run out of outfits to wear to appearances. It’s kind of a bummer when outfits start repeating themselves in the event pictures on the Miss Arizona web site! I’m going to have to invest in clothes that I can mix and match.

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Hey! This week was busy with a capital B! On Friday night, I was at the 3rd Annual Masquerade Ball hosted by Jobs for Arizona’s Graduates and the Tempe YMCA. I was a guest speaker, and I also got to model a beautiful $6,000 diamond necklace that was being raffled off. Sadly, I didn’t win, so I had to give it up at the end of the night. Oh, well!

The next day, I spoke at an event for the West Valley Advocacy Center that was held at the Glendale Public Library. The event was an all-day safety fair to promote R.A.D., which stands for Rape Aggression Defense. It’s basically a self-defense program for adults, but there is also a radKIDS program for children. They are both GREAT programs that I was proud to promote.

On Monday, I had the second day of filming for the video being used at the conference in California this weekend. Then Tuesday, I spoke at Cactus High School… my old stompin’ grounds! I graduated from there in 2003, so it was really fun to be back at home and speak to the students there. Once a Cactus Cobra, always a Cactus Cobra!

Then, in my spare time, it was working out with my trainer, working out on my own, and then maybe a little more working out. Gotta get ready for swimsuit! I also am practicing my talent song daily and keeping my voice strength up for January.
So all in all, it was a great week. I’m just trying to enjoy being Miss Arizona while it lasts… it’s already been 4 months!

Talk to you in a few days!

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It seems like I just did an update for last week, and POOF! It’s time for another!

Last week, I found out I was going to film a feature interview for a mentoring conference that’s taking place in a few weeks in California. Lindsey Clifford wrote a book called “Make A Difference Mentoring Woman to Woman,” and the book featured my relationship with my Aunt Jennifer. Jennifer helped me get through the difficult time in my life right after the rape. So on Saturday, Lindsey flew to Phoenix, and Jen and I taped an interview with her so she can use it in her conference. She wanted me to be there in person in California, but unfortunately, I have two appearances that day. So filming it was… and we had a great time! I can’t wait to see how it comes out.

I also did an interview with The State Press, the newspaper that ASU produces. The article is going to run on Thursday, October 12, in The State Press Magazine. There is also an article coming out in The Arizona Republic about an event I’m doing this weekend, so that’ll keep you posted on what’s coming up.

Okay, these blogs have been pretty tame, so I have to mention something that everyone I tell seems to find funny. Everyone asks about “pageant beauty tips,” so I’m going to divulge one of mine. I went today and got my eyebrows threaded… yes, that’s right, threaded. It’s really cool… somehow, Joy Morjaria (otherwise known as the Eyebrow Threading Wonder) uses a piece of thread to shape my eyebrows. I’ve been going to her for about 8 months now, and it’s just phenomenal. No more over-tweezing or painful waxing… yay!

So there you have it… Miss Arizona’s beauty recommendation of the day and some highlights of my week! I have a lot of appearances coming up, so I’ll fill you in again soon.

Talk to you soon!
Hilary

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Well, today was a BIG day! Today was the contestant lottery to see what our contestant order will be for Miss America. It’s really cool how it works, so I’ll try my best to explain it. All 52 contestants logged on to the online lottery web site at the same time. When everyone was there, the Miss America computer randomly selected a state name, kind of like drawing out of a hat. Then, that first contestant got her pick of where she wanted to be in the lineup. The next contestant drawn got to choose from whichever slots were left, and so on down the line. Make sense?

So obviously, I was hoping I got selected fairly early to get the position I wanted. Well, to put it mildly, I have HORRIBLE luck in those drawings! Out of 52 contestants, I was number…50! Wow, there were only 3 slots left by the time I got to choose. But it all worked out, and I ended up with a spot that I wanted anyway. I felt very lucky that even though I had to wait 2 hours to find out where I would be, I got a placement that I was satisfied with.

So for anyone who wants to know, here is how my Miss America week is shaping up. I am in the Sigma Group, and I’m contestant number 5. That means that on Wednesday, January 24, I have my interview with the judges in the morning. On Thursday, I will compete in the swimsuit and eveningwear competitions. Friday is the night I perform my talent, and then on Saturday I will answer my on-stage questions. So I’m very happy with my lineup… thank goodness!

Other than that, my week was full of appearances. I went down to Tucson for the American Red Cross Save a Life Saturday for Families, and I spoke and signed autographs for kids. On Monday I went to the Ahwatukee Crime Prevention Task Force meeting, and on Tuesday I spoke to Oasis Elementary School. Wednesday I had a meeting with the Arizona Sexual Assault Network and CASA, which is the Center Against Sexual Assault. I’m so glad to be working with those organizations, and I’m happy that we’re all collaborating together.

So basically, it’s been a great week for me… I hope it’s been the same for you!

Until next time,
Hilary

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