Well, we’re a week and a half away from the pageant. It has been an ADVENTURE!
First of all, I have learned definitively that I am NOT a person who will live without carbs for very long at a time.
I can absolutely avoid processed stuff out of a bag or box for the majority of the time, but every once in a while, a girl just has to have pizza!
I HAVE truly cut back on the wine. Partly for the calories. Partly because I noticed that even two glasses of wine on a Saturday night made barre class WAY harder on Sunday morning.
Second, I’m a better human with a fitness routine.
Barre is 100% my favorite – but physical activity truly does clear my head and make me a happier, healthier individual.
Third, God bless these women who do pageants frequently.
This is a LOT of work. Interview coaching, walking and posing coaching, wardrobe coaching, make up and hair coaching. No matter who I become for this pageant weekend, I’m still the girl who lives in Lululemon leggings, Tieks ballet flats, and a messy bun in a hair clip. On ANY day I don’t have to wear makeup – that’s preferred! Any day I don’t have to wash my hair and strip it and dry it out that’s preferred. You can take the girl out of So Cal and bring her to Vegas, but she’s still really still a So Cal girl who wants to keep everything minimal and effortless!
Fourth, God bless the families that support women participating in the pageantry experience.
About a month ago, I told Mike, “no more entertaining at our house until after the pageant.” I couldn’t (didn’t want to) handle the extra responsibility. I didn’t want to be making cocktails and food for everyone else I couldn’t eat. And honestly, by the time the weekend came around, I didn’t want to do hair, makeup, dresses, or anything but the aforementioned Lulu leggings (or maybe just my pajamas). There have been a lot of things that Mike and I have passed up on over the past few months because I was in pageant prep mode. We love to dine out. There has been none of that. So even though I have sacrificed, so has he!
Fifth, the pageantry experience is EXPENSIVE.
When you add in pageant fees, pageant prep, pageant coaching, beauty, wardrobe, and all the things – this is a crazy expensive extracurricular activity!! I have always kind of resented how expensive Mike’s golf hobby is. Pageantry is just as expensive – and really even more for such a short period of time!
I’ll be back next week as we’re in the final count down. Kind of like Facebook memories, this has become a bit like my journal of this experience. I expect to come back to it after this experience and remind myself of some of the thoughts and feelings running through my mind in the process. So many pageant girls say that the experience is “addictive” and that they LOVE competing. I guess because I’m not really competitive in that way, I haven’t experienced that. I didn’t do this to win anything. I did this to refine some of my own characteristics (the clothes, hair, make up, and poise to be honest). In that regard, I’ve already won.
Thanks for following along on my pageantry experience.
xoxo,
Amy