NAM Weekend

Well, a few weeks ago, I was in a pageant called National American Miss. It was a 2 day competition in which we were judged on poise/presentation, interview skills, personal introduction, and other various competitions. It was held at the lovely DoubleTree by Hilton in Bloomington.  

To prepare for this event, I had to get a few new items,

Some white tennis shoes (or in this case basketball shoes)

Some new earrings, and a new dress that we'll look at later

Oh also there's a panda. 

DAY ONE.

Day one, hardly counts as a day because it was the travel, check-in, and a small party day. It took forever to get all checked in but that was alright. I couldn't figure out where exactly the party was in the building, so I ended up getting a bit lost and being 10 minutes late, but nonetheless it was fun. 

 DAY TWO.

Day two was Orientation, Spokesmodel Competition, and Formal Wear Competition

Someone had fun with the camera I gave them.. 

A lovely picture of me giving my speech about success. Funny story here; all of the people who did this competition (which were 8 girls in my division) gave their written/typed speech to a staff member who put the stack of speeches on the podium. Once you were done with your speech, you would take your paper and then it'd be ready for the next person. Given that my last name starts with a W, I was unfortunately last. 

Well Girl Number 7, Monique, accidentally took my speech with her. Now I did my best to be memorized but I was super nervous, and I had to stop in the middle of my speech and say that my speech had been taken. I was accused of not even giving my speech to the staff member, until the girl before me very apologetically said she had my speech, and I was then able to start over. 

Many tears were shed after this event because I had been so nervous and I tried really hard, and it sort of blew up in my face.. 

After the Spokesmodel Fiasco, I had many hours to get ready for the Formal Wear Competition. My boyfriend, Nik was my escort, and you really can't mess this up. All everyone had to do was walk up on stage, the contestant would step forward, walk around in a circle, stand there till the escort came forward, then walk off stage. Pretty simple.

 DAY THREE.

Day three was rehearsal, Personal Introduction Competition, Interview Competition, and the actual Pageant. 

This was me looking sort of ridiculous since I was talking and giving my 30-second introduction. The girl next to me was last year's National American Miss Teen Alyssa L. She was the sweetest thing, with an excellent voice. In the morning during rehearsal, her and I had a whole conversation about how fiber affects the body. While waiting for the interviews to start, she told funny stories about her dinner the previous night, then she somehow heard that I was in choir, and proceeded to yell at me for not competing in the Talent Competition. It was pretty funny. 

The interviews seemed to go well, the only question I got a bit tripped on was "If you were to have a party here, what two songs would you play?" Seriously, what am I supposed to say to that? Usually I don't listen to American/English music very much, so I answered the best I could with Korean songs.

Here was the stage in the Ballroom at the hotel, which you may have seen in previous posts from Anime Detour, which takes place in the same hotel. 

Here were all 48 of us. We were by far the smallest division. But everyone was super nice and friendly. 

The dance number was pretty fun, and easy enough to learn. The girl to my right was the girl who one the top title...and many other awards.. 

During the award ceremony, patiently waiting for names to be called. Unfortunately, the only time my name was called was when I was told I was in the top 50% of the competition, but I was very discouraged when Kayla (2012-2013 NAM Teen) won basically every award. 

It was a great experience, maybe next year I'll do better if I compete again. 

I have to thank all of my sponsors who helped me to get to this competition in no particular order, my father,

 Main Motors, 

Redmann's Carpet&Flooring, 

River City Saloon, 

Casa Rio, 

and Bart Ward Bonds&Stocks 

Thank you so much for supporting me.

In other news, I turn 18 next week, and I'm going for my license the day after, and I start college in two weeks. So all of that really exciting!

Fourth of July Celebration

Hello! I've finally uploaded my pictures to my laptop so here we go :D 

Starting on July 3rd! 

It has been so hot! It's hard to keep matte skin x-x

I painted my nails based on Michelle Phan's 4th of July video. I added ChinaGlaze Techno to the tips through to make it pop a bit more. It was really difficult since I had to take a detailing brush from a different nail polish, but it ended up working great. But me being the greatest person in the world while they were drying I nudged my first finger (which I was trying to hide) and had to redo the next day.

In the evening, Nik, my father, his girlfriend and her family went to the fireworks at the high school. Nik and I tried to meet up with Abi and Eric but we couldn't find them so we just sat down and enjoyed the fireworks. 

So here are the firework pictures that turned out!

The bright circle beneath the firework was the moon, it was so pretty as a backdrop!

 The smoke was so heavy! I'm glad we weren't sitting in that direction

 The next day was the real Fourth of July, which is also my grandmother's birthday. So we were off to her house! 

I attempted to be festive, but since I don't really have red clothing, I had to substitute for pink

Father was also festive!

It was a nice quiet party with not too much drama. Plus our family friend who lives in San Francisco came to visit! 

 In the evening, we heard the loudest things ever. What was it?

The neighbors kiddy-corner behind us apparently went to Wisconsin, and got the BIGGEST FLUFFING FIREWORKS THAT YOU SHOULD REALLY NOT BE LIGHTING SO CLOSE TO TREES AND HOUSES. 

Despite this, my parents and I stood in our driveway to watch, when they'd stop my parents started yelling "MORE! MORE! MORE!" and they got what they wanted..

It was so interesting to be so close to fireworks that large. 

Anyway I hope you had a lovely, fun, and safe Fourth! 

Graduation Party

On Sunday, I hosted my graduation party.

Everyone woke up late, so we had to scramble!

It all turned out though

I was officially gifted with the Jeep that I usually drive (now to get my license..) 

Lexi, Rachel, Kalli, Abi, and I. My friend Tayler also visited, but she left beforehand. 

Nik posing with Abi's shoes

"And this is why we're friends."

Nik and I opening cards

It was such a nice day! Super hot! My face melted off--or at least it felt like it. But nonetheless everyone was so nice to be there and such! 

Field Trip

I keep saying I'll keep up with this and I don't..

I really don't have any excuse except for the fact that I'm lazy ^-^''''

Well let's get down to business starting with...

The choir field trip!

A couple weeks ago, the Women's choir had a long 17 HOUR field trip.

We started at Armstrong High-school where we sang with each other and ate doughnuts.

Then we were off to Crown College where we worked with their conductor. But we were very early so we went to their coffee shop and chilled for a while

Breanna shared her sour-straw candy with me~

I ended up using this for my Novus senior picture for the magazine

Abi and I

In their bathroom that smells like onions.. It made no sense..

Mr. O and the other conductor

After Crown College we went to Mall of America to hang out for a few hours before going to the dinner theater. 

I decided to go exploring with Breanna and Kalli

We made Rachael try on clothing at DEB, then we all tried on dresses but I didn't take any pictures of that ~ 

Rachael and I ~ 

Maddie and I 

Mikala and her beloved Cinnabon XD

The Cinnabon suite, it's so cute and smelled AMAZING

Abi and her boyfriend, they had no idea we happened to be following them

Abi and I

So, it decided to rain in front of the mall (where we were waiting for the bus) and Abi says, "I'm going  to play in the rain" so she goes out to the little puddle and starts jumping in it.....

At this exact time her almost brand new phone falls out of her pocket and into the puddle..

Thankfully it was still okay

  

After the mall it was off to Chanhassen Dinner Theater to see the musical Hairspray

I sat with Breanna, Kalli, Mikala, Maddie, and Abi

Taken from Kalli's camera

The menus were really nice

I have a creeping Rachael in the back! Plus I changed into a sweater I bought from Forever21 and new higher waisted shorts which you can't see.. 

I was kind of disappointed that we were in such a nice place and they gave us these to drink out of..

Salad! Not a lot of girls liked it because of the dark lettuce, but I really like it. 

Super chewy bread but it was also good

The amazing steak and mashed potatoes and roasted veggies. It was super good!

Then afterward we got sundaes and I felt slightly jipped..that is a SAD SUNDAE. Plus the whipped cream on each side were unsweetened.. so depressing..

The stage! I found it interesting that the pit was above, it was kind of cool.

The show was very good 

We didn't get home until freaking midnight and then we had to go to school the next day.. Fortunately I  was allowed to go in late, so that was nice.