Jetsetting...

haha wellll kinda.  By "jetsetting" I mean the Bolt Bus to Boston, then drive to Derry, New Hampshire, back to Boston and then fly to Orlando.  But it was all sorts of a fun trip :)

Saturday, I took the trip up to Boston for a weekend full of changed and spontaneous plans (<-- irony?).  First, I had an awesome lunch with Miss Massachusetts 2010 Loren Rabinowitz, who is awesome.   Loren is one of the girls I left Miss America wishing I had gotten to know better.  We just started hanging out towards the end when they really made an issue of the Yankees/Red Sox rivalry -- maybe that's because her intro was something to the idea of "From the state that roots for two teams: The Red Sox and anyone who's beating the Yankees, I'm Loren Rabinowitz, Miss Mass"  (idk ask Miss CO for a direct translation...)  I digress, again.  Anyway, if you know me at all, you know that I'm fascinated by religion and the conversations surrounding it as well as the role it plays in our society.  In our conversations about Loren being the only Jewish contestant in an organization that is unofficially, yet definitively and assumptively Christian, I was so intrigued.  This girl is impressive -- as are many of my Miss America sisters -- but I'll give you a few reasons why: Olympic trainee in figure skating, 2 national championships, Harvard grad, semi-finalist at Miss MA USA at 5'2" tall, accepted to 2 of the Top 3 medical schools in the country.  Do yourself a favor if you want to learn about the Miss America Organization and it's quality of competitors and read this article on Loren:  The Next Jewish Miss America?

Miss MA 2009 Amanda Kelly, me, Miss MA 2010 Loren Rabinowitz

From lunch, Miss Rhode Island, Debbie Saint-Vil, picked me up for our drive to the Miss New Hampshire Pageant to meet Miss Vermont, Caroline Bright, where Krystal Mucciolli would be giving up her title.  It was SUCH a great show with wonderful presentation and stage entertainment, and of course, a great group of women competing for the first spot in the Miss America Class of 2012.  So fun to be there with my Miss A sisters, but surreal to witness 'the beginning of the end.'  Watching a state pageant again was so interesting because it reminded me of the fact that I will never compete in one again...that's bizarre. I found some favorites early on in the competition, but was especially proud of the Top 3:  Not only is Regan Hartley the new Miss NH and first to go to Miss America 2012, but 1st RU Megan Lyman was at National Sweetheart last year (so kind, enthusiastic, and an incredible story), and the 2nd RU was the just-former Miss NH OT and overall talent winner with amazing classical guitar.  Regan's platform is about bullying based on harassment she experienced in high school - true stories influencing impactful platforms - that's what I like to see.  Congrats to NH on a wonderful show!

NY - NH - RI - VT 2010

Miss VT 2010 Caroline Bright, Miss NH 2011 Regan Hartley, Miss RI 2010 Debbie Saint-Vil, Miss NY 2010 me!

I came back to Boston to spend the rest of the weekend with my sweetheart sister, Miss Mass 2009, Amanda Kelly.  She rules too!  Geez everyone is wonderful!  It was so great to hang out in Boston, meet her boyfriend, and just have girl time.  I've said it before, but I just love when your relationship with people you've met in a pageant moves past that conversation into a regular friendship in real life.  I'm so thankful to have been blessed with many of those relationships.  Aside from just a few minutes of congratulations at Miss America, Amanda and I had not seen each other since the summer of 2008, yet we were able to pick up right where we left off and have a blast.

From Boston, I left for Orlando, FL where I was a special guest judge at the Miss Heart of Central Florida Pageant.  Nope, not what you think...it is not a Miss America local.  It is a drag pageant.  My college friend Ron produced this pageant and really pulled out all the stops with a fantastic show.  They were so wonderful to their judges, some of whom performed and were just unbelievable!!  They really set the bar high for the contestants.  Especially after being at Ru Paul's Drag Race finale last week, I've learned so much about the drag community and the entertainment art of female impersonation.  It is quite a new world, unique in itself.  It was a fun and relaxing trip, complete with poolside reading and phone call catch ups -- just what I needed!!

Congrats to the winners!

Special Thanks to Bill and Ron for hosting me!