Dissed at the Disco. PART 1

Well, we tried. And apologies for taking so long to get to this!!! See footnote at bottom of the page :o)

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Now, no lectures please - I know going into these things that last place is a distinct possibility. You can work very hard, and not get a darn thing - and that's okay, as long as I feel it was a fair and square loss.

However.

This was not the case.

Let me explain something first. There is the concept of the "supreme" awards - this consists of a photogenic event (which can be glitz photo, natural photo, comp card or portfolio), one optional event (In this case Disco wear, or one of two "outfits of choice" which can be swimwear, westernwear, sportswear etc.), and Beauty. Now the important thing to remember is that your beauty score CANNOT be substituted for a preferable (i.e. higher scoring) optional. It is your CORE score. Understanding this a KEY piece of information to understanding my ire with the situation.

Friday:
We left very early Friday morning with a friend and her daughter to tackle about a 5 hour drive to Nashville. Overall the girls were very excited and happy to be going, and the other mom and I were in good spirits. On the way we stopped for breakfast and snacks, alternately chatting on the phone with coaches, hair and makeup people, and friends - everyone sooooo excited about the upcoming event!! We got there on Friday no issue, except for the fact that I have a bladder incapable of holding more than 3 ounces at a time so we had to stop A LOT for me to potty (getting old is hell btw) - We were staying at the Sheraton Music City - and we arrived early enough to get a room on a fairly low floor. The hotel was wonderful! The staff was a bit ditzy and it seemed to be slightly short on help, but overall one of the best hotels we've stayed at. I got Gizmo to tanning and to see her h/m person and then we practiced a bit in the halls that evening - again, everything going pretty smooth. We saw tons of people we knew, chatting about how we were doing, sharing photos and talking about who's there etc. We got to bed a tiny bit later than anticipated because the pizza guy took awhile to show up, but overall no problems.

Saturday:
Gizmo had to be at hair and makeup at 8:00am and she didn't want to get up, so it precluded a decent breakfast!! So I went down to the gift shop, grabbed her some milk and fed her a poptart (which isn't the end of the world but I do prefer her to eat eggs for protein the morning of competition.) Now for some reason, Gizmo decided she wanted to be difficult for her makeup that morning - I understand her issue, because they air brush the foundation, and frankly it's uncomfortable. But normally she does it no problem. Eventually, she got her foundation done, and moved on to the finishing makeup and getting her hair done.

The lady who did her makeup and hair did a good job, but I as she hadn't done Gizmo before, I didn't feel like she put her "best effort" into my baby. But overall, I was pleased and she had tons of comments on how beautiful she looked going back to the room to get dressed. We got her dress and shoes on etc. and made our way downstairs for beauty.

Nine kids!!! Why oh why is our age group always stacked? I surveyed the competition, and felt like Gizmo had as much or better of a chance at least at a title. Her modeling is strong so I wasn't so worried about that... Gizmo did look so much more mature than the round-faced toddlers in the group and that concerned me a bit. The last pageant we did, I thought I might better move her up an age group, and that nagged me a bit this time. I have so GOT to start listening to my "inner voice" more often...

But she did GREAT! She didn't look at me AT ALL onstage, she modeled awesome, except for one moment when she hesitated on the seam of the stage, but she recovered quickly! No missed moves, and I thought she took a nice pace onstage.

Now to move on to Outfit of Choice.

I wasn't all that thrilled about the outfit. As a matter of fact, I wasn't even going to enter her in casualwear, but she REALLY wanted to do her routine and she happened to LOVE the outfit... So I plopped down the extra $75 for my child to have her extra 2 minutes of fame, and possibly the extra chance at a prize. Again, she did AWESOME. Wonderful modeling, o.k. outfit. Stellar smile.

I couldn't have asked for her to better if I had sold my soul to the devil himself.

Feeling Groo-veeeeeee....

...and to be continued.

BTW since we've been back I've been busier than a bunch of re-located fireants. Between getting back at midnight sunday night after the pageant, then having to go to a four day project methodology class, then Mother's Day weekend PLUS my son's sports banquet (we had to take a covered dish to boot) I'm not sure I'm lucid enough to know my own name. Much less write a fab-u-lare blog.

....Coming back ever so slowly....