First off, it has been a full week since I have been crowned! The reality is starting to sink in as I attend interviews, fill out paperwork, and get ready for an amazing year! I am so excited beyond words!! I feel blessed to have worked with so many wonderful young women last week and I am just glad I was able to meet some truly amazing people.
I first want to talk about my experience at Miss California! For those of you that don't know, the last time I was able to perform on the beautiful Fresno stage was in 2005 when I was a teen! It was such an amazing feeling to be back on that stage. It truly is an outstanding theater. I had the best roommate I could ever ask for: Lana Brewster! And it is so funny because we both didn't have a roommate all the way up to orientation; I just happen to ask her on a whim and it ended up being a perfect fit! We joked saying that all of our pictures are just going to be the two of us because we spent so much time together :]
A picture of us before our long trip to Fresno!We were able to have a lot of down time the first couple of days which was really nice. I remember hearing from other girls that you never get any sleep in Fresno, but we all lucked out this year :]. However, none of the girls wasted this precious time! We were all either catching up on sleep, working out, making thank you cards, or catching up on current events!
Lana and I making our thank-you cards!The first event was the visit to the City Hall in downtown Fresno. The Hall was beautiful and it was such a treat to see what all the titleholders gave the mayor, either representing themselves or their city. I gave a cherish teddy which is a little statue that my mom and I have collected ever since I could remember. Since there were a lot of girls having San Diego pride, I decided to hopefully pass on this tradition to someone else :]
A picture of Ruth, Jenna, Lana, and I in front of the Fresno City Hall (some of my favorite girls)!!We then headed back to the hotel where we had one of our first rehearsals/meetings! Bob talked to us a little bit about the whole week and then the Hostesses took over. I could not imagine this competition without the Hostesses. It simply would not exist without them! They are all so wonderful and helpful and giving!! I just really have to thank them for all their hard work and dedication to this program. We all appreciate it!!! It also was my roomie: Lana Brewster and Miss San Jose: Tiffanie Tam's birthday! So the lovely Mary brought over cake to celebrate!
Me, Marina, SISTA: Saundra, and Rachel before the meetingSaturday was the first day that competition began! 14 girls had their interview! Lana and I were able to sleep in and get ready for the bbq! It was at such a beautiful home in Fresno right on a lake! The wonderful Kiwanis also provided the scrumptious meal! Unfortunately I passed on the ice cream, but I definitely made up for it this past week! ;]
Lana, Jenna, Me, and Cori in front of the lake at the gorgeous Fresno home!Then was the 4th of July!!! We had a lot of rehearsal and went to a 4th dinner! We had hot dogs, watermelon, burgers and all! A typical 4th of July dinner. Perfect! Thanks to Bob for making this day possible since we all were able to spend this holiday with our pageant family. ;] We then had more rehearsal and then had a fireworks spectacle on the hotel rooftop. We watched the fireworks from the baseball stadium right that in front. Before the show started, my sister queen: Saundra and I, decided to get the crowd a little bit more lively so we had everyone join in and sing God Bless America! It was just a really fun night because I also was able to spend it with my Teenie: Tierra! We all had a blast!
Me, Tierra, and Saundra getting pumped before the firework show!Monday was the first day we were able to have rehearsal in the theater! It was awesome to be on that stage. The dancers were just phenomenal and definitely changed the competion into a show!
Tuesday finally was the day of my interview and the onstage question competiton. I have to thank the wonderful Millie and Cori for lending me your cocktail dress and jewelery in a split second!! I ended up having the same dress as someone else in my group so all the wonderful contestants came to my rescue. This is why I love the organization so much! The people!! The beautiful Sharanya and talented Rachel stole the night by winning the preliminary evening and talent awards. Props to Lana too; her song was beautiful and she looked amazing!
Vera and I after my interview! I was the last one to be interviewed: #56!!!Wednesday was my evening wear competition. I have to quickly talk about the drama with my dress! After I came home to San Diego from UCLA , I had approximately a month to get the last things ready and I still did not have a dress! We had been looking at dresses that were over $1000 and I still did not find the dress that I fell in love with. Finally one of the last stores I looked at, ironically the same place I purchased my talent dress, I found my dress. Best part: for only $375!!!! I had to tell everyone about the price of my dress because I was so proud ;] This night is when the stunning Ebony and powerhouse Sarah (she NAILED it) won the prelim awards!!! Props to sista Saundra too! Her song was outstanding. If even possible she amazed even more on Saturday!
Sharanya and I before prelim awards!Thursday was my talent! This is my favorite aspect of the competition! I performed "I Surrender" by Celine Dion (my celebrity rolemodel). Laura definitely blew the house down with her classical piano piece while Jasmine won the evening award. They both did amazing!!
Saundra and I before the prelim awards were announcedFriday was my swimsuit where the beautiful Holly won talent (she performed an original composition: MAJOR props) and the amazing Ruth won evening. I feel so weird giving all these complimentary adjacteives to all these girls, but I have nothing but wonderful things to say and I want everyone to know how blessed I am to have worked with all of them!
Ebony and I after Swimsuit! Geeez she makes me look so short! Saturday! The final night!!! I dont even know what to say other than I had such an amazing time! Honestly it was such a great experience! Any of the 55 contestants could have easily been Miss CA. I just feel honored to be representing all of these wonderful girls!!! My favorite part was that I was able to share a dressing room with Saundra!! AHHH I still am in such joy!!! So that saturday night was the gala and going to bed at 5am ;] The next day was the ever so important meeting with everyone about the year. I then got a bit of a break where Kati and Joe and I pigged out at a sushi restuarant.
The next day was off to the Rotary luncheon where I had my first appearance as Miss CA. It was such a thrill! It was really cute; they started off the meeting with three men who all looked like they could be brothers and we had to guess who the real president was! It was a toughie ;] They showed some pictures of all the contestants and the top 5; it was a treat for me since it was one of the few pictures I saw with me and my crown/sash.
Bob and I after at the luncheonI then was wisked back to SD for my 6pm class in Glen Baldwin's Jet!!! No big deal I flew on a private jet ;] It was SO cool and although I slept through most of the ride, I had loads of fun on a 6 passanger plane!
The amazing pilot, Glen, and I about to head off to SD! The next week was full of interviews on KUSI, FOX5 and other newspapers/stations. This whole adventure has been pretty remarkable and its only been a week! I just can't wait for this year to continue!!!
The first live interview was with Fox 5, I had such a fun time with the anchors; they are simply a blast! It was really funny because they asked me to share a special hobby. So the first thing I thought of was my collection of cherish teddies (this was also the gift I gave to the mayor of Fresno). So If you can see in the picture I have the cherish statues on the table!
Fox 5 news!! Last Friday I had an interview with KUSI where they provided a hair and makeup artist! It was like celebrity treatment ;] I also got to interview with Saundra Moss, an anchor who has interviewed me about 4 years ago when I competed in a local singing competiton. It was just nice that she remembered me!! :]
So that is all for now. I do have a couple more interviews next week so keep your eyes peeled! Hopefully I can post once a week or once every two weeks! Thanks for all your support!!!! :]
Love
Arianna Afsar
Miss California 2010
