Miss Georgia Pageant

It's pageant season and I couldn't be happier.  I love watching the ladies compete and picking my favorites.  The 71st Miss Georgia pageant is this Saturday evening in Columbus.  I'm not going to be able to attend but hope to watch the webcast.  I have been following some of my favorites on social media.  All of the Miss Georgia and Miss Georgia Outstanding Teen contestants are beautiful and talented and here are just a few that I'll be cheering for:

Brooke Doss, Miss Troup County

Talent, Ballet en Pointe

Rosa Campos, Miss Conyers

Talent, Musical Theatre Vocal

Adeline Kenerly, Miss Capital City

Talent, Baton Twirling

*Betty Cantrell, Miss Warner Robins

Talent, Operatic Vocal

This young lady is my favorite Outstanding Teen contestant.  I saw her win the Miss Warner Robins Outstanding Teen title and her talent was fabulous.  She is adorable!  Good luck to Miss Hollis!

Kelsey Hollis, Miss Warner Robins Outstanding Teen
Talent, Vocal

*Congratulations to Betty Cantrell, Miss Georgia 2015.  Good luck at Miss America in September!

Miss Georgia Pageant 2014

Carly Mathis, Miss Georgia 2013, will relinquish her crown this Saturday evening in Columbus, Georgia at the Miss Georgia Pageant.  Carly was one of my favorites at the Miss America 2014, where she placed in the top ten.  

I've been watching the preliminaries via the live stream from WRBL.  The girls vying for the crown will be judged on fitness, talent, and on-stage questions.  The winner will represent the state at the Miss America Pageant on September 14, 2014 in Atlantic City.  Here are the contestants for Miss Georgia 2014.    See more about the pageant and the contestants on the Miss Georgia Facebook Page.

My favorites are:

Miss Atlanta

Miss Conyers

Miss Georgia Southern

Miss Gwinnett County

Miss Macon

Miss Warner Robins

There are also girls competing for the title of Miss Outstanding Teen Georgia and I just love Olivia McMillan, Miss Warner Robins Outstanding Teen.  She won the preliminary talent contest with her vocal performance. Good luck to her on Saturday night.  The winner of the Miss Outstanding Teen will go on to compete in Orlando on August 2nd for the title of Miss America's Outstanding Teen.


Miss Warner Robins Outstanding Teen

The girls in the pageant have so much talent and poise.  Good luck to all of them!

Who Will Be Crowned Miss USA 2014?

I can't wait for the Miss USA pageant this Sunday night!  Last year I attended the pageant in Las Vegas and had so much fun.  Giuliani Rancic and Thomas Roberts will host and Georgia Florida Line will perform.  I love Georgia Florida Line!

Erin Brady was one of my favorites last year and I was happy when she won.

Donald Trump with Miss USA 2013 Erin Brady after her big win.  Mr. Trump always surrounds himself with beautiful ladies!

The winner of Miss USA receives a beautiful crown, sash, flowers, a modeling contract and all kinds of cute loot! Sunday evening Erin Brady will be placing a blinged-out big ole crown on the coiffed head of one of these 51 girls as the new Miss USA 2014!

How beautiful is Erin Brady?!

Erin Brady photographed wearing her gorgeous crown!

The state of Texas titleholders have won Miss USA NINE TIMES y'all.  Girls from the Southern states usually do well in pageants, but there has not been a Miss USA from the South since Kristin Dalton, from North Carolina won the title in 2009.  I will be cheering for my Southern Belle favorites...Miss Georgia, Miss South Carolina, and my favorite to take home the crown is Miss Alabama!  I also like Miss North Dakota, Miss Maryland, Miss California, Miss Oklahoma, Miss Nevada, Miss Utah, and Miss Iowa.

If you are on Twitter, you will have the opportunity to save your favorite during the evening gown competition.  Just tweet #savethequeen along with a keyword that will be provided onscreen during the telecast.  I'll be tweeting during the telecast, as usual.

Miss Georgia Peach

Congratulations to Caroline Rowland, a junior at Warner Robins High School, who was crowned Miss Georgia Peach during the pageant held last month in Fort Valley, Ga.  

From left, Little Miss Georgia Peach Lily Barfield, Kathleen, Ga.; Teen Miss Georgia Peach, Malone Powell, of Albany, Ga.; Tiny Miss Georgia Peach, Olivia Rozelle, Bonaire, Ga.; Miss Georgia Peach, Caroline Rowland, Warner Robins, Ga.; Junior Miss Georgia Peach, Emily Rowland, Warner Robins, Ga.  

In the pageant world, young ladies who receive titles from the same pageant are referred to as "sister queens."  This was especially true this year as the Queen's sister, Emily Rowland, was crowned Junior Miss Georgia Peach.  Beauty definitely runs in the Rowland family.  Their mother Brandi Durst Rowland was Miss Georgia Peach 1993.

The Georgia Peach Festival will be held June 6-14 in Byron and Fort Valley, Georgia.  The Queen and her court will spend the next year as official ambassadors of the Georgia Peach Festival and the peach industry. 

Pageant Coach - Kim of Queens

Oh my goodness...there's a new show on Lifetime Network that is right up my alley!  It's Kim of Queens.  Last week's show was the premier and if you missed it, you can watch the first episode here.  It will be televised on the Lifetime Network on Tuesdays at 10 p.m. ET.

The star of the show is Kim Gravel, former Miss Georgia 1991, who is one of the country's most successful pageant coaches.  Her business near Atlanta helps feature beauty queens.  Kim lives to polish local girls into future leaders...able to take the crown and rule the world.  She tries to transform unpolished young Southern girls into beauty queens.  It is her mission to find "diamonds in the rough" and transform them into confident young women.

Kim has worked for Revlon and Christian Dior as a make-up artist and in 2009 she launched her own boutique cosmetic line, Beloved Beauty.

Kim is assisted in her business by her Mama Jo...a prissy Southern lady and a former beauty contestant herself!

Her younger sister Allisyn is her assistant too..and is also a former pageant girl.  Miss Allisyn is sassy and loves to bedazzle everything!

Kim Gravel was only 16 when she won the title of Miss Georgia!

I think this must have been her talent competition gown.

Kim in the bathing suit competition...probably wearing a Catalina suit!  Look at her long legs y'all!

Y'all can read more about Kim at her website here and she also has a Facebook page here.

Miss America Pageant Returns to Atlantic City

Preliminary competition is underway this week for the Miss America 2014 pageant.  The pageant is back in Atlantic City after being held in LasVegas since 2005.  The program began in 1920 as a bathing suit review that was a way to drum up business for the Jersey shore resort after Labor Day.

Miss America is long recognized as a scholarship pageant stressing the importance of academic achievement and talent, with talent counting for 35% of the judging, interview 25%, fitness 15%, evening gown 20%, and on-stage question 5%.  So, what to expect for talent this year???

27 vocalists
15 dancers
5 pianists
3 violinists
3 baton twirlers

The pageant will be broadcast live on Sunday, September 15, from 9-11 p.m. (EST) on ABC.  There will be a special 20/20 program preceding the pageant on ABC at 8pm..."Miss America and It's History."

53 ladies vying for the coveted crown of Miss America 2014

Pretty ladies with sashes and crowns!


Mallory Hagan was just crowned Miss America 2013 at the pageant in Las Vegas in January of this year.  She will only reign for eight months because of the traditional September pageant date in Atlantic City.

Mallory Hagan, Miss America 2013

I'll definitely be following the prelims this week and I look forward to picking a winner on Sunday night.  Chris Harrison of Bachelor/Bachelorette will host and Lara Spencer of Good Morning America will be the co-host.

Who will walk that 50 foot runway?  Unfortunately, she will not be serenaded to the iconic song "There She Is Miss America," due to a dispute with family members of the deceased songwriter.  Boo hoo!

Who Will Win the Coveted Title of Miss America?

The 2013 Miss America Pageant will air this Saturday evening at 9:00 p.m. {ET} on ABC.  Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012, will relinquish the title to one of the 53 contestants competing to win the coveted crown.

Laura Kaeppeler, Miss America 2012

Before you watch the pageant, you must see the special edition of "20/20," Pageant Confidential:  The Road to Miss America.  It airs right before the pageant on Saturday evening at 8:00 p.m. {ET} on ABC.  

The program will take a look at what it takes to become Miss America and will be anchored by Good Morning America anchor and former Miss America Judge Lara Spencer.  For 6 months, ABC's cameras captured candid moments of the journeys of several of the young women determined to don the coveted crown--as they are transformed from state beauty queens to the polished Miss America contenders seen on stage.

YOU have the opportunity to vote for a finalist at the Miss America competition.  On the Miss America site, there are videos for all of the 53 contestants.  I have chosen some favorites and placed my vote for my #1 favorite.  The voting will close Thursday, January 10th at 11:59 p.m. {PST}.

Here are my top five favorites going into the pageant:

Miss Colorado

Miss South Carolina

Miss Maryland

Miss Idaho

Miss Oklahoma