Miss Texas

Last night was one of the year's much-anticipated television events for me - the Miss Texas Pageant! The winner of last night's pageant will represent our great state at the Miss America Pageant in January in Las Vegas - an even-greater-anticipated television event. I grew up watching Miss America, and even today my mom, family, and friends and I get together and have Pageant Viewing Parties - we even wear crowns!

To those who think Miss America is just a silly beauty pageant, I beg to differ. Unlike the Miss U.S.A. Pageant, Miss America awards scholarships to its contestants; the winner of Miss Texas/Miss America must posses not only outward beauty, but also inner beauty, as well as talent, poise, and personality. Miss America must have a platform - a cause she feels deeply about - and she speaks across the country on her issue. She is a role model.

We had our party last night and wore our crowns; we ate a delicious dinner and indulged on brownies for dessert. It's a "no-males-allowed" party, so the guys went to see Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (they said it was great!). We were rooting for our favorites in the Top 10 Finalists - we especially liked Miss Central Texas and Miss Woodlands - but alas, our favorite did not win the title last night. Congratulations to Miss Frisco, who I will say nothing bad about because that would be ugly. Even tho she does have a large Queen Elizabeth forehead and didn't sing that well. I'm just sayin'.

On to the Miss America Pageant in January! Gone are the days of the parades along the Atlantic City Boardwalk, of Bert Parks singing, "There she is....Miss America....", of a September crowning. But despite the changes over time, the Miss America Pageant has stayed relevant and fresh - and a great excuse for a party!