The countdown TRULY begins! In one week, I will finally be competing for the pageant crown and title. It has definitely been a long, tiring, and costly road, but I am thankful for the experience. It has taught me so much about myself and becoming a finer woman. I have tackled learning proper etiquette, sitting and walking properly as a lady, finding the clothes that best fit my complexion and frame, hairstyles that best suit my facial structure and profile, ways to elongate my body, taking the stage not necessarily as a pageant contestant but as my inner actor, and really delving into who I am with my likes and interests. However, the final week before the pageant was all made in the name of procrastination. Welcome to the world of grooming a week before the show!
How I was a week ago, pumped for the show.
How I felt on Monday after meeting with my coach.
Literally seven days before I register at the hotel to begin my competition, I have to find time to do the following:
1. Make a hair appointment and actually get it done – preferably on Thursday (So that I can have it freshly done when walking into my interview on Friday.)
2. Manicure and pedicure in French tips
3. Get an entire body exfoliation (To rid myself of skin irregularities in color and to make my skin as smooth as possible. Judges see EVERYTHING.)
4. Tanning (Yes, even ethnic girls are advised to do this for an “even complexion and bronzing glow”.)
5. Have my makeup done by a professional some MAGICAL way before traveling upstate on Friday morning. (Or maybe I just won’t sleep on Thursday night?)
6. Obtain the dreaded bikini and leg wax. (Woohoo.)
7. Make sure that I have all earrings and jewelry for outfits; make final payments to my coach; make final payments to my dressmaker who had to make INSANE alterations to my fully beaded gown; pack my bag for the show with social/club dresses, curling and flat irons, hair spray and oils, body oils and lotions, extra jewelry just in case, my pageant binder to study my notes, nail kit in case anything happens, and small sewing kit in case my dress wants to have a mind of its own. I’ll feel as if I’m basically packing a smaller version of my apartment into three suitcases.
8. Oh, and I hope that I actually receive my bathing suit. Yeah, that hasn’t happened yet. Yes, this competition is one week away. Uh huh.
The bathing suit, by far, has been the most trying part of this process. Granted, always waking up in time to work out was hard, so was keeping a diet, and my gown’s beading has been ridiculous, but trying to prevent my butt from falling out in a swimsuit on stage has been a struggle. I ordered my bathing suit online, which many girls do from trusted “pageant swimsuit” websites, but my coach and I were a little modest about my true size. We wanted to go one size bigger just to make sure that it would not be too flashy. Okay, that didn’t work, so we moved on to the next size. Yeah, that didn’t work either. With three weeks left before the show, we decided to order a size three sizes too big in the bottom (with two bottoms!) in order for my dressmaker to combine the two pieces and fit it conservatively around my butt. I ordered the pieces back in December. It is January 10th, and I’m still waiting on Mr. Postman.
Pageanting is not only mastering the art of femininity, womanhood, finding yourself, and attaining beauty. The real contestants (and even an adult woman) should know how to think on her feet in any situation. This final week will surely be a test of that even before my interview starts.
Brooke Leigh Howard 