I've got a feeling...

Hello Friends,

Where has the time gone?! It feels like just yesterday I was dancing on stage with 52 amazing women in our Joseph Ribkoff dresses and DSW shoes (Thank you sponsors!) to “I’ve Got a Feeling.” Knowing that one month has already passed since the time I first arrived in Las Vegas is really hard to believe. All I can say is what an incredible experience! Really. I feel so blessed, so honored, so proud to have been able to participate in Miss America 2010. Wow.

Ok, maybe I can say a little bit more. I just need to figure out where to begin. There is so much to share and so many people to thank. This experience is something I will carry with me for the rest of my life, and the best part is—my experience is not over! I am still Miss Vermont 2009, and I intend to live up my last few months with this title as much as possible! For all of the incredible opportunities and personal growth I’ve experienced, I owe it to the Miss America Organization to do as much good with this title as I can.

(With that being said, please e-mail me if you have an event you would like Miss Vermont to participate in; missvermont09@yahoo.com. I already have a busy month of March ahead, and I’m excited to add more! )

The weeks leading up to Miss America were incredibly busy. I need to thank my mom and step-dad Mike for driving 17 hours down to South Carolina to pick up my incredible wardrobe sponsored by Gregory Ellenburg. We starting driving down around 4 am on December 29th, (only a few hours after my 22nd birthday ended) and we started driving back home from SC at 8pm on December 31st. We celebrated the New Year in our rental car, and I believe we were in North Carolina at the time. Mike stopped at a convenience store to pick up some festive New Year’s hats and we rang in the New Year in a way I will never forget. My step-dad drove through the entire night, as my mom and I struggled to stay awake to keep him company. Thank you Mom and Mike for spending the New Year with me and traveling all of those miles!

My Send-Off Party was on January 9th at the Middle School I attended back in the early 2000s. The party was so much fun, and cannot believe how many people traveled to come to my send-off. Between family members, pageant friends, and my college friends, I felt overwhelmed with the love and support. I will never forget the way I felt at my send-off. Thank you to all of you who made it so special!

When January 20th rolled around (I remember waiting for this day to get here!) my grandmother and I flew in to Las Vegas a day early to get settled before my whirlwind of an adventure began.

On January 21st, the fun officially began. 8:30 am I attended registration, tried on my wardrobe and started filming segments for Miss America Behind the Crown. We had cameras following us all week, and I really enjoyed being a part of the behind-the-scenes work of a television show. All of crew members were really nice, fun, and talented. However, I have yet to see the full 1-hour special and Miss America Live show! (I’ve been so busy since coming back from Vegas! I’m hoping to watch them soon.) My roommate was Kristina Smaby Miss Wisconsin—I had so much fun rooming with her! She’s a sweetheart and a great friend. I’m looking forward to visiting her state someday.

All of the contestants were amazing, and it was great to get to know so many of them. I especially got to know our current Miss America, since our states both begin with “V”—we were in alphabetical order a lot throughout the week.

I have so much I want to share with you all, and many photos to upload here soon! I am embarrassed by how long it has taken me to update you all on my experience. At 7am on Sunday January 31st, I flew right back to Assumption College where I jumped back into being a student and a student leader. I resumed my role as Senate Speaker at our 8:20pm meeting that night—the night right after Miss America! These past few weeks I’ve been doing my best to catch up on sleep and catch up on the two weeks of school work I missed from being in Vegas. I still am not 100% caught up (which is why I need to cut this blog short tonight), but I am so thankful for my understanding professors and my incredibly supportive college! I returned to campus with photos of my Miss Vermont experience on a bulletin board, and I learned that Assumption College threw a Miss America Party (big screen viewing) in my honor. How incredible! And each day, I run into someone who congratulates me on my experience—I cannot thank all of the people in my life enough!

Before I wrap up the first of what appears to be several blogs that will reflect on my Miss America experience, I will say that I am so proud of my state, and I hope you know that I put my all into representing Vermont at Miss America. I enjoyed every moment in Las Vegas, and I still have to remind myself that I really accomplished a goal I set four years ago when I was 18. Although I would have loved to have been your Miss America, or even your first top 15 finalist, I left Miss America with no regrets, and I feel content with the way things worked out. I truly believed that I achieved the honor of being Miss Vermont and going to Miss America because of my belief in the power-of-positive-thinking, and I am happy with the way I presented myself and the results because I stayed true to my belief in positive thinking. I know I did not walk away with the crown, but during the entire experience, I felt like Miss America. I believed that I was going to be Miss America 2010, not once did I doubt my abilities, and all of the support I received help strengthen my belief in my goal and my belief in myself. Friends, there is no greater feeling than feeling like you are capable of something that means the world to you. I believed I was Miss America. My friends and family helped me feel like Miss America. And during my time in Vegas, I was overwhelmed with how many people from other states came up to talk to me and support me—even though they didn’t have to. Thank you all so much for believing in me and helping me to believe in myself! I’m trying not to repeat myself, but when I was not called into the top 15, I didn’t feel the immediate disappointment that some of my fellow sisters may have experienced. Sure, I wanted so badly to be called into the top, and I felt like my name was on the tip of Mario’s tongue each time he announced a new finalist, but when the Top 15 was complete, I still felt proud. I felt so proud with my hard work, and I was excited to watch my friends continue to work towards their dream. I believe that every contestant I was with would have been a great Miss America, and I can only hope that they all felt that in themselves the way that I felt it in myself—because no feeling in my life compares to this new found belief. I am ready to continue making positive changes and I’m excited that I still have time to make some impacts as Miss Vermont!

If any of my fellow Miss America sisters happen to stumble across my blog (although, I know how busy we all are, so it’s most likely unlikely), I want to share a message I received that means a lot to me from a friend:

“I just wanted to write and say thanks for being an inspiration! It was amazing to see someone I not only have met but like know out there on the national stage! (And, a quality individual who truly deserved to be there!) You reached for your dream, girl, and you got there! Seeing you on that national stage (and in the clips of the preshow) really made the world feel a little bit smaller, less intimidating and more attainable. People really can dream and achieve those dreams! So, I just wanted to say, Thanks for being you and always believing in your dreams!”

First I need to thank Jen Gonet, a former Assumption SGA friend for allowing me to read this and smile every day. I want to share this with my Miss America sisters because this not only applies to me, but to all of us. I hope we all recognize that we have made a difference in our communities, our states and even on a national level—and I want my Miss America sisters to know that you have all made an impact on my life and are all truly inspirations to me. I love you all—can’t wait to reunite in Vegas! Enjoy the rest of your reigns and stand in the light!

I cannot wait to be back in Vermont this upcoming weekend for Contestant Development Day! I will be spending the day with the lovely ladies looking into becoming Miss Vermont 2010. I am looking forward to being a mentor for these young women who have the opportunity to have what I consider to be a dream job.

I have so much more to update, and I hope to do that soon!

Thanks for all of your support!

~Laura