Miss LA Week, Day 1

Teen top five

My watermelon flower arrangement from the Farmerville Jaycees. : )

With Reagan Drewett, my piano teacher and pageant mentor's beautiful little girl.

With my gorgeous roommate, Katie Cook

Me and fellow contestant Hope Anderson

Sister Queens: LA Watermelon Festival and Union Parish

Miss Louisiana 2009 Katherine Putnam and I

Several of us with the Chick-Fil-A mascot (?, I guess that's what you'd call it)

Team Liz, the move-in squad

With my outstanding, Outstanding Teen, Lauren Ford

With Meghan at the teen pageant prelims

Goodbye OskyWosky

Friends and Family,

It's been over a month since my latest blog post. I have several in the edit stage, and others in the to-do list stage, but my focus has been the priority. And it has certainly paid off. My 11 months of hard work has come to fruition. I have arrived at the Miss Louisiana competition and am ready as EVER!!! Here are some updates on the past 24+ hours, but I must be brief... beauty rest is a must!

- First thing's first... had to drop my baby (Oskar the dachshund) off at the babysitters. It was emotional enough for me that I took a picture... in the 1:28 chance that I have to immediately move to Monroe, I could not be sure of when I would see him again. Sad moment for mommy. :'(

- Last night was the teen pageant's preliminary competition. Seeing the Monroe Civic Center stage for the first time was a little overwhelming. I've spent months visualizing a place that I had actually never seen in person. Seeing the venue felt like the last piece to the "mental" puzzle of fulfilling this goal in my mind's eye.

- We moved into the dorms this morning. Thank you to Rachel and her personal trainer friend (can't remember his name, but see picture below... you'll know who he is) for helping me move into the dorms at ULM... which might be some of the most impressive dorms I have ever seen!!!!!! And thanks to my parents for many many years of moving during college, they deserved to be off the hook for this one. : )

- After move in we had lunch with one of our sponsors before heading to the Press Conference. This event was filled with even more opportunities to thank and meet sponsors. I experience such nervous excitement when I am at a Press Conference, because I love to speak in public so much. I was interviewed with a few other girls for a segment by the Louisiana Home Network, and I was their chosen representative for the Baton Rogue viewing market (... so if you're in the area and not coming to the pageant, check it out on WBTR-TV on Saturday from 8-10pm!).

- Rehearsals... ahhh, I love dancing. The opening number dance is on "fiya" it's so hot. And the other production number is to Lady Gaga's "Bad Romance," so I don't think I need to say how much I love this choice. It was also great to burn some calories during one of our scheduled activities.

- Next we went to Pecanland Mall to eat at Chick-Fil-A, another meal sponsor for this week's competition. I freely ordered off the lo-calorie menu, ate everything, and then felt like I had consumed the most filling meal of the past month. We'll be back at Pecanland Mall tomorrow for the annual "Style Show" in which the Miss contestants will all sport fashions courtesy of Dillard's... and two lucky ladies will likely sport a swimsuit on the catwalk. So to reiterate, I'm EXTREMELY grateful for the healthy meal at Chick-Fil-A. : )

- The teen pageant finals were tonight, and I had a very emotional experience. First, I was so proud of my sister queen, Lauren Ford, who placed as 3rd Runner Up and looked GORRRRRGEOUS doing it. Then, I lost it when the outgoing teen queen presented her farewell speech. Kelly is beautiful and mature beyond her years. She is someone who has welcomed me into this organization with open arms. She is always encouraging and uplifting when I'm around her. And as you can see, I look up to her as much as she might look up to me, considering I'm about six years her elder. And finally, I wept when they crowned the new Miss Louisiana's Outstanding Teen 2010, Brooke Hotard. I didn't cry. I didn't ball my eyes out. I WEPT. Yes, it was a little ridiculous, but at that moment, all of my emotions intersected, and this journey made a full circle for me. After months in the Miss America Organization, I realized that I had fallen in love with a group of people and a noble cause because it's what I was raised to love and strive for: scholarship, success, service, and style. Those words define the doctrine of the Dunn household just as much as they define the four points of the Miss America crown. Brooke's win was so spectacular to me because her older sister is a Miss contestant with me. As I am an older sister myself, I know what it's like to be proud of and also feel so responsible for a growing young woman (I love you sissy!). And that's exactly why I want to represent this organization. I want to recruit young female scholars to pursue self-enrichment through pageantry. I want to recruit businesses to support this organization through scholarships and through yummy healthy meals previously mentioned. I want to recruit universities to send representatives to the state pageant. I want to recruit children and teenagers to "join the cause" of celebrating Louisiana and becoming community leaders. Of course, all this makes sense if I should acquire the job of Miss Louisiana. But should the timing not be right and the cards not be in my favor at the end of this week, I have already decided that I will continue to recruit for and serve this organization, whether it be as a preliminary director or a donor or merely as a grassroots-level promoter. The Miss America Organization can offer amazing things to young women, especially scholarship money for college, and I feel so blessed to be a part of it as well as to comprehend it's blessing in my life, now and forever.

- A massive massive MASSIVE thanks go out to David and Carry at Regalia, Katie McGee Barras, Darra Jung, Jackie Johnson, Stephen Wright, and especially Deanna McCallum for finding a solution to getting my competition evening gown to Monroe. Deanna gets the "especially" because she had the winning solution... the Louisiana Legislature's session ended tonight, and the dress is returning to Monroe with Rep. Frank Hoffman. Crown or not, I feel like royalty already. And thanks to EVERYONE else for pitching in with prayers.

- And my finally update. I will do my very best to keep you all updated with nightly emails or calls or texts. I will not have my cell phone for much of the day, ever. Feel free to send me text messages (the best thing) or emails or other forms of support. It will be difficult for me to respond to everyone, so please don't take it personal... know that every single happy thought is what produces the smile on my face. Keep it comin'!

Until tomorrow...

Liz Dunn

Miss Louisiana Watermelon Festival 2010