Miss California USA Orientation

Hey, all! So I'm posting this from my hotel room in Palm Springs, where I just finished up my orientation. I had so much fun...all in one day!

There are about 120 girls total, for both Miss and Teen (roughly 50 something Teens and 80 something Miss contestants). The orientation took place at the actual venue where the pageant is going to be at from November 21-23 of this year...the Riviera Resort & Spa. The venue is absolutely amazing! Gorgeous pool, huge facilities and all of the girls were literally all very sweet. It was very easy to make friends and one of the Miss contestants actually offered to let me stay at her house when I travel to the red carpet event in Los Angeles next Saturday--and she just met me today! No divas at all...well, so far. LOL.

We started the day at 8:30am and signed in, checked our paperwork and took our place in the Grand Ballroom, which is the same room our competition will be at. After the introductory stuff, we were given a sheet of paper with our name and title on it (I'm Miss North Bay Area) and then got in line to have our headshots taken for the program book. When that was done, we had some down time and then went back to the Grand Ballroom to receive more instructions. We were split up into groups and each had its own station and then rotated each hour. We got one hour for lunch so I hung out with the other contestants poolside.

After lunch, my group went in for choreography. We learned a short dance number for the opening of the pageant, which went well, and we also learned the proper walk for the swimsuit and evening gown competition. Choreography went on for an hour and then everyone met back to go over the actual schedule of events for the pageant itself. That lasted for some time. Then we met the reigning Miss California USA (Racquel Beezley) and Miss California Teen USA (Taylor Atkins). Shanna Moakler also made an appearance and hung out with us (she was a former titleholder and is now assisting the director of the pageant). I also got to meet and speak with a casting director from the E! Entertainment Channel. That was pretty sweet.

Once the formalities were taken care of and we were fitted for our T-shirts and tank tops for the upcoming events, we all changed into our swimsuits for our group swimsuit photo and poster. I wore a bright green bikini, which worked out perfectly because a lot of the other contestants had on blues, yellows, blacks and reds so I'll probably stick to the swimsuit I wore today for the competition. It was 99 degrees outside and we had to sit in place facing the hot sun without any shade while the photographer tested the lighting. All of our faces were literally melting off (we were in full hair and makeup), and it must have been obvious that I was glistening because Keith (the pageant director) ran up to me with a towel to pat my face. I jokingly announced, "I'm sorry, I have combination skin and my T-Zone hates me!" That got everyone laughing hysterically so I made a pretty amusing first impression. :p

Because of the large number of girls total, we had to break down the photoshoot into three groups. I was in the first group and once we got our first shoot out of the way, we made our way to the pool, where we sat down and put our legs into the water. Then the second group came and knelt behind us, while the third and tallest group of girls stood behind everyone. Then we took more photos and then that was it! We started the day at 8:30am and finished around 5pm-ish.

Definitely a long day but unbelievably cool and I'm looking forward to seeing my new friends soon. We've got a red carpet event coming up in the Fashion District of Los Angeles this coming Saturday, where we'll be interviewing with the media/press while touring the store of the official pageant jeweler, Inta Gems. Then we'll head on to a clothing store in Beverly Hills, where the routine will be repeated.

I'll be sure to make another post to let you all know how that turns out and I'll add some photos soon as I get them together. So much to do, so little time! Just one month left, but I already know it's going to fly by!