She's beauty and She's grace

I don't know if I am the average when it comes to knowledge about beauty pageants but if you're like me, three things come to mind when you think of beauty pageants:

1. Miss Congeniality: Especially the talent section. When a co-worker and I were talking about this idea she said she would really like to see me tackle someone as my talent...like Sandra Bullock. I have to admit this sounded really tempting. Sandra Bullock is my role model, not really, but let's pretend. Although, I'm pretty sure they wouldn't let me demonstrate tackling as a talent, right??

2. 4-H Fair Royalty: Back home the only exposure I got to "Beauty Queen" material was the local royalty. Not to be mean, but you didn't have to be pretty to win, you just had to enter.

3. Toddlers and Tiaras: One word. Terrifying! No, two more words. Mental Illnesses.

So, with most of my knowledge coming from those three things, I began to investigate the world of beauty pageants (A lot easier to spell when you think...Page -Ants).

Beauty pageants come in all sorts and sizes:
babies to 50+,
both genders,
local or state or national or global,
uber glitz or no make-up allowed
Certain ethnicities or nationalities.
With or without the swimsuit section or talent section

To be truthful it is sort of hard to sort out all the different pageants and to find one.

The one thing they all have in common? The entrance fee!! Holy Cow! I've heard (from Ms. Congeniality) that beauty pageants are scholarship opportunities...I see them more as a lottery. There are different types but one pageant I was looking at has a base fee and then additional fees for categories to complete in. I'm sorry, but to me that's a waste of money. Oh yes, I would love to spend another $10 so someone can tell me that I don't have the "Prettiest Hair" and another $10 to see if I can compete for the "Best Personality"! Boo! That's what I think. I don't need to pay money for someone to tell me my hair looks lousy. But I'm trying to be open minded here. With this many categories, you are sure to inflate your ego with at least winning something!
I know my capabilities. I'm not going to over shoot my ability to compete in these things by any means. So, I pick the easiest route. I happened to find a pageant where I don't even need to compete at the state level because my state doesn't have a competition! I just received an email informing me that all I need to do is register to become my state appointed queen and I will receive:

Official Miss Heart of America State Queen Sash
Beautiful Rhinestone Crown
National Information Packet
Rhinestone Sash Pin

Ba bam! There I go. Easy as pie. I could totally get my crown, right there! What does registering include though you ask? Paying an entry fee of $195.00! And that is the reduced price due to sponsorship... Hmmm. Is it worth it? I could totally just go buy that stuff at the dollar store and no one would know the difference..What else could I do with $200? ... So many other useful things! But, I am to think like a Beauty Queen. So it is worth it! But wait, it's in Orlando Florida...this is a big commitment financially. I go to the site to register but I can feel my ears starting to burn. I don't think I can convince myself to do this. But hey, it's the first day. So, I held off on registering for today, and went to rugby practice... :D