Miss VC 2012: The Miss California Pageant, Part 1: The Beginnings

As a local titleholder in the Miss America Organization, I had the honor and privilege of competing for the state crown: Miss California!! Since I began competing as a teen, it has always been a dream of mine just to attend the pageant as a contestant... and now that dream has finally come true!! =D
It was not always sparkles and sequins, though: when I was crowned Miss VC, I was nowhere near ready to compete at such a competitive state competition: my communication skills needed refinement, my physique needed tightening (and health), and my interview abilities needed to be pushed to the next level... a LOT of sweat and tears went into preparing for this competition- but now looking back every single drop of sweat and every single tear shed was absolutely worth it!
Since my experience at Miss California was over an extensive period of time, I will post multiple blogs rather than just one... I hope they give you a clearer picture of what goes on at Miss California through the eyes of a contestant- and more importantly, I hope you enjoy reading them! =)
Let's start at the beginning (a very good place to start! Haha!). On June 22, my Executive Director and I packed up the van and headed to Fresno! We checked in at the Radisson Hotel, where I got to reunite with my roommate, Miss LA County Monet Bagneris. The very next morning, I was off to the Mayor's Welcome, where each contestant presented a gift to the mayor that represented the county in which she was representing at the pageant. To represent the rich agriculture of Ventura County, my aunt and I made a basket filled with avocados and lemons from our family's ranch that also included some guacamole ingredients and The Bailey Strickland secret guacomole recipe; the mayor seemed to really love it!