Miss USA 2011 Weekend

I had a BLAST in Las Vegas for Miss USA 2011 Pageant.   My adventure started out Friday night at "All that Glitters" which is a reception meet and greet with the Teen USA contestants.  My sister and my daughter came along to accompany me to the gathering of beauties.  The ballroom was certainly filled with lots of sparkling and couture fashions that night.  Not only were the Teen contestants introduced but also in attendance were the reigning Miss Teen USA Kamie Crawford, Miss USA Rima Fakih, and Miss Universe Ximena.  Many other pageant queens were in attendance too, including the Miss & Teen California Earth queens.  Needless to say my daughter made a lot of special friends that night including the reigning Miss Teen USA, Miss North Carolina Teen USA Vanessa Mc Clelland and several other state queens.  I even found a "Cinderella Girl" in the crowd the 2010 International Teen and now Miss New Jersey Teen USA 2011 Savannah Schechter.

Saturday morning our day started out with a little bit of history as we went to a meet and greet with various former Miss USA titleholders.  This is Miss USA's 60th anniversary and we had the chance to meet former titleholders dating all the way back to the 1950's.  While some of my favorites didn't make it to the meet and greet I did get to meet so many wonderful women including former California girl Shannon Marketic and the beautiful Shandi Finnessey.  I also had a moment to chat with Kenya Moore who just fell in love with my daughter.  Kenya even made sure she got some pictures for herself on her own camera with miss Bianca.  Also a part of the meet and greet were some of the crowns, banners, and competitions clothes worn by the ladies during their reign.  Did you know that the first swimsuits were made from wool?  I know those suits never ever saw water!

Myrna Hansen Miss USA 1953, Miriam Stevenson Miss Universe 1954

Miss USA 1963 Marite Ozers, Miss USA 1964 Bobbie Johnson

Wendy Dascomb Miss USA 1969, Tanya Wilson Miss USA 1972

Karen Morrison Miss USA 1974, Barbara Peterson Miss USA 1976

Julie Hayek Miss USA 1983

Carole Gist Miss USA 1990

Shannon Marketic Miss USA 1992

Kenya Moore Miss USA 1993, Brandi Sherwood 1997

Shandi Finessey Miss USA 2004

Chelsea Cooley Miss USA 2005, Tara Conner Miss USA 2006

After stopping by to browse and shop at the Mc Duggal and Sheri Hill suites it was time to go to the "True Beauty Rocks" event.  This event had a fashion show featuring gowns by Mc Duggal, autographs and photos with the reigning queens and a dance club.  Needless to say miss Bianca ending up being the star of this evening.  She danced the night away with all the Teen USA delegates. and ended up in the middle of a big circle dancing while the DJ was giving her shot outs (“Bianca the tiniest dancing queen”) and all the paparazzi snapping pictures.  It was the funniest thing to see her out there getting her groove on as the center of attention with all these beautiful young women having a blast with her.  She was a little celebrity, so many of the delegates and former titleholders took photos with her that have ended up all over facebook.  She even took photos with the La Casa Hermosa Celebrity Polo team.

On my final day in Vegas it was showtime.  I'm sure you all saw the pageant and watched the exquisitely beautiful Miss California Alyssa Campanella get crowned Miss USA 2011, well I was there live and in person.  I was so proud of her I only wished I hadn't had my car accident last year the weekend of the Miss California USA pageant because I could have met her in person before this triumphant night.  Congratulations Alyssa, I know you will do a fantastic job as Miss Universe, I mean Miss USA :).

I absolutely enjoyed every minute of this trip and this is one of my best Vegas trips to date (next to my Vegas trip winning Ms Earth of course).  This was definitely well worth the 3 hour drive from home.  Good bye Vegas, until we meet again!

(Bianca as Miss USA)