Well, I thought I would kick off my new year, new blog with some exciting news from 2013! October 19th, 2013 I was crowned Mrs. North Carolina 2014! It has been a dream of mine for a long time to represent my beautiful state of North Carolina but just a few months ago I didn't think it was in
the cards for me!
I competed in my first pageant, the Miss Reunion pageant when I was 15 years old because my wonderful dance teacher Miss Krista Whitener talked me into it. I had never done anything like it in my entire life. I had always played sports, danced and cheered. That night I was crowned 1st runner up and little did I know that I would spend a lifetime in pageantry as the forever 1st runner up until now….
Since that first pageant when I was 15, I was hooked and competed in numerous pageants but I actually only won very few. I competed at various local pageants and then had my try at Teen Miss North Carolina which I competed two years in a row and only cracked the top 10. My first try at the Miss America Preliminary system I was first runner up and competed at numerous other preliminaries that year receiving other first runner up placements and never making it to the Miss North Carolina stage. I then competed two years in a row at the Miss NC United States pageant and was first runner up both years.
For those of you pageant girls if you have ever been first runner up you will know how hard that position is to be to come close but never win. It is an honor to place so high but also very dis heartening at the same time.
I then moved on from pageantry for a while and got married and had my beautiful daughter Elouise and the pageant bug came back and I wanted my try at the Mrs. North Carolina title and that opportunity to finally represent NC.
I competed two years in a row at another system in NC and you can probably guess I was first runner up both years in a row! I really thought it was destined for me to be the queen of the 1st runner up and my dream of being Mrs. North Carolina was something I needed to move on from. I had a few friends that told me if this was my dream that I really should compete for Mrs. North Carolina America they all felt it was the best system in the state and that it was really the perfect place for me!
I will say I was a little intimidated to compete at Mrs. North Carolina America. I knew it was the best of the best and the women who had won in the past were just amazing queens and I couldn't even imagine being one of them!
I decided to give my dream one last shot and put everything I had into it. I worked out harder than I ever worked, I spoke with people about my interview, I practiced my walk but I also knew that I was on a strict budget and I needed to get a new gown. I competed in the local preliminary to help save on fees and fortunately won Mrs. Greater Catawba Valley 2013. It still came down that I needed a knockout gown! While my sweet Elouise and I were playing dress up one day, it came to me. I had a few old pageant gowns in the back of my closet; one was a gorgeous long sleeve black knit gown and one was a tea length ball gown style cocktail dress and it all came to me to put them together.
I took the two pieces to oh so fabulous Diane La Rose and for less than $100 I felt like I was walking in couture! I borrowed my swimsuit and my opening number and I traded out the stones in my old pageant earrings with new stones I bought at local craft store. Lets just say I was a queen on a mission, but also a queen on a budget!
Everything was in place and I was so excited to compete one last time for my dream to become Mrs. North Carolina.
The Saturday before the pageant life took a different turn my sweet Papaw went to be with Jesus, and the furtherest thing from my mind was competing in a pageant. I spent the week mourning with my family and attended his funeral that Wednesday. I finally picked up my gown that Thursday but I was really having a hard focusing on the pageant ,but if my Papaw taught me one thing is that he appreciated hard work and I knew I had worked hard for this.
I walked into registration on friday morning with a new outlook I knew this was going to be my last shot so I wanted to have fun, I wanted to relax and not worry about the outcome and just enjoy each moment.
( Registration Day Look)
(Contestant Dinner at Jeffrey's in Moorseville, NC)
Saturday there was all kinds of issues that could have derailed me from even wanting to compete; my brother was diagnosed with a rare blood disorder and had to start Chemo that Saturday, my family was still mourning the loss of my papaw, I woke up an hour late so I had to do my hair and makeup on the road and the list goes on; my opening number dress didn't fit, my hairbrush broke,I burnt my head with my curling iron I mean if it could have go wrong it did but for some reason there was a serenity around me that weekend and I just wanted to enjoy it and have fun!
(Getting ready for the pageant)
My papaw collected coins and would always give us coins and as I was walking into interview I looked down and there was a shiny penny heads up and I knew that I had a little piece of him with me that day which I immediately picked up and put in the bottom of my shoe.
Interview with the judges (the most important part) I felt went great, I felt at ease and I felt I really got the opportunity to give them a glimpse of who I was and why I wanted to be Mrs. North Carolina!
I truly felt like I enjoyed each moment of competing and the Galles put on an amazing show and make each contestant feel like a queen. As the night went on and the contestant went down to top 5 then it was the final 2, it was a place I had been many many times before. As I stood there holding hands with this tall gorgeous blonde I just couldn't imagine what it would feel like to call my name…
Well this just says it all and it has been more than two months and I still cant believe they called my name and that I am really Mrs. North Carolina 2014!
I really want to make a difference as Mrs. North Carolina. Volunteerism is part of my platform so I really want to serve my community in anyway I can and encourage others to do the same. I am so glad that I went for dream and didn't give up. I am so honored to represent North Carolina at Mrs. America this year! If you are interested in competing or have any questions about competing for Mrs. North Carolina or South Carolina feel free to email me! All I can say is WORK HARD and GO FOR YOUR DREAM!
www.mrsnorthcarolinaamerica.com
xoxo,
Christy Creson
Mrs. North Carolina America 2014
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