Because I couldn't enter a Drag Contest Now Could I?

#5 – 42 Flavors…42 Days

#6 – Enter a Pageant

#7 – Law School

I love my Bucket List. If you don’t already have one you really need to start jotting things down and be sure to leave lots of room.

The “Bucket List,” for those who are neither Jack Nickelson nor Morgan Freeman fans, is the list of things you want to do before you “Kick the Bucket.” Climb Mount Everest? Sail around the World? Eat a Peter Lugars Steak?

For me this list is just an excuse to do things that would otherwise be deemed questionable by my family and friends. I can simply chalk it up to “I am crossing something off my bucket list” and everyone nods their head in understanding, “Oh, ok… Your Bucket List…I understand.”

So, in the interest of logic I decided to embark on #6 before #5 and this past weekend became one of 11 ladies who lost out to Meaghan Castaldi and thus can officially be classified as “Not Mrs. New York.”

To be fair, I could have easily given birth to Mrs. Castaldi, the new Mrs. New York and it wouldn’t have even been a scandal. People would have just said, “You’re an adult now…You make your own decisions.”

To be even more fair, like everything else in my life, I did it my way which the judges apparently were not loving. But boy did I have a good time!

This is what I wore to the “Photo-op Luncheon. ” You may recognize this as my 5 dollar seer sucker suit, (There's a Seer Sucker Born Every Minute) which I chopped into shorts the day before the pageant. What they served at this luncheon I cannot recollect. In a room filled with women who have each elected to walk across a stage sixteen hours later there was, of course, a considerable amount of leftovers. They really should have offered a choice of air with a side of Sweet-n-Low or lemon wedges over ice.

This is my Interview suit. I love this suit. What is there not to love? I wore it with my Prada satin peep toe pumps with the flower heel that the Ebay gods brought me.
Ode to my New Prada Pumps

Note on interviewing: If the judges ask you why you think you would represent your state well, refrain from saying, "I am the embodiment of New York...I feel that I have earned the right to be smug. What of it?"

For my bathing suit I decided to go all out retro. All the bathing suits in my closet pretty much look like this. It is a great look. Very Betty Page. I think the judges were looking for something a little more current. At least I didn’t go with my first choice…

And finally, my gown: 15 dollars at the salvation army and my inspiration for actually choosing 2010 to be the year I crossed of number 6. You can't tell from the photo, but it is covered with seed beads. You can't tell from the judges table, but it is covered with seed beads.

A final note about hair and makeup. Apparently sitting in the chair of the official stylist and saying, “I want big big hair…make me look like a Texas second wife!!” is not the way to go if you are serious about modern pageantry. Luckily I am not so I told him twice, “BIGGER…BIGGER” whilst the pageant director looked on in horror.

This may have been the most fun weekend I have had in my life. I didn’t win but I didn’t set out to win. I set out to do my own campy spin on something that is already extremely campy. Apparently, from what I learned, people reenter this competition numerous times before winning (the runner up has actually been the runner up three years in a row and two years ago the winner had won after SEVEN attempts at this pageant). The Director asked me if I was going to be coming back next year. I don’t see the point. I have a whole lot of iced cream to eat and some LSATS to prepare for.

And speaking of which, what is on your Bucket Lists?