MAY 28, 2007 MISS UNIVERSE PAGEANT VIEWING PARTY

Three days before the Miss Universe pageant aired, I decided to host a last minute pageant "viewing" party at our house. It is always much more fun to watch a pageant with a group of girlfriends! Everyone brought an appetizer/dessert/munchies and we all agreed that calories did not count on this night. Our 2 1/2 year old daughter Ava was SOOOOO excited to have all of the "girls" over at her house for a party, and greeted each guest at the door so that she could show off her "clapper" shoes (if you've been reading my blog, you might remember me mentioning her "clapper" shoes that she is so fond of...these are play/dress-up shoes that make a "clapping" noise as she walks along any hard floor, and she LOVES them and thinks she is very fancy in them). She was in her element, let me tell you! Miss Social Butterfly should be Ava's title (and I just can't figure out where she gets it--HA)! Wendi Russo (one of the contestants for Mrs. MN America 2007) arrived a bit later because her daughter was ill, and she had barely sat down when Ava came right over and plunked herself down in Wendi's lap, and then proceeded to dig through her purse in search of lip gloss. Go figure! Luckily, Wendi has a daughter the same age herself so she wasn't offended...ah, little girls! Ava was twirling and dancing for everyone and had the best time (and thank you to everyone for being so patient with her...it is hard to watch a pageant with an ankle-biter twirling and whirling in front of the television!). Others in attendance were my mom Bonnie, Sarah Moses (owner of The Pageant Shop by Michael's), Bessie Giannakakis (another 2007 contestant for Mrs. MN America), Marcia & Brie Anderson, Laurie & Megan Ehlert (Miss MN Teen Int'l 2006), Donnell Rank (Mrs. MN Int'l 2007), Sarah Tichich (Mrs. MN United States 2007), Andrea Sabin, Kris Mohlin, and me of course. We all let out a collective GASP when Miss USA fell, but agreed that she handled it with as much style and grace as was humanly possible. My personal pick for the crown was Miss Venezuela, but that just goes to show you that in pageantry, you never know what can happen! Thanks everyone for coming, and we'll have to do it again soon...anyone up for Miss Teen USA in August?

PHOTOS:
1 & 2) Watching the pageant
3) L to R: Bessie Giannakakis (Mrs. Edina), me holding my daughter Ava (2 1/2), and Wendi Russo (Mrs. Eden Prairie)
4) We grabbed some crowns out of my curio cabinet and had some fun (note that Sarah Moses pulled out the biggest crown, an old "Guy Rex" crown of mine from when I was Miss 1993 Wisconsin World America)...L to R: Donnell Rank (Mrs. MN Int'l '07), Sarah Tichich (Mrs. MN US '07), Sarah Moses (owner of The Pageant Shop), and me
5) Ava with her "Auntie Sarah"
6) Me with my mom Bonnie Henderson (thank you for all your help Mom, you rock!) and Sarah Moses
7) The group "reacts" to Miss USA taking a fall during evening gown (OK, this was TOTALLY a staged photo!)
8) Ava has fun being "one of the girls" with Brie Anderson (2nd RU to Miss MN USA 2007) and Megan Ehlert (Miss MN Teen Int'l '06)