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Michelle Robinson McKissack

my Journal

October 28, 2006

Well, it’s no turning back now.  I have officially signed on the dotted line of a contract that states I have to stay married to compete in the Mrs. Tennessee pageant.  Seriously, it’s in the contract.  If that isn’t an incentive to continue my marriage, I guess I could always fall back on staying in it for the children’s sake!  :)  John, you know I love you dearly.

But where did this all begin for someone who has never competed in a real pageant.  I don’t really count the Queen of Clubs contest back in high school, I mean really, I was representing the Latin Club and sang Debbie Boone’s “You Light Up My Life” for my talent.  I guess part of me is trying to redeem myself for that failed attempt more than two decades ago.

But, it actually began about five years ago with my Dad of all people.  I was hanging out at my parent’s house and he was channel surfing when he came across the Mrs. America pageant.  Naturally, I said wait – let’s watch.  I’ve always been intrigued by pageants.  I watched Vanessa Williams win Miss America.  I even met Debbye Turner after she won Miss America.  She was making an appearance at the Mall of Memphis.  My brother, Gaius, got her autograph while I simply admired her from a distance.

But back to my quest for a crown… my Dad said that I should do the pageant.  I pooh-poohed the idea, but of course my journalistic curiosity kicked in, so I went to the pageant’s website and sent off for some information.  By the time the packet came in the mail, that giddy idea of being in a pageant had long since faded.  So I tossed it, especially when I saw there was a $600 entrance fee … I thought, “Shoot, I can go to Cancun for 4 days and 3 nights with that kind of money.”

Fast forward a few years and I get an e-mail out of the clear blue from the director of the Mrs. Tennessee pageant.  She must have reached back into the deep recesses of her e-mail address book to solicit others and me for potential contestants.  But for me, this time I looked at the pageant from a completely different perspective.  My father had passed away a couple of years earlier and his words to me lingered … that I should do it.  I mentioned it to my Mom and a few days later she calls me at 10 o’clock at night to say she was flipping through the TV channels and the pageant was on.  I tuned in and I was hooked.

November 6, 2006

Once John realized I wasn’t joking and he stopped laughing about all this, he has been extremely supportive.  But now the reality of what I have done has just sunk in to me and the panic is beginning to surface.  A fairly confident woman who felt fairly secure about my physical shape is now searching the web for the most effective cellulite cream.  I have employed the services of a personal trainer.  I met her years ago while doing a news story about fitness and she has a slim physique so I thought she would know best how to tone my body.  People who need to lose a few pounds are what most trainers are accustomed to working with, but trust me … there’s a lot to be desired from a skinny person with flab.  It ain’t pretty.  I’m not saying that I look bad, but looking good in clothes is entirely different from looking good in a bathing suit, especially when you’re not at the beach or near a swimming pool and on a stage with a black back drop.   All of your business is on Main Street.

But there is a fun side to all of this.  I have official license to shop.  And the other day Mom and I found the pageant bathing suit shoes.  John calls them the “pole dancer” shoes.  Yes, they’re clear and about four inches tall, but hey, who says you can’t wear them to church, too!

November 13, 2006

Wow … I feel like America’s Next Top Model.   I was in Chicago a few days ago and got the full treatment in a top-shelf photo shoot courtesy of my sister.  You would think Cheryle is competing for the Mrs. title the way she has jumped in to this and gone full steam ahead.  She says she is living vicariously through me … lucky me!  Cheryle arranged for a professional make-up artist and photographer to create my official “pageant photo.”  I have never had such an experience – to have a professional photo shoot.  John was on hand and captured everything on video so that I will always have it to look back on.  A truly amazing experience and the photos are awesome!

December 8, 2006

I had a great day today.  I spoke to Mrs. Hibbler’s sixth grade class at Downtown Elementary about my career as a news anchor and reporter.  It was my second speaking appearance while representing my title of Mrs. West Tennessee.  The kids were so attentive and asked great questions.  In fact it was because one young lady asked if she could find more information about me on the Internet that prompted me to create this website.  It was definitely a fun day.

December 18, 2006

Talk about crash and burn.  I have already fizzled out on my personal trainer.  It’s not that I couldn’t handle the lunges, chair dips or even the bunny hops from one end of the room to the other … though they were grueling – (by the way, I have a newfound respect for kids on a playground who do these types of movements every day) – but it was so stressful racing to get to class.  I would have to get up at the crack of dawn to get myself ready before getting the boys ready and off to school and mother’s day out.  I would eat my raisin bran cereal at 6 a.m. and by the time my workout session started at 9 a.m. I was starving with no power bar in sight.  I felt like I was going to faint.  Tonya tells me that I have to eat throughout the day.  I have never been a nibbler.  I eat my meal and don ‘t eat again until the next meal.  Give me 3-square a day and I am set.  Also, with Christmas right around the corner, it seemed really self-serving with these personal trainer sessions, which are not cheap.  So, barely a month into my program and I’ve decided to go solo and apply what I’ve learned into at-home sessions.  We’ll see how that goes.

January 31, 2007

It’s a few weeks into the New Year and the countdown is really on for the pageant.  Slowly but surely, Mom and I have been putting together my wardrobe for the pageant.  I have my gown, which I actually purchased at a boutique in Minneapolis a couple of years ago.  It’s left over from an event I hosted for the Memphis Arts Council, but it’s still stunning and perhaps now I can get my money’s worth out of it.  I’ve only worn in that one time.  I have my pageant interview suit.  It’s an Audrey Hepburn-style classic champagne-colored suit designed by Nicole Miller… very elegant.  I got that from a boutique here in Memphis called Ella’s.  Still, there are so many other clothing details like shoes and accessories to buy.  Of course, I don’t have the shopping prowess or endurance of Mom, but she will not let me buy the first thing I see that I think matches what I need.  Thank goodness for Mom otherwise I would be so through with all of this.

February 4, 2007

I just had my first session the other day with my pageant interview coach.  Yes, such people do exist.  His name is Justin and he lives in Long Beach, California.  I found him while surfing the net at two o’clock in the morning.  His website PageantStar.com impressed me so I contacted him.  He’s coached, quite successfully, many pageant contenders in preparing for the interview session of a pageant.  Anyone who has watched a pageant knows that the interview is what makes or breaks the top contenders.

I know that I have made my living by asking questions, and I feel comfortable talking to people in large and small group settings, but somehow pageant questions seem to be completely different.  Perhaps it’s because I will be on the other side of the questions.  Basically, I have to remind myself to speak in sound bites.  Justin says he believes that I will do well.  Nonetheless, I am prepping myself.  I bought his booklet, “1001 Pageant Questions.”  John and even little John-John are getting in on the pageant frenzy.  They have been asking me questions from the list.  I like to think of myself as helping John-John with his book report presentation skills as he rattles off the questions, though he does need a little help pronouncing some of the words.  But hey, you get what you pay for and since his 8 year-old requests are limited to wanting Chick-fil-a for his payment … that I can oblige.

March 21, 2007

Workout Update:  I have to admit that I have done pretty good maintaining my home workout.  I can see some significant definition in my calf muscles and for the first time I don’t think I have chicken legs.  Yea!

April 15, 2007

Yesterday, I attended a one-day seminar in Nashville called “Becoming Mrs. Tennessee.”  It was truly one of the most rewarding experiences I have ever had.  Quite frankly, I really wasn’t expecting what I got out of it.  I thought it would be the typical “this is how you walk” type of workshop, but it focused more on discovering one’s strengths and how to apply that to life beyond a pageant.  The woman who primarily put it together is Dale Smith Thomas.  She is a former Mrs. Tennessee and now owns a business called, “Winners by Choice.” 

Copyright 2007 Michelle Robinson McKissack. All Rights Reserved.

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