Finals Night

Wow, it's the end of the week. I cannot believe how timee flies; one minute we are arriving in Fresno and the next, we are getting ready to see who the next Miss California will be. I'm sorry that I haven't been able to write over the past few days, it has been incredibly busy around here! I've had such a wonderful time during all prelim nights and I truly feel that I did my best. I have prepared so hard for this point, this competition, that when I got here everything felt like second nature. I am so proud of my accomplishments, and I know that no matter what happens tonight I will continue on with life and my ssupporters will still be my supporters. Thank you so much to everyone for reading my blog, following my progress, praying for me, wishing me well, and for everything else that you have done. I love you all so very much and am so blessed to have you in my life.

I'm running out of time quickly this morning, but I did want to write a little something just to let you all know that I am thinking of you, and to let you know how I feel this morning. I think it is important to take a step back and look at yourself before something like this. We have all worked hard, all 56 women are wonderful, and each would be deserving of the title of Miss California. I want it just as badly as everyone else, and if it is meant to be, it will be. I know that this is in God's hands; only He knows the outcome, and I feel a sense of calm in believing this. As someone told me, you know who you are, "You are exactly where you are supossed to be right now." That is so incredibly true and I know that the outcome tonight is meant for me.

Thank you once again to all of you. I could not be the person that I am today without all of your love and support. Thank you to my wonderful committee for prepping me to be the best that I can be. Thank you to my family for your thoughts and prayers, and for loving me unconditionally. To my pageant family, thank you for helping me grow. You have seen the biggest changes in me over the past 5 years, and I know that you are truly excited about the young woman that I have become. To my amazing trainer, Mike, I could never look this good without you! Thanks for making me get out of bed in the morning and for inspiring me to work hard. You're the best. To my wonderful boyfriend and biggest fan, John Jay. Thnak you for sticking with me through all of my preparation. You are not new to the game, and I am so grateful to have you in my life to support me and, of course, keep me from eating those fries. I love you very much. To my Mom, Dad, and little brother - you are my biggest supporters. There is no way that I could be so calm and so ready for this without the love that you supply. You are honest with me, and that is something that not a lot of people are. You don't just try to make me feel good, you tell me what to adjust so that I can reach my full potential. I love you all so very much and am truly blessed to have you in my life. Finally, to Kati. I love you so much, and am so happy that we have developed such an amazing relationship. You are incredible. You have dealt with my freakouts, there have been a few, getting all of my wardrobe together, the many appearances we had, sometimes with a 1/2 tagging along - Miss Aubri or Sammi - and have done more than I could have ever asked of you. You support me, love me, make me cry, make me laugh, and so many girls do not get the chance to have a director as amazing as you. Thank you for everything - there is too much to list. I can't wait until Tuesday for our Housewives marathon of fun. Even if I don't win tonight, know that I will be excited to continue being Miss San Diego Cities. I have had a wonderful time with you, and I am so, so incredibly blessed to have you in my life. Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone, I love and appreciate you all.

Whew, well that's about all I have for now. In a few short hours we will have a new Miss California!! I am so excited to learn the outcome, and will be sure to update you about what happens. I believe in myself and I believe in my efforts; I have worked hard for this, and if does happen, I will take on the position with an open mind and an open heart, and strive to be the best Miss California that I could possibly be. For now, I will just continue to remind myself, when those little butterflies sneak up, if it is meant to be, it will be...

Always,

Saundra Combs

Miss San Diego Cities 2010

1st night of Prelims!

Hey everyone! Okay well, I have to write this on word and then will try to copy and paste it so that all of you can read it! The internet is EXTREMELY slow today, but I wanted to make sure that I kept all of you updated as to what is going on here in Fresno. It has been an exciting, and surprising, competition so far, but I am very excited about all that has been going on. Let me fill you in on the last two days…

Tuesday was our very first night of competition! Because I didn’t have talent that night, I got to sleep in and enjoy a little relaxation before dress rehearsal in the afternoon. Marina and I slept until about 9, and then woke up to do a quick workout to our favorite P90X video – plyometrics. It definitely got our blood pumping, and we were ready to start the day. After that we just hung out until 12:30 when it was time to head downstairs and walk across the street to the theatre. When we got to the theatre we ate some lunch – provided, of course, by our wonderful food mommies, Patti and Bernie – and then got ready for our very first run – through of the show; did I mention that we still had no idea how the show ran, and had never done the opening number from start to finish? Well it made for some pretty fun moments later on. The dress rehearsal went a little longer than anticipated, and was a little rough to say the least, which gave us exactly 30 min to eat, get ready – hair and make-up done – get dressed, and go downstairs. Okay, I think even for a normal person this would seem like a lot to do in such a short amount of time, but for a pageant girl, this is the equivalent of saying you need to run the 100 yard dash in 9.2 seconds, there’s no way it’s going to happen!!! People were rushing all over the place, makeup was flying, hairspray was becoming the air we were breathing, and clothes were being thrown all over the room, it was crazy to say the least. Yet, somehow we all managed to be ready and downstairs, some of us skipping dinner until later, and set to begin the show right on time; a miracle!

The show went extremely well, considering we’d only done all of this once, and everyone seemed to be happy with their competition. I was very happy with my evening gown presentation, and was glad that all of my supporters thought I looked magnificent. I feel so calm and so excited, all I am trying to do is be consistent, and hopefully that pays off in the end. Anyway, Miss California announces the winner in two categories – evening gown and talent - every night. Our Tuesday night prelim winners were Sharanya Makopadai – I know I TOTALLY butchered that – Miss Yorba Linda, and Rachel Berry, Miss City of Orange. Congrats to both of these girls, you were amazing!!

Whew, well after all of the excitement of our first night, it was time to see our family! I was so ecstatic to walk across to visitation and see everyone who had come to support me. Kati, Joe, PSZ, Aubri, Sammi, Mandi, my mom, and little brother were all there waiting, and I was so happy to get to talk to them and relax just a little bit more. They are all so great, and I feel truly blessed to have such wonderful support. Thank you guys for everything!

Okay well I said I’d fill you in on two days, but I have to get ready for a luncheon! I promise to write as soon as I get a chance. Tonight is swim night, I get ice-cream before J - long story, so wish me luck! I’ve been working really hard, and now it’s time to strut my stuff! Got to go for now, but I’ll right soon. Until then…

Always,

Saundra Combs

Miss San Diego Cities

Prelim #2 COMPLETE!

Here's the update!...it WILL be short. I am exhausted! (:

First and foremost...let me report that our very own TIERRA GONZALEZ-HAMMONDS, San Diego's O/S Teen, WON EVENING WEAR! Woohoo! We are so excited and proud of you T! She also had her on-stage question portion combined with evening gown and nailed her question. The question was, "If you had a meeting with President Obama, what is one thing you would tell him?" Tierra's answer..., "I would ask him why he didn't put more manufacturing jobs in the stimulus package and..." she said a lot more but I was so excited that she nailed it that I don't remember any more!

Saundra competed in Talent tonight and it was beautiful. She dedicated her performance, "If I Could," to the mother's in the audience and man, I was in tears. I watched others wiping away tears as well so it must've been great! She had lots of compliments all around and is looking forward to performing it again (hopefully) on Saturday!

Arianna had Evening wear tonight and rocked the stage. She looked absolutely stunning in her white gown and sparkled on stage. Her hair looked perfect and she was so poised and elegant. Here's to hoping she'll be wearing it again on Saturday too! :]

Overall it was a great night and the girls were fabulous! Our little princess was the star again and her little sister looked super cute in her crown rhinestoned leggings and tutu. What can we say? We wish they all could be pageant girls...just like us! Well, it's now 1:15am and I have to be up for Arianna and Tierra's talent rehearsals tomorrow so until then...

Kati

Executive Director

Prelim #1 COMPLETE!

Hello readers...are you up? Haha, that's funny, I know. I can't believe I am but I promised Saundra I would write since she's pooped so here's the update!

Tierra competed in Lifestyle & Fitness tonight and looked stunning! She is so teen and so cute! She wore black soffee shorts with a pink (of course) shimmery halter top. She wore her hair in a pony tail and strutted her stuff. She looked fab and worked the stage like a pro.

Arianna had her On-Stage Question tonight and I may be changing the way it was asked but asked how to describe patriotism (in so many words). She talked about being honored to live in the United States and we should feel proud to be free. She also surprised me with her dress of choice tonight...it was different than what I expected. It was because another girl in her group had the dress she had planned on wearing. Thank you to Millie Grgras, Miss Beach Cities, and Cori Coleman, Miss Southland for being so congenial and coming to assist Arianna with a gown and earrings. I know she appreciates it and I do too!

Saundra competed in Evening Wear and WOW is all I can say. We had talked about this gown for forever and I knew I loved it when she wore it in my living room but oh man, when she wore it on stage, it came to life. Completely beautiful and Saundra was stunning. She also got to give "her princess" (and my daughter) Aubri flowers at the bottom of the stairs at the beginning of the number. Their faces were priceless...loved it!

Last of all...but definitely NOT least was Aubri, our California princess. Aubri had a great day! She rehearsed and was crowned and sashed by Kristy Cavinder, Miss California and Monica Stainer, California's O/S Teen. She took her nap with her crown and won't let anyone wear it...I guess she is two! She rocked the stage in her introduction tonight and posed perfectly in the opening number. She was also the cutest little princess in the evening gown portion.

Joe, Pey-Shiuan and I are SO proud of ALL of our girls tonight and can't wait for the rest of the week. It's off to bed for me...since I have to be at Saundra's talent rehearsal at 8:30! Eeek! Good night and will update soon!

Kati

Executive Director

The 4th of July and Interview Day!

Well I didn't get a chance to blog last night because I had to get prepped and ready for interview this morning! So, I will start from where I left off yesterday morning...

Marina and I had a GREAT nap, we slept for well over an hour; like I said, who would have thought I'd sleep more in Fresno than I do at home?! Afterwards we headed down for our very first rehearsal! We all had a great time being silly and attempting to remember the choreography that we learned over a month ago at orientation. It was nice to finally be doing something in preparation for the show TOMORROW! I am definitely a little nervous about the dancing and how everything will turn out, but hopefully we'll be fine...maybe say a little prayer for us if you get a chance. :) Anyway, after rehearsing for a couple of hours with one of our wonderful choreographers, Rob, we headed to our 4th of July "picnic" which Bob so wonderfully organized so that we could feel festive and celebrate our countries 243 birthday. Our picnic was in one of the salons, and we had turkey dogs, burgers, macaroni salad, potato salad, fruit - including the watermelon of course - and all of the fixings. It was so great and it definitely made spending the 4th of July in Fresno a little better. In a way it was like spending the holiday with family, our huge and evergrowing pageant family. I love all of these people to death and if I couldn't spend the 4th with my family, I would definitely spend it with these people.

After our picnic it was back to rehearsal, this time with Janet, and then shortly after that we were dismissed to watch the fireworks. We went on top of the parking structure and watched the fireworks go off all over the city of Fresno while we waited for our main attraction which was coming from the ballpark. While we waited we took a bunch of silly pictures, and had a great time. Arianna - my sista! we have a handshake now ;) - and I lead the group in patriotic songs. We had a blast! Thanks again to Bob for arranging all of this, you definitely made the holiday feel special.

The interview girls were excused early from the fireworks, so that we could prep for interview in the morning. I, thankfully, have a room facing the direction that the fireworks were coming from and was able to get a perfect view of the entire show, it was truly amazing. After all of that I wrote notes on my cards, talked to my family, talked to my wonderful and amazing ED and Associate ED, and then headed for bed. Definitely a great day and a fantastic 4th of July.

Whew, well this morning, I had interview!! We had to be downstairs at 7:30, so I woke up at the lovely time of 5:45. For those of you that know me, you know that I do not wake up this early...EVER! But I did it, and I was bright eyed and bushy tailed and ready to let the judges get to know me. Of course we didn't start until 8:40 because of a delay with one of the judges, but once I got in there I was good to go. I couldn't have been more myself. I am so happy with my interview, and hope that they got to know the person that I am. Hopefully they'll remember me tomorrow!!

After interview it was off to the theatre for the remainder of the day to work on EVERYTHING! I cannot believe we have a show tomorrow, but ready or not, here it comes!

I compete in Evening Gown tomorrow, for those of you who don't know - or if you're like my family, knew but then got so excited that you completely forgot...gotta love em :) I could possibly win a prelim, but I definitely have a great group of girls, and it's anybody's game. Cross your fingers, and I will do my best to work it! Hopefully I'll have exciting news tomorrow!

I know it's a short recap of the day, but there really isn't too much to report! I cannot wait to see my family, friends, and committee tomorrow for visitation, their support means so much to me and I am so grateful to have them in my life. Thank you to everyone who has supported me, as I have mentioned before, I would not be where I am today without you. Win or lose, I know that you will still love me and be right there to support me in whatever the future holds whether it's Miss America, another local pageant, or something entirely different. I love you all very much and could not imagine my life without each and every one of you. Thank you one million times...

Until tomorrow...

Always,
Saundra Combs
Miss San Diego Cities 2010

Update from Fresno!

So...the girls are in full swing of competition so I wanted to post a little update for their followers. "Miss" interviews are on day 3 and Saundra was up bright and early to get ready. She had a fab interview and is feeling good about getting the show on the road. I'll let her update with details. :] Tierra also had her interviews and came out grinning ear to ear. She said she felt really good about it! Tomorrow is Arianna's interview and the first night of preliminary competition. We're so proud of the job the girls are doing so far and can't wait to see what happens next!

We (Joe, my babies and I) arrived at 9:30 this morning and Aubri began princess rehearsal at 11:30. She is so excited to be with the other princesses, Miss California, Kristy Cavinder and Miss California's O/S Teen, Monica Stainer. Everyone has been so nice to Aubri and she can't wait for the PJ party with the princesses and teens tonight!

Hope the girls will be able to update soon but if not, I'll be writing soon!

Until then...

Kati

MSD Executive Director

Day 2!

Okay I know this is a little late...yesterday we had a bbq, got home at around 9, Marina and I then did a P90X workout and then I talked to my mom, dad, and Kati. By the time I was done with all of that it was 11, and time for bed! So, I'm going to try to write two blogs today :)

Yesterday Marina, my beautiful roomie, had her interview! She looked great, and was definitely prepared and ready to show those judges what she's got! I helped her get ready and asked her questions that I thought the judges might ask. At 11:30, she was off. While she was gone I did an intense "ab ripper" workout - trying to keep from going stir crazy in this room - and waited to see how Marina's interview went. I am happy to report that she felt very good about her interview and that the judges got to know a lot about her. So proud of her, and so jealous that she is done with 25% of the competition!

Once Marina returned to the room, we headed downstairs to get some lunch! We were definitely hungry and I was ready to get out of the room. Patti and Bernie had a wonderful lunch of subway sandwiches - yummy - taco bell, boiled eggs, and salad set up and waiting for all of us girls. They are so amazing, and we are truly blessed to have them as our food mommies! When we were walking our of the food room, Connie Tyer stopped me and asked if I wanted to do an interview with the Fresno Bee! These are the perks of having been to Miss California a few times now :) Marina and I were both interviewed for the paper, and our article appeared in today's newspaper! The Miss California Organization is definitely getting some good press this year, especially with Marina and I talkinng about it.

Anyway, after the food and interview, we were ready for a nap, and that's exactly what we did! After sleeping for about an hour and 20 minutes, we began to get ready for the bbq. We both looked amazing - if I do say so myself - and we were ready to eat some great food. We loaded on to the bus and headed to the location that the bbq was being held. The house was AMAZING!!! I could definitely live in Fresno if I got to live in a house like this. It was right on the river, next door to a golf course, and had a HUGE yard, big enough for horses and sheep! We were all very excited and very grateful to our hosts, the Lester family. After taking a few pictures we were served a fantastic dinner of chicken, rice, salad, fruit, and tri - tip steak, by the Kiwanis of Fresno. They have served this dinner every year that I have been to Miss California and I can truly say that I am excited for it every year. Thank you again to our wonderful hosts and to the Kiwanis Club, I hope to see you again next year, but hopefully with a new title, one that starts with a "C" and ends with "alifornia." ;) we'll see, but I will be happy to return either way!
Well that's pretty much all that I have for now, like I said when we got back Marina and I worked out and talked to our family and Kati, of course. Thanks so much for reading and taking interest in what's going on up here in beautiful Fresno! Now it's time for a nap, who would've thought I'd be able to nap at Miss California, so I am going to take full advantage of it! I'll let you know how today goes - we have our first rehearsal, a picnic and fireworks tonight! Until then...

Always,

Saundra Combs

Miss San Diego Cities