I honestly cannot believe that only a week ago I was hurriedly packing my bags and hours away from boarding my flights for MOB. Today was a pretty excellent day! We started off at the Shoe Station, and I experienced a shopping experience like none other. At this particular store, we were all allowed to choose one pair of a particular brand of sandal, a piece of jewelry, and a "Southern Belle" T-shirt. Then, there was absolute mayhem for about an hour as 50 girls sprinted, skipped, dipped, ducked, and dodged around finding the perfect items. Not being a huge shopper (sorry to my little sister, Hannah, a professional shopper extraordinaire), I quickly grabbed an item from each section and called it quits. However, I did enjoy observing the frenzy and seeing some true colors exposed in the wild side of these competitive young women.
  Arriving at the rehearsal building, we were totally caught off guard when the "Backstage moms" rewarded us for being right on schedule with our routines and allowed us 1.5 hours of free time as we watched a chick flick in the back room! It was so relaxing and fun, and so nice to just have an easy morning and get our heads back on straight.
  However, all good things must come to an end... so after the break time we were whisked away to more intensive Gia rehearsal, wrapping up our fitness, opening number, and self-expression routines. It does feel great getting more and more comfortable with these numbers, however, my favorite part of rehearsal is the quiet goofing (talking is forbidden) and laughing with the other girls. It's such a blast to get to that point of exhaustion where everything is hilarious (my family calls them the "tired jollies"). These girls are so fabulous :)
    The last event on the schedule today was an autograph session at the Bell Air Mall where hundreds of people turned out to meet/greet with all of us 50 junior misses! There was a whole mixture of our girl scout troop members, prom dates from last evening (oh boy, back for round two), host family/friends, and just good ol' community members continuing the Mobile tradition of support. It was very entertaining to meet briefly with all of these people---especially the 20 little girls named "Madi" or "Madison" (my parents were sooo ahead of the game). These fun events, although chaotic, make the long tiring days so worth it because we get to really connect with the people in Mobile and just get out of the rehearsal room!
    Well, I've got some chatting/eating Girls Scout Cookies/writing an article for the Press Register to do.. (in order of priority), so good night and thanks for reading!
  In the spirit of Junior Miss,
    Madison Leonard
      Idaho