First Day of Prelims!

Hello Readers!

 

It’s getting pretty late so I’m going to keep this blog short BUT today was awesome! It was a pretty busy day with INTERVIEW, TALENT, and ON STAGE QUESTION.

Before Interview

Besides a few squeeks I think my talent went great. Interview was a blast! The judges were tough but they asked some great questions. I felt prepared and ready for whatever they threw my way. On stage question also went really well. I was asked about my platform and than what was the craziest thing I just added on my bucket list…I said playing my saxophone without squeeking  🙂 and skydiving!

Interview for Miss ND

It was also nice to see my family after the show. Thanks mom and dad for all of your support. I love hearing your hoots and hollars in the audience.

Nu girls for Miss ND…love my sisters!

 

Now time for bed. Tomorrow I was swimsuit and evening gown…woohooo!

Talk to you tomorrow!

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley 🙂

Rehearsal, Pizza, and Preparation…

Good Evening Readers!

Tomorrow is the big day! First prelims and INTERVIEW…dah dah daaaahhhhh. Actually, I am pretty excited! But considering that tomorrow is such a big day I am going to head to bed here asap. I need my beauty sleep!

Time for Bed

Today we went to Wildcat Pizza and man oh man…I love their pizza! 1. I love pizza in general. 2. Their pizza is amazing 3. I haven’t had pizza in a long time so it satisfied a big craving.

Roomies getting cofffee/tea before the big day!

The rest of the day/evening was filled with rehearsal, a TV interview (which was right up my alley), chatting with the little sisters, preparing for interview, saxophone practice, and a WALMART run. Wooh!

TV interview

I also snuck in a quick run outside. Much needed. BUT now it is time for bed. Please keep me in your thoughts and prayers AND if you have any advice or words of encouragement, please post under this link on my Facebook page. I would love to hear it!

Little sister…AND little brother. SO LUCKY!

Goodnight

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley

First day of rehearsal for Miss North Dakota

Hello Readers!

Today was filled with posing, and walking, and posing, and smiling, and posing, and walking, and REPEAT. However, it was a blast! I love rehearsing before the pageant because it gives you a chance to break in your pageant shoes once again and work on your posture. I am the type of person who tries to smile for every part of rehearsal because it will make smiling that much easier when you are on stage. It’s like training your mouth for a marathon of just smiling. I’m pretty tough huh?

We looked like dance moms today

Besides rehearsing I also fit in some saxophone practice, a workout in the morning, a meet and greet with my little sister, and a run/yoga tonight! What a jam packed day!

I have the coolest lil sis!

Well only one more day before prelims start and I feel completely at ease. I know that God has a plan for everything and he is always watching over me. The only thing I pray is that he does what is best for me….and with that thought it is time for bed! As my mom would say “don’t forget your night prayers”. Love you mom!

Goodnight friends!

Goodnight!

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley

 

P.S. On a side note, my brother just reminded me that deer apps are due by tomorrow (Wednesday) by 5 pm. Better take care of that!

First Day of Miss North Dakota…woohoo!

Good Evening Readers!

What a day….You know the old saying says “April showers bring May flowers”….but come on it’s JUNE!!! Today was a rainy day which made moving into the dorms for Miss North Dakota an adventure. Let’s just say I got a free workout and shower at the same time.

All moved in, a little wet from the rain

After moving into the dorms and settling in we had a light lunch and discussed the rest of the week with the director of Miss North Dakota. I was also interviewed for the Williston Newspaper…how cool!

Than we got to meet our little sisters!! Sooo exciting! My little sister Aubri is the best. Her favorite color is pink and purple. She loves ice cream and candy…and she loves to play outside. You would think that we were real sisters because I love all of those things too! I can’t wait to spend the rest of the week with her!

Big sister and little sister 🙂

From little princesses to oil workers we had dinner at the Halliburton Man Camp in Williston. Now don’t hate on it before you experience it because this place is amazing! First of all the food is gourmet and the people are so friendly. It was also very clean. Nothing like you would picture for a “man camp”.

Halliburton Man Camp

Gourmet Food

Yup…I really enjoyed the stead medallions

Than (I know what your thinking…yes we did pack a lot of activities in one day)…Than, we had a spa night. Usually it is a spa night/pool party but the rain kind of put a damper on those plans. We ended up making it into a Bachelorette TV show watching night. I spent the rest of the night practicing my saxophone and reflecting in the dorms.

NOW it is time for bed. I’m going to wake up fairly early and do some yoga and run up and down the stairs for some cardio. Great way to start the morning! I’ll talk to you tomorrow.

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley 🙂

Sunday = a day of rest….kind of

Good Evening Readers!

Ahhhh Sundays, I love Sundays! Today was a great day from the start. I went for a nice run this morning than ate breakfast in the hotel lobby with my mom. One thing that I love about Williston is that there are so many people from different parts of the country here. This morning I informed a man from Louisiana about Knoephla (a North Dakota dumpling soup), lutefisk (gross jellied fish…don’t try it), and the best place to visit in North Dakota…Medora! The man said he was very impressed with North Dakota and how beautiful it was. He said he would love to hunt up here someday because of all of the birds. That’s right, wooh!

My mom is so cool!

After breakfast my mom and I went and ran a few more errands and than went to my “big sister’s” baby shower. It was my first baby shower and it was a blast! Tina, who had competed for Miss North Dakota a few years ago, will be the best mom! I am so excited to see this little man….

Future world’s best mom award winner…

My mom hit the road back to Bismarck after the baby shower. I spent the rest of the evening with the Domagla family and we had a picnic at the park. Nothing says summer more than hot dogs on the grill. Yum! My inner 2nd grader also came out as soon as I saw the jungle gym. I’d have to say this was the best way to spend my last night before rehearsals start tomorrow.

Playing on the park

What a cutie!! Future Mr. North Dakota

 

Now it is time for bed! Busy week ahead of me…

Home away from home

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley 🙂

Miss North Dakota Youth Pageant….what a day!

Good Morning readers!

I was supposed to write this blog last night but MAN OH MAN it was a late night….we didn’t get back to our hotel until after midnight. The reason why the night was so long was because there were so many contestants in the North Dakota youth pageant. How great is that? All of these girls were extremely talented, intelligent, beautiful, and confident. They  all have bright futures ahead of them.

Practicing Saxophone in between pageants

 

Abby Wolfe, who won the Outstanding Teen title has such an exciting year ahead of her. I was crowned Miss North Dakota’s Outstanding Teen in 2009 and my life has not been the same since. The friendships you make and the opportunities that arise are incredible. Good luck with the year pretty lady! I know you will represent our state with grace and beauty!

Miss ND OT in 2009

The theme of the pageant was “We are Family”, which I think was perfect. Once you compete in North Dakota you are a part of the pageant family. I am so lucky because I have a couple sets of “moms”, “dads”, and A LOT of “sisters”. Thank goodness I don’t have to buy Christmas presents for everyone!

Former Miss ND Outstanding Teens….family!

Today is going to be another busy day….but I’ll have that in a blog tonight! The sun is shining and it’s going to be a BEAUTIFUL day! Enjoy it!

 

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley 🙂

Helloooooo Williston!!

Good Evening readers!

Can you believe it? I mean really can you believe it? MISS NORTH DAKOTA is here! I feel like this last month has been jam packed with a few things…vocal nodules and learning a new talent, college graduation, Fargo half marathon, my  first weathercast on WDAY TV in Fargo. Jeepers life has been nuts. BUT I am finally here and boy does it feel good.

Today was a great day. My mom and I traveled up to Williston…despite the rain, the drive was great! We drove separately because my mom will be leaving on Sunday, but I could still hear her singing to all the radio songs in my head. We made a few stops in Tioga to drop off t-shirts and buttons for some friends who might come to the pageant.

Rainy Drive

Once we got to Williston the first thing we did was check into our amazing hotel, the Hampton…which is like brand new and beautiful! Thank you so much Hampton for being a sponsor for the pageant. After checking in we decided we needed food! We went to the grocery store and ate an awesome salad bar. My mom and I are practically vegetarians so salad bars rock!

Walmart!

The rest of the evening we visited some with some of the teen and jr. teen contestants who will be competing tommorow. Good luck ladies! We also made a quick run to Walmart. The Walmart in Williston is unlike any other Walmart. It’s hard to explain…you just have to experience it. AND we stopped at my favorite coffee place in town, even though I can’t have coffee….I had an amazing cup of tea!!

Happy Camper right there

I even snuck in a quick workout tonight! Phew…what a day! Oh…and we dyed my mom’s hair. That was an experience in itself. Let’s just say I should stick to my job working at the television station.

I workout 🙂

Now…time for bed!!! Goodnight everyone, I’ll have more tomorrow!

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley 🙂

I have written a blog….FINALLY!!!!

Hello Readers,

I think my New Years Resolution should have been keeping up on writing my blogs….because man I have been a stinker in doing them! I mean it’s not like I’ve been busy or anything?? BUT, today I have a day off (thank you Martin Luther King Day) so I told myself that I was going to grab a cup of coffee (obviously) and sit down and write a blog. First of all, writing a blog is super relaxing AND today the high is below zero so I couldn’t think of a better way I would want to be spending my afternoon.

I love writing my blog.

Life has been absolutely CRAZY lately, but I love it! I just got back from Las Vegas a week ago. I went down there to watch my beautiful friend, this year’s Miss North Dakota, Rosie Sauvageau, compete for Miss America! She rocked that stage and won preliminary talent!! WOW! It was so cool to be there and watch her perform…it’s crazy to think that this is the first time something like that had happened since the 80’s. She represented North Dakota with beauty and grace. The next Miss North Dakota has big shoes to fill…so proud of you Rosie! Wooohooo!

Rosie after final night

While in Vegas I also got some awesome bonding time with my sister, Laura. I could not think of any other person I would have wanted to be with for Miss America. She is one of my biggest role models and I look up to her so much. Thank you for putting up with me trying on all of those pageant dresses, and for listening to me complain about walking miles upon miles in high heels. I think we will both agree that our feet are glad to be back home. However, I also think that we would both go back in a heart beat if the opportunity came up.

My sister..love her!

At the musical, “Rock of Ages” ….so fun!

In addition to getting to spend time with my “real” sister…I also got to spend time with some of my Sweetheart sisters from the pageant in Hoopeston. You could’ve sworn that we had just seen each other the day before because nothing had changed! Those girls are a blast and I know that a future Miss America is among one of us.

Sweetheart Sisters 🙂

My mind may still be on Vegas but my heart will always be in North Dakota. Although Vegas was a blast there is definitely no place like home….even though it’s really hard to say this because it’s freezing here today. I cannot think of any other state I would want to represent at a national level. North Dakota has a great economy, friendly people, hard work ethic, and a whole lot pride! I love being able to say that I am from North Dakota 🙂

Proud to be Miss Red River Valley

Alright alright, time to venture back out into the cold…wish me luck! I promise that my blogging will become better now that the semester has started again and my schedule is a little more organized.

Tough girls run outside in the winter 🙂 brrrrr!

Hope you have a great day AND stay warm!!!

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley

A lot of catching up to do!!!

Hello Readers!

Living in the moment.

That is what I have been doing a lot of lately…..probably explaining why I haven’t had a chance to write a blog in a while. Life has been crazy busy with school, work, and a little thing called Thanksgiving. But you know what?? Living in the moment is not bad at all! It makes moments like this even sweeter when you get to reflect on everything you just experienced.

Living in the moment 🙂

Thanksgiving was awesome this year!  I got to spend time with my real family, my boyfriend and his family (which is practically my family), and my WDAY family (I had to work on Thanksgiving). Think about it people….three different sets of families coming together within one week! That means lots of laughs, A LOT OF FOOD, and a lot of things to be thankful for. I am one lucky girl to have all of these people in my life.

Lebak Thanksgiving family tradition

Want to know something else crazy!? I MADE Thanksgiving Dinner at my parents house…..ME!!! (Alright alright, my boyfriend helped too…he made the sweet potatoes so I have to give him some credit cause they were awesome). 🙂 But trust me, I had the pizza delivery guy on speed dial on my phone. I’m glad things turned out! Phew!

Yup, we made that!

And what else would Thanksgiving be without the good ol’ Turkey Trot road race? Hundreds gathered in Bismarck to race to raise money for cystic fibrosis. Me, my boyfriend, and his brother ran the 5K. I could not stop laughing the entire time because they kept cracking jokes the whole time. The race was a blast and I’m glad we did it!

Turkey Trotters after the race

After Thanksgiving we all know what happens….BLACK FRIDAY SHOPPING! My mom drove back to Fargo to spend the weekend with me after Thanksgiving and to go shopping. We went shopping from 11 pm on Thursday night to 5 am Friday morning. We are crazy!!! And to make us sound even more crazy, we went back out around 10 am on Friday. Who needs sleep anyways? One good thing is that I found many good deals! AND I bought a nice new Cannon DSLR Rebel camera….so prepare to see some fancy photos coming on this blog soon! (I hope).

The crazy shoppers

Speaking of photos, I just got a CD filled with professional photos of when I was at the Sweetheart Pageant in Hoopeston, IL. Everything from swim wear to talent to different appearances from the week were on the CD. Thank you Joe Whiteko for being so awesome. You are an amazing photographer! I am looking forward to seeing you in the future!

Photo thanks to Joe Whiteko

Well, I should probably get to writing one of my 7 papers I have to finish for my class finals this semester….bahh! Thankfully I don’t mind writing papers, you just have to get into that right mindset.

HAPPY HOLIDAYS EVERYONE!!! I’ll talk to you soon

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley

What do you value most?

Hello Readers!

 

Question: What do you value most? (Feel free to respond on my blog or on Facebook…I’m curious to hear what it is for you!)

It is not fancy dinners, nice clothes and expensive jewelry that I value most in life. I value TIME. Think about it, time is such a rare thing these days. We are always going from one job to another to school and other meetings. Let’s face it,  our society takes no breaks! I will be the first to admit that I definitely am running low on time these days. But instead of complaining (okay so maybe I am a little bit..), I am choosing to spend my time wisely. I do this by creating a lot of “to do” lists and by using my planner. Although doing these things will not add more hours to a day, they certainly will help you manage the ones that you have.

I found time to watch my man play football! Go Marauders!

One good thing is I can say that I have been getting a lot of stuff done with my few spare hours that I do have. This last week a student at MSUM interviewed me for a story she was writing on the “ins and outs” of pageants.  It was pretty cool to be on the other side of the story for a change! Being a broadcast journalism major, usually I am the one asking the questions.

A picture with Tania (who interviewed me) and her daughter

I also met with a board member of the March of Dimes in Fargo. We talked about the organization and everything it offers the community. I can’t wait to help out with their next fundraiser on December 5th. It is called Bowls for Babies. If you are craving an awesome cup of soup and want to help out the community this holiday season, come check it out! For $20 you will receive a delicious bowl of soup AND you get to keep the bowl that you get it in. All of the bowls are donated and designed from local businesses and I’ve heard they are pretty awesome!

Karen with the March of Dimes

Well gang it’s only Tuesday….what will you do with your spare hours this week?

 

“Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”   – Mother Teresa

Enjoying time

XOXO

Becca Lebak

Miss Red River Valley