So, I had to skip Atlantic City

I was invited by the awesome DO AC team to attend the Miss America parade and pageant in Atlantic City this past weekend. I’d never been there and was excited for a getaway with Steve. We were only able to stay until Sunday morning, but I thought the parade would be really fun.

And then the pain came. It started as a dull ache, as if someone was tapping on my back teeth, and quickly intensified. The dentist thought that I was just excessively clenching and grinding (see: bruxism) and gave me some Motrin 800 and muscle relaxants. I had a feeling that this wasn’t going to get better quickly, so I reached out to my contacts to let them know that I couldn’t make it to AC. I was so sad and felt terrible for backing out. (In the end, though, I was right; I ended up having an emergency root canal. Oof.)

Anyway, they were awesome and still made sure to keep me in the loop about the weekend’s festivities. Remember the “Show Us Your Shoes” contest? I was sent the 10 finalist and got to rank them in several categories.  Here is the winning pair:

The parade looked like a lot of fun. Each Miss America contestant made her own pair of shoes for the parade, so each was able to show them off from the back of a car. Some were pretty creative!

Before the end of the festivities, the newly crowned Miss America, Nina Duvalari, braved the cold Atlantic. Apparently she wears R.E.IG.N. cosmetics, which I’ve never heard of but should probably look into. Those girls tend to look kind of flawless.

Atlantic City hasn’t hosted a Miss America pageant since 2005, and it was obvious that the city was proud to show off the best that the resort destination has to offer to a national television audience. I wish I could’ve been there rather than the dentist, but at least I was able to follow along via social and news sites!

Related articles

• Miss America entrants bringing back ‘shoe parade’ to Atlantic City boardwalk (washingtontimes.com)
• Miss America ‘Show Us Your Shoes’ Parade Steps Off on Atlantic City Boardwalk Saturday (philadelphia.cbslocal.com)