And the winner is.....

I swear I have been in fast forward for all of October.

And it got a little crazier a week and a half ago.
A good crazy thankfully.

So back to that whole Hapari thing.....
I know a lot of my fabulous blog readers got in on it for me.  For that I can't thank you enough.  But having been asked by numerous people over the last week "so what happened?!", I realized that a lot of people didn't follow up with Hapari on facebook.

When it all came down to it, I came in second place.  I lost by only about 130 votes, which was less than ten percent.  Votes nearly doubled in the last 24 hours of the contest.  It was insane.  That day that it ended was a complete whirlwind!  If you caught the "help" post that was up here for a bit, you saw that the gal I was really battling it out with is a professional model who lives by social networking.  When you have a facebook fan page with a few thousand followers, tumblr, twitter and a handful of other online networking pages, you have a very large audience to draw from.
Despite fighting till the end and some incredible vote wrangling by not only amazing family and friends, but also by complete strangers who were out there sharing my picture, we just couldn't keep up.  Man we were close though!

The next day was a little frustrating.  I kept waiting for the official announcement from Hapari that Ashley had won, so I could congratulate her (doing it on her fb page seemed a little too creepy stalker-ish) and thank all those who had pulled for me.
But they said nothing.

And then that evening I got a voice mail.  It was a little garbled and broke up in places, but I caught who it was and that he was out of the country and he'd try to email me or call me later.  It was John, one of the Hapari owners who I had spoken with previously.

Thankfully when he called back I was able to get the phone.  It was an interesting conversation!
Long story short, things didn't exactly turn out as the owners had expected.  And they were flooded with comments and emails that morning after the contest ended; comments and emails in support of me.  He mentioned that they wanted me to be a part of the photo shoot as well, and that the owners had decided to offer me the first place prize (in addition to Ashely) because of the overwhelming support in my behalf.

I'm going to Florida!!!

The official announcement was made on Hapari's facebook page the next day.
Without further adieu -

Hapari is proud to announce Ashley Sky as the winner of our Facebook model contest. It has been a long run, with many wonderful women competing, and participants supporting them!

We want to congratulate Julianna, Catey and Ashley all on making it this far. Thank you to everyone who participated throughout this process helping choose our next Hapari Model...or should we say MODELS. Yep that's right! The contest ended so close, that the Hapari owners took notice of the enormous support, and feedback for Catey Ball, and were inspired by her courage, and accomplishments throughout the contest. As such Hapari has decided to extend the winning prize to both Ashley and Catey!

So what does this mean....

Both Catey, and Ashley will be taken to our photo shoot this fall in the Florida Keys. They will both win $2500 as a payment, and the great opportunity to help us move Hapari's swimwear line and mission forward into the next year!

Congratulations Ashley & Catey!

VERY exciting!!

Again-I really want to thank each of you who so generously voted for me, and even picked up votes for me as well!  Man, what a crazy ride this has been!

I had the chance to speak with McKay and Jill-the other two owners- last week, and then met with them last Friday for a fitting.  Sorry, I didn't even think to take my camera but I wish I would have!  These ladies are so much fun!  I was so nervous, but they were fabulous, put me totally at ease and within just a few minutes I felt like I'd known them for years.  Wonderful, wonderful ladies!!  It was so fun to try on all the different styles of suits that they offer and just chat with them for a bit while I tried things on.  I am so excited to go to Florida with them, it will be a blast!

Tomorrow is the next little step in this journey, I get to be with them on a local morning show called Good Things Utah.  In a swimsuit!  Eek!  I am a little nervous about the live thing, there is no photoshop touching up for that.  Also, I am a klutz when I am nervous and I am so afraid I am going to trip or pass out or wet myself or do something else ridiculous.  With as much as they put me at ease when I met with them on Friday, I am hoping they have the same effect on me tomorrow morning.  Fingers crossed!

Crazy how things turn out sometimes!

OH!  I have to tell you that they started an amazing sale today-60% off!  SIXTY!  That means that a tankini that is normall $46 is now less than $20.  Hello!  That is seriously the biggest discount I have ever seen here.  Go pick something awesome for next year.  Use the code FALL60 at checkout for the discount.

Now I will try to get some sleep tonight.  Wish me luck.