As Kelly already mentioned, Elyse Umemoto ended up in third place in tonight's Miss America pageant. That means a $20,000 scholarship, so nothing to sneeze at, but she deserved the win. I think. I don't really know.

I have to admit, I immediately started rooting for her from her first appearance on stage. While most of the other contestants introduced themselves by saying something totally inane or goofy, Elyse was able to say something totally inane and goofy and still seem adorable. I consider that a valuable talent.

The show itself was constantly reminding us that Miss America is wildly different this year by being hip and now and on TLC and having a DJ (yes, a DJ). Fortunately, there was a back-up host that made it a little less lame (Clinton Kelly from What Not to Wear). He welcomed the booted-off contestants with a plate full of carbohydrates and sat with them on stage while gossiping about the remaining girls in the pageant.

Ultimately, the crown went to Miss Michigan. I didn't really see the appeal, but I'm no pageant expert. I do, however, think this is a good opportunity for us to name our first enemy of GritCity: Michigan. Down with the mitten!

And now, Miss Washington's money shot from the competition:

Photo by Jae C. Hong / The Associated Press

You're welcome. Now, if you'll excuse me, Paige Davis has returned to Trading Spaces. I'm swamped tonight.

Miss Washington Elyse Umemoto smiled her way to second runner-up tonight at the Miss America pageant.

I think that means third place.

I was at work and missed the Tacoma resident and PLU grad's appearance. Laura, I hope you were able to put down your beer and your Guitar Hero long enough to tune in and take notes.

Being the sort of girl who wore nothing but Osh Kosh overalls for the first five years of life, I'm woefully ill-equipped to write about a beauty pageant, but here's a picture of Elyse, left, and Miss Texas laughing at some other contestants doing push-ups.

I guess things have gotten a lot tougher in the pageant world since I was a kid.

Thanks to everybody who stopped by the Top of Tacoma last night. It was fun to match faces to screen names. I think I counted 14 of us at one point, including a certain state government official who didn't want to be included in any of the pictures (it wasn't the governor).

But my favorite thing about the event? One frequent Gritizen who couldn't make it sent her roommate, who had never even seen the blog, to get T-shirts. That's an awfully nice roommate!

Here's a mashup photo of some of the readers who showed up. The best T-shirt of the night wasn't the one we were giving out: Check out the historical "Tacoma Grand Prix" shirt from 1986. Classic.