Greek Life Council

We have decided to develop a "Greek Life Council" until such a time as a panhellenic can be founded after we have started to charter several organizations.

Top Belle and I have been meeting with people nonstop lately, and squeezing in a few hours a week for our radio show. We have established the president of the first chartered fraternity, whatever it may be (although everyone's fingers are crossed for KA) and then met today with a legacy who will step into the role as VP. He's a great addition to our core team. He is attractive and charismatic, organized and passionate.

We also found our Greek Life Coordinator, who will work with the different organizations as they come for campus visits. He's a South Carolina gent who graduated last year and now works in the enrollment office here on campus. He's also a vet of the marines and super passionate about what we are trying to do (and excited to be the house dad when we are chartered next year).

Top Belle and the girls and I have changed our top 5 preferences for the mutual selection process. Alpha Delta Pi is now our top choice; they were the first, so why not be the first on our campus? They also line up well with our values and our school's (my aunt and cousin are ADPi's at Mizzou). After ADPi, I think we still like Delta Gamma a lot and Pi Beta Phi or Gamma Phi Beta and then Chi Omega. I think I personally would choose ADPi, DG, and Pi Phi.

So, things are moving quickly and well. We have our first breakfast meeting as a complete council on Wednesday morning with a few other belles and gents and our Student Body Leadership Council President and VP (although we think that the VP will be pledging). Top Belle and I are coordinating an event for the GLC (Greek Life Council) we're calling "Southern Social Luncheon." We are all going to go out on Saturday for a late lunch at a home-cooking restaurant and have fun with everyone on the council.

Speaking of Saturday, our basketball season kicks off Saturday night, and Lord willing that I learn all the cheers between now and then, I will be on the sidelines for the first time as a College Cheerleader. The 13-year-old me deep inside somewhere could not be more excited. We also have our Midnight Madness pep rally tomorrow night where we are doing a blacklight thriller dance and then a dubstep/hip-hop routine. All I can say is I am whiter than I thought. lol.

Jewel Kade

So I went to this jewelry party that my pastor's wife held the other night and I had already looked through the catalog quite a bit. One thing that I absolutely loved was actually a hostess gift. It was a plate bracelet that had a been on it, but now, with things going the way they are with getting a charter, that suddenly isn't as important to me. Anyways, a lot of the jewelry is big and not always something I would wear, but some of it is. I love a pearl bundle necklace they have.

They have some great stuff including some ah-dorable stamped tags that they have license to put the greek letters on.

Ever the Southern Hostess, she had a great spread out including a huge batch of sweet tea (she is known for having the best around down here). She also had some great chocolate chip cookies, brownies bites with Hershey's squares pushed into the top, pesto and cream cheese spread on bread and toasted with shredded parm sprinkled on top, a veggie platter, and this delicious cream cheese dip. It has cream cheese, chocolate chips, and something else I can't quite place my finger on yet (I would add some cinnamon) and its served with vanilla wafers and honey graham squares. It sooo delish.

Top Belle and I are looking at having our own JewelKade Party. Any suggestions on snacks we should have? We are looking for some great recipes (which I will repost with your permission too).

Happy Thursday Y'all! (Its almost game day!!)

Life Update

I am so behind on craft posts and there will be a cooking one soon, because I just went to a jewelry party and got some great appetizer recipes.

But my life right now is on high speed. This morning, Top Belle and I had a meeting with the Student Body Leadership Pres and VP. We have decided instead of starting our own organization, we will be chartering a national chapter (our top picks are DG, Chi O, and Pi Phi). Just as exciting, some guys want to charter a national fraternity!! This is more than we hoped for and our dreams realized. Top Belle and I have been so productive today and literally bouncing off the walls. We are so excited at the chance to really build our school and leave a legacy here that could extend into the future indefinitely.

Cheerleading is quite the adventure right now. We are doing a dance for Midnight Madness which is a lot more gangsta than I am. Which is not at all. lol.

I changed one of my ministry classes (yes, I am an English major, but I am taking a few ministry classes) into an independent study course and I am so excited because I will read books on my own and then discuss them over lunch with the prof. He has so much wisdom and I can't wait!

I also found out, that in addition to going to Kenya this summer on a missions trip, I will be going on a missions trip with the Cheer Squad to El Salvador over spring break. I am so excited that the Lord has seen fit to give me not one but two great ministry opportunities. I also found out my parents are taking me to Boone, North Carolina for New Years. I am so blessed. That's all I can think. The privilege of going to Kenya has been overwhelming but now I have even more to be thankful for. I've been dying to go out of the country for years.

I don't know if I mentioned this, but I have been totally blessed with a great job this semester. I am working as the assistant to the Alumni Relations Director. I love love love my job. I've never understood how you can love your job until I got this one. I get to write articles for the publications, photography, graphic design, and the real gem, archiving and looking through all the school's old pictures.

So much more to say, but it finally got cold outside and Top Belle wants to watch The Notebook.

Saturdays are for football. At least in they fall they are. Auburn is making me so nervous right now that I am working on other things while the game is on in the background.

I am working on the schedule for the officer retreat next week. Top Belle and I decided that in an effort to give two girls the best sorority experience we can, we are going to take on our officer candidates as Littles early so that when they get their own Littles at least they can have grand-Bigs. So, now I get to have  my own Little for a semester- almost like a practice Little. lol. But I am unbelievably excited to spoil her and think up cute Little date ideas and gifts. Then once our official Theta Pi year starts we'll all get our real Littles. 

**After talking to my mom and a friend that also goes to a mid-west school, I think it is more common there to use the term "Pledge Mom(ma)" and "Pledge Daughter." 

I've been working on some graphic stuff for us and we have already met with a graphic designer to make our crest which we are really excited about too. So below is one of the graphics I've made featuring our symbols (honeybees and lemons), our colors (navy and yellow), and our unofficial motto.

Share anything that your Big did for you or that you did for your Little that you absolutely loved?

Theta Pi Oh My Oh My!

First, Sorry y'all for all that whining yesterday.

Top Belle and I are sitting in Panera. We've devoted the morning to Theta Pi, so of course I'm blogging instead of working on our presentation.

We have to present to so many boards and committees to get this passed. We only have from now until December to get all the issues hammer out in order to do Spring Recruitment. Our school owns a row of houses behind campus that have always been female student housing (umm... hello Greek Row!) so we have been scoping out them all and weighing out what is important when choosing our house, because we are pretty sure we will have one for the officers to live in next year and the girls to come and hang out in. and Praise the Lamb, we will finally have a kitchen again to bake to our hearts content.

So, in moments of procrastination, our favorite thing to do is design different things that we want to order. So far, Top Belle has made aprons, long sleeve Frocket T's, tanks, and coozies. We are brainstorming like crazy to think of different mixers, formals, date nights, and anything else we can buy a tshirt for.

We are also planning our potential officers retreat. I think we are going to take them to paint pottery. Which made me think- what should we paint to put in our rooms, use in the ThetaPiHouse, and use around campus... Soooo, here are my favorites:

I love the idea of painting tiles and then putting them all in a table and having my daddy grout it and all that to make a cute coffee or side table for the common room in the house. So Presh!

Ok, Time to work so we have a house to put all that cute stuff in!

Oh, This week.

I desperately need a good 4 hours to watch Gone With The Wind and/or Sweet Home Alabama.

I got a new App for my iPhone that categorizes my schedule as it plans. I put in all my events and it shows me in graph form how I spend my time. Each day is planned out from 6 am to 12 am every single minute. Its how I keep my sanity. Then, the cheerleading program dumps additional workouts on me to fit somewhere in my schedule. On top of practices, games, morning runs, and social events and athletic chapels. But I really wanted

My roommate has been sick all weekend and in her search for comfy clothes destroyed her side of the room, and in my crazy week I was a mess too. We have room checks once every other week to make sure that the housekeepers can do their job, and they NEVER do them on Monday mornings. Except yesterday. So in the middle of a very rough day at work (where we thought we lost hoursss of my work), I get a text from her that says "Awesome. Room Checks on a Monday. We Failed." So now, we have to keep our room spotless for the next year or we will be fined $25 each time we do not pass.

I am also extremely hormonal, because we all know living with a bunch of girls will screw with your hormone levels. I have been going to the chiropractor several times a week, because of some cheerleading injuries, and he prescribed a few massages. Thank you Lord! Best prescription I've ever been given. So that is one good thing.

Theta Pi is going well. We are taking two officer candidates on a weekend retreat to see how things go. And my Top Belle is using a few of us for a fun photo shoot for a new magazine. We are really excited to see where the next month takes Theta Pi, but we can tell everything is just falling into place.

One thing worth noting in this week is that, this cold weather (ok, so its only 69'F but to us in Florida thats cold) is making me lonely. I have long since held the theory that the fall breeds relationships because everyone just wants to cuddle. So while I don't want something serious, I just want someone to hold my hand every once in awhile after a CRAZY week like this one.

The iPhone & Wednesday Ramblings

It finally happened. I entered the iPhone world. And I admit it, I did it for a Lilly Pulitzer phone case.

Not wanting to spend a gajillion dollars on an iPhone when the new one comes out in less than a month, I went to Best Buy and got a refurbished iPhone 3GS for $18. Crazy right? So,while everyone is foaming at the mouth for the new iPhone 5, I am enjoying being a deb in the smartphone world. I had a Samsung Eternity touch-screen phone since my freshman year. It was a good phone to me. I drop my phone at least twice a day and it never died. I finally needed a new phone because it got a little screwy with the calibration of the touch screen, but that phone had been to hell and back several times and held up better than the Brave Little Toaster.

So my essentials for iPhone ownership (whether you have a 3G, 3GS, 4, or 5)....

1. Lilly Pulitzer "Nice to See You" iPhone 3GS case from Amazon.com
      - Its important to note most of belles have noted that the edges peel but right after I received it I coated the edges in Essie No Chip clear polish and have not had any problems.

2. Zagg Scratch-proof Screen Protector
     - 100% scratch proof because they use the stuff that they make helicopter blades from and its crazy awesome! I am so accident prone and this is a great product to prevent that.

3. FM transmitter that charges the phone too
    - I am a little ghetto as far as car stereos go. I dont have an audio output, CD player, or functioning tape-player. I don't plan on having the car much longer so I haven't replaced it. So this is great! One with a digital display.

On another note, we met the the VP of Student Life and Development about Theta Pi and he not only liked our proposal, he wants to give us and house and use us to set up a system for other greek organizations to go through to establish themselves. He did say, we have to go through several tough meetings with faculty and the executive board and such. But we are ready ande excited. Going national to our other AG/Christian universities and colleges was also discussed.

Beaus left and right this week have been appreciating my love for football and I can't wait to watch the Auburn game this weekend with all my southern gent South Carolina Fans.


Happy Wednesday y'all!