Blog Hop #3

10 Pictures from Everyday Life

10 Things on your Bucket List (refer to the Life List)
1. Learn to swing dance
2. Swim with dolphins
3. Read the entire Bible
4. Live in a foreign country for a year
5. Get a cat or a dog
6. Attend a Mass said by the Pope
7. Donate my hair to Locks of Love
8. Host a wine tasting party
9. Go to Africa
10. Make somebody's dream come true

10 of the Most Important Things you've Learned So Far in Life

1. Saying "no" is okay

2. Forgiving others might be hard, but it is so necessary

3. Forgiving yourself might be even harder, but I think this is even more important

4. You can learn a lot if you reflect on past events in your life

5. Prayer works

6. Don't live your life by a strict set of guidelines

7. Everyone needs an average of 7 affectionate touches a day 

8. If you want to stay close to someone, you have to be willing to put in the work (it's worth it)

9. Everyday is full of opportunities. Take them.

10. Figure out who you are so you can stick to your values

Now, Hop. 
Overlap, As Life Unfolds, A Year of Joy, defining life, Finding Joy, Live Life In Color, Live Today Well, Little Things, Big Joy, Imperfections, Good Causes, Show Up Today

opportunities

After buying my ticket to Indiana last week, I decided to take more opportunities and be intentional about keeping in touch with my friends. My goal for the week is to have at least one conversation each day with a friend who does not go to Drake.

Today, I got to talk with Maddie.

I had so much fun hearing about her life in DC, and how she is kind of a real person right now, even though she is kind of in "Washington DC Camp." Although it wasn't the same as having a heart-to-heart under the stars on the suspension bridge over the beautiful Richard G. Marsh Lake to the sounds to our 20 campers whispering as they fall asleep to the sounds of the bullfrogs croaking, it was so great to have a real conversation with Maddie. We talked about where we are with our relationship with God and where we want it to go. We talked about the future and what we want out of life, and how sometimes letting things go can be so good, even if it's a little hard.

Then I had a surprise chat with my two best friends from BVN, Cara & Kelsey. We started planning a reunion because we're taking opportunities and haven't all been together in a long time.

I really like the theme of taking opportunities. I think I'm going to make a poster and put it right by my bed to remind myself each morning to do this. I love my to do lists but without these relationships and spontaneity, life would not be very fun.

Planned Spontaneity

I am not a spontaneous person. I plan everything out to the nearest 15 minute intervals, and have my planner and my google calendar with me at all times. 

So today, I did something very (ok I've been thinking about it a little bit) spontaneous. I bought a plane ticket to Indiana to visit my camp friends!


Every summer and every time we talk, we always say we need to visit each other. And it never happens. So, I took Shauna Niequist's advice and did it.


Talking on the phone and skyping is good and it is important to stay in contact with the people in your lives who you care about. But togetherness is essential to friendship. Just being there. So, as Shauna says, "If those faces are far away, get a weekend on the calender and get there."

Maybe planning something a month and a half away isn't 100% spontaneous, but I think it counts. This decision has made me excited, and has shown commitment to making these friendships last.


I am excited to skype with some of these women this weekend, but I am more excited to "live close and connected" to them, even if it is only for a weekend.

#40 - Make a "Love Tank" at School

Ok, so this bucket list item originally was to put a bucket list in big dorm. But I moved out of big dorm & DG before I had the chance to make a love tank. So I think it's okay that I edited it.

Last weekend was recruitment. I spent a ridiculous amount of hours with the recruitment counselors, panhel exec, and Leigh. I love and appreciate all of these women so much, but being disaffilated can be hard. It's hard when you hear your chapter singing sentimental song about your sisterhood. It's hard knowing everyone else has spent the last two weeks constantly together practicing and preparing for recruitment. It's hard when a PNM comes out of your chapter and LOVES it, but you can't share that exact excitement with them. It's even harder when a PNM comes out of your chapter and doesn't like it.

In order to keep that connection between the chapters and the disaffialtes, we created love tanks. Love tanks are paper bag mailboxes that are used to put notes about why you love someone in. We use them at camp, and they're a great way to show love and appreciation.

It was great getting notes from fellow disaffilates and the affilated chapter members. During recruitment, these love tanks served as a connection to the women in our chapters who we love and a way to encourage the other disaffialted members in what they're doing. I think it is important to recognize when someone is doing a good job and tell them why. That's why love tanks are so great.

BID DAY. It's like Christmas.

10 Reason's Why Bid Day was SO Great.

1. Seeing all of the women open their bids after a long, crazy, and stressful week of recruitment.

2. Listening to all of the new members go around the room and say what chapter they are now a part of.

3.  Being the first to welcome the new members into Delta Gamma and teaching them how to scoop!

4. Running down the stairs of Olmsted to be reunited with the chapter.

5. Dancing to "Beat It!"

6. Taking pictures outside of the house.

7. Last year, I taught the chapter how to play "The Big Wind Blows..." So today, when we arrived at Sleepy Hollow for our bid day festivities, some of the women initiated the game on their own. It was awesome.

8. Three words: OUTDOOR LASER TAG.

9. Even more camp games.

10. Being officially DONE with recruitment!

Celebrating Friendship

Week 8 was a big week for me this summer. It was the last week of Empire, I had an incredible cabin, and everyone was starting to get sentimental. But that's not why this week was so great. Exactly one year earlier, between weeks 7 & 8, Sarah and I met. To celebrate, we matched every single day week 8.

Matching was fun, but I really liked the significance behind why we matched.

Sarah has made an incredible difference in my life this past year. She has been my link to camp when I was missing it like crazy. She has encouraged me to grow in my faith and kept me close to Christ while at school. In just being who she is, she has challenged me to stay true to myself and who I am.

I am constantly inspired by her and I am so blessed to have her in my life. I think this is the type of friendship God wants us to have. I love that we did something so simple and silly to show each other how much we appreciate the other this week. I am blessed to have many incredible friends in my life, and I think I need to celebrate them more. I want them to know how much I love and appreciate them. So this week, my first week being affiliated with Delta Gamma this school year, I am making an effort to  celebrate my friendships in simple ways. I encourage you to do the same.

My favorite part of the week was when on Thursday, Tom asked us if we were wearing the same shirt. Hilarious.

We Have 130 Student Organizations - What are YOU Going to do with you Time Here!?

Wednesday marked the annual Student Activities Fair.

This year, 130 student organizations signed up. We all want people to get involved with our groups so we can get the best members. That meant we all had to use our best social excellence skills to make our booth stand out. So we all put on our recruitment smiles and stood in front of our booth (instead of sitting behind it) and attempted to engage as many people in a conversation as possible.

I had a lot of fun speaking with the PNM's (potential new members) who stopped by to pick up their shirts. It was awesome to see how excited they were about meeting their recruitment counselor and all of the chapters. It was also fun when I got to speak to men and women who weren't signed up for recruitment yet and tell them "why not!?" go through recruitment. We had a total of 242 women sign up before recruitment started on Saturday! That was 31 more than last year. We were all proud of our accomplishment because we knew this would be a great weekend.