The Christmas City & Mike the Tiger

Hello from Atlanta (airport in route to home),

During the past week and a half I've visited the Christmas City (Bethlehem, PA) and Baton Rouge, LA. Both visits were super fun and enjoyable! First I found myself in Bethlehem, PA at Lehigh University for formal recruitment. The city of Bethlehem is known as the Christmas City. There are lights everywhere and even the star of Bethlehem on top of the mountain! The women of Epsilon Rho were excited and ready to go upon my arrival. Formal recruitment flew by with a great open house round, philanthropy round and even Theta and the Hill (Sex and the City inspired) skit round, but by far my favorite round of recruitment with these women was preference round! The chapter was so united and excited about their preference round ceremony. They chapter had beauitful decorations and truly showcased their sisterhood!

Epsilon Rho facility

admisions building

pref round kite with candles around the edge that are lit during the ceremony

hand painted Lilly Pulitzer letters a chapter member made!

The other hilarious part of my visit was my daily & nightly meetings with ERB. One evening as it was approaching 2 am ERB hit a wall and were all very tired, so like any good ELC would do, I decided to be the instructor and host a jazzercise session. ERB loved it and we had a blast doing moves to "Move Your Boogie Boday" (found on youtube). Another great night was our late night dinner run to Red Robin at around 11 pm, everything seemed so funny to us. Even the poker game Nguyen was playing! Overall, I had a wonderful experience with Epsilon Rho!

Next, I was off to Baton Rouge, LA to meet with the Delta Kappa chapter at Louisiana State University! Mike the Tiger was definitely a must see!! I was completely expecting to see a little cage he was kept in and be mad at LSU, oh was I wrong! Mike the Tiger has a HUGE habitat in the middle of campus where he lives and plays. Vet students take care of him and he is beautiful! The women of Delta Kappa must have thought I was crazy for being so excited to see a live tiger in the middle of campus... but come on, what other school has that?

The women of Delta Kappa were wonderful hosts! And did I mention the facility is absolutely GORGEOUS!! I had a lot of great meetings as well as great meals with the chapter. I am returning to Delta Kappa in March and could not be more excited! As the chapter gears up for spring recruitment I cannot wait to hear how everything turns out... especially a pintrest themed recruitment event! Go Tigers!

For now I am making an odd path from BTR to ATL to OKC! I am returning home for two days to relax, recoop, and head back on the road. I am hoping to see Beauty and the Beast in 3D!! Next stop for me is Erie, PA at Allegheny University. Now boarding...

It's the most WONDERFUL time of the year!

It's been awhile since my last post, the holiday season swept me away in the excitement, hustle and happiness! Since my last post I've been back to Penn State, home for a bachelorette party, next to KU, finishing work at end of sememster at HQ, followed by a trip to Justine's home and a Redskins game, and finally home for the holidays. I'll start from the beginning:

Back to Penn State and... the creamery!!! While back in State College I was able to reconnect with some wonderful women and see the chapter's progress throughout the semester. We made the usual stops at a favorite breakfast shop as well as the mac n cheese line. After a night meeting a group got together in the suite and watched the Victoria Secret Fashion Show as we all snacked on chocolate and many other treats haha The Beta Phi advisory board even hosted a holiday dinner and invited me! It was fun to have a homemade meal and enjoy some fun chatter.

I headed home from Penn State just in time for Chatty's (Katherine) bachelorette party! The fun filled evening began at Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner and drinks, where a group of choir boys serenaded the bride to be. After dinner we headed to Adelle's house where we had the personal shower and then headed to Tease for pole dancing lessons. Needless to say the class was HILARIOUS! It was so much fun being reunited with all of the girls and making new friends.

Lauren, Katherine, Me

The group at dinner

Next I was off to the University of Kansas for my last visit of the semester. This chapter is the Kappa chapter, meaning the tenth Theta chapter ever. It was so neat to see such a large facility and spend time getting to know the women. The VPA even stopped at Quick Trip for me the night of my arrival!! Rock Chalk Jayhawk!

From Lawerence I headed to Indy for end of sememster meeting at Headquarters. It was SO WONDERFUL to be reunited with all of the ELCs for the weekend! We had lots of meetings at headquarters, a holiday party and then headed to Justine's home for a Redskins game. The game was so much fun! We were able to stand on the sidelines at the beginning of the game and in a box for the majority of the game. It was my first NFL game and I loved it! Justine's dad even let me ride the segway around the stadium (I wasn't very good haha)

Casey, Christa, Justine, Me

 The first years! Casey, Christa, Joni, Me, Corey, Justine, Lindsey

All of the ELCs

Christa, Justine, Me

Headed to the game, Zuko is the special guest in the front :)

Sidelines

After the game day excitement, a group of us headed in to D.C. to explore the city together. It was a long and fun day!

After our fun end of semester trip we all headed home to spend the holiday season with family and friends! The first weekend home Michael and I attended a wedding and helped celebrate all the December graduations of our friends. The next weekend I visited Ponca City to see Michael's mom and attend another wedding. On Christmas Eve I was able to spend a lot of time with Kimba! Kimba, Krissy and I ate dinner at Sushi Neko, headed home to play monopoly and watch a Christmas movie and capped off the night at midnight mass. It was such a wonderful night and really helped remind us what the reason for the season truly is. Christmas day was super relaxing with my mom and grandma! I was reminded how truly blessed I am to be surrounded by my friends and family.

After Christmas all my attention shifted to a special event... Katherine & Ryan's wedding!!! The day of the wedding the bridal party met at Katherine's home to get our hair and makeup done. It was a relaxing and fun day to share together. The wedding could not have been more beautiful, special or heart warming. The bride and groom are so in love and all their friends and family were there to celebrate them together. Everyone got on the dance floor and had a blast! I couldn't be happier for the new Mr. & Mrs. Smith!!! They are currently enjoying the Bahama's... lucky! Can't wait for Chatty to get back so I can see pictures :)

Katherine, Lauren, Me, Jessie

Me, Lauren, Jessie

Lauren & Me

Lauren, Micahel & Me

Michael & lucky me :)

The break has also given me time to meet up with old friends! I was able to have my traditional monDATE with my biggie, cupcakes with my G (Rainey), coffee with Alexandra & Tanna, lunch with Chelsey, Natalie & Candice.

Finally it was time to ring in the new year! We made the drive to Dallas, TX and spent the evening with lots of friends! I cannot wait to see what 2012 has in store :)

Happy New Year, cheers to 2012!