Recruitment Recap

I'm going to do a 2 part Recruitment post for the sake of your sanity, but I'm going to start of with how the logistics of rushing with half of a half work as well as some of my behind the scene stories.

I woke up at 4:45 to get ready, pack up the car and hit the road for Athens, not without stopping for a Venti iced skinny caramel latte from Starbucks! This goes without saying, but caffeine has been a saving grace this week! I got to the house not knowing who all would be there with me and I was pleasantly surprised--Katie Hardaway, from 2 pledge classes below and Marialice were there too! Maka joined us that night after work so those three ladies made up my companions for a majority of the week. The first few rounds, Katie and I dressed up, put on our Alumnae badges and did our duties which included opening and closing the doors as the President and Recruitment chairs went out on to the porch to greet the girls rushing and then holding trays at the end of each party to collect cups and napkins. Hard stuff guys.

As the day went on, we had to do a bit of a balancing act between top secret sisterly alumni stuff in the back and our door duties. We helped set up lunch, made sure cups were set up and filled with water between parties and had plenty else to keep us busy. Round 1 is split into 2 days, but day 2 consisted less none of our door duties, and just stuff in the back which is good since I didn't shower on Thursday.

Wednesday night was so fun once the day at the house was done (it was fun during the day, but a less task oriented fun!). Marialice, Katie, and a senior Riley went to dinner at Speakeasy and spent hours talking and laughing. The laughing continued well into the wee hours of the morning when Maka, Marialice and I hung out at the house before deciding we really needed to go to bed.

With that said, alarms being set for 6:30 for the next morning was not an easy sight to bear. The things we do...Wednesday night was a night of running errands to pick up lots of burlap, tissue paper and who knows what else. After dinner at Clocked (YUM), we picked up a few cakes from Last Resort and headed back to the house with our crafting supplies. A group of girls from the sorority helped do crafting and then of course we killed the cakes when we took a cake break on the front porch.
Things we learned about me on Thursday: I am the worst at alphabetizing. I am really good at cutting straight lines. I have 50 stripes of burlap to prove it.

Friday was yet another early morning after another late night. I spent a better part of my day on Thursday rearranging my work schedule so I could take off Friday but to not avail. I at least got a later shift, so I was able to stay and do a few hours of door duty and behind the scenes stuff. Round 2 was house tours which went surprisingly well. Only operating with one stair case caused a hiccup or two along the way, but that's bound to happen during House Tours anyways.

I had to go straight to work from the house and was a zombie. The adrenaline had worn off and sleep deprivation was kicking in. Not to mention I'd had like 4 servings of caffeine that day, I was a little loopy! I woke up early Saturday morning to head off to work again only to turn around, pack up and get back on the road again! Kathleen and Avery were celebrating Avery's birthday combined with a housewarming party. So fun, and props to Kackles for a beautiful home! She's my future house decorator.

After the party, I was on the road again to head back to the Classic City! I met up with Claire, Brittany, Maka, and Marialice while they finished their dinner and headed off to the Georgia Theater bar then all back home for the last night of slumber party in the house. Sunday morning was spent with Peaser and Claire running errands--picking up breakfast, dropping off recycling, picking up Claire's car (twice), and who knows what else! I hated to leave before the day was done, but work was unavoidable and I made it back to the mall just in time!

So there's the run down of my past week/weekend. Needless to say, I. am. exhausted. But so well worth it and I loved every second of it! I can't wait to see the new pledge class knowing that I played a part in getting them to our front porch. Sorry for the lack of pictures, but the next Recruitment post will include LOTS of pictures!

Ohhhh! How I love those Alpha Gams

If anybody went through Recruitment at Georgia, I can guarantee that you could finish the rest of that line....it's catchy, even if it's annoyingly so. What brings me to talk about our infamous walk-in song? Recruitment. It's that time of year again and little known fact about me: I love it.

I don't know if it's the excitement of being reunited with sisters after you've been separated from them all summer, the possibilities of a great knew pledge class, or just seeing all of your hard work come together...(and maybe just a little bit, the opportunity to judge openly knowing that it's justified...so wrong, but I'd be lying if I didn't admit I liked it) Whatever it is, I would look forward to it every year I was in undergrad and still now. Since I'm actually in the state of Georgia this year, classes haven't started for me, and my work schedule is super flexible, I decided I would go and help out this year. Oh, and the fact that our house is getting remodeled and we're rushing with half of a house, I was a little nosy to see how in the heck they're going to finagle all of those girls in a smaller space.

Alums have a "behind the scene" role when it comes to recruitment: We help set up and refill snacks and drinks for each new round, work with the score cards, update attendance of PNMs (potential new members) per round, or have the exciting job of holding trays for attendance cards to go on that the PNMs give at the start of each round and then collect their cups and napkins on the way out the door after the round is over. It might not be nearly as much fun as bouncing, clapping, singing, and talking to the rushees, but someone's gotta do it!

Feeling a bit nostalgic, I went through some pictures of years past. Most of the pictures are from Bid Day, but I guess that makes sense because why would I think to take a picture of dozens of girls doing endless hours of song practice in Nike short and t-shirts, late night ironing sessions in the foyer, or moving furniture and props all around to change the set up for each round? Exactly.

Sophomore Year

This is the year pretty much your whole pledge class moves into the house. It was all so new and exciting to be "on the other side" and for us to be together as roommates and sisters back together after our first summer apart. We were so wide-eyed about how things worked and spent every waking second together for almost 2 weeks straight...I might have been the only one, but I loved it. 

Junior Year

This year was a whole new ballgame. A lot of my close friends and I were on Exec and saw the months of planning that had gone into this one week in a new light. Especially since I was living with the VP of Recruitment, I really saw the nitty gritty. Kathleen did a flawless job (of course), but I know we all breathed a sigh of relief when it was finished with a gorgeous new pledge class!

Senior Year

This year was a year of "lasts" and our first "last" was Recruitment. Some girls were sentimental, others, well, not so much. It was my first year not living in the house for Recruitment and even if it was a little weird, it was kind of nice having a break from 50+ girls that all lived under one roof after the day was over. Our Pledge Class definitely had a little bit more fun during work week that year than other years too, I say it was well earned. 

This sentimental streak definitely makes me long for for just one week with all of us living in the same house again with nothing to worry about except classes. You can't go back, but I have enough memories form those 4 years to last a lifetime. And I owe it all to the girls that put in the hard work to recruit me and the rest of PC '05 and that's why I did and still do have a soft spot for Recruitment. The system works how it's supposed to and I know without a doubt that we all ended up on the Alpha Gam front porch in August of 2005 for a reason...and for that reason, I'm going to keep showing up on that porch for as long as I'm able. 

The Olympics 2012

Y'all, I just absolutely love the Olympics. Every 4 years that it comes around, I fall in love with it even more. I love that the world comes together to watch the same events. But what I love the most is the sense of American pride I feel when I cheer for my teams and knowing that other Americans share that same pride and for once can be cheering for the same teams rather than against each other!

A few highlights from the London 2012 Olympics that I have LOVED!

 Of course at the top of my list is the Fab Five! These are definitely "America's Sweethearts" and there's no question why--gymnastics is absolutely my favorite sport to watch and I got chills seeing their hard earned dreams come true!! Go Team USA! Small complaint: social media ruined my surprise in seeing the outcome! Boo people that watched the games during the day and spoiled it for the rest of us!

 I know this picture isn't from this year's games, but this is how I will always picture Michael Phelps. But seriously, props to him for beasting the swimming world and basically the Olympics! That is a feat to be proud of!

Shout out to UGA!!! Go Allison Schmitt!

Also, can we talk about the SEC dominating the sport of swimming?? Schmitt: UGA, Lochte: Florida (ew), and Soni: Auburn You can't argue that the SEC is far superior when they're in the Olympics!

**Addition: Congrats to Gabby Douglas for winning the Women's All Around Individual Gold last night too!! I just think she is precious--you never see her without a smile!

Go Team USA! Way to represent and I can't wait to see how the rest of the games play out!!

Small complaint (part 2): What is up with this logo? 1980s-esque graffiti is not working for me...What do you think??

Summer Reading List

I have always loved reading! Once I find a good author that I like, I'm pretty much hooked on anything they've written...I'm especially a sucker for series books (any good suggestions? I'm going to start the Divergent series after I've started my fall semester)

This summer though, I've been on a reading kick. It's a great escape in a busy household and it's been a treat to have had an easy semester with only 2 classes this summer so I've actually had time to get lost in a book or two.

I started off with a borrowed book from my mom...I was a little skeptical. Surprisingly, it was a really good book! It's based off of Rizzoli and Isles TV series, even though I've never gotten into the show, the book was a murder mystery style book that moved at a good pace. I think it might have helped had I have had some idea of the characters personalities before getting into the book, but it was easy to get into early on.

After that, I re-read a classic for a second time...mostly because it was the only book I could find that sounded appealing one night when I was in a mood for a feel-good book. I'm pretty sure every one I know has read this book, seen the movie, or both--so no need for a recap.

Following a classic, I wanted to stick with "what I knew" but still a new book. I dug into my mom's collection of books and pulled out one of the few Mary Kay Andrews books I hadn't read before. It was a quick read, and I loved that it was set in Atlanta because I knew all of the roads/places they were talking about! It was a fun, light read that I would give a solid thumb and a half up :)

After that, I had forgotten how easy and enjoyable MK Andrews book were so then I moved onto another. This one was probably my least favorite of the 3 of her books I've read this summer. This would have been a great beach read....had I of been at the beach. It was a little too predictable for my taste--girl is down on her luck, finds a project/reason to be away from her "normal" life, has supportive friends, finds a love interest and everything falls into place in the end. Granted, that's most of her books but this was one was especially predictable--still fun to read, but not my favorite in comparison.

Last on my Mary Kay Andrews kick was probably my favorite of three! It was a little but more relatable because the girl was in her 20s (check) and was unexpectedly fired (check)...and then the similarities end really....But she does have a project as well as a problem to fix, although the relationship with the boy a bit too ideal/unrealistic, it still leaves you with the feel good feeling that you want in the end.

And finally, I'm finishing my summer reading list with one of my all time favorites and a definitely much needed book in my life right now: Redeeming Love. Sigh. I just love this book and all that it tells. If you haven't read this book before, it is hands down my #1 recommendation out of all of these. It is such a beautiful picture of the Gospel, but not in the typical "cheesy" Christian novel style. I just started it at the end of last week and will probably finish it before the end of this week! I just don't want to put it down.

I'm sure I can pull a few more good books from my mom's stash that I haven't read, but I am always looking for good reads! Please share if you have any "must read" suggestions!

It's All in the Accessories

It's another "Pretending to be Trendy" post! This has been one of my most complimented outfits thus far, so I decided it was worth a share! I based my whole outfit around what I could wear with my brand-spankin'-new shoes from anthropologie.com and in a few pictures, you'll see why because they're pretty great...

Dress: Target 

Belt: Anthropologie 

Earrings: Anthropologie

Shoes!!: Anthropologie; Hansa Mary Janes 
I got SO many compliments on these the other day--they were on the cover of our Anthro magazine this past quarter and I knew I had to get them as soon as I saw them! So comfy too!

Nothing special! Just a plain old clip

Okay, so this is my semi-fail. I tried to do an "accent nail", but was too lazy to take off my purple layer...Hm...I'll do better next time I hope!

I tried find a link to both the belt and the earrings because I've bought both as new since I've started working there, but they've already been taken down off the site! I know we still have the earrings in our store though for around $32. Just wanted to let you know why there wasn't a reference! 

A Day in the Life...

A day in the life of an Anthro sales associate.

Okay, I always thought my job is kinda like most other retail jobs for the most part...turns out that it's not. We as a staff are very attentive to our customers, and that's above par in most other mall clothing stores.

Each hour, we are assigned to different "zones" in the store. Some days it can a trade off between only 2 zones, or it can be a different zone each hour I'm there. Here's a general idea of what goes on in each zone.


Run/Sale: Put up clothes from the fitting room back on the floor, organize the crazy sale room, tidy up folding/hanging clothes around the store, check sizes in the back for customers.


Cash Register: This one's pretty self explanatory; ring up customers, handle returns, re-enter returned clothes to the system/ready to go back on the floor...but something that still stresses me out is when the phone rings. Something about not knowing what they're going to ask of me gets me all riled up! But this is also probably my favorite place in the store to be -- there's always something to do and it's right in the middle of the goings on!


Front Area: Greet customers as they enter (I try to change it up...but there are only so many ways to say "Welcome to Anthropologie!" "How you are doing today?), say goodbye as they leave ("Thank you!" "Have a great afternoon!") check bags if the alarm goes off, usually because we forgot to take off the hard tag, point customers in the direction of what they want/who they need to talk to about something...one lady told me I was a glorified Wal-Mart greeter. Thanks?

Fitting Room: Take clothes from customers as they come in, ask their name, compliment about their clothing choices, hang up clothes in the fitting room for them, offer to get different sizes or accessories to go with their outfits. The thing is to be honest! Don't you hate it when you leave a store and felt pressured to buy something? Ugh. I know I definitely want them to feel satisfied with their purchase, because hey, if they're going to pay a pretty penny for our pretty clothes, they'd better darn well love them!

Home: On occasional Saturdays, I'll get assigned to the home area of the store...most of the time is spent reorganizing the knobs on the rotating stands. Talk about tedious! But, I love sorting things so it's almost therapeutic sometimes.

Welp, there you have it ladies and gentlemen, a day in the life. Some days are crazy busy, other are crazy sloooow! Yesterday for example flew by because I was at the cash register for 3 of the 4 hours I was there and was flying solo for 2 of those 3 hours. I barely had time to look down at my watch to realize it was almost time for me to go home! But then there are some other days that I walk in circles, braiding and re-braiding my hair in the fitting room. Either way, I get moolah.

Reliving the 90s

Not even kidding, this list of "90s Girls Essentials" has made my week. At first I thought 334 was a bit over kill, but it's not! I went through the whole list and it brought back waves of memories from my childhood!! If you want a mid-week pick me up from a walk down memory lane--this is it!

A few of my favorites from the list though...

You're welcome, because I know you're thanking me right now! :)