A Walk Down Memory Lane

Jaynie Levinson

I’m going to take some time to reflect on all my great memories from this semester, as they keep me overly excited and anxious for the next semester! Thank you to all the women I had the opportunity to meet. I will remember each and every one of you in a unique way. Thank you for being women I am proud to call my sisters 🙂

The Upsilon sisters, at Oregon State University, know I love food, and of course, sweets. I had a blast after preference night at Shairy’s – I’m glad I could be included in a great tradition. What a fun way to celebrate hard work with your sisters AND PIE.

My first trip to Disneyland with the Women of Epsilon Tau at California State University Fullerton. I was on cloud nine the entire time, and felt like a kid again!

The chance to see familiar faces at Founders’ Day was so amazing, and the timing was perfect! I had the opportunity to see so many beautiful faces from Epsilon Lambda, (California State University, Sacramento) Kappa Xi, (University of Nevada, Reno) Lambda (University of California, Berkeley) and Delta Iota (California State University, Chico). I loved checking in with each and every one of you. It is women like you that make me proud to be an LC, to watch you all do amazing things for each other and for the community.

MY FIRST In-N-Out Experience was documented with the women of Epsilon Lambda. They introduced me to the true California burger hot spot!

Fall photo shoot with the women of Delta Iota. I hope those photos make the catalog for incoming freshman!

The women of Kappa Rho (University of California Irvine) treated me to a fresh seafood homecooked meal right on the ocean water. I tried octopus for the first time…wow.

To the ladies of Alpha Gamma (Washington State University) – What a great college town you live in. I will never forget when some of you took me to Idaho during my visit so I could check off that I have been to Idaho!

I got to sightsee the Las Vegas Strip with the women of Theta Eta (University of Nevada Las Vegas). We stayed in a mega mansion for a pre-recruitment retreat. We had a blast participating in color war sisterhood activities. Keep those fun tweets and shoutouts coming!

My Midwest sisters, Delta Upsilon (Missouri State University) – I was so lucky to get a small taste of the Midwest culture back in my life. I loved the chance to be present during some of the homecoming week activities. I saw some amazing Missouri State University talent at the pep rally and the talent show! Sigma Kappa spirit was high and mighty. Thank you ladies for being so proud of your campus and community!

Last, but not least, I will never look at a dodgeball game the same way. Watching 85 teams participate in Zeta Omicron’s (University of Arizona) Ultra Violet Dodgeball tournament was a fun time! The teams that participated got really, really, really involved and were proud to support the women of Sigma Kappa. Keep being the fun and outgoing and positive women on your campus!

When all Else Fails…Take a Nap!

Erica Lagos

I will be the first person to tell you that a good nap is one of my favorite things! In college, I prided myself on finding the perfect napping time that would provide me with a feeling of renewal and not the grogginess that I would often experience when I napped for too long. Never would I have considered myself much of a morning person, but I also wouldn’t call myself a night owl either. Simply put, I just loved sleep.

Once I graduated, I moved into a new world where napping wasn’t always an option. For a while, I felt like I was hit by a train around 3 p.m. and wondered how real people made it through work days. I was longing for the carefree lifestyle I had taken advantage of for the four years prior.

When I started traveling, again, napping was not exactly in the daily agenda for me…unless I was taking a flight. Yes, I am that person on the plane who falls asleep before the plane even takes off. I will do the head nod when dozing off and try my best to convince myself that the person next to me didn’t notice me when I wake myself up.

One thing that I have come to realize while my napping lifestyle has taken the backburner is that when you wake up early and stay up all day…you can get a lot done and there really is no need to stay up super late! When I don’t have to stay up super late finishing something that I could have done during my nap I then feel more well rested in the morning and voila, I don’t feel the need to nap…it truly is a beautiful cycle.

So as you’re getting into the tough part of your semester and sleep may be scarce, just remember that if you use your time wisely during the day, you will be rewarded with a full night’s sleep! If it is necessary that you take a nap…or you just love them like I do, try not to nap for too long! No one likes to wake up feeling disoriented and useless; take a short nap and go tackle the rest of your day!

Holiday Tunes

Hannah Villa

Oh my friends it seems to be that year again. That time of the year when Santa Claus comes to town, angels sing and perfection seems take over. There is something about this season, something that absolutely infects all people, something that puts a little pep in your step and something that you cannot escape. Christmas, well more over the holiday season, is a time a cheer, a time to celebrate Our Savior’s birth and a time to come together as one and live in peace. Every time November rolls around I am so anxious and giddy to don my chunky sweaters and warm boots. The clothes, the smells, the lights. Every thing I just love. Christmas to me means family. It means early mornings of strong coffee wrapped up in a warm blanket. It means snow and fires. It means my favorite candy cane mug. It means bringing the Nativity out, making ginger bread cookies (gluten free of course) and means that for over a month I am surrounded by the people I love most.

Christmas time is one of my favorite times of year and below are a few (five to be exact) of my favorite Christmas tunes. All season long you will find me blasting these favorites at any time, singing along with ever word. These songs, for me, bring so much joy and call to mind so many fantastic memories.

#1: All I Want For Christmas Is You, Mariah Carey

#2: River, Sarah Mclachlan

#3: Baby It’s Cold Outside, Frank Loesser

#4: Happy Xmas (War is Over), John Lennon

#5: Auld Lang Syne

Christmas season is my absolute favorite and I hope you can find joy in it as well.

Best wishes and good cheer – H

Giving Thanksgiving its Day

Amy Gallagher

Happy November, everyone!

The Boston Common trees are strung with lights. The Frog Pond is being transformed into an outdoor ice skating rink for the winter months. The Starbucks on Northeastern’s campus has brought out the holiday cups. Netflix is now streaming Love, Actually and The Polar Express. Holiday season preparation is in full swing.

For me, the first step of the holiday season is spending the weeks leading up to Thanksgiving reflecting on what I am thankful for, in full November fashion.

I am thankful for my wonderful support system during my time as a leadership consultant. I am thankful for my mother and her level head. I am thankful for my loving boyfriend. I am thankful for my friends who try so hard to understand my hectic schedule and still manage to make time for me.

I am thankful for Sigma Kappa as an organization for all I have learned through my membership. I am also thankful for all of the people it has brought into my life. I am thankful for my big, my littles, the women of Beta Eta, my two LC teams, my supervisor Brooke and the rest of the staff, volunteers and members I have met during my travels.

I am thankful for the simple things like a warm jacket, a hot coffee made just right, the train coming quickly on a chilly day, a good movie, and a comfortable sweater.

I am thankful for my health and the health of those around me. I am thankful for the opportunities I have had in my life and continue to have every day. I am thankful for all of the love and happiness in my life each day.

While Boston has yet to have the first snowfall of the season, I can already smell wood-burning stoves hard at work in nearby homes. Yes, even in the middle of the city. As the days get shorter and the temperatures get colder, I am ready for the holiday season to approach, but not until after Thanksgiving has its day.

Until next time,
Amy

*Note: At the time of publishing, Boston has had its first snowfall. Sorry Amy! 🙂

Secret Thoughts of the Ritual

Molly Kenney

As Promise programs are wrapping up, initiations are occurring, and new initiate meetings are being held, ritual is at the top of minds among many chapters. BUT does your chapter live ritual every day? Or does ritual just happen once a semester around Initiation? I encourage you to start to make a difference within your chapter and encourage ritual to be lived every day.

My favorite takeaway from this video, Secret Thoughts of the Ritual is this – “leaders who do not use me are not leaders at all.” I leave you with that, and encourage you to think, what type of leader are you?

Dove love, Molly

Things that Most Competent Adults Already Know that I Just Recently Found out About:

Gabby Della Pesca

How to pump my own gas.

No, I’m not a spoiled princess who travels around with a gas pumping servant (actually, that sounds awesome, sign me up!). I’m just from New Jersey!  Whenever I tell people that you can’t pump your own gas in Jersey, they immediately and without question assume that the reason is because New Jersians are just too diva fabulous to pump their own gas. I would just like to say that stereotypes like that are hurtful. The real reason is actually because NJ tax/insurance laws dictate that people wearing more than 2.3 oz of hairspray are legally too flammable to be near gasoline….  the more you know.

If this doesn’t just fill you with pride, then you are a robot who is not from New Jersey…

That you can bring food through airport security.

I always assumed that if you tried to bring anything edible onto a plane, you would be tackled, arrested for treason, sent to treason jail, etc. Do you know how many perfectly good half-eaten bags of Cheez-Its I have thrown away thinking I couldn’t bring them through security?!?! There is one exception to this rule and that is yogurt—the TSA has a zero tolerance policy on yogurt (I have a 100 percent tolerance policy on yogurt… hence my issue). That being said, I would like to meet the terrorist that transports weapons of mass destruction in a low-fat key lime pie flavored Yoplait… I could totally take on that terrorist.

The face of terror.

How to buy/eat food in regular human sized portions.

Growing up in a big family, I was always used to buying and cooking in absurd portions and serving sizes. A sample grocery list for my family might look like this: two wheels of cheese, 5 pounds of pasta, 8,500 slices of prosciutto — and that’s just dinner! Now that I am living on my own, I’ve learned to scale it down just a little bit, but I definitely learned the hard way. (Note to self: Do not buy a gallon of milk for just yourself and then try to drink the whole thing before it goes bad.) I’m slowly but surely getting the hang of cooking for me instead of an army!

This is a real life Della Pesca family meal… the struggle is real.

My blood type.

According to my mother, this is something that all adults should know for many reasons. There are probably a number of legitimate ways a person could find this information, but I chose to find out through the American Red Cross since I donate through them as often as I can. Interestingly enough, it turns out that my blood type is Unicorn-Gold Positive! I found this out because the American Red Cross has taken to calling me approximately 15 times a minute because they just can’t get enough of my precious Unicorn-Gold blood. Recently, they have started calling me from several different numbers—it’s gotten to stage 5 clinger status! This is how I have their number(s) saved in my phone so that when they call me 1,930,302 times a day, people will think I’m cool:

The emoticon on the left represents me holding hands with Beyoncé. The one on the right represents music because Beyoncé… (Note to self: If you type Beyoncé too many times it starts to look weird… remember to tell her that next time she calls!)

If I learn anything else, I will make sure to update you all so that you can continue to learn from my struggles (you’re welcome!).

Until next time,

Gabby

Top 10 TV Shows You NEED to Watch

Autumn Breeden

So if you haven’t caught on yet, I LOVE lists! So my list today will be my Top 10 TV shows I watch to get me through the week!

Disclaimer: I don’t watch ALL of these shows every week! Some air in different seasons than others, and some are no longer being filmed so they’re all reruns!

10. Law and Order: SVU

I don’t think I have to say much about this one, if you’re breathing and have cable television you know that USA CONSTANTLY runs reruns of this police investigation classic.

9. Alias

This one is a serious throwback, Alias aired from 2001-2006 and starred Jennifer Garner. It is about a female spy who is a double agent! The technology and clothes are WAY out of date (she carries a Nokia brick phone and a pager), but the storyline is interesting and I can multitask while watching it!

8. Graceland

Graceland is a summer series that aired this past summer on USA. It is about a house on the coast in California that is the residence of DEA, ATF and FBI agents who are all working undercover to bust criminals. But it also has a really interesting plotline about the relationships between all the agents living in. It was renewed for a second season with no start date publicized.

7. The Following

The following is a psychological thriller on Fox about a FBI agent trying to catch a serial killer and his murderous cult. This show has CRAZY twists and turns. It will return to evening television in January

6. Criminal Minds

Ahh, another classic. This was my favorite show all through high school. I watched it obsessively every week and own the first 3 seasons on DVD. It is about a FBI unit called the Behavioral Analysis Unit or BAU. This team uses psychology, patterns and history to solve crazy serial crimes. It is an edge-of-your-seat thriller.

5. Homeland

Homeland was recommended to me by future leadership consultant Maddie Weissinger. It is a political thriller about a bipolar CIA agent who is convinced a Marine prisoner of war rescued from Afghanistan has been turned on the U.S. and is now a threat to the U.S. It has a slow start, but after about six episodes, I couldn’t stop watching. It is on Showtime on Sunday nights, it is in its third season currently, and has been renewed for a fourth season next year!

4. Revolution

Do you like the Hunger Games? If so, you would like Revolution! It’s an American post-apocalyptic science fiction drama that takes place 15 years after a worldwide blackout. It is currently in its second season on NBC, and can be viewed on Wednesday nights.

3. The Blacklist

The Blacklist is a new NBC show about a wanted FBI fugitive who turns himself in to help the FBI hunt down his blacklist of criminals on one condition, that he only works with a rookie FBI agent of his choosing. It has great twists and turns, and is totally unpredictable. The main character Elizabeth is easy to relate to, and the fugitive Reddington clearly chose her for a reason that hasn’t been disclosed yet. It will be interesting to see how it plays out! This is in its first season, and airs on Monday nights.

2. White Collar

I absolutely am OBSESSED with White Collar. It has a great cast that keeps me coming back to this show every year. White Collar is about Neal Caffrey, an incredibly talented forger who gets captured by the FBI. Neal then proposes a deal to help the FBI arrest other criminals like him if he does not have to live behind bars. The show follows Neal and his FBI handler. The two spend their work hours collaring criminals, and Neal spends his free time breaking the law and working with his friend Mozzie all without being caught by his handler. If you’ve never watched White Collar, I would highly recommend you watch from the beginning. It’s in its fifth season on USA, and airs on Thursday nights.

1. Gossip Girl

Last, but certainly not least, is Gossip Girl. This is the greatest series known to womankind. Lucky for you, all five seasons can be viewed on Netflix. The show follows wealthy Upper East Side teens through the daily struggle of being Manhattan’s elite. The twist is the Gossip Girl website that seemingly stalks and posts about their lives. Gossip Girl causes infinite drama, and is a total mystery to the teens. You have to watch all five seasons, guess who gossip girl is, and be surprised in the series finale when it’s revealed. It is definitely interesting how the writers can essentially tell you how to feel about the characters and change your opinion about each of them throughout the five seasons. For instance, you will start by hating Chuck Bass’ guts and will be in love by the end.

I hope that this helps you find your new TV addiction!

XOXO, a