USC Visit #3

Hey y'all! I haven't blogged in almost two weeks. Time flies. I had a great time at USC and was so busy I completely forgot to blog. I was there for eleven days, and now I am in the great state of Arkansas. I was supposed to be heading home today for a few days, but instead I am at the University of Arkansas for colonization. I am getting to stay with three of the other consultants (Shelby, Hanna, and April) who are my great friends now, and I am loving it already. I will be here for two weeks, and then home for a while the second week in September.

I was at the University of South Carolina for recruitment the past 11 days. I am so sad I had to leave before Preference Round and Bid Day, but I know the girls are going to do awesome! They made me really proud! Katie is another consultant who I have became really good friends with too. We were roommates at training in Peachtree City, and she is a resident at USC this fall. So, I got to spend a lot of time with her the past week or so. Miss her already.

While in South Carolina, I got to see my cousins as well. I was SOOOO excited because there is nothing more comforting than seeing family when you are away from home. Not to mention, I have never been away from home for over two weeks, and it will be eight before I go home again. However, I am having such a great time traveling that it seems like time is FLYING by (literally- haha). I got to go to dinner with John, Lauren, and Bradley, and I even got to go to lunch with Lauren again. She leaves for Dallas next week for her job, and I am so glad I got to see her before she leaves on this next adventure in her life. FaceTime with Addison, Kristen, Paul, Momma, Daddy, and my friends helps too. Katie likes to make fun of my obsession with FaceTime/Skype/Snapchat/etc. but I just like to stay in touch with everyone. :)

While at USC, Katie and I also got to stop by the Lilly Pullitzer store, and I purchased my first Lilly dress. I never thought I would see the day. I love it already though, and I can't tell you how many people complimented it in the airport today! :) Having a steady paycheck makes me want to splurge every once in a while, and this was my splurge for a long while. Ha!

Tomorrow we are meeting ladies on campus at Arkansas, and I am looking forward to it. I already received two Arkansas tanks, and I can tell I am going to love this town. Cannot wait to show girls how "Pink goes with everything." I just LOVE being a Phi Mu!

That's all for now y'all. Below are a few of the pictures I took while in Columbia, SC! I would give anything to go back for the UT vs. USC game in October!

Love y'all and thanks as always for the support!!

Katie Billotti, chapter consultant, who is a resident at USC this fall!

Love my family! Cousin love :)

Beautiful USC Phi Mu house

Love Hottie Billotti!

Round 2 of Recruitment

Us with President Laurel

President and Phi Director with the Consultants

USC school sign. Visit #3!

John and Bradley, love them!

Purdue University

Hey y'all! I finished up my visit to my Delta Epsilon sisters at Purdue University tonight. I fly out bright and early tomorrow morning to head for USC (University of South Carolina, not Southern California ha!) I will be there for 11 days to help with recruitment. Can't wait to see my consultant roomie Katie Billotti!

I have had a great time at Purdue. These ladies have worked so hard during work week, and they are an excellent group of women. Everyone up here loves my accent, and I must say they think I am from the deep south and are surprised when I tell them TN!

I celebrated my 23rd birthday while I was here. WEIRD! I cannot believe I'm that old. My sweet church family and my sister, Kristen, sent me birthday cards. My momma and daddy sent me a cookie cake. Insomnia cookies are famous around here, and my parents had one delivered to my doorstep. I felt like I was at home with them. This was my first birthday ever away from my family, and that made me feel so special to have them thinking of me. The girls also sang me a big happy birthday song and had me a cake. Nothing quite like 100 women singing happy birthday to me all at once. Love my sisters!

I had my first Den Pop while I was here. This is a local favorite. Everyone gets these 64 ounce fountain drinks for 60 cents, and there are so many combinations it is crazy! I stuck with a pretty plain one, but some of the mixtures are wild. I also had a triple x burger, another local favorite. The locals get peanut butter burgers, but I stuck to a regular one.

The president, Melissa, and the philanthropy chair, Jen, took me on a tour of campus. I got to see the famous Purdue fountain and all of the fraternity and sorority houses. There is an entire area set off for housing called the Acres, and it is impressive. There are probably over 40 organizations here including fraternities and sororities, which isn't surprising considering there are 40,000 students. Just a little bigger than TTU huh?

The campus is so beautiful, and the chapter house is even more gorgeous. I loved spending time here! I guess I should be getting off of here and actually packing for my flight tomorrow. Below are pictures I snapped throughout my trip!

The famous Purdue fountain on campus

After our Den Pop run

Delta Epsilon Chapter of Phi Mu was est. in 1929.

President and I in front of the house

Such a beautiful house!

Purdue arch

Auburn University

Hey y'all! I am officially finished with my first chapter visit at Auburn University. I loved spending some time with my Alpha Mu sisters. They were so sweet to me, and they made my stay very enjoyable!

I was there for Ice Water Teas (day 1 of recruitment), philanthropy day, and I had to leave today, skit day! I was bummed I had to leave. The campus is SOO gorgeous. Lauren, the President, gave me a tour of campus yesterday, and I kept wondering why I didn't go there! I never thought I would say that!

I loved my stay at the local bed and breakfast. I had a freshly made omlette and fruit every morning. I am so spoiled now. Especially, when I had to go back to a muffin in the airport this morning!

These girls did such a great job all week long, and I hope to stay in touch with them and maybe even go back to visit. Who knows I might want to try to go to a UT/Auburn game sometime and drink some Toomer's lemonade. (another of the local favorites I got to try during my stay!)

I took the shuttle early this morning (5:50 am!!! Who knew that early even existed??), and now I am waiting in the ATL airport for my flight to Indianapolis in a few hours. I cannot wait to see Purdue's campus and meet these women. Work week here I come!

I am attaching pictures from my stay, and it is my goal to take a picture by every campus sign that I visit. So lots more pictures to come during my next visits. I absolutely love my new camera.

Time is already flying by. It seems like yesterday I was leaving for training, and now I am heading to my second visit. I will be away from home on my birthday tomorrow, for the first time ever, but I am so excited to spend it with the ladies of Delta Epsilon. I will have to celebrate the big 2-3 with my family on August 27, when I go home for a few days to good ole Cookeville.

Love y'all! Prayers for a safe flight today please! :)

President and Recruitment Director with me on Philanthropy Day

Some of the great girls I met!

Beautiful Campus

Off to the next campus after a great visit!

Training is over. Here I come Phi Mu America!

Training is over. I cannot believe these two weeks have already flown by! Yesterday we only went into the Headquarters for a half day. After my 5 mile MORNING run, I headed off to work. (Notice the emphasis on me actually getting up early and running instead of waiting till late at night! Ha!) While wrapping everything up yesterday, I was really amazed at everything Hara and the rest of Headquarters' staff were able to teach us. I can't forget to mention that before training yesterday, we had to all hit up the Banana Republic sale, which was 40% off of items already on sale. So I was able to get 3 business skirts and tops for under $15 a piece. I ended up packing several dresses I did not need in my mad race the night before I left for training, so I traded out these new outfits for those. With the addition of only 3 skirts, I was able to add 8 outfits to my wardrobe. I was so excited!

Yesterday afternoon we were able to relax and spend some time catching up on phone calls, talking to family members, etc. Also, the highlight of my day was getting to Skype with my daddy! Cannot believe mom and dad got Skype just for my travels, but I loved getting to see him and talk to him for a while!

Sleeping in today was amazing, but I quickly realized my body is used to waking up earlier. I was up by 9, and I am so glad! I got to enjoy the breakfast at the Dolce this morning. I had time to get an omlet and waffles, instead of the banana and yogurt I had been eating all week. I treated myself, and I told my parents about it. Since I know it's their favorite meal, I knew they would be jealous. If I could bring them to the Dolce to have breakfast I would; it's that good!

I was able to get a nice run in this afternoon, and listen to this... I had a lady stop me after getting off the treadmill to see if I could give her some personal training tips!!!! I know right? I was soooooo flattered. I have been working my tail off running since January now, and I feel like it's paying off! :)

After packing up my life into two suitcases tonight, I am ready to head to Auburn tomorrow morning bright and early. I am so excited about getting started on my first visit. These women seem so welcoming and excited about my visit, and I cannot wait to meet them. I never thought I'd be saying this, BUT let's go War Eagles! I am finally going to be on my journey of Phi Mu America, and I can't wait to share it with you all, and not to mention I will be adding pictures with my new Sony camera daddy helped me pick out. So be on the look out. Please keep me in your prayers throughout this next year. I know God has big plans for me, and I can't wait to see them unfold!

Almost time for the traveling to begin!

So, I haven't blogged in quite a few days, and I figured I'd catch y'all up on the past little bit! We only have two days left of training, and I cannot believe how fast these two weeks have flown by. I have learned SO much, and gotten so close with the other consultants. It's hard to believe that we won't all be back together until October. Cindy, Hailey, and Shelby are all heading out tomorrow... so the lucky thirteen will be only ten :( I'm not heading out until Monday. First stop Auburn!!

Yesterday-- we had our first consultant photo shoot. First, we had single shots. I wore my mom's pink and orange dress (aka my favorite dress). Let's hope they turn out good. Today-- we had our group shoot. Look for our moment of fame coming soon in the Aglaia, our Phi Mu magazine! I'll attach our cute group shot when I get one! :)

We trained most of the day today as well, but we had a little distraction this morning when Carnation Collection (Phi Mu's retail store) showed us their entire stockroom of items. Needless to say I walked away spending $60, but I wanted to buy the whole store. It's Phi Mu heaven in there!

So glad I got to go back to Fork in the Road today because it is my favorite restaurant in all of Peachtree City. I love country food, and I've been missing Cracker Barrel with Jerry and Reba. I had chicken pot pie, but I have to say Cracker Barrel's is still my favorite.  :)

Since I got my run in earlier today, I'm just relaxing tonight and about to have sweet little angel Amanda paint my nails for me! We get to sleep in and go to work at 10 in the morning, so I'm going to be hitting the sack early and taking advantage of our extra hour... Because all know how much of a morning person Brittany is, NOT!

Pictures will come soon. I want everyone to see just how beautiful Headquarters is, so I will take one in the morning for y'all! Goodnight y'all!