Sunday, July 27, 2008
I am miserable with the way that I look and I know it’s my fault. I’m really doing great with working out, but it’s just not enough. The part I struggle with is the food. Yesterday I did really well. For a while anyway. I worked out hard and ate well… then the evening set in and, as usual, I got snacky. Nicole was at the clubhouse on the internet so I didn’t feel guilty snacking, and I still didn’t do too bad. I had healthy snacks, just several of them when I wasn’t the least bit hungry. And then I went out dancing, so I’d like to think I burned off all the extra calories that I ate. Tonight, however, was not quite the near happy ending as the night before. I worked out really hard this afternoon and I felt great afterwards, but I was really craving some pizza. My plans was to only eat 2 pieces to satisfy my craving and my appetite. I ate 6 pieces. Hours later I felt completely disgusting and guilty and just plain awful. It’s easy for me to eat well when I’m living with Sandy because I can feel her constantly watching me and judging me. It’s different here. My boss pokes fun at me for working out so much and my coworkers often try to encourage me to order burgers and such instead of salads when we go out to eat. It’s torture. I’m a member of the Biggest Loser Club online and it’s a program that you have to pay a monthly membership to. I can keep track of my daily calorie intake, my workouts and my weight loss progress, but I have to have internet in order to do this! We don’t have internet in our apartment so we have to go to the community clubhouse to use the internet there, and that only works two thirds of the time. It wasn’t working today so I wasn’t entirely sure where I was at calorie wise. The staff at the clubhouse are trashy and don’t care about anything, especially the status of the internet. Right now I just wish I was in Austin so I could loose the freaking weight that I want, I could use the internet when I want to and could be around people who care about me and actually want to talk to me. I definitely LOVE my job, but I don’t love Pickwick, or Nicole at the moment or my eating habits.
Anyway, last night Amber invited me to go down to Broad Ripple (think 6th street on a smaller scale) with Andy and a couple of their friends. Nicole couldn’t go because she’s not 21 yet (2 more weeks!) so the only people that I knew were Andy and Amber. Amber had a friend in town and we met up with some more people that they knew and it ended up being awkward for me. Amber didn’t really talk to me much, she more just stuck to her friend Erica so I ended up feeling like a third wheel. After I’d had a couple of drinks I got brave enough to hit the dance floor. I ended up dancing with one of Andy’s friend, who wasn’t very cute, but I was so desperate for someone to talk to that I didn’t even care when he started hitting on me. Just when I was starting to have some fun Amber told me that she and Andy were ready to leave. It was about 12:30. Matt, the guy I’d been dancing with, had actually rode with us there and was going to stay and get a ride with someone else. He offered to give me a life home if I wanted to stay longer, and he wasn’t really creepy, but I still felt like it was best for me to leave with Amber. I guess my main reason for that was just so that Amber didn’t think I was interested in him or wonder what happened after she left or any other option in that direction. I did have fun that night, but it was when I was dancing with strangers. I just felt like Amber invited me out of pity so I wouldn’t be sitting at home, which I appreciate, but it also would have been nice if I felt like she actually wanted me there.
Tomorrow Nicole and I have Risk Management training at a hotel with a bunch of consultants from other sororities. I’m not really looking forward to that. Christ told us it’s probably going to be quite boring and that the main reason for it is to meet people. I suck at meeting people. Ugh.
Monday, July 28, 2008
I learned a lot today. Not so much about Risk Management, but just a lot of stuff about a lot of things. I did learn a few interesting things about Risk Management that I’m definitely going to pass along to other chapters, like secrets about Sober Sister or Roadside Assistant Sister and about guests lists, etc. I also learned some things about transitioning from college life to the real world (it’s quite the transition really). One of the first things we learned is that the Golden Rule does not apply in the work place. Rather than do unto others as you would have them do unto you, it really should be “Do unto others as they would like to have done unto them”. We came to this conclusion after having done a mini communication styles quiz to identify what kind of communicators we were. The four categories were Regulators, Analyzers, Moderators and Exponents. It was really interesting and we talked at length about the different characteristics of the different communicators in different work place and real life situations. The fundamental point of the exercise was not just to identify what we were, but also to identify what those around us were so we could more effectively work with them. If our boss is a regulator, we need to keep that in mind and cater to that when communicating with them, hence the change in the work place golden rule. In doing this activity I felt I was able to identify what kind of communicator me and some of my friends are. Elaine and I are regulators. I believe Becca to be an analyzer, Hannah and Crystal to be moderators and John and Samantha to be exponents. We all posses characteristics of each kind of communicator, but these were what I felt were most fitting for us. When I took the test it said I was a moderator, but we only answered 10 questions when it’s usually about 150, so he told us that these results may not be quite accurate, but the descriptions of the different styles would be more accurate and tell us more about ourselves and others.
I also learned that things that are good to do in college are not going to be so great to do in the work place, such as doing everyone else’s work, doing exactly as your told, waiting to be taught, broadcasting your complaints and taking a 3 month summer vacation! The presenter went on to talk about qualities that are valued in college versus qualities that are valued in the work place. For example:
COLLEGE WORK
-independence -team work
-individuality -conformity
-entitlement -duty
-equality -hierarchy
He was a very good speaker and he told us that making the transition from college to the work place is very difficult. He compared it to the transition you go through when you become a parent. In college, it’s all about finding yourself and expressing yourself, and most of the time, that’s not really the case out in the work place. He gave us a list of 15 things we can to do to become a better employee and a website with more resources (www.jobbound.com).
I also had a much better day today emotionally (and with food) and I learned some things about myself on this day out. There were several different speakers that got up and spoke throughout the day. One of them was the other author of I Heart Recruitment. We met with Jessica last week to talk about recruitment stuff and today Colleen got up and talked about what it’s like to have mental health issues in college, including eating disorders. It was really interesting to hear her tell her story. After she spoke, another woman got up and talked about hot to deal with helping someone else with an eating disorder. When she first got up there, she told us that she herself used to be overweight and has lost 85 pounds in the last 4 years through a 12 step weight loss program called Overeaters Anonymous. I made a note of that in my notebook to look it up later. When I came home I did and I think it might be something worth looking into. It’s not a program that you have to pay for at all, which is a plus for me given my current lack of an adequate income. It’s also based on the same 12 steps and 12 traditions of Alcoholics Anonymous, which I’m very familiar with since the majority of my family has been through that program and I used to attend Ala-non meetings in middle school. There are meetings and you get a sponsor and everything. I think I’m going to look up some meeting times here in Indy and go to a few (the recommend going to 6 different meetings before deciding if it is right for you and settling on a particular meeting group) and see if I think that’ its right for me. It’s all about identifying the issues in your life and helping you to deal with those in relation to eating and helping you to abstain from overeating rather that simply making a diet plan and restricting what you eat, etc. I also realized that what I’m doing at the moment may be working, but I’m just so freaking impatient. Even with the mess-ups that I’ve had, I still have not gained any weight in the last 4 weeks, which is good. But I lost 4 pounds rather quickly and then slowly lost another 2 and I need to recognize that it took me 3 years to put this weight on, so it’s going to take me some time to take it off. That’s really hard for me. I guess it’s also hard because back when I did the south beach a couple of years ago I lost like 15 pound pretty quickly and kept it off for over a year. I’m frustrated that I’m not able to do that again. I need to remember that I am a completely different person now than I was back then and my life style is completely different and will never again be as simple as it was then. This new program is something that (if I decide I like it and is worth it) is something that I think I can do while I’m on the road and will simply compliment what I’m doing now and also help to improve me as a person. I won’t be able to regularly attend meetings, but I will have contact information for people that I can talk to on the phone and get support from them as well as the materials that I can read. I’m not sure how much time I’ll really have to read these things because I’ll have so much going on and the time I will have off I will want to spend on things I enjoy, like personal reading and movie, but I’m going to give it a shot and see what it has to offer. Even if it’s not something that will work for my life right now, maybe it’s something that will work for me later in life. After reading through pages and pages of material on the website, I realized that I do have an eating problem. I may not be morbidly obese, but I don’t want to wait until I am before I start addressing the problem, especially when I see it now. I’m also proud of myself because I got up and worked out this morning. I didn’t make it to the gym, but I did crunches and lunges and things of that sort for 20 minutes. I was exhausted when I got home from the workshop this evening but because I’ve been so good about making it to the gym and because I didn’t do bad with eating today and because I did make the time this morning to work out, I was ok taking a day off from the gym. I don’t want to get burnt out on it, so I don’t force myself to go when I’m just not feeling up to it. I really enjoy working out so I end up going like 5 days a week, which I feel is very acceptable.
There were consultants from 16 different sororities there today and I got to meet a lot of people. The people that I felt would be useful are the two consultants that are also going to Clayton State in Georgia to start a chapter. I gave them my business card and we chatted with them about our worries, etc. It was interesting to talk to all these other girls and hear how differently their organizations do training and to hear about what their sorority experience was like at a big school. Alpha Sigma Alpha tends to be at smaller schools with smaller chapters. We are at some big school with big chapters over a hundred women, but we were hearing stories about 600 plus women going through recruitment with new member classes of 80 and chapter total being over 200. It was nuts to imagine a chapter like that! It did get me worried about dealing with bigger chapters and universities. I know I won’t be dealing with anything quite that big, but Greek life elsewhere is still going to be a major shock to me since I really don’t have much to compare it to. From what I’ve heard from other consultants and from woman at convention, Greek life at Schreiner is not a good representation of what real Greek life is like. This is something I’ve always suspected (clearly) but now I know for sure. When the show Greek first came out, a lot of the Greeks on my campus were upset about the way it portrayed Greek life saying “It’s not like that at all!” but now I’ve heard several people say that it really is pretty accurate of what Greek life is like on a lot of campuses. I have no idea what to expect! There were also 16 women there who were second year consultants. I know that you can reapply to be an LC again if you wish to do so, but it’s not that common in Alpha Sigma Alpha. We’ve had I think 3 women do it for 2 years in the last 30 years, whereas there was one chapter today who had 7 returning consultants and 6 new consultants. That was also a shock that they had 13 consultants compared to our 2 (though we soon hope to have 3). I’m not going to make any decisions now, partly because I kind of like the idea of not knowing what’s going to come next in my life, but who knows. Maybe this is something that I’ll want to do again next year.
Some random, disturbing facts about the apartment complex that I’m currently living in:
Nicole was at the pool the other day and struck up a conversation with someone who told her that there have been a lot of reports of theft in the complex lately. We had just been talking about the number of cops we see driving around the complex, so with this new information we have our door constantly locked, even when we’re home and are sure to lock the dead bolt and the handle when we’re not.
We got home from our workshop this afternoon and walked up to the building to find a poster nailed to the wall with a picture of 4 black men on it that read: “WANTED! If you see these men in Pickwick, call 911 immediately!” Are you shitting me?? I was going to walk over and do laundry this evening, but Nicole was at the clubhouse and I’m no longer comfortable walking over there in the dark by myself, so I put my laundry off until tomorrow. This place just keeps getting better and better.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Saturday, July 26, 2008
Secret heart, what are you made of? What are you so afraid of?
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to writing in my actual journal every night and then transferring it into blogs later. I did that for the first few days that I was in Indy and it turns out I like it better than just waiting until I have time to write one on the computer. It gives me a chance to reflect on my day while it’s still fresh in my mind and then go back and elaborate more when I have the time.
I like the relationship that Nicole and I have. We get along really well, but we don’t really talk and open up to each other about things. I like this with her; I think it fits us really well, but I hope that the new girl and I will be closer. When she gets here she’ll be sharing a room with me. I’m proud of myself for offering to let her stay in my room because I’m usually pretty selfish about things like that.
Today was Tess’s birthday and I got to talk to her on the phone for quite a while. It was really nice. We didn’t really have lots of things to tell each other, but we found lots to talk about. I really miss her and getting to hang out with her. I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to see her again this summer and that I probably won’t see her again until December.
I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I like having a little bit of a routine and feeling like I’m in control of my day. I went to the gym today weighed myself. I was pretty scared about doing this because the last time I weighed myself was two weeks ago and I was nervous that I’d gained weight while I was at convention. I was surprised (and rather pleased) to see that I was actually a pound lighter. I know that one pound in two weeks isn’t a lot, but I was just excited to see that I’d made any progress at all rather than backtracking. I had a really great time at convention, but that’s another reason that I’m glad to be back -- I more in control of what I eat and when I get to workout. Nicole and I might be going out tomorrow night, so I’m going to try and get up early in the morning and workout before I go to the office.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I went out tonight. It was Nicole and I meeting up with a few of the local Greeks. We were nervous because we didn’t really know them, but shortly after we showed up some other girls from work did too, so that was good. I’d like to say that I had a GREAT time. It was ok. It reminded me of Kerrville a bit. Me sitting by while my roommate gets hit on by a bunch of cute boys. Except in Kerrville I have other friends that I can turn to in order to distract me and I didn’t really have that tonight. So I sat quietly, smiled a lot and drank my drinks. I tried to engage in conversations with people, but it was Karaoke night and we were sitting right in front, so it was kind of hard to hear people. And we all know that I don’t have the best hearing as it is, so eventually I just gave up. I’m really happy being single, but I really wouldn’t mind a little attention from guys. I am still a single, straight girl. This is where turning my journal into a blog becomes hard for me. I have a lot of thoughts going through my head, but do I really want to share them with whoever reads this? Nope. So instead I’ll just backtrack a bit and talk about my day before going out to do Karaoke.
Nicole and I met with Jessica today. She is one of the authors of I Heart Recruitment. She was super nice and fun and I learned a lot from her (she was also at the bar with us later, which was fun!). I took lots of notes that will help me on the road and I’m also excited about sharing all of this with Elaine. We did a lot of training today. We talked about where we’re going to be traveling to our first 5 weeks on the road (which I’ve already posted on here) and I’m really excited about it. I’m nervous, but excited and optimistic. We talked about how we’re going to go out and meet girls and get them interested in starting a chapter at Clayton State in GA. I met with Amber for a while and we talked about Psi Psi and the things that they’re struggling with and how we’re basically going to be treating them like a new colony. It’s a little overwhelming, but I’m sure it will seem less so as I get more training.
I knew that we were going to be going out tonight so I got up and went to the gym before work today to make sure that I got my workout in. When we got home from work I still felt kind of lazy and gross so I went for an hour long walk while I talked to Elaine on the phone. It was really nice getting to talk to her. I miss her bunches. I had to write a difficult email this evening, and I talked to her about it a little. It was really hard for me to write this email, but once again, this a blog that people read, so I’ll refrain from talking about it and how I feel.
Ugh. I’m just feeling really down right now. To be completely honest, I feel a little fat, really ugly, boring and plain. I don’t like it. This isn’t how I normally feel, especially lately, but these aren’t completely uncommon feelings for me either. I hate being a girl. I think I might also be getting a little home sick. Yuck. I still have 3 more weeks of training and then at least 5 weeks on the road before my vacation. If I see you on my vacation, please be nice to me! I’ll need it.
Friday, July 25, 2008
I was still a bit grumpy when I woke up this morning. I wanted to sleep in and couldn’t and then after I got out of the shower I realized that I miscalculated the time and I really could have slept for another 30 minutes. I was pretty bummed.
At work today we went over the kinds of reports that we’re going to have to do, depending on the type of visit it is to the chapter (usually recruitment or discipline). We also talked about the things that we have to do in order to prepare for a visit to the chapter, and the things we have to do once we’ve finished visiting, not to mention all of the things that we have to do during the visit. It was rather overwhelming. I just don’t see how there’s enough time in the week for it all, especially when we’re only allowed to work 40 hours a week. I’m still really excited about it all (it’s starting to feel real now that we know where we’re going) but I’m nervous that I’m going to get stressed out.
It was really nice only having to work until noon today. I was really tired and decided to take a nap for a couple of hours and ended up sleeping for 4 hours. Nicole and I went out to dinner with Louise. They messed up both mine and Nicole’s dinners so we both got them for free, which was a pleasant little surprise. Then we went for ice cream and to see the new Batman movie. It was fun getting to hang out with Louise outside of work. She’s a hoot! The movie was really good too. Nicole got a text from the guy she was flirting with last night inviting us to come and hang out with them, but it was after midnight when we got out of the movie and Nicole just wanted to go home and go to bed, so we did. I also had an email waiting for me when I got out of the movie that certainly did not bring a smile to my face. That was a shame because I was in a really good mood before then.
I hope I’m able to sleep tonight after that long nap that I took. Right now I’m talking to Steven, who I haven’t talked to much since like April. He’s graduating in December and I guess him and a friend (who’s from China) are hoping to move to China sometime after he graduates and start a business over there. He’s not certain that it’s going to happen, but I hope that it does so I have an excuse to go to China! Before I left this summer I was really excited about buying a new car when I get done with this job, but now I’m not so excited about it. I’m excited to be getting a newer car, but I’m a bit torn about getting a brand new car. I know I can get one that’s only a year old for like $10,000 or less and it’s going to be like $23,000 for a brand new one. I just don’t know how I feel about putting all of that extra money towards a car that’s not that much better when I could use it to do things like go visit John in India or Steven in China. Those are experiences that I’m going to remember forever. Am I really going to care 30 years from now if my car was a 2007 or a 2008? Probably not. But I guess I’ll deal with all of that when it gets closer.
I’m starting to get a bit lonely here. Nicole and I are almost always together, but we don’t really talk about our lives with each other. I really wanted someone to talk to when I got out of the movie tonight, but I felt like I had no one. It was too late to call Hannah’s house and she doesn’t have a cell in Winnsboro. And it was way too late to call John. Hopefully Nicole and I meet some more people soon and start going out more and maybe once we’re more social I’ll start to feel better. Oh, I got paid today! Too bad I have a ton of bills to pay.
I’ve decided that I’m going to go back to writing in my actual journal every night and then transferring it into blogs later. I did that for the first few days that I was in Indy and it turns out I like it better than just waiting until I have time to write one on the computer. It gives me a chance to reflect on my day while it’s still fresh in my mind and then go back and elaborate more when I have the time.
I like the relationship that Nicole and I have. We get along really well, but we don’t really talk and open up to each other about things. I like this with her; I think it fits us really well, but I hope that the new girl and I will be closer. When she gets here she’ll be sharing a room with me. I’m proud of myself for offering to let her stay in my room because I’m usually pretty selfish about things like that.
Today was Tess’s birthday and I got to talk to her on the phone for quite a while. It was really nice. We didn’t really have lots of things to tell each other, but we found lots to talk about. I really miss her and getting to hang out with her. I’m sad I didn’t get a chance to see her again this summer and that I probably won’t see her again until December.
I’m looking forward to going back to work tomorrow. I like having a little bit of a routine and feeling like I’m in control of my day. I went to the gym today weighed myself. I was pretty scared about doing this because the last time I weighed myself was two weeks ago and I was nervous that I’d gained weight while I was at convention. I was surprised (and rather pleased) to see that I was actually a pound lighter. I know that one pound in two weeks isn’t a lot, but I was just excited to see that I’d made any progress at all rather than backtracking. I had a really great time at convention, but that’s another reason that I’m glad to be back -- I more in control of what I eat and when I get to workout. Nicole and I might be going out tomorrow night, so I’m going to try and get up early in the morning and workout before I go to the office.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
I went out tonight. It was Nicole and I meeting up with a few of the local Greeks. We were nervous because we didn’t really know them, but shortly after we showed up some other girls from work did too, so that was good. I’d like to say that I had a GREAT time. It was ok. It reminded me of Kerrville a bit. Me sitting by while my roommate gets hit on by a bunch of cute boys. Except in Kerrville I have other friends that I can turn to in order to distract me and I didn’t really have that tonight. So I sat quietly, smiled a lot and drank my drinks. I tried to engage in conversations with people, but it was Karaoke night and we were sitting right in front, so it was kind of hard to hear people. And we all know that I don’t have the best hearing as it is, so eventually I just gave up. I’m really happy being single, but I really wouldn’t mind a little attention from guys. I am still a single, straight girl. This is where turning my journal into a blog becomes hard for me. I have a lot of thoughts going through my head, but do I really want to share them with whoever reads this? Nope. So instead I’ll just backtrack a bit and talk about my day before going out to do Karaoke.
Nicole and I met with Jessica today. She is one of the authors of I Heart Recruitment. She was super nice and fun and I learned a lot from her (she was also at the bar with us later, which was fun!). I took lots of notes that will help me on the road and I’m also excited about sharing all of this with Elaine. We did a lot of training today. We talked about where we’re going to be traveling to our first 5 weeks on the road (which I’ve already posted on here) and I’m really excited about it. I’m nervous, but excited and optimistic. We talked about how we’re going to go out and meet girls and get them interested in starting a chapter at Clayton State in GA. I met with Amber for a while and we talked about Psi Psi and the things that they’re struggling with and how we’re basically going to be treating them like a new colony. It’s a little overwhelming, but I’m sure it will seem less so as I get more training.
I knew that we were going to be going out tonight so I got up and went to the gym before work today to make sure that I got my workout in. When we got home from work I still felt kind of lazy and gross so I went for an hour long walk while I talked to Elaine on the phone. It was really nice getting to talk to her. I miss her bunches. I had to write a difficult email this evening, and I talked to her about it a little. It was really hard for me to write this email, but once again, this a blog that people read, so I’ll refrain from talking about it and how I feel.
Ugh. I’m just feeling really down right now. To be completely honest, I feel a little fat, really ugly, boring and plain. I don’t like it. This isn’t how I normally feel, especially lately, but these aren’t completely uncommon feelings for me either. I hate being a girl. I think I might also be getting a little home sick. Yuck. I still have 3 more weeks of training and then at least 5 weeks on the road before my vacation. If I see you on my vacation, please be nice to me! I’ll need it.
Friday, July 25, 2008
I was still a bit grumpy when I woke up this morning. I wanted to sleep in and couldn’t and then after I got out of the shower I realized that I miscalculated the time and I really could have slept for another 30 minutes. I was pretty bummed.
At work today we went over the kinds of reports that we’re going to have to do, depending on the type of visit it is to the chapter (usually recruitment or discipline). We also talked about the things that we have to do in order to prepare for a visit to the chapter, and the things we have to do once we’ve finished visiting, not to mention all of the things that we have to do during the visit. It was rather overwhelming. I just don’t see how there’s enough time in the week for it all, especially when we’re only allowed to work 40 hours a week. I’m still really excited about it all (it’s starting to feel real now that we know where we’re going) but I’m nervous that I’m going to get stressed out.
It was really nice only having to work until noon today. I was really tired and decided to take a nap for a couple of hours and ended up sleeping for 4 hours. Nicole and I went out to dinner with Louise. They messed up both mine and Nicole’s dinners so we both got them for free, which was a pleasant little surprise. Then we went for ice cream and to see the new Batman movie. It was fun getting to hang out with Louise outside of work. She’s a hoot! The movie was really good too. Nicole got a text from the guy she was flirting with last night inviting us to come and hang out with them, but it was after midnight when we got out of the movie and Nicole just wanted to go home and go to bed, so we did. I also had an email waiting for me when I got out of the movie that certainly did not bring a smile to my face. That was a shame because I was in a really good mood before then.
I hope I’m able to sleep tonight after that long nap that I took. Right now I’m talking to Steven, who I haven’t talked to much since like April. He’s graduating in December and I guess him and a friend (who’s from China) are hoping to move to China sometime after he graduates and start a business over there. He’s not certain that it’s going to happen, but I hope that it does so I have an excuse to go to China! Before I left this summer I was really excited about buying a new car when I get done with this job, but now I’m not so excited about it. I’m excited to be getting a newer car, but I’m a bit torn about getting a brand new car. I know I can get one that’s only a year old for like $10,000 or less and it’s going to be like $23,000 for a brand new one. I just don’t know how I feel about putting all of that extra money towards a car that’s not that much better when I could use it to do things like go visit John in India or Steven in China. Those are experiences that I’m going to remember forever. Am I really going to care 30 years from now if my car was a 2007 or a 2008? Probably not. But I guess I’ll deal with all of that when it gets closer.
I’m starting to get a bit lonely here. Nicole and I are almost always together, but we don’t really talk about our lives with each other. I really wanted someone to talk to when I got out of the movie tonight, but I felt like I had no one. It was too late to call Hannah’s house and she doesn’t have a cell in Winnsboro. And it was way too late to call John. Hopefully Nicole and I meet some more people soon and start going out more and maybe once we’re more social I’ll start to feel better. Oh, I got paid today! Too bad I have a ton of bills to pay.
Thursday, July 24, 2008
My vacation and travel schedule!
I found out my travel schedule for now through mid-September. Before I get into where I am going I want to let everyone know that I will not be coming home September 15-19 as planned. There is a chapter that desperately needs me that week so I have to pick a new week for my vacation time. As soon as I talk to Sandy and figure out their schedule I will let everyone know when it’s going to be.
As for my travel schedule for the 5 weeks following trainging, this is how it goes:
August 17-22 Clayton State University in Georgia. This is the colony that we’re starting from scratch. Nicole and I are both going to go there the first week and try and recruit about 10 or so women to get a good base group and then I’m heading to another chapter and leaving the rest up to her.
August 23-September 6 Psi Psi Chapter at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. This is the revitalization chapter. This chapter currently only has 8 members and we’re not even sure if all 8 of these members are going to be up for the task of getting the chapter back on track. So I’m going to be going in there and treating them like a colony pretty much. I’m excited!
September 7-13 Rogers State University in Oklahoma. This is the colony that was established last year that just wasn’t quite ready to be installed as a chapter. I’m going to be working with them to give them the nice kick-in-the-butt that they need so they can be installed as a chapter.
September 14-20 Beta Theta Chapter at Central Michigan University. This chapter is like 15 away from total so they need me to come and help them prepare for recruitment. They’re not technically a revitalization chapter, but they pretty much are.
So, given my schedule thus far, it seems as though I will be working with districts 5, 7 and 9. Yes, my chapter is from district 7, but I am pretty sure they don’t need a visit so I don’t have to go there on official business. I am, however, taking copious amounts of notes to pass along to them!
As for my travel schedule for the 5 weeks following trainging, this is how it goes:
August 17-22 Clayton State University in Georgia. This is the colony that we’re starting from scratch. Nicole and I are both going to go there the first week and try and recruit about 10 or so women to get a good base group and then I’m heading to another chapter and leaving the rest up to her.
August 23-September 6 Psi Psi Chapter at Northwestern State University in Louisiana. This is the revitalization chapter. This chapter currently only has 8 members and we’re not even sure if all 8 of these members are going to be up for the task of getting the chapter back on track. So I’m going to be going in there and treating them like a colony pretty much. I’m excited!
September 7-13 Rogers State University in Oklahoma. This is the colony that was established last year that just wasn’t quite ready to be installed as a chapter. I’m going to be working with them to give them the nice kick-in-the-butt that they need so they can be installed as a chapter.
September 14-20 Beta Theta Chapter at Central Michigan University. This chapter is like 15 away from total so they need me to come and help them prepare for recruitment. They’re not technically a revitalization chapter, but they pretty much are.
So, given my schedule thus far, it seems as though I will be working with districts 5, 7 and 9. Yes, my chapter is from district 7, but I am pretty sure they don’t need a visit so I don’t have to go there on official business. I am, however, taking copious amounts of notes to pass along to them!
This is what my life looks like.
This is what the beds at our hotel in Albuquerque looked like. They were so comfy! 
This is our lovely TV at the hotel. About ten times nicer than the one in our apartment.
This is our lovely TV at the hotel. About ten times nicer than the one in our apartment.
This is the beautiful view from our hotel room in Albuquerque. It was gorgeous, but I would never want to live in New Mexico. 
This is my very first business card! :)
This is my bedroom at Pickwick Farms Apartment Complex in Indianapolis. Lovely, right?
This is our dining room. Don't you love the wallpaper? Me too. That chair is where I spend most of my time. 
This is the view of the rest of our living room (and magnificent TV). The couch is where you can usually find Nicole. 
This is the view from our apartment balcony. I like it a lot. I love that the grass is so green and the tree is so pretty. I stand and look out the window a lot. 
Coming soon: Pictures of my office and National Heaquarters. And maybe some other stuff too!
So conventional
Monday, July 21, 2008
Saturday we had our third business meeting. In this one we elected our new National Council, which was exciting. We already knew who they were going to be so this was just a formality, but it was neat to get to be a part of it. After the business meeting we had about an hour and a half before the next thing, so I went up to the hotel room and just relaxed for a while. It was nice. After that we had a Sanctuary degree to initiate some Alumna initiates (woman who decide after college that they want to be a part of ASA). It was neat to get to see a ritual performed by our national council. National Council did perform my initiation, which was amazing, but it was also cool to get to just sit back and watch it. After that we had a little memorial service for all of the women in ASA who have died over the past biennium. It was really moving and amazing thing to sit and watch. Nora spoke about her mom and had the entire room in tears, some other women spoke about their house mom and how much she meant to them. It was really incredible. I was disappointed because some of the girls from my chapter decided to skip out on sanctuary and the memorial service and some staff members even noticed and pointed it out to me. That was kind of embarrassing. After that I went to lunch with all the girls from my chapter and with Amber.
Amber and I had to leave lunch early because we had an LC reunion to go to. THAT was awesome! There were like 20 women there. Some of them were LC’s back in the ‘70’s and it was great to get to meet all of them, hear their stories and get to see what I have to look forward to. They all offered to take me to dinner or let me stay at their house if I’m ever in their area, so I hope I am at some point. This was like the 3rd or 4th opportunity that I had to just sit around with women and get to know them. Women who have been members of Alpha Sigma Alpha for over forty years, women who founded their chapters, women who as LC’s had to close down chapters, women who have served on National Council or did at one point, women who have really shaped ASA into what it is today. These are the women that I want to be like.
Later that evening we had our awards ceremony and banquet. When I went to put on my dress I discovered that the zipper was broken and it took me about 20 minutes to get into my dress. I did finally get into it, but it meant I was late for the pictures that I was supposed to be taking. Luckily they were running behind, so it wasn’t such a big deal. I really enjoyed the awards. They were really long, but I honestly didn’t mind. Our chapter won some awards and while some of the girls really disappointed me on this trip, I am really proud of our chapter, a select woman in particular. I’m not going to say any more about that because it is all to be revealed to our chapter at the first meeting of the year. But it was awesome to see all the different awards that are given every year and the pride in the faces of the women accepting the awards. I loved it! After the banquet I had the chance to sit and talk with Rae for a while, just us, and that was really nice too. She and I were never particularly close while I was at Schreiner so I’m glad that I got the chance to get to know her better on the trip. Malorie came and joined us later and we just laid around chatting and gossiping like a bunch of girls. It was lovely. I was very sad to have to say goodbye to these ladies at the end of the night. I have definitely missed them and going to miss getting to see them every week this next year.
Sunday wasn’t anything too exciting. It was announced that the next convention is going to be in Indianapolis in 2010. At this point I am definitely planning on attending. I know I have said that lots of things we lovely and it was great to see this and meet them and do that, but it really was an amazing experience for me. I tried to soak it all up so when I look back I’ll really remember my first convention and all that it meant to me.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Since getting back, Nicole and I have just done a lot of sitting around. We got back Monday evening and did some grocery shopping. Monday I went and worked out, read my book for a while (I’m now reading “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. I’m excited about it) and just relaxed. Today was pretty much the same. Worked out, got on the internet for a while, read, watched TV. Nothing exciting at all. Tomorrow we are meeting with one of the authors of “I Heart Recruitment” and I’m excited about that. After work we might be going out with some of the local Greeks. YAY! I miss having a social life.
Now that I have detailed the events of my last week, let me share some of my more recent thoughts. Emily, one of the girls who was an LC last year, is leaving in August to go do grad school in Ireland. How freaking awesome is that? I want to go to Ireland! Or anywhere really. I just want to go! I definitely have a need to travel, and I know I’ve talked about that a lot lately, but I’m really looking forward to whatever comes next in my life because at this point it can be anything! Well… I guess I have to be able to afford whatever comes next, and I do have to start paying off my loans in November and I’m trying to buy a car in April. Hmmm, that might stall stall my plans a bit. Or, if I decide to travel some place else, I won’t need to buy a car immediately. I have plenty of time to try and figure all that out I guess.
I bought a new book in the air port on the way home from Albuquerque. I decided that I’m going to read a book simply for pleasure, then stimulating book of some sort. I just finished a pleasure book, and I was going to try and read one from my list that I came up with last week, but my options at the airport were limited. I like what I know about Barack Obama so far so I decided to get his book and learn a little bit more about him and our government, especially if I’m thinking of voting for him in November. Which reminds me, I need to see about getting an absentee ballot so I can vote. I’m not very far into the book so far, but I like it. I can only read about a chapter at a time before I have to take a break. It’s really interesting, but it’s not captivating. Well, some parts of it are, but not all of it. Basically, I do like it a lot so far, it’s just not going to be as quick of a read as my last book was.
Saturday we had our third business meeting. In this one we elected our new National Council, which was exciting. We already knew who they were going to be so this was just a formality, but it was neat to get to be a part of it. After the business meeting we had about an hour and a half before the next thing, so I went up to the hotel room and just relaxed for a while. It was nice. After that we had a Sanctuary degree to initiate some Alumna initiates (woman who decide after college that they want to be a part of ASA). It was neat to get to see a ritual performed by our national council. National Council did perform my initiation, which was amazing, but it was also cool to get to just sit back and watch it. After that we had a little memorial service for all of the women in ASA who have died over the past biennium. It was really moving and amazing thing to sit and watch. Nora spoke about her mom and had the entire room in tears, some other women spoke about their house mom and how much she meant to them. It was really incredible. I was disappointed because some of the girls from my chapter decided to skip out on sanctuary and the memorial service and some staff members even noticed and pointed it out to me. That was kind of embarrassing. After that I went to lunch with all the girls from my chapter and with Amber.
Amber and I had to leave lunch early because we had an LC reunion to go to. THAT was awesome! There were like 20 women there. Some of them were LC’s back in the ‘70’s and it was great to get to meet all of them, hear their stories and get to see what I have to look forward to. They all offered to take me to dinner or let me stay at their house if I’m ever in their area, so I hope I am at some point. This was like the 3rd or 4th opportunity that I had to just sit around with women and get to know them. Women who have been members of Alpha Sigma Alpha for over forty years, women who founded their chapters, women who as LC’s had to close down chapters, women who have served on National Council or did at one point, women who have really shaped ASA into what it is today. These are the women that I want to be like.
Later that evening we had our awards ceremony and banquet. When I went to put on my dress I discovered that the zipper was broken and it took me about 20 minutes to get into my dress. I did finally get into it, but it meant I was late for the pictures that I was supposed to be taking. Luckily they were running behind, so it wasn’t such a big deal. I really enjoyed the awards. They were really long, but I honestly didn’t mind. Our chapter won some awards and while some of the girls really disappointed me on this trip, I am really proud of our chapter, a select woman in particular. I’m not going to say any more about that because it is all to be revealed to our chapter at the first meeting of the year. But it was awesome to see all the different awards that are given every year and the pride in the faces of the women accepting the awards. I loved it! After the banquet I had the chance to sit and talk with Rae for a while, just us, and that was really nice too. She and I were never particularly close while I was at Schreiner so I’m glad that I got the chance to get to know her better on the trip. Malorie came and joined us later and we just laid around chatting and gossiping like a bunch of girls. It was lovely. I was very sad to have to say goodbye to these ladies at the end of the night. I have definitely missed them and going to miss getting to see them every week this next year.
Sunday wasn’t anything too exciting. It was announced that the next convention is going to be in Indianapolis in 2010. At this point I am definitely planning on attending. I know I have said that lots of things we lovely and it was great to see this and meet them and do that, but it really was an amazing experience for me. I tried to soak it all up so when I look back I’ll really remember my first convention and all that it meant to me.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Since getting back, Nicole and I have just done a lot of sitting around. We got back Monday evening and did some grocery shopping. Monday I went and worked out, read my book for a while (I’m now reading “The Audacity of Hope” by Barack Obama. I’m excited about it) and just relaxed. Today was pretty much the same. Worked out, got on the internet for a while, read, watched TV. Nothing exciting at all. Tomorrow we are meeting with one of the authors of “I Heart Recruitment” and I’m excited about that. After work we might be going out with some of the local Greeks. YAY! I miss having a social life.
Now that I have detailed the events of my last week, let me share some of my more recent thoughts. Emily, one of the girls who was an LC last year, is leaving in August to go do grad school in Ireland. How freaking awesome is that? I want to go to Ireland! Or anywhere really. I just want to go! I definitely have a need to travel, and I know I’ve talked about that a lot lately, but I’m really looking forward to whatever comes next in my life because at this point it can be anything! Well… I guess I have to be able to afford whatever comes next, and I do have to start paying off my loans in November and I’m trying to buy a car in April. Hmmm, that might stall stall my plans a bit. Or, if I decide to travel some place else, I won’t need to buy a car immediately. I have plenty of time to try and figure all that out I guess.
I bought a new book in the air port on the way home from Albuquerque. I decided that I’m going to read a book simply for pleasure, then stimulating book of some sort. I just finished a pleasure book, and I was going to try and read one from my list that I came up with last week, but my options at the airport were limited. I like what I know about Barack Obama so far so I decided to get his book and learn a little bit more about him and our government, especially if I’m thinking of voting for him in November. Which reminds me, I need to see about getting an absentee ballot so I can vote. I’m not very far into the book so far, but I like it. I can only read about a chapter at a time before I have to take a break. It’s really interesting, but it’s not captivating. Well, some parts of it are, but not all of it. Basically, I do like it a lot so far, it’s just not going to be as quick of a read as my last book was.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
My conventional experiences
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
So, now that I’m back in Indy I guess I should sit and write about my experiences at Convention, because that’s definitely something that I am going to want to go back and read about. Let me back tack. I guess I left off Wednesday night, so I have about a week to catch up on. Here it goes!
Wednesday night I didn’t really feel like socializing too much, and luckily the girls (Becca, Malorie, Elizabeth and Rae) didn’t ask me to. After the night’s festivities, I just went back to my room, wrote the blog and went to sleep. I think I was asleep by like 10:30 or something like that. It was great. I did end up having a dream about dying. I don’t know what was wrong with me, if I had cancer or what, but I knew that I was dying. I was in Austin and I was in my living room sitting in my Grandma’s chair. This chair is her recliner that she brought down to our house from Fort Worth when she was getting sick so she was comfortable when she was at our house. She spent all of her time in this chair unless we were eating a meal. She had her oxygen tank next to her and her nebulizer, so I now associate this chair with her being sick and dying. I hope it’s not still there when I got back in September. Anyway, I was sitting in this chair. It was fairly dark in the room and my family was in there standing in front of me. They all hugged me and walked out of the room. Somehow I knew that I only had 11 minutes left to live. I started to freak out about dying. I simply wasn’t ready. I felt like I was way too young and then I started freaking out about whether or not I would go to heaven. I believe in God and Jesus and that Jesus died for us and all that, but I started to think that maybe since I haven’t been praying much or going to church lately that maybe my actual faith didn’t count for anything. What was going to happen to me when I died? I believed that my soul would live on and that this wasn’t the end for me, but what was it going to be like afterwards? It was awful. Then it got me thinking. My Grandma said that she was a Christian and she went to church and Cursillo and all that, but how do you really know? How do I really know what she believed and if she went to heaven? I hope she went to heaven. I like the though of her watching over me. It’s comforting.
Thursday morning I got up at 6 and went to work out! I didn’t have a lot of time to work out because I had to be pretty and fed by 8, but I still went and did the elliptical for half an hour. I was really proud of myself for getting up and going. Thursday is the day that we had the educational workshop blocks that I talked about in my last blog. So I guess my training session and workshops didn’t actually happen in the same day. That’s irrelevant. The first workshop I went to that day was the one about going green, and I obviously loved it! I took vigorous notes and came out of it with a renewed enthusiasm for going green, even if I have to start with just small steps here and there. The second workshop was about planning for your financial future and including a charity in your will. I’m not yet to the point where I’m thinking about my will too much, let alone if I want to give some of my (nonexistent) money to a charity, how much I want to give and how I want to go about doing it. So this workshop wasn’t really something that held my interest, plus the man that was leading it wasn’t very captivating. I felt really bad for him though. There were only like 5 of us in there and I could tell that he could tell we didn’t really care about what he was saying.
After the second set of workshops we had lunch and then our final workshop session. The one I went to was with Amber and about finding your own sense of style and making it work for your job and age and such. I didn’t really learn anything new in there, but it was still enjoyable. After that we had our first business meeting. There were three business meetings during the convention and I was excited about them. I was excited to get to see how they were run and to see our National Council sitting up there. The night before, Becca asked if it was required to go if you weren’t a delegate for your chapter (Malorie was their delegate). I told her that it wasn’t, but that it was recommended. I was kind of surprised that she and the other girls wouldn’t want to go, just to see how it compares to a collegiate chapter meeting, but then again, not everyone has the same crazy passion for ASA that I do (and, admittedly, this passion didn’t used to be as strong as it is now). If we were at some other kind of conference and there was something I didn’t HAVE to be at, I’d most likely skip on it too. The first business meeting was basically just introducing everyone. Lori Scott, our National President at the time, introduced our council, our staff (me included), the delegates for the chapters (collegiate and alumni) and other people of importance. Nothing of big importance was talked about. She did give the state of the sorority address, which from what I saw was amazing; she even made me tear up. I didn’t get to see all of it though because Nicole and I had to help Christy set up for a mini-memorial for Nora’s mom. Nora Ten Broek is one of our National Vice Presidents (and my favorite woman on National Council) and her mom, who was a member of ASA, passed away this past year. When she was alive she used to have a Manhattan at 5 o’clock everyday, so Nora set it up for everyone who was close to her to meet at 5 for Manhattans. Even though I didn’t know Nora’s mom, it was very moving being there. I also got to meet some amazing women during that time, and being that we were talking about her mom that just passed, lots of people told me they’d been thinking of me and my family, even though I’d just met them a few days earlier. It was nice.
After that I went to dinner with my chapter sisters and they paid for my dinner, which I really appreciated. It was nice getting to sit around with them and just talk. We ordered some drinks, relaxed and were there for like 2 hours. After that we went and got the ingredients to make some drinks and went back to the hotel. We drank some and just acted like silly girls. It was lovely! And I was still in bed by like 11:30!
Friday morning I was too tired to go workout. I had a breakfast to go to at 8 and I was going to be eating with National Council, so I decided to sleep in a bit so I would be able to be more conversational. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not always the friendliest in the morning! I was lucky and got to sit at a table with Nora and also with Cindy Kelly, another National Vice President. Both of these women are amazing and they both traveled as LCs back in the 90’s. After breakfast was our second business meeting, which was definitely the more exciting of the three! We discussed amendments to the National Bylaws and two of the amendment stirred up some discussion! It was awesome to see how discussion and voting goes at the national level. I loved that the collegians had the chance to get up and talk about the amendments and National Council listened to what everyone had to say. It really made me feel good. In the end, 22 of the 23 proposed amendments passed. After the second business meeting Nicole and I had to go to the Emporium and man the LC booth. We made enough fliers and sign-up sheets for 100 people, but we only had like 12 people stop by and talk to us about wanting to be an LC in the future. I did get to talk to a man while I was there about ordering t-shirts. Even though I am no longer wardrobe chair, I was still interested in what he had to offer vs. companies that I’d used in the past. I like what he had to say, so I got all kinds of info from him and I’m going to pass it along to my successor and hopefully she’ll find it useful. Later that night we had the red tie dinner and dessert so we all put on our red outfits (or in my case, my red accessories) and went to dinner. It was nice and they raffled off some red high heels. After that, we announced that Dot (a ladybug) was now going to be our OFFICAL ASA mascot. Up to this point, Ragedy Ann and a ladybug, and in some places an apple, have all been our unofficial mascots, but as of Convention 2008, we now have an official one. We all got cute little cards announcing it and a lady dressed up in a ladybug costume for us to get pictures with. It was adorable.
So, now that I’m back in Indy I guess I should sit and write about my experiences at Convention, because that’s definitely something that I am going to want to go back and read about. Let me back tack. I guess I left off Wednesday night, so I have about a week to catch up on. Here it goes!
Wednesday night I didn’t really feel like socializing too much, and luckily the girls (Becca, Malorie, Elizabeth and Rae) didn’t ask me to. After the night’s festivities, I just went back to my room, wrote the blog and went to sleep. I think I was asleep by like 10:30 or something like that. It was great. I did end up having a dream about dying. I don’t know what was wrong with me, if I had cancer or what, but I knew that I was dying. I was in Austin and I was in my living room sitting in my Grandma’s chair. This chair is her recliner that she brought down to our house from Fort Worth when she was getting sick so she was comfortable when she was at our house. She spent all of her time in this chair unless we were eating a meal. She had her oxygen tank next to her and her nebulizer, so I now associate this chair with her being sick and dying. I hope it’s not still there when I got back in September. Anyway, I was sitting in this chair. It was fairly dark in the room and my family was in there standing in front of me. They all hugged me and walked out of the room. Somehow I knew that I only had 11 minutes left to live. I started to freak out about dying. I simply wasn’t ready. I felt like I was way too young and then I started freaking out about whether or not I would go to heaven. I believe in God and Jesus and that Jesus died for us and all that, but I started to think that maybe since I haven’t been praying much or going to church lately that maybe my actual faith didn’t count for anything. What was going to happen to me when I died? I believed that my soul would live on and that this wasn’t the end for me, but what was it going to be like afterwards? It was awful. Then it got me thinking. My Grandma said that she was a Christian and she went to church and Cursillo and all that, but how do you really know? How do I really know what she believed and if she went to heaven? I hope she went to heaven. I like the though of her watching over me. It’s comforting.
Thursday morning I got up at 6 and went to work out! I didn’t have a lot of time to work out because I had to be pretty and fed by 8, but I still went and did the elliptical for half an hour. I was really proud of myself for getting up and going. Thursday is the day that we had the educational workshop blocks that I talked about in my last blog. So I guess my training session and workshops didn’t actually happen in the same day. That’s irrelevant. The first workshop I went to that day was the one about going green, and I obviously loved it! I took vigorous notes and came out of it with a renewed enthusiasm for going green, even if I have to start with just small steps here and there. The second workshop was about planning for your financial future and including a charity in your will. I’m not yet to the point where I’m thinking about my will too much, let alone if I want to give some of my (nonexistent) money to a charity, how much I want to give and how I want to go about doing it. So this workshop wasn’t really something that held my interest, plus the man that was leading it wasn’t very captivating. I felt really bad for him though. There were only like 5 of us in there and I could tell that he could tell we didn’t really care about what he was saying.
After the second set of workshops we had lunch and then our final workshop session. The one I went to was with Amber and about finding your own sense of style and making it work for your job and age and such. I didn’t really learn anything new in there, but it was still enjoyable. After that we had our first business meeting. There were three business meetings during the convention and I was excited about them. I was excited to get to see how they were run and to see our National Council sitting up there. The night before, Becca asked if it was required to go if you weren’t a delegate for your chapter (Malorie was their delegate). I told her that it wasn’t, but that it was recommended. I was kind of surprised that she and the other girls wouldn’t want to go, just to see how it compares to a collegiate chapter meeting, but then again, not everyone has the same crazy passion for ASA that I do (and, admittedly, this passion didn’t used to be as strong as it is now). If we were at some other kind of conference and there was something I didn’t HAVE to be at, I’d most likely skip on it too. The first business meeting was basically just introducing everyone. Lori Scott, our National President at the time, introduced our council, our staff (me included), the delegates for the chapters (collegiate and alumni) and other people of importance. Nothing of big importance was talked about. She did give the state of the sorority address, which from what I saw was amazing; she even made me tear up. I didn’t get to see all of it though because Nicole and I had to help Christy set up for a mini-memorial for Nora’s mom. Nora Ten Broek is one of our National Vice Presidents (and my favorite woman on National Council) and her mom, who was a member of ASA, passed away this past year. When she was alive she used to have a Manhattan at 5 o’clock everyday, so Nora set it up for everyone who was close to her to meet at 5 for Manhattans. Even though I didn’t know Nora’s mom, it was very moving being there. I also got to meet some amazing women during that time, and being that we were talking about her mom that just passed, lots of people told me they’d been thinking of me and my family, even though I’d just met them a few days earlier. It was nice.
After that I went to dinner with my chapter sisters and they paid for my dinner, which I really appreciated. It was nice getting to sit around with them and just talk. We ordered some drinks, relaxed and were there for like 2 hours. After that we went and got the ingredients to make some drinks and went back to the hotel. We drank some and just acted like silly girls. It was lovely! And I was still in bed by like 11:30!
Friday morning I was too tired to go workout. I had a breakfast to go to at 8 and I was going to be eating with National Council, so I decided to sleep in a bit so I would be able to be more conversational. Anyone who knows me knows that I am not always the friendliest in the morning! I was lucky and got to sit at a table with Nora and also with Cindy Kelly, another National Vice President. Both of these women are amazing and they both traveled as LCs back in the 90’s. After breakfast was our second business meeting, which was definitely the more exciting of the three! We discussed amendments to the National Bylaws and two of the amendment stirred up some discussion! It was awesome to see how discussion and voting goes at the national level. I loved that the collegians had the chance to get up and talk about the amendments and National Council listened to what everyone had to say. It really made me feel good. In the end, 22 of the 23 proposed amendments passed. After the second business meeting Nicole and I had to go to the Emporium and man the LC booth. We made enough fliers and sign-up sheets for 100 people, but we only had like 12 people stop by and talk to us about wanting to be an LC in the future. I did get to talk to a man while I was there about ordering t-shirts. Even though I am no longer wardrobe chair, I was still interested in what he had to offer vs. companies that I’d used in the past. I like what he had to say, so I got all kinds of info from him and I’m going to pass it along to my successor and hopefully she’ll find it useful. Later that night we had the red tie dinner and dessert so we all put on our red outfits (or in my case, my red accessories) and went to dinner. It was nice and they raffled off some red high heels. After that, we announced that Dot (a ladybug) was now going to be our OFFICAL ASA mascot. Up to this point, Ragedy Ann and a ladybug, and in some places an apple, have all been our unofficial mascots, but as of Convention 2008, we now have an official one. We all got cute little cards announcing it and a lady dressed up in a ladybug costume for us to get pictures with. It was adorable.
Sunday, July 20, 2008
Where am I going now? GREEN!
Saturday, July 19, 2008
I am not going to write a whole lot about my convention experience, my new thoughts on my life, my grandma, etc. at the moment. I do have a lot to say, but I am going to wait until I have more time to really dedicate to sitting down and writing about it. And there’s going to be pictures to accompany that blog as well.
This blog is about me going green! This is something that I’ve been doing slowly over the last few months and while I’m only able to take small steps at the moment, I do feel strongly about it.
One of the meetings that I had this week as part of my LC training was with a woman (Maria Malayter) who had us do an activity to figure out what our priorities are and where they stand in relation to each other. I was rather surprised with the results of the activity. Here are what the results were, in order of importance:
Earth
Spirit
Heart
Body
Will/conscience
Entertainment
Mind
Possessions
Senses
In a later blog I’ll explain in more detail what each of them means in case you’re all curious, but for now I’m going to focus on #1. Basically, the description was me wanting there to be more protection of the planet, more exploration rather than exploitation, more dealing with the earth’s problems and its energy. I’ll admit, I have been buying organically a lot more lately and I bought those green bags at HEB and when I forget them in my car, I just grab my groceries and carry them out without bags. I’ve decided that even though I think the Toyota Prius is a ridiculously ugly car, I’m most likely going to get one anyway and once I’m back in a city more permanently, I’m going to get a bike to go places that are too far to walk, but too close to justify using a car. I have bought a plastic water container that I constantly refill rather than buying bottled water. So, while I was a little surprised by the results of the activity, I still felt that given my recent change in thoughts and behavior that it was fitting. And I was pleased by it!
Later in this same day I was required to go some of the educational workshops being held at convention and introduce the speakers. I was assigned to a room so I didn’t have any say over what workshops I got to attend. The first workshop I got to sit in on happened to called “It’s Easy to go Green!” I was excited when I found this out and am so excited about the things that I learned that I decided I want to share it with all of you! Some of what is to follow are just random tidbit facts and some of it is more interesting than the rest.
The presentation was made by two women and at the beginning of it they passed out a lit of websites that assist in making smart choices when going green. The first set of websites are about becoming educated on going green and why it’s important.
www.sustainlane.com
www.entergystar.gov
www.environmentaldefense.org
www.greenchoices.org/eco-labels
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ (I really like this one!!)
www.greenfestivals.org
The second set of websites all deal with home and life.
http://www.simpleliving.net/main/
www.greenandmore.com
www.greenhome.com
www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.go
www.easyearth.com
www.makeyourowncosmetics.com
www.thegreenguide.com
I have not yet been to all of these websites, but I plan on it and so I wanted to share them with you! Another great tip: Google this: 50 Ways to grow fresh air in your house
Now I am going to summarize the presentation in the hopes of helping you all to understand more about going green and why it’s important! Here are some key terms you hear and levels of each. This part is kind of boring, but still important. It gets more interesting! I’m so excited about all of this! I wish there was a more interesting way for me to share all of this with you and for my excitement to rub off on other people.
Biobased: Composed of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials.
BAD: Biobaed from food products grown conventionally
BETTER: Biobased from non-food products
BEST: Organic
Biodegradable: Had the ability to breakdown and not leave traces.
BAD: Single use Styrofoam
BETTER: Biodegradable (paper products)
BEST: Reusable (plastics – wash and reuse).
Durable/Reusable
BAD: Plastic grocery bags
BETTER: Reusing those bags at a later time
BEST: Cloth bags that can be washed and reused over and over.
Here are some great ways to start going green!
Use things that are Rapidly Renewable (things that renew themselves rapidly)
- Bamboo and cork flooring is much better than standard wood floors. Bamboo takes about 6 months to grow whereas wood takes years and years to grow. Bamboo looks just as good as wood too!
- Kenaf paper (you can google it!) It’s great paper, great for stationary, etc.
Locally produced and manufactured foods are better to buy than the produce found in your normal grocery store because it’s fresher, less processed and supports local business. The average produce found in a store such as HEB or Albertsons has traveled 1,500 mile before reaching you. How fresh can that be?
Recycled content and things that are recyclable. Recycled content means things that have already been recycled, like certain papers, paper products and plastics. Also, figure out what is recyclable in your area. All product have a number on the bottom of them to indicate if it is recyclable or not. These numbers range from 1-8. Call the recycling agency in your area and find out what numbers you are allowed to recycle. Not all recycling agencies recycle all kinds of products.
Buy Organic! The food tastes better, it results in healthier soils, you avoid ingesting pesticides, chemicals, hormones, etc. and it promotes biodiversity.
Going green can be tricky. Greenwashing is trickery that occurs due companies packaging products and promoting them to make them appear to be green products when they’re really not! Here are the 6 sins of greenwashing.
Organic foods from other countries. No bueno. Just get organic foods from America.
No proof. It says it’s certified, but by who??
Vagueness
Irrelevance
Fibbing
Lesser of 2 evils
Be sure to check labels when you’re buying things that appear to be green to make sure that it really is. Some common bad choices: Juicy Juice and Tyson.
Things to remember when looking at food labels to see if it’s really as natural as it claims to be:
-Anything that ends in an –ose is a sugar
-Tartrazing: Yellow #5. This is AWFUL for you and for the environment.
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Nitrate are both also awful for you.
A good choice for something that really is as all natural as it claims to be: Bryers All Natural Ice Cream! Yum.
Myth of being green:
-Expensive. This may be so, but it’s actually, it’s cheaper in the long run, and better for you! Did you know that 40% of bottled water is really just tap water being sold in individual bottles?
Cleaning products are another way that you can go green besides buying organic foods. www.thegreenguide.com lists good products that you can buy and also products that you can make yourself! Examples: Furniture polish (1/2 cup vinegar and 1 tsp of olive oil). This actually cleans your wood, not just layering it like conventional furniture polishes. All purpose cleaner (2 cups of water, 2 cups of vinegar) can be used on just about everything!
Some good books to read about buy/eating healthier for you and the environment foods:
What to Eat
Omnivores Dilemma
Indefensive Food
I am not going to write a whole lot about my convention experience, my new thoughts on my life, my grandma, etc. at the moment. I do have a lot to say, but I am going to wait until I have more time to really dedicate to sitting down and writing about it. And there’s going to be pictures to accompany that blog as well.
This blog is about me going green! This is something that I’ve been doing slowly over the last few months and while I’m only able to take small steps at the moment, I do feel strongly about it.
One of the meetings that I had this week as part of my LC training was with a woman (Maria Malayter) who had us do an activity to figure out what our priorities are and where they stand in relation to each other. I was rather surprised with the results of the activity. Here are what the results were, in order of importance:
Earth
Spirit
Heart
Body
Will/conscience
Entertainment
Mind
Possessions
Senses
In a later blog I’ll explain in more detail what each of them means in case you’re all curious, but for now I’m going to focus on #1. Basically, the description was me wanting there to be more protection of the planet, more exploration rather than exploitation, more dealing with the earth’s problems and its energy. I’ll admit, I have been buying organically a lot more lately and I bought those green bags at HEB and when I forget them in my car, I just grab my groceries and carry them out without bags. I’ve decided that even though I think the Toyota Prius is a ridiculously ugly car, I’m most likely going to get one anyway and once I’m back in a city more permanently, I’m going to get a bike to go places that are too far to walk, but too close to justify using a car. I have bought a plastic water container that I constantly refill rather than buying bottled water. So, while I was a little surprised by the results of the activity, I still felt that given my recent change in thoughts and behavior that it was fitting. And I was pleased by it!
Later in this same day I was required to go some of the educational workshops being held at convention and introduce the speakers. I was assigned to a room so I didn’t have any say over what workshops I got to attend. The first workshop I got to sit in on happened to called “It’s Easy to go Green!” I was excited when I found this out and am so excited about the things that I learned that I decided I want to share it with all of you! Some of what is to follow are just random tidbit facts and some of it is more interesting than the rest.
The presentation was made by two women and at the beginning of it they passed out a lit of websites that assist in making smart choices when going green. The first set of websites are about becoming educated on going green and why it’s important.
www.sustainlane.com
www.entergystar.gov
www.environmentaldefense.org
www.greenchoices.org/eco-labels
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/ (I really like this one!!)
www.greenfestivals.org
The second set of websites all deal with home and life.
http://www.simpleliving.net/main/
www.greenandmore.com
www.greenhome.com
www.householdproducts.nlm.nih.go
www.easyearth.com
www.makeyourowncosmetics.com
www.thegreenguide.com
I have not yet been to all of these websites, but I plan on it and so I wanted to share them with you! Another great tip: Google this: 50 Ways to grow fresh air in your house
Now I am going to summarize the presentation in the hopes of helping you all to understand more about going green and why it’s important! Here are some key terms you hear and levels of each. This part is kind of boring, but still important. It gets more interesting! I’m so excited about all of this! I wish there was a more interesting way for me to share all of this with you and for my excitement to rub off on other people.
Biobased: Composed of biological products or renewable domestic agricultural materials.
BAD: Biobaed from food products grown conventionally
BETTER: Biobased from non-food products
BEST: Organic
Biodegradable: Had the ability to breakdown and not leave traces.
BAD: Single use Styrofoam
BETTER: Biodegradable (paper products)
BEST: Reusable (plastics – wash and reuse).
Durable/Reusable
BAD: Plastic grocery bags
BETTER: Reusing those bags at a later time
BEST: Cloth bags that can be washed and reused over and over.
Here are some great ways to start going green!
Use things that are Rapidly Renewable (things that renew themselves rapidly)
- Bamboo and cork flooring is much better than standard wood floors. Bamboo takes about 6 months to grow whereas wood takes years and years to grow. Bamboo looks just as good as wood too!
- Kenaf paper (you can google it!) It’s great paper, great for stationary, etc.
Locally produced and manufactured foods are better to buy than the produce found in your normal grocery store because it’s fresher, less processed and supports local business. The average produce found in a store such as HEB or Albertsons has traveled 1,500 mile before reaching you. How fresh can that be?
Recycled content and things that are recyclable. Recycled content means things that have already been recycled, like certain papers, paper products and plastics. Also, figure out what is recyclable in your area. All product have a number on the bottom of them to indicate if it is recyclable or not. These numbers range from 1-8. Call the recycling agency in your area and find out what numbers you are allowed to recycle. Not all recycling agencies recycle all kinds of products.
Buy Organic! The food tastes better, it results in healthier soils, you avoid ingesting pesticides, chemicals, hormones, etc. and it promotes biodiversity.
Going green can be tricky. Greenwashing is trickery that occurs due companies packaging products and promoting them to make them appear to be green products when they’re really not! Here are the 6 sins of greenwashing.
Organic foods from other countries. No bueno. Just get organic foods from America.
No proof. It says it’s certified, but by who??
Vagueness
Irrelevance
Fibbing
Lesser of 2 evils
Be sure to check labels when you’re buying things that appear to be green to make sure that it really is. Some common bad choices: Juicy Juice and Tyson.
Things to remember when looking at food labels to see if it’s really as natural as it claims to be:
-Anything that ends in an –ose is a sugar
-Tartrazing: Yellow #5. This is AWFUL for you and for the environment.
-Sodium Lauryl Sulfate and Sodium Nitrate are both also awful for you.
A good choice for something that really is as all natural as it claims to be: Bryers All Natural Ice Cream! Yum.
Myth of being green:
-Expensive. This may be so, but it’s actually, it’s cheaper in the long run, and better for you! Did you know that 40% of bottled water is really just tap water being sold in individual bottles?
Cleaning products are another way that you can go green besides buying organic foods. www.thegreenguide.com lists good products that you can buy and also products that you can make yourself! Examples: Furniture polish (1/2 cup vinegar and 1 tsp of olive oil). This actually cleans your wood, not just layering it like conventional furniture polishes. All purpose cleaner (2 cups of water, 2 cups of vinegar) can be used on just about everything!
Some good books to read about buy/eating healthier for you and the environment foods:
What to Eat
Omnivores Dilemma
Indefensive Food
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Life interrupted
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
Once we got done with our staff meeting today we all went to Jess’s house for dinner. It was awesome. On the ride over there, there were 10 of us in a van at a time. I was listening to some of the women behind me talking and it was amazing what I heard. This lady Kat was telling Amber about a couple that she knows. They got married pretty young and were living in Kansas, living normal adult lives with jobs and we part of a pug club for other people with pug dogs. Then one day the were like “What are we doing? We’re too young (24-ish) to be living such adult lives!”. So they both applied for jobs in Baltimore or something, got them and just up and moved. They want to eventually move back to Kansas and raise a family, but for now they just want to enjoy being young. She also knows another woman who got her education degree but before she starting a career in teaching, she was a waitress just so she could have more flexibility and be able to move around and see the country. It inspired me to know that I can be young and enjoy my life and just because I’ve graduated from college does not mean that I need to immediately settle down with a steady job and start living an adult life. I have my whole life ahead of me for that! The dinner was great too! We had Mexican food and all of us from headquarters were there as well as our National Council, so I got to chat with/have drinks with our National President and Vice Presidents. It was awesome to get to chat with them in such a casual atmosphere. It was also nice to get to meet these great people (there were about 20 of us there) and get a chance to really talk with them without the background chaos of convention. I really enjoyed it.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
My Grandma died last night.
After we got back to the hotel last night I went straight to bed (it was 9 o’clock). That meant that I woke up feeling very refreshed around 5:30 and went to work out at 6. Apparently 6 o’clock is the popular hour to work out when you’re staying in the hotel. I really enjoyed my workout. We had a staff breakfast at 8, which was nice because the 8 of us haven’t all been together in the last week; it was great! Sandy called me at nine to tell my that my grandma passed away last night. It couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to say, and was really upset. We had a meeting that we were supposed to be in and even though I knew everyone would understand if I wasn’t at the meeting, I feel like all of these meetings are important and are really going to benefit me, so I didn’t want to miss out on it. Christy told everyone about it and everyone was really supportive and it was great to know that all of these women are my sisters and they’re all here for me, so that helped me feel a lot better. I'm also really glad that Becca is in town now. I'm going to need her later this week. I went to the training meeting, and I’m glad that I did but I probably didn’t get quite as much out of it as I normally would. It was really hard for me for a few hours, but as the day went on it got a lot better. That’s probably because I’m trying not to think of it too much, which may not be the best way to handle it, but I’m going to handle it the way I feel is best for me at the moment. There’s going to be a memorial service on Sunday in Austin, but I’ve decided that the best choice for me is to stay here. I got to spend time with her when I was home a week ago and we talked on the phone a week ago, so I’m ok with the way things were left with us. There’s going to be another memorial service in a few weeks in Fort Worth and then another one in New York in a couple of months, and hopefully I’ll get to make it to one of those. That would really mean a lot to me. I already miss her and when I have time to sit down and really let it sink in, I’m sure it’s going to hit me hard. She really meant a lot to me. Her and my Grandpa are the only people who have been a part of my life my whole life, both in New York and Texas. As upset as I am, I really feel bad for my Grandpa and Uncle Mike. I worry about my Grandpa a lot and I can’t imagine what this is like for Uncle Mike. Now that my Grandma is gone, I wonder if I’ll ever see my mom again. The only reason I’ve seen her at all in the last 11 years is because she came to Texas to see my Grandma. Now that she’s gone, I wonder… I have a lot more thoughts and feelings about things (about my Grandma and about convention) but I’m really exhausted. I just need to get some sleep and try again tomorrow. For those of you who have called me or email me, please be patient with me. This is going to be a long, hard week for me. I promise to try and get back to you soon!!
Once we got done with our staff meeting today we all went to Jess’s house for dinner. It was awesome. On the ride over there, there were 10 of us in a van at a time. I was listening to some of the women behind me talking and it was amazing what I heard. This lady Kat was telling Amber about a couple that she knows. They got married pretty young and were living in Kansas, living normal adult lives with jobs and we part of a pug club for other people with pug dogs. Then one day the were like “What are we doing? We’re too young (24-ish) to be living such adult lives!”. So they both applied for jobs in Baltimore or something, got them and just up and moved. They want to eventually move back to Kansas and raise a family, but for now they just want to enjoy being young. She also knows another woman who got her education degree but before she starting a career in teaching, she was a waitress just so she could have more flexibility and be able to move around and see the country. It inspired me to know that I can be young and enjoy my life and just because I’ve graduated from college does not mean that I need to immediately settle down with a steady job and start living an adult life. I have my whole life ahead of me for that! The dinner was great too! We had Mexican food and all of us from headquarters were there as well as our National Council, so I got to chat with/have drinks with our National President and Vice Presidents. It was awesome to get to chat with them in such a casual atmosphere. It was also nice to get to meet these great people (there were about 20 of us there) and get a chance to really talk with them without the background chaos of convention. I really enjoyed it.
Wednesday, July 16, 2008
My Grandma died last night.
After we got back to the hotel last night I went straight to bed (it was 9 o’clock). That meant that I woke up feeling very refreshed around 5:30 and went to work out at 6. Apparently 6 o’clock is the popular hour to work out when you’re staying in the hotel. I really enjoyed my workout. We had a staff breakfast at 8, which was nice because the 8 of us haven’t all been together in the last week; it was great! Sandy called me at nine to tell my that my grandma passed away last night. It couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know what to say, and was really upset. We had a meeting that we were supposed to be in and even though I knew everyone would understand if I wasn’t at the meeting, I feel like all of these meetings are important and are really going to benefit me, so I didn’t want to miss out on it. Christy told everyone about it and everyone was really supportive and it was great to know that all of these women are my sisters and they’re all here for me, so that helped me feel a lot better. I'm also really glad that Becca is in town now. I'm going to need her later this week. I went to the training meeting, and I’m glad that I did but I probably didn’t get quite as much out of it as I normally would. It was really hard for me for a few hours, but as the day went on it got a lot better. That’s probably because I’m trying not to think of it too much, which may not be the best way to handle it, but I’m going to handle it the way I feel is best for me at the moment. There’s going to be a memorial service on Sunday in Austin, but I’ve decided that the best choice for me is to stay here. I got to spend time with her when I was home a week ago and we talked on the phone a week ago, so I’m ok with the way things were left with us. There’s going to be another memorial service in a few weeks in Fort Worth and then another one in New York in a couple of months, and hopefully I’ll get to make it to one of those. That would really mean a lot to me. I already miss her and when I have time to sit down and really let it sink in, I’m sure it’s going to hit me hard. She really meant a lot to me. Her and my Grandpa are the only people who have been a part of my life my whole life, both in New York and Texas. As upset as I am, I really feel bad for my Grandpa and Uncle Mike. I worry about my Grandpa a lot and I can’t imagine what this is like for Uncle Mike. Now that my Grandma is gone, I wonder if I’ll ever see my mom again. The only reason I’ve seen her at all in the last 11 years is because she came to Texas to see my Grandma. Now that she’s gone, I wonder… I have a lot more thoughts and feelings about things (about my Grandma and about convention) but I’m really exhausted. I just need to get some sleep and try again tomorrow. For those of you who have called me or email me, please be patient with me. This is going to be a long, hard week for me. I promise to try and get back to you soon!!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
I begin my tour of the country!
Tuesday, July 15, 2008
11:00 AM
I hate when you accidentally start to think about something. Something that you know you shouldn’t think about because you know it’s just going to make you upset, but once you’ve started to think about it, you can’t get it out of your head, no matter how hard you try so then you’re just stuck thinking about it for hours and you end up miserable. That happened to me yesterday. It sucked because it happened in the car on my way to go work out and ruined my workout. I usually love to work out and I feel great doing it and great afterwards. Instead I just felt crummy and didn’t want to be there. I stuck it out for 45 minutes and am glad that I did, but I wish I could have enjoyed it more. Thinking about the things I shouldn’t have been thinking about made me even more happy that I’m here right now and doing something different with my life and in a way kind of escaping from the things that I’m used to. I think it’s really good for me to get away from everything and everyone.
Today Nicole and I left for Convention. We got up around 5:30 (eastern time) and our flight left around 8:30. I slept the whole way to Denver and when I woke up, due to the time change, it was only 8:45 (mountain time). It felt like time just completely stopped while I was asleep. It’s kind of a weird feeling. Nicole and I are not sitting in the airport waiting for our connecting flight, which doesn’t leave until 11:45. It’s about 11:15 now, so we’ll probably make it over to our gate in just a minute. I’m really excited about convention. I know it’s going to be a lot of work while we’re there because there’s a lot of stuff that we have to help with, but it’ll be nice to be out of the office and doing different things and seeing different people. We’ll be in Albuquerque until next Monday and then, because our boss is taking time off, we don’t have to be in the office again until Thursday. I’m really looking forward to having those two days off after convention to unwind and relax. I don’t really know what Nicole and are I going to do, but I’m sure we’ll think of something. We ended up getting out of work early yesterday, thank goodness, and we sat in the living room in silence, each reading a book for like 4 hours. It was lovely. I really like that we get along so well, but don’t feel the need to talk all the time. And, for some reason, I’m really glad that she and I haven’t like “opened up” to each other and shared things. I like that we’re friends, but not really. I don’t know, it’s weird. I’ve realized since starting this job that I’m kind of an anti-social hermit. Nicole is almost always on the phone with someone (it always seems like it’s someone different) and unless John or Sandy call me, I’m never on the phone. I bet it seems to her like I don’t have any friends. I do. Lots of them. I just prefer not to talk to them. That sounds awful, but I don’t mean it that way. I’m just not the best communicator. They all know that. That being said, feel free to call me anytime! I wouldn’t mind communicating with people more, I’m just not so good at initiating it. Time to catch a plane.
2:30 PM
We have arrived in Albuquerque! It’s really pretty here, but I definitely don’t think that New Mexico is some place that I will ever have the desire to live. Much to dry and brown and southwestern looking for me (go figure). The hotel we’re at is beautiful. We’re staying at the Marriott Albuquerque and we can see the mountains from our room. Speaking of which, our room is AMAZING! It’s certainly a lot nicer than the apartment we’re staying in back in Indy. We have a nice big flat screen TV and everything. There’s a 24-hour fitness center, which is nicer than the gym I have a membership to and it includes complementary bottles of water and also has a sauna! Nicole and I are pretty excited about that and are definitely going to try it out! If we want to use internet in our room we have to pay $10 a day (no thanks) or we can just go down to the lobby and use it for free there. This hotel is seriously nice and I’m excited to be living here for the next week. I hung up my clothes in the closet, put my other stuff in drawers and made myself completely at home. We have a staff meeting at 4 and then we’re all going to someone’s house for dinner. We should be back to the hotel around 9 or so, and if I’m not too tired I’m definitely going to hit the fitness center and sauna, then maybe the pool to cool off! Tomorrow is registration and (obviously) when everyone else arrives. I’m definitely going to want to spend some good time with my girls from our chapter when they’re here, so I’m going to take advantage of them not being here tonight and try and be healthily productive!
I was thinking about thing on the plane this afternoon and I think I have decided I’m ok to wait to have kids until I’m 30. I really want to be a young mom and I want kids more than I want anything else in life, but I really also want to travel and explore the country/world and explore being me. I want to take advantage of being young and make the most of it while I can. I was thinking about all the different places that I could live, even just in the US. Maybe move to a different state every two years or so to really experience some different places. I don’t really know if that’s realistic, but at this point I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. But, we’ll see how I feel about traveling once I get done with this job. Obviously, traveling every week for nine months is a lot different than every two years, so hopefully I’ll still be up for it! I have also realized recently that me desire to have kids and a family is not something that is dependent on me having a husband. While of course I would love to meet someone, fall in love and start a family that way, I realize that is not the only way to have a family. I want kids and I’m going to have them one day, single or married. Single will obviously be more of a last resort. I think I’ve started to think this way because I’m seriously starting to doubt love. Not that it exists, but more whether or not I’ll find it and if it will last when I do. I used to be terrified of never getting married, but lately it doesn’t seem like the end of the world. I can still most of the things I want in life without having a husband so it doesn’t seem like the end of the world if I never find one. I would, of course, prefer to find that one person that is able to make me happy and I’m able to grow old with and share all of the things I want to do in life with him, but I don’t want my life and my happiness to be contingent on that. I am a great person and there’s no reason I can’t live a great life and be happy without a man should that be how my life pans out. I feel like that’s something every girl is kind of told/thinks in the back of her head but doesn’t really believe it. At the moment, I really believe it. Nicole and I were walking past some pay phones in the lobby and it reminded me of all the trips I’ve been on where I’ve made time at the end of the day to call who ever I was dating at the time. It feels nice to not have to think about that right now. I’m here for me and I get to fully enjoy all of this without something or someone tugging at the back of my mind. It feels good to be happy about being single. I was happy about being single last spring (my junior year) but then after last summer I was pretty miserable with it, until now. Like I said earlier, it’s nice to escape my normal life and what I’m used to. It’s especially nice because this isn’t a short vacation that’s going to end soon and spit me back out where I started. This is my life. I love it.
11:00 AM
I hate when you accidentally start to think about something. Something that you know you shouldn’t think about because you know it’s just going to make you upset, but once you’ve started to think about it, you can’t get it out of your head, no matter how hard you try so then you’re just stuck thinking about it for hours and you end up miserable. That happened to me yesterday. It sucked because it happened in the car on my way to go work out and ruined my workout. I usually love to work out and I feel great doing it and great afterwards. Instead I just felt crummy and didn’t want to be there. I stuck it out for 45 minutes and am glad that I did, but I wish I could have enjoyed it more. Thinking about the things I shouldn’t have been thinking about made me even more happy that I’m here right now and doing something different with my life and in a way kind of escaping from the things that I’m used to. I think it’s really good for me to get away from everything and everyone.
Today Nicole and I left for Convention. We got up around 5:30 (eastern time) and our flight left around 8:30. I slept the whole way to Denver and when I woke up, due to the time change, it was only 8:45 (mountain time). It felt like time just completely stopped while I was asleep. It’s kind of a weird feeling. Nicole and I are not sitting in the airport waiting for our connecting flight, which doesn’t leave until 11:45. It’s about 11:15 now, so we’ll probably make it over to our gate in just a minute. I’m really excited about convention. I know it’s going to be a lot of work while we’re there because there’s a lot of stuff that we have to help with, but it’ll be nice to be out of the office and doing different things and seeing different people. We’ll be in Albuquerque until next Monday and then, because our boss is taking time off, we don’t have to be in the office again until Thursday. I’m really looking forward to having those two days off after convention to unwind and relax. I don’t really know what Nicole and are I going to do, but I’m sure we’ll think of something. We ended up getting out of work early yesterday, thank goodness, and we sat in the living room in silence, each reading a book for like 4 hours. It was lovely. I really like that we get along so well, but don’t feel the need to talk all the time. And, for some reason, I’m really glad that she and I haven’t like “opened up” to each other and shared things. I like that we’re friends, but not really. I don’t know, it’s weird. I’ve realized since starting this job that I’m kind of an anti-social hermit. Nicole is almost always on the phone with someone (it always seems like it’s someone different) and unless John or Sandy call me, I’m never on the phone. I bet it seems to her like I don’t have any friends. I do. Lots of them. I just prefer not to talk to them. That sounds awful, but I don’t mean it that way. I’m just not the best communicator. They all know that. That being said, feel free to call me anytime! I wouldn’t mind communicating with people more, I’m just not so good at initiating it. Time to catch a plane.
2:30 PM
We have arrived in Albuquerque! It’s really pretty here, but I definitely don’t think that New Mexico is some place that I will ever have the desire to live. Much to dry and brown and southwestern looking for me (go figure). The hotel we’re at is beautiful. We’re staying at the Marriott Albuquerque and we can see the mountains from our room. Speaking of which, our room is AMAZING! It’s certainly a lot nicer than the apartment we’re staying in back in Indy. We have a nice big flat screen TV and everything. There’s a 24-hour fitness center, which is nicer than the gym I have a membership to and it includes complementary bottles of water and also has a sauna! Nicole and I are pretty excited about that and are definitely going to try it out! If we want to use internet in our room we have to pay $10 a day (no thanks) or we can just go down to the lobby and use it for free there. This hotel is seriously nice and I’m excited to be living here for the next week. I hung up my clothes in the closet, put my other stuff in drawers and made myself completely at home. We have a staff meeting at 4 and then we’re all going to someone’s house for dinner. We should be back to the hotel around 9 or so, and if I’m not too tired I’m definitely going to hit the fitness center and sauna, then maybe the pool to cool off! Tomorrow is registration and (obviously) when everyone else arrives. I’m definitely going to want to spend some good time with my girls from our chapter when they’re here, so I’m going to take advantage of them not being here tonight and try and be healthily productive!
I was thinking about thing on the plane this afternoon and I think I have decided I’m ok to wait to have kids until I’m 30. I really want to be a young mom and I want kids more than I want anything else in life, but I really also want to travel and explore the country/world and explore being me. I want to take advantage of being young and make the most of it while I can. I was thinking about all the different places that I could live, even just in the US. Maybe move to a different state every two years or so to really experience some different places. I don’t really know if that’s realistic, but at this point I don’t see why it wouldn’t be. But, we’ll see how I feel about traveling once I get done with this job. Obviously, traveling every week for nine months is a lot different than every two years, so hopefully I’ll still be up for it! I have also realized recently that me desire to have kids and a family is not something that is dependent on me having a husband. While of course I would love to meet someone, fall in love and start a family that way, I realize that is not the only way to have a family. I want kids and I’m going to have them one day, single or married. Single will obviously be more of a last resort. I think I’ve started to think this way because I’m seriously starting to doubt love. Not that it exists, but more whether or not I’ll find it and if it will last when I do. I used to be terrified of never getting married, but lately it doesn’t seem like the end of the world. I can still most of the things I want in life without having a husband so it doesn’t seem like the end of the world if I never find one. I would, of course, prefer to find that one person that is able to make me happy and I’m able to grow old with and share all of the things I want to do in life with him, but I don’t want my life and my happiness to be contingent on that. I am a great person and there’s no reason I can’t live a great life and be happy without a man should that be how my life pans out. I feel like that’s something every girl is kind of told/thinks in the back of her head but doesn’t really believe it. At the moment, I really believe it. Nicole and I were walking past some pay phones in the lobby and it reminded me of all the trips I’ve been on where I’ve made time at the end of the day to call who ever I was dating at the time. It feels nice to not have to think about that right now. I’m here for me and I get to fully enjoy all of this without something or someone tugging at the back of my mind. It feels good to be happy about being single. I was happy about being single last spring (my junior year) but then after last summer I was pretty miserable with it, until now. Like I said earlier, it’s nice to escape my normal life and what I’m used to. It’s especially nice because this isn’t a short vacation that’s going to end soon and spit me back out where I started. This is my life. I love it.
Monday, July 14, 2008
I've caught the travel bug. I think it's a ladybug.
Monday, July 14, 2008
Saturday was a nice relaxing day. I woke up around 9:30 instead of 7, and that was nice. I ate breakfast, lounged around the apartment and just enjoyed myself. After lunch I met up with Amber and Christy and we went in search of a wedding dress for Amber. This excursion didn’t last as long as I thought that it would. She found two dresses that are gorgeous (not my taste, but still beautiful) and that look great on her. She’s going to have them hold them so she can show her mom, but the search is still on. I talked to Sandy on the phone that afternoon and my Grandma is not doing too well. I don’t really know how to deal with it, so I’m kind of not. The get my mind off of things I decided to go shopping. After that I ate dinner and started a new book that I’ve been wanting to read. It’s really good!
Sarah and I made plans for her to pick me up that night and we decided to go to a nice wine bar rather than down to Broad Ripple and walk around like we’d planned due the rather wetness of the weather. Her and her boyfriend Dan picked me up around 11 and we headed out. Sarah’s friend Kamil (pronounced Camille. He’s Indian) met up with us there. The drinks were great and we were having a great time! We left the bar around 2:30 and headed back to Kamil’s apartment to continue the festivities. I was initially nervous about hanging out with them because I didn’t know Dan or Kamil at all and I’ve only met Sarah a couple of times, but I was determined to meet people and be social. I’m really glad I did because I had a great time! Dan and I exchanged numbers so when Sarah heads back to Missouri we can still hang out while I’m in town. Kamil and I got to talking too and he’s a really nice guy. Him and his girlfriend of a couple years recently broke up (like less than a week ago) and he was joking while we were out on the balcony that Sarah and Dan probably thought we were making out out there. I laughed and someone we got on the topic of him needing to find a rebound girl and how I was not going to be the rebound girl, so there was no chance of us making out that night. It was a rather amusing conversation. At the end of the night I gave him my number so we can all hang out again another time and reminded him that he should find a nice rebound, and that she should not be me. He was a really nice, fun guy and told me repeatedly throughout the night (in a non-creepy way) that he thought I was really beautiful. It’s nice to meet people that are out of college and actually know what they’re doing in life. We didn’t end up leaving Kamil’s until around 5:30 that morning and I slept a good part of the next day, but it was worth the fun of the night before! Sarah and I had made plans to go to the mall the next afternoon, but we talked around 3 and both agreed that it just wasn’t going to happen! I spent the rest of the afternoon watching lame made-for-TV movies and reading my book.
It was really great hanging out with them. I really had a blast and it felt good to get out and socialize. I also got to talk to Sarah about some LC stuff, which was really good. Talking to other past LCs, I’ve always walked away feeling a renewed sense of confidence, but talking to Sarah did not have that affect on me. She told me that she’s really glad that she didn’t get the east coast because she knows those girls would have just walked all over her. Whoa. What if that happens to me? What if the girls don’t see me as a helpful tool and respect me? The odds are that there are going to be at least a few chapters that don’t receive me in the most friendly, welcoming way, especially if I’m there on a discipline visit. Ugh. That’s really scary for me to think about. Today at work we had to read a book called “I Heart Recruitment”. It was a good book. I found that most of the information in there is already stuff that I knew, which made me feel good and good about our chapter but there was definitely stuff in there that I found helpful. There were things that I found helpful recruitment wise and things that I found helpful to me personally, like the section on small talk! I have always hated small talk because I find it awkward and I never know what to say. I’ve been told that I hide it well and am pretty good about keeping conversations going, but it’s still something that I’ve always felt I needed to improve on. There was also a nice list of other books that are helping in improving skills needed to recruit, such as conversational skills, leadership skills, etc and I think I’m actually going to invest in a few of these books and read them. I mean, it can’t hurt me, right? There are 23 books on the list, so I don’t know where I am going to start and if I am going to try and make it through the whole list, but we’ll see. I think I good plan of action for the moment is going to be read one recreational book, read one informational book. I don’t have any books with me except the one I just finished and the one I’m currently reading, so I suppose I’ll have to buy a book, send one home, buy a book, send one home. I’m ok with that though.
I would like to now talk about Indiana and the differences between here and Texas. First of all, the weather. The women here are so cute. We’ll be outside and they’ll complain of how hot it is while I’m thinking “It’s only 86 degrees. It’s 101 in Austin right now. This is NOT hot”. Seriously, that’s what the weather is like everyday here. It does get humid, but it’s still pretty bearable. I look at the weather on my iPhone everyday and everyday Indianapolis is like 85, Kerrville is like 93 and Austin is like 100. And it’s so pretty here! It rains every few days (which I think is amazing and I love it!), usually at night, which is nice, so everything is nice and green. And there are so many trees! Everywhere! Trees that we don’t have in Texas! Since coming here I have decided that Texas is not that great. Austin is great and I love Austin, but Texas in itself is really just not that great. Living in Texas, I feel like we’re brainwashed to think that we’re the best state, but we’re not. Especially aesthetically speaking. It is true, though, that people in Texas are friendlier. I’ve figured this out just being out shopping. The employees are just as friendly (I imagine its part of the job requirement) but the other customers just aren’t. I didn’t really think of people in Texas as being super friendly until I got here. The people here aren’t necessarily rude, they just aren’t friendly. And they don’t smile nearly as much either. But it sure is beautiful outside! It’s crazy how many liquor stores that have here too! I feel like there’s one practically on every corner. AND – you can buy liquor in the grocery stores here! Shampoo on one isle, Jack Daniels on the next. It’s crazy. You can’t buy alcohol on Sundays though, no matter what time it is. Being here and seeing how different things are makes me really excited about getting to go to other states and experience them. It’s also making me realize that just because my family and friends are in Texas doesn’t mean that I have to live in Texas. It does make me sad to think that I might not live close to them, but I really need to think about what’s going to be best for me and make me the happiest. At the moment, I have no idea what or where that is.
Like I said earlier, we had to read this recruitment book today, and now that I’m done with it I don’t really know what we’re supposed to be doing the rest of the afternoon. Everyone else is out of the office today because they’ve all already left for convention, so it’s just Nicole and I. We leave tomorrow morning and I’m so excited!! It’s about 1:30 right now and we’re supposed to be in the office until 5. I’m sure we’ll find something to do…
Saturday was a nice relaxing day. I woke up around 9:30 instead of 7, and that was nice. I ate breakfast, lounged around the apartment and just enjoyed myself. After lunch I met up with Amber and Christy and we went in search of a wedding dress for Amber. This excursion didn’t last as long as I thought that it would. She found two dresses that are gorgeous (not my taste, but still beautiful) and that look great on her. She’s going to have them hold them so she can show her mom, but the search is still on. I talked to Sandy on the phone that afternoon and my Grandma is not doing too well. I don’t really know how to deal with it, so I’m kind of not. The get my mind off of things I decided to go shopping. After that I ate dinner and started a new book that I’ve been wanting to read. It’s really good!
Sarah and I made plans for her to pick me up that night and we decided to go to a nice wine bar rather than down to Broad Ripple and walk around like we’d planned due the rather wetness of the weather. Her and her boyfriend Dan picked me up around 11 and we headed out. Sarah’s friend Kamil (pronounced Camille. He’s Indian) met up with us there. The drinks were great and we were having a great time! We left the bar around 2:30 and headed back to Kamil’s apartment to continue the festivities. I was initially nervous about hanging out with them because I didn’t know Dan or Kamil at all and I’ve only met Sarah a couple of times, but I was determined to meet people and be social. I’m really glad I did because I had a great time! Dan and I exchanged numbers so when Sarah heads back to Missouri we can still hang out while I’m in town. Kamil and I got to talking too and he’s a really nice guy. Him and his girlfriend of a couple years recently broke up (like less than a week ago) and he was joking while we were out on the balcony that Sarah and Dan probably thought we were making out out there. I laughed and someone we got on the topic of him needing to find a rebound girl and how I was not going to be the rebound girl, so there was no chance of us making out that night. It was a rather amusing conversation. At the end of the night I gave him my number so we can all hang out again another time and reminded him that he should find a nice rebound, and that she should not be me. He was a really nice, fun guy and told me repeatedly throughout the night (in a non-creepy way) that he thought I was really beautiful. It’s nice to meet people that are out of college and actually know what they’re doing in life. We didn’t end up leaving Kamil’s until around 5:30 that morning and I slept a good part of the next day, but it was worth the fun of the night before! Sarah and I had made plans to go to the mall the next afternoon, but we talked around 3 and both agreed that it just wasn’t going to happen! I spent the rest of the afternoon watching lame made-for-TV movies and reading my book.
It was really great hanging out with them. I really had a blast and it felt good to get out and socialize. I also got to talk to Sarah about some LC stuff, which was really good. Talking to other past LCs, I’ve always walked away feeling a renewed sense of confidence, but talking to Sarah did not have that affect on me. She told me that she’s really glad that she didn’t get the east coast because she knows those girls would have just walked all over her. Whoa. What if that happens to me? What if the girls don’t see me as a helpful tool and respect me? The odds are that there are going to be at least a few chapters that don’t receive me in the most friendly, welcoming way, especially if I’m there on a discipline visit. Ugh. That’s really scary for me to think about. Today at work we had to read a book called “I Heart Recruitment”. It was a good book. I found that most of the information in there is already stuff that I knew, which made me feel good and good about our chapter but there was definitely stuff in there that I found helpful. There were things that I found helpful recruitment wise and things that I found helpful to me personally, like the section on small talk! I have always hated small talk because I find it awkward and I never know what to say. I’ve been told that I hide it well and am pretty good about keeping conversations going, but it’s still something that I’ve always felt I needed to improve on. There was also a nice list of other books that are helping in improving skills needed to recruit, such as conversational skills, leadership skills, etc and I think I’m actually going to invest in a few of these books and read them. I mean, it can’t hurt me, right? There are 23 books on the list, so I don’t know where I am going to start and if I am going to try and make it through the whole list, but we’ll see. I think I good plan of action for the moment is going to be read one recreational book, read one informational book. I don’t have any books with me except the one I just finished and the one I’m currently reading, so I suppose I’ll have to buy a book, send one home, buy a book, send one home. I’m ok with that though.
I would like to now talk about Indiana and the differences between here and Texas. First of all, the weather. The women here are so cute. We’ll be outside and they’ll complain of how hot it is while I’m thinking “It’s only 86 degrees. It’s 101 in Austin right now. This is NOT hot”. Seriously, that’s what the weather is like everyday here. It does get humid, but it’s still pretty bearable. I look at the weather on my iPhone everyday and everyday Indianapolis is like 85, Kerrville is like 93 and Austin is like 100. And it’s so pretty here! It rains every few days (which I think is amazing and I love it!), usually at night, which is nice, so everything is nice and green. And there are so many trees! Everywhere! Trees that we don’t have in Texas! Since coming here I have decided that Texas is not that great. Austin is great and I love Austin, but Texas in itself is really just not that great. Living in Texas, I feel like we’re brainwashed to think that we’re the best state, but we’re not. Especially aesthetically speaking. It is true, though, that people in Texas are friendlier. I’ve figured this out just being out shopping. The employees are just as friendly (I imagine its part of the job requirement) but the other customers just aren’t. I didn’t really think of people in Texas as being super friendly until I got here. The people here aren’t necessarily rude, they just aren’t friendly. And they don’t smile nearly as much either. But it sure is beautiful outside! It’s crazy how many liquor stores that have here too! I feel like there’s one practically on every corner. AND – you can buy liquor in the grocery stores here! Shampoo on one isle, Jack Daniels on the next. It’s crazy. You can’t buy alcohol on Sundays though, no matter what time it is. Being here and seeing how different things are makes me really excited about getting to go to other states and experience them. It’s also making me realize that just because my family and friends are in Texas doesn’t mean that I have to live in Texas. It does make me sad to think that I might not live close to them, but I really need to think about what’s going to be best for me and make me the happiest. At the moment, I have no idea what or where that is.
Like I said earlier, we had to read this recruitment book today, and now that I’m done with it I don’t really know what we’re supposed to be doing the rest of the afternoon. Everyone else is out of the office today because they’ve all already left for convention, so it’s just Nicole and I. We leave tomorrow morning and I’m so excited!! It’s about 1:30 right now and we’re supposed to be in the office until 5. I’m sure we’ll find something to do…
Finding my way around
Friday, July 11, 2008
Today was kind of a nothing day. We only had a half day at work, which was nice. I got to come home and finish that delicious pizza from last night and then I went to workout. I was at the gym for almost two hours. It was amazing! I felt like I needed to make up for the things that I ate the day before and not working out, so I did 30 minutes on the tread mill, 20 on an elliptical, 15 on the stair master and then 15 on a different kind of elliptical. I felt amazing when I was done. Then I came home, dyed my hair, ate dinner, finished a book, wrote some emails and just relaxed. I’m excited to not really have anything going on this weekend so I can just relax and take some time for myself. I am going to wedding dress shopping with Amber tomorrow afternoon and I think Sarah and I are hanging out at night. I’m looking forward to having the morning off though. I’m excited to sleep in a little, start my new book, make myself some lunch and work out before hanging out with people. I see people working out every day at the gym and most of them are reading magazines while they’re on these machines or listening to their iPods, but I really enjoy just working out and listening to whatever thoughts pop up. I like the time to myself.
I am so excited to be out of Kerrville and Texas and actually doing something interesting and unique after graduating rather than just going to grad school or getting a job like a lot of my classmates. Being an LC is going to be phenomenal and I'm so excited about it, but I want to travel on a bigger lever and do something like go to India as a missionary for a year. I've always wanted to experience other countries, but I don't know about just up and moving to one. Hannah and I are talking about doing that with Italy. What the hell are we going to do in Italy? I don't want to go to school in another country. If I do more school, I want it to be in America (I think, anyway). I have enough trouble dedicating myself to my school work with out having the distractions that come with being in another country (although, maybe being in another country would take my distractions away...). I just finished Eat, Pray, Love tonight and it of course makes me want to go to another country as well. I would love to go to Italy with Hannah, but I just don't see what we'd be doing there as anything significant or worthwhile. Also, do I really want to go with someone else? Yes, I do. But still I kinda don't. I want to experience it with someone else, and who better than Miss Hannah Pants, but at the same time I don't want someone else that I already know to hold me back from experiencing new things the way that I could if I was alone. I'm glad I’m doing this LC thing without anyone I know. It’s an adventure that I'm embarking on by myself. It makes me feel more independent and like I'm finally taking charge of my own life and it's really becoming mine. I definitely want to do this Italy thing with Hannah, but I just want to make sure that we really get the most out or our experience and that neither of us hinders the other from getting the full experience that we deserve.
I have always wanted to travel, but I've also always wanted to work with kids and be a mom!! God, I want to be a mom. And I've always wanted to be a young mom so my kid can relate to me more and I can be active with them, but I don't want to travel with kids. Well, eventually I'd love to show the world to my kids, but first I want to travel for me! I want to experience new things and grow as a woman on my own and learn all that I can before becoming a mom. And I want to work for ASA, maybe one day be on the National Council because it's something that's important to me. But how can I fit all of this into one life?? I feel like I have to find a place to fit it all in before I'm 35, and I realize that's silly. I have my whole life ahead of me still! But how am I going to fit working with kids, working for ASA, traveling, having kids, and traveling with kids all into one life? And where the hell do I fit in a husband?? I'm so lost at the moment with what I'm going to do next. But I'm not too concerned about it because I'm so happy with what I'm doing with my life right now. I guess whatever happens next will happen. But should I start thinking about taking the GRE and applying to grad schools? And where do I want to go to grad school? Do I really want to stay in Texas? I really don’t feel like there’s anything great about Texas except for Austin, and I don’t see my going to UT or St Eds. And do I want to go to grad school for kids or for psychology? Ugh. I'm lost.
Today was kind of a nothing day. We only had a half day at work, which was nice. I got to come home and finish that delicious pizza from last night and then I went to workout. I was at the gym for almost two hours. It was amazing! I felt like I needed to make up for the things that I ate the day before and not working out, so I did 30 minutes on the tread mill, 20 on an elliptical, 15 on the stair master and then 15 on a different kind of elliptical. I felt amazing when I was done. Then I came home, dyed my hair, ate dinner, finished a book, wrote some emails and just relaxed. I’m excited to not really have anything going on this weekend so I can just relax and take some time for myself. I am going to wedding dress shopping with Amber tomorrow afternoon and I think Sarah and I are hanging out at night. I’m looking forward to having the morning off though. I’m excited to sleep in a little, start my new book, make myself some lunch and work out before hanging out with people. I see people working out every day at the gym and most of them are reading magazines while they’re on these machines or listening to their iPods, but I really enjoy just working out and listening to whatever thoughts pop up. I like the time to myself.
I am so excited to be out of Kerrville and Texas and actually doing something interesting and unique after graduating rather than just going to grad school or getting a job like a lot of my classmates. Being an LC is going to be phenomenal and I'm so excited about it, but I want to travel on a bigger lever and do something like go to India as a missionary for a year. I've always wanted to experience other countries, but I don't know about just up and moving to one. Hannah and I are talking about doing that with Italy. What the hell are we going to do in Italy? I don't want to go to school in another country. If I do more school, I want it to be in America (I think, anyway). I have enough trouble dedicating myself to my school work with out having the distractions that come with being in another country (although, maybe being in another country would take my distractions away...). I just finished Eat, Pray, Love tonight and it of course makes me want to go to another country as well. I would love to go to Italy with Hannah, but I just don't see what we'd be doing there as anything significant or worthwhile. Also, do I really want to go with someone else? Yes, I do. But still I kinda don't. I want to experience it with someone else, and who better than Miss Hannah Pants, but at the same time I don't want someone else that I already know to hold me back from experiencing new things the way that I could if I was alone. I'm glad I’m doing this LC thing without anyone I know. It’s an adventure that I'm embarking on by myself. It makes me feel more independent and like I'm finally taking charge of my own life and it's really becoming mine. I definitely want to do this Italy thing with Hannah, but I just want to make sure that we really get the most out or our experience and that neither of us hinders the other from getting the full experience that we deserve.
I have always wanted to travel, but I've also always wanted to work with kids and be a mom!! God, I want to be a mom. And I've always wanted to be a young mom so my kid can relate to me more and I can be active with them, but I don't want to travel with kids. Well, eventually I'd love to show the world to my kids, but first I want to travel for me! I want to experience new things and grow as a woman on my own and learn all that I can before becoming a mom. And I want to work for ASA, maybe one day be on the National Council because it's something that's important to me. But how can I fit all of this into one life?? I feel like I have to find a place to fit it all in before I'm 35, and I realize that's silly. I have my whole life ahead of me still! But how am I going to fit working with kids, working for ASA, traveling, having kids, and traveling with kids all into one life? And where the hell do I fit in a husband?? I'm so lost at the moment with what I'm going to do next. But I'm not too concerned about it because I'm so happy with what I'm doing with my life right now. I guess whatever happens next will happen. But should I start thinking about taking the GRE and applying to grad schools? And where do I want to go to grad school? Do I really want to stay in Texas? I really don’t feel like there’s anything great about Texas except for Austin, and I don’t see my going to UT or St Eds. And do I want to go to grad school for kids or for psychology? Ugh. I'm lost.
Friday, July 11, 2008
Trying life on my own
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
Today was great as well! I really love my job and I’m looking forward to going out on the road and working with chapters. I am also enjoying working in an office, which is something that I was never really sure if I would like. I learned a lot of stuff in training today and I also learned a lot from the women that I had lunch with. Nicole and I went out with Linda and Pat, both are older women (50+) who work in our office. Linda was a leadership consultant back in the day, but I don’t remember if Pat said that she used to travel. One thing I have started to worry about is me level of involvement in ASA later in life due to the face that I’m not (at this moment) planning on majoring in student affairs in grad school. But Linda used to do a lot of different things before coming and working a headquarters so it gave me hope that I can do the same thing. She also has attended 18 of the last conventions (that’s 36 years worth!) and it has inspired me to try and do the same. I am so excited about convention. I am going to get to meet some amazing women and I can’t wait! I’m excited to meet all of these women that get talked about so often around the office. I hope one day to be one of them.
I’m also looking forward to this weekend! Nicole is going out of town with her little on a road trip and that kind of sucks because it turns out that we get along pretty well. But one of the LCs from last year is in town this weekend and has invited me to hang out with them. I think I’m going to so I can get out and meet some people. I guess she knows a lot of people around here, most of whom are going to be out of town with Amber’s boyfriend at a fraternity conference, but it will still be good to meet who I can. I also need to go to the mall. I thought I had more than enough clothes to take with me, but it turns out I was wrong! :)
I worked out again today and I feel great! I did one 10 minute mile and one 12 minute mile, 15 on the elliptical and 15 on the stair master. I also weighed my self and I was pleased with that. Not pleased with the overall number, but pleased that it was lower than the last one I saw on there. I usually weigh myself in the morning, before eating, after pottying so I get the lowest results that I can. I weighed myself this time after having eaten three meals and was still one pound lighter than I was before I left for Indy. So that’s 6 lbs total that I’ve lost in the last week and a half, so I’m pretty psyched about that. Hopefully I can keep it up. I tend to plateau rather quickly…
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I didn’t journal yesterday because nothing particularly exciting happened. I did go shopping and get some khakis, brown shoes and some other cute things. I think I might go back and get the same shoes in black. Because of shopping I didn’t really have a lot of time to work out, but I still went to the gym and did 30 minutes, just to try and stay in the habit of it.
There are definitely some boring parts of LC training, but luckily we haven’t encountered to many so far. We worked on Advantage stuff today (the New Member education program). It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t so tired. We finally got our laptops today. Mine doesn’t have a very long better life (about 10 minutes) so that might be a bit of a problem out on the road. Hopefully we can get that taken care of before we head out in August. It was nice to be able to get on the internet with a screen bigger than my phone!
My eating didn’t do as well today. Breakfast was normal and healthy, but we went for Mexican for lunch and I had way too many chips and a nice, unhealthy, Mexican dish. Then for dinner the girl from work went to a nice pizza place. I did have a salad, but I also had a beer and the most delicious pizza ever! It had bacon, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and five different cheeses! I was in heaven! I was proud of myself for not eating the entire 10” in one sitting (something I would have no problem doing). I saved half of it for this weekend. Really I didn’t extravagantly over eat, but I ate more than I’m used to lately, so I just feel gross. I did read a tip in a fitness magazine that you should allow yourself one day of indulgence, as long as you keep your calories between 2000-3000 (my normal dieting intake is 1000-1300), so I guess I’m still ok. I also didn’t get to work out because I had some work stuff that I had to work on when I got home, so that just made me feel even worse. But I did enjoy getting out and socializing with the girls on a non-work level. Tomorrow we only have a half day at work, so I am hoping that I am going to be able to get some good workout time in!
When I sat down to write in my journal tonight, I flipped through the beginning of the journal, which I wrote in while I was in France two years ago. It’s crazy how different my life is now compared to what it was like then. I was still dating Nick then and we were completely infatuated with each other at that point. It’s weird reading about it now. I forget what it’s like being in love. It’s also hard remembering what it was like with Nick. I hope I don’t forget all together. It was only two years ago and he was a big part of my life. I really wish that I had been more specific when writing about my trip. I didn’t mention Esther, the young woman from New Zealand that we met and spend a lot of time with, the trip to Cluny (a small town outside of Taize) that we took with her, the walk through the country and John, Crystal and I took in the rain, our umbrella dance, and who knows what else that I’ve already forgotten. I’m also disappointed that I didn’t appreciate Taize itself more while I was there. I’m reading Eat, Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert right now, and it’s amazing! Reading about her experience in India makes me wish I’d really appreciated and absorbed Taize more. Reading about Italy and Indonesia makes me want to do so much with my life! I really want to be super involved with ASA the rest of my life, maybe be a part of National Council (which you can do and still have another job, like working with kids!) but I also want to really travel and see the world. I want to experience different countries and cultures and meet people from all over. But I also want to start a life for myself, a career and a family. Ugh. I really have no idea what I am going to do with my life when I’m done with this job in nine months. I guess for now I’m just going to enjoy what I’ve got going for me at the moment, because I’m so happy with this job! I can not express that enough. This really is an opportunity that I’m grateful to have and I can’t imagine being in grad school or working in any other job right now. I loved my job at The Boys And Girls Club, but I know I can get a job like that at any time, and honestly, it wouldn’t open nearly as many doors for me as this one could.
**I figured out a way that I can add people to a list and this site will email them a notification everytime I post a new blog, so if you're interested in that, let me know! I think the subscription thing at the bottom of the page should work though.
Today was great as well! I really love my job and I’m looking forward to going out on the road and working with chapters. I am also enjoying working in an office, which is something that I was never really sure if I would like. I learned a lot of stuff in training today and I also learned a lot from the women that I had lunch with. Nicole and I went out with Linda and Pat, both are older women (50+) who work in our office. Linda was a leadership consultant back in the day, but I don’t remember if Pat said that she used to travel. One thing I have started to worry about is me level of involvement in ASA later in life due to the face that I’m not (at this moment) planning on majoring in student affairs in grad school. But Linda used to do a lot of different things before coming and working a headquarters so it gave me hope that I can do the same thing. She also has attended 18 of the last conventions (that’s 36 years worth!) and it has inspired me to try and do the same. I am so excited about convention. I am going to get to meet some amazing women and I can’t wait! I’m excited to meet all of these women that get talked about so often around the office. I hope one day to be one of them.
I’m also looking forward to this weekend! Nicole is going out of town with her little on a road trip and that kind of sucks because it turns out that we get along pretty well. But one of the LCs from last year is in town this weekend and has invited me to hang out with them. I think I’m going to so I can get out and meet some people. I guess she knows a lot of people around here, most of whom are going to be out of town with Amber’s boyfriend at a fraternity conference, but it will still be good to meet who I can. I also need to go to the mall. I thought I had more than enough clothes to take with me, but it turns out I was wrong! :)
I worked out again today and I feel great! I did one 10 minute mile and one 12 minute mile, 15 on the elliptical and 15 on the stair master. I also weighed my self and I was pleased with that. Not pleased with the overall number, but pleased that it was lower than the last one I saw on there. I usually weigh myself in the morning, before eating, after pottying so I get the lowest results that I can. I weighed myself this time after having eaten three meals and was still one pound lighter than I was before I left for Indy. So that’s 6 lbs total that I’ve lost in the last week and a half, so I’m pretty psyched about that. Hopefully I can keep it up. I tend to plateau rather quickly…
Thursday, July 10, 2008
I didn’t journal yesterday because nothing particularly exciting happened. I did go shopping and get some khakis, brown shoes and some other cute things. I think I might go back and get the same shoes in black. Because of shopping I didn’t really have a lot of time to work out, but I still went to the gym and did 30 minutes, just to try and stay in the habit of it.
There are definitely some boring parts of LC training, but luckily we haven’t encountered to many so far. We worked on Advantage stuff today (the New Member education program). It probably wouldn’t have been so bad if I wasn’t so tired. We finally got our laptops today. Mine doesn’t have a very long better life (about 10 minutes) so that might be a bit of a problem out on the road. Hopefully we can get that taken care of before we head out in August. It was nice to be able to get on the internet with a screen bigger than my phone!
My eating didn’t do as well today. Breakfast was normal and healthy, but we went for Mexican for lunch and I had way too many chips and a nice, unhealthy, Mexican dish. Then for dinner the girl from work went to a nice pizza place. I did have a salad, but I also had a beer and the most delicious pizza ever! It had bacon, mushrooms, artichoke hearts and five different cheeses! I was in heaven! I was proud of myself for not eating the entire 10” in one sitting (something I would have no problem doing). I saved half of it for this weekend. Really I didn’t extravagantly over eat, but I ate more than I’m used to lately, so I just feel gross. I did read a tip in a fitness magazine that you should allow yourself one day of indulgence, as long as you keep your calories between 2000-3000 (my normal dieting intake is 1000-1300), so I guess I’m still ok. I also didn’t get to work out because I had some work stuff that I had to work on when I got home, so that just made me feel even worse. But I did enjoy getting out and socializing with the girls on a non-work level. Tomorrow we only have a half day at work, so I am hoping that I am going to be able to get some good workout time in!
When I sat down to write in my journal tonight, I flipped through the beginning of the journal, which I wrote in while I was in France two years ago. It’s crazy how different my life is now compared to what it was like then. I was still dating Nick then and we were completely infatuated with each other at that point. It’s weird reading about it now. I forget what it’s like being in love. It’s also hard remembering what it was like with Nick. I hope I don’t forget all together. It was only two years ago and he was a big part of my life. I really wish that I had been more specific when writing about my trip. I didn’t mention Esther, the young woman from New Zealand that we met and spend a lot of time with, the trip to Cluny (a small town outside of Taize) that we took with her, the walk through the country and John, Crystal and I took in the rain, our umbrella dance, and who knows what else that I’ve already forgotten. I’m also disappointed that I didn’t appreciate Taize itself more while I was there. I’m reading Eat, Pray Love, by Elizabeth Gilbert right now, and it’s amazing! Reading about her experience in India makes me wish I’d really appreciated and absorbed Taize more. Reading about Italy and Indonesia makes me want to do so much with my life! I really want to be super involved with ASA the rest of my life, maybe be a part of National Council (which you can do and still have another job, like working with kids!) but I also want to really travel and see the world. I want to experience different countries and cultures and meet people from all over. But I also want to start a life for myself, a career and a family. Ugh. I really have no idea what I am going to do with my life when I’m done with this job in nine months. I guess for now I’m just going to enjoy what I’ve got going for me at the moment, because I’m so happy with this job! I can not express that enough. This really is an opportunity that I’m grateful to have and I can’t imagine being in grad school or working in any other job right now. I loved my job at The Boys And Girls Club, but I know I can get a job like that at any time, and honestly, it wouldn’t open nearly as many doors for me as this one could.
**I figured out a way that I can add people to a list and this site will email them a notification everytime I post a new blog, so if you're interested in that, let me know! I think the subscription thing at the bottom of the page should work though.
Starting life as an LC (not Lauren Conrad).
Introduction to my blog:
I have been writing blogs about my life periodically for quite a while now and I usually do this via myspace. I have decided that since I’m doing something with my life at the moment that is kind of a once in a life time experience there may be people who want to read my blog that are not a part of myspace (like my family). So I decided to start blogging on this site. I don’t know how it works yet, if there is a way for people to be updated when I post a new blog or if they have to just periodically check the site for new postings. My intentions with this are to write at least every other day (although we’ll see how that goes once I’m on the road) and then once I’m done with all my traveling get it printed in book form. I think it would be neat to have a hard copy of my experiences when I’m done with all of this. I have not had internet since Saturday (it’s now Thursday) so I’ve been unable to blog about my experiences thus far so I’ve been writing in my journal every night. So now that I have access to the internet, I am going to take what I’ve written in my journal over the last few days and write it here. I’m going to keep it organized by day rather than just spit it all out and not all of it has to do with my job as LC. It also has to do with my ongoing battle with my weight and also my thoughts about the rest of my life and what I think I want out of it. So, here it goes.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Today I arrived in Indianapolis to being my job as a Leadership Consultant for Alpha Sigma Alpha. I am going to be on the road for nine months with two one-week vacations and December off. I had to get up at 4 am to catch my 6:15 flight from Austin. Luckily, I like to travel so it wasn’t bad. There are two of us LCs so far but there are supposed to be 3. The other girl who was hired for the job got accepted to med school so she decided not to take this job after all so my boss (Christy) is in the process of hiring someone else. In the air port waiting for my connecting flight from Chicago there was a children’s choir waiting for the flight. They were rather interesting to observe. They were all middle school aged girls, and watching them made me realize that I am definitely not cut out to work with kids at that age. They just annoy the crap out of me. I just want to slap them and say, “Seriously, you’re not as cute or as funny or as cool as you think you are, so just knock it the hell off and start acting like a real person”. It’s not really appropriate to do that with kids that aren’t yours.
Of the two of us, I was the first to arrive in Indy so I got to pick up the rental car (an ugly blue PT Cruiser, yuck!) and check us in at our apartment complex. I saw this as kind of a silver lining to my day. Of the two other girls who were originally hired for the job, the one I liked best is the one that quit. Nicole, the one who I’m definitely working with, is still only 20 and kind of got on my nerves the weekend of the interview so I was a bit apprehensive going into this because, as we all know, I’m not exactly the best people person. So I was very excited that I got to get the car and pick out which room I wanted at the apartment before going back to the airport and picking her up. I was not nearly as excited when I actually arrived at our apartment complex. It’s not quite as nice as I pictured it being. It is fully furnished, but it’s rather…trashy. The décor looks like a cross between and old woman’s apartment and a run down motel. But it’s our home for the next 7 weeks, so hopefully it grows on me. There were two bedrooms, each with two twin beds. One had it’s own bathroom inside with a stall shower and two closets. I picked that one since I can be a bit of a loner sometimes and allowed her to have the one with the hall way bathroom and tub. The beds aren’t too uncomfortable and the sheets are nice and soft.
Once I picked Nicole up from the air port and we got all settled into our apartment we went to Amber and Andy’s for a BBQ with them and Christy. Christy is my boss. Amber used to be the LC for our chapter our very first year. She was my inspiration for wanting to be an LC and now she works for National Headquarters helping with recruitment and expansion. Andy is her fiancée. Andy cooked these amazing turkey burgers, mashed potatoes, asparagus and baked beans and Christ brought fat free brownies and pasta salad. I did really well and did not over eat (that’s a really big deal for me) and I was proud of myself. I also had a great time sitting around and chatting with them. Christy is a hilarious and a ton of fun. I loved hearing Amber and Andy tell stories from when they were on the road (Andy was an LC for his fraternity and still works for their national HQ). I was awesome hearing about all the things that I’ll have to look forward to as an LC and also while I’m here in Indy. There are a ton of young Greeks here since Indy is the home of 29 Greek National Headquarters. I am so excited that I’m here and I want wait to meet these people! Hearing them all talk about working for HQ did make me a little sad because the two things that I’m most passionate about (kids and ASA) are two things that can’t really be combined. Until a week ago, I was convinced that I wanted to be a social worker or teacher or something along those lings and now hearing all of this… I love ASA and I definitely want to be involved my entire life. I don’t want to just be casually involved though. I don’t like being just casually involved in anything. I’m really an all or nothing kind of girl. Once I’m done with this job I’m going to have to figure out which one I care about more and choose my grad school and career path based on it. Ugh.
I am also excited because our apartment complex has a club house with some kind of fitness center and there’s also a gym down the road that Amber was telling me about that a lot of past LCs have used and it’s like $5 a day. That’s not too bad I guess, but that can get expensive quick if I go often. Hopefully they have some kind of short term deal for me. I lost 5 lbs while I was home waiting to leave for Indy! I really want to try and keep eating well and working out. I’m nervous about this though. Nicole is smaller than me, Amber is about my size and Christy is much bigger, but none of them really seem all that concerned with what they eat and Christy and Amber keep talking about all of these places that we’re going to be going out to eat at. When I’m good, I’m really good, but when I’m bad, I’m really bad… We’ll see how it goes. Over all, I’m really excited!! I’m excited about the job itself but also really excited about all of the people outside of ASA that I’m going to get to meet this summer!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Today was my first official day of LC training and I loved it! I am so excited that I took this job. I found out that we basically have 3 colonies this year! One of them we are completely starting from scratch. It’s going to be our job as LCs to recruit the women and then turn them into a chapter. Christy thinks that two of us will be going together that first week and then after that it’ll just be one LC. That chapter is in Georgia. The other colony is in Oklahoma. They were a colony last year and just couldn’t get their act together to get installed as a chapter so they need some more help and guidance as well as a kick in the ass to get them going. The third isn’t actually a colony, it’s a revitalization chapter. This chapter (in Louisiana) has been around for years and I’ve actually met girls from this chapter before and somehow they’re down to only 8 members. We’re going to be treating them like a colony and basically starting over with them, and if that doesn’t work we may end up having to shut them down in the future. I’m excited because I’m guaranteed to get one of these three! We won’t find out what section of the US we have until the week after next. Next week we have Convention in Albuquerque and hopefully when we get back that next week we’ll have a 3rd LC and that’s when we’ll get to find out our travel schedules. I don’t really care what section of the US I have, but I think it would be awesome to have Alaska!
We got our ASA credit cards today and we were able to go grocery shopping, which was nice. I also got to go to the gym and workout! First I went and checked out the fitness center over at the clubhouse and that was a joke. I walked in and tried to get on the Elliptical, but it was broken. One of the treadmills was all torn up and the other one didn’t work right when I got on it. It was pathetic. So I went over to Cardinal Fitness and talked to them. My first visit was free, so I got to scope the place out and decide if I liked it before spending money to commit to it. Now I can either spend $7 each visit or pay $35 for a one month pass. I’m definitely going for the one month pass, which will be good until August 9 and we hit the road around the 18th, so I think that’s pretty good. This gym is actually right around the corner from HQ, which is about 10 minutes from our apartment. I’m finding that Indianapolis is a ridiculously easy city to get around. It’s also really pretty. It’s very green with lots of trees. I like it. The average temperature during the day is about 85, and the girls here think it’s hot. I love it! I’m proud of myself for finding a gym to workout at in a city that I’ve lived in for 24 hours! I ran two 12 minute miles and then did about 15 minutes on the elliptical and it felt great! I really do like working out. I’ve never walked away from a workout regretting it. I am a bit anxious though. Amber keeps encouraging me to get out and mingle with the other Greeks in town (who are actually all out of town this week, so I can’t) and I’m afraid that once I do I’m going to get into the habit of eating and drinking things that are not good for me and not finding time to workout. I don’t want to be a hermit, but it’s easier for me to be good to my body this way.
I have been writing blogs about my life periodically for quite a while now and I usually do this via myspace. I have decided that since I’m doing something with my life at the moment that is kind of a once in a life time experience there may be people who want to read my blog that are not a part of myspace (like my family). So I decided to start blogging on this site. I don’t know how it works yet, if there is a way for people to be updated when I post a new blog or if they have to just periodically check the site for new postings. My intentions with this are to write at least every other day (although we’ll see how that goes once I’m on the road) and then once I’m done with all my traveling get it printed in book form. I think it would be neat to have a hard copy of my experiences when I’m done with all of this. I have not had internet since Saturday (it’s now Thursday) so I’ve been unable to blog about my experiences thus far so I’ve been writing in my journal every night. So now that I have access to the internet, I am going to take what I’ve written in my journal over the last few days and write it here. I’m going to keep it organized by day rather than just spit it all out and not all of it has to do with my job as LC. It also has to do with my ongoing battle with my weight and also my thoughts about the rest of my life and what I think I want out of it. So, here it goes.
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Today I arrived in Indianapolis to being my job as a Leadership Consultant for Alpha Sigma Alpha. I am going to be on the road for nine months with two one-week vacations and December off. I had to get up at 4 am to catch my 6:15 flight from Austin. Luckily, I like to travel so it wasn’t bad. There are two of us LCs so far but there are supposed to be 3. The other girl who was hired for the job got accepted to med school so she decided not to take this job after all so my boss (Christy) is in the process of hiring someone else. In the air port waiting for my connecting flight from Chicago there was a children’s choir waiting for the flight. They were rather interesting to observe. They were all middle school aged girls, and watching them made me realize that I am definitely not cut out to work with kids at that age. They just annoy the crap out of me. I just want to slap them and say, “Seriously, you’re not as cute or as funny or as cool as you think you are, so just knock it the hell off and start acting like a real person”. It’s not really appropriate to do that with kids that aren’t yours.
Of the two of us, I was the first to arrive in Indy so I got to pick up the rental car (an ugly blue PT Cruiser, yuck!) and check us in at our apartment complex. I saw this as kind of a silver lining to my day. Of the two other girls who were originally hired for the job, the one I liked best is the one that quit. Nicole, the one who I’m definitely working with, is still only 20 and kind of got on my nerves the weekend of the interview so I was a bit apprehensive going into this because, as we all know, I’m not exactly the best people person. So I was very excited that I got to get the car and pick out which room I wanted at the apartment before going back to the airport and picking her up. I was not nearly as excited when I actually arrived at our apartment complex. It’s not quite as nice as I pictured it being. It is fully furnished, but it’s rather…trashy. The décor looks like a cross between and old woman’s apartment and a run down motel. But it’s our home for the next 7 weeks, so hopefully it grows on me. There were two bedrooms, each with two twin beds. One had it’s own bathroom inside with a stall shower and two closets. I picked that one since I can be a bit of a loner sometimes and allowed her to have the one with the hall way bathroom and tub. The beds aren’t too uncomfortable and the sheets are nice and soft.
Once I picked Nicole up from the air port and we got all settled into our apartment we went to Amber and Andy’s for a BBQ with them and Christy. Christy is my boss. Amber used to be the LC for our chapter our very first year. She was my inspiration for wanting to be an LC and now she works for National Headquarters helping with recruitment and expansion. Andy is her fiancée. Andy cooked these amazing turkey burgers, mashed potatoes, asparagus and baked beans and Christ brought fat free brownies and pasta salad. I did really well and did not over eat (that’s a really big deal for me) and I was proud of myself. I also had a great time sitting around and chatting with them. Christy is a hilarious and a ton of fun. I loved hearing Amber and Andy tell stories from when they were on the road (Andy was an LC for his fraternity and still works for their national HQ). I was awesome hearing about all the things that I’ll have to look forward to as an LC and also while I’m here in Indy. There are a ton of young Greeks here since Indy is the home of 29 Greek National Headquarters. I am so excited that I’m here and I want wait to meet these people! Hearing them all talk about working for HQ did make me a little sad because the two things that I’m most passionate about (kids and ASA) are two things that can’t really be combined. Until a week ago, I was convinced that I wanted to be a social worker or teacher or something along those lings and now hearing all of this… I love ASA and I definitely want to be involved my entire life. I don’t want to just be casually involved though. I don’t like being just casually involved in anything. I’m really an all or nothing kind of girl. Once I’m done with this job I’m going to have to figure out which one I care about more and choose my grad school and career path based on it. Ugh.
I am also excited because our apartment complex has a club house with some kind of fitness center and there’s also a gym down the road that Amber was telling me about that a lot of past LCs have used and it’s like $5 a day. That’s not too bad I guess, but that can get expensive quick if I go often. Hopefully they have some kind of short term deal for me. I lost 5 lbs while I was home waiting to leave for Indy! I really want to try and keep eating well and working out. I’m nervous about this though. Nicole is smaller than me, Amber is about my size and Christy is much bigger, but none of them really seem all that concerned with what they eat and Christy and Amber keep talking about all of these places that we’re going to be going out to eat at. When I’m good, I’m really good, but when I’m bad, I’m really bad… We’ll see how it goes. Over all, I’m really excited!! I’m excited about the job itself but also really excited about all of the people outside of ASA that I’m going to get to meet this summer!
Monday, July 7, 2008
Today was my first official day of LC training and I loved it! I am so excited that I took this job. I found out that we basically have 3 colonies this year! One of them we are completely starting from scratch. It’s going to be our job as LCs to recruit the women and then turn them into a chapter. Christy thinks that two of us will be going together that first week and then after that it’ll just be one LC. That chapter is in Georgia. The other colony is in Oklahoma. They were a colony last year and just couldn’t get their act together to get installed as a chapter so they need some more help and guidance as well as a kick in the ass to get them going. The third isn’t actually a colony, it’s a revitalization chapter. This chapter (in Louisiana) has been around for years and I’ve actually met girls from this chapter before and somehow they’re down to only 8 members. We’re going to be treating them like a colony and basically starting over with them, and if that doesn’t work we may end up having to shut them down in the future. I’m excited because I’m guaranteed to get one of these three! We won’t find out what section of the US we have until the week after next. Next week we have Convention in Albuquerque and hopefully when we get back that next week we’ll have a 3rd LC and that’s when we’ll get to find out our travel schedules. I don’t really care what section of the US I have, but I think it would be awesome to have Alaska!
We got our ASA credit cards today and we were able to go grocery shopping, which was nice. I also got to go to the gym and workout! First I went and checked out the fitness center over at the clubhouse and that was a joke. I walked in and tried to get on the Elliptical, but it was broken. One of the treadmills was all torn up and the other one didn’t work right when I got on it. It was pathetic. So I went over to Cardinal Fitness and talked to them. My first visit was free, so I got to scope the place out and decide if I liked it before spending money to commit to it. Now I can either spend $7 each visit or pay $35 for a one month pass. I’m definitely going for the one month pass, which will be good until August 9 and we hit the road around the 18th, so I think that’s pretty good. This gym is actually right around the corner from HQ, which is about 10 minutes from our apartment. I’m finding that Indianapolis is a ridiculously easy city to get around. It’s also really pretty. It’s very green with lots of trees. I like it. The average temperature during the day is about 85, and the girls here think it’s hot. I love it! I’m proud of myself for finding a gym to workout at in a city that I’ve lived in for 24 hours! I ran two 12 minute miles and then did about 15 minutes on the elliptical and it felt great! I really do like working out. I’ve never walked away from a workout regretting it. I am a bit anxious though. Amber keeps encouraging me to get out and mingle with the other Greeks in town (who are actually all out of town this week, so I can’t) and I’m afraid that once I do I’m going to get into the habit of eating and drinking things that are not good for me and not finding time to workout. I don’t want to be a hermit, but it’s easier for me to be good to my body this way.
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