Why It’s Hard to Lose a Friend

There’s a point when you get used to people being around all the time.  It’s inevitable that at some point, someone is going to be such a big part of your life that even if you don’t see them every day, even if you don’t talk to them every day, that you definitely need to know that they’re still fine and doing well.

This is how I feel about Allie, my Big, Kristin, Melissa, Shawn, and now Blake.

These are people I spent so much time with that it’s always a bit strange to have them gone.  But, I know they’re okay and that’s really the difference.

But what about people like Keith?  He’s in the same state and I never see him anymore because not only did he go back to his boyfriend, but said boyfriend also hates me and won’t let Keith see me.  Keith, who I shared everything with for eight years, is someone I never see.  I got so used to having him around for eight years…  Except I don’t know that he’s still fine.  I don’t know that he’s doing well.

I just know that he’s back with the same person who really hurt him.  Even though I was there for him for years, someone who hurts him and claims to care about him is better?  I don’t understand.

Other people we care about are our pets.  When my first fish, Pearl, died, I bawled for two days.  Then, I got his step-brother.

Last night, Steph had to put down her pet rat MoMo.  Earlier in the year, she had to put down his brother Eddie.  The little ratties have been there with her for years now.  So it’s hard to see them gone.

RIP Momo and Eddie.

Welcome Back Everybody!

I was on my way home for my lunch break today and I got a text from Shawn.  He’s finally sitting at the DMV getting his license replaced.

It started snapping in half about six months ago and some time after he left the state, he started being afraid to use it.  When he visited for the Georgia game, he was using his passport as an id for the bars.

He figured that he doesn’t want to wreck his passport either and he’s finally in town for long enough to go…  And he was sitting there for a couple of hours already when he texted me.  Poor Shawn.

Anyway, this is to welcome back Shawn, Melissa, Allie, Kelsey, Kristin, and everyone else who is getting back into town for the holidays.  I’m happy to have you all here.

Cookies

Earlier in the week, I spent a day making cookies.  I want to talk about recipes.

I once told you all that I cannot cook at all.  That’s not the complete truth.  I can bake pretty darn well.  In high school, I used to bake oatmeal raisin cookies for Keith all the time.  I also made coma inducing brownies, Christmas cookies, kangaroo cookies, peanut butter cookies, and snickerdoodles.  Mostly I made the oatmeal cookies and snickerdoodles.

I can also bake pretty awesome cakes.  Basically, I’m a fairly adept baker.

Ask me to cook chicken though and…  Well, you’re on your own, basically.  Unless you want me to reheat it, because I am fully capable of using a microwave.

So, earlier this week I made holiday cookies for my dear out-of-staters.  I wanted to give something nice to my Big and Steph and then I figured that Kristin, Shawn, Allie, and Melissa could totally use cookies too.

I had a recipe and I figured that one batch would make twenty-four cookies.  Since I wanted to make them for four people at the time, I decided to double it.  Forty-eight cookies would be great to split amongst four people.  I forgot that sugar cookies were different from drop cookies…

I ended up with somewhere around the high seventies or low eighties.

So I ended up boxing up all the cookies and sending them off this week rather than in batches.  I also had some left over for me to eat.

So, for all my adeptness at baking, I can’t double a recipe…

But, I’ll let you all know the reviews of the cookies when they start coming in.

Winter is Gross

Right now, I’m inflicted with the thing I hate most about winter:  winter skin.  Seriously, all winter, my hands look like little red mittens.  I need to get back into my moisturizer regiment for winter.  It’s annoying.

You’ll be proud of me, though.  I did my practice packing yesterday and not only did I get everything to fit, but I still had room left over!  How did I do this?  I strictly followed Steph’s packing regiment, of course.  She is seriously the queen of carry-on only travel.

Exciting news, let’s see…  Everyone is going to be coming home any day now.  Shawn has tests for three more days and Allie will be here by the twentieth.  I forget when Melissa said she was coming back and I need to talk to Kristin.

Steph won’t be coming back, unfortunately, but she will be back for the known future in January, so yay!!!!  I’m happy to have her back here because I miss her tons.

Anyway, that’s about all I have to say for now.  Toodle-oos…

An Introduction to The Fam

Members of The Fam also get included under one all-encompassing tag, however, rather than like with the Fab Five (where all members receive one tag), the members of The Fam that get talked about the most each have their own tag, at least until this blog has existed so long that I need to free up space by getting rid of individual tags.  Generally, these members are either in my immediate line and were in the sorority with me before I graduated or they are close friends who also happen to be related to me in some way.  Some members of my immediate family have only been mentioned specifically in the post where I originally introduced The Fam, but they are likely to come up more often, like right now.

Members of The Fam

Erika:  Erika is my Big Sis in the sorority.  After a week of receiving clues from her, we met at Big/Little Revelation my freshman year of college.  We have known each other for about four years now.  Erika moved back to her home state after graduating two years ago.  She was already a junior when she took me on as a Little.  She is working and living life with the zest that always came to her.  She does come out to visit, but it seems to be much less frequently now that my class has graduated.  I hope to see her really soon though.

Erika and the Bucket List:  The Start of the Bucket List-visiting Erika in Washington is part of my goal to travel.

You can find all other posts mentioning Erika here.

Kristin:  Kristin is one of my closest friends in the sorority and one of my best friends in our pledge class.  She and I officially bonded on the bus on the way to our new member retreat and were fairly inseparable afterward.  As I previously mentioned, her favorite story to tell is when she sort of met me before either of us joined our sorority, let alone any of them.  We have known each other for four years now.  Kristin later became my adopted Twin during our sophomore year.  She is currently teaching first grade in Connecticut.

Stories featuring Kristin: “A Story About Recruitment” tells a story that Kristin told me when she first met me and “September Fourth:  September Twenty-Third” tells a story that happened to Kristin and I our freshman year.

Kristin and the Bucket List:  The Start of the Bucket List-visiting Kristin in Connecticut is part of my goal to travel.

You can find all other posts mentioning Kristin here.

Allie:  Allie is one of my closest friends in the sorority.  We met briefly when I first joined, because she is my Aunt.  The next semester, she went off to Semester at Sea.  But the semester after that, we some how ended up becoming roommates and that’s when we really bonded.  We have known each other for four years now.  Allie spent the last year applying to law schools and this year she is going to law school in California.  She recently got engaged to her marine fiance (well, fiance now).  She tends to come out to visit a lot and should be out more often because Jeff is currently deployed.  I actually need to check up on her later today.

Posts specifically about Allie:  “Some Thoughts About Weddings”

Allie and the Bucket List:  The Start of the Bucket List-visiting Allie in California is part of my goal to travel.

You can find all other posts mentioning Allie here.

Members of The Fam in my Direct Lineage

Lilac:  Lilac and I met during my sophomore year of college when she became my first Little.  We have known each other for three years now.  Lilac was very focused on school and graduated two whole years early.  She is now doing charitable work somewhere in the middle of nowhere.  They keep moving her around, so that’s the only reason I’m not too sure where she is right now (and why she’s not on my list of people to visit, she is, I just don’t have a concrete location to visit), but last I checked, she was in northern California.  Last I heard, she wants to go to culinary school  and hopefully become a chef.

You can find all posts mentioning Lilac here.

Briana:  Briana is one of my Grandlittles.  Briana and I met during my junior year of college when she became one of Lilac’s Littles (she was originally part of a set of twins, but her twin has since transferred schools).  Since Briana joined during her sophomore year (she and Lilac are the same age, actually), she and I have only known each other for two years now.  Briana is extremely spunky and always down for a good time.  She hopes to one day be a director and is still attending my alma mater.

You can find all posts mentioning Briana here.

Stacey:  Stacey and I met during my junior year in college when she became one of my Littles (she was originally part of a set of twins, but her twin has since dropped).  She and I have known each other for two years now.  Stacey is also focused on school and is graduating at the end of this year.  She plans to go into SLHS.  She is still attending my alma mater.

You can find all posts mentioning Stacey here.

Rebekah:  Rebekah and I met during my junior year in college when she became one of my Littles (she was originally part of a set of twins, but she has since dropped).  She and I have known each other for two years now.  Rebekah always has a propensity for fun and is working toward a degree in Psychology, though I’m not sure if she actually wants to necessarily do anything in that particular field.  Time will tell.  Rebekah is still attending my alma mater.

You can find all posts mentioning Rebekah here.

The missing link in this family line is, of course, me.  But, again, more on me later.

You can find all posts mentioning The Fam here.

Tomorrow, I will be talking about The Boys, stay tuned!

The start of the bucket list

So yesterday, I had coffee with Hailey.  It was a lot calmer than I expected, but more on that later.  I know, I know, I keep saying I’m going to talk about our drama, but something keeps coming up.  Maybe I just don’t really want to tell all of you about it?

Anyway, I was talking about Brody and, really, everyone I know going back to school.  I started talking about things I wanted to do and what I need to really get my life on track.  And I decided that the most important thing right now is to follow through on those goals.  I was reading something the other day about how to reach your goals.  I forget where I saw it, which is bad for a reference, but there was one thing it suggested that I really liked.  Here goes:

If you’re making a goals to-do list, you usually list the steps in order of what you need to do to get to the final goal.  This can seem daunting and inevitably may cause failure.  Rather than writing the list leading up to the goal, write it backwards.  Start with your goals and go from there!

In other words, it’s no longer a to-do list, it’s a bucket list!

I’ve always meant to write down my bucket list, so it’s going to be the next focus here.  I like telling you about all sorts of things I’m up to, so get excited.

TRAVEL

One of my huge goals is to make it to all fifty states.  I’ve decided to set up some parameters.  So, here goes:

1.  In visiting all fifty states, some amount of time must be spent in the state.  Driving through does not count.

2.  While sometimes lengthy, an airport layover does not count either.

3.  There is no set time line for doing this.

So, let’s take a look at our fifty states so far:

This map is a nice visual and I will update it periodically.  Here is the code.  The goal is to eventually have all states be green, blue, or red (though I don’t see many more becoming red, honestly).

Here is the key:

Red states:  Red states are states that I have lived in and visited extensively.  I may actually add another state to that list at the end of next summer, but I’m deciding on that still.

Blue states:  Blue states are states that I have lived in for a brief, but extended period of time.

Green states:  Green states are states that I have visited and stayed in for at least one night, but less than a month.

Yellow states:  Yellow states are states that I have either visited the airport, via layover, or driven through.  There are a few other states I have technically driven through, but I don’t remember them, so I am not including them here.

Purple states:  Purple states are near future destination plans.  These will be explained.  States in other colors can also have a purple status in their description.

White states:  White states have no status yet.  We shall see in the future.

So, here goes!

Alabama:  I eventually plan to visit, I just don’t know when.  Really, I should just head down and have a tour of the south.

Alaska:  I honestly don’t know when I’ll visit Alaska…

Arizona:  I visited when I was younger, but I definitely need to make my way back to visit Steph and our friend Kelsey who is doing Grad School at her alma mater.  She’ll only be there until May, I think, so I really need to get on this.  Steph, as we know, may be coming back as soon as January!  Arizona is also under purple status.

Arkansas:  Tour of the south?  Let’s make this happen.

California:  I was born here and moved around a lot in Southern California for my first few years before we moved to Colorado.  I also used to visit every other year all through pre-school and K-12.  This would also make it a green state as well, but California is also under purple status, as I intend to visit Allie.

Colorado:  I mention the mountains enough if you’ve been reading and you would infer, therefore, that I currently reside in the mile high state.  I intended on moving away from here as soon as I had enough money, but after spending my summer away, I discovered how much I really like Colorado.

Connecticut:  Kristin currently works here and I intend to visit her up there next summer.

Delaware:  I honestly don’t know what’s in Delaware, but I intend to find out!

Florida:  Some day.  Some day I will visit Florida.

Georgia:  I landed in the airport here when I was in seventh grade and then drove through it on the way to Tennessee, then the same trip on the way back.  I would really like to go back and actually see the state some day.

Hawaii:  Hawaii is similar to Florida.  Some day!

Idaho:  I don’t know what’s in Idaho but Blue/Orange State.  I’ll figure it out.

Illinois:  This will be a fun place to visit some day too.

Indiana:  I’m running out of things to say about some of the white states.  Sorry if this offends anyone from these areas.

Iowa:  I visited here in sixth grade.  I was able to see the Iowa State campus.  I still don’t understand the bird if they’re the Cyclones, but I generally tend to give up understanding.  I stayed here for about a week or so.

Kansas:  If you’re driving anywhere in the midwest, you pretty much pass through Kansas.

Kentucky:  Tour of the South?

Louisiana:  See above.

Maine:  Whats in Maine?  I’ll figure it out.

Maryland:  I almost attempted going here over the summer, but it’s a six-hour drive.  Though honestly, that’s not so bad.  Everything in the Northeast is pretty close.

Massachusetts:  Some day I will go here.

Michigan:  I saw it from the lake, but that’s about it.

Minnesota:  Running out of things to say.

Mississippi:  Tour of the South?

Missouri:  You know, I wish I would have been there for the last game.  Alas, I can’t think of a football reason to go.

Montana:  More states in the North…

Nebraska:  I actually may go here for the last game against Nebraska.  We shall see.  I say this, but the game is on Black Friday, so the chances of me getting out of work to go to the state are pretty slim.  Wishful thinking?  I did stay the night here on the way to Iowa in sixth grade, though.

Nevada:  Three hour layover in the airport at the age of seventeen.  I am a champ.  I really need to make it out to Vegas, though.

New Hampshire:  In the same category as Maine.

New Jersey:  Went to the airport and drove through on the way to Pennsylvania.  Also drove through a bit on the way to New York.

New Mexico:  South?

New York:  Visited Manhattan for the night and next day.  It was awesome.  The tunnel was crazy for eleven PM on a Sunday, but probably not out of the ordinary.  I may visit Shawn, so potential purple status?

North Carolina:  Airport layover.  Awesome.

North Dakota:  Oh the North….

Ohio:  O-H!  I-O!  haha?  I just like that cheer.

Oklahoma:  No more football games here either.  Well, there’s one this year, but I doubt I’d make it out for it.  Especially since it’s Halloween weekend.

Oregon:  I need to go here to complete the West coast.  It’s going to happen.  Also, there’s this a cappella group Steph and I want to see up at OU.

Pennsylvania:  I spent all summer here last year and I intend to do it again this year.  Potential red status?  We shall see.

Rhode Island:  It’s white…  Need a car next summer to drive all these places.  Only so many off days.

South Carolina:  Future tour of the South.

South Dakota:  Things up North…

Tennessee:  I stayed here for a week or so in seventh grade at the University.  I’d love to go back, though.  But they made fun of my accent…  I have a twinge, but it’s definitely not Coloradoan.

Texas:  I intend to visit Melissa here before she finishes up.  Definitely purple status.

Utah:  I’ve probably driven through here at some point.

Vermont:  Northeast…

Virginia:  Tour of the South!

Washington:  Half my family lives here.  I’ve been here quite a few times.  Erika is up there too, so I think it needs potential purple status.

West Virginia:  Haven’t been here….  Totally white.

Wisconsin:  I lived here for an entire summer after fifth grade.

Wyoming:  I don’t know why I haven’t driven through here even.  I’m at a loss, actually…

So, there’s the list of traveling.  In case you were wondering, we’re currently at 10/50, or 1/5 of the way there!  Future travel, here I come!

The Fam

So I have a couple of things to talk about and I was deciding between talking about the newest members of my fam or talking about my friend Hayley.  But, I decided that I don’t want to be dramatic quite yet, and I’ll save that for later…  Really Hayley drama as of late could be a multi-part series.  Is that bad?  I promise I’m totally not this dramatic on a regular basis!  I’m actually pretty calm, which you’ve probably seen from this blog, or at least I hope so.

In any case, I decided to talk about my Fam, since a few new members will be joining it soon.

So, I can’t trace my Fam back very far, only to my Grand Big,   My Grand Big got married right out of college, I think her husband is about my age.  Anyway, she wasn’t originally my Grand Big, but she was by the time I knew her.  Her first Little is actually my dear friend Allie.    Some time after Spring 2006, when Allie joined and before Spring 2007, when I joined, my Grand Big, Arlene, adopted my Big, Erika.

I didn’t get to know my Grand Big very well because she was a senior when I was a freshman, and we had deferred recruitment when I joined.  So, I only really had a semester to get to know her.  But before Songfest my freshman year, I was at the house and I needed help with my hair and she helped me tease and pouf it.  It was a little moment of bonding that I really appreciated.

I mentioned my Big once before in conjunction with a little story about my freshman year.  Erika was a junior when I joined the house.  She had a soft spot for taking on Littles, I think.  I was her fourth, and by the time she graduated, she would have five.  Her Littles are:

• Molly, her first Little/my sort of older sibling (Spring 2006):  She had taken a year off when I joined, and would eventually transfer after my sophomore year.
• Renee, her second little/my former older sibling (also Spring 2006, though I think she was COB and not the formal pledge class): She ended up dropping over an unfortunate snafu, and so her branch of the family ended up being adopted by Becky (who ended up serving as the connection between me and Evan).
• Lizzy, her third Little/my older sibling (Fall 2006, informal recruitment):  She and I were the only ones to stay through our graduation dates that were originally Erika’s Littles.  Therefore, I don’t have anything specific to say about her as to why our fam ended up smaller than originally.
• Me, her fourth Little (Spring 2007)
• Kristin, her fifth Little/my adopted twin (also Spring 2007):  My Big Erika eventually ended up adopting my friend Kristin in Spring 2008 when Kristin’s Big dropped.  So Kristin and I are kind of twins, since we are from the same pledge class, but not quite.

I’ve spent a lot of time with my Big, so I don’t necessarily need to recount all my experiences here.  And at the end, I’ll talk more about the family tree.

So in my branch of the Fam, I come after my Big, obviously.  I have three Littles:

• Lilac, my first Little (Spring 2008):  She ended up graduating two years early, before me, even.  She was very driven, but I think she’s a bit burnt out these days.  She ended up having two Littles.
• Stacey, one of my twins (Fall 2008):  She is also graduating early, so I feel for her Little.
• Rebekah, one of my twins (Fall 2008):  She ended up dropping last year, but I still consider her a member of my family.

Lilac ended up having two Littles, both of whom were also twins:

• Briana, my Grand Little (Fall 2008): She and Lilac are actually the same age, but Briana decided to wait until her Sophomore year to go through recruitment.  She ended up having two Littles.
• Kirby, my Grand Little (Fall 2008):  She ended up transferring mid-way through my Senior year.

Briana’s Littles as follows:

• Joey, her first Little/my Great-Grand Little (Fall 2009):  She ended up dropping by the end of my Senior year as well.
• Amber, her second Little/my Great Grand-Little (Fall 2010):  She’s my newest Great-Grand Little, but she won’t know that until Sunday.

Stacey’s Little:

• Sandy, my Grand Little (Fall 2010):  She’s my newest Grand Little, but she also won’t know that until Sunday.

Anyway, I’ve gone shopping for the newest members of the Fam.  The weekend after they find out that they’re in the Fam, I’ll be up for Centennial, so I’ll get to meet them.  I’ll actually be up this Saturday (more on that later), but they won’t know they’re in my Fam yet, so being introduced to a random member’s Big or Grand Big would be a bit suspect.  Anyway, I decided to get them both a frame and have us all take a picture together before the dinner on Friday night.  Then I’ll put the picture in the frame and it will be an adorable momento of the Fam.  I’m also getting some fun sunglasses for them, because you can never have enough fun sorority stuff.  I thought about shirts, but I don’t know their sizes and really, in the end, they’ll walk away with like forty shirts, so why add to it?  I’m also getting myself some stuff, but that’s not important here.  I’m really excited to meet them both, it will make Centennial that much better for me.

So, I’d said I’d run through the rest of my family and, I guess, their relation to me.  So here goes:

• Arlene (Fall 2003): my Grand Big
  • Erika (Fall 2004): my Big
  • • Molly (Spring 2006):  my sort of older sibling who transferred.
      • Nicole (COB Spring 2007):  Molly’s adopted Little, my Niece.
        • Leigh (Fall 2008):  Nicole’s Little, my Great-Niece, she has since dropped.
          • Lidia (Fall 2009):  Leigh’s Little, my Great-Great-Niece.  I don’t know if anyone has adopted her since Leigh dropped, though, so she may not be in my family anymore, or she could still recognize Leigh as her Big, but not necessarily recognize the family line.
            • Joey (Fall 2010):  Lidia’s Little, my Great-Great-Great-Niece.  She won’t find out Lidia is her Big until Sunday, though.
      • Lilac (Spring 2007):  Molly’s adopted Little, my Niece.
      • Lisa (Spring 2008):  Molly’s first non-adopted Little, my former Niece.  She has since transferred.
  • • Renee (COB Spring 2006): My former older sibling.
      • Julie (Spring 2007): My former Niece, but she was adopted by Becky.  She does have a Little, but she got her after she was adopted, so I won’t include the rest of their family line here.
  • • Lizzy (Fall 2006):  My older sibling.
      • Jenny (Fall 2008): My former Niece, but she transferred.
  • • Me (Spring 2007)
      • Lilac (spring 2008)
        • Briana (Fall 2008)
          • Joey (Fall 2009): dropped
          • Amber (Fall 2010)
        • Kirby (Fall 2008): transferred
      • Stacey (Fall 2008)
        • Sandy (Fall 2010)
      • Rebekah (Fall 2008): dropped
  • • Kristin (Spring 2007): My adopted twin
      • Catherine (Spring 2008): Kristin’s first Little, my Niece
        • Stephanie (Fall 2008):  My Great-Niece.
          • Stacey (Fall 2010): My Great-Great Niece.  She will find out she is Stephanie’s Little on Sunday.
      • Lara (Spring 2008): Kristin’s adopted Little, my former Niece.  She has since dropped.
      • Larissa (Fall 2008): My Niece, part of Kristin’s set of twins.
        • Jaden (Fall 2009): My Great-Niece.
          • Renee (Fall 2010): My Great-Great-Niece.  She will find out she is Jaden’s Little on Sunday.
      • Nicole (Fall 2008): My former Niece, part of Kristin’s set of twins.  She has since dropped.

Here is my extended family:

• Arlene (Fall 2003): My Grand Big
  • Allie (Spring 2006):  My Aunt.
    • Katherine (Fall 2006): Allie’s first Little, my former cousin.  She has since dropped.
    • Stacey (Spring 2007): Allie’s second Little, my cousin.
      • Alexis (Fall 2008):  Part of Stacey’s set of twins, my second cousin.
        • Diane (Fall 2010): My third cousin.  She won’t find out that she’s Alexis’ Little until Sunday.
      • Kate (Fall 2008):  Part of Stacey’s set of twins, my second cousin.
        • Amy (Fall 2009): My third cousin.
          • Audrey (Fall 2010): My fourth cousin.  She won’t find out that she’s Amy’s Little until Sunday.
    • Betsy (Fall 2008):  Allie’s third Little, my cousin.
      • Shea (Fall 2009): My second cousin.
        • Blaire (Fall 2010):  My third cousin.  She won’t find out she’s Shea’s Little until Sunday.

So, yup, I have a pretty large Fam all in all, but my branch has gotten a bit small.  I still love them all bunches though!

September fourth: September Twenty-Third

Today was my first day of work, so I’m a little tired to come up with something exciting to write…  Even a letter…  So sorry.

No football scores today, but next week is Georgia and I’m still trying to get tickets!  Oye….

What else….  I get to see Bree on Monday, so yay!

I have to be at work at 8 AM on Saturday for more training, gross.

And….  I’ve been trying to see Brody for a few days now and it’s getting annoying, haha.  Hopefully we’ll go Halloween costume shopping soon.  :)

And…  yup, that’s pretty much it…  Sorry September twenty-third is so boring.

Oh, actually, I have a short story to tell.  So right now the new members of my sorority are in the midst of their new member period, so here’s a story from when I was a new member:

As a gift for our Bigs, we are supposed to decorate paddles and give them to them on initiation.  My Big, Erika, already had three other Littles, so I had to make my paddle awesome.  I had bought a bunch of wood pieces, such as hearts and big double layer block letters.  I also had thirty different colors of paint.  My paddle was going to be awesome!

Kristin and I had bonded at our New Member sleepover, so on the day we received our paddles, we were both riding the bus back to our dorm.  This was back in the days when the bus was awful and sucked at timeliness.

But anyway, we were sitting on the bus when a guy started chatting with us.  “Are those paddles, ladies?”

“Yes…”  We both answered hesitantly.

“I was just wondering…  Who do you hit with them?”

Kristin and I stared blankly at him.  Then we turned to each other.  We were completely shocked.

“Like, do the older girls hit you with them?  Do you hit each other?”

“This isn’t Animal House,” I finally managed to stammer.

And yes, I know, there is no paddling in Animal House…

A Story About Recruitment

Recruitment went really well yesterday, so I am excited to see how it goes today!  I will come back later with a story from when I went through recruitment myself.

Also, yesterday Cal killed us, 7-52.  It was a bit sad, but certainly not unexpected.

I woke up late this morning, so I am rushing out the door!

Anyway, here’s my story about recruitment from when I was a freshman.  I was reminded of it because it happened during Philanthropy Rounds and today is Philanthropy Rounds for the girls going through recruitment this year.

My junior year of high school, I bought this awesome pair of dress pants.  They were pinstripe and made of a warmer material, so I could only wear them when it was colder.  So every time it snowed, I was so excited because I was able to wear my super cute pinstripe pants.  Unfortunately, when it snowed, well, it was also slick and snowy.  And you can’t wear those pants with tennis shoes and the rainboots as snowboots trend hadn’t started yet.  So, every time it snowed, I also wore an adorable pair of black high heels with a round toe with a bow.  So, in  any case, I wore this outfit pretty much anytime it snowed or froze for two years.  And Keith generally gave me a ride when it was cold, but sometimes I had to fend for myself.

So, by the time I got to my freshman year, I was pretty adept at walking in high heels in the snow.  Which, ironically enough, was perfect for deferred formal recruitment.

So on second datebook, philanthropy rounds and house tours, I put on my pinstripe pants and my polished round toe high heels with the bows and ran out to catch the bus, since I lived in the campus dorms.  It was almost full to the brim, but I knew I could make it on and fit.

Unfortunately, the director of Greek Life was out in the circle drive of the dorms and told me that it wasn’t safe to wear high heels and that I needed to change into more weather appropriate shoes.  Before I could protest about being late because I would miss the bus, he told me that he would give me a ride to campus.  I went back up to my dorm and put on my tennis shoes–I still didn’t have boots.  I carried my shoes in my hand and got a ride to the campus.

The part of this story that is most amusing is that this past year when Kristin and I were reminiscing about our memories in our sorority and she recounted the above story to me, in less words:

“Remember back when we were going through recruitment and I didn’t know you?”  She asked me.

“Well, sure,” I responded, “I don’t remember a lot about recruitment, but I remember going through it.”

“My favorite non-sorority memory was when I was on the bus the morning of philanthropy day and a blonde girl was running to the bus in high heels.  I was really jealous that she was able to run in her shoes!  And then we both got bids and I met her.  Actually, I’m still impressed in the kinds of shoes and conditions you can run in.”

We laughed about it.  And actually, that was the second time she told me that story.  The first time I heard that story from Kristin was right after we joined the house when we first met each other.

Songfest Romance Part Three: The Invitation

Two days until recruitment!  I hung out with Brody last night and  we watched a couple movies; it was really fun.   Here’s the final installment of the story I started Monday!  This is mostly the part I was apologizing for on Monday, and so, once again, I hope no one takes offense to anything that comes out of Evan’s mouth.

Our outfits for Songfest consisted of a cut up black shirt over a bright blue or green tank top.  Our bottoms were either calf-high dance pants or tiny shorts over fishnet tights.  And of course we wore black shoes.  The fishnet tight combination was preferred over the dance pants, so, like any good member, I wore the fishnet tights.  Evan spent the entire time we were practicing making little jokes about the outfit.

And he chose to start the moment I walked in.

“I just have to ask!”  he shouted.

I was a bit startled, and concerned, “What’s wrong?”

“Did you own those fishnets before you knew the Songfest outfits?”  A huge grin spread across his face.

But he didn’t stop there.  Evan was always full of sarcastic jokes.  So this was one of the times when he had plenty to say on one subject.

After our dress rehearsal, we had managed to be allowed to leave Coors, so long as we went together.  Evan offered to buy me a pizza over at the Taco Bell/Pizza Hut.  I was ecstatic.

“Are we going inside to get the pizza?  I only have my card.”

“I guess I’ll have to get it for you…  But I guess if we went inside the employees might be willing to trade a pizza in lieu of payment…”

“Evan!”

When we were back at Coors, my friend Rick from Kappa Sig texted me to see if I was in the arena.  I was heading over when Evan grabbed my arm.

“Maybe you shouldn’t go visit people…”

“Why?…”

“If the Pikes see you in an outfit like that, you’ll wake up in their basement tomorrow!”

I put my hands on my hips.  “If you’re so worried, maybe you should go with me…”

“Nah, I don’t like the Kappa Sigs…”

“Well, do you like the G Phis?”

“Eh…”  He shrugged and went back to his pizza.

When I returned from visiting Rick, he smiled.  “It seems you got back from the Pikes okay.”

“I manage just fine.”

“Oh hey…  Will I see you on the corner of Broadway and Baseline later?”

“Evan!”

His jokes got less creative as the night went on, as I clearly don’t remember them in their less than funny state.

I do remember his final joke, however, and it occurred after the performance had ended.

“Hey, do you want a ride home?”

“Yeah okay…”  A grin started spreading across his face and I grew concerned.  “Why?”

“I just don’t know if it’s safe for you to walk home dressed like that.”  He started cracking up.

I shook my head and started to walk away.

“Hey, come back!  I was just joking!”  It was hard to hear him over his laughing.  “Deidree!”

After Evan offered me a ride, a few of the freshmen enthusiastically clamored over a ride back to the house.

“Could I have a ride too?”  Leigh asked expectantly.

“Me too!”  Catherine exclaimed excitedly.  I guess she had some claim on Evan, what with being finale dance partners and all.  But still…

Evan seemed to be seriously considering his response.  He paused for a moment.  “I guess if you all are going to the same place…”

As luck would have it, while we were walking out, the girls decided that they were going to go to Melissa’s dorm in Kittredge  instead; this is right by Coors, luckily.  I kept following Evan to his car.

“So, were you going to come to our party tonight?”

“Umm, maybe…  I have a paper to work on for Thursday and I haven’t gotten to work on it at all.  But, it sounds like fun.”

“If you want, I’ll call you when it gets bigger and you can come over then.”

“Okay.  But I don’t think I have your phone number….”

“Really, I was sure you had it…”

We exchanged numbers during the last bit of the trek to Evan’s car.  He had parked in the upper parking so it was really far up the parking hill by Coors.

Evan started to drive, but upon reaching the line of cars exiting Coors, he turned right on to Regent instead of left.  The car was heading toward 28^th now, instead of Broadway.  This may seem like an ordinary occurrence because of the traffic, but we both live on the hill, which is off of Broadway.  And even despite the traffic, heading toward Broadway would be a faster drive.

While we were waiting at the stoplight on Colorado and 28^th, Evan turned to me slightly, “So are you excited about the party tonight?”

“Um…  Well, I think it’ll be fun to blow off some steam, but I wish it weren’t a Monday night…  I rarely ever go out on week nights because of work, even Thursdays…”

Evan gave me a small smile, “Well, at least you’re coming tonight.”

I couldn’t help but smile back; I always smiled when he smiled.  “Yup.  However, I do hope you guys are throwing down again this weekend, because I will totally be there.”  I felt my smile growing.

Evan bit his lip a little.  “Well, you’re always welcome at Pi Kapp, but no one will be there.”

I felt my smile dropping.  I tried to hide it.  “That’s weird…”

“It’s our formal, actually.”

I was filled with disappointment.  I wonder who Evan was going with…  I bet she was pretty.  “That should be a lot of fun!”  Was I hiding my disappointment well?

Evan chuckled a little.  “You would think so, but I don’t have a date yet.”

“I’m sorry.”  Okay, secretly…  I wasn’t really sorry at all.

Evan laughed again.  “It’s okay…  I’m sure one of your seniors will cozy up to me on Thursday, ‘So, Evan…  I heard you don’t have a date yet.  I’d love to go if you’re okay with that…’  And then she’d drink my alcohol and hang out with the brother she actually wanted to see.”

I wasn’t about to let that happen.  I was mulling over my options in my head.  “That seems like some short notice…”  I would go with him…  Monday is much less short notice.

Evan shrugged a bit.  “It happens.”

I mulled over it a little more and finally decided to go for it.  “Well, I’m not doing anything this weekend…  I’ll go with you.”

Evan let out a laugh.  “You want to go, huh?”

I felt myself blush a little.  “I mean, umm…  If you want…”

Evan gave me a large smile.  “Yeah, you should come.”  At this point we had reached my house.  Evan stopped the car and leaned over toward me.  “We’ll talk about it later. I’ll call you about the party.”

“Okay…”  I stepped out of the car and all I saw was his large smile gleaming at me.  “Bye….”

I walked up the steps to our house in a daze.  I punched in the door code and stood at the bottom of the annex landing.

Kristin was standing at the top of the stairs.  “You okay?”

“I think I just invited myself to Pi Kapp’s formal….”

“Omigod!”

And here’s my present day musing on the events surrounding this invitation:

Despite my thought that I had in fact invited myself to this formal, after thinking it over and talking with some of my guy friends, I realized that I had not exactly invited myself at all.  Let’s take a look at some of the facts.  As I mentioned before, even with traffic, taking Regent to Broadway is faster than taking Regent to 28^th to Baseline to Broadway.  So why would Evan take the loop over the straight path?  To have a longer conversation, of course.  As fate would have it, it seems that Evan had actually planned this conversation.  I’ve been told that he was simply testing the waters—we had only known each other for a little under a week at this point, after all.  Despite wanting to gauge my reaction, Evan was extremely good at reading me.  I’m still not really sure how a conversation about a post-Songfest party could turn into a conversation about Pi Kapp’s formal….  But then again, maybe my face said more than I had hoped it did.  In any case, Evan had wanted me to come and had effectively maneuvered our conversation.  He’s a sly one at best.  And in case you were wondering, the formal was awesome.  Not that anyone should be surprised, of course.