Half Way Point

Well Hello There Friends!

It has only been 8 days since I blogged last, not too shabby! Go ME! I'm sitting in an airport once again. I'm currently in Indianapolis waiting to get on a connecting flight to Atlanta but unfortunately we are delayed. I was supposed to leave Indy at 12:15 pm and now am not scheduled to leave until 4:45 pm. I'm en route to Clemson University in SC. I should get in to Clemson at about 7:30 if everything goes as planned, but I only will have about 20 minutes to get on my flight to Greenville/Spartanburg from Shit-lanta, sooo I may be getting more of a workout in then I had anticipated! The nice Delta man booked me on a later flight just in case I don't make it (smart, smart man).

Here's an update of my life on the road!

After a break at home I was off to the University of Delaware for recruitment. Newark, DE is becoming near and dear to my heart as I have been here three times in the last five months. I even have my own local hang out (Brew Ha Ha! coffee shop - I know, it's a coffee shop, you're shocked). The great thing about this visit is that I wasn't alone! Justine, another ELC, met me in Delaware! It was so great to see her and not be pulling my hair out on a recruitment visit by myself. I don't mind recruitment because it means that I have less meetings that I have to attend, but recruitment visits always seems to be a bit more stressful than regular visits because 1. You DO NOT sleep 2. Have you ever shoved 100 women into a room for four hours and forced them to sing, clap, and converse while wearing heals? It's not pretty. 3. You eat like crap. 4. Did I mention the lack of sleep? So, after you are done with recruitment visits, you are one happy camper! Recruitment at Delaware was actually pretty darn good. The ERB (the chapter members who plan recruitment and who you spend 95% of your time with on recruitment visits) was a ton of fun and were super duper organized! This was the most organized recruitment that I have ever seen. Plus they did such a great job! The chapter made quota plus! Yay!!! If I have to go back for a fourth time, I think they might start charging me rent, so let's hope not! :) Although, I wouldn't mind a Grande Mocha at Brew Ha Ha!

After Delaware I flew to one of my favorite places in the whole wide world...Missoula, MT. I love love love the mountains and cannot get enough of them. I ran outside everyday and just gazed at the scenery (yes, I almost got hit by a couple of cars, don't judge.). It was a ton of fun to see all of the chapter members again. They remind me so much of Theta at UND, it's not even funny. I'm excited to come back in April. I promised some of the members we would hike "M" Mountain again. I better continue this running business. The "M" is quite the workout!

OK-I have to interrupt this rousing rendition of my visits to tell you about THE LOUDEST THROAT CLEARER EVER! This women is sitting behind me and she has seriously cleared her throat like 50 times in the 45 minutes that I have sat here. We're not talking a little cough, she's a hyena! She's scaring people. I hope she has a throat left...eeek! Okay, back to the real business...

So, why am I in Indy you wonder? I flew here after MT for ELC Interviews. No, I didn't have to interview again, they are actually letting me stay for another year (I know, I was shocked too!). Twelve Thetas from across the US flew to Indy to interview to be ELCs during the 2010-2011 school year. The women that interviewed were great! I can see many of them fitting right in with the four of us that are returning (Malory, Hil, Justine & me). I did have my favorites, so I'm hoping they make it, but the final decision is not up to me (I know, I think it should be too). The candidates should find out in early April if they received the position. I am hoping that we find out a bit earlier! So excited for next year! Interviews were fun, but it was even more fun hanging out with my ELC family. We haven't seen each other since December so it had been a while! We were all our goofy old selves again. It took a while for us to all figure each other out at the beginning, but now that we have, I don't think we have had a serious conversation since the beginning! I wish all of these girls could come back next year :(. Another exciting thing that I learned while at HQ is that I'm staying on for the summer! The four returners are all going to work at HQ and help prepare for Grand Convention in June! So, I will be done with traveling at the end of April, get about two weeks to head home and chill, then come back to Indy and work until the middle of June! I'm pumped to not only get paid during the summer (those student loans do not pay themselves) but to also get to live in one place, besides Killdeer for more than a week! Yes! I might actually feel like a real life adult (let's get for real...).

Well, I better start working on one of the four reports that I have to get done! Bah! They are never-ending! I turned one in only about a week and a half late...whoopsies! I'm sure the chapter was sitting on pins and needles waiting for it (Riiiiight). I hope all is well where ever you may be.

My next airport day is on Sunday, so I'm going to write "blogging" in my To Do List...hopefully I remember! If not, catch you on the flip side.

Lyss

P.S.~ I am now counting how many times LTCE (Loudest Throat Clearer Ever) makes a jostling noise...I'll keep you posted. :)

I'm Back!

Hi,

I'm back after a short hiatus. I guess I'm already not living up to my New Year's resolution-dang it! Life just gets so busy and I always feel like my late reports (also a NY resolution-oopsies!) take precedence over my blog. But here I am again sitting in an airport with a little bit of time to update my friends and family on my life.

So where did I leave off...oh yes, Ohio Wesleyan.

After OWU, I traveled to the Northeast and visited Yale for recruitment. The campus was absolutely beautiful. It was literally like stepping into a Harry Potter movie, the visit, well that was...interesting. The women were great, but recruitment just gets really stressful, especially when you have to teach them a lot of things that they should have already known about...

Needless to say, I was pretty tired and ready for a break after that visit. Next, I headed to the Finance Conference in Dallas, TX. The conference (minus the whole numbers/finance thing) was a lot of fun. I got to reunite with not only the three other ELCs that are coming back next year (Justine, Mallory, & Hilary), but I also got to see my big sister Kendra! Kendra is a finance advisor for Gamma Nu (NDSU). We had an awesome time catching up and giggling. I guess I learned a little bit about finance too ;). This is a picture of us in our Business Cas...gotta love it!

After the conference, my cousin Catie picked me up and I hung out with her for a few days at her house in Sherman, TX. Catie works at Austin College and it was a lot of fun to see her stomping grounds! Catie is in the process of interviewing for graduate schools for student affairs (the same thing that I want to go into). I'm hoping that she gets into a great school, can put in a good word for me, then we could live together and go to school...in my perfect world I guess. Ha! Anyway, it was so wonderful to see her and I'm so glad that we got to hang out! She's soooo much fun! Oh, another fun little thing that I did while in TX with Catie was getting my first tattoo! Yup, pretty wild! We were driving on the highway and I saw a tattoo parlor on the side of the road, and decided that this was the most opportune time to get my tattoo. The place looked a little sketch from the outside and I told Catie that if I walk in and there is no usage of gloves, I'm running for the door, so be prepared. The exterior did not do this place justice, because it was actually pretty nice and quite cleanly. I'm sure they passed all of their health department tests. If not, I will be blogging about the hepatitis that I caught from getting a tattoo soon (let's hope not!). Anyway, I got two stars on my ankle between my Achilles and my ankle bone. Hopefully, I will take a picture and post it on here. The only problem is every time I take a picture it looks like I have a weird Cankle. I swear I don't. I have very nice defined ankles, they are one of my best features, but every time, I take a pic, I get the cankle effect. I swear the camera always adds ten pounds no matter what you are taking a picture of. I'll try to get a good one, then I will post it, I promise.

After Dallas, I took a nice long break at home in Killdeer for about 10 days. It was absolutely glorious and I was actually pretty darn productive. I didn't get both of my reports done and hence have one that is about 3 days late now (Again, I hate NY resolutions) but I did get a lot of other things done. One of them being SHOPPING with my mom. We went to Dickinson and got some amazing deals at Herberger's (a small department store). I got four pairs of shoes: strappy sandals for the wedding, nice brown Born boots (so cute and a great deal!), grey booties, and black flats! I also got a leather coat for like $15, a cute top, and a UND sweatshirt for only $15! plus two pairs of earrings! I also got a clock and a wedding gift! My mom is seriously the greatest bargain shopper in the world! I got all of this stuff for less than $200! Amazing! After our spending binge, we decided to plan a 51st Bday/Superbowl party for my dad. How luck is he that his Bday was on the Superbowl!? We invited a couple of friends over, pigged out on food, and watched the Superbowl. We also made dad open up gifts in front of everyone, which he absolutely hated, ha ha! The things mom and I make him do! Anyway, my time at home was wonderful, but it was time to get back to work...

So, here I am, just leaving a recruitment visit at the University of Delaware. This is my third visit to UDel and I have really grown to love the little town of Newark! It is such a great little college town with an adorable Main St. (Yes, it's actually called Main St.). The best part of this visit is that I didn't have to do it alone! I met my friend and fellow ELC, Justine, in Delaware! It was so much fun to have her there to survive the ridiculousness that is recruitment. The women of Zeta Tau (UDel) did an awesome job, I'm so proud of all of their progress and hard work! They are so cute and fun! I hope I can visit again. Currently, I"m sitting in the airport sipping on some coffee (typical) getting ready to fly to Minneapolis. From Minneapolis, I head to one of my favorite chapters in the whole wide world, the University of Montana!!!! I'm so excited to see all of these ladies again, I visited last semester for pre-recruitment prep and recruitment. They remind me so much of my Theta chapter that it's not even funny. There is actually a girl there that looks and acts exactly like my friend Jessie! I always feel so at home when I am there! It will be quick visit because they changed their officer structure so it's a bit smaller. Smaller officer structure means less meetings for me (I'm not complaining), so it will be a four day visit as opposed to our normal 5 day visits. On Friday, I head back to Indy for ELC interviews. I'm pumped to be the ones who are not super nervous at interviews! It will be cool to see the future ELCs that I will be working with next semester! I also CANNOT wait to see all of the ELCs! It has been a while since we were all reunited (December). After interviews, I'm rolling out to Clemson University for a pre-recruitment prep visit. This is another return visit that I'm excited for! Clemson is an adorable campus and I really enjoy SC. Perhaps, I will come back to ND with a southern accent? Hmmmm.... Then, I'm on another break! Yes! I get into Bismarck on my mom's birthday (February 28) at about midnight. I will stay at Laura and Gerald's house for the night, then drive home on Monday. I'm home from February 28-March 15. I'm excited for a loooong break and to catch up on some much needed sleep (and working out) that I lost/didn't get to do during recruitment. Well that's all that I have for now. My next airport day will be Friday, so hopefully, I can remember to fulfill my NY resolution and type up a synopsis of my Montana visit.

Thanks for reading!

Love,

Lyss