Take me back to San Diego

So what kind of week can combine #TheBachelor, my first flat tire, and sunny 70 degree weather in January? Let me just say a great one. Week 3 took me to sunny San Diego where I was able to spend some time with my UCSD Kappa ladies. Earlier this year, I spent a week with the Zeta Nu’s during their hectic yet fun-filled recruitment. Here’s a #throwback for them. 

First Round of Recruitment

Zeta Nu Kappas!

Meriah showing off her dancing skills after Rounds

Bid Day!

 If those pictures don't show you how great these girls are then maybe their Rap Video will. Anyways, I definitely suggest taking a trip down to San Diego if not to meet some of these girls then at least for the weather. It was a wonderful 70 something my first few days there. I even got a bit of a sunburn when I went for a run in shorts and a tank top. Did I mention the fact that it’s January? Gosh, I love California. But on for some fun stories…

So while I was on my visit in the fall I stayed with Mace and Nicole which was an absolute ball. Naturally, when I came back for my second visit, I was more than thrilled to hang out with Mace. But as all traveling consultants know, you always need to expect the unexpected- especially with someone like Mace (Kidding, but not really :P)

I’m a HUGE fan of #TheBachelor and Mace may be related to one of the contestants searching for love so I of course wanted to meet her. While we were blasting some music and heading to watch Sean take his shirt off fall in love with some lucky girl, we all of a sudden heard this thudding noise coming from the back of the car. We immediately pulled over and realized we had a flat tire, or rather a rim with some piece of rubber hanging off of it.  First thing I do? Pull out my phone to call Triple AAA. Mace’s first instinct? To pop the trunk, pull out her tool kit, and start popping off the what-cha-ma call thems that hold the tire on. Finally after going back and forth with Triple AAA for a bit (there was an issue about my parents removing me from membership… thanks mom and dad) I ended up rolling up my sleeves and helping. 

I honestly wish I could’ve videotaped the entire scenario but the pictures and the story will have to do. Some of the conversation went a little like this:

Me: “Mace, I don’t know what I’m doing. What is this? A crank? How does this work? Don’t you just jack it up or push a button or something?? This is weird. Shouldn't we just wait for someone to come help?”

Mace:  “No! It's fine, you do it like this (motions how to use a hand jack) yeah, perfect. Okay I’ll keep a look out so we don’t get hit by a car…. Wow, you’re doing work”

Me:  “Shine the i-phone light over here for a sec. Okay, I think we got it! Now what?”

Mace: “Um. Well. I don’t know” *Calls boyfriend Nick and explains situation; He laughs and instructs us what to do* 

And this goes on and on. Until some lady pulls over and explains to us that we should probably get out of the road. Yes, thank you lady in the minivan. It has always been a dream of mine to hand jack a car up to change a flat tire. And then play in the road. At night while wearing dark clothing. But thank you so much for the advice and speeding away right after informing us of that and not offering to help. Can I just say, an average of about 50 cars drove by. Half of them flew past us (some almost hitting us) and the other half slowing down to look at us and then driving away anyways. Tisk Tisk not very gracious San Diegans.

Finally though, the police showed up. It must’ve been a slow night because once one cop showed up, 2 other cop cars miraculously showed up too. Don’t they always seem to pop up in groups like that?? Oh well, they were quite impressed that we had almost finished. One of the officers got down to help us tighten the lug nut things so our tire wouldn’t fly off. (I’m pretty sure he was the rookie which made me automatically think hazing but I refrained from my anti-hazing chatter.) So here’s a shout out to the San Diego police- thanks guys for helping, even if this picture is super awks.

Me and the Police Officers who lent us a hand

ANYWAYS… back to the important part where I got to meet #selma. Yes, for you #Bachelor fans, Selma. The fabulous and absolutely gorgeous gal who was the lucky duck to go on a one-on-one this week-- even if it was scaling a mountain in 100 degree weather. Whatever floats your boat Seanie boy.

Btdubs… I heard if you use #hashtags, you gain more publicity for your blog so if you're wondering why I'm hashtagging, it's because I’m trying to be more #trendy.

Let me tell you… Selma is awesome. She is absolutely hysterical and so down to earth and just normal. No #Tiera-ble here. Actually, both of Mace’s sisters are pretty funny and the night turned out to be a blast. I even learned some Bachelor inside tricks too :)

  

So the beginning of the week definitely started off with a bang. Literally I guess for the poor tire. The rest of the week was pretty standard- lots of officer meetings as usual and catching up on some e-mails and what not. I did get to see the fabulous Brianne though. Brianne is my LC bigfor Kappa and is working as a consultant at the Irvine chapter. It was so great to see her and just relax. We went to BJ’s and had the best chocolate chip cookie Pizookie I’ve ever had. The poor waiter kept asking us if we needed him... we ended up shutting down the place. oops. 

Chapter Council hard at work during wrap-up

Finally, I of course have to give the biggest shout out to my roomies. Terra, Kat, and Chels who were absolutely amazing. We had a blast, or I had a blast, hanging with them. Whether it was Chelsea driving away with her laptop on the roof of her car or late night (and by late I mean all night) chats with the neighbors/other roomies, it was truly so much fun. Plus, T-Swift was on non-stop so it automatically made my day, every day. Or maybe my favorite part was the internet name and password but I’ll keep that between us girls. 

                               

Chels and Daniel being goofballs

                                 

Overall, it was so great to be back at San Diego and I can’t wait to head back there at some point- whether as an LC or not. 

Alrightey everyone, it’s late here and time for bed. I’m currently at Syracuse and recruitment is underway so I need to get some sleep when I can! 

Nighty night!

Don't put all your shoes in one basket (or suitcase)

For my second visit of the semester, I headed back east to South Carolina where I was visiting Furman University. If you've never had the chance to check it out you definitely should. When you think of what a beautiful college campus should look like, Furman is what will probably come to mind. Lots of green grass, really pretty buildings, and too many fountains to count. But it's not the campus that makes the school- it's the people and let me tell you, the gals at Furman are truly awesome :)

Eta Alpha at Preference Ceremony

The start of my visit was a bit rough though. I had a 6 AM, yes AM, flight to LA, then a flight to Chicago, THEN a flight to South Carolina. Needless to say, I was very happy when I finally arrived in Greenville... or so I thought.

I feel like before I go any further with this story, I should say this- I've been pretty lucky as far as traveling goes. Knock on wood but I haven't had any bad toiletry explosions or "we've just closed the cabin doors, sorry" missed flights. I've had a few delays here and there and my face wash leaked once in a zip lock bag but otherwise I'm a happy flier. That is until I arrived at South Carolina. After 3 long (and very bumpy might I add) flights, all I wanted to do was toss on my leggings and a sweatshirt and catch some zzz's while watching Grey's. My bag, however, must've known it was pouring in Greenville and knew it would be raining until Friday so naturally, it decided to catch some extra sun in LA (my first layover). Welp, there goes that plan of getting cozy. You should probably know the way I tend to pack is I jam all my heavy things aka my shoes into my little suitcase. I suggest not ever doing that in case this situation happens to you- there is no point in having cute shoes if all you have are your belts and workout clothes to rock them with.

Anyways, long story short I did end up getting my suitcase back. The following day while I was in an officer meeting, on campus, and during lunch period at the cafeteria. So me and my 50 lbs. hung out at the coffee place all day while all (and I mean ALL because this is THE dining hall to hang out at) the Furman students walked by staring at my humongous suitcase. Whatever, I was just happy to have some clothes to wear with my shoes.

My suitcase just hanging out in the Dining Hall

So aside from my little luggage fiasco and the monsoon that was happening in South Carolina- and the hail which I was thankful to be indoors for- Furman was great. It was full on recruitment mode so girls (both active members and girls going through recruitment) were all pepped up on Diet Coke and skinny vanilla lattes. The Kappa girls did the cutest Monopoly skit where I was singing the songs all day. My personal fav was the remake to Material Girl- I'm still singing it 3000 miles away (HelloOoOo San Diego!). These girls had so much energy and positivity. We had several in between round dance parties and I even learned some new chants. I'm not going to lie, it was a fun day and even though it was a very very late night- or early morning whichever way you look at it- time flew by and these girls kept on smiling.

I'm so excited for their new member class- they are really in for a treat with these gals. Although I had to catch an early morning flight back to Cali, Furman had a fantastic Bid Day at a huge trampoline arena. I'm only a little jealous. Especially when I had 11 hours to kill between the 2 plane trips and my layover.

The girls being goofy after a successful recruitment!

Well ladies and gents, that's it for my South Carolina adventures. Hopefully I'll make it out to Greenville again at some point- I really miss cuddling with Hooty the cat.

Me and Hooty :)

California Dreaming

Well, it has been quite a crazy week! Colonization efforts were in full swing at Cal Poly last week and we ended up with such an amazing new member charter class. But before I start bragging about the 132 fabulous ladies that were extended bids, I need to give a humongous shout out to the active/alumnae team we had at Cal Poly in SLO. 

Stellar Alumnae Team minus a couple

From early mornings at the UU to late night ghost stories at the hotel, this team worked their butts off recruiting and interviewing women all week. It’s amazing how such a variety of personalities, backgrounds, ages, and experiences can come together to not only start the beginning of something amazing but just have a great time doing it. In the end, as sappy as it sounds, we are all sisters and the bonds that hold us together go much deeper than I can explain to you through a blog post. So thank you to all the amazing sisters I met and was able to spend time with this week- you truly are all amazing and I am so thankful to have met you.

The Amazing CSUN Ladies

But that’s enough sappiness- I know y’all are here to hear the funny and inspiring stories. So here are my top 5 of the week! 

1. Snap Chat hit the Kappas by storm this week. If you were one of the lucky recipients of the many snaps this week, you should feel warm and fuzzy because they were hysterical. Whether it was during tabling at the UU or teaching some older Kappa''s about the #ShamelessSelfies that only last mere seconds, they were definitely fun. I may have screen shotted a few of my favs to share with you lucky few. Sorry Claire and Hannah. I just couldn't resist.

Hannah thinking shes too old for Snap Chat

Claire being her cheery self

2.  Along with my blog, I have been trying to be a great tweeter. Tweet Tweet- follow me @jessiesgirl17. It's been about a year since I first made my account and even though I still haven't mastered the #hashtag, I've been trying to tweet more since working for Kappa. I really do try to tweet daily (whether thats a good thing or a bad thing, I don't know but oh well). Anyways, like most tweeters, I check to see who retweeted me (if ever) and if anyone 'favorited' my tweets. Let me tell you, to a newbie like me it's very exciting when you have a new notification- or at least I think so. Well, imagine my excitement when THE Julie Leshay retweeted me. For those of you who don't know, Julie is the Fraternity President for Kappa Kappa Gamma. I had the opportunity to meet Julie at Convention this past summer and she is everything one thinks of in a president- sweet, poised, elegant- truly a role model. So yes, her RT was definitely a highlight for me. Thanks Julie for making me feel like a social media superstar!

3. Telling a ghost story may not seem that great but telling a ghost story to 15 alumnae packed in a hotel room on the floor was pretty funny. Mind you, some of these are recent graduates while others are past Fraternity celebrities (ahem, Denise Rugani). We did the whole schebang- lights off, iPhone flashlight shining on my face- it was scary. Especially when cute little Diane Jones came knocking on the door and scared the bejeesus out of us. Like I said, this group of women was absolutely amazing- both during recruitment and when we were just hanging. Although, we should probably warn Chapman to bring sage to their colonization.

Telling ghost stories

4. Number 4 had to be learning of the majors that are offered at Cal Poly. Did you know that you could study soil and the science behind viniculture (how to make wine)? Well I didn't and I have to say that is pretty gosh darn cool. I guess it makes sense because it is so focused in agriculture but still, I had no idead that you could actually go to school to study that. So sign me up for a class- hopefully I'll see the highest ranking Fraternity officer from our week and Lauren in Viniculture-101 this Fall quarter.

Who wouldn't want to take a class with Hannah?

5. And finally, number 5 would of course have to be having the opportunity to meet the fabulous charter class of Eta Rho Cal Poly SLO! We met so many amazing women and leaders and I am so excited for each and every one of them to start their Kappa experience. These women have the unique opportunity to start something great at Cal Poly. It was so inspiring working with these excited and driven ladies. They truly are aspiring to be the best they can be and I am proud to call them my sisters. Congrats ladies, I am so happy for all of you!

Pros already! KKG <3

Well, there ya have it. My top 5 from the week. Be on the lookout for a #throwback post on one of my chapters from the fall. I definitely owe them a shout out and I have tons of pictures to post of the fabulous chapters I visited Fall Semester.

Check out the other pictures from the week below--Til next time :)

Becca, Hannah, and I at the beginning of Bid Day!

Bid Day Cake NomNomNom

Becca and I with Musty the Mustang!

Field Reps #Reppin

Matt Pereira- Stud Muffin, Lady Killer, but most of all Little Brother Extraordinaire

Today is a special day. It's my youngest brother Matt's birthday. Partayyyy for the 15 year old. Well actually, he's such a punk he may just do that. Kidding...kind of. Matty P, just try to stay out of trouble :)

So anyways, since I'm in South Carolina this week (more on that and my trip to Cal Poly tomorrow) and am not able to hang with my lil bro, I told him I would dedicate my post to him. He was so unbelievably not thrilled or amused by it that I of course had to do it just to get a laugh from him. So happy birthday Matt and hope you enjoy some of my fav stories with you :) *If you have any funny ones to add, post back or feel free to message me!*

Un. When you truly believed you came from a twinkle in dads eye and proceeded to tell people about it. You were a cute little kid :)

Deux. At my graduation party, you were the only family member to stay in the unbelievable heat to hang with me and my friends. And then we danced and you flirted with all the cute college girls. I think you may have even given some your number. Gosh you're always such a stud.

Trois. The day you were convinced you could drive around Milton in your kid's jeep. I'm pretty sure you called Amy, our babysitter, and told her you would pick her up to go to the pool.

Quatre. Sorry about this one bud- but when you painted your nails bright red and then told mom it was blood. I think she almost had a heart attack.

Cinq. Thank goodness you have another year to practice driving. Or at least practice the practicing part. I don't think mom's car could handle anything else. Or the tree for that matter. Oh, and fyi the brake is on the left and the gas is on the right.

Six. You thought you were so smooth handcuffing Dave in the kitchen. Until he grabbed you and handcuffed you to the chair. Haha the pictures my favorite :)

Sept. When I asked Allison of her favorite stories, she simply said "haha I can only think of ones when Wendy then yells at him." Explanation not needed.

Huit. This story might be the sweetest, at least for me :) The day you told mom you loved me the most then her, then dad, then John, then the dog...and then Liz. I still think you may have caused some emotional distress for some family members that day.

I could go on and on... the time you thought you came to Harry Potter but didn't, hanging out with you and Bobby, partners in crime all the time, catching you hanging out on the balcony, Thanksgiving last year, and so many more. You are the best brother a sister could ask for and I'm so happy you're mine :) I had to save the last one for the last line though...
 
"Ginger's have no souls" Wait, please don't storm away just yet! Matt...matt?? Oh well, I guess that's enough of them anyways. Love you so much and hope you have the most amazing birthday ever!!