A Change, A Challenge

Now that we're back with our regular postings, I'm so glad to welcome back 'Sorority Sunday's' to the blog. This week will be more of an informational post more than a fun one, sorry guys.

As you may have seen from my Thanksgiving post, I talked about my heartbreak with not getting slated as Chapter President for this upcoming exec. While it was a shock and it took me a very long time to get over, I was still offered a position on exec. I was offered the position of Vice President of Member Development (VPMD for short). VPMD isn't exactly what VPM was, but in terms of the ability to be creative with the position they are very similar.

VPMD is essentially the first 'Vice President' to the chapter. If the Chapter President is ever absent for any reason, the VPMD steps in to fill her place. She deals mostly with the chapters grades, making sure they chapter is doing their weekly study hours, and is concerned with the overall wellness of the chapter. This includes mental, physical, and emotional health. VPMD is the person that makes sure everyone is doing alright, keeping up with their school work but not getting too stressed out during the process.

While this will be a big change from VPM I am excited to take on the challenge. We officially get sworn in tomorrow at chapter and I am anxious but excited to see how this year is about to unfold. Our executive team is very different than it was last year and I am interested to see how we all work together. While I will miss everyone, I am excited to work with the new girls and excited to see, first hand, our chapter flourish and grow.

PPL&M

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Ocean to Ocean

Hi! I realize I suck and that I haven't really posted on this blog in forever. Last weekend as you may or may not know I was in San Diego for a conference for Pi Phi. I was planning to keep this blog updated while I was there but there was no internet and any down time I had was dedicated to sleeping. So I will try and make it up here!

I had so much fun making new friends and learning lots to take back to my chapter when the fall comes around. I can't tell you exactly what we talked about, mainly because it would take up four pages, but the majority of the conference was dedicated to voting in the new Grand Council as well as different sessions that you could go to to focus on what is a main need for your chapter.

I went to a lot of the Recruitment sessions because our chapter is new and we still aren't totally awesome at recruiting. I learned so much and got so many ideas from different chapters. I even got to speak with someone from Alabama, who has a pledge class the size of our whole chapter...yeah seriously..., and just listening to the way she does things on a Greek heavy campus was so interesting and gave me lots of ideas to try out when I returned in the fall.

So my rant is over and even though I couldn't fill you in on everything, I hope the pictures that follow make up for it :)

Off to San Diego!

The pretty fountain behind the hotel

The view from my room - gorgeous

The pretty harbor with the San Diego Sky line

The $75 Rugby shirt I HAD to have.

The pretty letters for convention

Night one's dessert, so precious and so good!

Cookie Shine!

Philanthropy project on the last day

Throw what you know!

Sis Mullis, the cutest Pi Phi ever

Grand President being sworn in!

Before the Carnation Banquet - last night's dinner

The plane ride home :(

I hope you enjoyed a few pictures from the trip. I had an amazing time and want to go back!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Arrow Obsession

When joining a sorority becoming a little bit obsessed with everything your organization stands for kind of comes with the territory. If you know anyone that is in Chi Omega, I guarantee they have tons of Owl paraphernalia in their life. Delta Gamma - Anchor. Zeta Tau Alpha - Crown. You get the jist.

On my last Sorority Sunday I talked a lot about my sorority, Pi Beta Phi, and their background. I also talked about our symbol - the arrow. Now being that it is one of our symbols, I have become a little bit obsessed. Pretty much anything and everything that has an arrow on it, I've got to have it. Seriously though...it's kind of a problem.

That's why for this Sorority Sunday I've decided I was going to insert a list of arrow-related things I am currently obsessing over. Enjoy!

I first saw this pillow when I was actually in Target and I immediately sent it to our Vice President of Housing and told her - we need this pillow. Except we don't, but she agreed it was just as cute.

This Gray Threshold Embroidery Linen Arrow Decorative Pillow can be found at Target for $23.74

This next pillow I may have also slightly fell in love with as well. I mean for one - arrows, duh. Secondly, it is magenta. Which might as well be wine. Which is one of our colors. Perfection!

This Bright Magenta Love Arrow Pillow can be found on Dormify.com for $39

Lastly, I had to include this. I was looking on JC Penny's website and saw that Jonathan Adler had made line just for Penny's! Now I for one love Jonathan Adler. If you may not be familiar with him, think of his things as a more urban Lilly Pulitzer. They tend to design kind of the same small items - agendas, iPhone cases, etc. It may not be your style but I love him. So naturally I was beyond excited to see his JC Penny's line. It is mainly filled with home decor which is great because any chance I get I will redecorate my room. If you haven't seen any of his stuff before, I would recommend going on the Penny's website and checking out his line. There is some super cute stuff on there.

Anyways, back to this bookend. Now if you know me at all, I don't read. Don't get me wrong its not like I hate to read or anything but I simply never do it. During the school year I don't like to clutter my mind with yet another book when I should be reading my History book, which rarely gets open. Now to many people's dismay I actually did start, and finish, an entire book today while sitting at my brother's baseball games. Granted it was Style by Lauren Conrad, but Hey! Give me some credit here, I'm trying! And you can laugh, but the only reason I bought the book in the first place was so that I could have some books for my bookends (I know, I'm literally the dumbest person ever). Either way, I have fallen in love with these bookends because, of course, they are arrows. So you can guarantee they will be mine when I get my next paycheck.

Happy Chic by Jonathan Adler Katie Set of 2 Arrow Bookends can be found at JC Penny for $42

What do you think? Pretty silly, huh? Well I can't help it, I'm in love.

Let me know what decor items you are loving this summer, I'd love to see it!

Until next time,

Casey Rose

Arrow Minded

Since we like to make cheesy alliterations on this blog, let's go ahead and start another one!

"Sorority Sundays"

*Gags*

So as you may or may not know I am in Pi Beta Phi sorority at my university. I posted a couple of days ago about crafting for my little and the Big/Little process but what I failed to talk about was my sorority in general!

I absolutely love Pi Phi (shortened name), ever since bid day I have fallen head over heels in love with everyone in this organization and everything about it. I am so blessed with the opportunities that it has given me thus far.

Let's start from the beginning, we were founded on April 28, 1867 as the first national secret society for women. We were originally named I.C. Sorosis but then later changed our name to Pi Beta Phi. Our colors are Wine and Silver Blue. Our symbol is the Arrow and our mascot is the angel.

Now you may understand why this blog is called "Bows and Arrows". Bows - just for the girly side of it all and Arrows - for my sorority.

"But how did you choose to become part of this organization?" - Good question! ;)

I decided to participate in rush last fall at my school. We have 9 Panhellenic sororities on campus that I 'rushed' (I can go through the whole recruitment process at a later time). Each day of rush you go to less and less houses until you are down to two houses at Pref Night. After going to both houses on Pref Night I knew which one I belonged to. There were pros and cons to each but the biggest reason that I chose Pi Phi was because I was a legacy.

A legacy is defined as someone who's mother, grandmother, or sister is affiliated with that organization. My grandmother is a Pi Phi, which I didn't learn until the summer before I decided to rush! Having her to talk with about everything related to Pi Phi has really made the experience that much more special to me and has brought us closer than we have ever been. I am so glad I get the opportunity to share this experience with her.

Now onto present times. It has been a whole school year since I rushed, so where am I now?

In January I was slated to be the Vice President of Membership for my chapter. I was beyond shocked that they slated me for this position because it is not normally a position you give to a new girl. The VPM (for short) is in charge of the biggest event for any sorority - Recruitment. That's right. I'm in charge of it all. I just went through it last year and now I am leading it. It was extremely overwhelming at first, but I have some great people on Exec who I can turn to for help. They have really been my life savers and I cannot thank them enough for all they have done.

So this summer will be filled with planning for recruitment. However, I do get the opportunity to go to San Diego for the 69th Biennial Convention where I get to meet Pi Phi's from all across the country. I was chosen as the alternate delegate and our President is our chapter delegate. I am so excited to travel to San Diego with her and I will absolutely keep this blog updated with everything from that trip!

I hope you enjoyed the first edition of 'Sorority Sunday'! Keep checking back during the week for more posts and maybe even more themed days?

Until next time,

Casey Rose