Sisterly Love

Sister (noun): A girl or woman who shares a common ancestry, allegiance, character, or purpose with another or others, specifically

You can never underestimate the power of a sister. They are someone who will always be there for you. When you need to laugh, cry, or just someone to talk to - they're always there for you.

I have made some incredible friends this past year since joining Pi Phi and I can proudly call these women my sisters. While in the traditional sense we may not be blood related but we share a common allegiance, character, purpose, and believe it or not ancestry. Now ancestry may not be your common mom or dad but we do have founders and these founders have since caused this ripple affect in allowing me to call all of these women around the world sisters.

I never realized where I would find them either. My grandma is my sister. One that I will always cherish forever. I learned soon after my initiation that my aunt is a Pi Phi. It really is funny how many people I learn are Pi Phi's.

It was funny because we were in Panera Bread the other day discussing recruitment and this women comes up to our table and asks if we were Pi Phis (she must have seen the sticker on my laptop). Well she immediately reaches for my hand to give me a handshake, I was later embarrassed to find out she was giving me the secret handshake and I didn't even realize it...either way it was so cool to run into someone out and about who shared a similar past as me.

We may not be blood related but the knowledge that only us as sisters possess is incredible. It's amazing how much we share, our common interests, beliefs, it's hard to find that any place else.

Even though I did not grow up with any blood sisters, I am lucky because I get to call thousands of women across the world my sisters and I wouldn't have it any other way. So thank you Pi Phi, for filling my life with beautiful, successful women whom I look up to on a daily basis. I couldn't have asked for a better ancestry.

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 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