Introducing Shannyn, Official Sorority Girl.

It's official, I'm an Alpha Xi Delta girl! After a crazy recruitment (Rush) week, the greeks have spoken! At our school, we can rush for three sororities, Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Xi Delta and Alpha Pi Sigma. Over the course of a week, you go to different events for all the sororities, and get to know the girls, and they get to know you. The week started with about 90 girls rushing, and ended with 33 in Alpha Xi Delta (The Alpha Gamma Class!), about 29 in Alpha Chi Omega and 4 in Alpha Pi Sigma.

On Saturday, you get a call to see if you're invited back to "Preference Day," and I was invited back to all three sororities, talk about exciting! Sadly, this is the time when some girls don't get invited back (they didn't qualify due to GPA, missed events, didn't really socialize, etc.) and some girls only get invited back to one sorority, luckily it's usually the one they wanted. I then went to two of the three sororites, and made my pick on Sunday. You are asked to write down your first and second choice for sororities, and the sororities submit a list of the top girls they'd like back. Then, the Greek Advisor Team complies the lists in secret and tries to match the girls up to where they wanted and who the sororities wanted (complicated I know). Monday was "Bid Day," and was so exciting- the girls in the sororities don't know who is going to join, and you don't know if you got the one you chose as your #1. Each girl is given a bag with her name on it, and everyone rips them open at the same time, then runs outside to find their sorority, it was intense! Here is the Alpha Gamma Class meeting with the current girls- getting gifts and pink roses (our flower)


Just the girls of the Alpha Gamma Class- 33 new sisters, me included!

Can you find me? (hint, far left, near the bottom)
After the "Bid Acceptance" we went to Deanna's house for Pat N Oscars and some time to hang out!
All of us- holy cow we're big!



I am SO elated to be an Alpha Xi Delta girl- I knew when I met the girls during Fall that they were the ones I connected with......I'm so glad they wanted me in their sorority too! Our colors are light blue, dark blue and yellow. Our flower is the pink rose, our mascot, the teddy bear. Our motto, "Realize Your Potential," and symbol is the quill (the pen is mightier than the sword!)


On Monday I will pledge the sorority (whatever that means!) and will be initiated at the end of the semester. I will get a "Big Sis" that will be revealed in March, and I have no clue who she will be, yet another surprise! (Surprises are definetly a sorority thing!)

Picture OVERLOAD!

This my friends, is what I got at WAL-MART! I wouldn't have bought a fleece Obama blanket, I think it's a bit cheesy (coming from Walmart of all places!) but I knew it would really be funny to put on Dad's bed, so I HAD to buy it. My Dad, as you can probably imagine, is not an Obama fan. In fact, pretty much anything different does not go on dad's "awesome radar." Dad's awesome radar picks up on anything that includes buffets, Ford trucks, DVD's, "good deals," steak, cigars and white people who eat meat, drive trucks and enjoy going to buffets. Wow, that just about sums him up. haha...

I'm thinking of redecorating his room in red, white and blue and framing Obama's picture, along with a picture of a same sex, mexican-immigrant couple, that is ordering a tofu dish from a drive thru in their hybrid car. I love my dad, but we do not see eye to eye on politics, at all. He labels me as the "crazy treehugging feminist," because I don't think it's fair to call all Mexicans "illegals" (because they're NOT.) or because I enjoy Thai food, go to college, and prefer small business to big-box stores or perhaps it's because I think Guantamo Bay needs to be closed. Hmm.

Anyway, off my political soap box. If I didn't lose half of my readers here, it will be a miracle- just look at the pretty pictures!


So, Chris, Whitney, Angela and I went to Big Bear a few weeks ago. Angela only went so I would go, because as many of you know, I hate going down big hills while relying on my own skills of balance, (doesn't work, I fall way too much). So, while our buddies hit the slopes, Ang and I went to a yarn shop in Big Bear and I found enough yarn to carry me into the next century, and then we hung out at a wonderful cofffee shop, shopped and at at Quizno's..yes, Quizno's....ugh. haha
Isn't she cute? Literacy is fun-damental!
Where Angela and I hung out while Whit and Chris hit the slopes. I got a Campfire Latte at this little coffee shop, we knitted, read, and enjoyed my score of yarn from Big Bear's HUGE yarn shop. Fun times!
Yousofunny.
Food after snowboarding, skiing and haha, shopping all day! Lake Arrowhead.
Whitney and I after eating at Lake Arrowhead


Over the Martin Luther King Jr. three-day weekend, I was invited by my school to attend a Social Justice Summit. The SJS retreat was from Friday to Sunday and was at a really nice hotel in Escondido- the food, may I mention, also nice! We first met up on Campus at the Clarke (which is an activity center and gym) and began some activites. We made a "quilt" with pictures that displayed our heritage or our lives, and things unique to us. We played a game where in a giant circle, you step in if you identify with something the group leader says- "I am Christian," "I am male," "I am gay," "I am not sure what I am." etc. This was to let each other know how diverse we are, and to be proud of whatever we are- it was really powerful to see people be brave about their identities!

Over the course of the weekend we did many activities about prejuidice, discrimination and how to combat inequality in our own communities and our lives. On one night, people shared powerful stories of how they had been discriminated, or how they had perpetuated discrimination in their lives- it really affected me. I suddenly was able to relate to people I previously had dismissed as "different."


THE BUS! Our school provided transporation from campus to the retreat...Is it weird I find it awesome my school has a bus that looks so shiny and new?
Cush digs at the Cougar Den on Campus- the first part of the of the Social Justice Summit...Isn't it nice lookin? Check out the cougar picture, I dig it!
Dancin'!
Our social justice quilt- every person got four patches to design about their life and what they believed in!
A really interesting activity about social justice- Can you build a tower with angel hair pasta and small marshmellows?
That is the LGBT focus group from the SJS I went to- Our goal will be to raise awareness about the resources on campus for Social Justice and break down walls that alienate people in the LGBT community!
Kevin and I at the Social Justice Summit! He loves Twilight too!
We are so cool...hangin' out at Whitney's house- wearing her Dad's hat. (Her dad was just Installed as Master of our local Masonic Lodge- and instead of a Top Hat, he got a joke Viking hat)
I caught the flash!
Angela wearing Whitney's Dad's "hat" and stufff...fun times!
This, is a Tommy's chili dog. It is amazingly delicious. Dad used to take me to Tommy's in Whittier all the time, Chris and I stopped at one and I had to break my own moral code..oh well!
Double-fistin it! Chris loaned me his for this picture, I didn't actually chow on two.
This is how the pugs spend their cool Socal days, in front of the heater with something to chew on. awwwww.

"Is There a Theme?" "The Theme? 2009?"

I held a New Year's Eve Party again this year, and since I've had two themed parties for birthdays, everyone wanted to know if there was a theme...I said, "The theme? 2009?" Genius. I could make millions.

There was lots of good food- Lil Smokies, Artichoke Dip, Stuffed Mushrooms, Chips and Salsa, lots of champagne, and yes, a root beer keg!



I luffs crepe paper.
(this was my second attempt at a picture...not very good at picture taking)
(my very tall friend)

ROCK BAND!!!







(
(aren't my friends adorable?)
(silly picture of me!)
(what is jared doing?)

I hope everyone had a wonderful New Year and your 2009 is a fabulous one! Here's a toast to you!