Holy Cow!

THE PUGS ARE WATCHING YOU!!!!



Hi everyone, Shannyn reporting in again. Life has been a bit stressful lately, as I have had to sit down and try to get a vague idea of where my life is headed in the next year. As you know, I have made the decision to apply to graduate school- and the process really involves a lot of soul searching.

I have to write my first post-high school resume, get letters of recommendation from my professors, take the GRE (which requires months of studying) and worst of all, DECIDE WHERE I'M APPLYING TO! haha! Sofar, my portfolio consists of the following: SDSU, UCSB, Harvard, USC, UCSD, Stanford and perhaps University of Colorado at Boulder. I may or may not actually apply to these schools, I'm still in the sniffing out process. I am applying to two Ivy Leagues because well, having a letter of rejection to frame on my wall from an Ivy League would be kinda cool.

After the inital freak out of having to get the ball rolling on this process, and scrambling to wrap my head around this lengthy app process, I finally was able to break it down into bits. Right now, I'm studying vocab for the GRE, building my portfolio (with application requirements and program information from schools I like), and working on my resume. I was SO lucky to get into a GRE prep course down in San Diego which is $200 (as opposed to the one that's 10 minutes away from my home and costs $1,100). My friend Misty is letting me room with her for those GRE weekends..yay!

This month, we got to celebrate my best friend Whitney graduating from CSUSM..yay Whitney! Chris graduates from LLU this Sunday,....Yay Chris!


Misty and I went Wine Tasting, which involved one quick stop at the House of Jerky.Leonesse Winery, amazing!
Misty and I at Wilson Creek....true Winos!
Making an appearance at the Fairy Tea, I was sick as a dog from the luau food the day before...ugh!



So adorable! The Fairy Tea was a great event, if I hadn't been so ill and it not so chilly it would have been perfect!Our other princess Destiny and I selling tickets at the Fallbrook Film Festival in May!

The Summer Wind, is Blowing In!

Another pic of us at initiation....it's our family within a family...Lacey, top left is the oldest member who took Liz as a little sis last year, and Christiana as a little this year...since I'm Liz's little, Lacey is my "grand big" hope that makes sense!

Two ladies I'll really miss who just graduated.. this is our senior dinner where the soon-to-be graduates get presented with their stoles to wear with their cap and gown!

Some of our "family" in AxiD before semi-formal... peace! :)
Some of the girls and me at AxiD's semi-formal!




Christiana and I before Alpha Xi Delta initiation

My Big Sis and I in our new matching letters... (it's tradition for the little to give her sis a painted paddle and the big to give her little sis a set of matching letters) You cannot wear greek letters untill you are initiated so I was super happy to be able to get these! You can't really see, but the pink part has hearts on it! :)

Another funny picture of me from pageant night! hahahha


Preparing for the Little Miss and Mister Avocado (a contest for kids ages 4-10)...you can see our excited police escorts, hahaha
The avocado derby 500. Destiny, our other princess beat Christiana and I....boo!

This is me and a former contestant from my first year, and awesome chick named Rachel...she works where we had our chamber golf tournament fundraiser!

Right now I'm about to make a phone call to one of my professors to talk about Grad School options. I'm still in the very, VERY early stages....meaning, I am still looking into what program interests me, where to go, etc. I haven't even scheduled my GRE exam yet, but got a book about it, and found a free info session on the GRE exam.

So far, I'm looking into getting a MA degree (most schools now-a-days that I've looked into only allow you to get an MA with the idea you'll stay for a PhD...oh god!) at UC Santa Barbara, UC Berkeley, UC San Diego, USC and maybe an Ivy League School for kicks and giggles. hahaha!

I just started pawing around their websites, so it's still in it's infancy stages...I haven't even decided where I'm applying, so don't quote me on those schools later! ;) I met with a friend yesterday who got into George Washington University in DC (holy COW!) and she gave me some pointers on how to start this whole process- it is NOTHING like applying to an undergraduate program I come to find out. Eeeek!

I have officially formulated my "Grad School folder (of doom)" as I call it..which has tabs for all the schools I'm seriously thinking about, for addresses, due dates, etc. Apparently, I've been warned...you must keep organized or you may miss a due date or forget to submit a required document!!!!!

Failure is not an option...but PRAY FOR ME! I'm really intimidated by this whole process!

Love you all and hope we can get together SOON for some fun times and good food! :) Miss you!

Introducing Shannyn, Princess of Genovia, I mean, Fallbrook!

If you haven't heard the news, Shannyn is officially a Fallbrook Princess! The pageant was April 18th, and I'm sorry I don't have the pictures of all my family and friends, those weren't taken on my camera!

I actually LOST MY VOICE on the day of the pageant, and you can imagine how devastated I was. Luckily for me, I was able to get through the interview, and after that I didn't speak for 4 hours to conserve my voice for the introduction and on-stage impromptu question. Talk about a nervous breakdown...I was so dissapointed.....but it worked out just fine!

I got crowned with two other awesome ladies, Christiana Monarez my friend and Alpha Xi sister, and Destiny Altvater, a new buddy! They are beautiful inside and out, and check out www.thevillagenews.com and look up Pageant 2009 photos to see more!




The casual wear competition! (saying "I love you" in sign language!) The cheers made me smile!


My evening gown!

Hearing my name!

Miss Fallbrook! :)

Us with one of the Judges and Fallbrook's Honorary Mayor before the awards began!


The very next day at the Avocado Festival...wow, big day! It's werid wearing a tiara for me still!


My wonderful Aunt Norie who came down to support me! Like I said, I had lots of family/friends at the pageant, but sadly don't have the photos yet!

Thanks to everyone who came to support me, and those who were there in spirit! I am so excited for this opportunity and love each of you! The next year will involve me going to ribbon cutting ceremonies, Chamber of Commerce Mixers (twice a month for Bonsall and Fallbrook), Parades, Festivals and Charitable Events.

My personal platform is promoting the Fallbrook Food Pantry and I am ready for action! I have so much love and gratitude, I hope to make you proud!

My Wonderful Life...My Wonderful Family!

I got to go to FRESNO this past weekend! woo hoo! I got to hang out with my Rainbow peeps and also with my awesome family who always keep me entertained!

Every year in Spring I come up to Fresno for an annual conference for Rainbow, this year I was graciously invited to stay at the "Hotel Birchfield" instead of the Radisson! My friend Misty (an officer from my year) and I stayed at Vern and Norie's house, and the whole gang dropped in to hang out- it was fun. Not only did we get to go to Big Hat Days, make delicious hamburgers and s'mores, but I got to walk through a Walgreen's with no shoes on- pretty cool! haha!



Misty and me at Grand Assembly...you can read her like a book! haha

Yeehaw!
Cousin Travis!
His friend and roomie Luke!
Part of the gang at Big Hat Day...Jennah Bean is staying hydrated and full of cheetos!
Sno-Cones are fabulous in Fresno weather!
That was his second virgin daquiri...haha..how he didn't get ill, I don't know!
Peas in a pod!
Babies don't look in cameras!

Misty on the Ripstick, lookin' cool before the not-so-fun falling part!
woops, crooked picture... haha...Smores!

Thanks family! I had a blast with you and miss you already! I owe ya'll s'mores at my house!

Random Update

So I am listening to a podcast right now, over the growls of two pugs fighting over a chew toy...here are some random pictures. Below are pictures from Retreat about a weekend or two ago. I loaded them backwards so they aren't in chronological order.

But first, the week of mystery gifts from my big sis, before I knew who she was.

Day 1- Pink Roses of Alpha Xi!

A bad photo- Day 2- "Favorites Day"

Day 3- "Big and Lil Sis Day" (this is when you get matching stuff and like, movie tickets to use with your big later!)

Day 4- Alpha Xi Delta Day! I finally got some awesome Xi Goodies!

Day 5- "Spring Break" Day...beach and gardening stuff, cuz that's how I'm spending my week off!


This is my Big Sis Liz. After a week of "mystery gifts," my big sis was revealed! They had all the new girls sit inside, while the actives were outside, we had no idea how our big sis' would be revealed. When I got called, I walked outside, and all the actives, (and some of the girls who had already been called outside) were standing in a circle with lit candles and there was a fire pit in the middle, you walk around the circle to find out who your big sis is. Everyone blew their candle out one by one until only your big sis was left with a lit candle- and that's how you found out! cool huh? I was ecstatic- Liz is awesome. She is my buddy in bio class and didn't even let on all week!


SOO happy!
This is my "family" within Alpha Xi... The PYRO. Why Pyro? It's a secret! ;)

For our first retreat activity we did a scavenger hunt for canned food for Interfaith! You can't see all the food we got because we have too many girls!

This is team Australia's assortment of goodies! We won for most "bonus items" I think- we got lots of goodies for Interfaith!

WE RENTED A JUMPIE!!

Team China- Chinese Tourists
Part of Team Mexico- the Tapatio man!

One part of Team Jamacia and Australia!
After planting the gift from my big sis!