God came so that we could live life abundantly and we should do just that. This reminds me of all of my fun times in college, and in honor of the first week that college students are going back to school, I thought it would only be appropriate for this Friday to be about college...cue tears and depression. Just kidding...kind of. I know all of my friends that just recently graduated are all feeling the strange emotions of not being back at school. You keep seeing statuses, tweets, and instagrams of people "Packing up for school!" and "Can't wait to be back!" and you have two emotions: 1) Jeal0usy (ugh I wish I was going back!) or 2) Make it stop I can't handle this social mediaaaa haha ;-) In all honesty, the post-grad life is awesome and just as abundant if you make it that way!
Someone told me that college would be the best four years of my life and I said, "I sure hope not!" It was definitely a fun four years...or four and a half for some of us ;-) but there are so many more fun years to come!
I do have to admit I feel a little spoiled compared to friends though, because I get to work on a college campus with college students. SCORE! There is the weirdness of trying to explain how, Yes, I know I look like a college student, but, No, I am not a freshman and don't need help finding my dorm room. I must do the lost sheep look quite frequently? While I am still getting oriented to the Clemson campus and the Clemson way of life it reminds me of my Freshman year back at JMU and brings back some awesome memories.
I am so thankful for the organizations I got involved with: Zeta Tau Alpha, Ski Racing Team, Health Services Administration, and Greek InterVarsity. I had three awesome roomies pretty much all four years, Amanda, Paula, and Lynsee, who are some of the greatest people you'll ever meet! And it's safe to say we allll had the time of our lives! Here are some of my favorite memories of living life abundantly...hold on because this is a long ride, I got a little carried away!
This was our first football game Freshman year...look how young we look! We also got more stylish as the years went on haha ;-)
Lynsee and I should not have been roomies Freshman year for this problem...YES this is a real picture of our room on an average day, NO it was not planned. Don't worry we have both become much cleaner, but we were known on our hall for the messiest room! One of our guy friends, Tyler, hid on our floor one day and we didn't even know he was there! It was pretty bad haha...you'd be proud of my room now!
My ZTA bidcel! This is the night that I became a member of such an amazing organization that would be such a huge part of my college experience!
This was my very first social mixer in ZTA. It was "Cowboys & Indians" I think. Being in a sorority always filled my social calendar not only with events on the weekends, but also with volunteering opportunities and philanthropy events!
After my Freshman year I went to the Dominican Republic on a Medical Mission Trip. It was awesome! I got to examine patients in Spanish and do the overall physical examination. We had a Dominican doctor with us, Jose Peralta, and he was wonderful. I am actually still pretty good friends with some of this group!
My very first Greek Conference. This is a conference put on by Greek InterVarsity every February. Who knew I would end up on staff! Cool to look back...
I joined the ski racing team my Freshman year and LOVED it! I learned how to do Solomon skiing which is where you go around the poles and then Giant Solomon too! We got to ski two nights a week for practice and the team was just so much fun.
Freshman year Lynsee and I were gossip girl for Halloween...Blair and Serena
aka B & S...XOXO, Gossip Girl ;-)
This was the day I got the best Little in all the Land, Catherine! We met during recruitment and bonded because we were both Biology majors...the funny thing is we both ended up switching. Love her to death, she is such a gem!!
Here are all of the ladies who served on ZTA Exec with me. We all lived in the house together and had such a great time!
Our exec did "Barbie's" for Halloween...it was hilarious! I was "American" Barbie and I'd say that coolest outfit was "Roller" Barbie...she wore roller blades all night!
Christy even came to visit! Since her boyfriend went to VMI, which was right down the road from JMU, I got to see her a good amount. We have been friends since we were born!
When I was President, myself, the VP, Jess, and an emerging leader, Beth, got to go to New Orleans for our Convention. It was really neat to see the larger organization of ZTA.
We won Crown Chapter while we were there!
When we had our first apartment with my roomies, Amanda, Lynsee, and Paula was when I really first learned how to cook! We tried to have family dinners as much as we could!
Just doing some light reading...
This was my first Fraternity date function with my boyfriend at the time, Ryan. We had so much fun, and Ryan and I have stayed friends years later!
Here I am at Foxfields Horse Race! Just imagine lots of Horses & Lilly Pulitzer dresses. This is a yearly event held near UVA in Charlottesville, VA. It is so much fun, rain or shine!
Junior year we went to Mardi Gras for spring break. Ryan and all of the roomies went. It worked out perfectly and we had a blast...don't worry we kept it classy!
This is the library...we had a rave! It was SO COOL. I'm down there by the front desk. Basically a secret facebook group was created and they snuck in huge speakers and we were all dancing and having a blast. And then people decided to jump off the balcony into the crowd and that's when it got shut down haha! It was funny though, because it was only about 15 minutes long and then we all just went back to our studying...funnest/weirdest thing ever!
This is a funny story...Lynsee and I had to ride the "Shopper Bus" to Walmart to get anything we needed Freshman year. We went to get a pumpkin for carving and the bus was SO crowded. The driver kept yelling at us to stay behind the yellow line and our pumpkin kept rolling into the front...we were giggling so much and took a picture with our feet barely in front of the yellow line because we were being "rebels" ;-)
Sigma Chi hosted a bunch of ZTA girls for a dinner event. We all dressed up and came over for a delicious spaghetti dinner...here we are all dolled up!
These are some of the girls who were in the Zeta Skit for Recruitment. One of the reasons I loved Zeta was because they were HILARIOUS. You can see the two girls in the back, Schyler and Katy, with mullets on....Lord have mercy!
Sophomore year we had a huge blizzard! We had a big hill in our apartment complex that we all went to for sledding! We went sledding in our laundry baskets, which is the first picture above. It hurt like anything, but was so so funny! The bottom picture is all of the roomies!
When I worked for the Fraternity and Sorority Life office part of my job was putting on educational events for Greek students. One event we did was a cooking class. We went to one of the dining halls and they taught us how to cook three delicious meals. Talk about fun!
No JMU experience is complete without going to Blue Hole! It's a must do. The rock looks so much scarier when you are up on top and the water is freezing -- but it's a blast!
Here was my last Greek Conference! Saturday night we always have a dance party and the theme this past year was Red, White, and Denim!
Here are the roomies + bestie on Halloween senior year. We did Disney Princesses, Cinderella, Snow White, Pocahontas, and Belle; and Lisa in the middle was Eloise!
Gotta love Crab Grab! Ryan's fraternity had this event every year where we enjoyed yummy crabs and a live band...we became some pretty good swing dancers with all of the bands they hosted.
This is Delta Chi's annual pig roast...we thought it would be funny to crown the pig. Disgusting right? Haha they would roast the whole pig in the yard and everyone would come...yummy!
Here I am on my 21st birthday! Ryan and I were in Wilmington to celebrate...it was the cutest little town with so much to do. Needless to say it was wonderful!
This is my last formal with my bible study leaders! Renee and Alyssa took over the ZTA bible study when I left and did an amazing job!
This was the Student Org Fair my senior year...we had a poster that said, "Would Jesus Go Greek?" and had students put sticky notes with their thoughts. What do you think?
80's Roller Skate night with Greek IV. Talk about fun!!
I loved Clemson before I knew I had too, haha! This is me with the Clemson Tiger from one of my many visits down to SC.
Here I am with my cousin Carrie, and her friend Lisa. I would come visit Carrie for football weekends and it's funny because we are roomies now!
Senior year spring break we went to Puerto Rico because Paula's sister lives here. It was gorgeous and we had so much fun just relaxing on the beach!
The roomies all grown up...I didn't have a good picture of us from Freshman year, but we sure did change in those four years. I loved living with these girls!
As the years went on, our Zeta family just kept growing and growing. My family and my roomie, Paula's family are related so I was also an "aunt" to some of the girls...family events were always so much fun with everyone!
This is homecoming where I won homecoming queen, or "Miss Madison". Mom and Dad were supposed to be at a Navy Football game, but they skipped that to be there to walk me on to the field. It made it even that much better that I actually won!
My little and one of my glittle's were so proud!
Seniors at one of our last football games!
Zeta always partners with the NFL to host "Pink Out" games in October. The players are decked out in pink and we hand out ribbons to people tailgating to spread awareness about breast cancer. My glittle, Renee, and I got to go to the Redskins game to help out!
Zeta Seniors!! I miss these ladies so much!
Throw your crowns up...
Being silly!
My 5th year I lived with some awesome girls. Nola, Colleen, and Maggie were all in grad school or doing a 5th year. We had SO much fun together. Here we are at a wine tasting downtown!
All the roomies in our graduation get up
Happy first week of college to all you freshies out there. Live it up because you will blink and it'll be over. Happy Friday Y'all!
XoXo,
Southern Saving Grace
Lynsee and I should not have been roomies Freshman year for this problem...YES this is a real picture of our room on an average day, NO it was not planned. Don't worry we have both become much cleaner, but we were known on our hall for the messiest room! One of our guy friends, Tyler, hid on our floor one day and we didn't even know he was there! It was pretty bad haha...you'd be proud of my room now!
My ZTA bidcel! This is the night that I became a member of such an amazing organization that would be such a huge part of my college experience!
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