My Last Undergrad Semester/Sorority Goodbyes/Formal

We're finally here.  We made it.  

My last semester of my undergraduate career.  

I graduate in 5 days.....

I may be going crazy.

I have been in school since I was four years old.  That's 18 years of education.  As my last semester comes to a close, I am left with so many feelings.  The first: relief.  I am quite done with school.  My whole life has been filled with lectures and exams.  & as so many of my peers are feeling, I too am battling senioritis.  All of the extra assignments my professors throw at me seem like literal attacks.  This semester has been one of my most challenging.  I honestly thought last semester was my most difficult, but I was wrong.  Spring 2014 has been very difficult and trying.  

I am also feeling quite a bit of sadness.  This was not just my last undergrad semester, but also my last semester as an active sister in Iota Delta Sorority.  I love my sorority and will miss seeing all of my sisters several times a week.  I am very glad that I can come back as an alum and still be part of the sisterhood.  I received two littles and a grandlittle this semester.  I am most sad about having to leave them before knowing them well.  I do feel very fortunate to be so close to them geographically and I know that I will see them often.

Here is a picture of my beloved Tiny Family, at our last ritual. 

Starting at the top right and moving clock-wise is my Big Alex, Auntie Jess, Grandlittle Karla, Little Carina, and myself.

 Only one of my littles was present for this.

Starting from the bottom and working up, my grandbig Ann, Big Alex, myself, Littles Carina and Alma, and grandlittle Karla. [My first little was not present].

5 Generations of perfection, after our Greek "Graduation"

My Big and I posing with our graduation caps.

Class of 2014♥.

This semester we also had our 26th annual Founder's Day Formal.  My big was in charge of last year's so we had very high expectations.

Our theme was 1920's Gatsby, and it lived up to it's name.

Here is a picture of my boyfriend Dave and I on the way to the hotel. ♥

A picture of my big and I posing in one of the mirror's in the bathroom.

I am including this picture to show her adoration for me!♥

& That's why we won Big and Little of the year, 2014!  We honestly really were hoping for this award. Her and I are completely inseparable.  We truly are a perfect match.  In our short time together, we have been through so many things, good and bad.  All of these things have helped us to become super close and thick as thieves. ♥

Our formal chair is also in charge of making senior pillows for those graduating.  Mine was spelled wrong, but is beautiful and actually goes with my bedding perfect!

Here is a picture of my first Little [or O.G. Little, as she's come to be known] at formal.  The even took place at the Hotel Maya in Long Beach, California.  The venue was beautiful!  My dress was from a pin-up shop and was 1940-1950's style.  I did my hair in 1940's style victory rolls, and paired it with a handmade feather head piece and headband, in 1920's style.  Even though most of my outfit was not theme-perfect, I received a lot of compliments for dressing "to the theme".

This semester has been amazing.  No doubt I will be posting many more blogs about it.  Even though it has been so stressful, I know that my Bachelor's in Business Administration will make it all be worth it.♥

♥Riley

P.S. HUUUGE Congratulations to my biological younger sister who is graduating later today from High School!

Big and Little Week Crafts!

Big and Little craft time!!! :]

I've made sooo many crafts over the past couple of weeks. It's been crazy!

I was lucky enough to have gotten TWO littles this semester!! I now have triplets.  Which is intense. 

Anyways, here are some very simple ideas of crafts you can make littles or anyone else in your life!

For the first craft you will need:

• Clothespins [$1, Dollar Tree]
• Mod Podge [Michael's, Walmart, Hobby Lobby]
• Sponge brush, or another kind of cheap brush you don't care about
• All Kinds of Glitter. All kinds. 

 This is the simplest craft, I swear!! 

Take a clothespin and brush or dab on some mod podge!

Start sprinkling on the glitter!  Do this over a piece of paper or box that can collect the glitter.  This way you can pour it back into the container and save it for another time!

By now your clothespins should look like this! 

Actually, scratch that.  I did two coats of glitter and mod podge.  This is what yours will look like with two coats!

Two coats of mod podge allows more glitter to adhere to the surface of your clothespin.  It also helps to keep the glitter on.

I chose to do red and green glittered clothespins to represent my sorority, as our colors are forest green and red.

They're so cute.  They'd be perfect for holding pictures or cards!

On to the next craft!

You will need:

• Corkboard [Daiso, $1.50]
• Puff Paint [Michael's, Walmart, <$1 a piece]
• Pushpins
• Anything else you wish to use! [Glitter would have been mad cute!]

Take your corkboard and pick which colors you want to use, as well as what you want to write or draw on it.

I chose to do our sorority's name along with our motto.  I alternated our colors to make it more exciting, since it started out as the most boring brown thing.

That's literally all for the corkboard. SO. EASY.

This next one is pretty universal for any sorority, or special person in your life.

GIFT BASKETS!

Here are two baskets I made my littles. I like to go to the Dollar Tree for these because of the selection and the price is right.  I added flowers and easter grass for some flair.

Putting someone's favorite snack or candy is always a crowd favorite.  It's a perfect way to show that you care about them and what they like! Same with the flowers, I used my littles favorites!

I also made sparkly letters [as in their first intial], and made them door hangers! 

Here is a door hanger and a little flower frame I found and decorated for my little Carina!  

The door hangers I found at Michael's were uncomfortably expensive.  What I decided to do was to by foam sheets [they sell them in large packs with multiple colors for about $8], and cut them into door hangers.  I saved a bunch of money and now have a bunch of foam I can use for other crafts!

The flower frame is from Michael's as well.  I used paint, glue, and glitter to decorate it, as well as some puff paint to add her name. 

The door hanger is a great way to express your creativity while further showing your interest in this person.  You put stuff on it that represents them or their style, and it can be quite personal.

Here's the inside of another basket! [I ♥ Baskets!!]

Inside of it I put a cute pack of tissues, an adorable pocket mirror, a little teddy bear with hello kitty ribbon on it, a pen, and two easter eggs filled with loving notes.

Our big/little week is full of surprises for our littles.  They don't find out who we are until we've spoiled them!

I didn't want my littles to know for sure that they were twins, so I tried to switch it up a little bit. 

Instead of a corkboard I did a mirror!  I tried to make the colors more cohesive, and added more swirl detailing to this one.

Another picture of a basket, with a fishy plush!

This basket was filled with candy and bubbles!

Here is little Alma's door hanger, with a fish on it! :] 

In the back you can see the "A" I made for her wall.  It's so pretty in person, the glitter is amazing.

I made a lot more things, so hopefully I'll get to posting them too!

I hope this has been helpful :]

Are you in a sorority? Do you craft? Let me know! :]

♥Riley

Big & Little Season

The excitement is in the air! You can feel it building in all of the members, initiated and new.  Big and Little season is almost upon us once more.  

All of the girls have smiles on their faces and attendance is nearly perfect.

With each class of new members brings a new outlook on sorority, an excitement.  

This semester, my sorority has the Beta Beta pledge class.  We are all so excited for them to go through our process and grow to love the sorority as much as we all do. 

In this group of young college girls, are leaders. They all have the potential to get where they want to be and we are just the organization to assist them.

The most important assistance they will receive through these six weeks, and the rest of their life, is their Big Sis. You all have heard me talk about [praise and fawn] my big sis before.  I think she is an amazing young woman.  She really is going places and I cannot wait to sit passenger to her journey.  She's driven, hardworking, and smart.  There's not a thing in this world she could not accomplish.

I hope that I have been able to provide valuable guidance for my little.  I love her dearly and missed her sooo much during her semester abroad to Cheltenham, England.  She too is an amazing woman.  She's so open and friendly, but holds herself high.  

This picture, while completely unflattering of me, is of my entire sorority [minus a few] and our new member class.  In this picture might stand a new little, or grandlittle.  Someone new to love in my Tiny Family line.  

Even though I am a graduating senior, I have decided that I would love to have another little one.  We shall see if the Big/Lil gods favor me, but for now I will just sit and wish. :]  I already have one perfect little, who makes me smile everyday. & I am so proud of her for deciding that she would like a little sis.  

Whether or not we get new additions to our family, my line is already perfect, and going strong.  With this being said, I am feeling many things.  I think the best word to describe it is that I am nesting.  I feel like I need to make stuff for my new potential little/grandlittle.  I've already broken out all of my glitter and bought way too many new craft supplies.  

I will keep this blog posted on this, as well as posting some ideas for Big and Little crafts, old and new.  

Can't you just feel the excitement?

♥Riley 

P.S. If you are feeling any of these emotions, I would LOVE to hear from you! :)

My Sorority: Discovering IΔ

I never thought I would actually be part of a sorority.  I always wanted to be, but I didn't think it would happen.  I'm nerdy, lack self-confidence, and don't normally have too many friends.  I've never really been a "popular" type kid.  Never the prettiest or the best at anything.  But I have always been me. 

Last fall I transferred from Mt. San Antonio College, which is a junior college, to the University of La Verne, my dream school.  ULV is a tiny little college in a tiny little city.  Even though it is small, it has four different sororities on campus.  All four of them are very different.  I attended three out of the four's recruitments hoping to find my place at ULV.  I found that I really didn't fit in at two of the sororities and almost had given up when I found the third.  Iota Delta had some of the prettiest girls I had seen around campus, but more importantly, I had seen them.  It seemed like the I-Delts were everywhere on campus, always smiling and having fun as they ran the school.  

Everyone in their organization was so nice to me I thought, "Oh man, they must all hate me."  But it turns out it wasn't that way at all.  I looked around the room and saw uniqueness.  They were all so different, but similar at the same time.  They were quiet and loud, tall and short, outspoken and shy.  I figured something great had to have brought such differences together.  

I couldn't believe it when I got my bid.  My heart wouldn't let me.  I couldn't believe that they actually wanted me.  I said yes in a heartbeat. 

It was once I began my new membership process that I realized what brought all these amazingly unique girls together: their core values.  Seven in number, they define each of us equally.  We're a local sorority, and we have such high standards because we prefer quality over quantity.

I am so glad that I met all of these wonderful women.  They are all amazing, each and every one of them.

 Beautiful ladies at our annual Bowl for Breath philanthropy event for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

 A more recent picture of our entire sorority.

Me in my letters! In Iota Delta, we earn our letters, and we are more proud of them than any others.

My pledge class after our initiation. Love each and every one of these girls to pieces.

 A picture of my Tiny family!

 Another Tiny Fam picture.

I love IΔ.

Even though I have only been a member a little while, I have learned so much.

There is so much love and support carried with those two little letters.

Alpha Psi Pledge Class

Each and everyone of these girls has my back, and I have theirs.

Δ♥,

Riley

P.S. I'm thinking about making this a series of posts about my sorority. Thoughts? Are you in greek life?