How to Celebrate International Women's Day

In honor of International Women's Day and National Ritual Celebration Week, I wanted to share a very important organization with my readers today. I've been meaning to blog about this for a while, and today seemed like the perfect day.

As you probably know if you read my blog, I am a sorority woman. A few years ago, several sorority alumnae came together to create Circle of Sisterhood, an organization that raises money and awareness to help remove barriers to education for women around the world. When I was a junior at the University of Missouri, I had the opportunity to help start our very own chapter of the Circle of Sisterhood, so it is an organization I am personally invested in and proud of. If you have two minutes and 38 seconds and want to know more, please watch this video.

"Our mission: The Circle of Sisterhood Foundation will leverage the collective wisdom and influence of sorority women to support entities around the world that remove educational barriers for girls and women, uplifting them from poverty and oppression."

What can you (and I) do to help this organization flourish and continue to provide opportunities to our sisters around the world? We can donate, tweet, educate ourselves and others, and be grateful for all the opportunities and privileges we have as women in first-world countries, including whatever device you're using to read this post. (And, of course, support of this organization is not limited to sorority women!)

I know I don't often promote other services/organizations on this blog, so I hope you didn't mind this post today and that it shows you how much I really do believe in this organization. If you've made it this far, thanks for reading, and hug a woman who means a lot to you today. Thank you all for being such important women and friends in my life!

International Badge Day 2013

Happy International Badge Day, sorority women! Each year, the National Panhellenic Conference designates a day for all sorority women—both collegians and alumnae—to wear their sorority badge with pride. Today I'm linking up with Whitney and Autumn to share a few memories of my collegiate sorority experience in honor of this special day.

Design and photos by Megan. Wallpaper by Wallope.

Fall Friday: The Football

I already shared my love for fall foliage, fall fashion and more fall fashion. This week, I wanted to share one of my greatest loves in the autumn season: football! More specifically, college football. Even more specifically, Tiger football.

Mizzou Football Tailgate by mcszr3

I know the Tigers haven't been performing too well this season, but I don't mind. The way I see it, no one expected us to perform well in the SEC. When we lose, no one is surprised. When we win, it will be awesome and everyone will be impressed! I like to set my expectations low so they are harder to disappoint.... Well, with my sports anyway. I always root for the underdog. :)

Which team are you rooting for this season?

#8: Change someone's life ... for the better.

I feel a little silly—and slightly conceited—crossing this item off my bucket list, but I think I have sufficient evidence to say I have changed someone's life. I say this because he told me so himself.

Source: ohsobeautifulpaper.com via Brannon on Pinterest

For six of my seven semesters at Mizzou, I worked at the campus recreation center, first as an equipment attendant and later as a student supervisor. During my last year there I had at least one shift a week with a younger employee who ended up being promoted to take my supervisor position when I left. He was a great kid: hard-working, ambitious, smart, witty and always fun to work with, even before sunrise. (Yes, the rec center opened that early.) We didn't interact much outside of work, but I definitely considered him a friend. Even so, I was surprised after my graduation when a mutual friend of ours gave me a card from him. Inside was a Starbucks gift card (those early mornings had made it quite apparent how dependent I was on caffeine) and a Winnie the Pooh card containing some of the nicest things anyone has ever said about me, including:

"Although this is a congratulatory card, I would like for it to also be a thank you card. So, thank you Megan! What for? Well, as it turns out, you've been like a big sister for me over the past year. I never thought that someone who I only saw once a week at 5:15 in the morning would ever influence me as much as you have. You ... have influenced me more than anyone else I've yet to meet in college!"

As I sat in my mom's rental car on the way to my graduation dinner reading his card, I started crying. Seriously, it was that bad good. I was sad to be leaving Mizzou, obviously, but it was nice to know I had made a positive impact on at least one other person during my college years. I don't know if the person I'm writing about reads my blog (or even knows it exists), but if he does: Thank you. You definitely added substance to my college experience, I'm so proud of everything you've done for the Mizzou community, and I know you'll continue to achieve much more! Thank you for making me feel like I made a difference. (Oh, and of course: I hope MizzouRec is treating you well!)

Source: twopeasinabucket.com via Teresa on Pinterest

Friday's Fancies: Week 9

This week's Friday's Fancies is a little painful for me. It was a great idea, {av}, but it would be a lot more fun if my team were still in the tournament. *sigh* I even thought of skipping this week or doing a different theme because I was so heartbroken over Mizzou's first-round (and very unexpected) loss last Friday, but then I remembered this:

Even if the Big Dance didn't go quite as we had planned, I still love my Tigers, and I'm still proud to be a Mizzou student alum (I almost forgot)! (As evidenced by the fact that I wore my Mizzou headband on the slopes the day after our loss, despite seeing quite a few Jayhawk beanies.) As much as I wish I were getting ready to watch my boys play Marquette tonight instead of Florida, I will be a Tiger fan until the day I die! Plus, we're taking that Big 12 championship with us to the SEC ... and no one can ever take it back!

P.S. — I pinned quite a few Mizzou items on Polyvore when I was creating this outfit, so if you're a future/current/former Tiger — knock yourself out!

30-Day Book Challenge: Day 26

Day 26 – A book that changed my opinion about something

Image via Amazon

Applying Ethics. It wasn't really the book itself that changed my opinion on something but rather an assignment associated with the book. This was my primary textbook for a philosophy class I took in my second semester of college. (It was one of my top five favorite classes I ever took at Mizzou, btw.) Each chapter in the book deals with a major ethical dilemma (war, abortion, euthanasia, etc.) and presents different philosophical viewpoints on each issue. Occasionally, my professor asked the class to write "reaction" essays to an issue and defend one viewpoint. Our papers didn't necessarily have to reflect what we really believed, and there were times I defended the position I didn't personally side with just because I felt like it.

When I got to the essay about capital punishment, things got interesting. I had never had strong feelings one way or the other, but I did tend to lean toward one side of the debate. While writing my paper, however, I learned that I most definitely was on one side of the fence, and it was not the side I had previously imagined myself to agree with. Now isn't that the ideal academic assignment: something that shows you a part of yourself you had never known before? No wonder I loved that class so much. (Thanks Dr. Melanie Johnson-Moxley!)

P.S. - I admit this post is a little bit of a cop-out because I picked a book about ethics, but I honestly couldn't think of any novels that had changed my mind about something.

On My Own: Live

Finally, I'm fulfilling my promise to show you some pictures of my new apartment! I've decided to start this series with "live" because I figure it's the least interesting. I could have started with the most interesting to suck you in, but I'd rather start you off with low expectations so you're not disappointed later. (It's a terrible strategy for life, but I think it will work here.)

So, today you get to see the less-glamorous parts of my studio life, including my dresser/closet area and bathroom. Enjoy!

In the top right image above, I wanted to focus on some of the wonderful graduation gifts I received from my friends at Mizzou. The black Mizzou frame in the top left is from my good friend and sorority sister Kiki, and the picture inside is from our Diamond Sister banquet after initiation. (Kiki is also my Diamond Sister, or what some chapters call "pledge mom.") Directly below that frame are two matching picture blocks that say "MIZ" and "ZOU" respectively, created by my beautiful friend Michelle! The MIZ picture is from our freshman year at the Big 12 Championship football game, and the ZOU picture is from my 21st birthday. We've been friends for a while. :) Finally, that wonderful bicycle helmet on the right is from Kaleigh, another good friend who I've been lucky to have in my life since freshman year. She made this helmet for "when things get tough" after graduation. Thanks so much for the gifts, girls! I love them!

 

Stay tuned for the next installment of the "On My Own" series!

Series title borrowed from Les Mis, naturally.

The best four years of your life.

If you read my blog post from yesterday, you know I'm a little sad about graduating from college and leaving Columbia (and all my friends) behind. While writing that post, I was reminded of my commencement speech from high school.

Yes, this is actually a picture of me, not a Pinterest picture. Shocker!

I really didn't want to speak at my graduation at first; I really didn't think I had anything to say that the audience hadn't already heard at each of their previous children's graduation ceremonies. I definitely knew I didn't want to give the typical recap speech of high school: highlighting the best moments, listing my class' athletic and academic accomplishments, and telling inside jokes that the majority of my 139 classmates would have understood.

Instead, I wanted to do something different. I'm from a fairly small town, where most of my classmates had gone to school together since kindergarten, you knew pretty much everyone's name, and many of my friends had the same teachers their parents had had years ago. I wanted to remind everyone that regardless of whether they had enjoyed high school or not, there is always something better waiting up ahead. To steal a line from the romantic comedy Just Friends, I don't think anyone should be "the girl [or boy] who peaked in high school." So this is the speech I gave, and I hope I accomplished my goal:

The end of an era.

Time's up! 

Source: browndresswithwhitedots.tumblr.com via Traci on Pinterest

I've had plenty of time this semester to think about graduation (and what comes after). I've remembered the good times, written countless cover letters during my job search, finally figured out my plan for next year and spent as much time as possible with friends. I had a countdown to graduation on my phone, a Facebook album titled "The End of an Era" for this semester's pictures (hence the post title), and my cap and gown has been sitting in my room since October 5.

But it didn't really hit me until it was too late to change my mind.

I've known for a while that I was on track to graduate a semester early. In fact, I started taking the minimum number of credits per semester when I realized I could have graduated a year early if I wanted. (I didn't.)

My friends (especially my younger ones) constantly asked me why I wasn't staying until May. I always told them it just wouldn't work; I already had two majors and, like I said, I was already taking the minimum course load. I guess I could have picked up a minor along the way, but by the time I realized how much I would really miss Mizzou, I felt it was too late. Everyone was expecting me to graduate in December, and I thought I was ready to leave.

The conversation.

I saw this video on one of the many travel blogs I read, the Everything Everywhere travel blog by Gary. He called it: "The conversation everyone has before they go on a big trip."

Now, you don't have watch the whole thing. 1) It's a little weird, and 2) you pretty much get the picture after the first 30 seconds or so. But, watching this video made me realize how lucky I am that my parents have never discouraged me from traveling somewhere. Even this past summer, when I decided I wanted to study abroad in Africa, the closest I got to discouragement was this:

Mom: "As a person, I think that is so cool that you're going to Rwanda. But as a parent, I wonder why out of all the study abroad options, that's the one you had to pick."

So yeah, I'm pretty lucky. But the video also reminded me of a conversation I had about my parents' attitude toward my travels while I was in Rwanda. In fact, I wrote about this experience for a radio commentary for my Advanced Writing class. I was waiting until the commentary was available online so I could link to it, but that hasn't happened yet. So, I'm going to go ahead and share this video now, and I'll include the link to my commentary when I can.

Update on the great unknown.

For those of you who read my "Heading off into the great unknown" post, you know exactly what I'm talking about. Well, after five weeks of submitting job applications, I got an email on Monday from an editor who wanted to set up an interview. Mere hours after the phone interview on Wednesday, I got another phone call offering me the position - an online internship with Outside magazine in Santa Fe beginning in January.

I am so excited for many reasons, including: 1) Outside is a great magazine, which I've been reading for about a year and have even mentioned in my blog several times. 2) The internship will use my skill set perfectly and allow me to develop new skills before I search for a more permanent position next summer. And of course, 3) I actually know what I'm doing after graduation, and that is a huge relief.

When I look back on it, even though I felt like I was floundering sometimes with the ambiguous online career site application processes and my lack of journalistic summer internships, writing this blog is the first time I've realized it only took me five weeks to find a position that was a good match. So, in contrast to my previous duck picture, here is how I feel now, happily on my way!

Source: riskeverythingfearnothing.tumblr.com via Megan on Pinterest

My first SEC game.

As you might know, the University of Missouri recently moved to the Southeastern Conference. This means beginning in 2012, my school will be playing my brother's school, the University of Georgia, in the SEC East. Yesterday, I had the opportunity to attend my first Georgia game, which is also the second-to-last football game during which Georgia can be my favorite SEC team (because of course, beginning next season I'll have to root for my Tigers).

My sister, dad and I all flew into Atlanta on Friday night and drove out to Athens to start our Thanksgiving Break. (The school is much further from Atlanta than I had previously thought - almost 80 miles instead of a mere 45 minutes.) We picked my brother up bright and early the next day (bright and early for a college freshman, that is) and headed to Waffle House for breakfast. Kickoff was scheduled for 12:20, and we made it into the stadium only a few minutes late.

My brother, Michael, headed off to the student section while Abby, Dad and I headed up to our seats in the nosebleed section ... on level 600. I had heard Missouri would have to do a $40 million renovation to our stadium to be in the SEC, but I wasn't sure what that would entail. Now I'm wondering, maybe that entails building our stadium a few levels higher? These seats were insanely high. The stadium also seats well over 92,000 people, so I'm sure the seats have to built that high just to fit around the field. When my dad sent his girlfriend a picture of the field from our seats and joked about how awesome our view was, she texted back:

"Yeah, you and the Goodyear blimp."

As you can see from our view, my dad's girlfriend was pretty accurate.

I loved the pretty autumn colors outside the stadium.

I'm happy to say Georgia won, 19-10, despite the few obnoxious Kentucky fans that were heckling the crowd in our section and periodically announcing the score of the Kentucky basketball game, in which the Wildcats were faring a little better (wrong sport!). The game ended just in time for me to follow the Missouri vs. Texas Tech game on my phone while we went to dinner (more about that later), and I was able to watch our victorious end back at the hotel! We also watched Oregon lose to USC, so those few games combined with Oklahoma State's loss the night before made for one heck of a college football weekend and a great start to Thanksgiving break!

Unfortunately, we didn't quite leave ourselves enough time in the morning to attend an actual tailgate outside the stadium, so I can't cross that off my list yet. But, I can cross attending an SEC football game off #20. Whoop!

Out of Africa.

It seems that ever since I left Africa almost four months ago, I haven't actually been able to leave. I am constantly reminded of my time there, and today has been no exception.

First (warning: self-promotion coming up), I attended a reception for the finalists of Mizzou's study abroad photo contest, where I discovered one of my submissions had won the $100 first-place prize in the "Cross-Cultural Moments" category:

 The winning photo was of me and my roommate Kiela swimming with some local boys in Lake Kivu,

located on the border of Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The boys broke into the

"Soulja Boy" song and dance at one point, which was quite amusing.

Then, as I logged onto Facebook tonight, this story (shared by my Rwandan friend Emmanuel), was the first post on my news feed. I mentioned during my trip to Rwanda that the movie Hotel Rwanda is inaccurate and portrays Paul Rusesabagina in a falsely flattering light. This article is a revised version of an earlier post, updated due to the human rights prize Rusesabagina was awarded by the Lantos Foundation yesterday. I don't really have a comment on the post one way or another, I just wanted to share.

Does this mean Missouri is Southern?

I woke up this morning to a text telling me the event I was supposed to attend at 4 p.m. had to be rescheduled "due to the press conference at 4:30."

What press conference? I thought. I assumed it probably had something to do with Mizzou's much-anticipated move to the Southeastern Conference, but why hadn't I heard anything about it before now?

Well, within 30 minutes, I had four different emails conveying the same message:

MU Chancellor Brady J. Deaton

invites you to join

Athletic Director Mike Alden,

University of Florida President Bernie Machen

and

SEC Commissioner Mike Slive

For a celebration and news conference

on the occasion of the

University of Missouri’s

admission to the

Southeastern Conference

Sunday, November 6, 4:30 p.m.

MU Student Center

One was from the chancellor himself, one from Greek Life, one from the Student Recreation Complex where I work and one from the Mizzou Alumni Association.

Leggings as pants.

I have a confession to make: I am wearing leggings as pants today. Eek!!! I know, I know. I've historically expressed strong opposition to the trend. In fact, I still don't like it. But today, I just really wanted to wear some comfy leggings with my rainboots. (These rainboots are so tight around my calves, by the way, that I have to wear leggings or jeggings to even get them on.) I searched my closet for an appropriately long shirt to cover my derriere in said leggings, and I found a slouchy American Apparel shirt that's two sizes too big. Bingo!

 American Apparel pullover
I'm pretty sure this is the exact pullover I'm wearing. Color and all.

It was a gift from my sorority, or I would know for sure.

Unfortunately, "big" doesn't necessarily translate to "long." After some more searching and debating whether wearing a long coat would be overkill for today's weather (it would), I just left the house. In leggings. Worn as pants. With a shirt that barely hung lower than my hips. Oh the horror.

It made me feel slightly better that one out of every three girls I saw on my way across campus was sporting a similar look, but not better enough. Because of course, girls at Mizzou (and elsewhere) do plenty of things that I wouldn't, and I can't let that be an excuse to look ridiculous. But today it was justification enough, so here I am in the Student Center, sipping a smoothie, doing my office hours, wearing leggings as pants.

Come make fun of me.

So I won't ever do it again.

H&M sweater
Just FYI: This is the type of thing I usually consider acceptable to wear with leggings

It only happens once in 100 years.

This past weekend, Mizzou celebrated its Centennial Homecoming. Although the term "first homecoming" is debatable, the University of Missouri is widely recognized as the founder of homecoming, dating back to when the athletic director invited alumni home to Mizzou for the Missouri-Kansas football game in 1911. Without getting too scholarly here, I will acknowledge the opposing faction that claims Mizzou was not the first. An Associated Press story published last month said, in part:

Tigers faithful have spent decades claiming former Missouri football coach and athletic director Chester Brewer's invitation for graduates to “come home” was the start of the tradition. School leaders know better — and are now more vocal in dispelling a well-worn myth whose adherents included Brewer himself.

“We try to be a little more careful about it,” said Missouri Alumni Association executive director Todd McCubbin, whose organization used to promote the school's homecoming as “the first and finest.”

The Oct. 15 game vs. Iowa State, preceded by a week's worth of activities, is now simply the school's centennial celebration.

“Certainly, our graduates feel like we're the first,” he said. “Sometimes perception is reality.”

So basically, what I'm saying is I'll still claim Mizzou as the originator of Homecoming. And we're still recognized as the largest student-run homecoming in the nation!

This is what Greektown looks like the night before Homecoming! (Right outside the ADPi house.)

Go Tigers! Moving on ...

Keep calm and M-I-Z Z-O-U

With all the Homecoming craziness this week, I just want to say one thing:

Photo via Pinterest.

Newest discovery: Etsy.

As I was perusing my Google Reader yesterday, I found several posts that mentioned "Etsy." I was curious, so I asked a friend what this "Etsy" was, and she showed me immediately. It seems I was one of only a few people on Blogspot who hadn't discovered this adorable shopping site yet, but I almost wish I hadn't. To introduce me to Etsy, my friend suggested I search things like "Mizzou" and "Alpha Delta Pi." Good thing I'm saving up for graduation in December, or I'd be expecting several packages over the next few weeks. On the other hand, it's given me several ideas for decorations I can make myself for my apartment next year.

Here are some of my favorite finds:

$12.50 from bandaprints - Possible graduation present? Hmm....

 $25.00 from LilyGene - When I live in Carolina one day, I will have this on my wall.

$19 from LilSeeds - I love the Harry Potter one!

$15 from daintyhippo - I don't know how I thought to search for "book coasters," but I did,

and this was my favorite result.

$10 from BlackBaroque - I have a strange obsession with turtles, and I also love books.

There are a million other things I could have included, but I'll save those for later. Etsy away!

Happy Birthday, Kiki!

Yup, it's midnight, which means my Diamond Sister, Kiki, is turning 22! (Wow, she's getting old! Ha.) As a birthday gift, I wanted to dedicate a special blog to her. I know Kiki loves my blog, so hopefully she'll love this post the most. :)

A Diamond Sister is a "pledge mom/daughter" in Alpha Delta Pi. Kiki became my Diamond Sister after I joined ADPi my sophomore year, and she has been the best "mom" a girl could ever ask for! She's beautiful, intelligent, compassionate, funny and ambitious - what more could a daughter ask for in a role model? So happy birthday, Mama Kiki! I hope your 22nd birthday is your best yet!

Here's a quick look at our friendship over the years:

Back to the beginning....

On the "Sweet Tarts" Dance Marathon team together our freshman year at Mizzou!

Wittle babies!

 At my initiation brunch sophomore year,

after Kiki helped initiate me into Alpha Delta Pi!

 We got to celebrate Tap Day together our junior year.

(With the columns in the background, of course.)

 Celebrating Preference Day during our senior year of formal recruitment!

It's been an unforgettable college experience with her.

Happy Birthday, Kiki! 

72 Days at Mizzou.

Photo via Pinterest

1. It's been a while since I've written a post about my
impending graduation and subsequent limited time at Mizzou.

2. I bought my cap and gown for graduation today. Eek!

3. With only 72 days left, I don't anticipate I'll accomplish

much more during my undergraduate experience.

Due to these three items, I decided it was time to write a nostalgic piece about my time at the University of Missouri. I don't know if you can be nostalgic about something that isn't actually over yet, but I'm going to do it. So there. This will be mostly photos that represent my most memorable and/or proudest moments here at Mizzou. Enjoy!