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?

The frugal student.

So, I realize I'm not a college student anymore, but I was for seven semesters, and I was a very frugal one at that. I was the girl with Excel spreadsheets of every expense and income, categorized and sorted by month. Oh, you did that, too? Glad I'm not the only one. (Ha!) Today, I thought I'd share some money-saving tips I learned as a student, and maybe later I'll do a post-grad edition.

I wish this had been my college budget! | Source: 123bas.com via Sandra on Pinterest 

Full disclosure: I was blessed to have parents who were willing to cover my rent and to attend a school that thought I deserved a lot of scholarships, so I'll admit: I don't know what it's like to pay my own tuition. I'm sure these tips will not be adequate for those who find themselves facing thousands of dollars of bills each month. However, these tips did help me comfortably pay for my travel costs, sorority expenses, entertainment, books and clothes during college, so hopefully you'll find at least some useful.

#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!

Happy birthday to me!

Source: weheartit.com via Soraya on Pinterest

In honor of my 22nd birthday, I was going to share with you 22 fabulous things that have happened to me in the past year (inspired by the lovely Jessica at Lovely Undergrad). Then I realized I already shared most of them (and more!) with you last October when I posted about my favorite college memories. So instead, I'm going to share 22 random things about me that you might not already know:

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.

Things that make me go "hmm."

Time for week two of my new series - "Things that make me go "hmm." Enjoy the little tidbits I've gathered from across the web over the past week! But first, this video:

 Don't feel like you have to watch the whole thing, but watch about the first minute or so and
then skip ahead to 2:15. You won't want to miss it!

  

A beautiful argument for the written word (and against book-banning).

Did you know: LeBron bikes to work "all the time"!

Looks like students aren't the only ones who obsess about higher SAT scores.

Your community doesn't have to be rich to have a good library system. Good to know!

This was quite funny to me, considering I read Jonathan Franzen's Freedom on my Kindle and hated it. But somehow, I don't think that had anything to do with the fact it was an e-book....

30 travel terms that don't exist but should.

And finally, the most relaxing song of all time. You're welcome.

By the Numbers: 2011

I'm not one for New Year's Resolutions, normally. I figure if I want to do something, I'll set a goal and do it; I don't need it to be January 1st to feel motivated. However, reading all my lovely fellow bloggers New Year's Resolutions posts has gotten me in the mood to set a few goals for myself. Before I do that, though, I think it's important to see what I've accomplished in the past year. So here's a rundown of 2011, by the numbers.

Things for my apartment.

Note: I wrote this post on October 26, intending to add more items to the list before I published it, but that hasn't happened thus far. So, I'm publishing it now! With a quick addition at the bottom.

I recently made a list of things I can't wait to have when I live in an apartment and not in a totally-fun-but-slightly-restrictive sorority house. Since then, I've thought of several more items I'm itching to purchase/enjoy. Enjoy part two of the series:

Source: wanelo.com via Mallory on Pinterest

A coffee maker! Luckily, we have decent coffee at my sorority house, but it is unfortunately not out yet when I leave for work at 4:50 a.m. When I have my own coffee maker, I can caffeinate myself whenever I need/want! And though I might need to stop by Starbucks once a week or so for a delicious peppermint mocha, having my own coffee maker will drastically cut down on my spending.

Source: bhg.com via Anna on Pinterest

I can't wait to have my own bathroom. Well, I'll probably still share with a roommate or two, but it will be glorious to have a medicine cabinet and not be limited to a little metal cubby under the sink with 20 other girls' stuff. I'll be able to store my toothbrush upright instead of in a travel toothbrush holder, and I won't have to carry my less-than-daily cosmetic products back and forth from my room! It really is the little things in life.

Source: etsy.com via Linnea on Pinterest

I can finally buy wine! Of course, campus and sorority rules prevented me from having wine in my room up until this point, but I'm probably more excited about the possibility of adorable wine stoppers (see above) than I am about the wine itself.

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.

Bulldog traditions: University of Georgia.

My brother and I on the UGA campus.

"You yell 'Go Bulldogs,' and then you bark," my brother told us.

"Like, really bark?" I asked. "Ruff ruff or ark ark?"

"Megan, you sound like a seal." (This from my sister.)

We were trying to learn the University of Georgia student chants and cheers before the football game on Saturday, and all Michael could tell us was that we had to bark like bulldogs. Well, let me tell you, during Georgia's 19-10 victory over the Kentucky Wildcats, we perfected that bark. And it was more of an "hoo hoo hoo," but in a deep canine-like voice, if that makes any sense.

After learning to be a Georgia football fan, of course I wanted to learn about the other traditions and/or superstitions around campus. When we returned to Athens after Thanksgiving to drop Michael back off at school, we took another tour of the campus.

First, Michael showed me this arch, which is rumored to be cursed. If you walk under the arch, you won't graduate in four years. Well, I was arrogant enough to walk under it because I'm not graduating in four years, so ha! I beat that system. Michael says he hasn't walked under it yet.

After the arch, we visited the bell tower. After the game the previous Saturday, there had been a huge line, so I figured I would just wait until our return trip to participate in this particular campus tradition. Unfortunately (as you can see in the below picture), the rope was tied up so I couldn't ring it. :( But I did get to read about the history of the tower on a nearby plaque, which is included in the below caption.

Originally used to call students to classes, chapel services, and special events, the University of Georgia chapel bell was cast by George Holbrook of Medway, Massachusetts in 1835. The bell's arrival on campus is shrouded in mystery, but it is believed to have replaced an earlier bell between 1903 and 1911. Now primarily used to toll Georgia football victories, the chapel bell has weathered stolen clappers, rivalries, and a brief career as a World War II air raid "siren." The bell has been housed in its present location since circa 1913. The tower and bell restoration were completed in August 2008.

Note: I have recently added a new goal to my "bucket list": to visit 100 college campuses (#21). It's fun stories like these that make me so interested in visiting universities, so I hope I am able to share many more posts like this in the future as I complete this new item on my list!

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.

11.11.11

I've been grading International Exams for over an hour straight now (it's an ADPi thing), and I needed a little break. So naturally, I visited Facebook to help distract me, and I found this:

I'm pretty sure I've been "attending" this event since about 2008, so it's weird to think it's actually happening next week. (Also, why is it happening at 11:10? Does Facebook not allow events to start on odd minutes? Hmm....)

I'm a little bit of an 11:11 nut, I'll admit it. My boyfriend and I frequently text each other smiley faces at 11:11 (which is especially fun because we're in different time zones), and any time I see a clock at 11:11, I'm that girl who stops and yells out, "It's 11:11! Everyone make a wish!"

So let's just say I'll be making some pretty epic wishes next Friday. Happy early 11.11.11, everyone! :)

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

Things for my apartment.

I feel like I've been blogging about my friend Kiki a lot lately, but what can I say? She's a big part of my life. So, she inspired this post in two ways:

1. She came to my room to cuddle briefly tonight.
2. She bought candles at Marshalls when we went shopping last weekend.

Now let me explain what these two things have in common.

1. I live in a twin bed. Which also happens to be a top bunk. Which makes cuddling with two grown women a little difficult.
2. I live in a sorority house. Which means candles are prohibited.

So, that leads me to the topic of this post: Things I can't wait to have when I live in an apartment! Here's the short list for now:

Source: None via Megan on Pinterest

A double bed (at least!). I have always lived in a twin. My sister and brother (who is three years younger, mind you) both had double or queen-sized beds in high school, but I - the middle child - slept in a broken old-top-half-of-our-bunk-bed-from-1997 twin until my mom sold the house last month to move to Switzerland.

(Don't even get me started on my mild-to-severe middle child syndrome. It's quite traumatic.)

Source: mycottageofbliss.blogspot.com via Megan on Pinterest

Pretty candles! These are especially gorgeous for autumn.

Source: whitekitchens.blogspot.com via Rhonda on Pinterest

Somewhere to cook. I currently have access to a microwave, but no oven. This isn't to say I actually can cook, but I'd like to have the option. Or at least be able to broil my leftover French fries in the oven instead of microwaving them to a soggy temperature. Yuck.

Source: None via Nicole on Pinterest

Great art! I'm limited right now to hanging decorations from the wooden strip around my room, and I'm also limited to hanging things that are light enough to be held up with 3M adhesive. I just can't wait to put some nails in the wall! The Creed of Alpha Delta Pi will be the first thing to be framed and hung.

I'm sure I will think of many more material things to look forward to as graduation approaches, but that's all for now!