All Year Round Reads

One of my favorite activities to do is to read.  I absolutely love to read during the summer at the pool and out by my pond in my back yard.  Since summer is over though and I am back at school, I have been taking on the nightly ritual of reading for about an hour while I am in bed.  It gets my mind off of things and makes me nice and tired to fall asleep.  I did stay up until about 2:30 am though last night finishing up my book because it was getting really good and intense.  I got an iPad a couple of Christmas' ago so I could use the Kindle app on there to read.  The iPad ended up really stinking in the sun and I could not see a single thing because the glare on the screen was so bad.  I then bought myself a Kindle, which I love.  I also have the Kindle app on my iPhone which I read off of when I am on the go and in bed.  I do not favor a single genre of books.  I enjoy many types of them and have a wide range of variety.

Here are some books that I read over summer:

'White Girl Problems' was probably one of the funniest and most politically incorrect books I have ever read.  If you are looking for a hilarious, fast read, and can overlook crude references, then this book is for you.  In a sick twisted way, I wish I was Babe Walker at times.  

I watched the show 'GCB' on ABC when it was on for only one season.  I was a pretty big fan of the show and really got into it.  I was pretty sad when I found out that the show did not get renewed.  The book takes a little while to get into, but is a easy read that is enjoyable.  I found myself comparing the TV show and the book constantly and I decided that I like the show better than the book. 

'The Ice Man' was a book that I would not normally read.  My chiropractor actually suggested this book to me.  This is a very gruesome book that is based on a true story.  It tells the story of a contract Mafia killer who gets away with murder daily.  In the end of the story I secretly did not want him to ever get caught.  They are actually making this book into a movie.  This should be interesting because there are super awful, bloody parts that I do not know if I want to see depicted out on the big screen.  I will probably end up seeing it though.  My mom read this book too and felt the same way. Expand your horizon and read this!! Not for the faint of heart though. 

I found 'The Lower River' suggested in People Magazine.  I look for suggested books in there and most of the time, they end up being really good.  My Mom and I ended up reading this at the same time.  This book takes a while to get into but when you do, its hard to put it down.  The story is of a man who lived  in Africa for a while when he was young and ended up going back for a while when his life basically fell apart and he and his wife separated.  This is a story of despair and hope.  

So I was really skeptical at first when I bought this book.  I am very much Catholic and believe in God and heaven with all my heart, but I didn't really think that this boy could have seen heaven before he died and went there for good.  While reading this book, I got goose bumps at many points and I actually have goose bumps right now while I am writing this, remembering parts of the book.  When I finished reading this book I asked my Mom to read it because I did not know what to think and was almost in a state of shock and jealousy.  She read it and felt the same way.  I am not trying to push a faith on anyone but, if you are having any doubts about heaven or anything associated with it or just want to strengthen your faith or even just want a good read, READ THIS.  Enough said.  

Have any good book suggestions? I am always looking for some new ones to read. 

Xx, Katie 

Homesick: The Best Remedies

Today was a super stressful day with multiple things that happened within about 30 minutes.  Let me give y'all a little background first.  I am involved in an organization on campus called GIVE.  Our mission statement says, "Give love, give hope, give back".  We are basically a community service organization on campus that helps other members of our community as well as other organizations within WSU.  This past Thursday, I was basically thrown into the position as Treasurer.  I did not mind because I had been wanting a position of leadership and was pleased to receive one.  The old treasurer told me that she would go over everything with me and transition me into the position.  Well this morning, I got a call saying that our t-shirts that we got last year for an event this year were screwed up and that we needed them fixed by next Monday.  I had no idea what I was doing.  The president of GIVE is super helpful though and helped me as much as she could.  I knew that I had a deadline to get our budget proposal cleared and that was by 3:00 pm today.  I got this call at 11:00 am this morning and still needed to take a shower, go to class, finish my study abroad application, read for class, and go to the study abroad office.  All of this had to be done before chapter tonight, which was at 5:00 pm.  I was stressed out and to the point of tears.  The only place where I wanted to be then was at home with my parents.  I called my Mom immediately because I knew that she would be able to calm me down and talk some sense into me.  She did just that and told me to take some deep breaths.  Needless to say, I got everything accomplished, plus some other things done as well for GIVE.

I have been here at school for over 5 weeks now.  I know that doesn't seem very long, but being so far away from home intensifies it.  I see a lot of my sisters with their parents and friends from home on the weekend and it makes me sad that my parents can't just hop in the car and be here in a couple of hours. It takes about 36 hours to drive from Cincinnati to Pullman and about 8 hours to fly here.  We are 3 time zones apart.  My parents are coming in a week from this coming Friday for Homecoming weekend, which makes me really happy!  I think that because their visit is so close, I am anticipating their arrival and making my self even more homesick.

I thought that I would share with you some tips that make me feel better when I am missing home the most:

1) KEEP CALM AND CALL YOUR MOM

        This really does work.  If you are not very close with your mom, but have another person that makes you sane, then call them instead.  Talking to someone from home helps me all the time.

2) SKYPE

 
     Maybe you are a visual person and you need to see the person that makes you sane in order for them to help.  Skype is free and super easy to use! My Mom can use it and she is not very computer savvy.

3) SAY YES TO EVERYTHING.  Try new things with friends that will get the homesickness off of your mind.  Do activities that you know that you enjoy that will make you think of other thoughts.  The most important thing of all is to not dwell on that fact that you are homesick.  That is the worst.

4) GO FOR A DRIVE.

     Tonight, one of my sisters and myself went to a place here in Pullman called 'Cougar Country' where we got juicy hamburgers, french fries, and giant sweet teas.  We carried the food out and got in her car and drove until we found an interesting place to sit and eat.  We ended up finding an elementary school with lights on inside where we saw a bunch of older people taking ballroom dance lessons.  This might sound crazy, but we sat and watched them for about an hour while we ate and then we just drove.  We drove all around the town with the windows down, music up, and the heat blasting because it was a cold night.  We just rode in a nice peaceful silence for about an hour.  It was so relaxing and nice.  It was just what I needed after such a stressful day.  It got my mind off of things and I just was not having any cares for a while.  We decided to make this a weekly occurrence and find a new spot every time to eat at.

I feel so much better tonight and I am looking forward to seeing my parents, without being too anxious.  If anyone has any other homesick remedies that work really well, let me know!  I am always looking for something to get that topic off of my mind!  Have a great week :)

Xx, Katie

DIY: Bow Holder

I have lots of bows for my hair and they take up a lot of room, so I decided to make a personalized bow holder for them!  Read along for step-by-step directions on how to create your own! 

1) Start with a slab of finished wood.  I got mine from Michael's and it cost about $5. 

 2) Pick ribbon of your choice to glue on the back of the main wood piece to clip the bows onto.  I got mine from Walmart and cut three even pieces with diagonal ends for a nice, finished look.

 3) You can paint the background any color you choose to.  I personally like simple colors, so I chose a white background with pink accents.  The pink accents match my ribbon.  

4) Paint anything you like to on the main part.  I painted my monogram along with the saying, "There's a bow for that".  I also painted around the edges with a slightly darker colored pink.  

5) Since I live in my sorority house and we can't put any holes in the wall, I hung this with 4 Command  Strips.  These are super strong and are easy to remove when you take it down. 

Here is the finished product with some of my bows! I organized them by size.  

Have fun creating your own Bow Holder!! Post pictures when you finish! 

Xx, Katie 

The DOs and DONTs of Boots

So it's officially September and the weather is forecasted to get much cooler the beginning of next week.  Even though it's not boot weather yet (I say it has to be in the 50's or below for riding boots and 40's or below for shearling boots) we must order our boots now so we have them in time!  I don't know why, but it is one of my biggest pet peeves when I see girls wearing boots at inappropriate times.

Ladies of all ages: The only boots that shall be worn when its not boot season are cowboy boots, occasionally motorcycle boots, and occasionally military boots.  

Lets talk about shearling boots first.  The best thing to know about these types of boots is that a lot of them will not save you from slipping in the snow/ice.  Yes, they may be warm and toasty on your feet in the snow, but they need to have the proper bottoms for the weather.  I learned this last year here in Washington in all of the snow.  It was a shock for me with being from Cincinnati.

These are some great examples that you want to look for on the bottom of the boot.  All three of these boots are made for the snow and will give you good grip and will keep you warm.  Some companies that makes great snow boots are Sorel, the North Face, LLBean, and UGG.  Just make sure that they are made for the snow and have a good bottom.  If you don't want a pair of boots dedicated to the snow, I suggest a great product called Yaktrax.  These are an apparatus that you put on the bottom of your shoes that will give any pair of shoes a great grip.  They give you "Confidence on packed snow and ice".  They are pretty inexpensive (ranging from $20-$60) and come in different levels of durableness depending on the activity the will be used for.

These are the Walking Yaktrax.  They cost about $20 and come in more colors.

Now we can talk about my favorite kind of boots, riding boots.  You can wear riding boots with basically anything and dress them up or down.  I have two pairs; a cognac color and black.  I hope to add a dark brown pair this year.  Here are some of my favorite riding boots for this year:

These 4 pairs of boots are from one of my favorite designers, Tory Burch. I would gladly accept any of them.

These 3 are much more reasonably priced and are from Target- one of my favorite stores!

Some other great places to look for boots are Zappos, Nordstrom, Dillards, Steve Madden, and Macy's just to name a few.  Good luck on finding the perfect pair (or pairs) of boots and let me know if you found a "to die for" pair! 

Xx, Katie 

Chi Omega, Yours Forever.

I joined my sorority, Chi Omega in September of 2010 back home in Cincinnati, Ohio at the University of Cincinnati.  I transferred to Washington State University because I wanted to peruse a degree in Viticulture and Enology and needed to come the the West Coast of the country for that (there are not many schools on the East side for V&E).  When I transferred schools and came to Washington State University, I knew no one and it was awesome that I had a group of girls that I could immediately connect with.  I basically knocked on the door here at the house and they welcomed me with open arms.  My biggest worry with coming to WSU was the fact that I knew no one.  My sisters here at Beta Beta Chi Omega have made my experience at WSU that much better.  I love the school and my sister's encouragements and support make my life here amazing.  When I went home for summer, I was itching to get back to school to see all of my sisters beautiful and their smiling faces.  Our Sisterhood here at Chi Omega is wonderful, strong, and visible from the outside.

 This is a very limited number of our women in Chi Omega (our new women from 2012 recruitment as well as older members) on Bid-day 2012 outside of our house.  

This is a picture of most of my Pledge Class of 2010 (PC 10).  Some of my sisters in this picture are my rock and keep me going here.  This is also from Bid-day this year. 

When I became affiliated with the Beta Beta Chapter of Chi Omega here last year, I was "Big Sister-Less".  I had been hanging out with a girl here, sBi, and we were getting pretty close.  We had a class together and were hanging out a lot.  sBi and I got on the subject of Big/Little Sisters and I told her that I miss mine back in Ohio and I did not have a Greek family here yet.  She was determined from that minute forward to find me a big and a Greek family.  Little did I know, I was going to be her twin.  I had met her big, cTm maybe once and I thought that she was super sweet, I just did not really know her at all.  cTm welcomed me into her family with an open heart.  We immediately clicked and I felt loved!  My family hung out a lot and we got pretty close.  

This is of sBi, my twin, cTm, my big, and myself at Big/Little Reveal when I got my little. 

When Spring Recruitment (Informal Recruitment) came around, I decided that I wanted our family to grow and that I wanted a little myself.  I had coffee dates with the new women and I really took a liking to one in particular, mHc.  mHc and I clicked right away and I knew that I wanted her as my little.  When we were deciding on who our littles were going to be, I was really nervous because I knew that the only person I wanted was mHc and I would be really sad if I didn't get her and someone else did.  I ended up getting mHc as my little and when I found out I nearly wet my pants (but really)!  It was super hard keeping it from mHc that I was her Big until Big/Little Reveal.  I would leave her little presents every day along with clues giving her hints as to whom her big might be.  I'll admit it, I made little white lies everyday describing other people so she would not guess that I was her big and be totally surprised when she found out.  When Big/Little Reveal came and mHc found out that I was her big, she was really surprised and happy!  That was one of the best days here at WSU so far.  Our family, The Outlaw Family, grew that day as we gained another wonderful woman into our family.  

 My little, mHc, and myself when she found out that I was her big! It was such a great and touching moment! 

  This is my little, myself, and my big at Big/Little Reveal

Our completed/ ever-growing portion of the Outlaw Family!  My big is at top, my twin and myself are in the middle, my niece, kUm, and my little. 

 My little and myself before a date dash. 

 My niece, my twin, my big, myself, and my little at formal Spring of 2012

My niece, myself, and my little. 

My big graduated this past Spring and left WSU for the real world.  Even though she is now an Alumni of Chi Omega instead of a member, she is still a part of our family.  Her leaving the chapter was one of the saddest things that has happened to me in my life.  I know that she needs to enter the big girl world which is okay with me, I just felt that she made my experience that much better. It was hard moving into the house this year with her not here, but I still love Chi Omega and all of my sisters very much.  She is actually coming this weekend to visit for the first home football game and I am so excited!!! I have not seen her since May 1st and I cannot wait! 

My little is currently in the process of getting a little of her own, she knows who it is and so do I, but her little will not know for another week!!! The anticipation of Big/Little Reveal is killing all of the new members, as it should!  These are their Greek families for the rest of their lives, maybe even their bridesmaids someday!! I can't wait to show pictures to y'all of my new Grandbabe and brag about her-- It will be a whole week until I can! Until then, I'll count my blessings that I have here at Chi Omega.  

"To be womanly always, discouraged never."

Xx, Katie 

Monograms

Monograms are a great way to personalize any outfit.  Back home in Cincinnati, monograms are pretty popular and are readily seen.  Some great products I have seen monogrammed are:

Monogrammed Longchamps

Monogrammed bows

Fishing Shirts

Dress Shirts 

Monogrammed Jack Rogers

Monogrammed Jewelry

There are numerous things that can be personalized and are not limited to the ones that I posted here.  I think that I love monograms so much because my Grandmother wore them all the time.  She bought me monogrammed clothing all the time that coordinated with hers.  Growing up, she was my best friend and role model and I looked up to her.  I loved having the connection visible through the monogramed items, even though our connection was much deeper than that.  Anyways, I have been thinking about monogramming my Norts (Nike Running Shorts). 

Thoughts? Too much? or just the right amount of perfectness? 

Xx, Katie