Letter to Rho for Recruitment 2012

Monday was Bid Day back at DU. Although I wasn't there to experience it, I've heard only good things! Recruitment was tough last year - I personally felt very disappointed with my own performance and had to learn the hard way that even if you expect the best from people, you don't know what you're going to get.

Anyway, we welcomed fifty (!!) new members to ∆Z on Monday and I couldn't be happier!!! I'm so proud of all my sisters back in Denver and proud to call myself a Delta Zeta girl. Before Recruitment began this year, I wrote a short letter to my chapter (Rho) pumping them up with a little encouragement. I want to share it here with you all because a few girls said it was touching to them. And also I miss everyone back at DU! Here it is:

Bonjour à toutes mes soeurs!

As recruitment approaches, I know you are all getting very excited. After all, I'm 4,000 miles away and super excited! For many of you, this is your first recruitment and you are very lucky to have such a determined, driven, passionate, lovable, friendly, and smart woman like Été to lead you through this. All of E-board, all the chairmen, our new and already-loved CCD, all the alumnae, all your sisters worldwide, and all of us who are abroad want you to succeed and we know you can. So don't be scared - it's going to be one of the greatest and most fun things you will ever, ever do!

While I haven't been with you all throughout Perfection Week and the workshops, I still feel that you have all been working your very hardest (it's that sisterly bond we've got, i can literally SENSE it). If I could give one piece of advice to every Rho woman who is recruiting this Fall, it would be this: Have courage. To quote John Wayne, "Courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway." Courage will make you stand out to every single PNM who walks through that door (and sincerity, and smiles, and sisterhood - all that good stuff too of course). It's not just bungee jumping or public speaking that takes courage, so much as being outside of your comfort zone and succeeding at it.

Anyway, thanks girlies for letting me pep-talk you all a little bit. I really and truly miss everyone so much and can't wait to see you all when I get back. Bises (that's 'kisses') from France!

In the Flame,

Stephanie

Congratulations to Rho on our best Recruitment ever! See you guys in January,

xxo, S

2012 Breakdown

California Christmas!

New skis for the 2012 season!
Atomic Access

Reunited with ∆Z juniors who got back from abroad!

 patriots vs. broncos game - pats pats pats!

∆Z girls go to BΘΠ formal:

Making cookies for K∑ with Betty Crocker:

Note to all sorority girls: frat kitchens are a scary scary place!

Some skiing adventures:

Skiing this year wasn't as good as other years. In fact, it was pretty sucky. When it did snow, it wasn't much and didn't last long. Sometimes you had to wait all day for it to even get soft enough to shred. And the few times we got powder, it was gone in a flash. Me and Steeze had a good day at Copper (below) and quaffed the fresh on the back bowls :)

 with steezy at Copper Mtn.

Went to Aspen for the weekend (Feb. 9-12):

We stayed with Oley's family - they are such awesome, nice, cool people! - and skiied fo' free one day and hiked a nearby mountain the other day.

me, stu, oley, and doug on top of Aspen Mtn.

Performed "Wannabe" at Gamma Phi-Oke with other ∆Zs:

We pulled it together at the last second. Good effort ladies :)

Discovered the magic of the song "Call Me Maybe" with Stu:

Finals week was just full of this song. And now it's in constant rotation in my playlists.

And that's basically my winter quarter! Spring has just started and I can't wait for all the fun times that are about to come...

xxo, S

Recruitment 2011!

I'm not going to bother to even TRY and explain how formal Panhellenic sorority recruitment works, but basically, there are a lot of rules, a lot of days, a lot of girls, and a lot of preparation...

We meet and greet possible new members into our house and chat with them to see if they'd be a good fit for our house. The better connections you make, the more likely they are going to feel comfortable at your house. And then, at the end of four days, you have new, baby, DELTA ZETA members!!!

day one, sweet home delta zeta

day two, aloha delta zeta

day three, painted turtle camp philanthropy

day four, preference night

Today was Bid Day, which means that the girls we wanted got our bids. If they accepted, they ran down to us on Driscoll Green and we welcomed them with matching t-shirts and goodie bags and had a celebratory party back at the house. SO MUCH FUN!

party at the house

It's really important to have a good recruitment because these new members are literally the future of your house. Also, if you don't recruit enough girls, then you won't have a big house that year.
Luckily (and of course), we got forty nine wonderful new members! Can't wait to get to know them all better and love them like I do all the rest of my sisters :)

xxo, S

∆Z does Red Rocks

On Sunday, some ∆Zs organized a little hike around Red Rocks Park outside of Denver. It was warm and the scenery was beautiful - just like the girls! Couldn't have asked for a better day with my sisters :)

In case you were wondering, Red Rocks is the same place as the amphitheater where I saw Dispatch back in June. It's still naturally amazing - even without the rockin' music :) We actually made our own music, singing a Delta Zeta-ized version of "I'm Yours" by Jason Mraz; as we went along our hike singing our song, we made some people so happy, they asked us to keep going (what a good feeling!).

Dee Zee love and mine
xxo, S

Birthday day!

(yes, I know it's a bit redundant)

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!!!

Last night a bunch of ∆Zs (and some non-∆Z friends) and I went out to dinner in downtown Denver to celebrate my birthday. It was also one of my good friend's (and ∆Z sister) birthday too!!! We're birthday twins! A total of sixteen of us went out to dinner and had an absolute blast :) We sat at a big table outside, and because we had been waiting a long time, got a few free appetizers - yum. It was so fun, we just laughed and had the time of our lives.

the two birthday girls!!

frosting on my face

everyone at dinner

And now today! My actual birthday! I got a lot of birthday calls, texts, and Facebook wall posts... thanks to everyone; I feel so loved :) Per my attending college, I don't get to celebrate my birthday with my family every year now, so it's wonderful that I have such great friends who celebrate to the ends of the earth with me.

I woke up to a bright, quiet morning; well-rested, I walked with Betty Crocker (one of my suitemates) to get breakfast and then headed to the ∆Z house to hang out for a while. Stu drove me and Doug to get picnic food at Whole Foods and then we chilled in Wash Park with Shmee for a while - so relaxing.

stu and doug

Doug, Stu, and Alan took me out to dinner later at Piatti in Cherry Creek. Such a good meal (with more free appetizers!) and scrumptious dessert; Stu got chocolate cake, Alan got salted caramel sorbet, Doug got tiramisu, and I got panna cotta. We were so full afterwards (maybe too much indulgence, but hey, it's my birthday!)....

My awesome suitemate, Dance-ay, got me a cute birthday princess pin to wear around today :) Here are the cards and other things I got today:

 french birthday pastries from Mom

 cards from stu...

 ...alan...

 ...and doug.

 birthday outfit

birthday pins! :)

Thank you to everyone who helped me celebrate! This was one of the best birthdays ever :)

xxo, S