S is for Sigma Delta Tau, Seniors, Saints, Sacagawea, Sleepwalkers, and Sigma Chi

Hi! I know it might seem like I'm going a little overboard with the postings lately, but I just want to keep you guys updated before I forget the awesomeness of the stuff that's been going on lately. This weekend, I went to Senior Night and an "S" Party, and I participated in Sigma Chi fraternity's Derby Days field day... all of which were extremely fun!

Senior Night (Friday) was a super fun, super top secret event for my New Member Class planned by the... you guessed it... SENIORS! These events are always fun, because we bond closer as a class while getting to know our older sisters better.

Immediately following our Senior Night activity was The "S" Party, held at the house that one of our seniors (Kristy) lives in. It was a really fun theme costume party celebrating Kristy's 22nd birthday. The theme -- S! Everyone at the party was dressed up as something that started with the letter S. As you can imagine, there were some very creative and hilarious costumes -- seran wrap, suds, stegosaurus, the solar system, Solja Boy, and many others were in attendance. (Right: Sam dressed as a sleepwalker, Christina as Sacagawea, and me as a Saints football player.) Sometimes I prefer an independent party like this weekend's because it allowed me to hang out with friends in all different sororities, fraternities... and even my non-Greek friends! I really enjoyed catching up with some of my girlfriends who have ended up in different houses; Tulane's Greek Life is pretty "chill" - just because we're in different sororities or fraternities doesn't mean that intense rivalries will form on our campus. I guess that's another example of the "diversity" of my friends here!

The morning after the party (Saturday), my sisters and I went outside for a fun field day competition with some of the other sororities, hosted by the fraternity Sigma Chi for their annual charity event Derby Days. Some of the activities were hilarious (three legged races and mini-tricycle relays) and everyone had so much fun! (Left: Dani and Joanna had a lot of fun competing as a three-legged pair.) I'm proud to say that SDT's team came out first in the tug of war competition! (There's a picture of us pulling hard against Chi Omega.) Derby Days was a week-long competition between the sororities, and Sigma Delta Tau came out in second place!

So there's my weekend update! Hope you're enjoying reading... if you have any questions, send me an email (ahollier@tulane.edu)

Coming soon:
- Big/Little Sister Week
- Visit from Mom
- Honors Weekend hosting

Until next time, NOLA♥

EAT LATE, Life is Great

Hello Friends! I felt compelled to write a short post today...

Last night my pledge sisters and I participated in a well-known event at Tulane: ΣΔT (get it... our letters look like "Eat") Late. We baked all kinds of delicious sweets to sell outside of The Boot from 9pm until 2am. Let's just say there was a very hungry crowd..! It was fun working the booth with my sisters, and it was for a good cause; all the proceeds go to ΣΔT's national charity PCAA, Prevent Child Abuse America. We did really well - we raised a few hundred dollars and even had to close early because we ran out of desserts! More sisters will be serving up sweets tonight at The Boot, so hopefully will pull in even more money for our charity...

(Left: Claire and I selling our cupcakes and cookies.
Right: a picture of the poster we made for our event.)




Coming up:
- ΣΔT Senior Night
- "S" Party
- ΣX Derby Days
- Big/Little Week
- A visit from Mom!


Until next time, ♥ from (rainy) NOLA!

Times as Crazy as the Weather!

Hey guys! We've been seeing some crazy, quick-changing weather in the past week and a half since I last wrote... It may be sunny and beautiful one day, but you'll have to put on those rainboots the next! It's unpredictable, but at least it keeps things interesting!

I've had a crazybusy week! Let's see, a quick rundown...

I last wrote early on Ash Wednesday morning. That night, we had our ΣΔΤ (that's Sigma Delta Tau) New Member meeting, which involved elections. I am now ΣΔΤ's New Member Class President (more informally, Pledge Class President)! We've got a lot of stuff going on in our group... that Friday night was our sleepover at the house, which was an awesome way to get to know the other new girls, my sisters! Also, we sent out newsletters to some of our alumnae... so we're already hard at work for our sorority! (There's a picture of some of my sisters stuffing envelopes.) Saturday was Sophomore Night; the sophomores planned a surprise top secret activity for us that was really fun AND helped us get to know the sophomores better! All of the activities we're doing really make me feel important to my sorority, and I know that by the time I'm a full-fledged member, I'll know my sisters really well.

On a non-sorority note, my parents came to visit and have lunch with me on Saturday. It was really good hanging out with them, and lunch was delicious (Copeland's Cheesecake Bistro...yumm). They didn't stay too long, because we just have so much going on... I miss them already! Sunday was really busy - lots of homework, a USG Public Affairs Committee meeting, Mass, dinner at the ΣΔΤ house, and a meeting for Crawfest Board.

Monday I had lunch in Bruff with a prospective student, and I took her to see my room and meet some of my Wall friends after. I love being a Green Wave Ambassador, because I get to show people the school and friends that are so awesome and important to me. If you're ever here for a visit, let me know!

Almost every night of this week, there was something going on for my sorority. To save you some reading time, I'll just list the names: Study Hours (Monday), dinner on the front lawn of the house (Tuesday), New Member Meeting (Wednesday), and Jungle Mixer with KA (Friday)... a mix of serious and social events. I can already tell that being in a sorority is going to become a big part of my life, but I'm not worried about it taking over my life. It's all a matter of time management and creative scheduling! (The picture on the left is of my KA friend Jacque, myself, and my sophomore sorority sister Erin at the Jungle Mixer. You can see a bunch of the wild costumes in the picture on the right.)

And now, I'm packing to head off on my New Member Class Retreat! More later! ♥

Throw Me Somethin, Sister!

Not to sound like a broken record, but so much has happened since my last post! I know I'm posting at a crazy hour... that's because I'm hanging out in the basement of the LBC in the WTUL radio station helping Spencer out with his 4-6am radio show. Interesting way to start my day, right?!

Today is Ash Wednesday, the snap-back-to-reality day after several days of Mardi Gras celebration. If you guys have never experienced it, all I can say is that Mardi Gras in New Orleans is indescribably fun, and you should definitely make your way down here to see it for yourself as soon as possible! I'll share some pictures with you from my Mardi Gras experience:
(Left to right) Hanging out at ZBT's parade site with my new sister Claire; me with my boyfriend Spencer and our friends Jason and Christine at the Endymion Parade; watching parades with my Sig Delt sisters Dana and Sarah

(And going backwards...) You'll notice in the previous paragraph the words "Sig Delt" ... I just recently went through Recruitment and am now a New Member in the sorority Sigma Delta Tau. I love love love my new member class, and I'm so excited to be a part of SDT! Here are some pictures - some of my new sisters and I on Bid Day at Mardi Gras world, in front of our house for a group shot, being serenaded by fraternity guys, and a group of us at Color Night:
I've also been doing lots of fun stuff with Green Wave Ambassadors! In the past few weeks, I've gotten to show my room to some prospective students (two Louisiana girls!) and give a few tours. I love meeting all of y'all, and I'm excited about hosting some students during the Honors Weekends in March! Feel free to email me with any questions -- ahollier@tulane.edu

Until next time, love from NOLA!