The Biggest Disappointment of the Past 3 Months

So, I had a meeting on Wednesday, when we thought we were going to be getting the Certificate of Occupancy (C.O.).  What we got instead was news that we can not move in this weekend and that the exact move-in date is still up in the air.

T-minus 1 Week!

We have less than one week until my residents and I move into the house!  I was at the house on Thursday for the weekly walkthrough.  I didn't take as many pictures as I had planned, but heres what I have.

The resident kitchen has the backsplash and countertops.

The library, with all the molding and trim in place.

Carpeting in the bedrooms and hallways

Countertop in my kitchenette

There was so much that had been done sine I was there for the Atlanta Alumnae Chapter tour!  Now we're to the point where major changes are taking place every day.

The hardwood floor was supposed to be put in over the weekend, as well as the remainder of the carpet and floorboards in the residents rooms.  The resident kitchen is going to be getting appliances and the flooring!

I had my first meeting with my residents last night, with much help from the Property Coordinator and Property Advisor.  Everyone is so excited, even if moving day is going to be crazy hectic.  I get to meet with the new member class sometime this week as well.


The weekend that GT has their Fall Break (October 12-16) I found super cheap plane tickets to go back to Michigan!!!  I am so excited to be home with Jim and to see everyone at Alma.  By then the Zeta Nus will have their new members, and I might have a great grandkiddo!


I've also been crafting.  I was given these wooden letters a few years ago.  They had been hot glued together and had fallen apart.  I was given them because I could fix them.  But I knew they wouldn't stay together.  I had originally started covering them in fabric, but then I decided I didn't like it.

What I started with.

I had pink paint leftover from my personalized cooler.

After the pink.

White paint pen around the edges makes it extra adorable

I adore these letters and can't wait to put them in my room!  I have so many plans for my room, I just can't wait to get in there and start setting everything up!!!


I'll have more pictures of the (finally) finalized house on Wednesday or Thursday.  We get the Certificate of Occupancy on Wednesday which means that my stuff can start going in on Wednesday night!  So, today and tomorrow are going to be spent packing and strategizing how I'm going to move everything over there.

My Future Bedroom Furniture. AKA: My Ikea Obsession

So, I've posted about what things I've crafted, or want to craft, for my new room.  I've also posted about the house.  Now, I'm going to post about the furniture that will be going in my room.

Before Labor Day, the House Association President and I went to Ikea!  I had never been to an Ikea before, and the fact that I only had two hours in there made me very sad.  I seriously want an Ikea furnished house.

Anyways, we were looking for a bed, dresser, table, chairs and loveseat.  A desk was on the list, but due to the budget we are forgoing that for now.

HA Pres had suggested a bed that had a padded headboard that you could lean up against.  I thought that was a pretty cool idea.  But I had also been thinking about the limited space that is in my sleeping area.  I knew that we potentially had to fit a full size bed, dresser, end table(s) and in the future, a desk.  Granted, the closets are a decent size and I was planning on putting my dresser in there, thats still a lot of furniture for such a small space.  I ended up finding the perfect solution.

 This bed has 2 drawers on each side.  The headboard also has bookshelves and a mantle-like shelf as well.  Perfect for a small space.  It also means that we wouldn't need to get a very large dresser.

This is the dresser that is in the same "series" as the bed.  Perfect size.

Sine my room will have a kitchenette I will have a small table and two chairs to go in there.

The ends of the table slide under the middle to save space.  Its fantastic.

In my living area they also wanted to have a loveseat for me.  While in the store I had to go lay down on all of the couches to test their potential "nap-ability."  HA Pres thought that was hilarious.

This is the loveseat we ended up picking out.  HA Pres also talked about wanting to have a bookshelf or some other storage for the living area.  Only we knew we were running low on floor space.

I present to you, our solution to the problem.

I absolutely LOVE this bookshelf and the fact that it utilizes wall space and not floor space.  My loveseat will fit perfectly underneath this.


I promise that there will be a blog post about my adventures in assembling all of this wonderful furniture.

When Jim came to visit me we spent almost an entire day at Ikea.  We looked at furniture that we would like to have in a future house together.  We both decided that we would be ok with a small house as long as it could be like the model "houses" in the Ikea showroom.

I ended up getting some dishes, glasses, dish towels, a dust pan and brush, toilet brush and some other things.  All for under $40.  Winning.

A Return to Crafting and Pictures of my Future Home

So, since I've moved I have fallen into a crafting slump.  But I did manage to get back into it yesterday. I took the idea from the blog Lemon Jitters and jazzed up my makeup brushes.  Here is what hers look like.

Her tutorial uses a brush that easily comes apart.  Mine, however, did not.  I only had one that came apart and I had a horrible time trying to get it put back together.

Here is how mine turned out.

They're not as finished on the tops.  And its hard to see it in these pictures, but the brushes were black and it sort of shows through the white flowers.  Now that I think about it, I should have used coordinating fabric to my magnetic makeup board that I had previously blogged about.  The black wouldn't have shown through as much.  Nonetheless, I still love these brushes.  I've thought about finishing the tops of them more, but right now, they're pretty good.

Yesterday I also went and saw the house!  I've been going to the house at least once a week for the weekly construction meeting.  I also stopped by on Tuesday (my birthday!) for a meeting with the potential maids.  But yesterday I took a ton of pictures, for this blog and to share on the House Association Facebook page.

 These are the closet organizers in the residents bedroom.  They can move the shelves around as they wish.  The rooms on the 4th floor are the biggest, with 8 girls living on that floor.  The 3rd and 2nd floors have 20 residents each.  All of the rooms are double rooms with two rooms sharing a bathroom.  The bedrooms are supposed to be getting their final coats of paint and carpet in the next few days.

 This is the view of the Grad Staircase from the 4th floor.  The wood on the railings and stairs is unfinished now and will be getting stained this weekend.  The spindles are staying white.

 This is the 3rd floor study room.  The pink is just primer.  The room is actually going to be red.

 This is the 3rd floor laundry room, which looks identical to the 2nd floor laundry room.

 This is the 3rd floor porch, which looks the same as the 2nd floor porch.

 This is the 2nd floor study room.  I absolutely love the color of this room.

 This is the Grand Staircase from the entryway of the house.  On the wall to the left will be the wall of donors who made the house possible.  There is paneling on the bottom of the walls that will be painted white.

 These cabinets are in the parlor and the Great Room.  There are little beads around the trim that sort of look like pearls.

 The fireplace and shelves in the Parlor have been installed!

 Next thing is the mantle.  A large copy of the Purpose is going to hang above the fireplace.  The bookshelves are going to be filled with books that are donated by the collegians and alumnae.  The donor of the parlor wants them to be books that have inspired the reader.  I'm still trying to figure out what book I'm donating.

 This is the Resident Kitchen.  Since we don't have meal plan on the weekends, this is where we can whip up a batch of mac and cheese or bake cookies.  The cabinets are done and the appliances, countertops and flooring get installed this upcoming week.

 The Great Room still needs the most work, by far.  The fireplace, shelves and cupboards are in and look great.  However, the concrete floors have not "cured" enough.  Meaning that there is still too much moisture in the floors to install the hardwood floors.

 The meal plan kitchen is coming along.  The sinks, grill, stove and serving buffets have been delivered.  Meal Plan is scheduled to start the monday after we move in.

This is the sign on the front of the house.  Its elegant but not super flashy.

Where is the picture of my room you ask?  Well, currently my room has been the primary entry to the house and has also been used to store a lot of boxes.  So, it really doesn't look as finished as the rest of the house.  The basement rooms are going to be the last to be finished.  We just have to keep reminding the workers that my room needs to be as finished as the residents rooms.

The Atlanta Alumnae Chapter is doing a tour of the house on Sunday.  I'll probably get to lead tours since I've been at the house so much in the past few weeks.

We are scheduled to get the Certificate of Occupancy on September 26 and then we can start moving chapter items, resident furniture and my belongings into the house.  The girls move in on September 30th.  I will move in soon after we get the C.O to start assembling my Ikea furniture.  All the pictures of my furniture will be another post itself.

Struggles with Religion, or Lack Thereof

I was thinking a lot about religion in my life.  There aren't any pictures here.  Just lots of words that you can read if you so desire.

Things That Annoy Me About Pinterest

Don't get me wrong.  I'm still as obsessed with Pinterest as any other college-aged girl.  I have my recipes, my crafts and my future wedding boards.  But some things really annoy me.








1.  "Pin Now, Read Later"

Maybe its just the way I use Pinterest, but I normally read or skim everything before I pin it.  Chances are if you "Pin Now" with the intentions to "Read Later," you never will actually read it.

2.  Pins with no actual links to them

The worst thing is when you find an awesome pin and click on it and it just links back to the previous pinners Pintrest account.  Whats even more frustrating is that everyone I follow on Pinterest has pinned this same exact thing, making me believe that its awesome, when in fact, its not.

3.  "Perfect breakfast for Christmas morning"

Not sure why this one annoys me, but why do you need Christmas morning for a nice breakfast?  Why can't you have "Wreath shaped" cinnamon rolls on any regular Sunday morning?

4.  People adding "I don't want to lose this pin" or "I bookmarked this site!" at the end of a pin

No shit Sherlock.  You have Pinterest so you don't lose links like this.

5.  Weddings, Babies and websites about being a teacher

This makes me want all of these things, when I really only want one out of the three (a wedding).  I really don't want to have kids for a long time and I have absolutely no ambition of being a teacher.  But, nonetheless, Pinterest makes me want to.  Why?  I don't know.

Atlanta Adventures!

So, I've been in Atlanta over a week and have yet to blog about it, so this may be an exceptionally long post.

Mock Recruitment-Wednesday:  I drove to Atlanta from my parents house in Kentucky last Wednesday to be on campus in time for Mock Recruitment.  I arrived about 3 hours early and got right down to business meeting the chapter.  I helped set up and then some Alumnae started arriving.  Met my boss, who is pretty fantastic.  She won Chapter Advisor of the Year at Convention this summer.  Also met the Property Advisor and the House Association President.  Then Mock Recruitment began.  The collegians pretty much did a dress rehearsal of how Skit Night was going to go.  The Gamma Phi chapter had about 110-ish girls at recruitment, so it was a bit overwhelming for me.  Also, the girls that aren't on Executive Council had no clue who I was and didn't know anything about me.  So, it was fun surprising them by just being there.

Apartment Move-In-Thursday:  The people in charge of the apartments were quite disorganized and completely re-did the room assignments once they found out that I was moving in as well.  Not ok.  Thankfully, the Property Coordinator (House Manager) is wonderful and got everything from room assignments to roommate disagreements sorted out, for now.  I wish I could say that the apartments were as cool as they looked online, but they aren't.  My room is pretty much a cave, with concrete floors and walls.  It echoes like crazy in here but at least I have my own bathroom.  I have a "roommate" who isn't an Alpha Gam and doesn't really speak English.  Trying to get everything moved into my room alone was quite a challenge and I wanted to quit before I even began.  But, I got everything in and set up alright.

THE HOUSE- Friday:  I got to see the inside of the house with the HA President.  It still looked pretty bare, mostly concrete and drywall.  Before I met her, however, I was awkwardly early and recruitment had started.  That meant that walking around the neighborhood was extremely difficult and awkward.  But the house is magnificent.  There is a huge banner on the front of it that says "Future Home of Alpha Gamma Delta" so that PNMs and people spreading rumors couldn't say that it was a new "Frat House."

Recruitment-Saturday, Sunday and Monday: So, recruitment was very overwhelming for me.  Thankfully I was helping with the Membership Team, filing and organizing papers and things like that. Just under 500 girls went through recruitment to hopefully end up in one of 7 houses.  I don't even know how I would handle that, both as a PNM and an active sister.

The Chef and Resident Kitchen- Monday:  Monday morning I went with the HA President to meet the house chef and finalize the big purchases for the large, chef kitchen.  After that was done HA Pres and I went to Target to look for things for the Resident Kitchen.

Bid Day- Tuesday: Bid Day, the day when the chapters all get their new members, was very different than at Alma.  It took place from 2-5 pm, depending on when people had classes, so it wasn't as dramatic as at Alma, where you get your entire pledge class at once.  But it was still just as happy and exciting.  There was so much noise and chaos that I eventually left early with a migraine.  The Gamma Phi chapter of Alpha Gamma Delta welcomed 48 new members to the family!

NOTHING- Wednesday-Sunday:  The past few days have not really been too exciting.  I've played a LOT of the Sims 3, worked on my Personal Statement for Grad School and done some grocery shopping.

Food:  So, my apartment has a kitchen, which is great.  But I thought I was going to be on some sort of meal plan, and I'm not, which is not so great.  I didn't really bring any cooking supplies like pots, pans, utensils or anything.  So I've been trying to find somewhat healthy meals that don't require any pots or pans.  Thankfully, I only have to suffer with this for a few weeks.  And I might be able to get the Resident Kitchen pots, pans and utensils early and keep them with me until move-ins.

Boyfriend:  Boyfriend had a phone interview for IT at the University System of Georgia, which is the governing body for all state schools in Georgia.  They have called his references and now we're just waiting to hear if he gets the job or not.  If he does, he'll be moving to Athens, Georgia, which is home to the University of Georgia and only an hour and a half from Atlanta.  This has almost inspired me to work on my personal statement.  But personal statements kind of suck, so I'm waiting until we have definite news.

Fitness:  I decided a few months ago that when I moved I wanted to start a new healthy lifestyle.  I've started going to the gym in the apartment building every morning.  The elliptical seemed like a good starting point, just so I could get used to exercising.  I've made it up to 40 minutes with an extra 5 minute cool down.  I think I'm going to try the treadmill one of these days and see how that goes.

Other House Things:  The house is being painted!  WOO!  And they're anticipating being done with all contractor things like the walls and the floors by September 14!  Which means that we can start moving things in and decorating on the 15th!

Until more starts happening with the house, I really don't have much to be doing.  If Jim gets the job, he'll probably fly down here soon and we'll go looking for apartments.  If not, then I may go back to Kentucky or Michigan.  It really depends on this job...