My Life: October/November 2012

Hello, dear readers,

As promised, here is an update on my life since the last time I wrote. As I mentioned at the beginning of this month, in my previous post, November has indeed been my busiest month. Let me start off with October, however, since I entirely skipped over it here on When Life Hands You Lipstick. Essentially, I accepted a bid for Delta Delta Delta sorority [technically a fraternity] in September and spent October going to meetings for it before being initiated. It was in October that I was assigned my "big," or big sister. Because I don't want to give away the name of the college I attend, nor do I want to invade the privacy of my big, I have cropped the following photos from the day the new members found out who their big sisters were:

Super awkward camera phone photo shot from above.

Wow, my face looks extra shiny! This is from the photo in which
 the "littles" sat in the front and our "bigs" sat behind us.

Beyond that, October was a bit of a blur. The only exception is Halloween. I went to visit two of my friends at one of their universities, and we all dressed up and had a good time catching up. I meant to go as Audrey Hepburn, despite the fact that I didn't have the right style of dress or correct jewelry. I ended up wearing my friend's dress and necklace, but my hair wouldn't stay up. I really didn't end up looking like anyone in particular, but one of girl guessed who I was. Can I count that as a success?

Once again, I'm cropping out my friends. I'm sure they'd be ok with me showing them, but I just want to be sure. Here is my failed Halloween costume:

I tried.

On to November, my most stressful month so far. By the way, I had never considered joining a sorority before coming to this college. I'm not into the whole stereotypical sorority scene, in which girls are judged by their appearance and what clothes they wear. I know not every sorority is like that at big colleges, but the Greek scene at my tiny campus is way smaller and much less like that. Of course, it is a group of around 30 girls, so there's bound to be some annoying aspects, but I'm glad I joined. It's a great way to meet people and get involved, regardless.

Ramble over. I was initiated into Tri Delta at the beginning of November, and then we immediately had a philanthropy event to promote and run. Then we had a Founder's Day brunch with the same university I visited on Halloween. It was fairly laid back, and I was surprised with an award for academics.

Now we're working on recruitment practice for formal rush in the spring. I went through informal recruitment, in which transfer students and upperclassmen can join. It's much more casual. It's funny preparing to bring new girls in when I just became an official member a few weeks ago. Here's a picture of me from initiation. It was in the morning, at the end of a weekend retreat. I cheated and didn't wash my makeup off the night before, because we're not supposed to wear makeup for the ceremony. I didn't want to look completely dead, but most of it came off anyway:

This is a photo of my "family," which consists of my big sister and
 my aunt [the one with her arm around me]. I don't quite
 get how that works. Note that I am nearly as white as the dress.

I realize this post has mostly centered around my sorority, but that's what keeps me the busiest outside of school itself. I also had multiple midterms, and I always have a paper to write or multiple chapters to read. I was just assigned a paper yesterday, and I have a group project now! 

On a more relaxing note, I did very much enjoy my Thanksgiving break. I turned 21 on Thanksgiving, and had a lovely evening with my family. I went out for Black Friday shopping [at 10 p.m. that night! Poor workers!] with friends. I didn't buy anything, nor did I have a great desire to, but I wanted to take advantage of the time I had to see my friends. They took me out for my birthday the next night, which was quite fun. The rest of break consisted of the weekend, which was delightful as well. I got some holiday shopping in, including gifts for a Secret Santa exchange in Tri Delta. Now I'm back at school, and I'll be busy with sorority events, choir rehearsals, a concert, schoolwork, and finals until winter break!

Just so you know, this isn't meant to be an "Esther's Excuses for Not Blogging" post, but rather me talking to you about where I've been. I have fun writing these posts.

I hope that those of you who celebrate Thanksgiving in the U.S. had a lovely holiday and that everyone is excited for the upcoming holiday season! I'm going to have to remember to bring my camera home for winter break, which starts in mid-December, so that I can actually take pictures of things that I want to write about.

Until then, I will try to squeeze in a post or two if I can. No promises, unfortunately. I hope your week is going well! 

xEsther

One Year Blog Birthday!

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Hello, dear readers,

I'm thrilled to say that today happens to not only be the last day of the year, but the one-year anniversary of the first day I started this blog!

When I started out, I had no idea where this blog would go; I seem to have planned on talking more about self-esteem/wellness, but decided that in order to keep personal matters personal, that topic wouldn't be doable for me. I've had so much fun coming up with categories of posts to write, responding to comments, and creating post titles.

Some of the categories that came out of this year's blogging are:

• Let's Do...A Book Review
• Mini Review
• Late Night Lit
• Lately I've Been Loving...

I also absolutely love writing posts on fashion at the plethora of awards shows, as looking at the newspaper for the best-dressed actresses at the Oscars has been a favorite tradition since I was a wee child. I'm so glad I've been able to transition from avid blog reader to blog writer. Clearly, tags have also been favorite posts of mine to write.

I'm so grateful for all of my followers, and, quite honestly, anyone who has accidentally stumbled upon my blog and read a post. My blog is a baby within the world of blogging, and I'm perfectly content with that. Considering I started out as my only follower [until I realized I could unfollow myself], I'm pretty impressed. I'm glad people deign to read my rambles, because it makes a hobby of mine into something even more special and fun.

My next post will probably be a combination of "Best of 2011" tags. My goal is to take more of my own pictures in the coming year, and to post more often. There are also several promised posts mentioned in one of my many updates, so I have to go back and make good on those. I also need to get into the habit of previewing my posts before publishing, instead of publishing and then going back to edit a million more times!

This year has been extremely rough for me, but I'm glad I had this blog to keep me entertained and occupied! I'm hoping 2012 gets much better.

Thanks for sticking with me, or thanks for reading this if you're a random reader today!

I hope you all have tons of fun on New Year's Eve and a fabulous New Year!

xEsther