Why Fall Cleaning Should Be Your New Spring Cleaning

Your life will be a bad TV infomercial if you don't do fall cleaning (trust me)

Many of you reading this post are probably back at school (I’m so sorry SEC recruitment) or planning to go back to school in the next couple of weeks. Or, you’re like me, and you have a month and a half before classes start and you need something to do instead of jealously stalking everyone’s Facebook photos of #fratparties and #friendsforever. At first thought, fall cleaning sounds like a horrible way to pass the time and a few steps above hanging out with your Great Aunt Marge at this year’s family picnic. However, it is one of those inevitable things that you should probably learn how to do now because that’s what being an adult is about - learning to clean up after your own mess. 

I recently learned the tough way that if you don’t do routine cleaning things start to build up. Like my middle school chorus notebook. And my 11th grade English project. And all of my AP flashcards from high school. It was time to let go and fall is the perfect time to do so. Why? 

1. You can start your school year off fresh. Instead of pretending like you have a new start because of your crisp school supplies, you can actually buy ALL of the school supplies because you finally got rid of your 8th grade Kookie Pen (yes, I am ashamed). You’ll also just have more room to spread out and feel far less overwhelmed. 
2. Less junk to come home to at the holidays. The thing about stuff is it never really goes away. During the holiday season, especially, you can feel things being all over the place because they actually are. Streamline your life and get rid of the old to make way for the new before it just ends up in a pile in your bedroom. 
3. You know exactly what summer clothes you can get rid of and what you should keep. You just spent three months wearing your favorite pair of shorts, so why are you keep the two pairs that don’t quite fit anymore? I find that waiting until the spring to clean out everything leaves me with very few winter clothes and a lot of summer clothes because I don’t remember what I actually wore the summer before. Take the time to clean everything out now so you don’t end up with 5th grade camp teeshirts.  
4. Cleaning out your makeup is just sanitary. I feel like my makeup bag is an endless hole and unless I make an effort to dump the whole thing out on my floor, I’ll have old mascaras and eyeliner stuck at the bottom for years. While spring cleaning is great for this, most makeup has a six month expiration date, so a twice a year clean out is good for both your sanity and your skin.
5. Less stuff means less to pack and bring to school. Oh, how far we’ve come from the days of the bumbling, overpacked freshman year (if you’re starting college, take notes). Your dorm room will never be as big as you'll think it will be and you will inevitably bring way too many things. You’re going to be dorm shopping as it is, so why not get rid of your old stuff before you think to pack it too? Clutter also accumulates during the school year and no matter where you are Amazon.com can get you what you forgot at home. 
6. Fall deserves excitement too. I love fall - the oversized sweaters, fuzzy socks, hot mugs of tea, leather riding boots, and muted colors. Why shouldn’t fall get the same love that spring does? Spring cleaning is meant to help you get excited for warm weather by shedding the layers of winter. Fall cleaning can make you feel warm and cozy by focussing on what matters in that moment and not the piles of stuff around you.

If anything, the moral of this post should be that if I’m let to do so, I will become a crazy hoarder. While I would love to be on TLC, my real calling is as a crazed pageant mother, not a junk collector. Do yourself a favor and add fall cleaning to your final to-do list before leaving for school this year. Your closet, mind, and mother will all thank you for it.   

Motivation Monday

So like so many others getting back to the gym, getting in shape, or losing weight is one of your New Years Resolution. Here are a few tips to help make this year a healthier one for you!

1. Drink LOTS of water!
Their is nothing better for you than water. Drink it whenever you can, I try to even do it when I am bored.

2. Buy some new gym wear! 
It helps motivate you to wear it to the gym. I know I just got an awesome new pair of leggings and some sports bras from Target because they are having an athletics sale!

3. Reward yourself. 
Go to the gym three or four days a week, and on the last day treat yourself to some froyo. It is soooo yummy and even add some chocolate on top and make it extra sweet.

4. Go with a friend. 
Sometimes I know I love to go to the gym by myself but my friend Adriannah and I have been going together a lot. We are on the elliptical and I lose track of time when we talk, gossip, and catch up with one another!

5. Make it FUN! 
Take a Zumba class or even go to a trampoline place like Sky Zone! Work out and have a blast with friends!

Saying Goodbye

As everybody knows, we recently celebrated New Years.

I'm not sure how all of you brought in the New Year, but I spent it with some of my closest friends. Over the past few days, it occurred to me that a lot of people wanted to completely get rid of things from 2014.

I would be lying if I said that I didn't too, but in all honesty, I didn't say goodbye to everything. I said goodbye to all of the bad things that happened over the year. I had good friends pass away, I had someone who was like a second father pass away, and the love of my life passed away. I've been left broken hearted by the loss of people I love, but I was also delighted when I realized how loved that I am as a person.

Now that we're in the New Year, I just want to remind everyone not to completely say goodbye to the year 2014. You lived through it, it made you stronger. Don't say goodbye, just say goodbye to the ones that broke your heart. Say goodbye to the ones that did you wrong. Say goodbye to all of those bad memories that you remember from 2014. Don't say goodbye to your friends, your family, and the good memories that were made over the year. Sure, bad things happen, but I know that there were good things that happened to you as well!

Here's a challenge! Comment with at least ONE good memory that you have from 2014.

My favorite memory was from September. It was the weekend before I lost my soul mate. I was with a few of my sisters in Denver at a Haunted House. If you know me personally, you'd know that I am absolutely terrified of haunted houses, but I went in. I conquered a fear of mine and went to multiple haunted houses throughout the month. This was such a good memory for me because I was surrounded by the people I love while doing something I fear (which ended up turning into something that made me laugh, rather than scream).

Keep in mind those positive memories and create more positive, happy memories in 2015!

Happy New Year, loves!

New Year, New Semester, New Chapter

The New Year. A fresh start, a clean state, a new opportunity, not only to improve personally, but as a group.

While the New Year brings new resolutions for every person, how about taking your list of goals a step further. Consider the January 1^st to not only change you, but your chapter. After all, it will soon be the start of new semester too.

Below I listed 5 “resolutions” to consider for you chapters

1. Improve recruitment: Recruitment is an important part to every chapter’s existence. While I am a firm believer of quality over quantity, most national organizations and universities themselves have chapter minimums. With this in mind, revamp recruitment, so you can show Potential New Members the best version of your chapter and to ensure you are in goo standing.

2. Increase Marketing: Living in the digital era, marketing, specifically social media marketing is vital to promoting a chapter and making sure you are know on campus. Use the New Year as motivation to ensure that you are constantly marketing your chapter.

3. Plan a New Event: I am not going to sugar coat it, planning events can be  a long, tiring, and tedious process, but it also can be one of the most rewarding things you do. So talk it over, create something new, and work hard to further your name on campus.

4. Reach Out to Your Alumni: Your alumni is your greatest assets, we want to be there for you, so make us feel like we are still important to you. You never know, reaching out to one alumni can lead to more assistance than you ever imagined.

5. Create more sisterhood/brotherhood events: Greek Chapters were founded on the ideals of a united sisterhood/brotherhood. This new year, take the time to foster those relationships! Spend more time together, learn about each other, and most importantly, create those unspeakable bonds that we are privileged to have as members of Greek Life.

The above list are just some general ideas, evaluate your chapter and determine your own. And remember, only you can make your chapter great!

A Better You for the New Year!

Every single year people promise a variety of things to better themselves in the New Year. This year I am going to make my goals realistic. I am going to try extremely hard to make sure I can live up to my expectations. 

1. Try my best to get to the gym every week.
I want to try and get there at least 3-4 days a week. Even if I can get there for a 30 minute cardio session, that is better than not going at all.

2. Be more confident.
I tend to be a little worried about perception, but who doesn't. This year I want to grow to be comfortable in my own skin and the person I am.

3. Give up fast food!
I am not talking about the pizza you go get at 2am after a long night out, I am talking about McDonald's, Burger King, Wendy's, Taco Bell... etc. Although that food might be good in the moment it really isn't good for you. I tend to grab that quick on the go but nope, I am going to try the whole "self-control thing" and go without it.

4. Stress about the things that only matter.
I am always stressed about something, whether it is about perfecting a lesson plan for teaching a class or if it is someone sick in my family. I continue to work hard on anything I do and just know when it is good enough. 

5. Spend time with loved ones.
This could mean your family at home, which I always try to do. This can also mean your friends or sorority sisters at school. You do not need an event to bring you all together. Go out of the way to hangout with someone you lost touch with over the years or a sister you never got to know too well. Make your experience a great one!

6. Try to focus on the NOW!
Come Spring 2015 I am graduating. It is finally starting to set in and needless to say it is one of the most uncomfortable feelings in the world. I love where I am now, I have the best sorority sisters, friends, and I love being at Kutztown University. I do not want to graduate just yet, especially because WHERE WILL I BE IN THE NEXT FEW MONTHS! I always begin to stress about where will I be? Will I be alright there? Will I love my job? How far away from my family will I be? And all of these questions will drive me insane. This is my senior year of college, and my last semester. I am going to make it count!