Living the College Life

Kappa Kappa Gamma Blog Post

2011-10-23T15:35:00.000-07:00

Last week, I had an opportunity to be a guest blogger on the Kappa Kappa Gamma fraternity website. Here's the link to the post
http://blog.kappakappagamma.org/?p=1707.

The post was on National Alcohol Awareness Week (which was last week) and it was fun to write primarily because I learned a bunch during my research for the post! Check it out below:

"Sometimes in college, students may think and act like alcohol is the equivalent of water, but unfortunately alcohol is far from a harmless substance. This week is National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week and around 800 campuses are participating in events to raise awareness. The theme this year is “Raise your voice! You can save a life!” I love this theme because all too often college students find themselves in sticky situations with alcohol and might be too timid to speak up.

This week is dedicated to safety in all aspects of dealing with alcohol, such as avoiding excessive drinking, never drinking and driving, and never riding with someone who has been drinking. Planning ahead can save you from being in a predicament when it comes to drinking. If you are 21 and going to drink, have a sober friend drive you and know your limits before you start. The sponsor of National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, The BACCHUS Network (Boosting Alcohol Consciousness Concerning the Health of University Students), has created a helpful tool to keep you safe when you are planning to drinking alcohol:

0 drinks = if you are underage, pregnant or taking medication

1 = one drink per hour

1-2 = no more than one to two times per week

3-4 = total number of drinks on one occasion

According towww.collegedrinkingprevention.gov, about 25 percent of college students report academic consequences of their drinking including missing class, falling behind, doing poorly on exams or papers and receiving lower grades overall. Sometimes alcohol and partying can make it easy to forget why you are in college, but we must remember it’s for an education!

Just keep these numbers in mind and you can ensure a safe, fun, and healthy college career. Many of you have probably heard these tips a million times from parents or other adults in your life, but I challenge you to actually apply them. One less drink or one taxi fare could not only save your life but others’ lives too.

So instead of drinking this weekend, here are a few things you can do:

Pile some sisters and friends in the car and go to a movie
Try a girls’ night in with board games and old movies
Go on a weekend road trip with your friends exploring all the small towns around your school
Go to a concert, art show or musical
Make dinner or bake with your sisters
Make a craft for a friend"

That silly thing called school.

2011-10-11T20:45:00.000-07:00

Ahh, College life. What a bugger! The downside of living the college life? The actual school part.

In between papers, tests, meetings, and the occasional social outing (ok, maybe not so occasional outings), I haven't found time to blog! I need to make a blogging schedule, but even that would have to be at a pretty dismal frequency! Just so dang busy!

Anyways, a list of things you missed in the past 2 months:
-I started my Junior year at the University of Arkansas...Can I get woot for being on the downward slope?!
-My sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma welcomed 134 girls to our chapter! (In a nothern friend's words, "Southern sororities do it big!")
-I've officially decided on my majors/minors/concentrations etc. and have gone with International Relations/Economics/Asian Studies
-On that note, I'm going to Japan this Summer ...I know, crazy! but it is a study abroad program that is focused on Japanese Economic Systems, it perfectly hits all parts of my degree plan!
-My parents have officially moved from the Natural State, back to Dallas. It's growing on me. Stinks to drive 5 hours home but it's nice to have more than 13 resturants to choose from during Christmas break.

Well that's just some big milestones but hopefully I can get caught up with all the details soon!

UN Year of Youth Celebration

2011-08-22T13:26:00.000-07:00

Last week, I got to go to New York City for the UN Year of Youth Celebration as a Elmer's Glue delegate. The company I intern for works with them and I had the chance to represent Elmer's on behalf of them.

A few things I learned from this opportunity:

1. Elmer's is awesome. A huge thank you to them!

2. I once again fell in love with NYC.

3. It confirmed my passion for all things international and made me so excited to start my Junior year in International Relations.

4. China Town is the bomb, sketchy, but the bomb nonetheless.

5. I can eat large amounts of cheesecake.

6. Annette is snobby about her bagels, but that's another blog post! :)

First off the conference was at the United Nations Headquarters in the ECOSOC chambers. The inner Model UN nerd in me was so excited to be in an actual UN chamber that I use to represent in Model UN!

The first part of the conference included speakers from all different backgrounds and fields. Monique Coleman (Taylor from High School Musical) was the host and shared about her past year as this years UN Youth Champion. On a unrelated side note, she was awesome and is now following me on twitter. My Klout score just went up about 25 points :).

The speakers were amazing and the nerd in me took a bunch of notes because I knew I would want to go back and remember what they said. After the speakers, we listened to a panel of girls who had each individually started or took part in some sort of International campaign benefiting others. These girls ranged from 10-22 and it was unbelievable to hear what they had done! It was so motivating!

After the conference we were shuttled to the French Institute for the afternoon. After a cute little luncheon for the older girls, we got to go downstairs and participate in the swag bag stuffing and interacting with the different sponsors.

This is where Elmer's plays in. They were a major sponsor of the conference and had a bunch of fun stations set up for the delegates. Annette and I had made some cute crafts before the conference as a example for the girls. They decorated Walmart recycled bags with paint pens to help promote their Bag it Forward campaign, an Elmer's school supply drive, and signed a massive glue stick with their pledge to join the Glue Crew, a recycling program Elmer's sponsors. The girls were asked to come up with fun science fair topics and wrote them on tri-fold Elmer's boards. After all the stations were completed, delegates got to spin the Elmer's wheel and won a prize! It was so funny to see the science fair topic board after and see the range of ideas girls ages 10-22 came up with! My contribution to the board was "Which nail polish brand stays on the longest?" By the way, if you didn't know, I'm obsessed with nail polish. There will be a blog post regarding that in the future :).

It was such a fun experience and I'm so thankful for Elmer's letting me come!

Welcome to New York!

Annette and I in front of the UN Headquarters

Here we go!

Oh hey Monique!

Girls at the Elmer's Glue booths

Wonderful Central Park

Told you I ate too much cheesecake.

I love the energy of Times Square!

Sunny San Diego

2011-08-22T12:02:00.000-07:00

Well, like I said a few post back, my internship? It's awesome. Actually it's awesomesauce but that's another part of the amazing internship. Anyways, how many interns do you know who get to travel? Not like going to run an errand, or a day trip to another town. I'm talking bi-coastal flying! (Currently I'm writing this on a flight to NYC for another internship trip but that's another post, like I said, awesome!) I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego last week with the Collective Bias team to BlogHer '11. CB was producing a party at a nightclub called Stingaree for our bloggers on Social Fabric. It was such a blast and I had a great time with my co-workers...don't I sound like a real adult?! Anyways here's a recap of the fabulous vacation (it can't even truly be called a work trip because it was so fun!)

Day 1: Getting There

Annette (the other CB intern) had been staying with me for the 1st week of August because her lease ran out before she had to go back to Penn State so we've been roomies! Our alarms went off at 4:10 in order for us to get to the airport for a VEERRRY early flight! I am still mentally scolding Annette for booking such an early flight! (Just kidding!) But doesn't she know college kids DO NOT DO EARLY MORNINGS. Like at all. Like we were just a fumbling mumbling mess trying to get up and ready to go. Annette kept lost everything and one point I was in charge of anything she set down. When we got to the airport, our plane was having mechanical problems and we were both pretty sure we had just woken up at the crack of dawn for nothing! Fortunately, they fixed it and we were quickly on our way. After a brief stop in Denver (did I mention Annette bought $60 worth of souvenirs here? Including a flask and shot glasses for her entire family. Her parents are so proud, she is a true college student!) We landed in San Diego and were absolutely blown away by how pretty it was! I don't know why I've never been to California? I have truly been missing out! The weather was out of this world (Highs in the 70's), especially to the 110 degree weather we had been experiencing in Arkansas. Our cab driver asked us if it was hot and we both said, "No, it's cold!" The first thing we did when we arrived was go to the club that our party was at. Let me just say, this club was crazy! It was totally swanky and you instantly felt like a celebrity when you walked in! After lunch at Brian Malarkey's restaurant (Top Chef Winner) Searsucker, we had the afternoon to explore. Annette and I decided to visit the Seaport Village Shops and had so much fun exploring the San Diego bay. After a quick pedi cab ride back to our hotel, we were off to another CB hosted blogging party with UPS. The party was great and we had a great time with Lauren, one of the Project Coordinators at CB. The night cap was a short little trip to Ghiriadelli. Five girls and a chocolate factory down the street? It was just too easy. Day one in San Diego was a success!

Day Two: The Big Party!

After a delicious breakfast at The Pancake House, where I got "Pigs in a Fast Car" (It was really just Pigs in a Blanket), we headed to Stingaree to stuff my swag bags! Swag bags are like crack to bloggers. It's the reason most them even come to the different parties! Ours were awesome and made me want to become a big-time blogger so I could get all this free stuff (we can all dream right?!) After the bag stuffing, we had lunch and went back to the hotel to get ready for the party. After being properly gussied up for the swanky nightclub, Annette and I were ready to go! The party was absolutely amazing! We greeted the bloggers coming in and they all looked so excited to be there. Who knew hanging out with a bunch of moms would be a blast? Ok, actually that's so me but anyways! It was great! Brian Malarkey was there and was such a nice guy. There were a bunch of awesome brands there too (Smarties, Kmart, Sears, etc.). We hung out with all the bloggers, ate delicious food (Kobe beef sliders anyone?!), and just had an all around great time. After the party, we grabbed a late dinner and decided to go back to the nightclub. Talk about VIP status, we (Annette, Lauren, Brent and I) had these special wristbands from the party and got to pass the huge line to get in. The club was so packed but we had a great time dancing. It was nice to see everyone let their hair down after the stress of the party planning was gone.

Day 3:

We did breakfast well in San Diego! Our Saturday morning breakfast was at a cute little outdoor cafe and I ordered a delicious breakfast crepe. We left San Diego late morning and I think the entire team was exhausted but equally sad to leave. I arrived in Dallas to about 3 texts, 1 missed call, and 1 voice mail from my mom. Apparently our flight to XNA had been canceled and re-booked to Sunday morning. Of course, everyone was ecstatic about spending the night in Dallas except me! I had the 1st day of Rush at 8:30 the next morning. After a nervous phone call to my Recruitment chair, my nerves were calmed and it turned out not to be a big deal. We ended up not getting to our hotel until late that night so we ended up just eating dinner at the hotel and turning in early. Sunday morning we flew back to Fayetteville and it was nice to finally be back in Arkansas!

Cheap Sally/ San Diego was a great time and I was so exhausted after the weekend! I had such a great time at the party interacting with the brands and helping create this awesome event!

Beautiful San Diego:

The Cheap Sally Dance Party:

Of course we have to have a few food pics:

Team Janel

2011-07-08T17:41:00.000-07:00

I made the comment the other day that in college, you sometimes feel like you're removed from the real world. That constant worries about school or social events or whatever you worry about at school is truly so important. Well, I got a real hard slap in the face the end of this semester. Things like that, they're petty.

Meet my Aunt Janel...
She is my dad's brother's wife. My mother's sister-in-law. My cousin's mother. My aunt.

My Aunt Janel has been diagnosed with Follicular Lymphoma and Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL).

She is the mom to 2 boys, Brandon and Tyler. She is happily married to my Uncle Mike and they live in Creedmoor, NC.

Here's a little info from her Facebook group.

"In the early months of 2011, Janel became terribly ill and began, receiving treatments for a blood disorder called ITP. As a result of responding poorly to various medications, her doctors implemented a bone marrow aspiration and determined that she has Follicular Lymphoma. Soon after her first stay in the hospital, in early April, she was additionally diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). Janel was readmitted to the hospital on May 20, 2011 where she still remains. During her stay, she has been in and out of ICU several times. Again, she is currently being treated in ICU. As you can imagine, this has been devastating to her family and friends, but especially overwhelming to Janel."

She has missed birthdays, Easter, mother's day, numerous baseball games while admitted in the hospital. It's been a long time coming and she was supposed to come home on July 4th. Her neighborhood planned parties and were all awaiting her arrival.

The day before her expected arrival home my Uncle posted this on the group.

""They had to intubate her and are trying to reduce pressure in her brain. It is touch and go right now. Help her Lord, either way to fight this and get better or to be ready to come to you and see her mother."

Well as everyone was overwhelmed with the news and the activity on the Facebook group was extremely touching, people praying for miracles, comforting my uncle and cousins, praying she would feel no pain, etc. For me it became hard to read but also comforting to see all these people come together.

The next day we got this post:

"Ok, here is the latest, great news first! She will open her eyes and look in your direction if you talk to her. Still super medicated, so the looks are not for long but hey this is huge news! She may have an intestinal infection they are looking for, and her pressure in her brain is still high so we have a ways to go. The prayers are working!"

On Monday, the 4th, we had 141 members, by the 5th it was up to 453 members. The prayers and support were unbelievable from all around the country, many who had never met Janel.

Today, we got this post:

"Breaking news! While awake she did awesome in her neurological exam. She blinked 3 times for me, squeezed my fingers with her left hand and showed the doctor 2 fingers with her right hand. He said she was at the best possible level while on a breathing tube. Can I get an Amen here!"

It's the power of prayer people! People have made green ribbons and tied them to their mailbox, porch light, office doors, etc. Many group members have made their profile picture to the team Janel group picture. It's truly amazing to see the love and support from everyone and I know it's touching to my uncle and cousins, and my Aunt Janel, who hears all the posts and support from her bed.

The group member total today? 1,153. And the posts count? 1,027.

Sure, a youtube video or funny tweet can go viral fast, but a group supporting a woman who's battling cancer? It's pretty amazing.

If you have a few minutes, after reading this novel post, join the group and leave a comment. I know it will truly be appreciated!

YOU CAN FIGHT THIS AUNT JANEL!

UPDATE:

Thank you everyone for your prayers and support. My Aunt Janel passed away. She joined all the angels in heaven on July 17th. Her funeral was beautiful and please continue to keep her sons and my Uncle Mike in your prayers. Her group on Facebook is now being used as a sort of prayer list and is amazing to see the rally and support from complete strangers when someone is in need. Please check it out and see all the amazing things an amazing woman has lead us to be a part of.

Nutella and Bull Dogs. The perfect combination.

2011-06-30T06:59:00.000-07:00

So today I ventured to the crepe truck for lunch yesterday.
It was worth every minute of scortching heat and the trek to the truck in jeans and wedges. But really, it was really fantastic and super cute!

The truck is on the Bentonville Square Wednesdays and Saturdays. Apparently the Saturday crowd is huge so we were lucky to go on Wednesday! The office is right by so I will definitely being making that trip more often...which also means don't invite to anything that involves me putting on a swimsuit!!!
It's called Crepes Paulette and is run by an adorable French man! It even has a french phrase of the day...great practice for me!

I had a savory crepe with cheddar and salami, and a sweet crepe with nutella and bananas. Nutella is truly God's gift to the world. Whoever came up with it is a saint. I want to personally thank them. My waist line does not.

Another great thing about my office beside its geographical location in comparison to heaven on wheels otherwise know as the crepe truck is that you can bring your dog!
A girl in my office, Lauren, has an English Bull Dog named Gwen and she is so adorable. We took her to the crepe truck and I pretty much claimed her as my own. She met lots of other dogs but it was super hot out and she was exhausted when we got back. I wish I could've joined her nap.

Insert Gwen snoring loudly here. She was truly wiped!!!

Another day in the office!

Going to the chapel...

2011-06-27T21:35:00.000-07:00

Well I'm already a bad blogger! I need to schedule a blogging time each day so I actually do it!

Anyways, crazy week last week! ...lets just say I ended up in the ER at 4am Monday morning! Praise the Lord it wasn't for me and my friend was fine! Recuperating from such a long Monday took about all week and then I whisked away Thursday to Memphis for a wedding!

It was Blake's (my boyfriend) older brothers wedding! We had such a good time staying at the Peabody and we ate lots of delicious food. The rehearsal dinner was at the Rendezvous, which is a famous BBQ restaurant in Memphis. It was great! ...my only complaint was that the BBQ sauce was a wee bit too spicy! ...I'm such a spice weeny.

Congrats Kyle and Lindsay!

The wedding was at the Memphis Botanical Gardens and was absolutely gorgeous. It was very much garden themed and so fun with a live band and really great food. OF COURSE the boys/some girls/maybe me/i hope my mom isn't reading this had a great time with the open bar too!

...PS- the open bar at the wedding went over it's bar tab about 45 minutes into the wedding. guess they underestimated the livers of college kids these days!

Blake and I finally got a good picture after about 25,000 of Blake making silly faces. Blake is seriously the KING of taking pictures with weird faces. It's truly a rarity when he's actually looking at the camera and smiling normal. I was so excited to get this one! ...it's the little things in life people.

We had great time but I was so exhausted Sunday (rightfully so huh?!) and very glad to be home!

...by the way, I'm so glad Blake is in touch with his feminine side. Yes, those are Jessica Simpson sunglasses. And yes, he rocked them the entire 5 hour trip home to Fayetteville. And yes, he wore them into the sketchy gas station in Marion, AR. And yes, I was nervous.

Peanuts and Crackerjacks

2011-06-15T18:37:00.000-07:00

so, like I said before, being an intern is rough.
Today, I had to be in a box all day long.
Granted, this box, was a boxed suite at the Naturals Baseball game, but still. ALL DAY LONG!

Ok, ok, so I'm loving the internship. Today we had "team building" which really just meant everyone goes to the game, gets a catered lunch, and free drinks! Talk about my kind of company! We had a blast and it was great getting to know everyone a little bit more.

Also, I got to use all my sorority knowledge for a potential project we are working on, which was great! Mom and Dad, finally a use for all those dues! It was fun to get back into that mode and its making me useful in the office.

Here's some pics from today:

The clan with the very weird Naturals "cave man" mascot!

The suite at the baseball game.

Just a little more than peanuts! haha It was yummy!

the "terns"

2011-06-14T19:45:00.000-07:00

...ok side note.
I feel like my 87 year old grandfather trying to get on facebook when I'm dealing with this blog. I am a blog bonehead.

Dear CB community, I, Bailey Carroll, your faithful intern, need a bloggy bootcamp!

Anyways,
So, I got this out of the blue opportunity to do an internship at Collective Bias, thank you John Andrews! And it was kind of last minute, kind of unexpected, kind of crazy, but also really cool! It's a social media marketing company, and although I'm not a marketing major, you're supposed to try new things in college! Right mom?! ;) It's really interesting and I'm learning a lot! An interns job is to learn!

Well, in the office, there is another intern, Annette. She is my age, from New York, and started around the same time I did. It's great having someone else at the bottom of the office totem pole! We are actually getting to work on some really neat projects too! Every office has their own dynamic, so its been great to have another person going through the "sit back and observe" phase with me!By the way, we have a cute UPS man. Does every office have a cute UPS man? I feel like they do. Or is that just the legally blonde in me?

Anyways, someone in the office called us the "terns" the other day, so I'm sticking with that! Who knows what the "terns" will get into this summer?! You can follow Annette's story here: http://myfirsts.posterous.com/

So, for all you undergrads out there thinking about interning, I let you know how it goes! So far here's why I'm interning:
1. Great experiences and opportunities.
2. You can only have "babysitter" on your resume for so long...:)
3. I'm making great contacts.
4. 3 words...cute. business. clothes. where else can you rock a pencil skirt/dress pants in college? to the library? yeah no.
5. When your professor ask you your opinion of something, you can now preface all comments with, "Well, in my internship..." its like a guaranteed 25 extra brownie points.

6. If you work for an awesome company like collective bias, you get awesome swag! see below!

Thank you CB for allowing my inner Iron Chef to blossom!

Can't wait to post what I make with all my new gadgets! ...when telling my parents about my cool new stuff, my dad goes, "you are only a true foodie when you have a potato masher." Spoken from a true food snob dad!

Enjoy!

A Little About Me...

2011-06-13T10:44:00.000-07:00

So, a guess a blog about college life should focus on a college student, so here's a little about me!

I'm a 20 year old Junior at the University of Arkansas, in Fayetteville, AR. I am originally from Russellville, AR, which is about 1.5 hours from my school. I am double majoring in International Relations and Economics. I hope to one day get my Ph. D. and become a professor. So this college life blog has quite a bit of longevity due to the thousands of years that's going to take!

At school, I'm in a sorority, Kappa Kappa Gamma and absolutely love it! I serve on the Judicial Board for our campus as a whole and the Panhellenic Judical Board.

My major is fueled by my passion for learning all about the world! I have always love international affairs and I love learning new things. I know I will be a life long learner and hopefully obtaining my Ph. D. will allow me to do that. Economics is a new journey for me and I am really enjoying it! ..the best part? My econ classes are mostly boys!!!! ;) ;) lots of cute tutors!

So now that we got that out of the way, hopefully these will get more exciting!

Woo Pig Sooie!