Dear Diary, "Jerseys" is not a theme

Riff Raff, our inspiration.

For some reason, the fraternity men on my campus think that "Jerseys" is a suitable theme for a date party function. No just any function, but all of them. Bid Day date parties used to be nice events where the girls got to throw on their favorite semi formal dress and take cute pictures with their dapper dates. Unfortunatley, those days are long behind us. We now don gigantic jerseys, cutoff shorts and converse while our dates look like they rolled straight off the set of that one episode of Gossip Girl where Chuck plays basketball. It's one of the trashiest things our Greek system does. 

 Happier, classier times of Bid Day's past.

I hate jerseys, I hate the jersey theme, and I refuse to wear them as a personal form of rebellion. Last year I wore a romper to one fraternity's date party cause I was going with the president and therefore considered myself the first lady of the date party. 

The next night me and my friends went to a different bid day date party in our own "jerseys" as Team Miley (this was before the 2013 VMA's) so I wore a tank top, tulle skirt and glitter hairspray. 

This year I opted for a hand-painted tank top that says "jerseys are for chasing" and my phone in my running armband. It wasn't an ideal bid day outfit, but it was comfortable. Thank goodness my date has weathered many date parties with me and my eccentric costumes and didn't even raise an eyebrow when I told him I was going rogue. 

XOXO

Dear Diary, by popular request - my metallic temporary tattoos

Date parties are the perfect time to try out new things, be it a new fashion trend, a costume piece, or a cute new guy! This past weekend I opted for trying something that falls between a costume accessory and a (hopefully) rising trend: metallic temporary tattoos. I'm a huge fan of temporary tattoos because it's a fun way to be someone else for the day - and get to scrub it off later! Impulse decisions are perfectly safe:)

A few months ago I stumbled across Flash Tattoos on Pinterest (check out my new Endless Diary account here!). I became obsessed with these glittering tattoos. Purchasing them for the annual toga date party was a must because a true Greek goddess isn't complete without her jewelry, but I was always too afraid to wear any in case anything got lost. But there was no way of loosing these, and they looked amazing.

I got so many compliments and questions about them - I knew I had to share it with the world! Luckily I didn't use my whole pack this weekend and can't wait for the next occasion to wear them.

XOXO

Dear Diary, it's toga time

One of my favorite social events of the year has finally arrived - Lambda Chi's Foga (foam+toga) date party. Personally, I hate the foam but it's worth it to get to saunter around in togas all night like the Greeks that we are. 

Each year when this event rolls around, the freshmen freak, the boys stock up, and the Hobby Lobby workers can look at you and know exactly how much fabric you need for your toga. There are several ways to go about dressing yourself for this event, but the two best choices are using a pillow case, or buying a piece of fabric from your local craft store. The pillow case is more practical - it' won't budge, fall apart (or off) and is very simple to make. All you need is a king sized pillow case, scissors, and some rope for your belt. Simply cut the corner of the pillow case off at an angle, then cut an arm hole, try it on for size, tie your belt and you're done! 

Now if you want to go the more traditional route, like me, I would check out this video. It's the easiest to understand and all the options are cute (except the bikini option - you'd be better off in an actual bikini and sarong). Most girls need about two yards of fabric and three yards for boys. 

Quick Toga Tutorial

Last year I bought a faux flower vine from the floral department and hot glued it together, making a really cute crown. Other people have used gold wire or just leafy vines and both look great. I advise considering your skin tone, hair color, likelihood of spilling a drink on yourself and what colors your best friends are wearing before selecting your toga color. You'll be taking pictures all night and want to look your best! This is one of the few times when selecting clothing that color is pretty much the only variable so choose wisely!

No matter what you put on your body, make sure you are covered up underneath with spandex shorts and some kind of nude bralette or bandeau because if your costume falls apart- you don't want to accidentally put on a show!

XOXO

Poem of the Week: the Epitome of Junior Year

an original poem

by Sophie Orlich

Tonights nightly events,

if the time permits,  

include a fraternity semi-formal, 

but instead of planning like normal, 

I've taken the laid-back route, 

that junior year salutes- 

When I woke up in my bed, 

I ran this checklist through my head:

Do I have a date?

No.

Do I have a wristband?

No.

Do I have a dress?

No. 

Do I know have shoes?

No. 

What about my hair?

No.

My make-up?

No.

Wine?

Yes.

And then I went back to bed.

XOXO

Dear Diary, here’s to the Fifty Nifty United States

A little wreath I made for our door

Our last date party of the season was this past weekend and we paired with the ladies of Pi Beta Phi to put on this state-themed event. After months of back and fourth on the theme, we finally settled on ‘Fifty Nifty United States’ from the song many of us were taught in elementary school as a way to remember all the US state names.

Everyone picked a state and dressed as something famous from that state. Some of the costumes we saw were so creative! I loved that everyone really got into the theme and came up with such cute things. A few of my favorites include: the Kentucky Derby, grapes from Napa, old people from Florida, a lone star from Texas, Harley Davidson from Michigan, the Gossip Girl cast from New York, a deer and a hunter from Oklahoma, and the devil from Georgia.

I did not take a date because as social chair, I am responsible for everything running smoothly which sometimes running all over the place, therefore leaving my date all by his lonesome. I took a date to our first date party of my term and saw him for maybe fifteen minuets all night and I just felt terrible about it. So from then on my mom was my date (no, I’m not kidding) and I loved it! Then all I had to worry about was my mother being scarred from experiencing date parties from the inside, but she was social chair when she was here so she never is too shocked.

Are we in NYC?

Because I was flying solo and sober that meant the sky was the limit for my costume. So I decided to represent my favorite city, NYC, with a taxi and the iconic I heart NY logo. I did this by cutting out the letters on felt and pinning them to my black leotard. For the taxi I bought a box from the local Norman box store, cut it up, painted it yellow then decorated it. The stripes on the side are made from white duct tape with black card stock squares glued to them. The wheels are silver glitter scrapbook paper over black glitter paper. It was weird wearing a box all night, but it was nice to have a very distinct personal space bubble though.

All in all it was a great date party and everyone told me that they so much fun. I mean what more can you ask for? The new officers will be selected this Sunday so I’m passing off the reins to the next lucky gal to take my seat… it sure has been a fun ride!

Missed the 'Fifty Nifty' reference? This video should explain it all.

XOXO

Dear Diary, of all the fish in the sea, will you be my date to Under the Chee?

Our first date party of the semester was last Friday and it went swimmingly! The theme was “Under the Chee”- think The Little Mermaid, nautical inspirations and Hawaiian print shirts. The name is a play off “Under the Sea” because often people think Chi (kai) Omega is pronounced chee omega. So sometimes we refer to our chapter house as the chee (i.e. "I'm just going to eat dinner at the chee tonight"). It's a bit of a stretch but coming up with cutesy names for all our date parties isn't always easy. 

Without their support, this event could not have happened. A big THANK YOU to my fellow executive board members!

The girls loved it and rolled out in the cutest costumes. There were mermaids, starfish, swimmers, lifeguards, fish and all kinds of ocean life in between. I went as Sally, as in Sally who sells seashells by the seashore. Clever? I thought so. I wore my vintage romper/skort, Keds, white socks and a new navy Lacoste headband, with the seashell box I made from a left over care package container, red, white and navy felt for decorations, tan foam for the shells and skinny white cotton rope. 

As the social chair of my chapter I got to plan the whole event, which was a blast. My favorite part was the decorations. I saw this idea on Pinterest and really wanted to use it for one of our date parties, and Under the Chee was the perfect place for it! 

As usual I bit off a project that was a little more than I could handle, but thanks to the help of my friends and some of our sweet sophomores, we made it happen. We spent the week blowing up over 500 balloons and tying strings to them, and bagging them in giant trash bags. Then on Friday morning we went to the venue and tied the balloons to chicken wire I’d cut the weekend before, and then zip-tied it to the celling. It took about four hours but was so worth it.

The venue was great, food was yummy (popcorn, goldfish and mini 'sub' sandwiches) and everyone had a great time. I couldn’t have asked for a better event or better sisters to plan it for! Y'all make it easy to love my job so much:)

XOXO