Happy Weekend!

Have a great weekend! I hope you braving the winter weather (if it's near you) and enjoy your days doing the things you love. I have a three-day weekend due to Martin Luther King Day--so I'll be relaxing, spending time with friends and family and I'll probably end up doing a little shopping--sounds perfect to me!

Visit Pittsburgh

New things are going on here on the blog.

I created a "Visit Pittsburgh" page with lots of suggestions for where to go in Pittsburgh!

Many are my favorites, and some are places you just have to go.

If you are new to the area or planning a visit, 

feel free to email me for additional suggestions!

Stylish White Female

This is Terra. 

Terra writes an AH-MAZ-ING blog, Stylish White Female 

and guess what

she's from Pittsburgh!

I know, who would have thought that someone from Pittsburgh would have 

such a successful fashion blog, right?

I have gotten so much inspiration from Terra and her blog posts. 

She is so creative and can pull off stylish looks at her job in the city. 

And the outfits can fight the snow--something us Pittsburghs know a lot about.

If you're from Pittsburgh, you'll recognize a lot from the backgrounds of her photos.

Here are some of my favorite outfits:

How cute are those ruffles on the jacket?

Perfect winter sweater.

Love the skirt.

All photos from Stylish White Female.

Brown Paper Packages Tied Up With String

I know, I know this is a few weeks late. But as I was looking through my pictures I had to post these. They were just too dang pretty.

And ths little stinker decided she needed to help.

This year I did a little something different when wrapping my gifts. In the past I’ve used the standard Holiday wrapping paper, with the occasional ribbon and bow. This year I decided to go a bit more rustic. Plain brown wrapping paper with minimal decorative pieces. I printed out some vintage looking gift tags, added some bows, pom-poms and pieces from my tree. I must say I’m pretty happy with it & plan to experiment some more next year!

"To Be True to Ourselves and to those Within and Without Our Circle..."

I am a proud Zeta Tau Alpha.

Being that I spent the past year of my life traveling the country visiting ZTA chapters and assisting the young women with rectuitment, leadership growth, officer training among many other things--I think it proves my first statement correct.

Looking back, that year of experiences make up some of the best of my 23 years.

I knew I would love the "job," but it hasn't been until recent months that I truly realized the impact it had on my life. Sure there were times when I thought about giving up, when I was so exhausted and overwhelmed I wanted to break down and cry. But there were more times when I smiled, laughed, learned, made an impact. I can tell you there are few things less fulfilling than having members from chapters I visited to this day still tell me thank-you. 

Thank-you for being their friend, listening, giving honest advice, encouragement and that extra push you sometimes need. There are few jobs where you can find that, and man, do I miss it.

It gets me to thinking, am I really being "true to myself," am I happy and content with what I'm doing with my life right now. When I look back and the memories and think about how I grew as a person during my time as a TLC, I immediately think no.

So what does this mean for me. I'm not sure. Do I want to go to grad school--student affairs possibly? I could work in Greek Life--something I know I have a passion for. Decisions like these take courage and hope. Support from friends and family wouldn't be too bad either. 

All I know is that I want to be true to myself from here on out. I want to be true to the people around me--be honest and help them as much as I can. I've realized and accepted that thank-you's, appreciation and making an impact are much better than money and material things.  After all that, I believe I have some serious thinking to do.

Bookworm III

Foam

Foam is an awesome magazine. I don't subscribe, but I check out their website almost daily. I came across this article a little over a month ago and meant to post it earlier. I love the photographs and the story they tell. Here's Gypsies, Tramps and Theives:

All photos by Harper Smith.