High Cotton

We're in high cotton now.

Posted by Anna Kate Wednesday, June 29, 2011 1 comments

I cannot express how much pure joy it gives me to tell you that I have been selected as a 2011-12 Leadership Consultant for Alpha Delta Pi Sorority. In case you’re wondering what this is exactly, here is a description courtesy of the Alpha Delta Pi website –

“Leadership Consultants are representatives of the sorority who work with collegiate chapters throughout the academic year in areas such as officer training, recruitment, and leadership. At the same time, Leadership Consultants are cultivating valuable professional skills that will continue to serve them after their year of travel.”

During one of my interviews for this position I was asked why I thought this job was relevant. I responded by saying that one person can make a difference. The Leadership Consultants that we were fortunate enough to host at my collegiate chapter have made lasting impressions on our members and their impacts will benefit our chapter for many years to come.

Educating collegiate women on the foundations of our sorority in order to help them empower themselves and motivate others is what sparks the light within me. It is my fervent hope that I will be able to change someone’s life the way women such as Allie Pisching and Mary Kathryn Dykes have changed mine.

This job is absolutely a dream come true for me. Thank you to everyone who helped, encouraged, and prayed for me along the way. I could have only hoped months ago that a small town girl from a chapter in middle Georgia would be chosen to represent my international organization – which is over 140 collegiate chapters strong in the United States and Canada. Wow! What an honor.

Looking forward to the year ahead with my wonderful Consultant Sisters!

These colors don't run.

Posted by Anna Kate Monday, May 30, 2011 0 comments

As I was sitting in church yesterday and we sang the familiar lines, “Oh, hear us when we cry to Thee, for those in peril on the sea!” I started thinking a lot about Memorial Day and its history.

Memorial Day, originally called Decoration Day, is a day of remembrance for those who have died in our nation’s service. There are many stories as to its actually beginning, with over two dozen cities and towns laying claim to being the birthplace of Memorial Day. It is not important who was the very first, what is important is that Memorial Day was established. This holiday is not about division; it is about coming together to honor those who gave their all. It was made an official national holiday by President Ulysses S. Grant in 1873.

So what is being done today to honor our troops and how are you taking part?

This summer at Alpha Delta Pi’s 160^th Grand Convention, participants will contribute to a Philanthropy Project called “Packages from Home,” which is an Arizona based group founded in 2004 whose mission is to send care and comfort packages to deployed American military heroes who are stationed in active duty theatres around the world, as well as to facilitate activities that elevate the morale for all veterans.

At Grand Convention, Alpha Delta Pi sisters will bring items to donate from an approved list. These items will be shipped to the troops following Convention along with notes and cards to the troops that we’ll write that week. We will also have a district competition to collect coin and cash to facilitate the shipping of our donations. If you would like to give to “Packages from Home” please visit their website by clicking here.

Happy Memorial Day, y’all! God bless our troops!

Our lifetimes were made for these years.

Posted by Anna Kate Sunday, May 22, 2011 2 comments

Truthfully, I have been avoiding blogging lately because I knew

the next appropriate post would be . . .

THE GRADUATION POST.

Although the actual commencement ceremony took place over two weeks ago,

blogging about it somehow makes it seem even more tangible than it did then.

I haven’t been as emotional about graduation as I thought I would be.

I think I’m still waiting for reality to truly sink in. However, moving out of my

sorority house next week may finally turn on the waterworks.

When did four years go by? When did I become so old?

While I was writing my Senior Will for my sorority’s Senior Night,

it made me stop and think about these past four years –

how much I had learned, changed, and grown as a person.

The most valuable thing I gained during these four years was, hands down,

membership in my sorority. Looking back to fall 2007, I could never have imagined that I would become the person I am today. Credit is definitely due to Alpha Delta Pi and the lifelong bonds of friendship that I have made within the sorority.

Four years ago I could never have imagined that I would learn how to plan

a successful campaign, give back in so many different ways through philanthropic efforts, learn communication skills (hello, recruitment!) that would help me in every future professional endeavor, and develop leadership skills that have truly transformed that young, freshman girl into the poised college graduate that I am today.

The list of things that this organization has both given me and enabled me to accomplish could truly go on and on. So here’s to you, Alpha Delta Pi. You have taught me how true the words of our Creed really do ring, day in and day out.

“I believe that my sorority is more than a ritual or a symbol;

that it is a way of life.”

What is your Easter message?

Posted by Anna Kate Sunday, April 24, 2011 1 comments

When I woke up this morning, I started to wonder about Easter. I thought about all the religious implications that this holiday brings and how that transfers into my own life.

In the Christian faith, we recognize Easter as the day Jesus Christ rose from the dead. If we stop for a minute to look at the root of the word resurrection we see resurrect, which literally means to rise from the dead or return to life.

As a self-proclaimed optimist, I am always striving to live life on the sunny side. Easter breathes positive energy into all of us. Maybe it’s a combination of the sugar-induced high we get from the Easter Bunny, the warm weather and bright clothes, or the extra time with loved ones – but whatever the reason may be, there is no denying that the Easter season brings out the best in all of us.

Regardless of your religious beliefs, take this Easter as an opportunity to let yourself return to life. Take a lesson from the innocence of Green Gables where Anne Shirley reminds us, “Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it!”

Take a fresh look on your life this Easter and allow yourself to be fully alive –

with no dead weight holding you back.

And, let’s face it; life is just better in pastels.

Pay it forward.

Posted by Anna Kate Saturday, January 29, 2011 2 comments

I intended to publish several posts this week, but that's the funny thing about life -

it never goes as you plan.

First of all, this week made me realize how dependent on technology I have become. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about this discovery, but I do know that I will always back up my computer files from this point forward.

On Wednesday I was taking one of my last college exams of my undergraduate history (that doesn't seem real) when I grabbed my laptop while rushing out the door and before I knew it - wham!

A small part of me crumbled inside watching my laptop die. Pathetic, I know.

To make a long story short (and not play the "woe me" card) there seemed to be a black cloud stalking me this week. Of all the things that didn't seem to go well,
I kept reminding myself that it was just stuff and that
life is too short to sweat the small stuff.

I decided to head down South for the weekend for a little R&R and a shopping trip

to replace my other half (a new laptop, of course).

I was cruising along with a new playlist when my check tire light came on, and the next thing I know I hear a whomp, whomp, whomp as I pull into the nearest gas station.

Sure enough, my tire was as flat as could be. This should first teach me a lesson in learning how to change a tire, but it also taught me a lesson in the generosity of others. I am thankful for the strangers who stopped to assist me, and for my Mama and Aunt who were 2 hours away and still managed to get someone there in less than 10 minutes to change my tire. Praise the Lord!

As I continued my drive home I began to think back on the week and all of the small misfortunes I had encountered. But you know what I did? I began to laugh.
How could I capitalize on these small ripples on the relatively calm surface of my life when there are so many others whose hardships I can't even begin to comprehend?

Everyone is fighting some kind of battle. Use the bouts of bad luck in your life as an opportunity to realize how fortunate you are and how you can, even in some small way, enhance the lives of the people that you encounter each day.

This, that, and the stuff.

Posted by Anna Kate Monday, January 24, 2011 2 comments

If you don't know me, then I should probably tell you that I am extremely organized.

I like everything in my life to be just so.

Over the holiday break, I made it one of my top priorities to get everything in my life organized to a tee before I went back to school. It was one of those times where I had to take everything apart and make a huge mess before I could put everything back together. After countless hours of organizing everything from notebooks to make-up essentials, there was one lonely pile of stuff left.

This stuff was an assortment of random things that no matter how hard I tried, would just not fit into a group with anything else. I had to come to terms with the fact that it was going to have to stay together. So, I finally made a "stuff" box.
I tried to find the most attractive storage unit I could so hopefully no one would notice that it was housing a bunch of random items.

Do you have a "stuff box" for the things that don't fit into your nice, neat life?