A Day in the Life of an EO Intern

Good Evening All!

I've just been busy busy busy all day today!

Kelly and I began our morning in the print shop with Robert. Robert is probably one of the most interesting men I have ever met. He began working in the print shop for Alpha Delta Pi in the 80's and has been here ever since. [I think] he went to Stanford University (I may be completely off on that but if it wasn't there it was another incredibly smart school). So Robert lived in Australia for a bit, he taught a little and truly (I believe) lived his life to the fullest. He has so many incredibly stories that he is so willing to share. We have talked with him about tons and tons of things from books to motorcycles to circus art. (Fun Fact: He does silk work for fun! How awesome is that!) He was fascinated by the printing trade and just took it up and he loves it. It is really interesting to see what a positive impact Alpha Delta Pi can leave on people, even if they aren't members. He truly enjoys working for "the sisterhood" as he calls it. He refers to Debbie Black, his manager, as "Our Fearless Leader" and everyone in the office as Sister Sally, or Sister Amanda, or Sister ________. About a week ago (when we were shrink wrapping standards codes) he read a letter to us that he had written to one of Alpha Delta Pi's founders on Founder's Day a while back. It was to Octavia. It was adorable. He is extremely poetic. Instead of saying no, he always says "nay not so". His favorite book is Huck Finn.

Anywho, today we were working in the print shop. Last week when we were in there, we shrink wrapped the standards codes for every single chapter! There was a ton! This week we were working on Ritual Books. We had to stack the sections together and shrink wrap over 500 Ritual Books. Let me tell you, it's very time consuming. And after awhile, the shrink wrap roller can get heavy and you start to get a pretty good arm workout in!

Later, we went inside to work on Violets for my Sister for Leadership Seminar next week! The Alpha Delta Pi Foundation sells violets for $5 a pop that you can send to sisters who have influenced you or that you just want to say "hey, I appreciate you!" to. There are SO many.

After violets, we went and sat on the phone at the front desk for a bit. I am getting super comfortable with that which is great because I used to hate hate hate talking on the phone. I think I'm pretty good at it now ☺

Later, I went to work on manuals with Joanie. Basically, we have to update all the manuals to make sure they don't contradict and information for a specific topic is only in one place and not five different places. I sorted through the Total Membership Education Tools manual today. It took awhile but I definitely think that it will make a huge impact for chapters when they are looking for information and this way, they won't have confusion in how they are supposed to complete tasks.

After work today, we got to meet and have dinner with Ms. Tammie Pinkston. She is the International Grand President. We sat and talked for hours. She is truly an amazing woman. We talked not only about ADPi but also about the business of the world and in general and even just life. She has such an amazing outlook on life. She knows who she is and where she comes from. I always try to live my life without regrets and learn from mistakes I've made, rather than feel sorry for myself about them. That is something Ms. Pinkston prides herself on. She said, "I have no regrets, I've made mistakes, and I learn from them." I just think that that is a wonderful perspective to have. Another thing that I think is amazing about this woman is that she doesn't just whine and complain when something is happening that she doesn't like. If she thinks something needs to be changed, then you better believe she's diving right into the project and willing to spend her time to fix what needs fixing. She understand the value in doing and I truly appreciate to have that quality in a role model.

She talked about one other thing that I think is critical in being part of an organization, business, etc. "Leave the organization better than when you came to it." I think that a lot of times people get caught in the credit when sometimes things take time. Regardless of who gets credit, I think that if you have a sound way to better your organization, then by golly, you better do it! Why would you seek to stay the same. There is always room for growth and improvement and as members, it is our duty to make our organization the best it can be while we are there.
I think that Ms. Pinkston is an incredible role model (with an incredible wardrobe!). I feel so lucky to have had several opportunities to meet and chat with her about life and Alpha Delta Pi.

All in all, I'd say today was a perfect day here at Executive Office.

Signing off!
Loyally,
Paige ☺

Adventures with ADPi

It's definitely warming up here in HOTLANTA this week!!

Tuesday was an amazing day! We got to go to the Ronald McDonald house, it was a blast! Ronald McDonald House Charities (RMHC) "The House that Love Built" provides housing for families of children who are seriously ill or injured. Some families have to travel across the country to get treatment for their son or daughter and the RMH gives them a place to stay. Typically the RMH will ask for a donation per night a family uses a room, however RMHC understands how costly it can be to provide treatment for a child with a rare or serious illness and will never turn a family away because of their inability to pay. 

What a great organization! We went today and participated in the Baker's Club. We baked the children and families cupcakes and got a tour of the Atlanta RMH. It was such an amazing experience. We get to go back in a couple weeks and make dinner for the families. I am so excited to be able to volunteer with such a great cause. 

Visit www.rmhc.org to learn more about this wonderful organization, find a location near you, and maybe even go volunteer!

Tuesday night we went to an Atlanta Braves baseball game! It was so much fun (although the Braves didn't have such a great night)! 

Today we had a workshop with Jen Webb who is the Executive Director of the Alpha Delta Pi foundation. Established in 1983, the Alpha Delta Pi foundation accepts tax-deductible gifts to provide essential resources for alpha delta pi sorority's educational, leadership and philanthropic activities. The foundation funds a variety of opportunities that benefit alpha delta pi sorority and its members as well as the preservation of monuments and memorials that are special to alpha delta pi sorority's place in history.

We are having dinner with the Trustees on Friday night and Jen gave us an exercise that these women actually do! We were given a set amount of dollars and had to decide how to allocate the money to different grant requests. (She didn't give us real money though *sigh* only m&ms!)

At first, we all found it difficult because we all pull from different chapters and atmospheres. Some campuses really benefitted from educational tools like District Leadership Conference while others felt DLC was a bust and the Leadership Consultant Program was what really needed the money. We all talked about what we thought was the most important and impactful to Alpha Delta Pi. It was such a great exercise because it is definitely something so relevant not in just Alpha Delta Pi but in any business aspect. Along with dealing with a financial responsibility we all learned a bit more about effective communication and how to take those skills into aspects in our lives later down the road. 

We eventually made a final decision on how we wanted to allocate the money!

These past two days have been a blast! Tomorrow we're having dinner with Ms. Pinkston! SO EXCITED! ☺☺☺☺

Loyally, 

Paige

 Take me out to the ball game!

Toodle-loo Week Two! ADPi Internship 2K14

Greetings Earthlings, 

Our second week here at Executive Office has come and gone in the blink of an eye. 

Intern life is amazing at Alpha Delta Pi; not only am I learning so many new skills (not just how to use a shrink wrapper either - skills you wouldn't consider, like organization, focus, and versatility, how to work in a group, the list goes on...) but I'm also having FUN! 

On Tuesday, everyone in the office stopped for a hula hoop break! Reasons working for a sorority is better than your "average" job. 

Okay, well the reason behind the hula hoops. They're for a workshop/ice-breaker at IMPACT, which is a leadership training conference that we hold every even numbered summer for one upcoming chapter leader. 

IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi is a values-based program built around The Creed of Alpha Delta Pi. The IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi program allows emerging collegiate leaders the opportunity to learn how to address major issues facing Alpha Delta Pi and their chapters, to develop their leadership skills and to recognize how to affect the success of their chapter as a future executive officer. IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi also prepares these chapter leaders for alumnae involvement following their college years.

IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi is an intense living-learning community experience. The learning and sharing that occurs through informal gatherings and discussions (as a result of the environment) is considered just as relevant and important as the structured curriculum of the program. Sessions feature hands-on experiential activities and ample discussion time designed to assist each IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi participant in developing her desired leadership skills, in identifying new ideas, and in formulating concrete plans for the sorority and her future. Chapters fund an emerging leader from their chapter to attend and find the bonds created between undergraduates and alumnae through this interaction results in sustained communication and commitment.

IMPACT Alpha Delta Pi focuses on the following key commitment areas:

I – Influence

·  Commitment to Values

·  Commitment to Leadership

M – Motivation

·  Commitment to Collaboration

P – Purpose

·  Commitment to Community Building

·  We are Alpha Delta Pi: Commitment to Common Purpose

A – Action

·  We are the Future: Commitment to the Greater Good

C – Community

·  Group Commitment to the Greater Good

T – Trust

·  IMPACT Advance / Living the Vision

Anywho, we were taking the hula hoops to the training room (where everything for IMPACT is being stored) and the staff just casually decided to have a hula hoop break in the looja. The party got too big so we just headed outside. Maybe it sounds crazy but at least we know how to have a good time! 

On Wednesday, we had a Ritual workshop with Sally. Although we are all very familiar with our ritual, it is such a wonderful experience to get to learn and review. No matter how many times you hear or read or take part in it, you always find something new to love about Alpha Delta Pi. 

On Thursday, Kathryn and I worked at the phones. A seemingly "uneventful" day; we worked the phones and put together manuals and materials for colonizing chapter officers and new member plans. HOWEVER, I will tell you, that day, I fell so much more in love with ADPi. 

Read about it in my last blog post http://turntopaige394.blogspot.com/2014/06/why-alpha-delta-pi.html. I can't even begin to explain how much this sorority means to me but maybe that entry will give you a closer look. 

Friday we had the adventure any ADPi dreams of. Our Mission to Macon. 

Alpha Delta Pi was originally founded on May 15, 1851 at Wesleyan Female College, the first college chartered to grant degrees to women, in Macon, GA. Eugenia Tucker and her five closest friends sought even more than what her education consisted of (at the time, it was incredibly rare for women to even think of pursuing a college degree). These brave young women desired to form an association for personal improvement. They sought council from the college president, a professor, and a reverend - together they created what is today known as Alpha Delta Pi. 

The original name for the sorority was the "Adelphean Society."  Adelphean is derived from the Greek word meaning "sister".  The name changed to Alpha Delta Phi in 1905 and then, to Alpha Delta Pi in 1913.  The basic principles and ritual are much the same as those developed by our founders.

Alpha Delta Pi's founders were Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald, Ella Pierce Turner, Octavia Andrew Rush, Mary Evans Glass, Sophronia Woodruff Dews, and Elizabeth Williams Mitchell.  Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald, the acknowledged leader of the Adelpheans, was chosen their first president.  Within two weeks of the founding of the Adelphean Society by these six ladies, they were joined by 13 others to form the first chapter of the Adelphean Society.  These women paved the way for all other sororities and millions of other sorority women across the world.

The first stop on our tour was Rosehill Cemetery. Now, maybe you're like... um why the heck did you go to a cemetery!? Well, for two reasons. 1. Eugenia Tucker Fitzgerald is buried there. I mean, she was the founder of this incredible organization with over 150 active chapters and tons of members in the US and Canada. The least we can do is pay our respects to her and thank her for something so wonderful. 2. It was where many members of the Adelphean Society took their walks and spent their "free time" to escape the rigid world inside Wesleyan. 

                                  

Next stop, The Cannonball House. This house survived the Civil War. Literally. A cannonball flew about a mile in, through a window and landed in the floorboards. Lucky for us, it didn't explode. 

The Cannonball House is the Macon home most closely associated with the Civil War as it was struck by a wayward cannonball! The Union artillery was probably trying to strike the Hay House nearby which was thought to house some of the Confederate Treasury. The house was slated to be razed and replaced with a parking lot. The Macon Chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy purchased the property in 1962 to save it from demolition and to provide for itself a chapter home. There were two additional parlors with no furnishings.

Since the destruction of the “Old Wesleyan building,” both Alpha Delta Pi and Phi Mu had a set of Victorian parlor furnishings from their parlors at Wesleyan. It turned out to be the ideal situation for each. The Adelphean and Philomathean parlors from “Old Wesleyan” were recreated at the Cannonball House.

An interior view of the Cannonball House's Adelphean Parlor

The Cannonball House, fully furnished, opened its doors to visitors in 1964. The Sidney Lanier (Macon) Chapter of the UDC no longer meets at the Cannonball House. In 1999 the Friends of the Cannonball House (FOCBH) assumed responsibility and ownership of the property. The Cannonball House operates as an independent house museum, hosting over 10,000 visitors per year.

There are several items in the Adelphean Parlor that were original to the parlor at Wesleyan Female College. These include:

- 2 carved mahogany chairs with blue needlepoint seats

- Mahogany and glass vitrine

- Many books with Adelphean Society bookplates (in secretary)

- White marble mantle (removed from Wesleyan)

- Gold leaf mirror above mantle

- Chandelier

- Interior shutters (taken from Wesleyan)

- Stained glass transom (taken from Wesleyan and installed above the door.

Other items that you will want to see include:

- Portraits of our founders

- A portrait of Alice Culler Cobb, Adelphean 1853. (Mrs. Cobb founded the Women’s Missionary Society of Georgia in this room at a gathering called by Mrs. Holt, the original owner of the house. (A plaque in the room states this.)

- Pastel drawing of the original Wesleyan Female College

- Diamond-shaped silver cake basket given to Minnie Bass Burden, an Adelphean, for her wedding in 1880. She in turn presented the basket as a gift to the restored Adelphean Parlor.

               

Last, but certainly not least, we visited Wesleyan Female College itself. We were able to look at programs and pictures, as well as copyrights of our brand from as early as 1888! It was incredible to see what a presence we left not only in Macon, Georgia, but around North America.

We as Alpha Delta Pi focus on four main points, scholarship, service, sisterhood, and self. With these four points in mind we can count on the support of our sisters to be women of character. This has remained true with every Alpha Delta Pi for over 160 years and the traditions hold strong and true. Even though there is no longer Greek life on Wesleyan's campus, we are an ever-present source and symbol of leadership and positive change throughout the community. 

There are several items on the present Wesleyan campus that commemorate our beginnings as the Adelphean Society at Wesleyan.

The Adelphean Bench, silver gray marble and engraved with names of founders, is located near the library. The bench, designed by Emily Langham, Epsilon, was presented to Wesleyan College in 1926, in commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the founding of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority at Wesleyan.

The Memorial Fountain is located in the center of the quadrangle. The Alpha Delta Pi coat-of-arms is engraved on the large slanting block at center. The names of the founders of Alpha Delta Pi Sorority are engraved on the stairs leading up to the fountain. The fountain, of white Georgia marble, was presented to Wesleyan in 1936, as a gift to celebrate the centennial anniversary of the chartering of Wesleyan College in 1836.

On our weekend, we went wild and went to SIX FLAGS! We all had a ton of fun screaming our brains out on roller coaster after roller coaster! 

All in all, I would say that week two was wonderful in every which way.

See ya in week three baybeeeee!

Loyally, 

Paige

Why Alpha Delta Pi?

People always ask, why ADPi? Today I discovered the reason. One of the many reasons. I'm quite sure that if I tried to count every reason Alpha Delta Pi is so wonderful, I would die counting.

BUT...

Let me tell you the reason I discovered today.

First, let's talk about sisterhood. What is it?
According to dictionary.com:

sis·ter·hood

  [sis-ter-hood] 

noun

1.

the state of being a sister.

2.

a group of sisters, especially of nuns or of female members of a church.

3.

an organization of women with a common interest, as for social, charitable, business, or politicalpurposes.

4.

congenial relationship or companionship among women; mutual female esteem, concern, support, etc.

5.

Usually, the sisterhood. the community or network of women who participate in or support feminism.

Now where do I begin to explain how it's so much more.

This morning, my exec. team at my chapter at school was talking in our GroupMe. A Leadership Consultant we had during our colonization had just finished facilitating a conference [UIFI] where they had values-based conversations and learned how to change their Ritual into their ritual (*note the capitalization difference☺). A couple years ago, that same Leadership Consultant posted in her blog about this same thing. This is surely a must read for anyone Greek, interested in going Greek, and truly, anyone who has ever interacted with a Greek woman or man.

http://mylittleadpi.blogspot.com/2013/03/the-secret-i-can-not-tell-you-but.html

Even talking about beginning values-based discussions and strengthening our chapter gets me going. I am so excited to be a part of my chapter and to help not only myself, but also my sisters grow and flourish in Alpha Delta Pi and in life. We, as Alpha Delta Pi, pride ourselves in the development of four key points:

"I believe that I must strive to become a well balanced person by following the dictates of the four points symbolized by our diamond shaped badge. First, strengthening my own personality and character, second, watching my attitude toward my fellow beings, third, recognizing the value of high educational standards, and fourth, developing faith and loyalty."

Sisterhood is [partly] encouraging sisters to live out our values, to shape them, and in turn, myself, into women of character and poise. By living our open motto, "We Live for Each Other." 

So what happened next? Kathryn and I were sitting at the desk by the front door, answering phones, working on our other projects, etc. etc. It was our first day answering the phone by ourselves (although we had each other) and I don't care what you say or how much you have talked on the phone, it is nerve-wracking at first! We would get a call and one would answer, "Good afternoon, Alpha Delta Pi..." and in that moment of panic and the "what do I do now" face passing on mine or hers, the other of us would stop our work and help. Now there isn't too much to help with when it comes to one phone, but we got through our first day of calls successfully! Having someone there to support you through the littlest of things (like answering a phone) just shows that they'll be there for the big things too. 


Sisterhood is [partly] about being there. Being there for the big things, and the small things, and the things in between. 

Again, you may ask, "so what?"

Well I'll tell you what. In what organization do you feel comfortable talking to anyone you meet. As an intern here at Alpha Delta Pi's executive office, I am given tasks, and along with those tasks, plenty of questions to ensure that I do my job correctly. Working here, I'm surrounded by members Alpha Delta Pi from all walks of life. I feel comfortable talking to the intern coordinator (well I'd hope so!) but I feel comfortable asking anyone in the office anything I am wondering or concerned about. Mrs. Ablard (the EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - that means she's the boss and a very big deal) and I have had plenty of conversations, about ADPi or just life. How awesome is that?! Ms. Pinkston (the INTERNATIONAL PRESIDENT - HELLO! also a big deal) was in the office today, and I had a question. She was the only one around. I mean, talking to the International President of an organization is pretty intimidating right? I beg to disagree. She was more than willing to answer my question and we even had a good laugh. 

My fellow interns - I met them the day we got here. We're all living together. And guess what? We're great friends. We're all from around the country, different schools, different traditions, different backgrounds, and, well, a whole lot of different. But there is one thing we share. We share a bond rooted in sisterhood, we all share Alpha Delta Pi.

Sisterhood is [partly] about being able to talk to anyone and everyone. Being comfortable. Being able to share stories and memories with any sister you meet. Asking questions, and answering, being real with each other. 

Sisterhood is just one of the infinite number of reasons Alpha Delta Pi is amazing. It is everything you could ever want from an organization and so much more. I am so fortunate to be able to call every Alpha Delta Pi my sister.

One Week Gone: ADPi Summer Internship 2K14

Aloha!

We're one week into our internship and things here at executive office are going swimmingly!

Last week we had plenty to do.

Day 1: We met everyone in the kitchen, and surprise, they brought us Chicken-Minis from Chick-fil-a! YUMMM. I had never had them before but they were delicious. Then we went downstairs to the training room. Typically we'll start our day in there and either wait to get our assignments or complete projects in the training room. Once we got downstairs, we did a true colors" workshop with Jen Dickinson. She is the Growth and Development Manager at EO. Basically she works on everything expansion related, including colonization projects (my chapter just colonized 2 years ago! ☺)

So the premise of the "test" is that we all have characteristics from four colors: blue, orange, gold, and green. Blue is centered around emotions, orange is all about spontaneity, gold focuses on organization, and green on innovation. You can take the test and see what color you are by clicking on the link below!

http://campusrec.unc.edu/sites/campusrec.unc.edu/files/Personality%20Test.pdf

The last time I took this was in the fall of 2012. I was a perfect three-way tie with 15 points in Blue, Orange, and Gold. This time, I was a Gold first(15)then an Orange(14), then Blue(13), then Green (8). It is interesting to me to see how your personality slightly changes by where you are in your life. I think I have become more focused and organized since the last time I took the "test" and my positions in Alpha Delta Pi have shaped my leadership into a more leader-oriented "way".

Then we met with each department individually and got to learn a little more about what each specific department did. Our first day was a success!

Day 2: We met with Jen Dickinson again and learned about the expansion. There is so much that goes into the expansion that I didn't know before. Each campus is so particular in so many ways that we have to see if we are a good fit for the campus and if the campus is a good fit for our organization. Then we got a tour of the print shop! We met Robert and got a tour of the print shop after lunch. It is so cool back there, we have a plate-maker just like in a printing press. There is also an old collator and paper cutter, as well as the oldest shrink wrap "machine" I've ever seen. There were TONS of standards codes covering the tables - I'm sure we'll get to organize those soon enough!At the end of the day we got to do phone training. We learned how to transfer calls and put people on hold - daunting tasks for phone newbies.

Day 3: Wednesday morning we had a meeting with Mrs. Ablard. She talked with us about our licensing and marketing. We use Affinity Marketing Consultants for our greek licensing. By using them, we make sure that our organization and brand are never used inappropriately and that we always have only the best representation of Alpha Delta Pi.

Day 4: On Thursday, we all got to go to individual departments and work with them. Abby and I got to work with the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation.

           Established in 1983, the Alpha Delta Pi foundation accepts tax-deductible gifts to provide essential resources for alpha delta pi sorority's educational, leadership and philanthropic activities. The foundation funds a variety of opportunities that benefit alpha delta pi sorority and its members as well as the preservation of monuments and memorials that are special to Alpha Delta Pi sorority's place in history.

We both got to learn about the scholarships that the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation offers at both specific chapters and to any Alpha Delta Pi member. The Foundation also has emergency grants for members of ADPi who have fallen on hard times. This is just another reason that I know Alpha Delta Pi is such an amazing organization.

Day 5: It's Friday! Friday! Gotta get down on Friday! We learned all about social media from Joanie Oben. She's the Marketing and Communications Coordinator. She deals with everything PR related with Alpha Delta Pi and she does a fantastic job! She uses this really cool website to schedule her important tweets (like chapters' centennial congratulations and the like) called hootsuite.com.

After work, we all ventured to Krispy Kreme for DONUT DAY!!!!!!! #whatagreatday Aka. free donuts at Krispy Kreme. Also, as our faces were smushed up against the glass watching the donuts, we were approached by none other than.....new advertising guys for Krispy Kreme! They asked if they could take our pictures eating delicious donuts. Um...DUH. So. If KK decides that is the direction they want to go with their new ads, we might be donut models! #THECOOLEST. right!? I know. Crazy, but who wouldn't want to stuff their face/laugh/be adorable in front of a camera for fun.

On Friday night we went to see the Fault in Our Stars, a movie based on the book by John Green. It was FANTASTIC. Check out my "review" here: http://turntopaige394.blogspot.com/2014/06/okay-okay.html!

On Saturday, I had a soccer game in Chattanooga! (I'm playing with a Women's Premier Soccer League team here in Georgia called the Georgia Revolutions!) The girls all went to the Coke museum! (I went with my family before they left, don't worry, I didn't miss out on "the wonderful world of coke")

Sunday we all reconvened and went to the Virginia Highlands SummerFest! It was about a mile's worth of tents filled with artwork and jewelry and other really interesting/cool things for sale! They also had what looked like TONS of amazing food! A bunch of us got popsicles and of course we had to have a photoshoot!

All in all, I'd say it was an incredible first week experience!
See ya round (like a donut)!
Paige ☺

Okay. Okay.

The Fault in Our Stars was a beautiful story to experience. I have not read the book so my critique, or rather praise, may be somewhat limited; however, I do not think that takes away the validity of my perspective. 

The movie captured real life, real stories, and real people...in a not so real way. The story was traditionally speaking, a work of fiction, the stories within the film were far from unrealistic. There was an infinite number of circumstances that touched the heart of every member of the audience in an infinite number of ways. 


"Some infinities are bigger than other infinities."

The tale John Green so beautifully constructed dealt with the obvious; it dealt with death, with love, with wanting to be or mean more, with time - or the lack of enough time... but it dealt with so much more, it dealt with faith, inspiration, strength, trust, vigor and courage - a fight, challenges, and what it takes to overcome them, and metaphors that would make any grown man weep at in the simplistic beauty of. 

“It's a metaphor, see: You put the killing thing right between your teeth, but you don't give it the power to do its killing.” 

I cannot think of anything to do but to share the impact the story has impressed upon my heart. 

“That’s part of what I like about the book in some ways. It portrays death truthfully. You die in the middle of your life, in the middle of a sentence” 

Everyone wants to matter, to be big or important or special. We all have this innate desire to shine. To show people that we are here, we are capable, we are talented, we are wonderful.

We are wonderful.

You are wonderful.

We shine in ways we couldn't even begin to imagine. Augustus - the main male character - wanted to be big, to be large, to show the world he was a hero - in a big way, in a small way, he wanted to be known by the world. I think we all want to. And I think we don't truly appreciate or realize the effect we have on the people around us. Augustus was a hero - maybe not to the world - but to Hazel...and to me. I think the outlook that Green wrote into his character, or that Ansel Elgort portrayed for that matter, was a breath of fresh air and a beautiful view I can only strive to hold. There was a humor and lightheartedness in death. The death was inevitable, it was life they could celebrate and enjoy. 

Green dealt with love, the greatest and truest part of life almost anyone desires to experience. 

  "I'm in love with you and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."

"As he read I fell in love the way you fall asleep: slowly, and then all at once."

It took his players by storm, it overtook them like a wave overtaking the shore and swept them away into this imperfect perfection of truth and reality.

In this world we live in, I think there is little to keep us alive. There is not much we have...

“There will come a time when all of us are dead. All of us. There will come a time when there are no human beings remaining to remember that anyone ever existed or that our species ever did anything. There will be no one left to remember Aristotle or Cleopatra, let alone you. Everything that we did and built and wrote and thought and discovered will be forgotten and all of this will have been for naught. Maybe that time is coming soon and maybe it is millions of years away, but even if we survive the collapse of our sun, we will not survive forever. There was time before organisms experienced consciousness, and there will be time after. And if the inevitability of human oblivion worries you, I encourage you to ignore it. God knows that’s what everyone else does.” 

But the one thing that will be remembered, I think, for eternity and beyond, is love. Not in its physical or emotional state or any other state you could fathom for that matter, but in a sense that regardless of life and death, in this world that we live, there will always be love. Somewhere, in some far corner of the world, there is a love that encompasses a people, and those people will share and continue to share the love with a person and a culture and a generation and a nation and a world and a universe and a life. I know that we will end, but love goes on. Not in a love story that is passed, not from a book or a song, but thin inexplicable feeling of perfection in the worst times and someone to share with in the best times. 

Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort captured the spirit and truth behind the characters. The two actors took their characters and made them people. People everyone can relate to. They made them real. 

The Fault in Our Stars captured the real. I can only dream that we, as a people, will be nothing less than real. That we will not hide behind facades or fears. That we will take life by the horns and swing the bull around. That we will say our lives have no fault - we are amazing; we are the lucky ones. 

Okay. Okay.

ADPi Weekend Update: Summer 2K14

Heeeyyyoooo! What's up from Memorial HQ!

Here's a little bit of what we were up to this weekend here at Executive Office.

Saturday morning was a lazy morning for us - we all hit the snooze button more than once! After our lazy start, we decided to hit the mall! After all, we are girls, who could resist?! We went to a HUUUGEE mall in Buckhead and spend the day sifting through racks and racks of clothes. J. Crew, Vineyard Vines, C Wonder, Urban Outfitters, and more! What more could a girl want?

Obviously after a long day of shopping till we dropped, we had to replenish our bodies and reenergize. Lucky for us, Kathryn's uncle owns a restaurant right across the street from where we were! We ate at The Tavern. They served all sorts of delicious food. We had barbeque/queso chips and bruschetta and it was AWESOME. The had so much variety, we all loved it! On the way back home, the storm hit and we all were soaking wet by the time we made it inside; it was definitely worth the great day we had though.

We turned in for a quiet night. A few girls from our new colony at Shorter University got to stay at the house with us. They were here for their Alpha Member Education. We got to hang out and talk with them - they are definitely cool girls and I am so glad that they get to be a part of this awesome sisterhood!

Sunday morning rolled around soon enough. Erin, Lyndsey, and I decided to go to Passion City Church. It was HUGE. Unfortunately, we didn't foresee trouble parking but because of the crowd, we were a little late and missed the worship portion. We still got to hear a great sermon and know for next time to plan for crowds. They film their sermons and post them online so everyone can hear the great messages that they share. Check them out below! ☺

http://www.passioncitychurch.com/watch/

After church, Lyndsey, Abbey, went to the YMCA. We get an away membership while we're here which is great! They took an awesome spin class while I hit up the free weights. After our YMCA adventures we went home and relaxed for the rest of the day. (Except Abby and Kayla who explored Little Five Points - this super cool "hipster" area here in Atlanta - but don't worry, I'll go and check it out and bring back pictures to share!)

At the end of the night we all watched The Bachelorette together! I was super skeptical at first but the show is beginning to grow on me - I still kind of think the concept is stupid, but they dressed up as old people to go on a date! HOW CUTE. And I think we can all agree that Andrew is a jerk and we want him out now.

We're all so excited for our first day tomorrow! Outfits have been laid out and lights are off.

Now it's time for me to lay down and get my beauty rest for a great first day!
Loyally,
Paige ☺