Sisterhood Night
 

Sisterhood Night is Wednesday for us. We have made some major changes to it this year.

For Sisterhood Night we are wearing bright colored sweatersets, black skirts, and our lavalieres. We have pictures everywhere--on the table, on the lattices--some are blown up and others are pictures we normally have framed in our room. We have a really cool sisterhood video this year, with fun music and pictures from events--social, service, just hangin' out, etc. Then we talk about some of our sisterhood traditions, specifically the Cookie Shine. We have sort of a mock CS set up (mock because our CS sheet is multi-Pi-Phi-colored and rush rules only allow for solid colored sheets---gotta love rush rules!) for the PNMs to look at and we talk about how our traditions bring us closer together. After that we just have general talking and more browsing of the pictures. I'm really excited about the changes made to this night... I can't wait to see how it goes... :)

Pref Nite
 

I'm late on this... Oh well!

I'm actually serving as a pref night co-chair this year. We've made a lot of changes and I think this year's pref night is going to rule.

We have pref singers every year that sing entrance and exit songs as well as a special Pi Phi song... I think it will be really pretty. When the PNMs come in with us we take them upstairs (all our rush occurs on the second floor, per Panhel rules), we have pairs of chairs with end tables scattered around our dining hall with a big flower arrangement/prettiness in the center of the room. We talk for a bit (working up to seriousness), and then we have the pref ceremony. It's a new ceremony--Our TGC helped us with it and we're really excited. It has candles and speaker who talk about the light of Pi Phi and how it brings forth all our best characteristics and appreciates them... And at the end, our Pres talks a bit, and then our secretary tells her story (her mother died her freshmen year, and it's very moving). Then the pref singers sing the pref song (this year it's a Pi Phi version of "Now and Forever"). Then we go back to the seats and do the final push. And as we go out we hand each a pearl and let her drop into a fountain on the way out and tell her to make a wish. :)

Ok, I think that's it. I am so excited about rush, I've been dreaming about it a lot... Exams start up tomorrow so I probably won't be posting a lot this coming week... And after that is strict silence. I'll be around but I'm going to keep it fairly quiet just in case there are any PNMs online. I'll let you know on bid day (January 10) how everything went! And hopefully have funny/happy stories!!!!

Pref sounds so gorgeous and I can't wait to hear what each of the other parties is like!

Actually I already wrote about the other nights... :cool:

PPL carnation!!! I have my fingers crossed.... ;)

Whoops, my bad! What I meant was that I want to hear about each night as rush comes along! You'll get to make at least a brief post, right?

And I want K to be our sister and I'll see what I can do to encourage that from this end while she's home! Maybe she and BlazerCheer and Ballerina need to get together!

I will post *something*. We have a very small school and a very competitive rush, so I have to be sure to mind my P's and Q's. But I don't think that will prevent me from posting a little bit each day. :) :) I can't wait!!! I can tell my life is just going to be rush that week. :D

AHHHHH!!! I just got back to school!!! Rush starts in TWO DAYS!!! We have workshop all day tomorrow.... SOOOOO EXCITED! I will be sure to post for y'all!!

OK! I just woke up the first morning of classes and.... RUSH!

I'm going downstairs to start decorating now! I am soooo busy this week trying to write job applications, decorate, paint my nails, oh, and go to class!

I'm soooo excited! Wish me luck! I'll post after philanthropy night is over!

Good luck, breathesgelatin!!! You and your chapter are going to do terrific!! And good luck getting everything finished! :)

Good luck breathesgelatin!!!!

I can't wait to hear how it goes!

Philanthropy Night!
 

Hi all! Thanks for the words of encouragement!

PHILANTHROPY NIGHT WENT SO WELL!

I felt like we really kept our energy up for all the parties and sang and rushed our hearts out! Except for one, I already knew the PNMs I talked to, so I felt really prepared and poised. The one I did not know was very talkative and asked a lot of great questions about philanthropies and seemed compatible with our chapter's values. I was very impressed by her! And all of the other four PNMs (one of which has been a total rush crush all along) I had were awesome too. I could tell some were a little nervous (one asked me three times what I did over break!) but I thought that was very understandable and actually kind of cute! On the first night sometimes it's hard to remember what you've already asked! Our new craft of the angels (for the Children's Medical Center in DC--going to two programs, one for children with AIDS and another for children traumatized by the Pentagon or sniper attacks) went very well. The PNMs got really creative with sequins and such. We had one mishap with a glitter pen but luckily that was at the last party and our superb floaters rushed us paper towels... Overall very positive feelings about it all! I have one really funny/weird story but I don't want to write about that, although I will answer PMs if you want a big laugh. :) :) :) :) :) :) I think it went well! Our chapter has had problems in the past but I think this will be a really good year for us. Positivity rules!

Also--I've never done this before, so I don't know if what I've written is kosher--please please please let me know if I've gone too far in my descriptions so I can edit if needed. I want to give you all a fun story but don't want to create any weirdness either. All you Panhellenic rush-minded people, help me out!

BTW, Fraternity rush starts tomorrow (or I guess today) here. My boyfriend is a Pike so of course I'm rooting for them but I have a lot of close friends in all the groups. So go boys! :)

Time for me to get some beauty rest!

Skit Night
 

Skit night went well. We improved our return rate this year which was exciting.

I had a variety of PNMs, not any that I was really good friends with but mostly ones I knew and a few I didn't know at all. I thought all of them were pretty nice. I had one that was the perfect PNM--she had so many questions and had the cutest clothes. We had a few problems with bumping going slowly because we have a limited space to use--just the dining hall of our sorority until tomorrow when we can use the parlor too. with the skit backdrops and PNM seating, there isn't much extra room to squeeze around. *sigh* rush rules... I felt really good because one of the PNMs we have really been rushing hard told me that she loves seeing our sisterhood and she feels like she knows everyone and is really welcome. Then she said "This is my favorite house and I love being here" and I was like SCORE! She got nervous after saying that I think she thought she "went too far"--but totally not we love her! So I hope to see her back. I also talked to two girls that we are really, really, really, really fighting for with our "rival" sorority--I'm hoping!

Our skit went really well. This year it was partially improvised onstage and I don't know if the PNMs will see that as being unpolished or as being unique and individual. I thought it was a lot of fun and our dances were really cool. I had fun, I love being in front of people.

Sisterhood Night
 

Oh my gosh y'all... I am so excited about tonight. We had a really good return rate and some super PNMs!!

I had a lot of fun. I talked to my rush crush as well as three other awesome girls. At one party I got to float for a bit so I tried to welcome every PNM I knew at the party. It was just a lot of fun to share our sisterhood stories with the girls. I think they enjoyed our video and the Cookie Shine segment went over well too. One of our moms made these GORGEOUS angel cookies that were delicious, too.

Overall I can't wait for pref tomorrow. I think that we are going to have some awesome girls return! :)

Good luck! It sounds like things are going great, and I hope you get some wonderful ladies!

AHHHH!!! We have 62 PNMs coming back for pref and quota is set at 36! I'm sooooooo excited! We start in about an hour!