Another Year of Rush

Sorority life has been a really fun aspect of college for my daughter. It's one of the many ways that facilitates intimate meaningful relationships within a large university. This year during rush she had a role as rho gamma, a recruitment guide which is kind of like being camp counselor in charge of a group of girls that were rushing. She said it was super fun week and she loved having this role. At the end of rush she was excited about the new pledge class and loves all the new girls. One in particular has an interesting story.

A few months ago I got a random email from a California mom who started reading my blog after her daughter Jessie got admitted to CU. She wrote me to tell me enjoyed the blog and mentioned that she would soon be attending a CU welcome party at a home in her area. I remember the same orientation in our area and wished her a good time and a good year for her daughter.

Well the night of that orientation my daughter got a phone call from her roommate and best friend Savannah exuberant on the other line explaining that this orientation was at HER house, and this new family randomly asked Savannah "you wouldn't happen to know a girl named Chelsea whose mom writes a college/CU blog" Of the 30,000 students at CU, it was a random, shot in the dark question. Savannah replied "YES!!! She is my best friend!!!" SMALL WORLD!!!

Chelsea spotted Jessie during rush and they excitedly introduced each other. Both Chelsea and Savannah just loved Jessie, who ended up pledging Chi O, so now they are sisters and I am happy if my little blog contributed to their introduction in any tiny way.

Chelsea and sisters post-rush

Moving Off Campus and Renting a House

After the ease, comfort, and safety of living in the dorms and sorority house the first 2 years of college, Chelsea has graduated up to renting an off campus house with 9 girls for her junior year. This process was quite an ordeal that gave me a few grey hairs. It started mid-year during her sophomore year that the housing for the following year starts to be negotiated. If we could afford it, I would invest purchasing a house to rent out because these landlords have all the power with housing in demand and I am shocked at the prices they can charge for what they are offering.

Chelsea was thrilled when her group found a house big enough for 10 girls in a good location and they needed to act on it fast. I saw the lease before I saw the house and the lease literally kept me up at night. 10 girls names are on the lease, basically holding everyone responsible for each other should someone drop out, or cannot pay for some reason. No utilities included, landlord has all the power and the lease is for a full year, so there will time (May-Aug) that most girls will not be in school but paying rent. I hoped when I saw the house I would feel better. Not the case. I made a visit in February and the landlord took us on a tour of the house where 10 boys were currently living. The outside looked good, but once I walked through the threshhold I tucked my camera back in my purse not wanting a photographic memory of what I saw. It was the filthiest house I had ever seen. Of the 10 boys it seemed not 1 took charge of clean-up (or they gave up). The trash everywhere was amazing. You couldn't see the coffee table because it was covered in trash. The built in cabinets by the fireplace were adorned with every imaginable empty alochol bottle and 2 kegs nearby. The kitchen was piled high with dishes, the bathrooms- well I could hardly look.

We went upstairs to where Chelsea's attic type room was and it was hard to imagine someone lived in that room. It appeared the bed had fallen apart against a wall and the mattress dragged across the room where it was slept on. Clothes, trash, and everything else was strewn about. I really could not imagine living in that room. The other bedrooms were similar, some not as bad, but I wondered if parents ever visited this house as I would be mortified if my son lived like that. It taught me that when my son is in college that off campus housing will not have so many roommates. More roommates seems like it could get more out of control and even a boy with clean habits might give up on doing the dishes if he is the only one.

The landlord tried to assure me that with girls in the house it will be a whole different story and he would be doing some repair and major cleanup when the boys moved out. Chelsea remained optimistic and felt confident they would make the house nice.

This summer I took a week off work and Chelsea and I drove from California to Colorado for the big move-in. We had a lot of fun spending special one on one time together and the drive was beautiful. She had sorority duties while I shopped around trying to figure out the most economical way to furnish her empty room along with how they would supply common room furniture. On move-in day we worked along with 9 other families like busy bees getting our daughters settled in. The house had been improved alot and cleaned thoroughly.

Her room before

After with a fresh coat of paint, and many target and ikea runs. Chandelier from Urban Outfitters. The house is not recognizable from when the boys lived there. I am so proud at how cute the girls have made it. The houses all around them are college students and it is sure to be a fun year.

The girls sent this photo to us after a few weeks as someone learned about not using dish soap in the dishwasher. All I could see in the photo was a clean kitchen!


It is hard to believe her junior year is in full swing and I am entrenched in the application process with my high school senior son. Time is flying too fast!

College Tours

My daughter is now finished with her 2nd year of college at CU Boulder which has been going great for her. My focus lately has been encouraging our 11th grade son to keep his grades up, and we have been taking some college tours this spring to get ready for college applications this summer.

The college tour process has been really fun for us. Josh has a tight group of buddies with similar interests when looking at schools. So we have coordinated looking at schools together and gone as a group to a few schools with the boys and their moms. Rather than blow in and out of a school with a quick tour and onto the next, we have tried to make the trip long enough for the boys to really get a feel for the campus and town. At all of our tours so far, we have been in touch with a current student at the campus that either the boys or the parents know, hoping to get an insider's view on what their experience has been. At a few of the campus' the boys went out with the insider at night to get a feel for the nightlife and meet other students to really picture if they could fit in there. I have a friend who had so many schools to visit with her son last year that they would take cross country red-eye flights, arriving in the early morning to rush to a school tour and head to another school in the afternoon. I don't feel an exhausting trip like that would create a favorable impression of a school.

We have made our trips as economical as possible by sharing the cost on car rentals and scouting for inexpensive hotels and air fare. I have previously posted that before our daughter went away to college, we started putting all of our household purchases on our Marriott Visa to build up those points and use for college related trips to visit her, or now visit schools. Our next visit to TCU in Texas next month will be free accomodations using our Marriott points.

I am hoping that our college tours are helping our son not only narrow down his list but also get him excited and stay motivated that this hard work his junior year will pay off with good options for him. It has also been a fun time to spend with him one on one and at each campus I find myself getting a little teary at moments thinking that before long he will be flying off too.

At University of Oregon waiting for the campus tour

At CU Boulder getting a fraternity tour by a family friend

Holiday Gift Ideas for the College Student

Besides the gift of being able to go away to college, I am currently rounding up my gift ideas for my daughter in college. Gift certificates to her favorite places at school make fun stocking stuffers like restaurants and nail salons that she normally has to be very careful spending her monthly allowance on. Since she gets cold weather and snow where she is, practical warm weather gear like boots and scarves usually make her list.

For the college student who will be going away for the first time, these dorm survival kits make a fun stocking stuffer and are on sale for $15.99 until Christmas at Charmingingcards.com.

These blinged out push pins are fun too.

Receiving gifts from our daughter with her college logo like t-shirts and sweatshirts are fun to receive from her, so I always put those on my own list of wishes. She can get her shopping done while at school which is practical if her break starts close to Christmas. She will be home this week and I can't wait to have her here for 3 weeks!

The Other Side of Rush

I have barely heard from my daughter the last week. This was expected since she was going through rush for 5 extremely busy days. This time she was on the other side of the process as a member of the sorority Chi Omega and recruiting new pledges. I was amazed at how time consuming the process is. She moved back to school a week early for an intensive week of all day practices. After school started they continued working hard during evenings and weekends working on their skits, songs, and the activities surrounding the pending rush week. Being a part of the greek system is definitely a time commitment, but can also be a very fulfilling piece of college life. Here she is in the final days before rush making decorations.

How cute is this!

Finally on bid day they celebrated their hard work and success and are thrilled with their new pledge class!

She is now spending the weekend with her nose to the grind studying for a big test on Monday. We are also making plans to fly her home in a few weeks- can't wait!

Keeping Shirts and Uniforms for a Memory Quilt

My daughter has been back to school 3 weeks now and my 2 youngers sons start jr high and high school tomorrow. With my second child starting 11th grade, it has been hitting me lately how much our nest here is changing and I am anticipating how hard it will be when he too is off to college. While getting ready for school, I have cleaned out the boys closets and drawers to start school fresh and clean and make room for some new clothes. As I was about to put some old t-shirts in the goodwill bag, I remembered a friend saved her daughters t-shirts from sports and clubs over the years and had them made into a memory quilt similar to the one in this picture. I have decided to do the same for my boys as graduation gifts someday, so have now set aside their shirts from Indian Guides, little league uniforms, high school sports and clubs, our neighborhood swim team, etc. I think it will be a neat gift to take with them to college and use their childhood memories to keep them warm.

Moving Back To CU

Well the summer flew by and before we knew it, it was time to move Chelsea back for her sophomore year at CU Boulder. I think she had mixed emotions as she was packing....she enjoyed her summer here a lot but was excited to see her college friends again and get back to the school routine. We decided to take along her 8 year old cousin Ava who adores Chelsea and is a mini-mom and big helper. We thought she would enjoy seeing what a sorority house looks like in person. Her Grandma was supposed to meet us for the weekend, but sadly a death in our family changed those plans and cut my trip short a day.

So here is home sweet home until May- not too shabby! Her Chi Omega house is beautiful which she will share with 80 other girls. We were happy to find that the boxes we had stored all summer by CSS Storage all arrived on time and were waiting for us in the lobby. The hard part was lugging them all up to the 3rd floor, along with all of her luggage. It was a hot day and we were sweating, but the adrenaline kept us going and by the evening we had completely unpacked and had her things set up in her room.

She has a quad- meaning she shares her room with 3 other girls. One of the girls changed her plans over the summer and decided not to return to CU, so they have an empty bed they said would come in handy when friends come to visit. Chelsea's bed is under the empty one.

Organizing her closet was key. We moved dressers out of the closets and made them fit along the walls so they had the full closet space for their belongings. We did a lot of shifting furniture to get the room to the best configuration. The girls each have their own closet and will use the extra closet from the missing 4th roommate for their bulky coats and winter things. Again, the expandable hangers were important to maximize the closet space.

Next was getting her desk organized and decorated to feel like her personal space. When Paris, her yorkie was pinned to the wall we all announced "Paris has entered the building.".... I have a feeling that poster will travel with her every year through college. That and her pink Christmas tree which is so random, but whatever works! We made a trip to Target to get a few items and toiletries. Nothing like last year when we had to purchase so many things.

We enjoyed a few nice dinners out at her favorite restaurants in town where we continually ran into friends.


Before we too long it was time to say goodbye. There were a few tears, actually Ava cried most of the way to the airport and apparently had a hard time getting to sleep that night. Chelsea and I have been texting all week and while she might have felt a little homesick at first, I think she is settling in and is very busy practicing for rush all week. Last year I left her a scrapbook under her pillow and this time I left a gift certificate to a mani/pedi at a fun nail spa in town.

I feel a twinge of sadness every time I walk by her empty room but I am very excited for the fun year she has ahead of her and how fortunate she is to have this experience. I am now making plans for family weekend in October which may be the next time we see her.