a birthday toast.

Mmmk, I've officially decided that I love my birthday, even if this announcement is a couple of weeks late (that's kind of my MO). It's freakin' awesome. Why would I not like a day where people tell me they love me and give me presents???

But, that's just it. It's hard for me to think this about my birthday. I don't like people making a big deal of me. I don't like getting to have the spotlight on me.

This year, I realized that's a silly way of thinking. Straight up silly.

That's not who I am. That's not what I'm about. I'm about celebration. CELEBRATION, people. And, if I can't accept the one day of the year when people are allowed to celebrate me, why should I get to celebrate everyone else? It just doesn't make sense. I want to be someone who is all about birthdays, my own included.

So, instead of feeling awkward because of all the attention, I thank all of the people in my life who celebrated me this year. It was one of the best birthdays yet. You made me feel loved. Thank you from the bottom of my heart.

Here's a couple of my favorite moments from my birthday celebration:

Cupcakes were a theme: Jon & Jasmine both brought some to our meeting.

Bestie Amanda sent me a BIRTHDAY IN A BOX! awesome. 

Mama & Papa Miller sent me some beautiful flowers!

A night out on the town with my birthday buddy, David. Plus, I get to wear a crown. Fun.

My Alpha Phi besties threw me a "midnight party" complete with decorations and singing. 

french fries, gold stars, and pillow fights.

I'm all over this Alpha Phi thing recently. It's everywhere I look and everywhere I go.

This might be a new revelation to me, but it's this kind of thing, this being part of a sorority that is actually teaching me things in college. Sure, going to class to learn about sociological theory is important too. But, let's be real. I'm learning more in my experiences in Young Life, in my Admissions job, and in Alpha Phi. These are the kind of experiences that will help me when I'm out of college, the ones that I will use to get jobs and put on my resume. I'm learning to work with others, to deal with conflict, to be creative, to delegate, to lead. Can't learn that in a classroom setting. Just saying. I'm all about the experience, bro. (I don't know why, but that seemed like a really relevant sentence for this post.) 

I'm continuing my journey of learning in Alpha Phi by being on the Executive Board for next year. I'm the Vice President of Membership Recruitment. Sounds official, huh? It's going to be a hard job, full of lots of questions and not a lot of answers. But, that's the best part. I know that I will learn something through it.

We started off our Exec term by heading to our Alpha Phi Regional Conference last weekend. So great to spend a weekend with these other six girls who I will be growing with over the next year. We learned a lot already and spent some quality time going psycho. We were the ones sitting in the corner laughing loudly at inappropriate times while everyone stared at us. We were the ones who snuck out of the hotel at 2am to go get McDonald's because they didn't feed us enough, dang it, and we were really, really hungry.

So, here's to a year of adventure and difficulty and fun, all at the same time. I'm so glad that we're doing it together.

it's what it's all about.

In a time of overwhelmingness and feeling like my life is revolving around other people's schedules and needs of me, I have felt like Young Life has become a to-do list item. I go, I hang out, I cross it off my list. I think of an idea, I execute it, and it gets a checkmark.

But, that's the last attitude that I want. I know that Young Life is so much more than that. It's the life part of it. It's the relationship. 

I thank Jesus and the gods of YouTube that led me to find this video from our banquet last fall. It's a beautiful reminder that I'm a part of Young Life because of these girls and these people. Because I love them. And because it will always be worth it. 

peace, love, and alpha phi.

The Alpha Phi fun continues. One of my favorite parts of sorority life is that we are split into "families." We have "little sisters" and "big sisters." Last year, I got two little sis's. It was the best. This year, each of those girls got their own little sis. 

And, of course, I would be part of the Hippie Fam. But, it's fine. I'm not alone. I'm pretty sure that our family of hippies could be an actual family. We don't shower as often, we love to just throw up the peace sign, and we can braid our hair together and it actually looks like we're the same person with the same hair. 

Either way, I'm so happy that these two girls are part of the Hippie Fam. Welcome Mel & Jenny! 

a tribute to overalls.

My dearest Overalls,

Thank you for being you. Thank you for being the best outfit to wear, ones that just says, I'm different and I know it and I love it. Thank you for matching with a lot of different themes; Christmas, Amurica, and Rave. I love that we have spent so much time together over the past months; at a Xmas party, at a frat party, and at YL club. Thank you for showing up when I most needed you last summer. I know that you like to play hard-to-find and are so special of an article of clothing. Thanks for being fun and for making me seem fun right along with you. You're beautiful. Don't change. 

Your best bud,

Abby 

let's get weird.

Let's just celebrate something real quick, okay? My camera, PACO and I have been spending significant amounts of time together this semester. I'm taking more pictures for my Office of Admission job, and also am currently enrolled in ART 303: Photography. What, what.

So every week, PACO and I, along with my trusty art assistant-weird encourager-friend Olivia, head out into the world to take some pics and make some art. And to get weird.

I really don't think there is any other way to be creative. Really. Think about an idea, take a risk, fail, try again, think of something else even weirder. And, it works. Exact quote from my professor...

"It makes me happy to see that you guys are willing to get so weird so early on in the semester." 

Thank you, Gautum Rao my little Indian professor friend, thank you.

Here's a little preview of my first few class assignments. Yes, I took pictures of a Kleenex box. Yes, it's weird. Would you expect any less?

baby phi bears.

This post is a little late in coming, as are a lot of things in my life. I've decided that there really is no way to do the first six weeks of second semester in a healthy and "on-top-of-it" way. There is just too much to do and too little time to do it. And so, just like in my real life, I have so many things I want to say and not enough time to say it. I have too many things to blog about and not enough time in my day to make that happen.

That aside, one of the main reasons why these months of January & February are so cray cray is the addition of oh, about five hundred Alpha Phi activities. Let's just pretend its a #tbt and go back a couple weeks now, shall we? (p.s. #tbt stands for throw back thursday, for those of you that might be confused and over the age of 25.) 

So, close your eyes & let's head back to January 13th. Bid Day.

I spent this year of Recruitment as a "Recruitment Counselor." Pretty much, I was a Young Life leader to freshmen/sophomore girls that were going through sorority rush. Which may seem like a silly analogy because after all, what's more important, getting into the "right" sorority or loving Jesus. Let's be real, people.

But, it was an amazing five days. Emotionally draining, emotionally exhausting, happy, sad, mad, fun, weird, annoying. I'm not kidding, I think I felt every emotion possible to humankind in those five days. I was feeling my own emotions and the emotions of my friends and the emotions of the girls in my counseling group. It was Young Life camp, but for sororities. I felt the same way. Let's just pretend that the metaphor works and makes sense.

Anyways, get to the point, Abby. After a week of that, the Recruitment counselors get to go back to their houses, be with our best friends, and realize that there may be a lot of shallow reasons why sororities are not important, but there are also a lot of reasons why this is one of the best things I've done in college. Oh, and we get 57 new girls who are now Alpha Phi's too. That's the cray cray part.

the five alpha phi-best friend-recruitment counselors.

my beautiful recruitment group. you know they thought i was weird and obnoxious, but hopefully secretly loved me.

count 'em. 57. holy crap.

This is my life. It's wonderful and crazy and busy, but it's surrounding by beautiful women like this. Wouldn't trade it any other way.