...sophomore year begins!

Lindsey Behler and I out on a Friday night!

one of my roommates Annie Weber, who is best friends with my friend that went to St. Edward's (kindergarten-8th grade)

Sorority activities! After a long hard week of recruitment practice (from 8 am - 9 pm everyday) some of the girls in the house got us a bounce house obstacle course and a velcro wall. It was a nice break from all the dancing, singing and stomping around.

I love being back in Boulder. I also love living in my sorority house. It is so weird to have all of your friends in the same house! If you want to go out there is always someone who wants to go with you; if you want to stay in a watch a movie there is someone who wants to do that too! Our house is really big...its 4 stories and houses about 75-80 girls!!! Shower time can get a bit chaotic haaha. The difference between my freshman year and this year is so different. I go out and actually know people and I know where my classes are. Speaking of classes, I have an AMAZING schedule (I DONT HAVE CLASS ON FRIDAYS!!!...three day weekends every week...everyones jealous). Don't worry I taking 6 classes: Christian Traditions, Studio Art, Anthropology, an Anthro LAB, Science of Human Communication, and History of Jazz! All of my classes are really interesting and I love all of my professors. Its looking to be a good semester!

Summer Comes to an End...

This summer was jammed packed full of new experiences and life changing events. My summer started off by moving all of my belongings back to California. By the end of my second semester of freshman year I had decided that I wanted to try and transfer to UCLA. I new that it would be a grueling and intricate process which entailed going to Santa Monica College for the summer and an entire year and then re-applying to different UC's, hoping that I would get in for my junior year. It felt so good to be back in California. I missed the beach, my friends and family. There are so many things that I took advantage of when I was at school; small things like a family meal and going to church every Sunday with my family or just laying out in my back yard poolside with George Bailey. 

Cami Chapus

Carli Chapus

Claire-bear Chapus (aka...child)

Nico Chapus

Christian Chapus

 Elodie Chapus

I didn't settle back into my house in San Clemente too much because I moved up to Los Angeles after too weeks of being back in California. The lovely Chapus family was gracious enough to host me for the summer while I worked and went to summer school. The mother of the clan of six, Victoria, went to grade school with both of my parents, and high school with my mom. I had so much fun with all of the kids and they all hold a special place in my heart. 

I had a job at Nordstrom for the summer, which was a slightly dangerous environment for me to work in, considering my obsession with clothes and shoes haha. It was a great learning experience. Along with my job, I attended Santa Monica College for a summer school course: Algebra for Business...note to self: never take an accelerated math course that is condensed over summer haha. I had to take this course because UCLA would not accept the math credit that I took at CU. 

As the summer was coming to a close my parents decided to have a talk with me to figure out what the year was going to look like. They realized that I was not as happy and that something was not quite right. My dad felt that I would be happier if I went back to Boulder. I had not even thought about going back until he brought it up. He told me to go to the beach, watch the sunset and write a list of pros and cons. My mom and dad always give me the best words of advice, but this task changed my life/future. After writing my list the pros of CU Boulder completely outweighed the pros of UCLA. I came home and my dad asked me "so...what did you decide?". I responded with the biggest smile that I wanted to go back to Boulder. Luckily, I never notified the school that I was not planning on coming back, so I was still considered a student...I just never registered for classes (the registration deadline was in a week...how lucky was that?!). The morning after I decided that I wanted to go back I contacted my sorority house, Kappa Alpha Theta, to see if there was any room for me to live-in. I also registered for classes...of course, getting the IDEAL schedule. Within two hours of emailing Theta I got a response telling me that I was in a triple with two of my really good friends. I couldn't believe how everything was falling into place perfectly...assuring me that I made the right decision. The only thing that I was surprised about was that I had to move into Theta in a week! Within that week I quit my job, finished summer school, pack everything that I could possibly fit into 3 suitcases and fly to Boulder by Saturday!

 

back in Boulder with the besties!

I LOVE being back! I didn't realize how much I missed the view of the Flatirons, my friends, the small college town of Boulder, the beautiful architecture, and the amazing visual surroundings. 

ONE DAY WITHOUT SHOES

THANK YOU TO EVERYONE WHO HELPED SUPPORT ME!

There were so many amazing things that came out of this event. I have grown so much and learned so much along the way. The first thing that I did when I found out my internship challenge with TOMS Shoes was call my mom. She helped me get a lot of ideas to promote the event. The event was promoted in the paper on Thursday morning (the day of the event)! I had one girl come up to me and ask if I was Devon Luke...she read about the TOMS event in the paper! It was really cool to see the impact that I was making (http://www.coloradodaily.com/news/2009/apr/15/one-day-without-shoes-cu-colorado-toms-boulder/). I was also on the radio! The local Boulder community radio had me come into the studio for the interview (the recording of the interview is below). My Aussi cousin, Margie Warrell, who wrote the book "Find Your Courage!", was nice enough to put the event and my promotion code in her newsletter. Also, my sorority counted the event as a community service opportunity, which was awesome! On Wednesday, two of the TOMS campus reps and I had a table set up telling people about the event, handing out fliers, and selling the shirts that I hand made (the first picture). 

I think the task that I most proud of achieving was getting the event approved. On Thursday (the week prior to the event), I went into the events and scheduling office and talked to the woman in charge of all events. She discouraged me by telling me that I had to get 10 different people's approvals. She also said that it would take THREE WEEKS! The first thing that I told her was, if I want it to happen, it will happen! And it did. I got all 10 approvals in 4 DAYS! When I went into her office the day before the event to get the final approval she looked at me and told me that she was extremely impressed and she has never seen someone get approvals so fast. 

The day of the event was finally here and I was just glad that everything was done and I promoted the event in every way that I thought possible. It was gorgeous and sunny on Wednesday, but of course, the bipolar weather of Boulder decided that it should be 40 degrees and RAINING! Being a dedicated TOMS potential intern...I WENT BAREFOOT...for the majority of the day. Let me tell you, I appreciate my shoes more than anyone I know. The turnout for the walk was not so great. The weather turned down a lot of the confirmed walkers on facebook (96 people were confirmed to join the cause to raise awareness). But, there was nothing that I could do about the weather. There were about 10 people on the walk and we got asked by a lot of people, "Why aren't you wearing shoes!!!!????". So, I guess even though there weren't a lot of people we still did out job of raising awareness. 

My promo code is still open and TOMS is still looking to see how my sales are going. So, if you feel compelled to support the cause, please visit www.tomsshoes.com and enter odwssaP1HR3Z2ES when you are checking out! I still need all of the help that I can get! You can also read more about the cause and the TOMS story on the website above.

My Birthday Weekend Extravaganza!

Roomie! -Saturday night!
Dinner at Ai Sushi
Caitlan Martinez - Santa Margarita alumni who introduced me to Theta and convinced me to join!
My big sis - Jenna Villatoro 
My date to Theta Formal - Kevin Anderson

It was definitely different to not be home for my birthday this year. My friends really made me feel special and we had so much fun! On Thursday night, my friends and I went to a house party and the celebration started at midnight! Friday was pretty mellow, I had two classes and most of my friends had class all day. I had made reservations at a restaurant called Ai Sushi for 7:30. Unfortunately, we had to wait an hour and a half for our chef to come and cook hamachi for us. Being poor college students ahaha, we complained and got a 15% discount, our drinks taken care of, and an AMAZING sushi tower roll! After dinner we walked outside to pouring rain! It NEVER rains in Boulder, so that was odd, and no one would go out in the rain, so Lauren and I went back to our room. We watched a movie and went to bed. I told my mom that I was literally taking a "rain check". Saturday was Theta's Spring Formal. I took my friend Kevin Anderson as my date. He went to the public high school (Tesoro) right next to Santa Margarita. He was a really fun date! We left the dance early, at around 10:00, and I met up with my friends so that we could re-celebrate my birthday. It was a really fun weekend! Thanks to everyone who sent me a birthday wish!

Spring Break

It was soooo nice to come home, even though it was just for a week. I went to 2 of Bennett's St. Edward's volleyball games, and I will say that I was very impressed by the coaching staff (...Joan Luke ;) ).  I also ventured up to my Alma Mater, Santa Margarita to watch Dante's swim meet and Braxton's volleyball game. It was fun to go back and say hi to my coaches and teachers and catch up on all the new things that were happening with the school. Braxton has grown so much!!! It makes me sad that I have to reach up to hug him. It was awesome to see him play volleyball. He has improved soooo much and he is really coming into his own. George Bailey was happy to see me and it made me miss sleeping with him every night. I got to see some of my friends, but most of them had different spring breaks, so not a lot of people were home. One of the highlights of my trip was running with my mom on the beach trail right before the sunset. I was sooo lucky to have amazing weather while I was home. I even went to the beach...which was extremely needed, considering my dad told me that "I had a nice shade of Boulder on me"...aka WHITEEEE. I was lucky enough to celebrate the American citizenship of Tess Jonas! Liz took me out to lunch, at my favorite restaurant Antoines!!! It's always fun to catch up with her; it brought back memories of New York, when she chaperoned Christine and I for half of the trip. Lastly, my family celebrated my birthday early, since I wasn't going to be home. We had the Newton's over and had dinner and cake. It was a great way to end the break. It's crazy to think that I will be FINISHED with my freshman year in a MONTH!!!!!

Santa Barbara

While attending CU, I have come across many small world situations. One in particular: one of my best friends Bree told me that he friend was coming out to visit her (this was during first semester). When her friend got here, I met her and went back to my room. Bree and Chealsie went to Pearl Street (an outdoor mall, down the street) to look for an outfit for an 80's party. When they came back, Chealsie threw my door open and asked me if I had a sister named Dante and a an Uncle Mike Luke???!!!! I realized that when I would go to my Uncle Mike's house in Carlsbad his neighbor had 2 daughters that Dante and I would always play with. It was Chealsie!!!! 

The first weekend of my spring break I took the train up to Santa Barbara to celebrate Chealsie's birthday with Bree and my other friends from CU at SBCC (Santa Barbara City College). It was really cool to experience a different school in a different location. We had a really fun time and it was cool to be able to celebrate a childhood friends birthday with my new best friends at college.

St. Patrick's Day

Every holiday in Boulder is ALWAYS celebrated...its "Go BIG, or GO HOME!!!"...so of course St. Patrick's Day was a day to be celebrated. Lucky for me I only had one class, that was cancelled. Lauren and I went to Target the night before and bought shirts and cut them to look like dresses. We were matching and it was precious! haha. We started the party at our friends house. Everyone was decked out in their green apparel. Later in the afternoon, we went to a bigger party where a lot of out friends were. After an entire day of events we all went back to the house that we started at and ordered COSMO's Pizza, the best pizza in Boulder! My Aunt Kappa was all dressed up with green hair extentions, green clothes, a green watch, and even GREEN TOES!!!! 

...pictures will be up soon.