So, Now I'm in Texas

This has truly been the summer of traveling for me! From studying abroad in Austria, to flying across the USA for an Alaskan Cruise, to now. I feel like I have truly spent my last summer before true adulthood so well!

While in Austria, I got a job opportunity to come back to Texas and work for Duke TIP again! If you missed any of my posts from last summer about my adventures at Texas A&M, check them out here. Anyways, on the Sunday night before I left to come home and then fly out to Alaska I got hired to work at Rice University as Duke TIPs Residential Program Assistant!

A quick background scoop on Duke TIP is that it is a program for high school students who have been identified as gifted and talented. So, these amazing and wonderful students come to one of the multiple sites that Duke TIP provides and they receive a college level academic experience and a ton of residential activities.

Unfortunately, because of travel plans I had to come 5 days late so I couldn't be here the entire term but, I have loved every second of working with the staff and these amazing TIPsters. Last year after working for TIP, all I thought about was coming back. When an opportunity to study abroad came up, I had to make a really tough decision. So, as you know I chose to see the world, but I still lived vicariously through my friends who were working for TIP. When I got an email asking if I was available to be an RPA at Rice University I knew it was meant to be! After freaking out to my study abroad friends, frantically emailing my mom to see if I could go, and sending an apologetic..."It's only two more weeks" email to my lovely boyfriend; I committed to spend the rest of my summer at TIP. It still feels so weird to be here, I mean how could I be so lucky to have all of my hopes for the summer to come true? I saw the world, spent time with my family, and got to work for a program I love!

Anyways, for the past week and the rest of this week as an RPA my duties include: writing and publishing posts on the Parent Blog, help coordinating evening activities, Dances & Termbook/Slideshow Chair, and basically doing anything that needs to get done! Since I came late into the game I was worried that it would be hard to get into the swing of things, but my bosses are great and my good friend, Brandon an RC that I worked with last year has been so helpful.

I have loved my experience with TIP... but, I've discovered that I can no longer stay up all hours of the night and I've also discovered that I probably won't ever live in Houston (voluntarily)... or if I did I would just never ever drive on the roads around here because they are just genuinely terrible. I don't know whats happening but, the drivers are aggressive, the road conditions are awful, and driving has become such a stressful activity. Oh and Houston has officially attacked my curly hair, because the whole hot & extremely humid thing is just not working...

I've been able to do so many cool things these past two weeks. I've gotten in both my Sonic and Whataburger fixes for the year... if you've never had a honey butter chicken biscuit then, unfortunately you've never lived. I have explored Rice University and have learned all about the different colleges at Rice and traditions like Beer Bike and other various activities! Rice University also has really good food. I love their healthy food options and I've been taking pictures of the things I like so maybe my university can start making it too! Oh they also have Blue Bell ice cream available at all meals, like how cool is that! If you don't know what Blue Bell ice cream is then, you also haven't lived! If I could send you some I definitely would :)

Winter Wonderland Program: Watched Elf and had an Elf themed dessert!
*Disclaimer: It is actually really gross, but strangely enjoyable to eat*

The awesome Residential Staff! 

clearly going to be a burger bun for Halloween

We always do a night out with the TIPsters and last Friday night we went to the Sugar Land Skeeters game versus The Lancaster's Barnstormers. The Skeeters lost, but technically the Barnstormers are closer to my actual home so, I cheered for them! And after the third inning, me and three other res staff members participated in one of the sideline shows. Basically, what you see above is us dressed up in burger buns and we had to build a burger. When I originally said yes, I thought I would physically build an eatable burger... well, that is not what the activity was. Basically, the bottom bun had to run across the field and the top bun had to run back and forth adding the different ingredients like the patty or lettuce, while racing the other group of burger builders. Once the ingredients were on top of the bottom burger, the top bun had to jump on top to make it complete. Well, I was the top bun and not only was this a thrilling activity but, it was also an incredible workout! So, its not every day that you get to wear a bun costume and build a burger in front of an entire group of people :)

So, that is just a little update on what I've been up to! I'll officially be home in a week and although I love my TIP family, I can't wait to be home with my actual family and be able to finally see J. I don't know what I did to deserve such a patient man, but I am constantly thanking God for sending me so many blessings!

This Summer's Highlights {Link Up}

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This summer has definitely been the best one yet! Although I spent 80% of it away from my family and friends, I made new friends and great memories in Texas! 

Here is a recap of some of my Summer Highlights and what I did from May 15th- August 3rd! On Sunday, August 4th my summer will end as I move back to college and start AC and then RA training. But, that is really exciting too because I can't wait to start my new job and meet my new staff. 

Before, I left I spent time with my closest friends from the Mount

and modeled  bathroom decorations, drank milkshakes, did yard work and so much more.

I also spent a week in OC with friends from High School. It was a great mini vacation

before my big trip to Texas!

While working at Texas A&M, I spent my day off with my aunt, uncle, and cousins visiting 

the Blue Bell Factory! Blue Bell is a type of ice-cream for anyone who doesn't know! 

I got all dressed up several times for the dances with the Duke TIP! 

This picture's dance theme was the Great Gatsby. At these dances I learned 

how to line dance which is so much fun. 

During my week off in between the two sessions I spent time with some Duke TIP staff members in 

San Antonio on the River Walk and going to a Schlitterbahn, water park...

We also saw the Alamo while in San Antonio, which was cool! Totally 

got to squeeze in a bit of touristy attractions on the trip. 

 I spent the 4th of July with the Duke TIP Staff! We all got Sonic drinks and went to watch

the fireworks on top of one of the parking garages at TAMU! It wasn't like my typical

4th of July in OBX, NC... but it was fun standing with around with Aggies and watching the 

George W. Bush Presidential Library put on a firework show. 

This is Danielle, one of my closest friends on staff at Duke TIP TAMU! I miss her so much already and

she is an amazing person. This picture was taken at the Staff vs. Tipster Ultimate Frisbee Game 

which the staff always wins... not saying much since we are older but still great!

And after two months of being in Texas, I finally was reunited with some of my greatest pals back in MD for an Orioles Game! I'm with my two best girlies and their boyfriends! Also, special shout out to the guy on the right. Matt, you rock and stick with the training at the Naval Academy. 

So, how did y'all spend your summer? What were your favorite

moments? Write your post and share below! Can't wait to connect. 

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One Full Kind of Day

My girls get so many packages. I'm
so glad they are loved... and that they share
their treats :)

Thursday through Sunday is the longest day of the week. Yes, I know it is technically four days but, this week it felt like just one giant day of exhausted fun.

Whether it was the 4 of 5 hour 'naps' that I got a night or constant flow of work needing to be done... it was just a long day. However, even though my eyes have burned every morning I have put my contacts in and really late at night I get into giggle fits that I can not suppress, I have had the greatest time.

So, lets do a little bit of recapping for how this weekend went:

Thursday, I have transport duty which is an 8am-4pm shift... Usually transport duty doesn't go all day... but, this Thursday the other RC and I had one long to-do list!

We went everywhere from Hobby Lobby, to the Post Office, to Target. We got supplies for events and activities for the weekend and even made it back in time for our 3pm staff meeting.

Later Thursday night, the Scavenger Hunt committee got together and began preparing the packages for all the RCs to hold while on the hunt. It was A LOT of work... We didn't realize that by glueing all the clues on to the cards and stuffing all of them in the envelopes and then making sure they were all numbered correctly, would be such a process, but boy were we pleasantly surprised. Thankfully, we finished the last packet around 2am and we could finally call it a night.


On Friday, I started my day off with Breakfast Duty... Breakfast Duty is from 7:30am-9am and normally can be really boring, however I discovered that instead of just standing in place and watching the Tipsters go to breakfast, I can just walk back and forth on the path and get a good workout in. It can be a little tedious just walking back and forth, but it also helps me monitor all the tipsters which is great.

After, breakfast duty I did some committee work and took a cat nap. Then, had lunch with some tipsters. Went on a transport run and the rest was just one task after another after another.

We had a great time with Scavenger Hunt on Friday night. The kids loved the clues and the riddles! My girls and I actually ran the majority of the time from place to place, which was crazy. But, my girls all did a great job! The only activity that stumped them was the human knot!


After the Scavenger Hunt my night did not even come close to ending. I went on a transport run to get supplies for Saturday's activity, State Fair and ended up at Walmart for the second time that day and than at the ER with a tipster who had dehydration and a migraine! After, the tipster was discharged I came back to TAMU and then went on another transport run to WALMART with another RC to pick up some last minute things for his tipsters! I'm pretty sure the Walmart employees started recognizing me, especially since I was wearing my TIP ME tank!

Hello 4 hours of sleep and
5 dozen donuts!

After all transport runs were complete I started filling up water balloons with some staff members. It was a blast and we silently laughed pretty much the entire time! Then, we all did some final preparations and finally at 4am I got to go to sleep...

But, not for long! 8am came quickly when another RC, JP and I went on a mission for 5 dozen donuts. At State Fair there is an event were the Tipsters eat a donut off a string, so we had to go out early to secure a decent amount of donuts. I'm Glad we did because we cleared out the H.E.B of their donut supply! Sorry, to anyone who wanted some glazed donuts that day :(


State Fair was GREAT! Even though I was sleepy and supervised the water balloon toss station, which sounds awesome... totally isn't though (they all just wanted to cheat and take tickets, it was terrible) I still had a phenomenal time.


My girls even did really well and placed 4th in State Fair! I am so proud of them!! For their prize, they took a lucky guess on a Mystery Prize and ended up getting a Panda Express Feast which I'm not mad about... that means one night I won't have to eat cafeteria food, hip hip hurray.

After State Fair ended we all got ready for the dance! If your curious to why I have a "Twerk Free Zone" sign the tipster or really any kids their age think its attractive to twerk with and or on each other. Well, Duke TiP's policy says no inappropriate dancing and last term we had a really hard time policing it, so this term we decided to just nip it in the bud early! The kids all actually respected it and were really great at the dance! Definitely made my job a heck of a lot easier, because then I could just dance with the tipsters without necessarily having to be that chaperone that is constantly telling kids to watch their behavior!

Sunday morning couldn't have come soon enough. I got 6 hours of sleep, which was a new high for the past few days and got to go to church! Some RCs and I escorted 13 Tipsters to a service at Grace Bible Church! The message focused around communication and the good and bad ways to do it! The pastor discussed a lot about how to communicate with a friend or significant other and in doing so always strengthening your relationship with God. Its so easy with this job to forget to take the time to find grace in God and that service really helped me focus and set my priorities straight.

After church it was time for Roll Call prep and Roll Call! My girls got the song 

"Tainted Love" and it is still stuck in my head as I right this post for y'all. Sorry it is so 

long... there was just so much that happened this weekend that I though 

combining it all into one GIANT post would be better than forgetting things and (or) a

bunch of little posts! 

Stay dry College Station (Yes, its actually raining) 

and stay lovely readers :) 

Ready for the Next Batch

I got the minion bunting idea from
Despicable Me 2! It came out pretty
well, so I think I may save it and use it
for a bulletin board in the future :)

Its Move In Day here at Duke TIP's TAMU site! I can't wait to meet the next group of kids, particularly my next set of lovely ladies and or possible lovely minions ;)! This term I'm lucky enough to get a little bit of a new experience... I'll be working with 4th Year Girls, which is totally awesome and exciting! For a tipster, you can only come to TIP for 4 years so the final year is known to be the best *saddest* year, especially since you get privileges!

The 4th Year Girls will offer a new and wide set of benefits and challenges! I have already met a few of my girls and they all seem so sweet! Now, all I really need to work on is learning all the 4th Year Traditions and make sure I am always on my A-Game so that these Tipsters have the best experience!


I decided to continue with the Minion theme, I love the minions (already saw Despicable Me 2 and loved it)! And since I'm sticking with the same theme, I decided I would just re-do my bulletin board in addition to making more door decorations, to give a new look to my fellow staff members and the new Tipsters!

I can't believe that Move In Day is already here! These

next three weeks will fly by and I'll be back in Maryland

prepping to move back to the Mount! Crazy how this Summer

has just flown by.

StrengthsQuest

Thanks to Duke TIP, today I got to take the StengthsQuest Analysis! The Gallup Organization has prepared a Strengths Finder that is focused on highlighting individuals' strengths so that they can develop strategies and meet demands in life. 

The StrengthsQuest isn't free... so if you work for an organization that is interested in team building

check out this site! The site is really easy to use and the results are fairly accurate. 

My Results/ Themes: 

1) Developer- "You see the potential and the good in others.When you interact with others, your goal is to help them experience success. Over time many will seek you out for help and encouragement because on some level they know that your helpfulness is both genuine and fulfilling to you." 

2) Positivity- "You are generous with praise, quick to smile, and always on the lookout for the positive in the situation. You celebrate every achievement. You find ways to make everything more exciting and more vital. Somehow you can't quite escape your condition that it is good to be a life, that work can be fun, and that no matter what the setbacks, one more never lose one's sense of humor"  

3) Discipline- "Your world needs to predictable, ordered, and planned. You set up routines and focus on deadlines. Faced with the inherent messiness of life, you want to feel in control. The routines, structures, and timelines help create the feeling of control."

4) Responsibility- "Your Responsibility theme forces you to take psychological ownership for anything you commit to, and whether large or small, you feel emotionally bound to follow it through to completion. If for some reason you cannot deliver, you automatically start to look for ways to make it up to the other person"

5) Empathy- "You can sense the emotions of those around you. You can feel what they are feeling as though their feelings are your own. Intuitively, you are able to see the world through their eyes and share their perspective. 

So, for those of you who know me personally... I would say those describe me pretty accurately. I love having an orderly way of life and responsibilities. I also love people and seeing the good in people, in the world, and in life in general. Can't wait to debrief this exercise and learn what all the other staff members' strengths are! Thanks Duke for providing me with this excellent opportunity. 

Texas Won't Let Me Go

So, I should be writing this post in a beach house in OBX... but instead I'm here in my dorm room in College Station, TX. How can that be? Well, its well known with Duke TIP that no plans during Intersession really work out the way they should, and that's sort of what happened on Sunday.

Instead of boarding a plane to fly to be with family and friends, I was road tripping to San Antonio for a few days! But, why?

Well, on Sunday morning the plane that was suppose to take me to Dallas broke! They had no guaranteed departing time and I was already going to miss my connection from Dallas to Norfolk. So, while at the counter talking with the American Airlines representatives about what I could do and weighing the costs of each plan, I decided to get my tickets refunded and just stay in Texas for break.

The decision killed me because I was so excited to see my family and family friends. It has only been a month since I left Maryland. But, knowing that I have another 4 weeks until I can see my family... and even then I will only have a week before I leave for AC training just felt very overwhelming.

But, God always has a plan... so if I'm suppose to be in Texas than I'm suppose to be in Texas. Now, being the little planner that I am, I definitely wasn't gonna stay in Texas and do nothing. So, on Sunday afternoon a few TIP friends and I were at the pool and we decided to take a trip to San Antonio and go to Schlitterbahn, a water park! So, around 5:30pm we picked up some Sonic drinks and hit the road!

Sunday night at the River Walk

Now, luckily for us Duke TIP has a program at Trinity University in San Antonio and we were so thankful to stay there. The Residence Halls at Trinity are awesome, just a little side note for y'all!

Sunday night we hit up the River Walk which was so cool! The River Walk is basically the San Antonio river flowing in between a network of different restaurants and shops. It was really incredible and beautiful. We had dinner around 10:30pm, which has become a usual thing since all the Tipsters have left and we are no longer forced to eat at 5pm, and we ate at a Mexican restaurant called The Original. After dinner, we called it a night and prepared for our fun day at Schlitterbahn.

The 'TIP Me' tanks are great! They even say "howdy"
on the back!

On Monday, we spent the majority of the day at the water park! The water park was really nice and the weather was decent too. Half way through the day the sun just disappeared so we were freezing walking between the different slides. It was just a really fun and relaxing day. After, spending the whole day at Schlitterbahn we all went back and went to dinner at Dick's Last Resort on the River Walk. At Dick's Last Resort they try to insult you and give you attitude. I wasn't very impressed with the restaurant in general, but I'm glad I got to see what all the hype was about!

We also checked out the Alamo while in San Antonio and that was pretty cool too. The Alamo is definitely something you can't spend a day on, but it was interesting to walk by and at night there weren't a lot of people there so we got the full experience.



I am definitely missing my family and friends, but we are constantly sending each other pictures/ snap chats of what we are doing so its like I'm there even though I'm in Texas.

So, maybe my real intersession plans got ruined... but in reality they were replaced 

by some pretty great new plans with some really great people. Here is to the rest

of Intersession being a-w-e-s-o-m-e!!

Weekend Updates

Weekend updates... courtesy of my iPhone! Sorry, for the photo dump! It was a great weekend and I'm starting to get sad that I only have 5 days left with my minions. 

Friday we had the traditional Staff vs. Tipsters
Ultimate Frisbee Game! For any of you who know me
personally, you will know that sports/ coordination in
general aren't really my forte.

However,  I surprised myself and actually through
the frisbee fairly accurately. I actually loved the
game and I can't wait for next term!

Exhaustion has taken on a new form.
But, seriously the weekend may be three days
but it feels like a full week.

Late night Sonic runs for milkshakes
has become a norm for the res. staff.

Pretty sure Sonic almost died when
we called in this order at 11:50pm.

My AC finally got fixed. So, my in dorm
swimming pool is now shut down for the season!
Sorry friends :) 

Saturday was Agfest and I was working
Quad games which was AWESOME!

The main attraction: putting Vasoline all over
a watermelon and having the kids pass it around.

Other attractions: orange relay (pass orange using
only neck/chin-- intense), pudding fling (exactly what it sounds),
jello snarffle (kids eat jello with only their mouth in a race).

Saturday night we had a circus themed dance!
It was great and we did face-painting which
was a hoot! 

Sunday was a great day! I went to church with some
tipsters in the morning and then we had movie time!

After dinner we went to Grand Station, where we got to
play unlimited bowling, mini golf, laser tag and arcade games!
This was a great staff bonding experience and I'm so pumped
for next term. 

Thanks for stopping by! Did you do anything fun this weekend?

Button Love

For all of you who are involved with Residence Life conferences, you know how much they love BUTTONS. I started my collection this past March when I attended the ACPA's Next Gen conference!  I can't wait to continue to add to my collection. 

Since, I am working in a residence life this summer, it came to know surprise that they would have buttons. Duke TIP just started the button initiative this term, so it was great to try out the button machine. 

I knew I wanted to make minion buttons for my girls when I decided to go with the Despicable Me as a theme! So, instead of going through the hassle of getting the minions printed in color I decided to just draw/color them instead! They turned out really well and it surprisingly didn't take me too long.

I also made buttons for my Res. and Admin staff! Most of them are fairly simple, but it was great giving my fellow staff members their first buttons!

Saturday to Thursday

Howdy, friends! So... I'm sorry I have been MIA for the past few days. I have literally been going non-stop and on my day off I just took a computer-hiatus so I am finally just sitting down to write about the weekend events and update you all on what's going on in my life.

Saturday night was a blast! We had a dance (like we do every week) and this week's theme was Party Under the Neon Sun! It was all neon-blacklight-glow-stick-palm tree decorations and it was a blast! As an RC we are responsible for basically being chaperones. But, even though that can be a lame gig I made sure to make the best of it. For, most of the night I was in the middle of the pit of jumping/ dancing high schoolers and it was so fun.

Honestly, I just tried to be as goofy and ridiculous as possible and the tipsters even told me that they wished the other RCs would dance with them like I was--- SO SWEET TO HEAR... especially because I'm almost positive I made a fool out of myself!

On Sunday evening we hosted Roll Call, which basically includes a song that the tipsters make up a dance or a skit too. I was on the Roll Call committee and we chose the theme of musicals.

There were songs from Wicked, Grease, Chicago, Jailhouse Rock, Disney broadway productions, Jersey Boys, etc!

My girls got assigned "I'll Make a Man Out of You" from Mulan and they did a great job!

Also, during Roll Call I co-hosted/ MC'd with another RC, Brandon! We both have totally different personalities and I think we did a great job! Brandon, has a great announcing voice and can do so many accents so we really had a great time with that!

Thanks to Holden and Danielle who were also on the Roll Call committee we really had a excellent event!

Sarah and I

I love Tuesdays... partly because its a nice day and because its my day off. I have the greatest group of gals who are off with me and for the past two weeks we really have hit it off.

So... what did we do?
- We of course hit up Sonic for Happy Hour on Limeades ;) I had a cherry limeade, but after trying Sarah's cranberry I'm definitely gonna get that one next time!

- After Sonic, we did a casual Walmart run and then came back to campus. I then got an opportunity to FaceTime with my friend, Alex from back at home! It was so nice talking to her and "seeing" her. I miss her like crazy!

- After relaxing for a bit, Danielle, Sarah, Ola, and I went to the movies to see Now You See Me... and all I'm gonna say is my mind was totally blown! Not only was the movie super cheap (I love college towns) but the movie was so GREAT! If you need a night out and a movie suggestion... go see that, like seriously please do!

Ola, Danielle, and I with our pizza!

- So, after the movie we were all starving so we decided to get a pizza and sit outside, listen to music, and enjoy each other's company. This was great... except I got bit by a mosquito on my toe and it is literally so uncomfortable!

- And to add to some more relaxing... a bunch of the RCs and I curled up with pillows and blankets and watched Pitch Perfect! It was a simple- but, much needed bonding/relaxation time!


Today, (Thursday) was an all-around perfect day!! I had breakfast duty and transport duty which were exhausting, but made better by a delicious lunch, great company, and receiving a letter from my best friend, Hannah!

I absolutely love letters... or snail mail! I think there is just something so timeless and nice about communicating via letters. I honestly feel like our society is entrenched in communicating via technology, so if I get a chance to write a letter I don't pass up the opportunity.

Now, Hannah knows I'm a sucker for letters and she has had her fair share of letter-writing experiences because her BF goes to the Naval Academy, so we make the perfect pen-pal match! The letter was timed perfectly, because literally when I woke up this morning I was really missing my family and friends so getting this letter half way through my day, couldn't have been better.

I also had my RC Group Night tonight, which means I got to spend time with just my minions and our honorary minion, Danielle. The girls and I had our off campus RC night so we went to Sonic for milkshakes and then went to Walmart. It was awesome to just get off campus with them!

All and all this week has been an amazing blur! 

I can't believe I only have 8 days left  

until the Tipsters go home. 

Thanks for stopping by. Love you all :)

just a few updates

Howdy y'all... I'm currently squeezing in this post to give you a couple updates on the past few evenings!

First Update: my first trip to Sonic!! This was definitely a monumental moment in my life... but seriously. Went with some great RCs and it was so delicious!!

Down here (probably every Sonic location?), they have half priced shakes after 8pm... so a dollar for a mini milkshake what could be better?





Second Update: Matie the squirrel! My boss brought Matie back from a South African university to use as our Kudos squirrel. So, every other day the person who has Matie gives him to another member of our staff for doing a remarkable job with something.

Courtesy of my fellow RC, Brandon... Matie came home with me on Thursday... which means that tonight I need to select someone from our staff to pass Matie along too! Wish me luck, folks! It is hard to choose someone when everyone has been working just as hard and is awesome :)



Third Update: I-N-S-A-N-I-T-Y... before you all start worrying I'm not losing my mind, just working out :) Some fellow RCs / Admin staff have started doing Insanity, the ridiculously hard workout video everyday. It has been going pretty well, so far. The only downside is that I was super sore the next day and well my bed is somewhat lofted... and I'll let you picture me flinging myself on the bed and crawling to get in.

Also, while on the topic of exercise... another co-worker/friend, Danielle and I started power-walking in the mornings. That has been great so far and this campus is so big that you could literally walk for miles on end.

Fourth Update: I'm now officially Mama Minion to my girls. Like what is that? Oh... and while on the topic of my girls (who are T. Swift obsessed) I now know almost every word to every song by Taylor Swift.

So, we are never ever getting back together, like ever and 

I knew you were trouble before you even walked in!

Thanks for stopping by! You all are

fabulous.

Crafty Week at TIP

So, each RC group gets to choose a name or a theme that they want their group to be called.... So, it should have come to no surprise that my girls would want to be minions.

RC13 is now called "Alex's Minions" which I have mixed feelings about! I loved "The Minions" but they said they wanted to be my minions. So, I guess I should be happy they wanted to include my name? hahaha.

So, to the left is our mural. Each girl wrote their name and put a little symbol... something that defines who they are.

{My symbol is at the bottom: peace, heart, cross, and smiley)

We also added quotes from Despicable Me... like "its so fluffy, I'm gonna die!" -- Agnes



One of the evening activities that I helped out with this week was brick painting! We had about 50 tipsters come and it went really well! And the bricks make perfect door stoppers.

 Last night, I had my RC group night! RC group night is when my girls can miss evening activity (7pm-9:15pm) and they get to hang out with just our group.

So, what did we do?

We went to Pita Pit which was a hit {rhyme}! The girls are already kind of sick of the cafeteria food and Pita Pit accommodated our group very well!

Then, we came back to our floor and we colored the About Me sheets (below) and made friendship bracelets. The friendship bracelets are in minion colors to continue with our theme of Despicable Me!

All the girls did different friendship bracelets and I have string left over so I'm gonna teach them all how to do the one on the left!


<--- I made these About Me sheets based off of different ice breakers and activities I have done in the past!

After, we completed our friendship bracelets, sang our hearts out to Taylor Swift and talked for awhile the girls all went around in a circle and shared their About Me's!

It was so cool to learn more about the girls! I think I liked the 3 Words to Describe You section the most because they all used different adjectives... some adjectives I had to google hahaha.

I honestly loved this activity and I would totally recommend it for anyone who needs a fun ice breaker-ish and coloring activity!

It was a great RC Group night and crafty week. 

Thanks for stopping by! Love y'all!

One Day For Me

As an RC, I work 6 days a week. I work weird hours and cover different duties everyday. So even though I am working almost all the time, it has been such a great experience. I love to work with people so to get paid to hang out with students, play games, do crafts, and work with a great staff is like a dream come true. 

Working for Duke TIP has been a fabulous experience thus far... however, my one day off a week is cherished. 

Wore a new outfit
around College Station
today!
Top: The Loft
Shorts: Banana Republic

Here is a brief recap of how I spent my first day    

off in College Station: 

Well, when an RC is off it is in a 10am to 10am time slot!
So, this morning I took my lovely ladies to breakfast. Then,

.... I came back and NAPPED! Last night I got about
three hours of sleep because I was helping another staff member
create the evening events schedule for today. We both just jammed
to some music and hung out with some RCs. It was a great
time, that was rewarded with a terrific nap.

... then I went to The Pita Pit for the first time ever with two other
RCs who have the day off too! If any of ya have heard of Pita Pit,
its kind of set up like Chipotle, but instead of burritos
they have pitas! It was so delicious and an added bonus was that we
got to eat for free since there was a promotion provided by a local
apartment complex. So, delicious pita for free-- sweet!

... then I relaxed! Caught up on some blogs, sipped sweat tea, watched
a little bit of Netflix until I went to dinner with some RCs that were off!

... then, I got to Facetime with my parents and of course little Juneau
(siberian husky, who I miss dearly). It was great seeing them and talking
with them! After, that me and the other two RCs that are off decided
we would go on an adventure and trek to Sonic. We walked to one that
was closed down (bummer), and then we started walking to another
but it was 4 miles away so we just turned around and came back.

... I then caught up with some of my RC Group in the hallway. Even
though it was my day off I still really wanted to hear about their days! After,
chatting with them I went to the staff meeting to hear about my staff's days.
We ate some sweets and played a couple mind games!

... After the staff meeting, the RCs that were off plus an extra RC and I went
out to Fuego which is a mexican-taco restaurant that only exists in College
Station! Its open 24-7 and we got there around 12:30am? Needless to say it
was a delicious midnight snack! We then jammed to musicals and went to
Walmart to buy Father's Day cards and snacks!

... finally around 2am we made it back to campus. On our walk back to the
Res. Hall we came to an interesting dilemma. Walk all the way around the building
or run through the sprinklers. For those of you who know me well, you could
guess that there was no way I wasn't gonna run through those sprinklers.
Most of us ended up getting soaked and even ran around a little more than needed.
It was just such a simple staff bonding and was so much fun.

It was a great day to just rejuvenate, relax, and run through sprinklers.

Until next time Tuesday!

Thanks for stopping by :)

My Daily Schedule

I have been explaining to a lot of friends and family what exactly my job is at Duke TIP @ TAMU! I keep getting the question: so, what do I do during the day while all the Tipsters are in class and what do I do with them after class? 

Well, I'll tell ya! 

Duke TIP is a program for gifted and talented students who surpass their classmates on the academic level. Each year Duke TIP invites students who are excelling to attend a three week term where they will get a taste of college through a college level course and a residence life experience. 

I work on the Residential end. I'm an RC which is basically a camp counselor/RA combined! My dream summer job in a nutshell. 

But, what is my daily schedule: (for the first two weeks)

Monday: 

- My mornings are free... but I am going to start running 

around 8am and then have breakfast 

around 9am. After breakfast I'm free to shower, 

work on committee stuff, prepare for evening activities 

and (or) catch up on blogs and other social

media addictions! 

- However, after 4pm I am pretty much going until 2am when

I finish office duty. 

   4pm- Supervise the floors (roam the halls)

   5pm- Escort RC Group to dinner & have dinner

   7pm-9:15pm- Evening Activities 

   9:15pm-10pm- Supervise the lounge (play card with Tipsters etc) 

   10pm-10:30pm- RC Group Time 

   11pm- whenever- Staff Meeting

   11pm-2am- Night Duty (walk the halls, make sure Tipsters are sleeping etc) 

Tuesday: My day off

Wednesday: 

- Mornings and afternoon I don't have any duty or obligations

except to be in Moses and to hang out with the residents at 

free time. 

- My nights are a little bit more busy: 

   5pm- Escort RC Group to dinner & have dinner

   6pm-10pm- Office and Med Room Duty

   10pm-10:30- RC Group Time

   11pm- whenever - Staff Meeting 

Thursdays: 

- 7:30am-8:30am- Breakfast Duty 

- 10am-4pm- Transport Duty (run errands for Duke TIP and

supply runs... pick up anything I need for that night) 

- Evenings: 

   5pm- Escort RC Group to dinner & have dinner

   7pm- 9:15pm- RC Group Night (This evening event is just 

Alex's Minions doing crafts or doing other activities) 

   10pm-10:30- RC Group Time 

   11pm- whenever Staff Meeting

Friday: 

- I have the morning and afternoon duty and obligation free. 

I just need to be in the building and work on various committee

stuff and planning evening events. 

Evenings: 

  4pm- Supervise the floors 

  5pm- Escort RC Group to dinner & have dinner

  6pm-9:15pm - All Camp Event (Scavenger Hunt, Ultimate Frisbee

Staff vs. Tipster, last dance) 

  10pm-10:30 - RC Group Time 

  11pm- whenever - Staff Meeting

Saturday & Sunday: 

- Saturday Morning- Off

- Sunday Morning- Take tipsters who are interested in going to church

- Saturday & Sunday afternoon: All Camp Event & monitor

the lounge at free times

- Saturday & Sunday night: All Camp Event

So, that is basically my weekly schedule 

in a simplified format! 

Minion Central

Howdy friends!! Here is a brief post about my theme for Term 01 at TIP! 

Despicable Me

So, what does this mean? Each RC needs to complete door decs and a bulletin board each term for the tipsters. So, I chose to go with Despicable Me as a theme since Despicable Me 2 is coming out in a few weeks and well, minions are adorable!

 So here is my minion! I needed to make 35 of these so it was exhausting to cut all of them out and then assemble all of the pieces together. But, they are precious. 

For my RC Group... their minions look similar to mine but I alternated the color for their names and added glitter glue to them so they are more fun! 

The girls love them! Even some of the parents commented and said they were really well done. I'm so happy that my hard work paid off and that the girls think they are adorable. 

Because lets be honest, minions are so freaking cute ;) 

So, here is a pic of my bulletin board! Sorry, for the poor picture quality! 

On the left side there is Tipster Information. This basically includes the daily schedule, rules, weekend events and basic information the Duke provided us! 

and the right side... is where the party is at! That is the Despicable Me side! At the top, there is a paper chain that is a countdown to DM2! -- 22 days for all of ya minions lovers! The rest of the board has little pictures from the movie, the DM2 soundtrack, some random trivia questions and facts! 

So, those are my door decs and bulletin board

for TIP Summer 2013 Term 01. Another Despicable Me

note (that I will be writing about this week) is my RC
Group's name is actually "Alex's Minions."

But, I will be putting up a pic of our mural when we finish it 

tonight and give a description! So look forward to that ;) 

Thanks for stopping by!