Chicago with Kraft Heinz and Stop Hunger Now

*Thank you to Kraft Heinz for my trip to Chicago for the meal packaging event! All opinions are my own. * Two weeks ago, I had the opportunity to fly to Chicago and participate in one of the Kraft Heinz Company Foundation’s expanding initiatives to eliminate world hunger and malnutrition, especially in developing nations. Y’all have seen some of the photos from off-time spent with the other bloggers, but I want to focus on the main reason we were there: fighting world hunger! Kraft Heinz is one of the largest food companies in the world, and their philanthropic arm, the Kraft Heinz Company Foundation, which has done a lot of work within the company, is now working to invite others to take part of the conversation and action. KHCF has partnered with Stop Hunger Now for their current signature program: The Kraft Heinz Micronutrient Campaign. Kraft Heinz developed and now donates the micronutrient packets that go into every Stop Hunger Now meal pack. (How cool is that?!) These little packets give 19 essential vitamins and minerals for health and development. Our group of 8 bloggers participated with over 400 Kraft Heinz employees to pack over 130,000 meal packs. During the shift we participated in, our group packed 45,000 packs in two hours, but it didn’t seem like it because we had music blasting and we were having a great time talking to the Kraft Heinz employees, too. When I was contacted about this opportunity, I was extremely excited because y’all know I’m all over philanthropy events, especially those involving hunger! I am a huge advocate of giving back to the local and global communities, and I think events like these are a perfect and easy way to do just that. Pictured: Sarah of The Bella Insider, Olivia of A Drop in the Ocean, Jessie of HungryGrl_BigCity, Nicole of Do Stuff, Kayla of The College Dish, Megan of Bowtiful Life, Me, Alayna of Embellish Your Dish When it came time to leave Chicago, I was extremely sad to be leaving all of these amazing ladies. That being said, please check out their blogs and their updates on how the trip and packing event went! I know that we all left the city feeling inspired to help spread this movement and encourage more people to get involved. So now it’s YOUR turn! Be sure to check out http://www.kraftheinzcompany.com/ to learn more about this cause. I had an amazing time on this trip: I made some wonderful new friends and I was able to do volunteer work! When was the last time you volunteered or left somewhere feeling inspired? xx Catch you next time

Delta Sigma Pi Fall 2016 Initiation

As some of you may have seen on my SnapChat, Initiation was this past weekend! My Chapter initiated quite a big pledge class, but it included some pretty important people - like my Little!

My beautiful Little, Sydney, is officially a Brother of our Fraternity! I am so happy she made it through the process. I have seen her grow quite a bit over these past few weeks and I am very excited to see how she continues to grow in the future.

This paddle took quite a bit of time to do, but it was definitely easier thanks to some help from Campus DIY! There will be a Featured post on what came in the kit, but if you're in a hurry, be sure to use "SouthwestPrep" for 20% off your order!

I bought my Little a flag (I know, I know, it's pretty basic) and everyone kept asking to borrow it for pictures, so I think I would call it a necessity for Initiation pictures! Yvana and I could not help ourselves but take a few pictures and reminisce on what our own Initiations were like.

Riggs is one of my best friends and all-time favorite humans. When he told me he was finally considering rushing my Fraternity, I think I might have stopped breathing because I was so happy he gave in after my constant nagging. Now that he is a Brother, I have yet another way to annoy him!

Would it be a life event if I didn't take a few Polaroids? After Initiation, which took up most of our morning, we foot-trekked our way over to a favorite nearby restaurant and somehow convinced them to still serve us brunch food. 

This day was definitely one for the books. Er, blog.

xx

Catch you next time.

Birthday Dinner

I am so incredibly lucky to have such wonderful people in my life: yesterday I turned 20, and everyone kept the "You're such a youngin'!" jokes to a minimum! That's true, but absolutely not the smallest reason! I wish I had more pictures, and had thought of taking more, but three hours of intense laughter and memory-making are to blame. The food was great (if you're ever in the mood for some AMAZING fish and chips) and the atmosphere was very cool (it kind of reminded me of some of the restaurants I visited in Europe). The name of this place that I could continue raving about? Rúla Búla, It's an Irish pub and occasionally, they have Trivia Night! Oh, and did I mention the desserts? I will just save that for the next time I go, and I will be sure to take pictures for y'all.

Thank y'all so much for all of the wonderful birthday wishes!

xx

Catch you next time.

Chicago in the Fall

Pretty short post here but I have been looking at some of the photos I took when I was in Chicago a few days ago and I couldn't help but think that I had to share them - Chicago in the Fall is just gorgeous, isn't it?!

xx

Catch you next time.