Helloooooooo Wisconsin! (insert Ashton Kutcher voice)

Greetings from America's Dairyland!

Fabulous last two visits in Minnesota. Everything at Winona was absolutely gorgeous, I was there in perfect timing to see trees at their peak fall colors and the Wisconsin bluff's in the distance. Had a great time with the women, goofing off, watching Youtube videos, playing Scene It and many other things that were nice to just relax!

One of the highlights of my visit was Sunday brunch in their Caf where we sat and talked so long that they kicked us out to close up and clean for dinner...whoops! So mad because I totally forgot to look in the bookstore there for a postcard or any card of sorts for my scrapbook as that's what I've been collecting from each school. I also neglected to take ANY pictures in MN :(

Moved on to Minnesota State University in Mankato and had another fabulous visit! Our chapter there is just wonderful, the women were amazing and I felt like I was back at my own chapter. I got to know a lot of the women, caught up on Grey's from last week (!!!), went for coffee and had my first drinks from Caribou Coffee...LOVE IT! Also loved some more Jimmy Johns, yummy! Also got some great new jams from one of the girls I stayed with that had the absolute best mix CD's. The ladies were too sweet and got me a t-shirt, bag of tootsie pops (holla!) and a nice set of pens from the school, if any Epsilon Rho women are reading, thanks again for an absolutely lovely visit!

On our way to meet the chapter at Eau Claire for my drop off we drove through Saint Peter where I had just been at Gustavus. Silly city is doing tons of major construction, we hit a huuuuge pothole and got not one, but two (yes, two!) flat tires. YIKES! Surprisingly enough AAA was there no later than 15 minutes and then informed us that we were conveniently a car of ladies in distress right in front of...a mechanic, score! Somehow rolled over that way and were fixed in under 45 minutes while we took shelter in Arby's, also conveniently the president's favorite place in the world.

We got back in the road in what seemed like no time and met the president of the next chapter and I was on my way. Drove back up past the twin cities, passed the Mall of American again (!!!!); I WILL got there during Convention in Minneapolis/St. Paul this year and fulfill my childhood dreams. After much rush hour traffic and driving past two more of my chapters at UW Stout and UW River Falls we arrived at Eau Claire to the Sigma house full of girls to welcome me! I am so excited to be at my first house chapter and am even lucky enough to have my own room for the visit.

Upon arrival I was informed they just got like 80 chicken patties from an elementary school where they chaperoned a Halloween dance, gosh I'm in heaven already! Knew it was going to be a good visit from there, and then especially when we got together to catch the tail end of Grey's Anatomy which I'm about to go back and watch.

Had my first meal at Culvers, a great place with burgers and ice cream and lucky enough the flavor of the day was Caramel Cashew...one of my longtime favorites from Bruster's! Tomorrow a few of the women are taking me around town, campus and to the mall...and I have some way overdue shopping needs. Hopefully I'll find my greatly coveted grey knit Uggs, keep your fingers crossed.

Well time to get my wild Friday night started, itinerary consisting of:

-Laundry

-Work, work & oh hey, more work!

-Catching up on Grey's from last week

-Being jealous I'm not in a fabulous costume going out for my 2nd favorite Halloween

Until next time,

xoxo Anna

Dontcha know?!

Greetings from the wonderful state of Minnesota: home to a bounty of hot dishes (aka casseroles), fun accents & sayings that remind me of the old cartoon Bobby's World (which many Minnesotians are not aware of!), and one of my new favorite foods...beer cheese soup!

Beer cheese soup is a wonderful "cheese sauce" like soup which pretty much consists of it's name's content: beer, cheese, cream butter, chicken stock and some vegetables to add a little something extra. Many midwesters prefer to add popcorn to the soup rather than the traditional addition of crackers to soup.

I was able to try my first taste of beer cheese soup at the cafeteria of Gustavus Aldolphus College in Saint Peter, MN. This dining hall happens to be voted the 8th Best Dining Hall by the Princeton Review, impressive! And delicious it was! You could get also anything at this dining hall, and the chicken salad was superb, which let's be honest is what matters the most.

My time at Gustavus was very nice, I loved staying in the nice guest house there and it was interesting to learn about their Greek community which was composed of all local sororities and fraternities besides our Tri Sigma chapter and the new addition of Sigma Alpha Epsilon o the campus. The chapter there is absolutely flourishing and I very much enjoyed getting to know the women, who had never heard of Bobby's World as I previously mentioned.

I was a great fan of the show by Howie Mandel when I was younger and I always remember the mother's very thick northern midwest accent (sounding much like what I've heard from Minnesota and Wisconsin) and her famous phrases such as "dontcha know?" "fer sure!" and many other midwest coined terms. Luckily after arriving at our Zeta Eta chapter at Winona State University in Winona, MN I found that some of these women do recall the show that I so fondly mentioned...I knew I wasn't crazy!

I am also staying at an alumni guest house on this campus as well and love having the space to spread out all of my belongings that are forever exploding from my suitcase. This campus is absolutely gorgeous! I never realized how much we missed out at UNCW with all of the evergreen trees, I forgot was fall was actually supposed to look like. I'm going to try and snap some pics later today or tomorrow if this rain clears up. I was attempting to take a great picture this morning until some guy got out of his car and was standing in the middle of my shot--potential for extreme awkwardness.

The chapter here is wonderful, they are involved in so much community service and the entire Greek community gets along very well which is great to see and reminds me of my own collegiate experience. There are many gorgeous old houses in town, which many of the members live in as well.

Right now just trying to stay warm & dry as it's been quite chilly and drizzly. I lost my voice this morning...probably from talking from 8am-8pm yesterday and I'm hoping that it's not the first signs of getting sick. My raspy fading voice should make our chapter retreat tomorrow very interesting!

Here until Sunday and then heading back towards Gustavus to Minnesota State University in Mankato where I'll be until next Thursday.

Until next time,

xoxo Anna

The Longhorn State, for a hot sec

After a glorious few days with my work phone off and Gmail closed, I am back on the road headed to our Eta Theta chpater at Gustavus Aldolphus College in Saint Peter, Minnesota.

While yesterday was drizzly and freezing the Clemson vs. Wake game was awesome. We only stayed for the first half due to weather, but we were able to see Clemson take the game in just 2 quarters and spent the rest of the game getting lunch at a bar downtown. It amazes me how much school spirit I see after going to UNCW, land of the spiritless due to our lack of a football team.

I reluctantly woke up this morning and...put on tights under my dress. Luckily after checking the forecast, Minnesota shouldn't be too treacheruous this week. I still broke out my new yellow winter coat, complete with tightly fastened buttons thanks to my Mom!

The Dallas/Ft. Worth airport is full of many tanned Texans sorting cowboy hats...and many plasma TV's at each gate displaying Sunday fotball games and of course, the Cowboys. This airport is also adorned with Best Buy vending machines. You can quickly purchase all of your technology needs, including different types of iPods. How cool is that?! After settling for Subway I assed a food court and approximately five restaurants. Whatever it was fast and supposedy fresh.

God has been listening to my prayers and gave me a flight on yet another big (actually normal) plane. There was a first class, ample carry on luggage room and all! While I did have to sit next to a 5 month old on a plane for two hours it wasn't too terribly bad.

While searching for my gate at DFW I passed a bookstore and the first thing to catch my eye was Something Borrowed, a twin book to Something Blue. Started reading on the plane and am already half way there. It's pretty much just the same story but from the other friend's point of view, love it!

Arrived safely in Minneapolis and after a short drive we came to Gustavus Aldolpus. The college is gorgeous and sits on top of a hill so I've been warned of crazy wind. I am staying in this nice little guest house on campus. I have my own room & bathroom, and the house also has a kitchen and living room (with TV!) shared by all of the guests; all the guests for this week include: me, myself & I! It'll be nice to be able to spread some stuff out and not strictly be living from the big purple suitcase.

I will be here until Wednesday and then onto Winona University which isn't too far down the road. Time to get back to the daily grind: I'm actually kind of looking forward to opening my email...maybe ya'll should be concerned about me!

Until next time,

xoxo Anna

Glee Sneak Preview

This will be amazingggg! I am so obsessed!!

Yea fall break!

After a glorious week and a half back at the Mabel Lee Walton house it's Fall Break time, woo! Spent the week catching up with a lot of work, and with Morgan & Nicole, the other consultants that were back @ NHQ with me. On Monday I went up to Winchester and got to go to dinner with Rachel & Michelle, two girls from my own chapter. It was so great to catch up and hear how everything is going back down at UNCW and just made me even more excited for my visit in November!

Although it was getting quite chilly at the Walton house, the trees were starting to turn the gorgeous colors of orange, red & yellow that keep you warm inside. It was a nice crisp beginning to fall, where I actually didn't min breaking out some long sleeves, scarves and close toed shoes...and if you really know me, that's quite a statement!

It was so fun to catch up with the rest of the consultants, share our stories from the road thus far and just hang out. We all spent so much time together during training and talk so much on the road that it was great to be back together for a while!

On Tuesday night Colleen and I made the treck back to my house in MD, and during which I held a conference call which was quite interesting! We stayed the night at my house to prevent waking up at the crack of dawn to head to BWI for our flight out Wednesday morning. I was relieved to be going to the airport and traveling along with another human being, and finally got to sit next to someone on a plane that wasn't a creepy and/or intoxicated older man! It was also nice to fly on a normal size plane with comfy seats and ample overhead carry-on baggage room--what a treat, thanks AirTran!

Somehow made it to Clemson and have been thrilled to do nothing but sleep, eat and read since I've been here yesterday afternoon. Finished "Something Blue," compliments of Miss Morgan Fishburn and I highly recommend it, might be a new fave book! I will probably continue to read everything Emily Griffin has written.

With big thanks to Colleen I was able to quickly and efficiently pack for my next string of travels in the treacherous northern half of the country. On a conference call with our Gamma Lambda chapter at the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire this week, I was informed it snowed there all day...yikes! Contemplating on purchasing a pair of grey knit Uggs which I'm sure will get much use, as my sand color boots will not go with the all black wardrobe packed for the next month. Somehow I was able to pack just six outfits which can be mix/matched, the smallest bit of casual clothes, an my gorgeous new yellow coat--which I will most likely be wearing 24/7 while romping about Minnesota & Wisconsin until Thanksgiving.

Now getting ready to go out and enjoy my fall break in the company of both my best friend from and my best friend from school, I'm a lucky girl! Spending time in one of my other favorite places, Clemson--Tri Sigma, let's expand here sil vous plait!

Until next time,

xoxo Anna

Temperature is dropping as fast as my tan is fading

Tomorrow, Friday October 2, 2009 is no ordinary day my friends. Why you ask? Because I, Anna Todaro am going home to the great state of Maryland and will be back on the East Coast! For the first time since July 6 I am going to spend a whole two days not working...and I think I'm more excited than a small child at Christmas. I will be departing from Defiance, OH at 10am--taking off from Ft. Wayne, IN at 12:30pm--short layover in Cincinnati, OH (which I already know is a good airport, score!) and then finally landing and walking through the sweet terminals of BWI around 3:40pm. For the first time in this job I'll get to walk up to baggage claim already knowing the face I am looking for, and that they're someone that knows me and knows what face they're looking for as well. I'll never taking meeting friends & family at the airport for granted again in my life.

The rest of my visit in Defiance has been wonderful! The ladies here at Eta Iota have provided amazing hospitality and I've been grateful to spend the past two weeks here. I've really been able to get to know a majority of them and have had fun just hanging out, watching Glee & Grey's religiously, go for slushie runs and painting their Greek rock. Also--went to see that new Megan Fox flick, Jennifer's Body. One of those "so bad, it's good," films and I was cracking up as Fox's character constantly projectile vomited black prickly goo all over Amanda Seyfried. It was also totally worth it for the gorgeous Adam Brody, lead singer of his emo band. Siighhhh!

I will be very sad to leave Biggby coffee behind, but have been pleased to find out they have many locations in Michigan and Wiconsin and I'm hoping I'll run into some more during my visits this year. They have the most scrumptious chai tea latte's and just a general calming atmosphere. However, I will be glad to leave my creepy middle aged stalker man behind, whom I accidentally gave my business card to, fml. Long story short he was eaves dropping on my convo with the barista, then played 20 questions with me while I kept getting on my computer and even putting in my headphones to signal "peace buddy, time to do work." Creeper McGee sat there for another two hours drinking his coffee and watching Ellen. Then when I went again two days later, who is getting out of their car as I walk up to Biggby? Yep, Creeper himself. Went straight to a back corner of the shop and luckily had no run-ins!

This weekend I'll get to catch up with my best friends from home and best friend from school, as well as some favorite friends from my many journeys to Clemson. Excited to see my family and my kitty Max :) On Sunday I'll be making the Journey back to the Mabe's house in Woodstock and am also just as excited to be reunited with my consultant girls for a week and a half, it's going to be a blast!

Thank you so much to all of my friends a family who have been keeping me in their thoughts. I can't tell you all how happy it makes me to get all of the texts, phone calls, Facebook posts, etc. from friends everywhere from so many different parts of my life. While I do love this job, being on the road and constantly away from my friends and family that I thrive on, it really does get hard sometimes. And with the anticipation of going home this week it was that much harder, so thanks again!

And a big special shout out to my Epsilon Phi ladies--because ya'll rocked it out in recruitment!! I've heard so many great things, and stalked all of the pics, and the new girls (yea I feel like THAT creepy alum!) on Facebook and could not be more proud that you are my chapter :) Especially getting so many wishes, updates and hellos from all of you means so much to me. Wish I could come to the alumnae cookout in October, but unfortunately duty calls. I will be coming down to Wilmington Nov. 21-24 so get ready, and good luck with Rockathon coming up, can't wait to hear all about it!

So in the great words of Michael Buble:

"Another aeroplane another sunny place, I’m lucky I know, But I wanna go home, Mmmm I’ve got to go home..." I'M GOING HOME!!!

Until next time,

xoxo Anna