Happy 2015

Wow 2014 just sprinted past me. I can't believe we are in the year 2015! It will be a great year, I can feel it.

For New Years Eve I went over to my sororities brother fraternity for a bit. One of the guys was having a Gatsby party so many of us showed up all dolled up. We had fun with dancing and watching the live feed of the New York ball drop.

I did not stay there for midnight because I had promised R that I would come to his house for the new year. It was nice to go to his house with the quiet and low key feeling. We celebrated with lots of food and out parents. It was nice.

I have been thinking about a New Year's resolution and I think I found something that I can stick with. I have promised to read more books that are not for school or "fun" books. I love reading so much and I miss it during the school year so this means I need to watch less Netflix and pick up more books.

Seems easy but I'll keep you posted.

How was your New Years Eve? Do you have a resolution?

XOXO

ZMH 

Date Night

As I write this post I am sitting on our couch in our apartment's living room not feeling to swell. It is 2:30am and all I want to do is sleep but alas I cannot. I can already tell from the last two nights this week is going to be really rough. (I also apologize that my postings will be very sporadic until further notice because I just don't have enough time to sit down and write up a bunch of posts to queue, I'm sorry)

Moving on from that this past weekend was pretty darn great. R came into town for my sororities date night. We usually only do date night first semester instead of a fall formal. This year we combined our date night with our brother fraternity, the Knickerbockers, so we could have more people and more fun.

On Saturday we all drove up to Grand Rapids for a very early (but delicious) dinner. We went to this amazing Hibachi grill and had so much fun taking pictures at the restaurant. They had a really amazing bridge with a pond that we all got to take our pictures on, the perfect backdrop. After dinner we all dispersed to do things before we headed to our after party.

R and I took a detour to downtown GR to grab some coffee from Madcap Coffee to keep up our energy for the rest of the night. From there we swung by both our places to quickly change shoes so we could dance the night away and then off we were to one of my sisters houses to party it up.

Everyone was there with their dates and we all laughed the night away. We had a great time playing beer pong, dancing our feet off, and trying to sing along to every rap part of each song (well at least I did and let me tell you did I embarrass myself). 

That night I volunteered to be the designated driver since I can't drink anyway. I got to help out a lot of sisters and brothers get home safely which helped me sleep a lot easier that night. Everyone was a doll and really helpful. 

Overall it was a pretty fabulous night and weekend. I wish it was longer but what can you do, it always seems like the most fun weekends seem to slip by without even a warning.

Are any of your sororities having a date night soon? Did you already have one? Or did you have a formal? 

XOXO

ZMH

My mama and one of her BFFs

Obligatory mama & baby Zoe picture

Rand I 

The lovely ladies of Alpha Gamma Phi (minus one or two)

Boo!

So it is now officially November. I feel like October came and went in a flash. I have to say October is probably the best month of the year. It has pumpkins, chunky knit sweaters, color leaves, Halloween, and of course my birthday!

Now Halloween is probably my favorite holiday, it's in close rivalry with Thanksgiving because who doesn't love a holiday centered around good food and family? Halloween has the perfect balance of childish fun with a hint of spooky. I'm not a big fan of horror films but I do love a good psychological thriller. I feel as though Halloween is the best time to watch "The Nightmare Before Christmas," "Rocky Horror Picture Show," and those classic Disney Channel movies like "Hocus Pocus".

Growing up as a dancer I have learned to love to dress up in weird costumes and go all out with make-up. Having such a big love for those things makes Halloween an even more special treat because that is what Halloween is all about. 

This year I kind of left my Halloween costume for the last minute because I have been super duper crazy busy. I lucked out with a pretty solid and simple costume, a crazy Brazil soccer fan. I already happen to be one so my jersey and hat were put to great use Friday night. People who make their own costumes from scratch each year have crazy talent and make me really jealous because I wish I could sew awesome things like they do. I have never been one for the slutty costumes though. You have to some things in mind when participating in Halloween activities in Michigan:

Halloween night will either be horribly hot and humid

OR

freezing cold with wind, rain, and snow/sleet (that was how it was this year)

Considering Michigan can be a bit of a diva and doesn't like to make up it's mind about weather you have to dress appropriately for Halloween which makes those slutty, skimpy, sexy costumes very un-enjoyable for the unlucky girl who is wearing them.

This year I got to celebrate Halloween night with my sorority sisters, the Knickerbocker fraternity, the Sigma Sigma sorority, and the Centurion fraternity. We had a great 4-way party at a local party house and it was relatively low-key and not super out of control, it helps when the house is closed to anyone who isn't apart of one of those groups. We all danced, laughed, played beer pong, and some people may have had to many drinks but what can you do, college students will be college students.

I really have always loved Halloween and this year I just loved it even more. I think the reason why my love for it has grown is because as I get older I get to spend this holiday with people I love and just get to be a little more crazy then I normally get to be.

I hope you all had a great Halloween! 

What did you do? Is Halloween your favorite holiday? What was your favorite costume you have ever worn on Halloween?

XOXO

ZMH

Just some Alpha Gamm's going as themselves

The Zoe's took Halloween by storm

Last year's costume with R, we were Princess Bubblegum and Finn the Human from Adventure Time

Two year's ago we went with friends as the cast from Rocky Horror Picture Show

...And let's just take a moment to appreciate Neil Patrick Harris' family. They dominate Halloween every year and this year was no different, so stinkin' cute!

Formal

Hey everyone!

I am so sorry I haven't blogged in forever. I have been very busy the last couple of weeks. I have had formal, sorority events, Easter, preparing for exams, and packing up my dorm room.

It has been such a crazy time for me I just don't know what exactly happened the whole time and how I even survived these crazy times. During all of this I got a really bad cold that had been passed around the sorority. I unfortunately got it the worse out of everyone but I am finally almost all better just in time for exams so thank goodness!

So whats been going on with alpha gamma phi? Well we had our formal and it was so much fun! We went to JJ resort and got these cool log cabins. We all carpooled up throughout the day and then once everyone was there we went over to an Italian restaurant. The food kind of sucked but that didn't matter once we got back to the cabins and started partying. Everyone had a blast and basically all the dates were gentlemen! (I'll include pictures down below).

We had all of our elections for chairs for the sorority. I got the PR, public relations, chair with one other girl who just got back on campus. I am so excited to meet her and start being the best PR chair the sorority has ever had! Over all I am very happy with everyone who got positions and I think everyone will be amazing at their positions. The week after we had our last business meeting! The meeting was bitter sweet. The seniors gave their pass-downs out to everyone. I was lucky enough to get a sweater that has been in our family line for several generations. We all were sad to say goodbye to our seniors but we know that they won't be gone permanently from our lives.

During all the crazy stuff was Easter weekend! My dad and I took the weekend to go down to Kokomo, Indiana to see family. It was so nice to get out of town and see family. I didn't realize how much I needed to get out of Holland until it was time to come home! I loved relaxing with family, bonding, and eating way to much!

Well it's finals week now and I have not started studying yet. Oops! I cannot believe that I am half way done with my undergraduate career. I just realized that next summer I will be starting the application process for graduate schools! I'm not ready to grow up or have to fill out more dang applications. Oh well. I am excited for that next step because it gets me closer to my dreams and me taking that next step in life.

Until next time my darlings!

XOXO

ZMH

How is everyone's semester going? Are you ready for summer? How was your Easter?

Formal Pictures:

Me and Anne

Caroline and I

Savannah and I were each other dates for Formal because our boyfriends couldn't make it. She was such a wonderful date! 

My family line with our abroad family member back for Formal weekend!

Mama and Baby Zoe

G-Mama and Mama

My Family! Mama, Me, G-Mama, and Aunt

Some of the most amazing people in the world

Me and Brittany. We had to get a picture together because my heels made me the same height as Brittany for once! It was quiet the accomplishment. 

Activation

I am so glad that pledge, or as we call it here Greek Orientation, is over. It was a long 5 weeks but also really fun. We learned all of our songs, met alumni, and got to bond as a pledge class. After that whole ordeal I feel so much closer to my girls and I could not have asked for a better pledge class to have gone through all of that with.

Now that that is all over activation has started. If you don't know what activation is it is basically 2 weeks of parties every night with the fraternities on campus. These are meant to help you get to know the guys on campus and to expose you to how each frat parties so you can decided later on who you enjoy partying with. It's so exhausting but a ton of fun. We have already finished our first week and our second week starts tomorrow. Each fraternity has a theme for the party and that's what I like most. I love dressing up and going crazy with it since I can't drink.

My girls and I take the themes very seriously because this is our first impression for most of the fraternities and we want to make sure they like us and have fun with us. We want to be invited to other events!

I only have a few photos and some aren't too fabulous because well we are in dark basements that don't have a lot of lights. I hope you enjoy them though!

This photo is from our first party with our fraternity brothers. Our brothers are the Knickerbockers and they are the sweetest and chillest guys on campus. As you may be able to tell the theme of this party was PJs. Some of us rocked the footie PJs. 

This is my girl Brittany and I at the Arcadian fraternity party. The theme was frat boy which meant half of us went as bro fratters and the other half did the preppy fratters. We tried so hard but man that was a struggle. I'd say though we pulled off the bro look pretty well. 

XOXO

ZMH