Happy Founders' Day #AXO - 130 years of Real.Strong.Women. #TBT

We enjoyed spending Founders' Day with the Beta Eta collegians! It was a packed dining room. We loved meeting lots of the collegians and welcoming alumnae with their families this year.

 

Mike, Leo, Malena (Beta Omicron & President of Tally Alumnae Panhellenic), Amy (Zeta Upsilon & ETE President)

 

Barrett, Colleen (Beta Eta), Brantley, Sean

Tyler, Aimee (Beta Eta), Mia, PeeJay

Special table for collegians and alumnae who are cheerleaders and gymnasts! (front middle - Em (Iota Psi); back middle left - Jocelyn (Gamma Iota); back middle right with lovely #lyre badge (Alyssa (Gamma Iota))

 

Always being serenaded by nice fraternity guys on Founders' Day (it's SO fun!)

Alumna Initiate Beth Blair in #CalendarGirls

Epsilon Tau Epsilon was so fortunate to alumna initiate Beth Blair (mom of Joy A. S. Stubbs, Gamma Iota - UF). Beth loves life, philanthropy and appreciates & partakes of the Fine Arts:  What a perfect example of a Real. Strong. Woman.

Make sure to catch Beth as Jessie at Theatre Tallahassee in the role of in Calendar Girls. This is the last weekend for the production! We also must note one of the production sponsors is COCA, and our sister Amanda works there!

Below we posted her appearance in "Love, Loss & What I Wore." Our alumna Erin (Iota Psi, Elon) said, "Beth stole the show!"

Tallahassee More Beautiful - #tbt

Follow up on  our previous post for our sister

Erin (Iota Psi, Elon)

Erin Boomgarden (Iota Psi, Elon)'s collborative work from graduate school in the FSU Department of Art Education and Art Therapy Association on the corner of Gaines and Railroad Square. 

Thank you sister Amanda (Alpha Upsilon, Alabama) and the Council on Culture & Arts (@COCABuzz) for noting this art on their website as "Outdoor Public Art"

You can celebrate MacDowell Month (when Alpha Chi Omegas everywhere take part in and support the fine arts) anytime you want thanks to Erin!

and enjoy her Etsy shop:  http://www.etsy.com/shop/SaturatedWhimsee

Photos courtesy of Utrecht Tallahassee

Bon Voyage Chelsie

Fine Arts Recap - Throwback Thursday

Why is this Fine Arts post a "Throwback Thursday"?
Because we revisit April 2011! Hey, it's never too late to highlight a sister's achievements!
And it is the perfect way to wrap up a month of busy fine arts activities.

"Catharsis and Sublimation"
The Florida State Art Therapy Association (FSU ATA) presented artworks by current FSU Art Therapy students.

The show occurred Friday, April 1st during the First Friday Gallery Hop at Fire Ants Studio in Railroad Square Art Park.

Our super talented sister Erin B (Iota Psi, Elon) showed two works of art that evening. In the photograph to the right you can see the mixed media works - the bird above her and the tree to her right.

(Feb 2013 update:  Erin graduated successfully and was married this past November in Tallahassee. We hope she and hubbie Ryan remain with us in Tallahassee for many years!)

We also featured Erin's work here:
http://axoete.blogspot.com/2011/02/macdowell-month-alpha-chis-celebrating.html

Alpha Chi Omegas are NSF Grant Winners

We were thrilled and not at all surprised to hear our local alumna Chelsie (Elon, Iota Psi) won an NSF grant. Chelsie works incredibly hard researching marine issues as a Master's student at FSU and advocating for the environment, and still makes time to run, bike and swim in triathlons, garden, foster animals and cook! We fear she and her husband Travis (The Great Bicycle Shop) will move in 2013, but we look foward to following her work and successes in the future. We are proud to call her a Real Strong Woman and model Alpha Chi.

Another Successful Salad Days: Welcoming Summer

You will see below, JSBH is NOT a professional photographer, but at least she documents our fun :-) Thank you to our president Amy Z who hosts the yearly event.

We enjoyed a fantastic variety and number of alumnae at our 7th Annual Salad Days and Fruity Drinks fun evening.

Alumnae who graduated last month and 48+ years ago joined us - how fantastic and amazing that we shared the Bond of Sisterhood across the years - good food and drinks will do that. Sisters from nine chapters attended: Pi - Berkeley, Upsilon - Millikin, Beta Eta - FSU, Beta Gamma - LSU, Gamma Epsilon - OK State, Gamma Iota - UF, Zeta Upsilon - CWRU, Theta Lambda - Clemson and Iota Psi - Elon.

from the right going clockwise - Maxine, Britain, Chelsie, Rachael,
Linda, Lynda, Amy D, Amy K, Magie, Tara, Amy Z, Annette



from the left going clockwise:  Maxine, Lauren, Amy C, Ashley H, Danielle, Britain, Rachael, Linda, Lynda, Amy D, Amy K

Amy C (Beta Eta), Amy D (Upsilon), Barbara C (Gamma Iota),
Chelsie (Iota Psi) and Linda H (Gamma Epsilon)



We celebrated our newest alumna's birthday (note the princess crown)

We forgot to photograph the appetizers, drinks:  homemade sangria and watermelon lemonade and desserts:  blueberry + lemon curd pound cake, cream-cheese brownies and The Cake Shop cupcakes, but we did snap a picture of the salads (fruit, tossed, bean, pasta - you name it - all yummy!) We had plenty of leftovers to take to sick sisters who couldn't attend, boyfriends, husbands and roommates!

We can't wait for next year!

Salad Days Success!

A big thank you to our wonderful sisters who came out Monday evening and contributed to help make our bath and bedding drive for Refuge House a success! A special thanks to our guest, Diane Jefferson, Development Director of Refuge House, who made us all feel like we are truly making a difference for the women and children Refuge House serves. 

Sisters from seven Alpha Chi collegiate chapters with Diane Jefferson of Refuge House. 

Standing (l to r): Diane Jefferson, Lynda (Beta Gamma, Louisiana State), Margaret (Beta Sigma, Univ of Georgia), Amy (Zeta Upsilon, Case Western Reserve Univ), Kristen (Gamma Iota, Univ of Florida and Beta Eta, Florida State), Chelsie (Iota Psi, Elon Univ); seated (l to r): Aimee (Beta Eta, Florida State), Britain (Beta Eta, Florida State) and Jennifer (Theta Lambda, Clemson) 

The big stack of towels, twin sheet sets and pillows we collected for Refuge House!

Sisters with the donations

All of us helping Diane load the donations in her car - luckily she had big enough vehicle to hold everything! 

Thanks to Alumnae Panhellenic of Tallahassee for awarding us their Philanthropic Grant, the proceeds of which went toward these donations. Thanks also to cash donations from our members (as well as from  Beta Eta alumna Danielle and Zeta Upsilon alumna Amy from the Tweet-up they held for Refuge House) we had a cash donation for RH for $150 to go along with all the linens. 

In addition to helping a great cause, we enjoyed a lovely evening (inside, unfortunately, due to the overly warm weather) and delicious dinner with the variety of salads everyone brought along. It was a wonderful evening enjoying the society of our sisters!

MacDowell Month - Alpha Chis Celebrating The Arts

Our sister Cindy supports the Arts all year round. We found her in the Gainesville Magazine enjoying Noche de Gala benefiting the Sebastian Ferrero Foundation.

We are also pleased to share an updated picture from Erin (Iota Psi, Elon)'s Celebrating the Arts mural. Today Mayor Marks cuts the ribbon, and welcomes the mural to Railroad Avenue and Gaines Street community. Thank you Erin, your colleagues and Tallahassee citizens for helping beautifying the city!

Help Make Tallahassee More Beautiful!

Alpha Chi Omega alumna Erin (Iota Psi, Elon)'s department (Department of Art Education) and student association (Art Therapy Association) are collaborating with Seven Days of Opening Nights Arts Fest and the City of Tallahassee to paint a mural on the corner of Gaines and Railroad Square from Feb. 10-22.  "We're there this week 9am-7pm and this weekend 12-5pm. We'll be there 9am-9pm beginning Feb 14. Any and all are welcome- we'd especially love for people to bring their classes (if they teach) or any volunteer organizations; it's pretty much paint by numbers; artistic or technical skill is not a requirement. 

"Students of any paintbrush-wielding age are welcome, provided they have proper supervision of course. We are also working with local programs such as Pyramid Studios, SAIL, and FDOA/Sports Ability. The theme of the mural is the arts-visual, and performing, so there are dancers and musicians and such throughout the mural design. It should be awesome!"

What a great way to celebrate MacDowell Month (when Alpha Chi Omegas everywhere take part in and support the fine arts)!

one section of the mural, just beginning to take shape on Friday!

Support an AXO sister at Sunberry

Tonight, Friday, January 28th from 7-10pm, support Erin (Iota Psi, Elon) and her fellow Art Therapy graduate students by treating yourself and your family or friends to Sunberry Frozen Yogurt, 633 West Tennessee Street. 

A portion of all sales will go to the Art Therapy Association (just mention FSU ATA)!

See more details on the facebook event: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=183320035033959&index=1

http://www.sunberryfyc.com

Hall of Commitment = win ... Photos = fail

One of the great joys and honors for an alumnae chapter is to host Hall of Commitment (Third Degree of Initiation) for the senior and transfer collegians.

When opportunities arise for sisters to share in ritual, they remember The Bond that unifies them and the values they strive to uphold. One of our alumnae said it best on Sunday, "Every time I hear this ceremony I learn something new." How refreshing and exciting to remain inspired by ceremonies envisioned more than 100 years ago.

Sorry we forgot a camera to document the event, but we do want to recognize our sisters!

Thanks for giving of your time to help cultivate our future alumnae!
Barbara (Gamma Iota, UF)
Chelsie (Iota Psi)
Erin (Iota Psi)
Kim (Beta Eta)
Jenn (Theta Lambda)
Jennifer (Iota Psi)
Tara (Beta Eta)

Welcome to the Third Stage of Membership!
Julia A
Lindsey G
Sarah L
Katie W
You will be missed.

We hope this blog post inspires YOU to remember your pledge to Alpha Chi Omega. Live with Wisdom, Devotion and Achievement today!

Founders' Day - Happy 125th Alpha Chi Omega

ETE celebrated our 125th Founding Date and honored Domestic Violence Awareness Month a few days early on Tuesday the 12th.
(back row) Jennifer, Amy, Caryn and Karen
(front row) Erin, Chelsie and Tara
The Beta Eta collegians invited us over to "the 518" for traditional turkey dinner. As always, "Mom Marie" and her fantastic staff served excellent food. We enjoyed a full dining room of new members and lifetime members, and everyone was wearing purple of some sort.



Happy 125th Founders' Day

to all the Real.Strong.Women Alpha Chi Omega Women's Fraternity initiated from 1885-2010!

AXO Convention

Alpha Chi Omega will hold the 56th Biennial National Convention July 9-12th in Washington, D.C. Convention is full of memorable moments, Alpha Chi Omega business, and opportunities to make new friends and visit with sisters from around the country. See the full Convention schedule here.

At Epsilon Tau Epsilon, we're excited that many of our members will be able to participate in this great event. Thank you to Jennifer (Theta Lambda, Clemson) for being our voting delegate. Also attending from Tallahassee: alumnae Amy (Zeta Upsilon, CWRU), Britain (BH, FSU) and Jennifer O. (Iota Psi, Elon)... and collegians from Beta Eta - BH President and voting delegate Liz (of Coral Springs, FL) and VP-Education Vaneese (of St. Petersburg, FL).

We will post photos and a recap here after we all get back home and recover!