1 week from tomorrow!!

I wish I would have started this whole blog business earlier because now I just don't even know where to begin! To make a very long story short: On a whim I applied to be a traveling leadership consultant in November. I never really thought it would go anywhere. But one thing led to another and I got one of the 18 positions as a 2010-2011 Zeta Tau Alpha Traveling Leadership Consultant. For those of you who don't know, a TLC spends the school year traveling to all the different ZTA chapters across the country; mentoring, guiding, and leading the active members through everything from recruitment to initiation.


My first responsibility as a TLC is attending Convention in New Orleans, exactly 1 week from tomorrow! Where I will be meeting everyone for the first time and working my butt off behind the scenes to help make sure convention runs smoothly. And then training starts in Indy on the 23rd! Where me and the other women will learn the ins and outs of every aspect of ZTA for 2 fun filled weeks! Then come August, THE SKY IS THE LIMIT : )


Although, I have really enjoyed my 2 months off from school, work...responsibility; I am really looking forward to this new adventure. The hardest part of traveling will definitely be missing my family and friends. But the second hardest part will be living out of a SUITCASE for 9 months! I knew from the get-go that I would only be allowed one checked bag. But the more lists I make and the more things I buy...I'm starting to realize just how hard one checked bag is really going to be. I travel for months at a time; only coming home for holidays, so I need to pack EVERYTHING I'll need. One week, I may be in New York and the next in California--so as the seasons start to change, I will really need to learn the art of layering!

But, given the task of packing for months and months led me to buy NEW LUGGAGE! and if you know me at all, you'll know that I live to buy/shop so this was a great treat for me. Mom bought me new Liz and Company luggage complete with a tote, carry on, and of course a new COACH purse that I've kept in the box until the day I leave so it'll be even more special when I finally get to use it!


I know that it will be hard to learn what I "need" to take with me and what I really need to leave behind at home. A blog that i recently read of a past TLC, said to do a 3 week check and after three weeks, whatever was in the suitcase that hadn't been touched yet, gets shipped back home. I thought this was a great idea and something I'll definitely be doing.


I hope everyone enjoys reading my adventures, I'll try to keep these posts relatively short and free of the unnecessary tidbits of my everyday (so unless utterly necessary...I won't tell you every magazine I buy at the airport or every meal served at ever chapter home) but I will share the sights I see, the interesting people I encounter and the emotions I feel as I leave everything I know and love behind and embark on an exciting, new, and what I know will sometimes be-lonely trip around the great U. S. of A.

Enjoy the journey with me wont you? : )