April, according to my iPhone...

April was a fun, but crazy busy, month! In early April I traveled to Sacramento, California, to visit UC Davis to make a decision about graduate school. I'll actually be spending the next 2+ years in Portland, Oregon, getting a Masters in Geography at Portland State University (PSU), and I'm incredibly excited! 

Here's life, according to my (brand new!) iphone...

-Spring finally arrived in Atlanta! It took forever, but the flowers were worth the wait.

-We went camping at Amicalola Falls for Hannah's birthday, which was a ton of fun.

-We went to Ria's Bluebird for a tasty brunch the day after Hannah's birthday; I got a biscuit, veggie "sausage" patty, scrambled eggs, and roasted potatoes.

-Hannah and I walked around Grant Park and Oakland Cemetery (pictured) in Atlanta. 

-I tried my first Cheerwine cherry soda in Helen, GA!

-Hannah and I went on a weeknd getaway to Unicoi State Park, where we camped out!

-Emory Seniors at Sweetwater gave us one last tipsy night of fun before graduation.

-UC Davis in California; there were bikes everywhere!

-Gamma Phi formal, themed the"roaring twenties" in honor of the new Gatsby movie.

Feel free to follow me on Instagram - my username is gwynethmanser. 

Stone Mountain, GA

Over the weekend my sorority, Gamma Phi Beta, went on a chapter retreat to Stone Mountain, Georgia, to have fun and bond with the new members. I absolutely LOVE hiking the mountain, so while everyone else played team building games my friend Megan and I snuck away to go on a hiking adventure (because, you know, YOLO or whatever). We had a total blast taking silly pictures and hiking the trail! Afterwards I went with a bunch of friends to Doc Chey's, by Emory, for some yummy sweet and spicy veggie stir fry, which was pretty much the perfect end to the day.

GPhiB Bid Day 2013

The last two weeks have been totally consumed with sorority recruitment (aka "rush")! It's a pretty grueling process--lots of long hours and way too much girl flirting--but it was also a lot of fun, and I had a great time getting to better know some of the girls in my sorority. I did get to miss one day of recruitment to go to Nashville with my girlfriend Hannah; we saw Augustana (one of my favorite bands ever!) play a live acoustic set, which was amazing! And pretty much the best Christmas gift ever.

On Sunday we had "bid day", where new members get bids from the sororities. Gamma Phi Beta gave out 72 bids, which is absolutely huge (we currently have about 100 members)! That afternoon we picked up our new members and took them to Sky Zone, which is basically paradise if you love trampolines. Afterwards we came back to Emory to take bid day pictures and eat pizza. It was a long day, but a total blast, and I loved our theme: "lucky you, lucky me, lucky to be a GPhiB"!

Let them eat cake

Happy Friday! My goodness, this year is just flying by. Last week, during Gamma Phi Beta's "lifetime commitment week", my sorority had a cake decorating contest! My roommates and I won "prettiest cake" (it's the third cake pictured below)!

 I had a total blast seeing what awesome ideas my sorority sisters came up with! My favorites? The ducky cake and the "Gamma Phi" cake! Which cake do you like best?

What are your plans for the weekend? I'm going to Clemson University for a field hockey game!

Happy Halloween

I can't believe October is nearly over! What are you planning on being for Halloween? The past two weeks have been crazy full of classwork and Gamma Phi Beta events; we carved pumpkins and went to a corn maze!

Two week ago Gamma Phi had a "Vegas" themed party. Everyone got dressed in sparkles and heels, and it was a total blast!

We also had a sisterhood event at Southern Bell Farms in Georgia, where we ate fried food, picked pumpkins, got lost in a corn maze, and went on a hay ride!

On Thursday night, GPhi had a Halloween party where we carved pumpkins, baked pumpkin cookies, andate candy! I made a "ghost pumpkin"! It was a total blast to carve pumpkins together with everyone. I think my favorite was my suite-mate Sarah's batman pumpkin (see below!).

Also, I recently nabbed a free sample of the seasonal peppermint stick Cliffbar; it's totally a must try!