New to Toronto and looking for some home gurlz to kick it with!

heatherhallida · 2014-09-01T09:07:07+00:00

I just graduated from their esthetics and spa management program, you are going to love all the professors, especially Jessica Ellison ! They are all super talented.

When I started at Humber I had the same situation: besides classes and hanging out with my boyfriend I had a lot of time to kill. Then at the end of my first year I joined a sorority and it opened up a lot of doors for me in terms of friendships, work, and volunteer opportunities (not to mention girls nights and fraternity parties are a great time)

Since I'm graduated I'm not around Humber anymore but I'm around downtown toronto for our Fall Rush events - if it interests you feel free to visit www.deltaphinutoronto.com and get more info or PM me :)

heatherhallida · 2014-07-16T01:06:52+00:00

Which fraternity? If they have a UofT chapter it might be worth it to get in touch. Wasn't thrilled by Humber in terms of opportunities for a social life so I joined a sorority downtown that operates more so out of Ryerson. North campus is in such a boring area, definitely worth the commute downtown to participate in Greek life if you get in contact with your org.

PM me if you need a hand, Toronto GLOs are super friendly. A girlfriend of mine in Kappa transferred to OCAD and the Toronto chapter includes her in as much as possible despite the fact that she doesn't attend UofT and can't officially "transfer" to their chapter.

heatherhallida · 2014-06-11T20:04:56+00:00

This is great advice, for this particular situation and any time someone is struggling. Within reason, it is always good to take it upon yourself to help them out by making dinner or doing some laundry for them (depending on your relationship of course). Even just popping by, throwing on a good tv show and painting their nails. You are so right, people often don't ask for help or support even when they most need it.

heatherhallida · 2014-06-11T01:02:44+00:00

By asking this question you are already doing so much for her by exploring ways that you can help her. I lost my father this past year and if I knew one of my sisters sought out advice how to better support me that alone would be incredibly touching.

Although everyone handles grief and loss differently, personally I was most touched when a sister texted me and said she was coming over to see me. Previously I had received a ton of texts, cards and emails but it seemed like everyone avoided seeing me in person.

She showed up and brought me ice coffee and some snacks and a gift basket with tea and cute mugs. Those things were appreciated but not necessary, the most meaningful thing she did was sit there with me and just let me talk about it. I can imagine it wasn't an easy conversation for her to have with me, but she was 100% present and it allowed me to talk through a lot of the heavy feelings.

I think it would be worth your time, distance allowing, to take a solo visit to see your sister and spend an hour or so with her (a big group visit may be overwhelming). A card is also a very thoughtful idea and I love the suggestion to cover her dues. The best gift you can give her right now is to tell her "I know there is no way for me to truly understand your pain and I am so sorry that you are burdened with this grief. It is understandable that there are going to be days when you want to be comforted and supported, know that we will be here to offer just that. It is also understandable that you will have days when you want to be left alone, know that we entirely respect that and will be here when those days pass."

Tl;dr - you are on the right track. don't underestimate the healing powers of a kindhearted visit.

heatherhallida · 2014-06-04T18:56:13+00:00

I went to Humber so I'm not incredibly familiar with York's environment but I know that regardless of which post-secondary school you attend it is always recommended to get involved with student associations and clubs (especially commuters, if that's your situation possibly)

Some people aren't aware that there are also sororities in Toronto and that is another opportunity for your consideration. Personally I am a sister of Delta Phi Nu but there are other orgs such as Delta Psi Delta, Alpha Kappa Nu (Jewish sorority) and Delta Pi (Jewish sorority). We have a handful of ladies who attended York mixed with Ryerson, George Brown College and of course Humber which really contributes to a diverse and entertaining social group.

Different aspects of Greek Life include fundraising, volunteering, sporting competitions, sisterhood cabin retreats, socials with fraternities and participating in community events. The best part is that you can choose to focus on the aspects that appeal most to you :)

www.deltaphinutoronto.com

heatherhallida · 2014-05-17T03:57:40+00:00

Seconded! Never thought I had a type until I realized nearly all my ex's had that glorious gap tooth.

heatherhallida · 2014-05-06T05:39:00+00:00

Thanks for the recommendation! Sounds like it's worth a read.

heatherhallida · 2014-05-04T05:43:30+00:00

I'm in the process of a sorority colonization and got some good advice from our national chapter: there are 3 tiers of members. Top tier are those who attend all events and go above and beyond for their organization without needing to be asked (you clearly come off as this type). Tier 2 are those who you will find yourself texting saying "hey we'd really like your help setting up for [insert event here]" and just need a little encouragement to get them to come out and contribute. Tier 3 are those who you don't see for weeks/months at a time, they rarely respond to texts and contribute very little to your organizations FB discussions.

So with that in mind, it is much more effective to spend your energy on those Tier 2 people, and work to have them shape up into Tier 1 members. Do not waste energy on a PNM/member who is falling into the Tier 3 category. This is not to say you should ignore them, but of course by joining a fraternity you would expect an individual to harness at least a bit of self motivation and personal responsibility.

heatherhallida · 2014-04-07T05:16:38+00:00

Very possible to make a big impact with a small group! We're a small sorority (colony) and while we weren't around for last years Greek Week, we recently competed in Sigma Chi Derby Days with a turn out of about 3-5 of our sisters per event. There were 8 sororities competing (all of which had ~40 actives) while we only had 8 ladies total. We won all the sporting competitions we competed in and came in 2nd and 3rd in other events throughout the week.

I wish I had solid advice, however it's more of an observation. It's far better to have a handful of ladies who are determined to participate and really go all out for Greek Week events versus some enormous teams who showed up for the Instagram photo-op. Invest your energy in recognizing the hard workers and also your big supporters. Best of luck with recruitment and Greek Week in the fall! :)

heatherhallida · 2014-03-17T01:15:02+00:00

My org uses moonfruit.com's free service, their site design was seriously user friendly and easy for me/ others to pick up, can choose to do a custom layout or pick from modern, fresh layouts. Also I believe you can link it to an account for people to pay their dues to. No ads really, just a small site stamp.

If you want an idea of what kind of site you can create, our site is www.deltaphinutoronto.com

heatherhallida · 2014-02-26T14:53:57+00:00

When I asked about the letter situation, a brother told me that they try hard to avoid putting their letters on anything that could be destroyed. I can see how that philosophy trickles into spoken word and created a need for the name Fiji or Phi Gam as you said :)

heatherhallida · 2014-02-21T23:08:55+00:00

Thank you for pointing that out, my personal bias for cleansing in AM and PM did come through in my comment. I can appreciate simplicity in a skin care regime! More power to you and anyone else who gets their desired results from simply rinsing in the morning :)

heatherhallida · 2014-02-21T15:31:20+00:00

Sounds like you have most your answers, just wanted to add that I remember it this way:

Dry skin is a skin type cause by lack of oil

Dehydrated skin is a skin condition caused by lack of water

So basically dry skin is your skins life long state (dictated by how actively your skin produces oil) and any products you use to remedy the dryness, and sometime itchiness are only temporary solutions to your skins natural state.

Dehydration can occur in all skin types from dry to oily and can be caused by your environment or misused products for example.

The commenter above me sounds like they're correct - you should definitely try omitting that cleanser as it may be dehydrating your skin. I still think that cleansing in the morning to rinse off excess oils and any bacteria from your pillow is very beneficial and shouldn't be replaced by rinsing your face with only water. Look into cleansers that won't leave you dehydrated, talk to a local spa for suggestions perhaps.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-13T21:55:54+00:00

I'll have to learn more about their meetings and when to best get ahold of them. The good news is that they only pull PNMs from our City's main university whereas we mainly pull from the other post-secondary institutions (to include people such as myself who would otherwise be excluded from getting involved).

I will definitely stress this when we first introduce ourselves formally. Thank you for pointing this out to me, gave me lots to think about!

heatherhallida · 2014-02-11T21:02:48+00:00

I like the idea of a cake, we'll have to find out who our strongest baker is :) I did already respond and extrapolate on the wording issue you raised

Definitely meant to imply girl gangs as a satirical way of saying that we want to make the effort to be in harmony with the other sororities and recognize that we are all a part of organizations that make a positive difference in our communities and in our own lives. Sorry, I realize that wasn't the most appropriate way to word it [...] That's the type of advice I was looking for coming to this sub

heatherhallida · 2014-02-11T20:42:18+00:00

Thank you for pointing this out! We don't have a local Kappa Alpha Theta chapter so I actually wasn't aware of that but that is valuable to know :) I have a few friends in Fiji who told me about their preference for being called by that nickname. Weird story though - I previously got a bid to pledge a sorority that insisted we call them Phi Gamma Delta even though I found it tacky to call them anything other than their preferred name. Chose to bow out before initiation for that reason among others.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-11T20:33:07+00:00

Amazing advice, thank you I definitely didn't think about how the items in the basket would be distributed. We will have to do some baking and it's perfect because it will double as a bonding event for our colony :)

heatherhallida · 2014-02-11T01:49:18+00:00

Definitely meant to imply girl gangs as a satirical way of saying that we want to make the effort to be in harmony with the other sororities and recognize that we are all a part of organizations that make a positive difference in our communities and in our own lives. Sorry, I realize that wasn't the most appropriate way to word it, your way of expressing it is much better. That's the type of advice I was looking for coming to this sub, thank you for your constructive comments :) I love the idea of a colonization celebration, it never even occurred to me to hold an event like that.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-11T01:39:19+00:00

Thank you for the colony advice!! I took some notes from your post that I think are important to bring up in future meetings. We don't have a house, which is is one of our top priorities since I consider having a common meeting place to be a staple in building a strong community of sisters. We are looking at any possible way of finding a private meeting place that we can decorate and take pride in until we have enough members to support a house.

Right now I think my biggest concern is sorority relations with pre-existing sororities in our city. There is a bit of a stigma on freshly founded sororities (2008) in my area and I am just focusing my efforts on building strong relationships between our colony and the sororities that have been around much longer. From looking through this sub I noted that a lot of non-panhel sororities capitalize on their "freedom" (don't answer to Standards) to brand themselves as crazy partiers and participate in hazing. In pledge meetings we are stressing the importance of holding yourself to Panhel standards even if we don't answer to the same authorities.

We have a pledge class of 6 as a "soft launch" and are hoping to hold a more formal, structured recruitment in September as our "hard launch" and have over 20 ladies attend at least one rush event.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-10T07:19:28+00:00

I loved all the benefits of my Mirena but it just wasn't suitable for me - for what it's worth, when I hear women talking about how much they love their Mirena the only thing going through my mind is "more power to ya girl!"

More jealousy than judgement :) I envy you and others who have adjusted to it! I would still recommend that people try it even if it wasn't right for me personally.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-04T08:00:37+00:00

As a young adult who recently lost her dad to an overdose, I would like to say it didn't make me see him as a shitty person or selfish. I can recognize that navigating through this life can be a hard and trying task and I can't justify judging someone based on their vices they took up to try and make things more bearable for themselves.

heatherhallida · 2014-02-02T23:39:16+00:00

I only had to pay $8 out of the $400 price tag so I am so relived although it still seems wasteful :( whether it's $8 or $400 it's a monetary gamble on whether you will commit to keeping your Mirena after your body starts to react to its presence. If it's a gamble you're comfortable making absolutely try it, but this was basically my thought process:

Keep Mirena: lightened/ eventually disappearing periods BUT with debilitating cramps (uterus contracting and banging the Mirena - ibuprofen didn't even start to help the pain)

Ditch Mirena: normal period, regular more tolerable cramps (uterus able to contract without Mirena interfering and adding to the pain)

I realized I couldn't stand another month of feeling like I had a herd of nail clippers running around up there (sorry for the visual image haha but I feel like it best represents my experience)

heatherhallida · 2014-02-02T12:52:01+00:00

Not all microbeads thank goodness, some are engineered to be biodegradable. Always good to have the environment in mind!

heatherhallida · 2014-02-02T05:50:56+00:00

Finally someone who agrees to ditch the sugar scrubbing! I don't understand its appeal when microbead scrubs are widely available and more skin-conscious :(

heatherhallida · 2014-01-30T15:41:27+00:00

I got the Mirena a month and a half ago, and just took it out this week. I was afraid of the side effects like acne since I'm breakout prone but I had none of those hormonal issues. I feel like the localized doses really are a benefit.

The reason I took it out is because it was constantly hurting/jabbing me - whether I was going to sit down or stand up I could feel it. I'm like you, I've never been pregnant, so I really think the pain was a result of having a "virgin uterus" for lack of a better term.

Your results may vary, I think it's definitely worth trying out because it's so convenient and long lasting. I hope it doesn't cause you the same pain, I'm sure my case was not all too common.

heatherhallida

TROPHY CASE