Must-Read Books For the Fall/Winter Season

It's time to cozy up on your couch and dig your nose into some of our favorite books for the fall/winter season. Now, is the perfect time to get your hands on a Kindle or iPad to make reading a whole lot easier. With all of the holiday travel ahead, we are sure you will need to keep yourself preoccupied on those long flights so we have compiled a list of some of our favorites below. Share with us your favorite books to read this fall and winter season in the comment's section below!

1. Essentialism: The Disciplined Pursuit of Less by Greg McKeown - This book dives deep into weeding out things in life to focus on only things that are truly important.
2. Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff- Fates and Furies is about a couple throughout the years, it's a riveting look at relationships and marriage. Half the book is told through the view point of the man and second half through the woman
3. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - The Girl on the Train is about a girl who imagines the life of this perfect couple on her daily commute to and from work through the windows of the train ride she's on but turns out the perfect couple isn't so perfect. Very suspenseful and has a "Gone Girl" feel to it.
4. The Compound Effect by Darren Hardy - Plainly put: this book outlines how decisions you make daily is shape your destiny.
5. 7 Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen R. Covey - With over 10 million copies sold, this is a highly popular business-centered book that encompasses a balance between personal and professional effectiveness. Basically, is a manual on how to perform better in both areas of your life.
6. Year of Yes: How To Dance It Out, Stand In the Sun and Be Your Own Person by Shonda Rhimes - You may recognize her name as the hit sensation behind the TV series' Grey's Anatomy, Scandal, and How To Get Away With Murder. Now, Shonda has a book out that candidly shares her compelling and funny attempts to come out of her shell by saying "yes" to anything that scares her.

5 Things That Can Make Your Basic Outfit, Not-So-Basic

If you're more of a minimalist like us and like your basic tees and jeans we have five things we always wear to still stand out wearing a basic outfit!  It's pretty amazing what one thing can do to your entire outfit.  We believe in the term, "less is more", so we thinking keeping it simple is better, but you can always spruce things up!  Here is our list of items that can make your outfit stand out from the crowd!

1. Lipstick - it's pretty amazing what a simple lip color can do to your entire outfit.  Maybe match a black turtleneck and skinny jeans with a red lip?! So simple, but so cute!
2. Hats - hats can really make you stand out from the crowd.  If you're not really a hat person, just try it out for a day and we promise you're going to be getting tons of compliments left & right!
3. Your Hair-do - if you always wear your hair down, wear it in a cute ponytail or vise versa!  We love a basic outfit with a cute messy bun, pony tail, or even wear it in a braid.  The point of this is switch it up from your usual and it can really make a difference!
4. Shoes - yes, shoes are a girls favorite thing, but just by switching it up and wearing converses or even heels with a basic outfit it spruces things up!
5. Jewelry - now again, since you are wearing a simple outfit, you can go either way with your jewelry! You can keep it simple or you can wear something more detailed- that's the best part about wearing simple outfits!

What are some of your favorite ways to spruce up your basic outfits??

The Best Fall/Winter Raincoats

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Geez Louise, it has been raining cats and dogs at our Seattle office! For the Pacific Northwest and probably for a lot of you across the world, lots of rain comes with the fall season. However, we use every season to rock the cutest fashion, so naturally we did some online shopping of raincoats. We pick the cutest and super comfortable ones above so click away and let us know which one is your fave!

Happy shopping!

Why Instagram Can Help Your Sorority Recruitment

It's amazing what social media has evolved to these last couple of years.  Sure, there's pros and cons to social media and it can do a lot of damage, but it can also be a great asset to a sorority!  One thing a lot of people haven't considered is that it can help with your sorority's "brand" and it gives a potential new member a glimpse into what it would be like to potentially be in that sorority.  Instead of using social media for internal use, use it for external use as well!

Instagram especially has almost become a portfolio for people, companies, and organizations.  Remember... you also cannot post to post, it must have great authentic, genuine content.  Just remember, before you join a sorority, a potential new member has no idea what it is like to be in a sorority- this is your chance to show a glimpse of it! Here's a list of things you should be posting on your sorority Instagram and why it can help you with recruitment!

1. Events - showcase what kind of events you have and all the fun everyone has hanging out with their sisters.

2. Education - education is an important factor and it's important that your sorority values study time and getting A+ together.  Also, showcase academic achievements and highlight members for their great work!

3. Sisterhood - photos of hanging out at sorority events is great, but it's also important to showcase friendships outside of sorority activities and events.  Again, potential new members have no idea what it's going to be like when they join, so it's important that sisterhood happens on campus & off!

4. Diversity - it's important to make everyone & anyone feel welcomed in your sorority.  Make sure to showcase your diversity in culture & race to feel all potential new member feel like they belong.

5. Post Grad Life - showcasing & highlighting what sisterhood is like or what alum members are up to post graduation is also something that's really appealing for potential new members so they see the benefit in becoming a member after graduation!

Remember, put yourself in their shoes and think what you would have liked to see when joining a sorority.  It's okay to brag about your sorority Instagram account, ladies!

How To Plan An Epic Sistergiving

Yes, we made up the term "Sistergiving". Sistergiving encompasses gathering all of your sisters and sitting down over a meal to express how much you are thankful for each other! November is the month that we have unofficially dawned Sistergiving and it is best to be done right before Thanksgiving. Below are all of the things you need in order to plan a Sistergiving for the books!

1. Create your guest list. Try not to leave a single sorority sister or real sister/friend out. Creating a guest list will help you plan everything from the space to be reserved right down to how many plates and other utensils will be needed.
2. Find a space. For sorority women, your chapter room or kitchen would probably be best. For anyone else, try a good friend's home or a venue that can rent the space to you.
3. Invite your sisters via the app "Invitd". Download it here! In the notes, make sure to specify that it is a potluck style dinner so they know to bring something.
4. Start a group chat via GroupMe, text, or shared list via Wunderlist so each person can explain what they're going to bring.
5. Buy or rent the table decor. Rent tables, table cloths, and chairs through a local rental facility (do it early so you don't run the risk of not having enough seating and tableware for everyone). If you want to buy and save the decor for your next Friendsgiving, shop at Michael's for fun DIY stuff that you can turn into a sisterhood event before. Party City and Target are also safe bets too!
6. Make name cards. Now that you've got your guest list and decor, personalize the table by making name cards. People love to see their name written out!
7. At the Friendsgiving, have everyone write down on a piece of paper when they enter what sister that they're thankful for or something that they're thankful for. It will be shared aloud at the dinner table.
8. Be sure to have a fun playlist!

That's it! Send us pictures of your Sistergiving for a repost on our Instagram! We can't wait to see how it turns out for you!

5 Perfect Indoor Plants to Have

Having greenery in your room or home adds so much more life than you actually think.  The tricky thing is, it's actually a living thing that you need to take care of.  We've learned that there are so many different watering techniques and there's definitely low maintenance plants and high maintenance!  From our personal experience & asking our friends around, we've narrowed it down to 5 best indoor plants to have in your home that are all low maintenance!

If you decide to go out to get yourself one of these guys, make sure to go to Gardenista.com to learn more about how to take care of your plants!

1. Snake Plants
2. Aloe
3. English Ivy
4. Fiddle Leaf Fig Trees
5. Succulents

The Cool Way To Send Invites

Even though we are still lovers of personalized invitations in the mail and even email invites from online resources like Punchbowl, we are huge fans of a new way to send personalized invitations and it's through an awesome app called "Invitd"! All you have to do is download this free app, fill in the deets of your special event, add an image ( upgrade to allow for personalized images), then add your friends via their phone numbers and boom, a personalized text message invite is sent to them. It opens up just like it would via a Punchbowl invite and they have the ability to RSVP right at the comfort of their phone. You can get alerts when people RSVP too and keep track of who all is coming through the app as well. It's such an easy, fast, and creative way to send invites to your millennial friends, especially!

Try out the app and let us know what you think!