I was home in Massachusetts for a few days and was able to spend time with my little brothers.  We carved pumpkins and ate lots of cookies and hot chocolate.  So cute!

Blake Mycoskie= my dream man.

Blake founded Tom’s shoe company in 2006 after traveling to Argentina and participating in a shoe drive.  Argentinean children must have shoes in order to go to school, if they do not have shoes they are denied an education.  Blake saw the joy in children and parents eyes after they received shoes and decided that he wanted to continue to spread that same joy throughout the world.

He made 250 pair of shoes to bring back to the United States with him in hopes of finding customers.  He vowed to give one pair of shoes to a child in need for each pair of shoes he sold, this is Tom’s promise.  One for one.

Blake caught the attention of the shoe buyer for American Rag and within days he had sold all 250 pairs and an additional 900 pairs online.  The problem?  He only had 250 pair of shoes in his apartment, not the 1150 that were ordered.  He then hired 10 interns who were responsible for calling each and every person who ordered a pair of Tom’s and informing them that Blake was going back to Argentina and they would have their shoes in about 8 weeks.

The success of Tom’s shoes is, in part, due to Blake’s  entrepreneurial  intelligence but the real success of Tom’s is because of their one for one motto.  People like to feel as though they are part of something bigger than themselves and by purchasing Tom’s, customers are able to become a part of a global charity.

Tom’s shoe company does “shoe drops” several time throughout the year in various places across the world.  To get involved visit www.tomsshoes.com

After his lecture, Blake held a question and answer session.  I OF COURSE had a question for him…

I got the microphone and FIRST told him that I thought he was absolutely gorgeous (which he is!) and then asked him what he would want those of us who support Tom’s shoes to tell critics who think Tom’s is just another corporate America scandal.

Blake wants critics to visit public sites which Tom’s cannot control and watch videos and read stories about those who have been on shoe drops and children who have received shoes.  Youtube has many videos of different experiences across the world.

Since starting Tom’s shoe company in 2006 the company has sold 250,000 pairs of shoes.

Blake was invited to Temple as a guest speaker as part of the festivities for Homecoming 2009 at TU.

Really though, this man is saving the world on pair of shoes at a time, he is gorgeous, intelligent, and single?  Who knows…

A girl can dream can’t she…

<3 Chelsea

An escape from city life, priceless.  My friends and I escaped to Long Beach Island for the weekend to get a little bit of a break from city life and it was phenomenal.  We had beautiful weather all weekend and enjoyed the sand and sun thoroughly.  Being college students our budget was tight so we lived solely on cheap hotdogs and doritos for a solid three days.  Other great American cuisine involved a “family” dinner of hotdogs and mac and cheese as well as a breakfast of champions, hot dogs.  Yes, when I tell you we lived on cheap food I am not lying.

The house we stayed at was directly on the water.  I woke up early each day to watch the beautiful sunrise and took tons of pictures.  I have nicknamed the beach “butterfly beach” because there were TONS of monarch butterflies in the morning and there were also tons of butterfly shaped seashells on the beach.  Since it was off season at the beach, people with permits were able to drive their trucks and jeeps on the beach.  There were lots of father son pairs who were fishing and enjoying Fall at the beach.

Highlights of the trip?  Seeing a family of dolphins, wiping out on the skim board, and a Wawa latte on the way back to Philly.

Enjoy <3 Chelsea

Temple University was established in 1884 as an informal response to a need for educational opportunity in Philadelphia.  The University began at The Baptist Temple on Broad street.  In my time at Temple, The Baptist Temple has not been utilized for much.  However, it is currently being renovated into a performing arts center.  Upon completion The Baptist Temple will  feature a  main auditorium with seating for up to 1,200 people, integrated audio/visual and sound systems, including recording capability, and will be available for varied types of performances, symposia and lectures.

I am thrilled that this beautiful building will become part of main campus once again!

Fun Facts about the Baptist Temple:

When opened in 1891, the Temple was one of the largest Protestant churches in the United States.

Martin Luther King Jr. spoke at Temple University’s Baptist Temple in 1965.

<3 Chelsea

Temple football games are free and fun to attend!  Temple students receive free tickets to all football and basketball games with their student ID.  The Temple football team is Division I and plays at the Lincoln Financial Field, home to the Philadelphia Eagles.  Free transportation is offered to all students and runs from Main Campus to the Linc.  The SEPTA subway system is another option for students who want to get to the football games, and at just $2.90 round trip it’s not too expensive. The band is always at home games with high energy along with the Temple Cheerleaders and the Diamond Gem dance team.  The Cherry and White crowd loves to cheer during the game and the famous “fight” song is a must.  To find more information regarding Division I athletics at Temple please visit www.owlsports.com. For information regarding club or intramural sports please visit www.temple.edu/campusrec.

<3 Chelsea

Math and science, not my thing.  Temple requires every student to take two math and two science courses, one with a lab.  As a non-math and science person I dread choosing my math and science courses.  I have fulfilled my math requirements, however I am currently enrolled in a science course in order to fulfill my non-lab science requirement.

The course is a GenEd course titled Sustainable Design and it is lead by the head of the landscape architecture program Dr. Mary Myers and her husband Dr. Daryl Carrington.  The course focuses on sustainable living and ways to improve the earth and it’s environment.  For one of our classes we took a field trip to Temple’s Ambler campus in Ambler, PA.  Temple provides free shuttle services to the Ambler campus regularly, and it is about a 45 minute ride to Ambler.

The purpose of our trip was to check out the Wetlands Garden.  The garden contains over 300 native plant species and was created with local materials.  The garden also collects runoff from five surrounding acres, protecting a nearby creek.  We were able to explore various other gardens at the Ambler campus and ran into some furry friends.  We saw a doe and a groundhog on our Ambler adventure.

Ambler’s campus provides a greener, more suburban version of Temple University for students who may be more comfortable outside of the city life.  For myself, Ambler felt like home.  Home being rural, middle of nowhere, Massachusetts.  It was certainly a nice get away from the city noise but I could not see myself as a Temple student anywhere but Main Campus.

Hey, sounds like my kind of science! <3 Chelsea

Game faces.  “This mountain ain’t got nothin on us.”

Vacation in NH….again.  I love the mountains and I enjoyed a few extra days of nature before I move back to the city for the Fall.  My family and I hiked to Lonesome Lake which is absolutely beautiful.  On the way down we stopped at a waterfall and decided that we would climb it!  When we got to the top there was a swimmy hole and another waterfall.  We jumped off of the second waterfall into the swimmy hole and spent almost an hour just hanging out.  I was shocked that my youngest cousins climbed the waterfall…they are notorious for being SUPER whimpy.  Such a great day : ) <3 Chelsea

Don’t be!!  Moving into a residence hall can be a bit intimidating, but you will adjust quickly and will most definitely be surprised by how much you like it.  Going into college my thoughts were… communal bathrooms? No thanks.  Now, I would give anything for more than one shower and one tiolet!  This summer I have been living at a camp (a fabulous one at that) but it certainly is not luxurious.  Ladies– have you ever tried to shave your legs in a shower as wide as a telephone booth? Good luck. 

Living in a res. hall is more than sharing a bathroom and cooking in a microwave.  It is the BEST way to meet people and to start forming relationships on campus.  The ladies I lived with my freshman year in communal housing are the ladies I lived with last year and are my roomies this year!  The friendships you make living in a res. hall outweigh ANY complaints you can come up with.  One piece of advice– bring a power strip with you.  My biggest complaint about living in the residence halls?  Not enought plugs for all of my electronics!

Golf carts on Broad street?  Highly unlikely, you will most likely have the family vehicle to carry your stuff.

Good news!! Move in day will not look a thing like this…you will be living in a real building that is not in the middle of the woods : )

More good news…your bed will be far more comfortable than this one!  Oh and your room will be cleaner too.

You see the cubbie like thing to the right of the bed?  Yupp you guessed it–my closet AND dresser!  You will have MUCH more space in your residence hall.

Ok, so I can’t promise you won’t see this happen once or twice.

Bunk beds?  Only if you want them!

Man, college living is EASY compared to this! 

<3 Chelsea

Halloween in July at camp was such a fun night.  The campers were responsible for creating their own costumes with the supplies offered at the Art Shack.  Staff members were also asked to create a look for themselves.  Each bunk was to dress as the same thing…some chose Yankee players, hobos, a fruit basket, a birthday party, the Wizard of Oz cast, overall each bunk looked great.  The waterski team dresses as Skittles and   my bunk dressed as characters from Shrek including princess Fiona, Donkey, Gingerbread Man, Puss and Boots (my personal fav.), and Pinocchio.  My counselors and I dressed as fairy godmothers.  The best part of Halloween of course THE CANDY!  I do not know who ever thinks that giving these children (all 400 of them) candy is a good idea.  In camp world 1 candybar= approx. $20  So, if you left your towel at the waterfront and wanted to bribe a camper to go get it you could offer them 1/2 a candybar.  If someone offered you 10 bucks to walk 100 feet to get a towel would you do it?  I would… 

Candy is a dangerous thing at camp…use candy with caution

<3 Chelsea

For my day off I went to Burlington, VT.  Home to the Ben and Jerry’s factory and Lake Champlain : ) You would think that because I grew up in Massachusetts I would have been to Burlington before but this was my first trip.  What a beautiful city (if you can even consider it a city).  Such a great shopping and eating town with a specialty chocolate shop and so many great street performers.  The CREEPY dolls in the photo were the worst part of my day… I have no idea what they were trying to get across, but they were dressed as a Canadians and played ridiculously loud, random music.  I have no idea what their purpose was but they FREAKED ME OUT!!  Other than that it was a great day off! <3 Chelsea