Time to Sort the Nuts

Several of our members got together at Debby's house last week to do our annual nut-sorting. We have it down to a science, so we're very efficient. Debby served us a delicious brunch, and we had lots of time to visit with each other, too. It's always fun being with sisters!

We extend our sincere thanks to everyone who bought, sold, sorted, and delivered nuts and candy. Thank you for supporting this very important fundraiser!


Debby's living room and dining room were all ready for the nuts to arrive.

Our hostess, Debby

Our fabulous president, Sharon!

Liz was in town and joined us for the fun!

We're ready to get started....

We've got this down to a science.  It goes so fast and is so much fun when we work in teams.

Donna and Amy

Anna

Paper-Crafting Sisterhood Event

Our president, Sharon, hosted a paper-crafting/make and take sisterhood event.  Our lovely instructor and Iota Chapter alumna Jennifer helped us create lovely holiday items.  Lori left saying, "We need to do this again.  When the people who weren't here see what we made, they'll be so jealous!"

Collegiate Craft Night

We went to The Mouse House for our October meeting.  Our hostess, Debby, loves everything Mickey!

Debby

What We're Reading for December

Our book club is reading Orphan Train.  We are meeting to discuss it on Wednesday, December 3, 2014.  Location TBD.  All sisters are welcome to join us!

Appetizer Night 2014

Our September kick-off-meeting, Appetizer Night, was a huge success!  We enjoyed sampling sisters' favorite appetizers and sharing recipes!  It was so nice seeing everyone and meeting new sisters!  Thank you to everyone who was able to make it.  We missed all of you who could not attend and hope to see you soon.  We extend our heartfelt thanks to Vicky for welcoming us into her home and sharing her hostessing ninja skills with us!

Our hostess, Vicky, and co-hostess, Jeanne

Catching up before the meeting starts.

We love how Vicky decorated with our Santa hats to promote participation in the Jingle Bell Run!

Always show up at this meeting hungry!

Vicky's mac & cheese bar!!

Desserts

It isn't a fall party until Fran brings dip in a gourd!

Iota Chapter's Oreo Cookie Dessert

We're still collecting amber pill bottles to send to Africa...

...and can tops.

It's the Mystery Condiment!

Suzette was one of the winners!

It's time for the meeting!  Our new president, Sharon, did such a great job!!

Concentrating on listening to all of the fun plans we have planned for this year....

We celebrated our accomplishments awarded to us at Leadership Institute.

First Meeting of the Year - September 18, 2014

We're ready to start a brand new year of sisterhood!  Please join us on Thursday, September 18, 2014 at 7:00pm at Vicky's house in Darien.  It's Appetizer Night!  Bring your favorite appetizer to share.  If things are crazy at your house, just bring yourself.  We will have plenty of food for everyone!  Contact us for more details at cwsaoii(at)gmail(dot)com.  All AOIIs are welcome to join us!

2014 Garage Sale a Huge Success!

Another garage sale is in the books!  We raised more than $2000 this year for the Arthritis Foundation, the AOII Foundation, Children's Research, our chapter scholarship, local collegiate chapters, and other chapter projects.  We couldn't have done this without the selfless effort of our garage sale leader, Karen F., and her amazing family!  Thank you to all of the sisters who donated items, tables, tents, clothing racks, set-up, priced, advertised, sold, brought snacks, cleaned up, and numerous other tasks.  This was a huge chapter effort, and we are extremely grateful to all of our members who helped.

Yvonne, Natalie R., Karen, Judy S., and Kathy.  We started collecting items and organizing a week before the sale.  Karen blocked out an entire Saturday for sisters to bring items and start pricing.

Karen(middle) and our 50-year Nu Iota sisters: Judy S., Patti, Kathy, and Jan

Just getting started....

It's Friday morning, we've donned our red alumnae chapter t-shirts, and we're ready to sell!   Friday was a crazy-busy day.  We've never seen it that busy before.  It could have been from the online advertising Karen did in local garage sale sites.  This year we raised a few of our prices a tiny bit and didn't bargain too much on the first day.  We made $1,200 on Friday alone!

Karen did a phenomenal job keeping us organized and focused.  She sold some of our nicer items online.  She is a wonderful hostess, and we've enjoyed getting to know her family who graciously lets us take over their home : )

Vicky started us on our garage sale run several years ago when she joined our alumnae chapter.  We started small, and our sale has grown every year!  We use a color-coded sticker pricing system that works very well for us.

Patti and Chris M.  Patti is a retired Spanish teacher.  Her skills come in extremely handy throughout our sale as we work with customers.

Fran and Suzette

Fran, Patti, Diane, and Kathy showing off some of our elegant dresses and a cashmere sweater.

Kathy and Fran enjoying a much-deserved break in the shade!

The Sunday Crew: Sue (from Chicago South), Vicky, Julie, Natalie R., Chris M., Karen F., Lori, Patti, and Dina.  On Sunday EVERYTHING is $0.25, and we get rid of as much as we can.  Customers come from far away to take advantage of this deal.  Every year we get customers who purchase clothing and shoes to send overseas.

Do you see our shrunken head mascot enjoying the breeze?  She came from Suzette's parents' basement years ago, and we just couldn't let her go.  She's not for sale : )

Here's a close-up.

Running our garage sale is a huge undertaking....for the hostess as well as for our members.  It takes a lot of time to collect items, set-up, and sell, but we have a lot of fun doing it together.  We get quality sisterhood time while also doing something wonderful for our community.  In addition to offering fabulous deals, we donate leftover items to local charities.  It's a win-win all-around!