The ladies of the "house"

I'm already having slightly dismal thoughts about my ability to upkeep this blog during the semester, but let's not disappoint ahead of ourselves.  The last 2 weeks of being back at school have been filled with multiple responsibilities that come with being a graduate resident tutor for undergrad ladies, one of them being the making of door tags :

I must say that I'm quite proud of them, although they did take quite a bit more time than I had anticipated to make.  (If only I had taken advantage of someone's laser cutter privileges, these 49 tags would have zipped by...alas.)  To be honest, though, it gave me quite a bit of joy to hand cut and glue these babies - as a gesture of love and care for my residents, even though I haven't met them or have only known them for a short amount of time.  (I mean this in the most honest and non-sentimental way possible.)

To use pre-existing materials and not have to print anything or buy extra supplies, I had rummaged through my architectural supplies and ended up cutting up some pieces of old museum board and gluing on strips of color/texture, which were sliced from old magazine ads and photos.  (If you look closely, you'll be able to tell.)  Then I wrote their names in charcoal, although didn't remember to buy any spray fix, so they can still smudge if touched.

The girls were sweet, with some of them leaving me messages on my whiteboard or coming by to convey their appreciation.  One of them, who doesn't even live on my floor, asked if she could have one as well.  Ah, the ultimate complement :]  I realized it's small labors like these that make a difference, little steps towards creating a sense of home.

Next task: brainstorming a good first meeting sweet delight.