Tuesday, November 30, 2010

Mini-Mixer #3- Southbay Edition

First of all, I hope all of you had a Happy Thanksgiving!  It's so crazy that we're at the end of November already!  Seriously, where does the time go?

The increasingly cool weather was no deterrent for the six of us brave ladies: myself (President), Ashley (President-Elect and new Southbay resident), Maggie (VP Benefit), Katie (Patrons), Nancy and Jackie!  The ladies that know Hermosa Beach chose the delightful and delicious yogurt haven known as Froyo Life. 

Nancy making her final choices while the rest of the ladies dig in!


Delicious yogurt!  We pretty much inhaled our treats.


We had a great time in wonderful Hermosa complete with restaurants, bars, street performers and all right next to the beach!  We talked a lot about our respective works, as we had little to no idea what all of us did for a living.  It was very informative and interesting to see how diverse our respective jobs are!  We also chatted about the holidays and what we were all planning for Thanksgiving.  After about an hour and a half, our busy lives called to us once more and we had to leave- it was a great time to get to know each other, though!

Friday, November 26, 2010

Sunday, November 21, 2010

November Meeting

In case you couldn't be there, here's the top five things you missed at the November TJA meeting ...

5. The delicious pasta dinner from Viztango.

4. The inaugural meetings of the spring benefit subcommittees. Planning is off to a great start, stay tuned for info!

3. Final details about the annual TJA holiday party, coming up Sunday, December 5. Members watch your email for an evite.

2. Financial planning and insurance advice from TJA Board Member Jodie Boytos.

1. Icebreaker excitement ... can you name 3 things you have in common with 2 other TJA members?

Finally ... here's the answer to the November trivia question: Can you name 2 movies filmed on the USC campus? If you've got another film to add, speak up here!

Friday, November 19, 2010

Mini-Mixer of Downtown

Hi all!

Janine Coleman here again, to bring you the scoop of our second and successful Mini-Mixer, this time located in downtown Los Angeles.  Our downtown gang was an eclectic bunch, but we all agreed that there was one fabulous place that we had to meet (despite it being in a semi-sketchy area):

Urth Caffe


Dawn (Scholarship Chair), Michelle (Membership Chair), as well as members Meredith, Charlotte and Logielyn joined me at this fabulous cafe.  What makes it fabulous?  Why the mere fact that they hand out free samples of pumpkin pie goodness.  I may or may not admit that I grabbed two.  Or three.  


We ladies got right down to the business of ordering.  Many of us chose the hot drink route, which included Moroccan Tea and Caffe Latte.

I, for some reason, got a lot of accoutrements with my tea.

Small, medium and large caffes.

The coffees had a cute turkey design in their foam, too!  Also, Meredith went for the OJ from their Fresh Juice Bar and Charlotte opted for a fantastic-looking milkshake.


Also, because it was so close to Halloween, one of our members brought her props to the Mixer!  It was awesome!

Logielyn as one of The Runaways.

Us girls chatted about things we like to do outside of work, lots about music and boys, and what we were all going to do for Halloween.  It was a great way to spend an hour and a half with some lovely TJA ladies!


Monday, November 15, 2010

Managing Career Change Mixer!

Nov 17 Mixer: MANAGING CAREER CHANGE (EXTRA FOCUS FOR ALUMNI FROM CLASS OF 1980 THROUGH 2000) USC Alumni Club of San Fernando Valley

Join us Nov 17 6-8pm for social mixer and panel discussion on managing your career 10 to 20 years after graduation presented by experts from USC and industry.
· 6-7pm Networking
· 7-8pm Speaker Presentations, Panel Discussion, Q&A


Guest Speakers include:

Scott Turner: Associate Director USC Marshall MBA Career Services
Prior to USC Marshall, Scott spent 9+ years at the Mattel Corporation in El Segundo, CA where he held various positions in international finance, manufacturing as well as plant operations for the Barbie and Hot Wheels product lines. 

For the past 5 years, Scott has worked to successfully define, develop, launch and deliver a career services function for our USC Marshall Alumni. Scott has worked extensively with Marshall alumni (both graduate and undergraduate) as an executive coach, mentor and career transition specialist. He has helped many hundreds of alumni successfully transition careers and secure employment. In addition, he reinvigorated the Alumni Jobs Database and has leveraged social media in his outreach to our Alumni.

Jen O'Connor : Career Counselor at USC's Career Planning and Placement Center
Since 2005, Jen has managed all of the alumni career events for the department while supporting the career needs of both students and alumni.

For More Speakers and Event Updates: go to www.SFValleyTrojans.com

Food and Drinks:
Event Admission will include 1 FREE wine or other alcoholic beverage or 1 FREE endless Tea or Soft Drink. Appetizers will be served throughout the event as well as additional drinks at Happy Hour Prices.

Admission Fee:
$25* RSVP by 6pm Monday Nov15 (Pay Online with VISA)
$35* within 48Hrs of Event

* A portion of the Event’s Admission Fees will be donated to the Club’s Scholarship Fund.
For every $1,000 raised by our Club the University will donate $2,000 to our scholarship fund; totaling $3,000 for the students.

Parking is FREE: a $3 fee may be charged initially but will be refunded inside the event

Where:
Hamburger Hamlet. 4419 Van Nuys Blvd., Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
(818) 784-1183

Friday, November 12, 2010

Coming this weekend ...

Get in on the USC athletics action this weekend with game watch events, USC Hoops home openers and free admission to USC aquatics.

Game Watching with the USC Alumni Club of Downtown LA : USC at Arizona

Sat, Nov 13, 4-8 pm (5 pm Kickoff)
ESPN Zone19th Hole Bar (2nd floor)

Join the USC Alumni Club of Downtown LA for a Game Watching Party at its official headquarters.
Private viewing will be in the Championship Lounge overlooking the screening room.
                        
• Hosted appetizers for the first hour
• 15% off all food purchases
• 10% of bar sales donated to scholarship fund

Game Watching with the USC Alumni Club of the San Gabriel Valley : USC at Arizona


Attendees who say “Fight On!” to the waiter will receive a 5% discount off their meal from the dinner menu and Paco’s will donate an additional 5% back to the SGV Alumni Club’s scholarship fund!

Trojan Special - $30 Margarita Tasting (5 premium tequila margaritas in 12 oz glasses paired with 5 appetizers)

Hosted by:
Paco’s Mexican Restaurant
200 East Foothill Blvd.
Arcadia, Ca 91006



Wednesday, November 10, 2010

Homecoming Happenings

On October 30, 2010, TJA ladies once again sold product at Homecoming to raise money for TJA scholarships. It was fun to see many of our current and past members stop by the booth to say hello and check out our wares.

Each year, we try to identify a few fun new products to sell that will catch people's attention and help with our sales. Three years ago, we designed unique "Trojan Sweetheart" shirts, and last year we debuted our USC themed "Baby on Board!" maternity shirts. This year, we added a few more new products to the mix to spice things up.

The first is a super-cute babie onesie featuring a baby buggie adorned with USC and a baby flashing the victory sign. Below the image it says "This is how I roll." We got so many fun responses to that onesie, and they sold incredibly well! We only have a few left and are reordering more.


The second is an adorable doggie bandana that says "Trojan Pup" inside of a dog bone. We also sold out of those!

Lastly is a cute USC garden gnome. These were also incredibly popular, and are very cute items. Many of our members picked them up to give as gifts or to adorn their own gardens.

If you are interested in these or any of our other products, please contact Angie Law at specialprojects@usctja.com. They make excellent holiday, birthday, hostess or "just because" gifts for your Trojan friends and family. And all of the profits go to support Trojan Junior Auxiliary scholarships.

Thanks for your support, and we hope to see you next year at Homecoming! 



Monday, November 8, 2010

See You Tonight!

Have you RSVP'd for tonight's meeting?

Here are the details:

6:30 - 7:00 PM - Dinner/Social Time
7:00 - 8:30 PM - General Meeting
8:30 - 9:00 PM - TJA Board Meeting 

During the General Meeting TJA Board Member Jodie Boytos will present a brief talk sharing tips and answering questions on what you really need to know about insurance. 

** Can you name 2 movies filmed on the USC campus? Come prepared to answer this month's trivia question and you could win a prize!

Tonight's meeting is in at the Alumni Salon, located in the Campus Center, USC University Park Campus. 

See you there!

Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The First of our Mini-Mixers

Hi gang!  Recently, five young ladies of TJA decided that it was a good day to get some yogurt, sit and chat for about an hour or so.  Unfortunately, due to the weather being rainy and cold, the fantastic Yogurtland was out.  Quick thinker Kendra (our TJA editor), mentioned that there was another equally delicious yogurt place, called Toppers Yogurt.  Off we went!

Jodie and Kendra ponder the many choices.

 Samples must be tried!  New member Janel tries some chocolate mint.

Jodie and Janine pose with their yogurts.  Jodie's is a healthy strawberries and vanilla yogurt (with sprinkles), while Janine decided on the super chocolate with m&ms.

 New members Janel and Rebecca pose with their yogurts- strawberries was a popular topping.


We spent about an hour and a half talking about jobs, school and future socials options, including some murmurs regarding a weekend trip to Vegas.  But you didn't hear it from me! ;)  It was good to have some conversation with a tiny sampling of our TJA group-  and we can't wait to do it again!

Sufficiently full of yogurt (the smalls were HUGE!), we pose for a final picture.