Saturday, October 29, 2011

Home Sweet Home

After a long, 6-and-a-half hour long car ride, we finally made it back home!  It was a fun trip- we talked about school, temperaments, the Myers-Briggs test, books, movies, and snow.

(sidenote- I am baffled by the appearance of snow before November.  Driving home, we looked out the window and saw white fog.  Only, it wasn't fog- it was snow.  Insanity!

It is awesome and somewhat confusing to be home.  The bathroom sink is lower than at college, the bed is wider, my room is darker, and my desk chair is significantly more comfortable. :D  It's a familiar environment, but at the same time, things look different.  Part of that comes from the fact that we redid the kitchen (and put new flooring in the entryway and the living room) right before I left, so while I saw all the changes, I didn't really have time to get used to it all.  And then my room is different too, because most of my things are at college!!  Nevertheless, it's wonderful to be home.  *happy sigh*

Today was a very productive day.  I got my hair cut (by my sister's amazing hair stylist who understands curly hair!!).  Then Mom and I went to the Running Store for some sneakers for me.  The Running Store is mind-blowing.  In a previous post, I recounted my horrible experience of looking for sneakers near college, and how they had no shoes that fit me.  Well, after the lady at the Running Store watched me walk, watched me run, and measured my feet, I had good fitting shoes 15 minutes later!  Wow.  We then had lunch, and headed to the mall for some cold weather clothes..... thank goodness I found what I needed!  It's getting chilly soooo much earlier than normal this year!

So today it was snowing here at home, too.  I mean, it's ok for West Virginia to have snow, but not us!  It's wayyyy too early.  And it didn't even stick!  I just looked at the weather website, and we have a "Freeze Warning" in effect until tomorrow.

Speaking of tomorrow..... It's definitely going to be a very good day. :)  After mass in the morning, my brother and sister-in-law, sister and brother-in-law, and all the kiddos are coming over for brunch.  I haven't seen any of them except my brother in 2 months!  (Not counting Skype....)  And then in the evening I'm going to get together with one of my very good friends who I also haven't seen in 2 months.

I also realized that I didn't post the pictures from the flash mob.  Here are a couple:
Evelyn and I wrote up dozens of post-it notes and put them on people's doorknobs in our dorm, telling them about the flash mob the next morning


The guy on the left is Peter, who came in from Chicago to lead the flash mob.  We were all gathered in really close together, so the balloons formed a sort of tent. :)

We marched up the stairs in a parking garage on our walk through the city!

I'm hoping to possibly get a video I took up soon....... 

Well, I'm off to continue memorizing "La Cigale et la Fourmi" (The Cicada and the Ant) for French.  I never realized how hard it is to memorize something in another language!!

Stay warm, everybody!
xoxo,

Wednesday, October 26, 2011

"Change is such hard work"

^Billy Crystal said that.  Smart guy! :D I've been working hard (although, I must admit, it's been enjoyable!) changing my blog all around.  In the next couple days I'm hoping to have some tabs up at the top and pictures.... maybe even a video!

Please comment below and let me know what you'd like to see on my blog!

xoxo,

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Change is in the air!

Over the past 2 weeks or so, my Mass Media teacher has been telling us about a project that he would be assigning.  I know I've been anxiously awaiting the announcement..... wondering what I would get to do!

Weelllll..... today he gave us the assignment!

We were asked to do something with new media- a blog, tumblr, photo essay, youtube videos.... we were also told that we could use something that we already have.  Sooooo...... that means that this blog will be undergoing some major changes!  I'll be adding some different elements to it and changing the backgrounds, pictures, and, um, I don't know what else.  Something exciting. :)

Which brings me to the next thing.  Part of my grade will be viewer involvement.  Please comment on my blog!  Tell your friends!  Tell your neighbors!  Tell the lady at the store!  Ok, maybe not.  That would be a little odd.  In fact, please don't tell the lady at the store.  But do tell everyone else!  


I'm off to make some changes!  I'm going to start with the background and header.  Just don't think you're in the wrong place when you visit next time!

xoxo,

Sunday, October 23, 2011

One, we are pro-life

Two, a little bit louder
Three, I still can't hear you
Four, more more more! 

PRO LIFE FLASH MOB!!

Maybe you've seen the videos online of the pro-life flash mobs.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_uGRcwgG0w  At about 1:25, you can see a man in front of the pro-life group wearing a bright green jacket- his name is Peter and he organizes these flash mobs around the country.  Franciscan was blessed enough to have him come here to Steubenville to organize a flash mob in Pittsburgh.

5:25 am: the alarm went off.... We got ready and ran (literally) to the chapel.
6:00 am: food for the journey, aka mass. :)  It was a wonderful way to start and it gave us the energy we needed for the entire day.
6:50 am: gathering behind the chapel, and moving us all toward cars.  It was quite an experience trying to get everyone into vehicles..... as far as I know, God provided and we had (cramped) room for everyone!
7:10 am: We leave the campus behind and get on the road towards Pittsburgh!  I was lucky enough to ride in a car with Peter- he taught us some chants and songs that we'd be singing.  It was a really fun car ride.
8:00 am: We arrived at the Home Depot parking lot and walked over to the abortion clinic.  There were already some people there, so we joined their circles.  All together, there were about 6 circles of 15-30 people each.  Each circle prayed separately- my circle prayed 2 rosaries, a chaplet, a litany, a couple other prayers, and sang lots of songs.  Our counselors were able to talk to a few of the women going into the clinic, and each time another woman approached the door, we knelt down and prayed the next decade on our knees.  Powerful, to say the least.
10:50 am: We were getting towards the end of our time at the clinic, so our group decided to pray one last chaplet, but we wanted to sing it.  We began on our own, then by the second decade the group next to us joined in.  As each group ended their own prayers, they joined our group, so by the third decade we had about 150 students singing the Divine Mercy Chaplet.  Wow.  What an amazing experience.  The really neat thing was, we were standing right in front of the clinic, so I'm positive that they could hear us singing inside.  :)
11:20 am: procession back to the parking lot, singing Immaculate Mary the whole way. :)
11:30 am: (hot) pizza arrives for hungry, tired, and cold pro-life students!  We were able to talk and have a good time (still in the parking lot) while eating..... good times.
12:30 pm: (ish) we finished filling balloons with helium and headed down the road.  We made a stop at the abortion clinic, sang a song, got some bright yellow Life balloons stuck in the tree right outside, and continued on our march.  We came across lots of support- honking and thumbs up from other pedestrians.  And there was adventure- we took about 3 wrong turns and ended up by a Whole Foods where there was a Radio Disney broadcast going on... we kind of interrupted it.  Ok, ok, kind of is an understatement.  We completely messed up their event.  We were polite, yet excited, but one man in particular was rather mad at us.  Oh well.  Hopefully we gave him something to think about!  We finished our march through the streets and ended up at the top of a hill by an apartment building, that happened to have a handy little "lookout" thing over the street.  We packed onto it and sang an Ave Maria, then went back down the hill towards the center we had gone through.  There was a small protest going on concerning Iraq, so we let most of the balloons go there.  It was awesome to see them flying away.
1:30 pm: back in the parking lot after going back by the abortion clinic.... we also gave a bunch of balloons to little kids on the way.  One last song, one last prayer, and we were on the way back home.  The ride back was significantly more comfortable!
2:40 pm: arrival back on campus, where we stumbled out of the van and back to the dorm, promptly fell into bed, and took a nice long, much-needed nap.

This evening we spent doing odds and ends around.  I played a board game with two other girls- Quelf.  Oh. my. goodness.  Most hilarious game, like, ever.  We're definitely playing again.

Well, I'm off to bed...... 10:30 mass tomorrow (or, i guess, today!) and then some homework.  Joy!

xoxo,c

Sunday, October 16, 2011

Don't Panic....

I know, I know, right now Mom's thinking "Ah!  She's still up at 1 am!", David's thinking "Ha!  I told her she'd be up at 1 am", and Robyn's like "Hehe, I should Skype her right now."  Yeah.  I bet you all want an explanation as to why I'm writing a blog post at one in the morning.

The simple explanation, dear friends, is this: when one sleeps until 11:30 in the morning, one does not feel very tired at midnight.  So one watches short Pixar clips online with one's friends, and then writes a blog post.  Yes, it's true.

So...... this was quite a week, to say the least.

The excitement started last Friday, when my parents got here.  We went to the sporting goods store in hopes of finding sneakers.  (This is the same sporting goods store that my brother had kindly taken me to, two weeks prior.  the same one that didn't carry my size.)  But my brother had also informed me that "you're supposed to get sneakers one size bigger than normal".  So, in we went to look for size 11 shoes.

Whadaya know, they didn't have any that fit.  The arch was too high, the back was too loose, the top was too tight, the arch was too low, there wasn't an arch at all, the laces weren't right, or, worst of all, they were pink.  *run in fear!!!!*  After a half hour of trying on just about every pair, I did something that I never thought I would do.
...
..
.
.
..
...
I tried on men's sneakers.

I may be crazy, but I did it.  And they weren't half bad.  They just weren't..... right.  So we left.  And as we walked towards the exit, the lady asked, very nicely, "Did you find anything you were looking for?"  "No.  But that's ok."  :)  Poor lady.

I had some nice dinners with my parents, a lovely trip to Walmart which ended with us trotting up and down the aisles in hopes of finding dried mango.  (we did find it, eventually.  thank goodness!!)

And then on Saturday, I got to do something that I will probably never forget.  I got to (Irish) dance with Scythian!!!!  In case you don't know who they are, they're a Celtic "rock" band.  Rock gives the wrong impression. (here's a link to some of their music, if you're interested!  http://www.reverbnation.com/scythian  (disclaimer: I was not paid to advertise.. :P )  Four of us choreographed a dance to Drums of Belfast and got to perform in front of a whole bunch of people.  There was so much energy and it was awesome to be able to dance again after a five month hiatus.

After Mom and Dad left on Sunday, I brushed up on my French and Catholicism information, as I had 2 midterms on Monday afternoon.  Basically my entire week was spent studying.  I was one of the *cough* lucky *cough* people who had all five midterms last week- two Monday, two Thursday, and one on Friday.  Friday's was the only really painful one- I concentrated on the wrong info.  But I wasn't the only one- my friend and I commiserated over lunch and realized we both had made the exact same studying mistakes.  *big sigh*  At least they're behind me and I don't have to worry about any more tests or quizzes until.... Monday.  Oh well.

Friday after the poetry test was really really good.  I went to the vocation fair, which, by the way, is the largest in the country.  There were something like 40 religious groups there.  And I got more papers, flyers, holy cards, and free gifts than I could ever want.  Voila:




Nothing, I repeat, nothing is in two pictures.  Everything is only pictured once.  Is that not insane, or what??  
(sidenote- no, David, there was no convent there of cloistered sisters with 10 foot high walls.  Sorry)
(sidenote 2- there were a couple cloistered sisters there, though.  Am I the only one who sees something strange about this?  I mean, doesn't "cloister" mean you don't leave?  Maybe I'm imagining things.)

The other awesome thing about Friday was that I got to EM for the first time!!!!  It was a really cool experience, and I get to tomorrow, as well!  *happy dance*

Third awesome thing- we watched Phantom!!  I love that movie....... I hadn't seen it in a couple years, so it was great to re-watch after seeing it on broadway.  

After midterm week, both Evelyn and I were exhausted, so we slept in this morning and did random homework and pick up stuff today... and then tonight we saw the Incredibles.  I had never seen it.  Apparently one of the characters is like Ev's teacher, so it was hilarious to finally see this character. :D

Tomorrow is just another bumming around day... actually, it's technically today.  I should probably get to bed.  So, goodnight!  

xoxo,

Wednesday, October 12, 2011

Apologies

This week has been consumed with midterms- I have all 5 of my midterms this week.  Figures, right?  So I'm done with two of them, but I have two tomorrow and one on Friday.  As a result, you will have to wait to find out about Homecoming weekend until Saturday.......

Wait in suspense. :D

Prayers would be appreciated for my tests!  (especially Civ.  ugh.)  Thanks!
xoxo,

Friday, October 7, 2011

Adventures of a College Student

There are times when the only explanation for something is, "I'm in college".  I mean, when else would you think of lowering a bracelet tied onto a set of headphones behind a bookshelf?

"What?" you ask.  Let me explain.

A week ago, my glasses went missing.  I couldn't find them anywhere, yet I knew for a positive fact that they were in my room.  I also knew that they were around my bookshelf, because the night before they disappeared, I had been reading in bed, leaned down from my bed (which is lofted) and set the glasses on the bookshelf underneath.  20 minutes later, as I drifted off to sleep, I heard a "clunk", looked down, and saw a book on the floor.  Hmm, I thought, my glasses must have fallen off the shelf into a box that's on the shelf.  Nope, not there.  I looked every day this week.  Just now, I literally took my bookshelf apart looking for my glasses, to no avail.

Let it be noted here that without glasses or contacts, I am virtually blind.  In fact, 3 days ago, I went into the hallway and couldn't tell who I was talking to.  Embarrassing, to say the very least.

So I took my tiny book light and shined (shone? did shine? shoneded?  humph.  I'm not an English major) it behind the bookshelf.  Sure enough, there were the glasses, stuck right above the floor, between the shelf and the wall.

I told Evelyn and she said, "All you need is a string and hook!", in a tone that said, "I don't think that will actually work.  And where will you find those, anyway?" :D  Ha, I thought.  I will get a string and hook.  Sure enough, once I had a string and hook, I eased it behind the shelf and caught the glasses.  If it had been a carnival game, I'd have won a giant stuffed animal with the speed, agility, and adeptness I exhibited in retrieving the glasses.  (Like the tiger my nephew won at Hershey park.  Lets just say that the children were displaced from the double stroller for the day.)

Wait, what?  You want to see my amazing string and hook?  Well, here you go:

And I took the picture without contacts or glasses.

Beat that.

xoxo,

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

I am tea?

OK, so some mornings when I don't make it to breakfast in the caf before breakfast, I use a meal exchange at the coffee shop in the JC.  That's what I did this morning.  I chose Ginger Peach tea for the second time. When I got it back to my room, I looked at the tag.  This is what it says:

The leaves take the water and the tea takes me.  I put up no resistance, surrendering myself to what has entered.  Soon I am the tea and the tea is me.
In case you're concerned for my wellbeing, I just want to let you know that I have not turned into tea.  I am still.... human.  :P

What is this world coming to???

Monday, October 3, 2011

YIPEE!!



Check it out!  I'm an Extraordinary Minster!!!!!!


*deep sigh*  Now I've gotta practice before the Fieldhouse masses next weekend so I don't completely fail on my first go.


So, after last Monday happened, the week went uphill quite a bit.  I mean, how could it go worse after Monday??


Tuesday after classes, my brother came to see me.  He had a meeting close to campus and came by after his meeting.  He took me to Walmart (which doesn't sound that exciting but it really was), then to dinner at this really yummy Mexican restaurant, and then to a sports store to look for shoes.  Would you believe that they did not have one single pair of sneakers in my size?  No, not "no shoes in my size that I liked".  Literally not any at all.  Ridiculous.  So I'm stuck with running in shoes that give me blisters, for at least a little while.  It was great to see my brother again.  :)


The rest of the week was fairly uneventful.... except for the massive amounts of rain that we're getting.  And then the cold has come in.  And then it's gonna get warmish later on in the week (as in, low 70s!!  This is exciting!)  Yesterday it was 42 here, and then I spoke with my friend who's at college in TX, and she said it was 75 there.  #jealousy  


Hold up.  Did I just use a hashtag?  The world must be ending.  


I also just realized that I can make my type purple.  #happiness


Next weekend is homecoming, so my parents and brother and sister-in-law and some nieces and nephews are coming up!!  I can't wait to see everyone!


Finally, you may have noticed that I changed my name on here from Chevonne to Allison.  And now you're wondering what's going on.  Well, when I first started this blog, I decided to use Chevonne as a pen name (Chevonne is the Irish female version of my confirmation name- John.)  And lately, people have been slightly confused as to who wrote this blog, since my "real name" isn't on it.  (one of those people was my brother..... hehe).  So I figured now was as good a time as any to change to my real name, Allison.  = )


xoxo,