recent thoughts

Date: October 22, 2012
Time: 10:31 p.m.
What I'm listening to: The Fighter (Gym Class Heroes)
What's been going on: A heck of a lot!  This weekend was Fall Fun Day with Liturgy Committee; we went to a farm and did the petting zoo, a hay ride, and other fun fall-ish things.  Sunday I went into the city with a bunch of other people from school to see Mary Poppins!  It was really, really good; if it comes to your area, I highly recommend it!  And oh-by-the-way I also have 3 tests, a paper, and a project due within the next 6 days.

corn maze at Fall Fun day!!

Recent realization: Evelyn and I have a lack of  pictures of the two of us.  Which, considering that we've been rooming for a year and a half, is fairly pathetic.  So we've decided to remedy this situation by taking more pictures of ourselves!!

What's the weather: The beauty that can only occur in fall...the colors are gorgeous and the temperatures are heavenly.  Although this coming week, we're (supposedly) going from 70s one day to 30s and snowing the next.  Figures.  Typical Steubenville.

What I'm excited about: This book!  I saw it last spring on vacation while Stasia was home with me.... and I just bought it.  On Amazon, of course, because that's where all college students shop for everything!!!!  Ok, maybe that's an exaggeration.  Still.

What I'm reading: the Bible.  No, I'm not being tricky.  Or "holy".  I mean, hopefully I am being holy, but that's beside the point that I'm reading the Bible.  I have to journal my way through the Bible for my Biblical studies class.... so for Wendesday, I have to read and journal on every chapter of Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Judges (Joshua is "read-only").... it takes quite a while!!!!

What I'm passionate about this week: Verily Magazine!!!!  It's an awesome magazine for older teens and women.  They write on relationships, fashion, and other topics relatable to women living in today's world who want to be modest, respectable, and fashionable.

I've actually teamed up with Verily to get the word out... I ask you all to take a look at their website (you can find it here).  There's a complete teaser issue so you can get an idea of what it's like!  If you like what you see, you can order the magazine for $10 off the cover price with a special code (enter CAWOLF30 at checkout).  It's only $3 per issue (to put it in perspective, that's one Starbucks Frap per issue).  Check it out and let me know if you've got any questions!!

What's coming up this week: women's ministry meeting, lunch with Stephanie (from Crossroads), Liturgy Committee (as per usual), and hopefully looking at trains in Austria and Germany!

xoxo,

Not Your Typical Weekend

Greetings to you all from ‘the hill’!!

Once again, I must apologize for my lack of posts over the weekend.  This time, however, I was on an extremely fruitful and beautiful retreat, entitled “Capture my Heart”.  It was put on by the women’s ministry group, and any women on campus were invited to go.  It was a great opportunity for me to be with my sisters in Christ, to get to know them better, and to grow in my understanding of myself as Christ’s daughter and beloved.  I can’t tell you exactly what happened, though… both because I haven’t had time to ‘process’ everything, and because I am sworn to secrecy ;)  But it was amazing.

So that ran from Friday through Sunday, and we returned on Sunday after what should have been a 1 ½ hour drive, but because of a detour turned into a 2 ½ hour drive…. I ran (literally) into my dorm, dumped my stuff off, quickly changed, and ran out the door again to drive into Pittsburgh.  My friend Christian joined me, and we picked up Stephanie (from this summer) in the city, and then we made our way to St. Scholastica’s parish for…. wait for it….. Josh’s Glee Club Concert!!!!  We were 2 songs late because of literally 7 wrong turns (oh, the joys of navigating a city in the dark) but we made it in time for his first solo!  And then we saw him during the intermission and he informed us that he had another solo!  (This is after he had informed me on Wednesday that “oh, no, I won’t be singing my solo because the other two guys won’t be there.  Nice cover-up, and surprise!)  The group was really talented, and we also heard a rendition of the song from the Lion King “In the Jungle” (or is it called “The Lion Sleeps Tonight”?  I don’t know… never seen the movie…) by the Undertones, the smaller a cappella group that Josh is a part of within the glee club.  And then afterwards, we were able to talk to him for about a half an hour.  Oh, and we took some pictures…

On our way home, I received a phone call from Evelyn.  It went something like this:

Me: Christian, can you answer that?

Christian: Hi Evelyn! (on speaker)

Evelyn: Oh, hey, um, is Allison there?

A: I’m right here

E: Oh hey. So, well, our room is kinda flooded.  Actually, our whole wing is flooded.

Allison, Christian, and Stephanie: WHAT?!?!?!?

E: Yeah, the sprinkler next door broke off and water was flowing for 45 minutes…. there are 3 inches on water on the floor.

A: AAAHHHHH!!!!!

Actually, my response was more like *sputter**gasp**whattheheckhappened**IS-MY-STUFF-OK??*

So I came back to campus and waded through about a half inch of water that was remaining.  Evelyn had already picked up a lot of the stuff on the ground, including my clothes that had been on retreat with me, my book bag, and the books on my bottom shelf of the bookshelf.  It was shocking to come back, but everyone was helping everyone else and even though we were displaced for the night, Stephanie was gracious enough to invite me to stay with her.

and THEN I spent until *ahem*3*ahem* that morning studying for a Psych test I had the next morning and starting a Youth Ministry paper due at 4 that day.  I got everything done (thanks to skipping two classes) and got to Mass as well.  It was one of those days when you feel like you’re living in a dream, and there’s not really anything we could do about it.

Even though we were all walking around in shock yesterday, we were all grateful that everyone was ok, and that nothing was destroyed that can’t be replaced.  A couple people lost computers, a clarinet was soaking wet, and lots of books damaged, but in the grand scheme of things, I’ll take that over personal injury or fatalities any day!

So all in all, it was a very eventful weekend.  Tomorrow, I should be getting back to my “normal broadcasting schedule” ;)

How was your weekend?

xoxo,

like birds upon the dawn arising

This last week has been a week of beauty.

Beauty comes from liturgy committee; those people who I am able to serve with, who all have our Lord as the center of their lives and love helping others worship Him in the Mass.

Beauty is seen in reading blogs.  Blogs that emanate God's love and joy.

Beauty is a multitude of conversations with friends: Robyn, who I've known since Kindergarten; Stasia, an amazing friend here at school; Evie, my ever-insightful roommate; Patrick, who I hadn't gotten to really have a discussion with in a long time; Josh, who's got amazing views of so many things; Mario, who is just fun to talk to and makes me smile.

Beauty is found in the women at Lord's Day, singing praise and worship and sharing their joys of the week with each other.

There is even beauty in swing dancing for 2 hours straight 'till you're sweating, and sloshing through rain that's so heavy that your umbrella does absolutely no good.

These are the weeks that I just have to laugh and think, God is just so present in our lives!

God is there in so many seemingly everyday activities- long late-night walks, dinners in the caf, classes, and homework readings.

I have been struck at the number of relevant articles and such that I've been seeing lately.  Relevant to my life, that is.  Things that I've been struggling with or questioning, I've just run across these things to read and have said "Ok, God, I get it.  I need to work on this.  Thanks."  And then I'll read it and 6 hours later (no, more like 2) he'll throw something else in front of me that I need to hear/read.  People say that God never interacts with us?  I challenge that.  I challenge it from the depths of my soul.

Go now.  Live out the beauty that's surrounding you.  Be aware of God's presence in the minute, seemingly insignificant moments of your life.  And share your joy with others.  For it is through others that we can truly know God's love.

xoxo,

Every Day We're Shufflin'...

This is going to be a fairly long post, so buckle your seatbelts!

I'm done with week two of Crossroads, and this past week was just as great as last week!  I'll say it again (and again, and again...): It is such a blessing to be here!


this week we had two new (temporary) walkers!  Alexander and Daniel Fedoryka (of the band Scythian) joined us a week ago Friday and will be here until next weekend.  They're a lot of fun and it's great to have more people walking.

Amanda went home this week :( She thought she had mono, but got home and didn't.  Still, she has a virus and will be home recovering for at least 3 weeks.  Hopefully she can join us again!

We're ahead of schedule! By about a day!!!  Huzzah!!  Hooray!!  Praise God we're ahead, because with injuries and sickness this week, we didn't cover as much as we did last week.  Still, we managed to get 28-33 miles each shift!

I saw my parents last weekend... which was really nice.  My mom and dad came to Idaho to visit my godparents, and I was able to stay with them for a night (and take a day off) and then the whole group stayed at my godparents' house as well.

This is my last week of being 18 (aaahhhhhh....!) Where the heck did the last year go?

Blisters are no fun.  Only one person on the walk, Daniel, has managed to get by without any blisters so far.  (lucky ducky!)  One day I had none, the next I had 3, and 5 days later I had 6.  Oh dear me.  I think blisters are my least favorite part of this summer.

NIGHT SHIFT!  I'm finally on night shift this week!  I'm soo super duper excited.  (I have been informed that by Wednesday, I won't be so thrilled.  I'll let y'all know (yes, I did just say y'all)).

I love meeting people on the road and at Mass.  People are so supportive!  It's wonderful to see that yes, America is really prolife.  We've had at least 2 people a day stop us on the side of the road to ask if we need a ride.  One day, we had 7 cars stop!  The best is when someone stops, then comments on the Crossroads Prolife facebook page about their encounter.

The Catholic world is soooo small!  On this trip, I have met friends of friends, family of friends, people who knew people I used to know... It's awesome and I love it.
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I realized that I keep talking about these people I'm walking with, and you don't even know anything about them.  Behold, your introduction!

John: aka Fearless Leader.  John's our walk leader.  He's a master's student at Boston College studying education (and theology, I think?).  He likes Broadway.

Josh: Our assistant leader.  Josh is a rising Junior at Notre Dame.  He's studying History and Philosophy and has an awesome hat.

Zechariah: Student at Missouri State majoring in Computer Information Systems.  Zechariah is super fun and always happy (that's what he said) :D.

Mario: Our Irish walker!  He walked with Crossroads in Ireland last summer and came to the States (for the first time) to walk with us.  He likes tea and enlightening us about life in Europe.


Peter: Will be a sophomore at Ave Maria, studying classics and either history or philosophy.  He likes to get into deep philosophical discussions.


Grace: Rising junior at Ave Maria.  She made it through 2 weeks on night shift and is (amazingly enough) still happy and cheerful.  She also walks 15 miles in a row.

Kirstin: Just graduated from Franciscan University of Steubenville where she majored in drama and english.  (I know her from high school.)  She has a strong liking for all things Disney.

Stephanie: Fellow Franciscan Student, fellow Communications and Catechetics major.  She's a rising Junior and always wears a flower in her hair.  She's also always and perpetually genuinely cheerful (which in turn makes the rest of us a wee bit more happy).

Allison: (Me) You probably already know this already, but I'm a rising sophomore at Franciscan, studying Theology, Catechetics, and Communications.

Alexander and Daniel: brothers, Franciscan grads, members of the band Scythian.  (Check them out- they're awesome!)

For Your Entertainment:
I've made my Crossroads albums on Facebook public so everyone can see them.  You should be able to see them here.
Week 1 we made a fun and totally ridiculous "music video", which you can view right here:



Josh made a really cool "day in the life" video that should be uploaded soon.  When it's up, I'll put the link here!

Whewph! Everyone's coming back out of the woodwork from a lazy Sunday afternoon, so I'd better get going!

Check out this website where I post shorter, more frequent updates on random things that happen during the week: Track My Tour.

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xoxo,