Happy Easter!

Christ is Risen! Now begins a beautiful season of feasting... the Lord is with us! I hope your Easter is filled with blessings and joy!

[The product of Mary+Emma+Allie+Good Friday Fasting+Arts and crafts bought 3 years ago]

A beautiful birthday!

This past weekend, I entered the mystical realm of my twenties. The weekend was filled with numerous blessings and wonderful people. 


In planning my weekend, I knew there were a few things I knew I wanted to accomplish: First, it was important to me to spend time with as many of my friends as possible. I've been non-stop since Spring Break, and my heart was really aching to be with my dear sisters in Christ whom I'd been neglecting. Secondly, I knew I wanted to be outdoors. The threat of tornados and thunderstorms would not deter me from making plans. And lastly (thought certainly not least), I wanted to be sure that I was emphasizing the blessings the Lord has given to me through prayer and gratitude to God. 


Friday evening, I was blessed with the opportunity to have many of my closest friends come to my home (my "home-home"-- where my parents live) to celebrate. Though the original plan of a bonfire was rained (hailed, tornado-ed, etc) out, we cozily sat in the living room, sharing life, and fun (and hysterical) stories. (My mother may or may not have recounted the story of my birth.)


It was exactly what I needed. I have no pictures, but let's just chalk that up to having too much fun to even think of it. The highlight of my evening by far-- in fact, probably one of my most favorite and special memories-- was praying Magnificat evening prayer, by candlelight, with the women still remaining (including my mother) a few minutes before midnight. There was something profound to me about being in prayer with my beautiful sisters, and hearing their incredible prayers and voices raised to the Lord, as I turned twenty.

The next day, there was no evidence of the previous day's storms. I loaded up the car and headed to Callaway Gardens in Pine Mountain, GA with 3 of my close friends.

 Mary, me, Emma, and KG in front of the chapel.

 Laughter was certainly a common theme of the day. I love laughing pictures. Aren't they beautiful??

 My dream lunch. Seriously. Mary's homemade chicken salad (complete with grapes and apples... delicious!) and Emma's homemade egg salad made for the perfect picnic.  After this, we passed out on the blanket for a little nap. I wish I had taken a picture of our surroundings, because it was beautiful... lakes, trees, hills. (We drove around a great deal to find the perfect picnic spot.)

 No trip to Callaway is complete without visiting the butterflies! I love the colors in this picture, KG looks so focused!

 Upon returning home, my roommates prepared a delicious dinner. (Pork tenderloin, mashed potatoes, cesear salad, squash... YUM!) We enjoyed each other's company, and reminisced over this past year as roommates.

 The spread. Complete with beautiful flowers from one of my friends!

 The evening with my roommates ended with blowing out the candles on a fruit pizza. Shortly after this, I was peacefully slumbering, content after an unforgettable birthday.

But the celebrations weren't over yet... On Sunday evening, I went home for birthday dinner with my family (with my favorite... Zuchinni pie!)

My mom made me her famous cake with her homemade buttercream frosting. I am one spoiled individual. Have you ever heard of such a birthday?! My family and friends love me a whole lot... Praise the Lord for their constant support!

I would say this birthday exceeded my goals above and beyond my imagination. 20 is looking pret-tay good so far!

P.S. Be sure to check out (and follow!) my new blog, Letters From a Teepee! Thank you, beautiful blog readers, for continuing to read my ramblings! God Bless you all!

The wonders of technology!(?)

I can now blog via my cellphone. Is this really as good and necessary as it's made out to be?

I am trying to find out how easy it is. I've been wanting to do a phone dump of pictures anyways, so let's see if it works!

Precious children that I was blessed to babysit a few weeks ago. I love them! We were making burritos...

See? (Bonus question: Okay, listen... is that a good burrito?!)

"I henceforth claim this burger for the United States of America!" Patriotic bison burger from Ted's Montana Grill. Prudence and I went there this past weekend after a shopping trip to REI.

Okay, so here we run in to a phone uploading problem... while it's convenient that I can transfer pictures directly from my phone to blog without having to get a cord, move them to my computer, and upload them to the internet, I can't rotate them via blogger. Sorry about that! The recipient of this photo was my Dad, because of the label 'alphabets'. I had a teacher last semester who constantly yelled at us to not write "ambiguous alphabets"... I never understood why she couldn't just say "letters"?

Auburn sunsets. Not in focus, and probably not taken in a particularly safe manner. But what can I say, I love "this guy".

One day, I went shopping with my mom and grandma for new lamps in the living room. Naturally, we had to look at new light fixtures for every other room in the house. This was my pick for the dining room.

Speaking of my momma, here she is! I love this woman... she is beautiful in so many ways, and I want to be like her when I grow up. We had just gotten haircuts, and I was showing my sisters via picture message.

I hope you enjoyed this adventure. It was interesting, but I think I will stick to blogging on my computer for now!

Allison at Camp!

I would like to debut to you, my patient readers, my new blog, Letters From a Teepee!

It revolves around my experiences (past and future) at Camp Wojtyla (a Catholic, outdoor adventure camp in Colorado, which also happens to be the greatest place on earth).

For the Greater Glory isn't going anywhere, but Letters From a Teepee will be an outlet specifically for expressing my excitement (and other sentiments) before Camp. And while I'm there, given that I have occasional internet access, I will update with what I'm up to, prayer requests, etc.

Hope to see you there! :)