dude looks like a lady....

"Organizers of the Beijing Olympics have set up a sex-determination laboratory to evaluate “suspect” female athletes"

oh my....that's unbelievable.
Athletes have actually been banned from the Olympics because of this testing.

class of 2002

So this is my last weekend on HSM staff....

which is just crazy crazy crazy talk.
On top of that...i'm teaching as well.
So it should be pretty interesting combining the two huge events.
i'm talking about what I was like in high school which
required a few photos to be scanned.
(digital cameras weren't invented yet..learn about it!)

Here are a few....

First there's homecoming
(i realize i look like i'm 12)

the forever cheesy/totally posed senior picture

Followed closely by the forever cheesy picture where i CAN'T choose my own outfit
(did you have to wear that ugly black thing or is that just in the south???)

my group of 10 friends that just thought we were so cool.
(i'm second row on the right in case you can't tell...ha)

this is my favorite picture of me playing soccer because i think i look like a total jerk. ha.

i mean really?!?
The sweat band...so cheesy.

now there's a story behind this...but to hear it you'll just have to come to our service this weekend.
All you need to know is NOTHING is touching the ground
BUT my face.
awesome. :)

this is one of my best friends from high school

love him!

and this one is just awesome.

Oh high school....how i miss you.
i haven't decided which of these i'm showing...but should be fun.
Class of 2002....so fun.

earthquake!

So we were sitting in our HSM team meeting today when the whole room started MOVING!!

Now, being from Georgia...I dont have a ton of experience with earthquakes but I think I handled it way better than the majority of my team!
Poor Ryanne cleared the room in like .5 seconds...it was awesome.
All in all...it was a good earthquake.
Just exciting enough without causing damage.
Just another reason I love california.

the price is wrong.....

it's 2:30am and I'm leaving with wendy and Alyssa to go sleep in a line to be on the price is right. At the moment I'm not happy with my decision but I'm sure I will be once the show starts....for now I'll just be sleeping on the street corner for a few hours.

Yogurt factory....

So tonight after work I met up with wendy and kevin for some delicious jazz music and frozen yogurt. Notice how OCD i made mine. You can't mix flavors...nor can you mix colors.
come on, everyone knows that.

Because it was the first day this place was open you got the first 3oz free...so i tried to get exactly 3oz just for fun.

You can't tell....but i burned my face with my hair straightener yesterday (hence the curly hair)

thank you photoshop....

So i made wendy take a picture with the other side of my face showing.
i have great friends.

the greatest thing you'll ever learn...

Is just to love and be loved in return

BRILLIANT!!
Way to go moulin rouge....you really made my night...
that and Debbie Barker's enchiladas.
Relaxing and watching a movie with great friends....perfect.

Gets me every time....

this has been a constant source of laughter at work lately...
and every time it gets me SO GOOD.

So this one time....

I let mariah color my hair....

i'm nearly a blonde....but i like it.

Word to the wise....

Tuesdays are kids eat free night at chickfila.....stay away!

friendship...

i had dinner with my best friend Mariah tonight...and it never fails that we have the best talks and just the best time laughing together.
We talked about our hurts, frustrations, successes, failures, mistakes, our pasts, our futures....all in the period of about 3 hours....i love the power of encouragement from good friends.
I love that our friendship is so grounded in our Savior.
I love that I can be myself.
i love that I let my guard down.
I love trusting someone completely.
I love having a friend that's protective and defensive for me.
i love having a friend that tells me when i'm being super dumb and when i'm being totally right.
i love that I'm a people person and that God uses those around me to refuel me.
i love love love LOVE my friends.

My friend wendy...

is an unbelievable artist
and a great, great friend :)

totally exhausted

In the last 3 days of the pdym conference I've done the following....

8 hours of sleep TOTAL
6 students in trouble
6 leader meetings
2 hours teaching
7 sessions
1 shower
6 Venti drinks from starbucks
Lots and lots and lots of laughs with my friends
Tons of great conversations with amazing students

Totally wiped out but loving every second!!

another 2am post....

We kicked off the PDYM student leadership conference tonight. 

With today including a staff meeting from 9-1 

hotel issues

Leaders arriving at 2:15

Students at 3

and already threats to be kicked out of our hotel. ha

But SUCH a great first night. 

Taff and the student band were absolutely amazing. 

I cry every single time our kids lead...i just get so proud. 

Doug talked about serving....he's always amazing. 

just a really, really great time getting to know some students 

I dont normally get to connect with! 

now it's 2am and i just finished room checks. 

Which is funny because lights out was SUPPOSED to be at midnight. 

random stops at taco bell and in-n-out kinda put a dent in my schedule.   

i'm also teaching 2, one hour beak out sessions tomorrow 

that I haven't even given the slightest thought to. 

awesome. 

welcome to the crazy life of allison. :) 

nerdy??

Does the fact that I just downloaded a bunch of new fonts at 2am make me a total nerd??

But i seriously can't sleep.
and I have a long day tomorrow.
I have a long week this week.
I have a long month this month.

i'm kind of weird when it comes to sleep....the more I need it, the less I get it.
The less I need it...the more of it I get.
And the more that's on my mind....the harder it is to fall asleep.
This month should be interesting.

So this one time...

The softball team I played on in college totally played the US Olympic team.
Got their butts kicked....but still...
Crazy cool.

bored blogging.

so i realize i've blogged so much today....possibly because i've been up since 6am to meet the guy buying my car. ha.
but I was just listening to a little Mute Math and loved this verse in the song Control (which goes with my radio video if you were curious...)

There is no better loss than to lose myself in you
In a parachute to glide, I am captive in your sky
Surrender has somehow become so beautiful

Youth Ministry....

I had the raddest (is that a word??) kid in my small group this year.

Her name is tessa...and she's just unbelievable. I was privileged enough to have her in my group all year and watch God just do a number on her life.

this was her baptism...which was SO FUN. My whole 17 girl small group was there cheering her on and just totally affirmed how much I value small groups.
We are putting short testimonies of students on our weekend bulletin this week and here's what she wrote!

Before I accepted Jesus into my life I was using drugs and I hated everyone. My days consisted of getting into trouble, going home, and getting kicked out of my house. I felt that God was taking everything that was good in my life away from me. While the high school services were doing the scarred series I would leave each night crying and my small group leader, Allison, came and talked to me about how Jesus Christ understood how I was feeling and that he would love me no matter what I did. After she left, I thought about how I wanted to change my life for the better and I accepted Jesus Christ into my life. Ever since then I've seen how much better I handle situations and how I feel towards people. Now I know that people love me and finally I love myslef.

This makes my heart so happy.
I love God more for calling me to this crazy responsibility of pouring into the lives of students.
I'm so thankful i GET to do this!

jake.

i mean how cute is my nephew?!

Victory!!!

after 3 years and my very first new car...it's over.

my beautiful 2005 honda civic is GONE.

a little bitter sweet...i loved that car....but really glad i don't have 2 cars anymore...ha.
Hooray.

Dumb iphone....

So apple came out with an update for the iphone today...
Not only did it cause me a ridiculous 4 hours without my phone....it ERASED all my numbers.
Now, when i say ERASED....i mean every single number, every single EVERYTHING is gone from my oh, so handy, iphone.

So in the next few days if I answer the phone sounding really surprised...
its because i have no idea who you are.
I apologize in advance.

i mean....

i love him.

Radio...

This was the video i made a few weeks ago as an opener.

It was so sweet....right when the video cuts out the band came in huge with the same song....awesome.

Creepy....

Last night me, Zack, Pease, and Petty went up to Corona Del Mar to shoot a video...
But we shot it in this fancy cemetery!
it was kinda creepy...but the video shoot went really well.
I'll post it when i'm done editing.

When i got home i found out this guy's grave is there....

it was a fun night.
we had dinner at a really good mexican place, saw tiger wood's house, and made fun of pease a lot. :)
(especially when he wore his bluetooth)
good times. good friends.

Dear Monday....

i am so looking forward to you.
Your friend,
Allison

Unbelievable...

learn about it.

update!

still at the field's house...trapped.

it was on the channel 5 news....so crazy.

the man shot his wife in the driveway like 5 houses up from the Fields and then took their 9 year old. SO NUTS! we literally drove by RIGHT after it happened.

check it out

dear sweet police barricade blocking the only way off this street....you're really messing with my plans.

STUCK!

So...I went to pick up the Fields family from the airport this afternoon....we dropped doug off at Cody's football practice and headed back to the Field's house. As we are driving up their street we pass a police motorcycle parked on the side of the road and the cop standing, facing us driving by with this HUGE rifle pointed at the ground. So cathy and i decided to be brave/nosy/stupid and see what was happening so we turned around and parked the car where we could see all the action and even video tape a little of it. 

So a ton more cop cars pull up....cops running everywhere with huge guns pointed at this house. One cop sprinted across the street ducking...and then laid flat on his stomach with his gun pointed at the house. At this point a cop ran our direction and told us to get inside and lock the doors and the roped off the entire street with police tape. 

So here I am, stuck at the Fields' house...helicopters circling...waiting for this person to come banging on the door. (at leas that's what we pictured in our heads!)

the neighbor heard from one of the cops there was a murder a few houses down and the guy got away...so they are looking for him and until then the street is roped off. Which means i'm still at the Fields' house instead of our wednesday night event. Which is funny because Doug is stuck there, not able to come home and i'm stuck in his home not able to go there. 

crazy crazy crazy. Like something on tv. 

updates to follow. 

so many people i love...

are really far away right now!

My best friend Mariah is in Palm Springs

Juli's in Indiana

Torie and Del are in Texas

these 4 are in brazil

my little nephews are in Mississippi

my best friends from college are in Georgia, Florida, Maine, Maryland, and i'm in California

i sure have good people in my life. :)