It's been quite a while, folks.  2 1/2 months, to be exact.  I never planned to take a blogging sabbatical, but as it turns out, it's just what I needed.
I wish I could begin to reiterate all that's happened since early May, but there's a lot.  I finished undergraduate finals.  I wrote a graduate level paper.  I graduated from college.  I moved back home and organized my college life into my post-college life.  I get to experience the horrors and frustrations of buying insurance.  Then, 3 weeks after moving home, I moved back to Franciscan University to work for the summer.  

For the first time, I'm living with housemates in our own little apartment, making meals in our own little kitchen and yes, even cleaning our own (tiny) bathroom.  We all happen to work together, so our schedules coincide.  Thankfully, we get along well and have a lot of fun together.

While I'm not transitioning into a "real job", it's still certainly been transition out of college.  My last few weeks of school were, to be honest, miserable, as I dealt with frustrations dealing with my degree.  It got mostly sorted out, but I am just glad to have it behind me.  I have a degree and am done!

And now.  Now I am working for the summer, then moving to Chicago for graduate school!  Yikes.  Help.  Ah.  I don't know how how or why but I'm definitely excited.  It'll be a huge adventure, as I'll be attending a Catholic seminary for the next two years.  God only knows (literally) how it will go and what I'll end up doing, but I can't wait to begin.

In the meantime, I keep leading meetings, making pasta, reading books for fun for the first time in 6 months, and meeting up with friends.  It's a great summer life, even if Sunday afternoons find me taking a nap after a 30-hour weekend.

Right now, I'm just waiting for the next adventure to begin.
And I'm ok with waiting.

I thought that Senior Year would be the year I wrote the most, published the most, shared the most.  But I find myself wanting to only live in the moment, and not take the time to share as "widely" what's going on.  Still, that doesn't mean I've just been sitting around these last few weeks!

3 weeks ago was spring break, and I took a trip to Connecticut to go on a mission/retreat with the Sisters of Life.  This community of religious women is so full of joy, and it was wonderful to be able to spend 10 days in their presence.  The 90 of us on break together heard talks, played games, helped to renovate a house in Harlem, took a "Saint Tour" of New York City, and spent a lot of time in prayer.  While it wasn't a "discernment retreat", the Lord was certainly very present to all of us, but in very different ways.  I had a lot of adventures and learned so many lessons during that week.  I will have to share some of them later.

This past weekend, my household was on retreat together.  We take a weekend away from campus once a semester to gather as sisters, pray, and grow.  These three days were the best we've experienced together, and once again, the Lord was truly present with us.  Again, we prayed and played together, and even got a cow named after our household while we were there!

Looking ahead, I am planning for the Triduum here at school, preparing for an event for a few thousand people.  And then, its only a few weeks until graduation.  I'm constantly blown away at how soon it is, and it's hard to believe that these four years are almost over.  My fellow senior friends and I look at each other almost every day in disbelief- where did the time go?

But there is a lot to do between now and May 9th, graduation day.  So right now, I'm looking at tomorrow, and the next day.  One step at a time,, they say.  The end will be here soon enough, and there's no need to rush it.

The Lighthearted Version:
Oh my goodness, you guys.  The semester is almost over.  I've survived fall of my Senior year, and in 5 short days, I'll be home for Christmas!
Some items of potential interest....
You know the song "Mary, Did You Know?"  It's one of my favorite Christmas songs.  By Christmas songs, I don't mean "songs I like to hear at Mass", but one of those songs that I looooooove hearing on the radio.  Before I go on, let's check out my new favorite rendition of the song...

Lately, lots of my Facebook friends have been bashing the song, saying how theologically inaccurate it is, how we shouldn't listen to it, etc.  I could type out all my thoughts on the matter (of which I have many), but instead, I'll let this CatholicVote article speak for me.

I am finally done reading JPII's Theology of the Body.  Man, was that an undertaking!  It's one of those books that I expect to go back to at least once a year, even if just to skim my underlinings.

One of my professors this semester was Bob Rice- a speaker, musician, youth minister and all-around amazing man.  I think I can speak for our whole class by saying that we learned a lot about youth ministry through his class, and we're all excited to have him again next semester for another youth ministry class.
At the beginning of the year, he told us we wouldn't have Youth Ministry class on the last day of class, as he'd be out of town.  Last night, we found out why.... 

The lets-be-real Version
Oh my goodness you guys this semester is almost over and I have 8 days till I'm home and there's so much to do and ahhhh.  These last two weeks have been rough- full of assignments and work and so many things that I just had to do.  This week, I've applied for one graduate school, booked plane tickets to another grad school, turned in my 40-page double thesis (**happy dance**).  It was so much more exhausting than I thought it would be, and I'm so glad I did it, but I'm also overjoyed to be DONE.

This is a pretty accurate "story" of this thesis... first, the tired face of the 29-page rough draft.  Then, late nights filled with editing, more research, and large coffees.  And finally, the still-dead-tired but elated face of 40 pages of hard work.  I've yet to receive my grade, but I'm cautiously hopeful.  Oh, my topic?  "The Evils of Pornography and its Effects on Today's Youth"  It was a heavy topic to research, but I learned a lot and since I've sent it to over 30 friends since turning it in, I'm hoping that my little paper is having an impact, even in a small way.

These last 2 weeks have also been filled with stress from work.... there have been a lot of chapel events recently, most of which are time-consuming, such as the 2 1/2 hour Eucharistic praise-and-worship tonight and 4 hour (including set-up and take-down) Mass with our local bishop yesterday.  And it's not over.... Monday is a holy day of obligation, and our Bishop is coming again on Thursday!  As much as I absolutely love my job, it will be lovely to be able to simply attend liturgies over Christmas break.  I need a spiritual reboot!

Have a blessed 2nd Sunday of Advent!
Veni, veni, Emmanuel!

Oh, hello!
Unexpected absences from FHOG seem to be the trend of the summer.  I'm hoping that trend doesn't continue into the school year, but since it's always unexpected, I really can't say for sure.

So what's been going on with me?  Lots.  Lots and lots and lots.
Firstly, I took a little mini-vacation to Chicago to visit my dear friend Grace.  (Hence the airport/flying posts.)  We had a delightful time cruising around the city, visiting all sorts of Churches (come on- we're Theology majors, you set us loose in a city, of course we're going church hopping!), meeting some of her friends, and catching up from the last month of not seeing each other.

When I returned, I jumped back into work.  I've been running the Tuesday night youth groups for my internship, which involves preparing a little talk each week.  It's been good practice for me, and I'm getting more confident in my abilities as a future youth minister.  (Sidenote: many people think that being a youth minister means I'm going to go to seminary to be a minister.  Haha, no!)  I've also been leading a book study (reading St. Therese's Story of a Soul) and co-leading a Bible study (St. Luke's gospel!).

And in all my spare time (cough cough) I am attending a Bible study with a fantastic group of young adults from the area.  We're from a variety of different schools, and it's been fun to get to know them all.  And then we always have a Eucharistic holy hour afterwards, including a short talk by one of the parish priests.  Having that quiet hour in the middle of my week, where I can just sit and pray without any interruptions is SO necessary.

At the beginning of the month, for 2 weeks, I had a workcation (made up words? Yes.).  My brother and his family went out of town for 2 weeks, and asked me to house/cat/garden-sit for them.  I was still working the various internships, but when I got home at night, it was just me and the cats.  One decided I was a pretty nice person, and was a fan of sitting on my lap.  But they're outdoor cats, so this meant periods of time when I would sit in the garage holding a cat as he attempted to get comfortable and would nudge my arm each time I stopped petting him.

I decided that week that I like cats.  (Sidenote 2: Grace has the most delightful dog ever, and so I have also decided that I like some dogs.  My sister's family also has a new dog.  She is tiny - like, 2 lbs tiny.  She has contributed to my fondness of dogs.  It's been a monumental July in the Allison-and-animals world.)

Otherwise, I've been doing personal writing, absolutely no reading, starting to get hooked on The Office (blame that one on my brother- he owns the first 2 seasons which I discovered at their house...), drinking water voluntarily for the first time in my life, and pretending that yes! I have time to do x, y, and z.  Oh, and the beach.  I went to the beach for a day.  I am now sporting the new style called the "ripe and peeling tomato".  That's what 5 hours in the part-sun and 3 applications of sunscreen do to an Irish girl.  Meh.

This week, I'll finish up the last week at my admin internship, and hopefully get rested up for 5-day overnight camp with the high school youth group.  

It's truly been a summer of growth and learning, in ways that I never could have prepared myself for.  But that's a topic for another post.

If you know me, you'll know that I am not really the concert-going type. It's not really "me" to willingly put myself with a mass of screaming fans and sing and dance along. 

And yet 4 nights ago, that was precisely what I did. 

For some reason, I've had a strong desire to attend a concert for over a year. This summer, my friends and I decided to make it a reality. I researched all the concerts within 2 hours of our house, compared prices, and looked up the opening bands. We decided on American Authors, The Script, and OneRepublic. 

Whew. Great decision, guys. 

Experiences which are somewhat outside of our comfort zones are oftentimes the best ones. 

We arrived early and tailgated catholic-style: with tuna sandwiches on a Friday. (We later realized that it was a feast day, so we could've had meat, but the Almond tea made up for that.) 

We then scoped out lawn seats. 
Lawn seats mean that it's a free-for-all. Good luck battling the crowds, friends. But we were awesome seat-finders. We nailed 2nd row of the lawn spots on the grass, right in the middle. Boom. 

And then followed an amazing 4 hours of pure talent. 

If you don't know me, you're going to think I'm just crazy, or fangirling, or something dumb. But I assure you I am not. These three bands were some of most talented groups of people I have ever been blessed enough to witness. 

You know, it's so interesting seeing groups like these in a live setting. I can listen to their recordings all I want, but nothing beats the stories, the little comments, the extra instrumental songs thrown in. (Bonus for learning that my favorite song on the album was the lead singer's favorite song too.) 

There's something about finding joy in something, and there's something else about finding joy with something along with thousands of your closest friends. (Here you may picture an eye-roll, but only regarding the second half of that sentence, and mostly jokingly.) Of being happy with them. Of singing along with them. Being awed by fantastic talent with them. 

Perhaps I make too much of a simple evening with friends, but I think that it is once we look beyond the everyday feelings we have toward something that we begin to experience the transcendent. 

And although these were by no means Christian groups in name, I have this funny feeling they'd understand what I mean. 

Working.
...Two internships- one for credit, one for money.  Both for experience.
Learning.
...How to better work in a professional environment.
...What it means to be a youth minister, practically speaking.  And how to give better talks to teens.
...That I love (love love) event planning.
Planning.
...A trip to Chicago next week, to visit my friend and household sister Grace.
...Office events, from happy hours to wine tastings to all-hands meetings.
...Fall retreat.
Thinking.
...About Liturgy Committee next year, and where I think our focuses should be.
Asking.
...What does it mean for me to live a balanced life?
...What do I look for in a parish, and what does it mean to find community there?
Reading.
...Funny satirical posts.
...Excellent thought-provoking posts.
Watching.
...oh-so-much laughter videos.
Writing.
...Lots and lots of blog posts.
...Emails to friends who live elsewhere.
...in my journal, everyday whenever possible.
Running.
...At least 5 miles a week (baby steps, ya'll).
Praying.
...For all my friends discerning their vocations
...For my family members taking trips this next month.

After some deeper posts in the last couple days, today I'd just like to share with you an interview I did on CatholicMom.com!

Honestly, I was surprised to see myself considered a "Catholic Techie".  It was good for me to explore the reasons that I blog about the things I do, and why my Faith plays a key role in my media activities.  (And also why media will be a huge part of my thesis... but that will be a topic for another time.)

Well.
Junior year is over. (Praise the Lord and His goodness.)

You know those days when you think, “This will never ever end”?  Or sometimes, it’s a week?  That was my semester.  One thing after another, it all hit me, and I am so glad to see the end.

It wasn’t that it was bad, necessarily, just exhausting.  Even the good things zapped me.  And now I almost don’t know what to do with myself because I don’t have a paper to write, or someone to go talk to, or a problem to solve. 

This week, especially, is like limbo week.  I’m still in Steubenville, but not because of classes.  I’m training for next year’s job, since I won’t be here this summer to train.  And then on Saturday, I’m attending a household sister’s wedding!  Sunday I’ll drive home, and Monday I’ll begin the mammoth task of putting everything away that I’ve packed up from my dorm room.  

It’s certainly going to be a different summer than what I’ve been used to the last 2 years.  This summer I’ll have routine, which is beautiful and strange.  I’ll have organization and normalcy.  I’ll have family and friends, and books.  Lots and lots of books.

Well, I’m off to pray and go to Mass and do all sorts of things that I now have time to do.
Summer is a wonderful thing.

greetings friends.
finals time is here again... and my next week looks like craziness and hecticness and who-knows-what-else-ness.  So I make no promises as to the frequency of posting until after my exams are behind me- one week from today.  Praise God for calendars and knowing when it'll all be over.

So, some randomness to carry you through next week:

I'd just like to take a moment to appreciate the two women I work with on CatholicMom.com- Sarah and Lisa.  They are both so understanding and wonderful, and they really put the "mom" in CatholicMom.  It's great, because I've never met either one of them, but I feel like I've known them my whole life.

For one of my classes, I'm having to do a group project about artificial wombs.  Yikes.  Science is scary.  Artificial wombs are weird.  And this presentation is gonna be over so soon, thank goodness.

Remember my post about re-finishing a set of drawers?  Well, I did it over spring break!!  Here's a sneak peek at the color scheme I ended up using...

And now I'm off to do almost 24 straight hours of graphic design so I have something respectable to turn in tomorrow afternoon.
Adios, friends.

This was one of the craziest weeks of my life.  I was working every day in the chapel, getting ready for Easter.  I was exhausted in ways that I haven’t been before.  You know, I thought that after Crossroads I’d been though the extent of how tired I could become.  But then this week, I was not only physically and spiritually tired, but mentally so as well.  Whew.

But it was all worth it, especially Saturday for the Vigil Mass, when we celebrated Christ’s resurrection… so beautiful!! The Gloria was particularly amazing.  The 15-ish friars who concelebrated Mass were so joy-filled, so excited to celebrate, and such an example to all of us in attendance of the effect the Resurrection should have in our own lives.

After the 3 ½ hour Mass, there were about 6 Liturgy Committee women behind stage, after doing our various tasks- starting the procession, purifying, extinguishing candles.  During the second recessional hymn (there were four in total), we just all started dancing, singing, and cheering.  And when a Franciscan sister came back, she joined us!  One of the priests who is on liturgy committee with us came back to help with something, and he just couldn’t help but smile and join in as well.  Such a celebration!

We stayed up until 4:30 am, putting everything back in the main chapel and organizing everything after the hectic week.  Slowly, we finished our tasks, and found ourselves collapsing in the pews in the chapel.  Two of the committee guys who are in schola (and therefore have amazing voices) were chanting random things, filling the chapel with beautiful music.  Someone turned the lights down, and we sat in almost-darkness, completely worn out.

I turned to Ileana: “We should start the Salve”.  She agreed, and when the guys stopped their song, she began it: “Salve, Regina, mater misericordiae…”

The 15 of us joined in, our voices meshing together into a beautiful 4-part harmony.  When we finished, we sat in silence for a moment before slowly leaving, picking up our things, and going to our dorms.

Sunday, I was able to sleep in a bit, and then Grace and I went to brunch with my parents and my aunt.  It was nice to be able to sit, and eat, and talk without having to watch the clock for having to go back to work. 

Easter afternoon, many Committee members gathered at the Student Head of Liturgy’s house for dinner.  Someone brought delicious marinated lamb, there was bread, and dip, and cheesy potatoes, and so many desserts.  After a couple hours, there were 11 of us left, and we sat around exchanging liturgical stories (of course) and laughing until our stomachs hurt.  It was a wonderful time of community with some incredible people.

Sometimes I don’t understand why I’ve been given this gift of committee.  Because as much work as it is, it’s a blessing to be able to serve with them.