Chalk Stalks

Heyoooooo.

Today, felt so much like a Sunday it was ridiculous. It's probably because last night we did something really fun! And by "fun" I mean "extremely hardcore and challenging and legit". Carol, Shaney-Shane, The Jacob, Reg, and I all went laser tagging. Two floors. Lots of mazes. Us VS Junior Highers. It was cray-cray. But so fun! After playing we headed back and I chilled with some girls on my hall. Anywho...that's why today was so "Sunday-ish" because most adventures we embark on take place on Saturdays. So tonight we decided to carry on our Saturday frolickings. We decided to do a few Chalk Stalks. For those of you who don't know, that's when you leave a lovely/random message for a  friend to surprise them. I LOVE this, because notes are my favorite! SEE:

My dorm room wall.

We started with Shaney-Shane. He has stairs leading up to his apartment, so we decided to leave a word on each step. The problem was his stairs are really noisy and his light was on and his window was open (it just so happens to be right by the stairs). So as stealthily as possible we began.

His roommate came out, but wished us luck as he left. At one point, we were certain he was going to come out, and were forced to hide in the bushes. But overall, we succeeded! This is the final project:

Hard to see, but says "Shaney Shane, we like your face. Have a good day! :) :)"

But as you probably know, once you do one fun thing, you have to do another. It's like when you have one chip, and you can't help but eat another.

So we didn't stop. We went to the parking lot and found our RA(w)R's car, "Sport the Escort". We left her a love note too!

Spreading joy, one chalking at a time.

Such a fun night followed by sc00ter races, and a movie with Kayla! 

Adventure verse:
1 Thessalonians 5:11, "So encourage each other and build each other up, just as you are already doing."

BAM. Winning.
I love my life. My God. And my Friends.
And you.



Whack Tap.

Hello friends.
So here's what's going down. I'm going to be real honest right now. Just remember, you're probably reading this because you know and love me anyways (or cause I begged you to). Anywho...the truth is, I'm addicted to trying new things. Seriously, I love it. But more than that, I'm addicted to being good at things. Sounds terrible, I know. Also sounds prideful. I just really enjoy feeling like my adventures are succesful. Anyways, that's exactly what I was thinking when I signed up for a tap dancing class with my great friend BREA.

 But as soon as we slid into windows and proceeded to practice falaps, I remembered...
I am TERRIBLE at tap dance. My conclusion was only confirmed as we lined up and did combinations of shuffles and other tappity-tap-tap moves. Oh did I mention...I FORGOT one of the laces for my shoes and had to tap in socks? Did I also mention, someone broke the rules and had been chewing gum in the studio? Too bad I found this out after stepping on it. Yeah...soups awk. You know when you take a class, and there's always that group of people who things are just not clicking for? Yeah, I was in that group. The SLOW tap group. I looked an awful lot like this.

Brea was so great though! She looked an awful lot like this. Seriously, I was so proud to call her my friend!

And you know what? I'm actually glad I am taking this class! Even though I usually would refer to myself as a "sore loser". I have been trying this year to live in my imperfections, well to be okay with them, and I think this is good practice. Philipians 3:12 says "I  don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection. But I press on..." Life is all about trying new things, and failing, and succeeding, and loving every moment of it. So I will not be dropping this course, because it is so fun. And incredibly embarassing. And I think it's a good life lesson: You don't always have to be the best, and if you're not...don't throw a fit.

Anyways, I love you guys, and hopefully this adventure isn't too much for me.
And world keep an eye out, Brea is pretty much going to be tapping for a living cause she's that great! I'm seriously so proud of her!

Love.

New People, New Adventures, New Joys.

Numastai, Sastrikhal, Bula Vinaka, Hello!

If you've ever read my blog, you probably realized many of my adventures feature the same people continuously. Why? Because they're just grand. But tonight was different. Tonight some new people came into my social life, and you want to know what? I had an amazing time! After having a fairly normal day of cleaning, scootering, frolicking, and laughing, some of my "regular" friends headed out for their own adventures and I was left with two options: 1. Hermit like a pro, or 2. Find my own adventures.

I chose the latter.

For a while there were few people on Fourth North, so I made the long trek across the laundry room, and headed into Fourth South (doesn't quite roll of the tongue) to find some friends. Empty. Hmm...not giving up that easily. Went up and over to Fifth North (also doesn't sound quite right) to see my friend Elayna. Too bad I had missed her by a mere minute or two. Hmm...Why didn't I think of it sooner? Adams Hall to see Lindsay!

So we sat and chatted, and suddenly my phone started blowing up with texts! We went down to meet some other friends, grabbing people to come along as we went! It was so cool to be with a group of people who before tonight had never even met! We decided to all play Quelf, and it got pretty intense because suddenly passersby were stopping to watch and cheer on, and it was so great! Afterwards me and the girls went to McDonald's to get some snackage and were the last group allowed into the dining hall. We got the impression they wanted us to leave when they started locking all the doors. But we understood loud and clear when they turned all the lights off on us, and just stared! We hurriedly scooped up our stuff, apologized, and went home. So here we are, watching movies, and enjoying each other's company, and you know what? The people I hung out with tonight are great! It is so nice to know that we don't have to be confined or restricted, and sometimes it's nice just to mix it up a little. Ecclesiastes 3:1 "For everything there is an appointed time, even a time for every affair under the heavens..." even for trying new things with new people. Tonight was so fun, and I am so glad I wasn't afraid to just search people out.

I love my life.
I love you.

An Er'ryday Evening of a College Freshman...

Hey there, friends.
Tonight me and my great friend Carol, or who I sometimes refer to as CJ (cause sometimes she does things that just call for a more "thuggin" name), were looking for something fun to do. There are four problems with this: 1. We have NO car. 2. We are afraid of the dark. 3. We're kinda afraid of Azusa. 4. We're super afraid of being in Azusa in the dark.
The main problem was, of course the first one, so we did none other than grab Leo, and another scooter and set off for adventures somewhere over the rainbow...or right across the street.

If you notice, we're matching, only...in reverse.

We wanted a little snackage and decided to try and scoot through the drive through at "Jack and the B-fish"...(cause the o and the x look like a fish cause they're so close together.)

And who do you think we encountered? None other than other APU kids who understood the joys of being a freshman perfectly, and who even helped us out when the lady at the window wasn't going to give us our curly fries!

So we headed back to school, ate, went on down to 7-11 for a cup of hot cocoa where the coolest thing happened! I began to sort of converse with the cashier in Punjabi, and he UNDERSTOOD me! :D Thanks, all you peeps who h00k3d me up with that knowledge. We had to scurry back to campus soups fast after that though cause we were afraid of the predators hiding in that sector. It was a wonderous night with my best friend here,which ended in us breaking it down with a choreographed dance for my sister!

It was a super great night, and the whole time I felt so incredibly blessed, and even, dare I say, like Jesus was just chilling with us. I think sometimes we can get so wrapped up in finding Jesus in the huge radical, hyper-spiritual revelations, rather than the er'ryday moments. I believe God wants us to have fun, and I think that completely ties in with Psalm 118:24 - "This is the day the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it."  In THIS day, in THIS moment, God wants us to be happy! It gives Him glory! And I'm thankful for that! Anywho, homies, it was a grand night in this little town.

Over and Out.

Zumba Worship...

Some of  you who have participated in this dance craze may be a little confused. "You mean that workout where the point is to shake your rump?" you may be asking. Well, my hips don't lie...that is kinda true. So imagine our surprise when the ABC (that's Allison, Brea, and Carol) headed over to our new Zumba class and heard the first song was none other than the song "Not Forgotten"! I know this song from the Hillsong Kids album- being the kids church fiend I am. You know..."I am not forgotten, God knows my name..." It was kinda cool! That is until our teacher told us to start some thrusting, and shaking, that even Shakira might struggle with. So where is the adventure in this?

It could be...
- when we walked at night to Citrus in the city of Azusa- sketch.
- watching Carol as she gracefully tried to break it down- adorable.
- the pretty aura-tastic cool down- we were doing yoga I think.
- maybe just the fact we tried something new!

But all I can say is, I guess we were kinda acting in 1 Corinthians 10:31,
"In Whatever you do...give the glory to God."

Suppose that means working out too, huh? :)

I love you all.

And Brea, who didn't hear me reciprocate that when she left today...I LOVE YOU!

And Carol, who is such a graceful dancer, she can't possibly be told she failed.

That High Voice Swag.

$0...

!f y00v 3vUr h34rd m3 t4lk b3f0r, y00 kN0 !tz 411 $0rtz 0f h!!...

Wow, that was obnoxious.
And slightly refreshing.

For those of you who are not familiar with this super fly font, or are simply normal human beings, that said:
"So... If you've ever heard me talk before, you know it's all sorts of high..."

Which is true...and people LOVE it...
Unless of course they HATE it.
I've heard everything from "You're voice is so cute." to..
"Please girl you're giving me a headache. Get back to me when you lay off the helium."
This would've really hurt my feelings if I wasn't laughing hysterically. So I took the opportunity to tell her helium has a reverse effect on me, and she believed me.

So why is this important?
To the well being of humanity, it's not really. 
But here's what went down. I called up the pizza place down the street to order dinner for the family...
"______ Pizza, can I help you?"
"Yes. I'd like to order some pizza!"
"um...haha can you hold?"
"Sure."
*CLICK*.

This happened three times, only each time the laughing got louder! It wasn't until my mom called and yelled at them that the girl apologized and said "Sorry! We thought it was a prank call!"
This is something that I deal with all ze time. But what can you do?
Honestly I think I sound like this for a reason! Maybe it's so I can continue to talk my way out of situations, maybe it's so in the future I can communicate with dolphins and dogs, or maybe it's simply to light up the lives of people who love it, and to annoy those who hate it.

I don't know. But all I know is, I sound just like this guy sometimes...

And they gave him two movies.

Coincidence? 

Maybe.

Life Lesson: 

Who run the world? Girls.
Or those who will eternally sound like young ones.
Love.

What's in a Name?

Hey there.
If you've been on this site lately you might be thinking, "Hey, where's the weak attempts of Allie T. that I know and love so much?" Well here's the deal. This break I've been trying to think of some good names and these are what I've thought of:
Ramblings of a Redhead

Ready. Set. Live!
and
Life Lessons with Inez.

There were two obvious problems with these names.
1.) These names are already taken. Check 'em out.
2.) I'm not a redhead or named Inez.

Anywho...after much consideration I still had not figured out what to call this...masterpiece. it wasn't until last night when I had dinner with some great people and the 'rents that I decided on "Adventures of Faith". These people had story after story of how their faith was tested and they had to rely on God and He of course came through. It was awesome! They called it "Craigs List Faith"...you know, when you need money or something and you start looking for stuff to sell online, and then a stranger decides to hand you an envelope filled with exactly what you need! Faith like that Sounds a little cray-cray.

Anyways, that is the kind of faith I am striving for this year- adventurous. Not setting out to test God, but setting out to rely on Him even more.
Setting out to do three major things:

1. STEP OUT.

 No more playing it soups safe., time to try new things.

2. SPEAK OUT.

In two ways: a) Encouraging and Evangelizing more,

b) taking my evangelizing numbers from 4,732 to 5,000 by the end of this year.



3. TAKE OTHERS WITH ME.

I'm ready for some experiences, hopefully others are too!

So there you go, adventuring my faith, adventuring in faith that there'll be a great outcome.

So that's the plan. And the explanation of the new name.

Let's adventure together!

And in the words of one of my faves...

"Adventure is out there!"

Thanks, Ellie. I know it is.

And I'm going for it!

Are you?

Kick Off Verse of 2012

Because I'm a typical Christian, the New Year excites me because of a few key points.

1. An end to a dry season (if you've been having one).

2. An opportunity for new blessings and chances to grow.

3. A chance to be the kind of Christian you want to be.

All of these lead to a the basic desires to pray more, read the Bible more, and live it out more. So though it's a bit cliche, after praying in the New Year, and posting my 2011 recap post, I broke out my Bible. I decided to switch things up this year and start with Revelations and work my way backwards, even though I had just finished it. I decided this mostly because during the holiday season reading wasn't really a problem, remembering was. So I read. I like to read until I feel God reveal something so there's no sense of "pointless" reading. And here's what happened...

This spoke to me so strongly:
     
 “You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, 
for you created all things, and by your will they were created and have their being.”

- Revelations 4:11

Sometimes I like to read things and sort of define the words and what they mean to me. It was an incredible revelation (ironic, huh?)

My Ruler and God...

You deserve all the extravagance and the praise

and the recognition and the respect

and the control

because you formed everything,

and created it 

because You wanted to

and You know all things and their purpose.

What a great kick off verse to the year!

No matter what blessings I receive, or accomplishments I get, or terrible things I encounter, or trials I overcome,

 God is more than deserving of my all. 

This year is going to be a great adventure.

2011 R-R-R-Rewind.

This year...check it out...

* Turned 18

* Coordinated the (UNDERGROUND) Prom

* Went to Speech State Championships.

* Survived the End of the World.

                                                                    * Graduated.

* Crossed 10 Dreams off my List.

* Worked six amazing kids camps.

* Started college.

* Adventured like Crazy.

* Made New Friends.

* Prayed in the New Year!

Here's a peek at some of the greatest moments. It's been fun, but it's time for a New Year!

  I was definately not a Freshman when this was taken...