good news, bad news

Good news: It's cold outside! I knew all that rain was good for something. I finally need long sleeves - sweaters, even!

Bad news: After sitting in said cold for several hours at Friday night's homecoming game at Restoration Academy, I've been rendered useless for the rest of the weekend. I am severely under the weather and so very tempted to call a sub for tomorrow, but I've learned that being gone from school is hardly worth the trouble unless I am near the deathbed, or going on a really fun trip.

Fortunately and unfortunately, neither is the case.

Hope everyone's having a fantastic, headache & runny nose free weekend!

I'm nervous

Jim and Pam tie the knot tonight, as all you Office faithful are well aware. I've been thinking about it all day.

It's bittersweet, really. Jim and Pam belong together, and this could potentially be the best episode to date.

HOWEVER.

I am deeply concerned about the direction of the show after this night. Where will the writers go after this? What will they do with the show? Historically, outrageously successful sitcoms go no where but down after "the big episode."


Could this be the beginning of the end?

welcome, october

Autumn is the season when a year grows old.

Its strength begins to wane,

Its light begins to go dim.

It is a reminder of our own mortality and faltering strength.

It is the season when we begin to look,

not to the earth for hope,

but toward a "city not made with hands,

whose arcitect and builder is God."

Outwardly we are wasting away,

but inwardly we are being renewed day by day.

"because all I have time to do...

...is think and get down to business."

And so quoted one of my students on his application for the school newspaper staff. I got such an enormous kick out of going through these applications that I sent out a mass e-mail detailing the funniest quotes - so forgive me if this is redundant; it's just that it so completely and utterly made my week that I couldn't help but share it here also.

"I will bring all kinds of happiness."

"I do hope you will find it in your heart to select ME for this position. Thank and you may God BLESS you."

"It would be very nice if I got my job back as photographer. It has really drug me into the newspaper business."

"I could help keep the staff together if things get out of hand."

"Because on a scale of 1 to 10, I am the 10."

"I did photography last year and I am the MASTER at it."

"So, again, it would be nice if I got photography again, please."

"I would just like to say that I have been in two magazines and written three books. But, I would not like to be a writer. I would like to be a photographer."

"I would be a good asset because I know what children are thinking these days. I am one myself."

"When I decided I wanted to be a lawyer, I knew I had to be more into the economy."

"I take pictures of clouds."

"I can make up a poem in less than five minutes. Easy as that."

"I have an exquisite vocabulary."

"The school newspaper means EVERYTHING to me! If I am not on the staff, I will be so mad! I am everything the newspaper needs! I tried to be in it last year, and now I am trying again. I am very happy to get an opportunity to be on the staff and this is NOT my chance to blow it!!"

"I sometimes make 45% grammatical errors, and that is why I chose staff writer SECOND."

"Because the only thing I have time to do is think and get down to business."

I love journalism because it informs us of many things. Like the newspaper."

points of interest

1. School is in full swing. This might be my favorite group of students yet. Very good-natured, very funny, very sweet, very immature (on that point, no wonder I've taken to them so). I love my job. I can't say it enough.

2. I'm 28, or "officially close to 30." Thanks yaya. 28 is very, very good in case you're wondering. Had a lovely, intimate birthday gathering at the home of one Kate McIntosh Graham, themed "Claire's Favorite Things." Plenty of circus peanuts. Which brings me to...

3. I have a toothache. Also, it turns out, no dental insurance. My fault -- oops. At least it's not too late to fix this glitch before (hopefully) I need a root canal.

4. I really, really love the church that I recently memberized with. As in every week I can't wait for Sunday nights.

5. I'm now the owner of a pair of skinny jeans. This is moderately ironic on several counts. The cows have officially come home.

6. I cannot stop listening to Selah's new album - particularly "Unredeemed" and "I Will Carry You." I have been waiting on these two songs for months, months, and months. They are here. Buy them on iTunes - you shan't be sorry.

7. Who's ready to need a long sleeved shirt?

8. Dierks Bentley and Patty Griffin did a song together recently. Is anyone else disturbed by this? It's actually pretty good, too.

9. Did I ever write a review for Julie & Julia? It was absolutely fantastic. Charming every second through and through. Worth paying the hefty ticket price again, as a matter of fact. If you haven't seen it, GO.

10. I'm growing rosemary and cilantro in my kitchen - entirely too late in the herb season, mind you - and against all odds, they're springing forth from the soil in sprightly dance! The severed wasps are in flight, indeed. That was for you, Mere. :)

Happy mid-week, friends.

I've got a very important date...

...and it cannot get here fast enough. Ladies and gentlemen, Tim Burton has, I believe, embarked on the film he was always meant for. Alice in Wonderland will hit theatres March 5, 2010, and I am trembling with delight already.

With Johnny Depp (of course...who else?) as the Mad Hatter...

And Helena Bonham Carter as the Red Queen...

And Anne Hathaway as the White Queen...

And Mia Wasikowska (with a blond dye job, personally I think I would have been an appropriate pick, but whatever) as Alice...



How can this be anything but mesmerizing? As one who thought she was Alice as a small child, I don't think I could be more excited about this coming out. Some other images from the movie that I LOVE...



Here's the trailer...



I don't know that I have ever been this excited about a movie. Tim Burton was made for this.


Alice laughed. "There's no use trying," she said. "One can't believe impossible things."

"I daresay you haven't had much practice," said the Queen. "When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast."

-Through the Looking Glass, chapter 5

this is going to be a good, good weekend...

...for several reasons. One, it's the end of the first week of school, which means I am dying to sleep in tomorrow morning - if you're thinking "but you had ALL SUMMER to sleep in......" please understand that even if I had slept in all summer, just one week of herding around 106 8th graders and trying to make them pay attention to you teach them about the preposition takes the ever living OOOMPH out of a girl.

So again, #1, tomorrow I can sleep until I wake up -- sweet goodness.

Two, I am going to see Julie & Julia, which I have been looking forward to for ages. I can. not. wait. to see this movie. I have been enthralled by design for the past several months (I suppose the inner-Bonnie in me is beginning to emerge? Are you beaming, yet, mom?) and am extremely excited to see the kitchen designs in this movie. I've seen pictures, and I'm intrigued, to say the least. Too bad I don't yet own a home to overhaul. Which brings me to Three...

I have been on the Dave Ramsey plan now for several months, and can I just say that IT WORKS?? Even on a little teacher-budget - along with Dave, an incredibly cheap shoebox of an apartment, some tried-and-true discipline, smart saving (thanks, Dave!) I will, Lord willing, be a homeowner in approximately 2 years! I mean, I'll be 30 by then. Come on. It's about time to be there, don't you think? I'm not sure what this has to do with it being a good, good weekend, but I felt like throwing that in there. On to Three.

I am joining Redeemer Community Church this weekend. Any of you who know me well will know that I've not joined a church in, maybe, never? Growing up, I was part of a church that I don't recall having an official membership roster - and since then, I haven't been a member of a church, though I've attended a church or two regularly for years at a time. I love this church and its teaching with all my heart. I love it because, obviously, like many churches, it proclaims and seeks to authentically live out Jesus' oft uncomfortable truths in very honest, real, tangible ways in the city of Birmingham. And let's be honest, I need this kind of covenant community to live these truths myself and act in obedience despite my fears.

So yes. A good, good weekend indeed.