cravin' pie.

anyone that knows me knows that i love to watch a good movie. it is one of my favorite kill-time activities. i have a special place in my heart for indie or 'B' list movies and i am proud of my modest collection filled with such titles.

as per usual when i want to curl up and escape for an hour or more, i spent this evening finishing 'waitress'...a quirky film about a small town girl who makes tremendously delicious pies and dreams of leaving her mediocre life behind.

besides making me crave a good slice of pie like there's no tomorrow, i walked away with one of the sweetest quotes of my twenty-five years. [context: jenna (the main character) is writing a series of letters to her unborn baby.]

enjoy. (oh, and rent the movie should you choose to indulge in a thoughtful indie film.)

dear baby, i hope someday somebody wants to hold you for twenty minutes straight and that's all they do. they don't pull away. they don't look at your face. they don't try to kiss you. all they do is wrap you up in their arms without an ounce of selfishness in it.

oh by gosh, by golly.

i am slightly obsessed with a certain christmas album. it plays incessantly when i am home alone. the album, you ask? "christmas with the rat pack." yes. that's right. frank. dean. sammy. they croon to me on a regular basis and have a way of getting this child-in-disguise all-excited about the upcoming christmas day.

mmmhmmmm. my favorite: frank's rendition of "mistletoe & holly"...a classic.

tomorrow is my last day of work for the next two weeks...praise the Lord for public education (for many reasons) and it's generous time off for teachers (and i guess for students, too). the kids are already bouncing off the walls with excitement/anticipation of their many days away from what they oftentimes refer to as...jail. how endearing.

in all seriousness, somewhere along the way, i have taken great affection for my job...my fellow teachers...and my students. i think the kids have taken to me, as well...one of my favorite things to hear everyday? "yo, what up, ms. D!"

i think i'll stick around for a while.

aaaaaaaaaand because i can't seem to have a post sans-all-things-charlie, enjoy the following photos of a walk with my pup. (all photos courtesy of j. stotts - one of the greatest photogs i know.)







i also have to show off the little one of the house. please say hello to tasha (kim's pup). and her stylish vest.

reeeee-diculous.

ok, so i know i am probably verging on annoying with how much i reference charlie, the little man-pup of my life...but hey, until i have actual human babies, i will continue to dote on my current child and source of joy.

that being said, i walk charlie everyday in the afternoon. it is starting to get a wee bit frigid, so i am looking to invest in a sweater/hooded sweatshirt for the lil guy.

while looking online tonight, i came across the following...and laughed for a good 2+ minutes...i had to share it with those dear readers out there who do not spend their free time searching for canine apparel online.

enjoy. and smile at the ludicrousness of it all.

sweet face.

my roommate, kim, takes the best photos of my pup when i am away. the following are two of my favorites and, like a proud parent, i had to show him off.

finding my song.

i have been engaged in the best email exchange of my life with a friend from yore. we had lost touch for quite some time and became reunited via one of those ever-popular social networking sites. and somehow, although completely divinely appointed, we've been laying out the big questions of our lives to each other, focusing on the scripture we've been camping in over the past few weeks, and stringing together thoughts that seem to ramble into the depths...but ramblings that also needed to be produced and pondered over.

it's been grand.

one God-sized idea we've been stumbling through: the idea of coming to the end of ourselves...and to the beginning of Him...and how the feeling of unraveling is really a call to Him...and how it is terrifying...and beautiful.

it's been a tough season in my walk with Him. i am not afraid to admit that. in fact, i think i need to admit this truth if i am to truly glean the refining that all of this is bringing to my life. the word that continually comes to mind when i am praying, falling asleep, or walking among the fallen leaves is wait.

of course, i am not sure what exactly i am waiting for...and for once, i am content in this season.

i have finally settled into my job. i feel as though i have a place among the halls of my school. i have found several kindred spirits among the other faculty and i see my purpose. i am learning to walk in it.

i see change all around me...not only in my life, but in the lives of those closest to me. and i find myself praising God for His divine orchestration of each shift.

on that note, i am learning to praise God for what He is doing...not just spending my time with Him asking FOR something...and that distinction has made a profound difference in my frame of reference. i am trying not to see Him as a mere means to an end...something greater than an answer/problem-solver to all of my dilemmas. and while i still may lay my petitions before Him (i.e. healing for my stomach), i am beginning to praise Him FOR the pain. crazy? i don't think so.

"ice breaks many a branch, and so i see a great many persons bowed down and crushed by their afflictions. but now and then i meet one that sings in affliction, and then i thank God for my own sake as well as his." - henry ward beecher

may i be one who sings.