I love my friends and

I like Parks and Rec.

#JustToday #AnneJohns #LindsayBritton #EmilyLarson #KylaHyden #RachelSims #HASHTAGS!!!

Lots of prayer and Scripture and sleep and conversations and walks today. Unsureness sucks. Closure sucks too.

I have the most Awesome God and the best of family and friends and coworkers as I mourn breaking up. Pray that I stop feeling like Adam Sandler in the beginning of the Wedding Singer. Kelly, I'm sure, is picturing me holding an invisible guitar and strumming haphazardly.

It's time.

I can hear the rain. It's melodic and sad. I love it and what it represents.

TGI-Break

Student: So do time zones separate regions?
Me: Not really. We're in the midwest and we have the same time zone as the east coast.
Student: No we don't.
Me: Um, yes. Yes, we do.
Student: No we do not.
Me: Yes. Indiana and New Jersey are in the same time zone.
Student: No they're not.
Me: Yes... they really are.
Student: (Googles answer on phone) Oh okay. You're right.

We're in the last half hour of a service learning project splitting and hauling logs
A dozen male students sit on a porch drinking soda
I continue to haul logs back and forth to the wood pile
Student: Good job, Miss M. You really are the hardest worker.

Roger: Who did your team elect as "The Tallest"?
Students: Miss Mueller.
Roger: Great. The contest is... who has the tallest... thumb.
All contestants make a "thumbs up"
Students: EUGH! Miss Mueller has alien fingers.
Me: Excuse me?
Student: It's okay, though. They're proportional to your body!

celebration in excess

11:30 am -- Surprise Lindsay at Aunt Sue's Tea Room. Laugh and catch up with great Eastside ladies.  She's getting married! We have finger sandwiches!

 3:00 pm -- Bridal party at Melinda's house. Joke and snack with Kayla and co. Elle's getting married! We make date night popsicle sticks!

 7:00 pm -- Thanksgiving dinner with Tuesday small groupers. The Petriceks host. Nobody in this group is getting married! Haha, but we have turkey.

If you knew Nick...

... you'd know this photo is GOLDEN, ponyboy. 

And so ends November 11th. #cleanslate

I will only watch Bond movies with Rachel

I've never seen a James Bond movie, so when I went to the 10:25 PM showing with a group of people, I was not optimistic. Especially because I'd heard it was almost three hours. Especially because I was ready to watch Pitch Perfect AGAIN.

The redemption? Rachel Hannah Sims. We cracked jokes throughout the film and talked about the objectification of women on the car ride home. She is THE best. Also, the movie wasn't half bad.

Favorite moments having to do with movie length:

• I arrive back from the bathroom and Rachel leans over to catch me up, "Don't worry... there are only eight hours left."
• "How has he died 20 minutes into this movie?" "Well, there's the funeral, and the viewing... oh. Except they can't do a viewing..." "Shoot. But isn't a funeral like 2 hours?" "Good point."
• "Oh, you know what? The credits alone are going to be it. They're going to be hours."
• "We know he's going to escape. There's an hour of this movie left."

Favorite moments having to do with the fact that we're girls watching James Bond:

• "Is she dead? No. Yes. Wait. Is she dead?"
• "That man has got to die. He has really, really got to go."
• "So she gets OUT of sex trafficking... and he jumps in the shower with her. She cannot be feeling good about herself." "You know what? He definitely, definitely has STD's now." "Yeah. he has STD's. That black woman has STD's. The women in the next movies will have STD's. James Bond is officially spreading STD's."

I'm a sucker for harmonies TWICE OVER

Noelle took me out on one of the best dates ever. We had perfectly-timed sushi and saw Pitch Perfect and talked over pie.

The movie was SO good! I was expecting to like it, but I loved it. It was both hilarious and touching. Someone please be in an a cappella group with me.

I'm a sucker for harmonies

I absolutely adore this cover. It's raw, beautiful, powerful.

one check, two check.

Box One (Novel)
Sometimes I disagreed with Don Miller... or wasn't sure if I agreed. But as I read the last chapter, I realized that he had won me over. As a writer and as a person. His honesty is charming and thought-provoking. I was both amused, moved, and challenged. 

Blue Like Jazz: check.

Box Two (Conversation)
Kayla: I found a name I liked today.
Bethany: Tell me.
Kayla: Promise not to steal it.
Bethany: Um...
Kayla: It's Yiddish.
Bethany: I'm not gonna lie. If it's Yiddish, I'm probably going to steal it.
Kayla: It's Maven. It means "trusted expert in a particular field, who seeks to pass knowledge on to others."
Bethany: I genuinely like that name. I really do.
Kayla: As soon as she's born, she'll have intelligence spoken into her through her name.
Rachel: You should name her "Professor."
Bethany: "Professor! Good job going on the potty!"
Kayla: You're both awful.

God-sent relief and relationship after a horrifying day at work: check.

Last night, I read the chapter entitled "Romance" in Blue Like Jazz... it... blew my mind.

I wasn't expecting myself to be tossed so violently out of the water (or into the water? am I a fish or a human in this metaphor?) -- but, man, I was a little bit shaken.

more extra than ordinary

Roger and I agreed: weird day at the Crossing. Not bad! Just a little bizarre. Things felt "off:" Roger had to get up early for something, so he was tired. My alarm didn't go off (IT REALLY DIDN'T!), so I was a few minutes late and a little frazzled (no coffee, mind you). Heart check got rain checked. Family time was game time. Tyjon "accidentally" checked me in the face with a dodgeball. Algebra ECA was a struggle; English didn't happen. Weird, weird, weird day!

I tried to meet up with Zach in McConn... instead I ended up chatting with Criz'Vaun, Evan, Adam, and a girl named Victoria for like an hour about college choices, Blue Like Jazz, and favorite colors.

Ran into Ashley and Mary Beth and ate Baldwin with them. They are so much fun: I love hearing Ashley's crazy stories and watching Mary Beth's commentary.

Whenever I catch up with Allison, we laugh and exaggerate and use big words. We will always be two peas in a pod. I ran into her at the library this evening.

Even though I was late for small group, I was not disappointed. God always pours himself over us at the Petricek house. I felt privileged to speak into Obadiah's life and pray for Chelsea. The motif of the night was God's constancy and love. He is so good. Those individuals are so good. I value Tuesday's small group with a passion. I always feel inspired by a Word from God when I am there, which is an amazing gift.

A Monday Sundae

An impromptu game of Hand and Foot (canasta) with Ashley and Mary Beth in McConn made my night ice cream.

An impromptu Google+ Hangout Chat with Spencer, Nick, Kim, Britt, and Christine became the cherry on top.

contentedness is at my fingertips

seeing the eternal

I made a commitment to intentional communication today.

The Harmon ladies began brainstorming "house verse" ideas tonight. I love the depth of each of the girls I live with. If I had to pick words for them as individuals right off of the top of my head, I would choose: intimacy, harmony, healing, and protection.

Loving God and others is what definitively matters. I am profoundly moved by this truth. I feel like I have just had the opportunity to dive into it and I'm now feeling the initial cold shock of wave and water. I look forward to being swept into the current.

November is here

My being is a magnet drawn towards God. As I peel back layers of distraction, I am pulled closer.

I yield to the peeling of layers. Like the scene in the Great Divorce that Kayla described to me. I yield and I am made new. But not just "new." New implies I lose everything I was before. No. Everyday I'm becoming more of who I was made to be. I feel like a child contemplating what I would look at 20: speculative, hopeful, optimistic, curious, eager.