Heat Waves, Sheldon Cooper, and the Ocean

I think I have reached the point where I have finally begun to separate the essential from the non-essential, and let go of all the things that have been seriously weighing me down. No joke, it feels amazing. I don't think I've felt this happy since high school.

Forging a path is scary. Really scary.

But...

If you can manage to let go of the advice that everyone else spews at you, especially those who have no actual experience with the subject matter they are advising you on, then you can live free. If you follow your heart and cast other people's opinions aside, you can eventually hear your heart. And you'll hear it everywhere. And I do mean EVERYWHERE. It's crazy. It really is as stated in The Alchemist: the whole universe conspires to help you achieve what you are meant to achieve. I think I can actually hear my heart again.

I've never felt so content. 

Forging a path and being okay with it is entirely liberating.

Transcendental Puppies

So, you leave a dog at home alone and the dog freaks out. Separation anxiety, they say. But, if you exercise your dog, a lot of the bad puppy behaviors tend to dissipate.

Well, helllooooo genius.

Law of syllogism: dogs need to be exercised. dogs are animals. people are animals.... Figure out the rest.

Did you know that Thoreau was an avid walker?

Perhaps if we started exercising more, we'd have less anxiety, less stress, and more perspective of the important things in life. Cast away your cell phones. Get off your couches. Get outside. Watching someone else's life on TV does not constitute living. Go for a walk. Find your purpose.

Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars: Our Winner: Cinnamon Snail

Today was day 1 of the Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars at Monmouth Racetrack. We battled wind, rain, and sub-par Memorial Day Weekend temperatures. But, we had a blast.

Cheese curds from The Cow and the Curd were amazing. Seriously delicious, with an impressive Youtube video explaining what cheese curds are. Definitely recommend!

Had a lobster empanada from Empanada Guy which may sound gross, but actually had a lot of lobster meat and was quite delicious!

Had the pork and chicken dumplings from Rickshaw Dumplings. Enjoyed the chicken and Thai basil with the spicy peanut sate dipping sauce more than the pork and Chinese chive with the soy sesame dip. Not greasy, which impressed me the most.

Had some $2.50 Yuenglings.

But, at the end of the day, we stopped at the vegan organic truck: Cinnamon Snail which apparently has its Sunday home only 2 towns over (THANK GOD!) in Red Bank, NJ. When it's not in Red Bank, it meanders its way around NYC, my hometown. Now, I am not a vegan, but, I am a lover of delicious food. I ordered a salted caramel coffee with soy milk that was delectable. My first response was, "I want this coffee in my house every morning for the rest of my life." Yes, that good.

And it was put in a compostable cup with a compostable lid. Love it.

Then, I had the raw chocolate pudding made with cacao and cashews and sweetened with agave syrup. Seriously tastes like chocolate ganache. Extremely rich.



Then, because everything was blowing away, the very kind people running the truck were forced to pack up early. Wind kept blowing their food truck window, and apparently wrecked their awning, so they had to close early. But, they did serve out of the back of their truck for a little while, and we were lucky enough to place an order before they closed down shop completely. They offered us free donuts, which was so magnanimous. Yes, I needed that big of a word to explain their kindness. I expected that my friend Laura and I would get a donut each, but instead, they gave us an entire box! An entire box of the most delicious donuts I have ever had, Vegan or not. I'm usually not much of a donut eater, but they may have converted me. The fact that these fluffy circles of joy were made without butter, cow milk, or eggs flabbergasts me. They were so light, so tasty, and... well, you MUST go to Red Bank on Sundays or stalk this truck via their facebook page Cinnamon Snail Facebook and buy one! (or two, or three, or a dozen!). The berry icing was tangy, which perfectly complimented the light dough. The chocolate filled was rich and creamy, but not overbearing. My friend Ursula, who picked the coconut donut, loved it so much we all felt it would be wrong to ask her for a bite! Even her husband Kevin, who normally wouldn't eat anything that doesn't involve meat, bolstered up the courage to try one (mostly because our eyes were bugging out and we all stopped talking because we were in some elevated state of taste bud heaven) and devoured his glazed cinnamon donut in about three bits. Thank you Cinnamon Snail! So kind of you to share with us! So now we're sharing them with all our friends and family. Go to the Cinnamon Snail! You won't regret it. I cannot wait to go back and try their sandwiches. I see updates in my future...

Plus, according to their website, they provided free meals to the victims of Hurricane Sandy (as many our our fine restaurants down here at the Jersey Shore did.) Pay it forward people, everyone could use some good karma.

*I tried to take a better picture of the donuts, but when I went to the box, I discovered there were only two and a half left... Seriously amazing.

In Preparation for Memorial Day Weekend... What to Do This Weekend in Monmouth County!

May 25: Spring Lake Irish Festival, Spring Lake, NJ

May 25: Spring Lake 5. Runner’s World ranks this as one of the top 100 races in the country. The largest 5 Miler in the country. True kick off to summer! Spring Lake, NJ: http://www.springlake5.org/

May 25-26: Spring Lake Sidewalk Sale, 3rd Avenue: Spring Lake, NJ

May 25-26: Jersey Shore Food Truck Wars at Monmouth Park. 11:30-5:00 $3 Oceanport, NJ: “Over 30 Food Trucks from NJ, NY, and Philly to tingle your taste buds!” http://jerseyshorefoodtruckwars.com/

May 25: Bradley Beach Memorial Day Parade: 10AM: Bradley Beach, NJ

May 25-26: Bradley Beach Arts and Crafts Festival: 11 AM, Boardwalk: Bradley Beach, NJ

May 26: Fireworks at Dusk: Asbury Park, NJ

May 27: Atlantic Highlands Memorial Day Parade, Starts at Municipal Harbor Simon Lake Drive: Atlantic Highlands, NJ

May 27: Freehold Memorial Day Parade, Main Street, Freehold Starting at Brinkerhoff Avenue: Freehold, NJ

May 31-June 2: Riverfest! Three days of sun, sunsets and evening stars with the best Red Bank area restaurants. Non-stop music and family fun. Marine Park: Red Bank, NJ http://www.redbankriverfest.org/

In Preparation for the Spring Lake 5

This weekend, MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND! (Heck yes!) Brad and I are scheduled (American pronunciation, please) to run the Spring Lake 5, one of Runner's World's top 100 races in the country, and the largest 5 miler in the country.

Last time I ran a marathon, I messed up my knee so badly that I couldn't run for months.

This time, when I ran the marathon, my knee tweaked out on me, so I started walking, and proceeded to walk for the last 5 miles. So, of course, I was afraid that I'd done it again.

Due to this, I have stayed away from all physical activity and instead have consumed pizza, burritos, and subs. Obviously.

To see if a 5 miler was even possible, I decided to take a test run today. At first, I was going to run a mile. But it felt good. So I said to myself, ok, let's go for two. And I did. So I threw a third in there because I'm pretty convinced anything under 3 is just wussy at this point.

Low and behold, my knees felt fine. Knocking on my dining room table.

I figured to run more than that was to risk injury and be greedy. Plus, it's pretty hot and humid and I'm not used to running in this type of weather. Finally, I had my golden retriever with me, and I have decided that golden retrievers should never run 3 miles in hot and humid temperatures. Sorry Shea! (As she lays panting on the floor...)

Days like this I wish I had a swimming pool.

Also, I hope my knee holds up. So far, okay. So I'll toe the line at the Spring Lake 5. Mostly because I have a thing for free sub sandwiches and weird "athletic" drinks. Love the #swag.

Transcendental Blasphemy

What would the transcendentalists say about people being allergic to nature?

Huckleberrying is not on Marzano's Checklist, and Other English Teacher Musings on Thoreau

I really am going to write a book about education one of these days. But in the meantime, you, my magnanimous reader, will just have to be subjected to my brief musings on literature, curriculum, and multiple guess exams.

I never learned about Thoreau when I was in school besides the quick one line definition: Thoreau was a transcendentalist. Then, my textbook defined transcendentalist and moved on. Alas, in my final year as an educator, I came across this play, written as a protest piece during the Vietnam War era. I love Vietnam War history. I took an entire semester-long course in it in college, complete with a professor who did a really bad, but mildly addicting Lyndon B. Johnson accent. So, obviously my interest was piqued. But with ALLLLLLL of the texts I had to re-read (and read!) this year, I didn't have time for a play that wasn't even really on the curriculum. But, when I covered Romanticism, Regionalism, and other -isms in literature, I postponed Transcendentalism. I'm not sure why. I figured I would get to it at the end of the school year. Maybe it's the mere length of the word that intimidated me. I'm not sure. But, regardless, here I am towards the end of the school year, and I find myself holding this short play. And now I find the need to comment on it. So, here are some musings...

My high school didn't give me this play most likely because they couldn't trust us with it. I can't imagine who the brave English teacher would be who would try. Thanks, Stuyvesant!

If my name is Jamie Leigh, and I feel as though my middle name is not getting enough limelight, can I call myself Leigh Jamie?

"If the law is of such a nature that it requires you to be an agent of in justice to another, then I say, break the law."~Thoreau. Would this stand up in a court of law if I used it as an excuse as to why I didn't follow the curriculum? Technically, this play is on the honors' curriculum. So, am I teaching rebellion? Am I giving students another "excuse" to use? What is really going wrong?

Why can't the alphabet start with Z? Or even Q for that matter? J?

Ulysses S. Grant says, "only I had not the moral courage to resign" in reference to the war waged by the U.S. on Mexico in the 1800s. What would you do if you had the moral courage? Stanley Milgram experiment: would we shock the world? Would you be an electrocuter or the change you want to see in the world? Why do we, as a society, bow down so low to authority to protect something that we don't even really believe in in the first place? (I.E. a job?) Could we live jobless? We can't answer that unless we have tried.

College, in a dialogue nutshell:

"Welcome home. How's your overstuffed brain?"
"I've forgotten everything already."
"At least you've got a diploma."

Emerson gets described as the same way Hesse describes Siddhartha. There's got to be something to that.

Teaching, in Thoreau summation:

Huckleberrying is not on Marzano's checklist.

"Class. You've heard the Deacon. We shall stick to the approved books. Your eyes must not wander from the page--to look at a leaf, or an unauthorized butterfly. You must not listen to a cricket or smell a flower that has not been approved by the School Committee. You'd better close both ears and hold your nose--though you may have to grow an extra hand to do it."

"What you believe is irrelevant. Your opinion, as a teacher, has not been asked for."

"Obedience. An essential quality in subordinates, whether they are pupils in a classroom or soldiers on a battlefield." (Or teachers in a school... always consequences)
"They are not training to be soldiers. Not my students."
"These young people are not YOURS. They have been sent to you by the tax-paying citizens of Concord, who expect you to abide by the rules laid down by the school administrators. Perform your duty, Schoolmaster Thoreau, if you expect to retain your post in the community." (How Machiavellian, and how true!)

"I shall never teach again."

And they wonder why history is a required class...

Ribs

A few days ago I zombie-walked into the A&P. My legs weren't working, (thank you, NJ Marathon!) and shoulders were tight. So I kind of lunge-dragged my way, propping myself up with my cart. With that image in your mind, you can imagine that the aisles I chose were quickly emptied, which made it slightly easier. But, in the meat section, I found a huge pack of spare ribs on special for $5. Skeptical? Absolutely. Hungry? Yes m'am. So, I grabbed em, checked out, and went home to figure out how to cook these bad boys.

This is what I made:



Delicious. My goodness were they delicious. And relatively easy, though you need a LOT of time. I originally wanted to smoke 'em, but the temperature outside was too chilly, which means I would have had to go outside often and add more coals, and my legs didn't like that idea. I needed more couch-friendly cooking. So I went with the oven.

Recipe for the Rub:
1/4 cup brown sugar
3 tbsp sea salt
1 tbsp paprika
1 tbsp chili powder
1 tsp pepper

Cover the ribs in rub and then wrap in tin foil. Let the flavors marry for an hour. Preheat oven to 325.

Bake ribs for 3 hours, while wrapped in tin foil. After 3 hours, take them out and let them sit for 30-40 minutes until they are cool enough to touch. Then brush your favorite BBQ sauce on them and preheat the oven to 500. Yes, 500.

I'm a sucker for anything that claims to be squeezable and gourmet on the same label and is on sale.



I actually really like this BBQ sauce when I'm in a pinch and don't feel like making my own sauce. Which I didn't because standing up hurt.

Throw the ribs back in for 10 minutes on a fresh piece of tin foil (don't wrap them this time). Flip if you like a good bark.

Voila! Perfection. And yes, I watch way too much BBQ Pitmasters.

NJ Marathon: Truly Experiencing A New Life

Today, as Laura reminded me, I feel like Barney Stinson after the NY Marathon. AKA standing up without falling is my personal version of success.

Yesterday, Brad and I ran the NJ Marathon. Our second marathon. And thus, I have completed a marathon in two decades: Charleston for my 20s, and NJ for my 30s. That gives me a good ten years to recover, which I think I may need.

Between Laura and I, (mostly Laura!) we raised $1,570 for the American Red Cross in honor of Restore the Shore! Thank you to all who donated. :-D I definitely thought about your generosity during the race, and it definitely kept me going.



This has been a whirlwind of a year for Brad and I, and it all culminated with a hands-clasped-and-raised-above-our-heads jog across the finish line in Long Branch, NJ, 4 hours and forty-seven minutes after we started this epic journey. And, metaphorically (of course), this marathon kind of represents our last year.

Oceanport Stage: The beginning of the marathon--> Brad and I get engaged in Ireland. We are thrilled, happy, and running freely.

Monmouth Beach Stage: All these amazing quotes are lined up through the streets of Monmouth Beach. Inspirational and humorous. I would compare this to our home search... finding a house, losing the house, not giving up, and then eventually getting the house.

Long Branch Stage Part 1: Represents Sandy. We ran through some pretty run-down areas of Long Branch, which represents the low point after the Hurricane where thousands lost their homes and we had to cancel our wedding.

Deal: Literally. Dealing with it.

Allehnhurst/Asbury: Starting to get tired, pissed off, and sick of winter, not happy about rescheduling the wedding, work begins to give me panic attacks, an ultimate low point.

Ocean Grove: Everything is sunny, I start to feel better. These are the miles of the marathon I like best (around 20) because this is where people become real. The real cheering starts, and humanity wins out.

Asbury/Allenhurst Part 2: The wind. Reminds me of all those cold winter nights running into ridiculous wind trying to train for this crazy marathon.

Deal: Knee begins to hurt. I have to make a decision. Try to be heroic and carry on, or stop-being-an-idiot (because you're obviously not going to win this race). After the Charleston Marathon, I couldn't run for months because my knee hurt so badly. So I decided to walk the last five miles. I felt wussy, but I know it's better for me in the long run. And even with walking 5 miles, we finished in 4:47, which I'm pretty thrilled about. Not exactly a Marathon PR, but under 5 with a LOT of walking. We were on 4:10 pace for pretty much the first 20 miles, so we were walking rather briskly to make it under 5 hours. This is the stage of life where I needed to make a decision. Teach next year, or try something new? What am I doing with my life? 30 year crisis style. And just like I made the right decision in the marathon, I think I am making the right decision to retire from education.

Long Branch: Home Stretch! The end! Finished! Retiring from marathoning, retiring from education, Brad and I got married and we're ready to start a new chapter in our lives.

Overall, I'm so glad we did this. And HUGE congratulations to Jenny, Laura, and Mary for finishing their first marathon! And a MAJOR thank you to Eileen, Matt, Beebe, The Freemans, and Ursula for cheering us on along the way. The signs were amazing, and you all truly did help me to keep moving forward. Your energy and enthusiasm put a huge smile on my face, and I cannot tell you how grateful I truly am. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Gu Every 2!

Earned it:



And afterwards, I celebrated with this bad boy from Luigi's. Luigi's is my favorite pizza place down the shore, located in Little Silver. Known for their rectangular large pies, this Godfather sandwich (prosciutto, mozzarella, peppers, and basil) sandwich was a homerun. I highly recommend them if you're in the mood for normal, Friday-night-take-out pizza!



What a beautiful journey life is.

English Teacher Musings: High Stakes Testing, Fear, Ponyboy, and The Path

As a Masters-educated English teacher, I am supposed to espouse the beauty of literature. The deep and thoughtful reasons why Daisy Buchanan has a thing for noses in The Great Gatsby. But, understanding why she mentions blue noses and polish-sniffing noses is not going to change my life. Or at least, it hasn't yet. But there is a novel that has provided me with invaluable advice, and I'm the first to admit that, yes, it's a novel written by a man, just a man. Yet, I wish the words to be true so badly that I'll overlook that human element.

Fear, in my opinion, is the number one worst human emotion, followed closely by nostalgia. Fear makes us stay where we are comfortable. It tells us that change is comparable to the Big Bad Wolf--leaving something you know will only get you slaughtered. The grass may be greener on the other side of the fence, and we may yearn for it, but we wouldn't dare hop it in reality.

Silly things, like going to a movie by yourself, can cause stomach cramps in the best of us. High stakes testing make elementary students across America panicked. We put so many expectations on ourselves: so much pressure. Be the best. Do the best. If you have a job that society says is good, well, by all means, keep it!

No. This is wrong. Where did this mentality come from, exactly? I mean, I could give you a not-so-brief history of the industrial revolution, cities-->industry-->capitalism-->unions-->minimum wage-->Old Money vs. New Money-->American Dream-->end of small businesses, rise of Walmarts-->strip malls and any-where-USA-->now, but in reality, we just perpetuate it. We drive it in to our kids. One track, one path: work hard and don't screw it up. College For Every Student. I could now spend an entire Ulysses-sized novel going over the perils in America's public education system, but I'll exhibit some self-control here.

But, what if we're wrong? I mean, really, really wrong? I've been thinking a lot about life lately. Call it a 30 year crisis. But, I've always had this nagging feeling that I'm doing some of life wrong. Take my ridiculous dream to move to Montana or Wyoming or Alaska. I mean, I'm a city girl. What on earth would I do without quick access to Indian food, neighbors that I can call from out my window, and concrete? Why do I seek some frontier far away from "civilization" (however you choose to define civilization)?

So, as I often have been doing lately, I've turned to reading. A whole slew of nonfiction type stuff. And most of it is actually re-reading books that have stuck out to me in the past: Dalai Lama, and the Path to Happiness, The Happiness Project, George Sheehan's Running and Being, Dean Karnazes' UltraMarathon Man, Scott Jurek's Eat and Run, John Muir's Alaska Days, etc. etc.

And I've noticed that even though they are all texts from different walks in life, they all hold one universal truth, stated most clearly in The Alchemist:

“And, when you want something, all the universe conspires in helping you to achieve it.”

Well then. What do I want? What is the new American dream? What is my dream?

Tomorrow I am running my second marathon: the NJ Marathon. Emil Zatopek is quoted as saying, "If you want to run, run a mile. If you want to experience a different life, run a marathon." I do want to experience a different life. I want to look fear in the face and conquer it. What I think I really yearn for is something more simple. Life has gotten too complex. A simple job is really fifty jobs rolled into one that leave you so exhausted you don't even have time to realize how tired you actually are. How much of life you're missing out on. We're becoming television zombies, tuning in to nothingness reality television (I'm looking at you Myrtle Manor, 16 and Pregnant, Duck Dynasty (which I love, I mean, c'mon, who doesn't want Jace, Jep, Si, Willie, Phil and Mrs. K at their dinner table???), etc. etc. etc.) in order to "relax." We're too tired to exercise, too tired to make sure our kids do their homework, and too tired to watch the birds eat from the bird feeder that we set up in our backyards to keep up with the Jones'. It's time to slow down. Make friends. Smile at people. Chat without looking at your iphone. Listen. Taste. Live.

Enough! As Coelho writes: “There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.”

No more fear. I know, we say "Make time for this, make time for that" and we are only human. We cannot make time. But we can live our dreams. Even if it's scary and we must chart unfamiliar territory. I mean, the explorers that I learned about 50 million times in my schooling did it. The documentary "Happy" states that we are happiest when we're trying something new. Being caught in a routine is what makes us sad, miserable humans. Coelho: “The secret of life, though, is to fall seven times and to get up eight times.” Like a cat. Furthermore, “When each day is the same as the next, it’s because people fail to recognize the good things that happen in their lives every day that the sun rises.”

And remember, “Everyone seems to have a clear idea of how other people should lead their lives, but none about his or her own” (Coelho). People are going to try to stop you. Mostly, in my humble pie opinion, because they are jealous. Because not-s-secretly, we all want to live our dream. And we are crazy-jealous of those who do. As the author of The Happiness Project, Gretchen Rubin notes, it is imperative to know what YOU want, vs. what others want. Maybe other people truly enjoy watching movies. Personally, I don't. But I've been taught that "going to the movies" is a fun date. But if I don't like it, it's not very fun, now is it? And on the flip side, perhaps we shouldn't push our fun onto others. Just a thought...

So some inspirational words of wisdom from The Alchemist

“Don't give in to your fears. If you do, you won't be able to talk to your heart.”

“Tell your heart that the fear of suffering is worse than the suffering itself. And that no heart has ever suffered when it goes in search of its dreams, because every second of the search is a second's encounter with God and with eternity.”

“Remember that wherever your heart is, there you will find your treasure.”

“The simple things are also the most extraordinary things, and only the wise can see them.”

“People are capable, at any time in their lives, of doing what they dream of.”

“I don’t live in either my past or my future. I’m interested only in the present. If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living now.”

“When we strive to become better than we are, everything around us becomes better, too.”

“To realize one's destiny is a person's only obligation.”

Stay Golden, Ponyboy.