New York

Whenever I get bored with work, or Mike being in school, or cleaning the house, or whatever else occupies my time, I like to plan vacations. I check prices on flights, hotels, cruises, and tourist attractions. Then, I present them to Mike who lovingly reminds me that we've just got to keep on keepin' on until the weekend/Christmas/summer/graduation.

Except, the last time I did this, he just said, "Let's do it. Let's go." So, we're headed to New York City for our anniversary.

And, as luck would have it, we just happen to be going during Restaurant Week wherein fancy schmancy restaurants have 3 course prix fixe menus. I know a few of you who live and die for this sort of thing, so here are the details on the food.

Our first Restaurant Week stop will be dinner at Opia, a restaurant with a "modern French focus." Here are our options:

Opia, NYC

Appetizers:
Creamy Potato & Leek Soup- Chives, Crème Fraiche, White Truffle Oil
Chicken Liver Pate- Caramelized Shallots Chutney, Quince Compote, French Baguette
Escargots with Herbed Gnocchi- Garlic Sausage & Pearl Onions, White Wine & Parsley Beurre
Entrees:
Savory Stuffed Muscovy Duck-French Green Lentils, Honey-Ginger Glazed Baby Carrots
Coq au Vin-Pomme Puree, Winter Baby Root Vegetables
Pan Roasted Wild Striped Bass-Curry Butternut Squash, Broccolini & Morels, Champagne Meyer Lemon Emulsion 
Desserts:
Blueberry Linzer Tart
Walnut Cognac Chocolate Brownie with Coffee ice cream
Apple Cinnamon Strudel with Caramel ice cream

The Palm, NYC

Our second dinner will be at The Palm, a famous steakhouse. There, we will be deciding between:
Appetizers:

Classic Caesar Salad- Garlic Focaccia Croutons and Parmigianino Reggiano
Crispy Calamari Fritti- Point Judith Calamari, Cornmeal Dusted and Tossed with
Lemon and Marinated Peppers
Winter Salad-Arugula, Endive and Radicchio with Red Wine Poached Pears,
Toasted Walnuts and Gorgonzola


Entrees:
Delmonico Steak Au Poivre- Topped with Garlic and Parmesan Shoestring Potatoes
Chicken Parmigiana- Linguine Marinara
Filet Mignon 9 ounce- Crab and Boursin Cheese Sauce over Goat Cheese Whipped Potatoes
Double Cut Lamb Porterhouse Chops- Rosemary Roasted Potatoes and Fresh Mint Sauce
Atlantic Salmon Filet- Maple Ginger Glaze served with Basmati Rice and Snow Peas
Dessert:
New York Style Cheesecake with Raspberry Sauce
Flourless Chocolate Cake with Crème Anglaise, Fresh Berries and Whipped Cream
Key Lime Pie with Blueberry Compote


What would you pick? I'm still trying to decide on dessert at Opia, so feel free to weigh in on that.

Fantastic 50 Reading Challenge

This year, my school is participating in a reading challenge. The challenge, which was started by some of my very smart English teacher friends and is based on concepts from The Book Whisperer, is to read 50 books in a year. It's been a really great experience for all of us.

Professionally speaking, it has helped us to build a culture of reading and I have seen kids really blossom. For example, last year, a 9th grade boy showed me some poetry he wrote because he was reading a poetry book and thought it might be fun to try to do his own. Um... wow, right?

Personally speaking, it's been a great opportunity for me to stretch myself as a reader because part of the challenge is to include a variety of genres, I've discovered books that I probably wouldn't have tried before. It's pretty cool actually, to figure out where your preferences lie and then purposefully try something new. Anyway, this is getting really long. If you're curious about more details like the genre breakdown, you can check out my friend Daniel's prezi or email me. (I'd link to my prezi, but it's not that great.)

Our time frame, of course, is from the end of last school year to the end of this school year. I've had 4 students finish already, and 2 have even done 100 books. My progress isn't quite so impressive, but I am a little bit ahead of schedule, and I've exceeded my personal goal of reading 50 books in 2011. Here are some of my favorites from the year.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society- This book is simply charming. It's a historical fiction book that follows the correspondence of an author with the citizens of Guernsey just after WWII. The history and characters are interesting and unique.

The Wednesday Wars- This is another historical fiction, but this one is set in the 60s. The book is about a boy named Holling who has to spend Wednesday afternoons with the English teacher that "hates" him while everyone else has religious education. The teacher, who is actually awesome, has Holling study the works of Shakespeare (which he believes at first to be a form of torture). What I really loved about this book was how the other events each echo the action of a work of Shakespeare. That, and it's hilarious.

Beyonders: A World Without Heroes- I think I'll write a whole post about this book and meeting the author (Brandon Mull). This book was incredible. I'll admit, I didn't like the beginning at all, but about 40 pages in, things get good. The story is about a boy named Jason who is transported to another world, a world which is ruled by the evil wizard Maldor. The really cool thing about this book is the concept of a world without heroes. It isn't that Maldor is going around killing all of the heroes, it's that the heroes get sidetracked and corrupted. He breaks heroes by giving them power, wealth, and anything else they want which makes them abandon their purpose. And, that's what Jason (and the awesome Blind Prince) has to face. So good!

Reality is Broken: Why Games Make Us Happy and How They Can Change the World- Mike was so excited when he brought this home to me; he really, really wanted me to read it with him. It was too cute to ignore, so I did. There are two aspects to this book. Firstly, games (board, dice, word, video, whatever) have value in our lives; this book is specifically about the value of video games, and it makes some convincing arguments. Some incredible games have been designed that can make real world contributions: they can help map proteins in hopes of finding a cure for cancer; they can also allow citizens (of England) to check the expenditures of the members of parliament and alert authorities to suspicious spending. It's awesome. Secondly, I was able to pull a lot of concepts from this book to use in my classroom because it's all about motivation. It's definitely a good read for teachers.

The Help- If you haven't read this yet, you should. This book is about a very small corner of the Civil Rights movement and how it affects the lives of several women. It's engrossing and touching. I also really enjoyed the movie.

The Poisonwood Bible- Mike brings so many good things into my life, and this is one of them. This book is elegant and insightful in a lot of ways. The story follows a Christian missionary and his family to the Congo; the narration switches between the missionary's wife and four daughters and describes their experience living in the African jungle and learning to live and work with the Africans. If you really want the full experience with this book you should read Things Fall Apart first. Together, they give you an incredible picture of the time period and clash of cultures.

Yay reading!

Still Alive, Which is Pretty Impressive

Hey guys. I'm writing this post with great anticipation. I am sincerely excited for 2011 to come to an end. It's been kind of the worst.

2012 is looking like it has some potential, though. Here are some things that seem to indicate that it will be a significant improvement upon the current year:

• Mike and I seem to have finally figured out a more or less bearable schedule wherein we will get to spend some actual real time together on a regular basis.
• As a result of us spending real time together regularly, we might even start spending time with other people on occasion. Social life! We're back!
• I get to have my same class schedule in the upcoming school year. Yay!
• We're going to New York City in January! The joy from that will probably hold me over for quite some time.
• I have promised myself to quit working on school things at home (except for essays).
• I am going to have hobbies. Hobbies, people. Probably ones most people think are lame, but hobbies, nonetheless.
• We will both be turning 25, which seems like a cool age.

So, life is looking up. Maybe I'll even post on my blog more that 10 times a year... We'll see.

Best Parts

Here are my very favorite things about teaching.

• Talking about reading and writing all the time.
• Being consulted by boys about their plans for the big dances. It's cute how much it means to them to impress their dates.
• Getting little thank you notes in journals and emails and Digimon cards and yearbook pages.
• Having opportunities to help people every single day.
• Seeing the smiles on the faces of kids who have been struggling but who finally get it.
• Doing service projects with my National Honors Society kids.
• Hearing about how students apply what I teach them (semi-colons in text messages, research papers about family vacation destinations that win them parental pride and money for the trip, etc.).
  
• Going to pep rallies and assemblies.
• Seeing someone I recommended a book to read it and love it as much as I did.
  
• Working with other English teachers; they are kindred spirits.
• Watching my seniors walk at graduation.
  
• Knowing that, if I do it right, I can make a difference in the world.

Sometimes it's hard. But mostly it's great. I love what I do, and I'm glad that I get to do it.

My Nerdy Friends Will Be So Jealous

You guys! I'm breaking my incredibly long streak of not posting anything at all to tell you something awesome!

There is this book club in my district cleverly disguised as a professional development workshop. It's such a ruse though. I mean, how can this be work? Here's the deal. I pay $65. I get 7 YA books to keep. I get to go to once a month meetings to talk about books and eat treats with smart teachers, including at least two of my teacher friends from school. I get some college credit. And, the real kicker for me, the authors of the books we read will be at the meeting for their book!

Want to know who I'm going to get to meet and have literary discussions with? Here's our book/author list.

September- Paranormalcy by Kiersten White
October- The Kiss of a Stranger by Sarah Eden
November- Possession by Elana Johnson
December- Beyonders by Brandon Mull
January- Mark of Royalty by Jennifer Clark
February- Candy Bomber by Mike Tunnell
March- Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

I'm really, really excited. I haven't read any of these books yet, and I'm pretty much the nerdiest when it comes to meeting authors.

Actually, that's a good story... The first time I met a real life author, it was Dean Hughes. I got paid an "allowance" in books (which was totally awesome of my mom to do, I think) when I was a teenager, and his Children of the Promise books were the ones I remember being the most excited about. He was a guest speaker in my very first English major class, and it was so neat to meet him, but I was way nervous about it. I guess I was worried that he'd be mean or egotistical and my ideals would be ruined. But, then he was just super nice and smart so all was well. I've met a few more authors since then, but it's still way exciting to me.

Animal Rescue

One of the many side jobs I have as a teacher is being the advisor for my school's chapter of the National Honor Society. It's a service organization for students who excel in academics and leadership. So, basically, they're the best kids ever, and it's a lot of fun and very uplifting.

Last week, we had the chance to help out at a local animal rescue center. I was surprised to find out that they had a lot more than just dogs and cats. They also had horses, chickens, pigs, goats (regular and pygmy), emus, geese, ducks, and even a couple of yaks! Here's a picture of an emu for you, I think it's Clyde. I'd have a picture of the yak too, but when we stood by the fence to look at it, it false charged us and scared me to death.We fed the animals first thing, and, dang, they eat well! A lot of local businesses donate produce and bread for them. After they had eaten, and the owners of the facility had relocated Andy the head-butting goat, we split up into groups and cleaned stalls.

Mike and I mostly helped to clean out the pygmy goat stall, and then the sheep stall. I was okay with this, because I love pygmy goats. They're kind of adorable. I mean, look at this:
Also, it turns out Mike is the small-livestock-whisperer. All the goats and sheep wanted him to pet them.After the hard manual labor was done, we took a couple of giant dogs for a walk. Mike got to walk a huge, gorgeous Siberian husky, and a walked a black dog that could have passed for a black bear.

By the end, we were sunburned, exhausted, and very happy. It's really fulfilling to work hard alongside of a very cute (and strong!) husband and some very impressive and talented kids. Our next big activity is a tour of the food bank and helping out a little bit there. I'm pretty excited for it.

Why We Crave Drama

Something that is interesting about people is the seemingly inherent need for drama. Even if you don't think you want it, there seems to be something that pulls you into a juicy story or a venting rage. Or is that just me?

I've been thinking about this a lot lately, and I think I've put my finger on it. To explain, I first need to present a detailed analogy.

One Christmas, my cousin gave my little brother an old west style fort made out of wooden blocks. That fort, simple as it was, substantially changed our play time. We invented the most time consuming and intense game yet. The premise was simple: you have spring, summer, and fall to plan, grow, build, and trade. Then, winter comes, and the fortmaster would determine whether or not you survived the winter.

Our neighbors, 5 siblings close in age to us and each other, my brother, my sister, and I were the contestants. We each had a plot of bedroom carpet staked out. And then, we'd have a free for all to vie for starting capital. The toy box was opened and you grabbed like mad for my brother's farm animals, cowboys, marbles, socks, anything that could possibly be helpful, until time was up. That's when trading began.

Of course, we were kind of cutthroats, but we were also endlessly creative. We were almost manic in the way we gathered, traded, and prepared for an imaginary winter and it's dangers. Of course, there was little real danger except for the danger of the fortmaster's declaring a disappointing, or embarrassing fate. We loved that too; creativity in explaining that you didn't have enough blankets or firewood, so you had to cut open a cow and sleep in it for the last 2 weeks of winter (we obviously, had just recently watched Star Wars: Empire Strikes Back), was crucial to making the game fun. It was invigorating to have the sensation of fighting something huge and dangerous, and, yet, being completely safe.

I think that the gossip and drama of life can be the same way. We create a temporary enemy, a person who has upset us or done something we dislike. This feeling of conflict brings an adrenaline rush because we are choosing to fight, even if our enemy is not present (they usually aren't). And yet, there is seldom any real danger. We can criticize, theorize, and even demonize a person or group of people in the safety of like-minded people with very little chance of anything happening. Essentially, participating in gossip and negativity is giving us a rush of adrenaline without any risk.

I assume, like most chemical induced responses, this can be addictive. I guess that's why it's so easy to slip into the cycle of negativity. Hopefully this isn't coming off as self-righteous or preachy, it's just that I've been trying to eliminate some of the negativity in my life, but it's turned out to be hard. It's really hard. And I think thinking about it this way has given me a little bit more objective way of looking at these situations as they come up. Hopefully that will help me to try to deal with things in a positive way instead of wallowing in negativity because my brain loves the chemical hit is gets when I fight an imaginary battle.