Oh, the Places YOU'LL Go!

I love this video!  I hope you do too.  Enjoy!

Oh, the Places You'll Go at the Burning Man Festival

Love Life: Summer Peach Edition

Everyday, I realize how lucky I am to have summers off to learn new things, read, relax, volunteer my time, and do things that are unique and fun.

Here are some things that I have tried recently:

Meditation

Hiking alone (and with friends)

Road trips

Making underwear out of old t-shirts ( I might switch to pillow making).

Applying for graduate school.

Going on a hot air balloon ride.

Planning a camping/white-water rafting trip.

Making peach crumble. Oh, you want the recipe? No problem. You will love life too when you try this one! Enjoy!

4 cups slices peaches

1 cup rolled oats

1 cup granola

1/2 tsp. salt

2 tablespoons lemon zest

1 tsp ground cinnamon

1/2 tsp nutmeg

1/2 cup Brown Rice Syrup

1/3 cup Coconut Oil (YUM!!!!)

3 TBSP water

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line a baking pan with the sliced peaces (you can also add berries to this). In a separate mixing bowl, add all other ingredients and mix until everything is combined well. Spoon the mixture evenly on top of the peaches and bake for 30 minutes. While the 30 minutes is slowly ticking by, make sure to walk outside the house to clear your nostrils and then walk back inside to enjoy the sweet smell of loving life.

I realize that not everyone has the opportunity for long summer vacation time, but its important that you find and do things that make you happy. What are the small blessings in your life?

Muah!

Still thankful...

I look back at my last post entitled "Thankful No Matter What". I was commenting on the fact that I had poison ivy and had missed some school, and that even with that going on, I was still thankful. At the time of writing that, I was really itchy and annoyed and just wanted to be at school with my students. Looking back now, I think to myself, what was there to not be thankful for? Poison ivy seems MINUSCULE compared to what my family is facing now. A dear friend lent me the book "Zen Wrapped in Karma, Dipped in Chocolate" written by Brad Warner, a fellow Akronite and Zen Master. This book is really helping me cope with all of the hurdles in my life right now and helping me to see clearly through the struggles that we are faced with (he also makes me laugh on practically every single page). In the first chapter he says that "There is something very profound, perhaps we can even say holy, in every human being. We all have access to this something every moment of every day, but most of us will live our entire lives without even suspecting that it even exists". Isn't that empowering? Don't you want to delve within and find that inner holiness that you have? I know I do. Its also a good reminder that no matter how bad someone is, there is something uniquely wonderful about them. I am seeing these "holy" characteristics in my family on a daily basis. My mom and dad are a nonstop never ending supply of energy, support, and advocacy. My sister is the single most positive and graceful healer that I have ever witnessed in my life. She shows me on a DAILY BASIS what it means to be brave...seriously, shes incredible.

So, as I continued to read the book today, the author delved into the concept of death and the Zen Buddhist explanation. He explains that they do not believe in the whole heaven/hell philosophy nor do they believe in reincarnation. He used an amazing analogy to describe life and death as a Zen Buddhist. Here goes: "Our lives are like bubbles on the surface of a river. When those bubbles pop, their existence as that bubble is over once and for all, yet they were really just expressions of the river, and the river still flows." Now...death is a scary and unwelcome concept for me. I try to think about it as infrequently as possible, but this explanation is very peaceful to me. It helps ease the anxiety that comes with the thought of death. All religions attempt to come up with an explanation for death that will reassure their followers, and I must say that this is one of the first descriptions of death that actually comforts me.

The final thing that I read about tonight was pertaining to disappointment. I read this part of the book and decided that it was time to leave the coffee shop and head home because if I read anymore then I would start forgetting the valuable things that I had read. Its time to digest. What he said about disappointment is that "Zen practice can help you deal with disappointment by showing you that all of life is characterized by disappointment. Nothing ever lives up to your expectations, no matter what your expectations are. This doesn't mean that you are never disappointed. But you know that disappointment is just the action of your brain readjusting itself to reality after discovering that things are not the way that you thought they were. The best course of action when encountering disappointment is to know you now understand the situation better than you did before when all you had to go on was your thoughts. There is no sense wallowing in sadness that you were mistaken. You are fortunate, in fact, that you're now better equipped to move forward realistically."

This journey that I am on with my family is one that is bound to be filled with ups and downs. The ups are AMAZING and the downs need to be treated just like these Buddhists handle disapointment. It is what it is...we need to readjust our lense and work with what we've got. Negativity is not an option for us right now. My mom told me once that "an expectation is a pre-meditated resentment". When you set yourself up for one thing to occur and it doesn't, you have a choice...readjust your expectations for your reality or be resentful. I think you know what the better choice is!

I love you all and your support is healing for both me and my family. I love you and I LOVE THIS LIFE!

Thankful no matter what...

I am covered in poison ivy and I haven't been to school in almost two weeks. I miss my students like CRAZY! But guess what, I still love my life.

The Big Chill

Any winter blues that I may have had were just wiped away by listening to my ALL TIME FAVORITE album in the WHOLE WORLD...The Big Chill Soundtrack. It doesn't get any better than this. I'll never forget walking to King Elementary School with my beloved Darah, Sarah Rogers, and Madeline Rogers with my dad driving our '78 Volkswagen Beetle 2 miles/hour right next to us, blasting this album and serenading us as his brown eyed girls. We were humiliated, of course, at the time but it has transformed into one of the best memories that we all have together. I love this life!

I love my job.

What could be better than loving what you have to do for 8-13 hours per day anyways? I think that it is so sad when people hate their jobs, dread going to work, bored all day, no warm fuzzy feeling about all of the people that they are helping or the good work that they are doing.

Being a teacher is HARD WORK. I am on the stage all day long-performing-all in an attempt to get my kids to remember and learn and grow. After 6 hours of acting, I sit down and plan my next performance, grade papers, write IEP's, send emails, call parents-anything that I can to give a child the best education that I can. The mantra in our school among the teachers is "Is it best for kids?". If the answer is no, then you shouldn't be doing it. How awesome is that? In return, I get respect, love, and growth as a gift from my students. I watch them blossom right before my very eyes.

I still sit in awe some days that parents send their children to our school and into my classroom everyday, entrusting me with their child's education-quite possibly the most important and life changing thing that could ever happen to them. How lucky am I? I think that I have the best job in the world.

One of my favorite quotes: "Teaching might even be the greatest of the arts since the medium is the human mind and spirit"

-John Steinbeck

I love...

FOUNDERS WEEKEND IN AKRON, OHIO

For all of you out there that don't know, AA had its beginnings in little old Akron, OH. Two men and their wives dedicated their lives to this simple program that has left a legacy of healing and continues to help people with their addictions every day. Every year, around this time, thousands of people (approx. 10,000 this year) trek to Akron to pay tribute to the people who started this program that has improved if not saved their lives.

It is a tradition for my mom and I to go to the tribute for the founders at the cemetery at which they are buried. The event begins outside of McDonalds on Market St. A procession of hundreds of motorcycles barrel down the street and towards the cemetery. The people on the motorcycles are all unique, people of different racial backgrounds, from different countries, differing in almost every way that you can think of, but they are all united under AA and have somehow been influenced or changed by this program. Their faces are happy and excited, enthralled and thankful. They have been to the bottom, so they know how good it feels to be on top. They rev their engines all the way to the cemetery where tribute is payed to the individuals who started this program which has saved so many peoples lives and well-being.

As an onlooker-someone who has been affected by alcoholism but not felt the grip of alcohol- I feel an overwhelming power by this group of people, this elite club. Seeing the sea of faces, everyone so different but coming together (to my little city) for one purpose. This is their Mecca.

I love this weekend every year. I love that I live in this very special town. I love that all these people love my town too.

Simple, healthy and so delicious!

Salad

-Spinach

-Arugula

-Sprouts

-Dried Cranberry's

-Fresh Strawberry's

-Raw Walnuts

-Raw Pumpkin Seeds

-Lots of Cilantro

-Avocado

-Oil and Vineagar

Mix it all together and enjoy! So yummy!

I love...

Warm sunny days like today that I get to spend with Susie.

Back from Ghana...sort of

I have been back from Ghana for almost two months now, but mentally, I am still there. I miss the kids, I miss the people, I miss the country.

I have lots of pictures and lots of memories to share with anyone willing to listen. I had the time of my life.

I love you/life.