Today is the last day of the 2026 Slice of Life Challenge! I’ve been doing this challenge since 2009, which is crazy!

The morning started with a 2-mile walk at the Battlefield followed up by 90 minutes of blow-drying the dogs. Because it’s spring they are shedding a ton. It was nice enough that I could bring the dryer outside and blow out a bunch of their coats. I ended up covered in hair and they hated it, but they should be cooler moving forward.

After that I spent a lot of the day reading. I am on the YA fiction committee for the Green Earth Book Awards and had to finish some reading/rereading. It was a relaxing way to spend the day. I also learned that John Green, one of my favorite authors, announced his first new novel in many years! It will be released in September, so I have to preorder it this week. This will be his first novel for adults.

I still have a week of spring break left which is great. I have more books to read! I also have to catch up on Paradise before I see too many spoilers. But my main focus will be relaxing for the rest of the week!

I checked a few things off my spring break to-do list today. The first thing I had to do was finish collecting the paperwork for my taxes and drop that off at the accountant’s house. After that, I decided to try one of the coffee shops on my list because it was only a few minutes away from where I had to drop off the paperwork.

A Cup of Literature is a new coffee shop in Asbury Park. It’s a combination coffee shop, bookstore, and fitness studio. They sell some books, but they also have a huge bookshelf where you can take a book and leave a book. Next time I go I will definitely bring a few books to leave on the shelf.

The coffee was good, too! They have a bunch of literature-themes drinks to try. I got an iced Study In Salt and Chocolate- a mocha latter with a sea salt maple cold foam. It was a beautiful day, so on the way back to my car I stopped into Rebel Supply Co to look at some vintage clothes. I ended up buying some Kitsch Lisa Frank items because I’m a sucker for nostalgia: I had so much Lisa Frank stuff as a kid!

It was a relaxing day off! I also managed to get three long dog walks in, so I have over 20,000 steps, too!

Things have taken a turn for the better in the other March Madness pool I’m in! Three games to go!

That Duke v. UConn game was incredible. As a millennial who grew up hating Duke, I have to say, “I told you so.” Never trust Duke to win when it counts.

Other than that, today was a normal Sunday. Oh wait- normal except that it’s spring break! That means I don’t have to worry about prepping for school tomorrow! I can sleep in a little bit tomorrow, too!

As for today, I walked the dogs about 5 miles and did my food shopping. Now I’m watching the Gotham v. Pride game. Hopefully, Gotham can break this scoring drought. When it comes to the rest of the week I have a few books I want to finish, some embroidery to do, and some coffee shops I want to visit. I’m not going anywhere during break, but I plan to unplug as much as I can. That will be easier once slice of life is over!

What a great way to start spring break! Last night I grabbed a pair of last minute tickets to Cats: The Jellicle Ball. This is a revival of the classical musical Cats, but it’s also a complete reimagining of the story.

First, it’s important to understand Cats and its influence on people who grew up in the tri-state area in the 90s. The musical by Andrew Lloyd Webber is based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats which is about a group of cats called the Jellicles who gather for their annual ball to decide which one will ascend to the Heaviside Layer for a new life.

It makes about as much sense as that sentence.

And if you lived in NJ in the 90s this commercial played constantly. I can still recite it in 2026! It definitely gave some people nightmares.

Cats: The Jellicle Ball completely reimagines the original concept of the musical. It uses the same songs, but it’s set in the underground ballroom scene. The show is pure joy. The dancing and costumes are incredible. They use the entire theater as the stage/runway, which helps immerse you in the show. The story makes a little more sense in this setting, but it’s also Cats, so it’s still weird and theatrical and bizarre in all the best ways. I highly recommend it!

After work I took the dogs for a walk before ordering dinner. Lenten Fridays mean no meat, so tonight’s dinner was fish tacos. We tried a new place, though what I really wanted was Surf Taco. Sadly, the Surf Taco in Jackson closed and the remaining locations are all at least 30 minutes away.

Dinner was good, and now I’m settled in watching basketball. I’m looking forward to a bunch of days ahead with similar plans!

Happy Spring! The flowers are starting to bloom in the yard, and today it was 80° when I got out of school. A more average spring temperature would be nice, but I’m happy to see the flowers.

We have one more school day until spring break! The time between winter and spring break is the longest part of the year because we have so few days off, so everyone is very ready for some time away from the building. I’m not doing anything crazy for break- just enjoying time at home- but I’m ready to forget about work for a few days!

Today was my dad’s birthday, so after rushing home and walking the dogs I headed back across the county to my parents’s house. We had pizza and cake, and it was nice to see my family. I am the oldest of six, and we love all over NJ (and one brother is in Pennsylvania), so we don’t see each other a ton. Everyone except the Pennsylvania sibling and his family was there tonight.

After that, I drove home while listening to a very frustrating Gotham FC game that they lost 2-0. At least it’s a 3-game week, so they can redeem themselves this weekend. Once I got home we watched Abbott Elementary and The Masked Singer. Yes, I love The Masked Singer and never miss a ridiculous episode.

Now it’s definitely time to get a little more sleep than usual. Less than a week left of Slice of Life!

It’s starting to look like spring! You can’t tell from this picture, but there are buds on the trees and flowers popping up out of the ground. We still have a few weeks until the last frost, but it’s officially spring on the calendar.

There are no men’s or women’s March Madness games on tonight, so I’m catching up on TV. First up was this week’s Jon Stewart episode of The Daily Show: hysterical, as usual. After that we got back into season 2 of Paradise. I can’t really talk about the show without spoiling it, but season one was amazing (the twist!). I’m really enjoying season two, even though half the characters make me angry.

I love Marc Madness, but it does mean falling behind on everything else I watch. I need to watch the latest episodes of Shrinking, Ghosts, and How to Get to Heaven from Belfast. I am also dying to start the new version of Jury Duty: Company Retreat. I’m also weeks behind on the latest season of Law and Order: SVU, but that’s one I’ll catch up on during spring break!

Only about a week left of Slice of Life! I love the annual event, but I’m getting to the point where I feel like I don’t have anything to write about. We are also still a week away from spring break, and the days are crawling. I think everyone at school is more than ready for break. Once we get back from break it’s practically the middle of April, which means it’s almost May, and that means it’s almost June and the end of the year!

I don’t have any specific plans during break, but I’m looking forward to relaxing. Watching the news and seeing all the long lines at the airports is making me glad I’m not flying anywhere. Hopefully, things will get better and the security lines will get shorter.

In the meantime, I have lots of books and TV shows to catch up on after watching hundreds of hours of basketball this weekend.

Today I saw Project Hail Mary. I read the book a few weeks ago and highly recommend it. The only reason I hadn’t read it earlier is because everyone said the audiobook is incredible; unfortunately it’s an Audible exclusive and has been since it was published in 2021. Audible exclusives aren’t even available for libraries to purchase!

The movie was great! I think the book is slightly better because it goes a little deeper into some aspects, but the film is a really good adaptation. Visually it is stunning. The music is perfect. And the acting is top-tier. I’m shocked they didn’t wait to release this closer to the next Oscar season because Ryan Gosling gives an Oscar-worthy performance. Hopefully, they campaign for the film next year. The score should also be nominated!

As an adaptation, they kept the heart of the story and added a few scenes I think make the story better. There were a few changes I felt less positive about, but overall it’s worth seeing.

Since coming home I’ve been watching basketball. There’s nothing better than a 9-seed knocking off a 1-seed!

Today’s games have been great. Maybe not great for my bracket, but the magic of March is the madness! We got some madness this weekend and came close to chaos!

Iowa just made the Sweet Sixteen for the first time in 27 years. No one on the team was alive the last time the team made it that far. Incredible!

At least my women’s NCAA bracket is doing a little better.