Merry Christmas!

Happy Holidays

I love/hate this song. Whenever it came on the radio, my brother and I would do our best George Michael impersonations and kill my mother's ears. I had never seen the video, with all its 1980s ski glory.

Or, if you prefer, drunk here's a video of drunk Santas and elves from the Tropicana's Running of the Santas.



Happy holidays!

Well, Thank You

This week, the WhyGo Family Travel website gave a nice shout out to this blog and named it as a great resource for travel in New Jersey. But the author pointed out that she lists my blog over a New Jersey Tourism site because she had a hard time finding one: 

"In the absence of much of any official tourism presence (which seems odd, given the very competitive Mid-Atlantic tourism market) I offer you Down the Shore with Jen, an excellent blog written by Jersey Shore guidebook author Jen A. Miller."

That speaks volumes for how state tourism is doing these days (yes, it's an issue I've harped on recently). How can New Jersey be so far behind and so clueless? I've privately said that the South Jersey tourism and the Atlantic City Convention and Visitors Authority folks have it together when it comes to promotion, but the state does not. I don't think combining the Secretary of State job with Lieutenant Governor is going to help, either. I fear that tourism is going to become a side gig of someone who will have a lot of responsibilities already. Tourism creates jobs and brings money into the state. Can we afford to shove it aside?

I'll have a lot to say at the Governor's Conference on Tourism in April (yes, they did invite me to moderate a panel...baw haw haw).

But thank you to WhyGo Family!

NOTE: I don't know why the fonts are wonky. Blogger made some changes recently, which could be why. Hopefully all will be back to normal with the next post.

Warm Thoughts for a Cold Day

I'm not sure how this blogger found me, but I'm glad she did: Beach Vintage is a blog written by Simone Georgette of Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Even though she's on the other side of the world, we seem to have a lot of the same thoughts on beach style. She posted pictures from a Coastal Living shoot that I also loved, and already ripped out of the magazine to add to my file of how I want to redo my bedroom. I think she'd dig my new summer shades, too.

It's summer in Australia, and she's left for holiday. Good for her. Checking out the blog is a good way to remember, especially if you're like me and STILL SNOWED IN, that summer is not too far away.

Rescheduled - Christmas Candlelight House Tour

Word from Cape May is that the annual Christmas Candlelight House Tour has been rescheduled to THIS Saturday, December 26 from 5:30 to 8:30 p.m. They were -- obviously -- blizzarded out on December 19.

If you have tickets, they'll be honored. If you want tickets, go to their website for details.

Shore Break: Where Have All the Catholic Schools Gone?

The January issue of New Jersey Monthly is about to hit newsstands. Most of the issue is dedicated to fitness (appropriate for January), and I have a few articles about ways to work out. The January issue also has my article about the closure of Catholic schools across the state. One of those schools is Our Lady Star of the Sea in Cape May. So give it a look if you have the time.

New Jersey Marathon

I've finally taken the plunge. I've signed up for a marathon. If all goes according to plan, I'll running my fastest 26.2 miles on May 2 in Long Branch for the New Jersey Marathon.

Training starts in a week. There's two feet of snow on the ground. I've never run further than 13.1 miles in my life.

I. Am. Terrified.

I promise not to flood the blog with posts about marathon training (which is very boring, and not much different from what I normally do except I'll be doing it exponentially). But since this is an event that takes place at the shore, I figured it was an appropriate thing to mention on the blog.

Prayers are much appreciated.