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these are the days

Y’all. What is the deal with all the “days?” You know, like National Chocolate Day and National Tequila Day. Do we really need specific days set aside to eat chocolate and drink tequila? I do those things every day. (I kid.) Where did all these fake holidays come from? Are they sponsored? For example, was National Fresh Breath Day (not kidding… it was yesterday) thought up by a marketing intern at Tic Tac? Every single day there is a new “fill in the blank” day. How do people know or keep up with what day it is? Not sure about you, but these days are not preprinted in my overly priced planner.

But, someone, somewhere knows. They are sitting on go with a perfectly filtered photo of a Krispy Kreme and #nationaldonutday. That one post is all it takes. People start scrambling and then suddenly, your Instagram feed is clogged with hot and fresh pictures of glazed, sugary goodness. I picture a worn out mom in pajama pants loading her screaming baby into the car, and then hauling A to Dunkin’ Donuts. Must. Have. A. Donut.

Heaven forbid it falls in the middle of your #whole30.

The unpaid holidays aren’t limited to food and drink. There’s Battery Day (hopefully not of the assault variety), Elephant Appreciation Day and National Dump the Pump Day (which I incorrectly assumed was about wine consumption and breastfeeding). And they are not limited to days… August is National Catfish Month AND Romance Awareness Month. I feel like there is a little too much overlap there.

I don’t really think all made up days are bad. Not sure if they exist, but I would likely celebrate Don’t Wash Your Hair Day, Fruity Pebbles Day, Run Late for Appointments Day and Look at Your iPhone Day. Maybe we can start a petition or something.

However, if the following days are adopted, I might have to give up social media altogether:

* “I Am Literally Dying” Day (Seriously, why do girls say that? The person who started it should literally be punched in the throat.)

* National Pop of Color Day

* Kiosk Awareness Day

* National Nickelback Day

* Pumpkin Spice Latte Day (Who am I kidding? That is every single day in September and October.)

I know. I sound bitter. Probably because there isn’t a Wowie Day. But, there is a National No Pants Day. All hope isn’t lost.

wowie

August 7, 2014

just wowie

Beach Please

We went to the beach at the beginning of June, and I’ve been meaning to post some photos from our trip. It took me a while to even look through them. I don’t know about you, but I go through mourning post vacation. My five stages of beach grief go a little something like this…

1. Denial and Isolation- “What? Can a girl not enjoy a Corona at her desk at 11:15?”

2. Anger- “Check the Powerball ticket again. CHECK IT.”

3. Bargaining- “We can sell our house, homeschool our kids and open a hotdog stand. Wouldn’t that be fun?”

4. Depression- “I’m going to be alone (doing laundry) forever.”

5. Acceptance- “I guess I will go ahead and download the pics from my iPhone because it is full.”

It is a slow and painful process. Sort of like looking at 100 million photos from someone else’s vacation.

You’ve been warned.

We went to Seaside again this year and had a wonderful time. We switched rentals at the last minute, and the house we ended up with was great.

Wells and Graham loved playing on the beach (they really didn’t have much choice), and we loved watching them.

Graham got an ear infection mid-stay but 24 hours and some antibiotics later, he was good to go.

He also napped at the beach almost every day. At least it wasn’t at dinner each night as in prior years.

Actually, we all got in on the (lack of) action. Maybe we needed a mid-day siesta because Graham got up at 6:45 EVERY day.

One morning we walked outside and found this guy chilling by the outdoor shower…

A nice guy walking by stopped and PICKED UP the snake and took it away, and Graham was like…

And I was like, Graham don’t EVEN think about EVER picking up a snake, young man. The rest of the trip was thankfully uneventful.

The only item on the agenda, other than beaching and napping, was eating.

Toward the end of our trip, we moved to Perdido because SK had a work thing. Related, I would like to have work things in Perdido. Yaya sent me an article about an infestation of sharks in the area, so we stuck with the pool.

And then we came home with a nothing but a hermit crab, a loser Powerball ticket and 1000 pictures to show for it.

But as soon as I’m done with this laundry, I’m ready to go back.

wowie

July 25, 2014

beach, family, florida, roadtrips, summer, travel

bruschetta makes it bettah

We have an abundance of cherry tomatoes from our little garden. Last night, I got a little caprese cra-zay and whipped up the best bruschetta batch to date.

It’s so easy it probably shouldn’t be posted on the internet, but it is just too good not to share. Chop some tomatoes, basil, chives and fresh mozzarella.

I used this kind…

Add a generous amount of extra virgin olive oil, a splash or two of balsamic vinegar and salt and pepper. (I can not type or say salt and pepper without breaking out a little Shoop. Here I go, here I go, here I go again…)

Let that bowl of delicious sit for a while. The longer it sits, the better your bruschetta. If you need to make this more difficult, you could grill or toast a sliced baguette. Or you could just use these…

Load ’em up and chow down.

So easy and they taste like a mouth full of summertime. Let me know if you have a go-to tomato recipe because I’m running out of ideas. Have a great week!

wowie

July 14, 2014

recipes, summer, yum