5 Things I Managed Yesterday.

Yesterday was one of those rather hard days. Nothing was particularly devastating, but I'd be hard-pressed to name the things I felt I did well. However, I'll try:

5. I made the bed. We're not talking hospital corners and starched sheets, here, but I definitely pulled the sheets up and fluffed the pillows and removed smallish board books from underneath the covers.

4. The children were fed throughout the day. Veggie and fruit options were in abundance. They were even eaten. On paper plates. Half-naked. In the backyard. (This was the third paper plate meal of the week. Reminder: It was Tuesday.)

Exhibits 1-4 of my incompetence:
Paper plate, hose bath, semi-naked toddler, and sloppy photograph.

3. I didn't publicly cry. Privately either. Kept it in. Kept it all in. (3a. I did not fall asleep, either in public or in the vicinity of my very much so awake children.)

2. Even though no one currently residing in my household took what could even be loosely construed as "a bath," my kids were definitely hosed off. With a hose. (To be fair, they thought it was awesome.)

1. As I fell asleep, I agreed to do it all again tomorrow.

But better.

Uncle Fe! Cape Cod! More Excessive Eating!

You guys. Not only did I have a fantastic time with the fam in Cape Cod this past week (demolishing lobster rolls/ napping on the beach/ getting swept out to sea with my Mom/ playing high-stakes board games until midnight/ teaching my daughters how to properly pick up hermit crabs without accidentally ripping off their claws/ demolishing more lobster rolls) but I also got to hang out with THIS guy:

That's right, people, I saw Uncle Fe. (Here's my recent post about how awesome he is/ how unfair his struggles are.)

And he brought boxes and trays and bags of food, y'all. Stuff from Sam's Bakery in Fall River, MA; Syrian bread and meat pies and meat and yogurt pies and broccoli and feta pies and cabbage and onion pies and zaartar bread and all sorts of the Lebanese/Armenian foods on which I was raised (and on which I frequently gorge when in the presence of Uncle Felix and my mother).

And for the kids? Uncle Fe and his sister DeeDee brought beach pails and shovels and construction paper and paints and stickers and glitter and pencils and suncatchers and foam shapes and allll sorts of things to do on a rainy Cape Cod afternoon.

Even though he was in the midst of his chemo treatments, you'd seriously never know it. He hugged and kissed the babies, rested with my folks on the porch, and cracked the sort of jokes for which he is world-famous.

It was an awesome day.

It was too-short of an awesome day.

Seeya next summer, Uncle Fe. I'll bring the new-ish person, you bring your effervescent self.

(And okay, maybe one or two of those cabbage pies.)

Invisalign Approves Of My Snackiness.

I could talk about my love for Invisalign until the cows come home and am thrilled to write this sponsored post for them. That said- all thoughts and opinions and AWESOME TEETH are my own.

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In honor of National Smile Week (check out Invisalign's Facebook page for some super cute images celebrating this holiday!), I thought I'd share a few more stories about how my smile actually came to be. I know I've blogged before about my childhood rabbit teeth and how flippin' awful grade-schoolers can be, but only a few of you know about my incredibly special first round with braces.

In 5th grade- shortly after the public teeth-shaming debacle, surprise, surprise- I went into "traditional" metal braces. And I'm not gonna lie; I thought that the ability to color-coordinate my brackets to holidays or favorite hues was wicked amazing.

But the sharp, pokey parts jutting into my lips and cheeks, the abundance of wax I accidentally swallowed, and the necessity for nerdtacular headgear were things I could've done without. And that previously mentioned latex allergy? Yeah, that sorta kiboshed the whole affair a tad early.

It was just as well. Turns out, if you tell 10 year-old Me that she cannot have popcorn, gum, hard candy, carrots, or anything remotely sticky? It becomes positively obvious that I cannot live without popcorn, gum, hard candy, carrots or anything remotely sticky. How're you gonna keep me from my carrots dipped in caramels (something I've just at this moment made up)?

So yes. It didn't "take." And even though a major impetus in the choosing of Invisalign a decade later was to look good for my camera-friendly career (and the boyfriend whom I knew was The One), I also didn't feel like saying sayonara to cheddar popcorn or strawberry gum for the next little while.

The guy for whom I underwent the Invisaligns, back in our dating years.
Also, I'm wearing my aligners in this very picture!

Besides, anyone who's seen P.J. knows that popcorn plays a major culinary role in all of his relationship snacking. It's true.

And another plus of the whole process? The realization that I had never before in my life taken better care of my teeth than while undergoing Invisalign treatment. Every single time I'd remover my aligner trays to eat some corn on the cob, I'd actually floss my teeth before putting the aligners back in. Floss, people. That's some toothly TLC right there. And for each frozen Charleston Chew I'd demolish (I never purported to be a macrobiotic vegan here, people), I'd do the whole dental care routine: you know, the one you normally reserve for two days before your dental checkup?

More pluses: Orthodontic visits were generally once every 6 weeks, the cost was roughly the same as metal braces, and the treatment on a whole took less time than my run with metal braces.

Worldwide, there are more than 2 million Invisalign cases- wanna check out if this innovative treatment is right for you (or your own rabbit-toothed preteen)? Invisalign braces are approved for all sorts of crazy teeth issues, such as overcrowding, under and overbites, widely spaced teeth, and even sometimes cases with a special blend of dentally improbable mouth issues. (Ahem.)

Go get pretty teeth. Don't disrupt your life while doing so.

And pass the popcorn, yeah?

This was a sponsored post on behalf of Invisalign. But I wasn't kidding about the popcorn. 

Cape Cod, AKA What Blog Addiction?

Yeah. So. I know I said I'd seeya all in a week...but I just love these pix and think they're the wundiest. (I've taken over 400 so far. So that's saying something.)

Taken moments before Susannah walked directly out into the ocean, wearing all of her clothes.

Dad/Uncle Peej does storytime. (Who's the wiggleworm on the far left?)

Nora loves Baby Garrett. LOVES. So much. A lot.

Cheer up, Zu.

Try some, Zu.

Sitting in a cove with one of my favorite little mermaids.

Okay, no. Now for real. See you later.