Yesterday was back to school for our county, and let me put it this way. Since I came home from vacation, I’ve cut out sweets and carbs and drinking because LORD, did I ever eat, drink and be merry for the past month and a half. And I came home strong, dedicated, knocking out my new goals like a boss. We were in control. We were egg whitin’ and kale’in our mornings, and it felt so good. But then yesterday came. And I broke open a bottle of wine at 5:30. And then my damn neighbor walked over with a CHOCOLATE CAKE, and now my kitchen counter holds the remnants of the Massacre of Healthy Ambition 2016.

You know what I love about life? Do overs. So we stumbled. 2 steps back and 15 steps forward. If Britney Spears recovered from 2007, I can move forward from yesterday’s surrender. And before I go forth with gusto into all the good things that August and September may hold for this place, let me pause just a little for the solitude and family time the last week of summer delivered.

We spent our last week together as a family with Brett’s parents in Jasper, Georgia at Big Canoe which is this unbelievably gorgeous mountain community that offers everything from hiking trails to a full inflatable playground on the lake.

We slowed down, did little but loved a lot–sipped coffee in morning huddles that didn’t break up for getting ready routines until we thought about what we were going to do for lunch, watched the Olympics together at night, cooked, read books on the back porch, took walks, swam, forgot about everything but the present. And it was wonderful.

And look. I found a fall prequel on a walk to the lake. Heck yeah, I tucked them away in the last chapter of the book I’m reading.

That there on the left is a water slide built into the rocks.

As always, more than views and lakes and entertainment, what I love most about these trips are my people. Watching my kids climb up on their grandpa’s lap, hearing him ask them questions and listening to their responses…makes me so happy.

Every good summer should have a corn shucking fest.

The pontoons Big Canoe rents are all electric, keeping the lake volume at its magical peaceful place.

Add red canoes to 14,000 Things to Be Happy About.

Add sassafras to 14,000 Things to Be Happy About.

…and any cabin named “The Shack.”

Flying kids…

…lunch with a view…

…and most definitely the possibility tomorrow holds.

I have a chocolate cake mess to clean up. Happy Tuesday!

Written from the Blue Ridge Mountains, somewhere on the way home:

We are reunited with Brett, spending time with family in Big Canoe, Georgia, ready to finish the last leg back home, and school starts next week. That means Nella starts kindergarten next week. That means, SWEET JESUS, ALL THE FEELS. I’ll make time for the feels this weekend. Right now, I’ll do what I do: find a temporary emotional spill over place for these feelings in very important areas like WHAT LUNCH BOXES THESE KIDS ARE GOING TO CARRY and FIRST DAY OF SCHOOL OUTFITS and CUTE GYM SHOES. I think Brene Brown calls this numbing, but whatever. I will numb the dickens out of these feelings if it involves shoe shopping. For Lainey’s first day of kindergarten, it was the perfect shoe for P.E. It was a distraction, an obsession, a decision I could control when there was so much else I couldn’t.

Also I just really like the back to school excitement, and even though it’s really about knowledge and continued journey toward enlightenment and path to the future, I like to take in the billboards along the route that trick you into thinking back to school is about backpacks and glitter pencil cases and Peter Pan collars on first day of kindergarten outfits because I love backpacks and glitter pencil cases and Peter Pan collars. Also, one of my favorite childhood memories ever with my dad was when he took me back to school shopping for second grade and let me pick out the coolest, most Madonna-esque outfit I could find at Oakland Mall and said yes to yellow slouchy sweater and probably-too-short black skirt and big hoop earrings.

Back to school shopping is my jam. I love browsing the lunch box aisle, observing Lainey’s graduated tastes in clothes, finding seamless socks that Nella will love, making her entrance into the big school world that much better and somehow, strangely, taking the edge off my letting go. Speaking of letting go, I did say goodbye to one form of school shopping, and I’ve never turned back. The PTO gives us the option at the end of every school year of buying a pre-paid school supply pack of everything on your kid’s list for the coming year. I thought I’d miss the ritual of strolling notebook paper aisles and stocking up on crayons and glue sticks, and the thrill of the hunt for blunt-end scissors, but NO. Take it from someone who loves school supplies so much she follows a company purely dedicated to pencils on IG: hand your money to the PTO and let them go shopping for you. Paying someone to do your Christmas shopping might be blasphemy, but school supplies? In the eloquent words of Elsa of Arendelle, “Let it go.” Besides, the jig is up: you’re never going to find that green 2-flap folder with the three prongs. Never.

Today, I bring you distraction from the real meaning of back to school #1: The Perfect Lunch Essentials. And before I commence, a light history in school lunchish things:

Fun Fact #1: In 1935, Mickey Mouse was the first popular character to appear on the front of a lunch box.
Fun Fact #2: For $41, you can still get a vintage Knight Rider lunch box set featuring David Hasselhoff’s chiseled face. If it’s not insulated enough to carry your lunch, you could always use his picture as a brow guide. You’re welcome.
Fun Fact #3: I have zero cool lunch box memories because Phase 1 of school (public) consisted of paper bag lunches, and Phase 2 of school (homeschooling) consisted of a desk in our basement classroom (sounds creepy, it wasn’t) and Tuesday afternoon “engrafting” classes at our church (sounds creepy, it was). What’s an engrafting class, you ask? Hang on, it gets weird: It’s where you don’t just memorize Bible verses. You memorize them with your heart.  Needless to say, there’s no standardized test for that. Also, I got a C.

Want me stretch out this unimportant topic even more? Very well then. Here: 20 writers share tales about their lunch toting memories. Seriously, I could do this all day.

With no further ado, I bring you the cutest, coolest stuff for a lameass job you’ll be complaining about in 3 weeks time: Packing School Lunches.

1. Herschel Supply Co. insulated lunch box. We are huge Herschel fans in our home, and we love anything they make–they’re classic, sturdy and last through several kids. Their lunch boxes are generously sized with room for lots of snacks and containers and yet still slide into a backpack. Bonus: they come in so many adorable prints from quirky and fun to classic and timeless. All the heart eyes over this denim and school-plaid one.

2. VW Camper Van insulated lunch bag. Could there be a cuter lunch box? We found this one at a little shop in Petoskey, Dash fell in love, and the rest was history. It’s roomy, opens from the top so you can see all your snacks inside, and you don’t need a license to drive it.

3. Dwell Studio for Thermos dinosaur bag. No lunch stealing with this ferocious bag. For the dinosaur loving kids and quality loving moms. Thick, insulated, well made.

4. Sugarbooger Good Lunch snack bag set. Environmentally conscious reusable snack and sandwich bags–saves the earth AND they’re cute.

5. Skip Hop Zoo Lunchie insulated raccoon bag. I want every animal Skip Hop makes. Great for smaller kids, perfectly sized for preschool and kindergarten.

6. Mini Boden owl lunch bag. There’s absolutely nothing Mini Boden makes that I don’t love. They most certainly employ the world’s greatest Users of Color. I want to carry this owl lunch bag as a purse–it’s shoulder strap is on point. Don’t even worrying about putting it away when your kid returns from school. Leave it on the counter to make you happy.

7. Minted washable name labels. I discovered these adorable labels last year and bought them for all three kids (still have some leftover, that’s how long they last!), and we LOVE them. An adorable way to identify your kid’s Barbie Thermos from Emily, Ella and Sarah Jane’s who also have Barbie Thermoses, these personalized labels stick right on lunch boxes and drink cups and pencil boxes and–wait for it…can go through the dishwasher! And they’re super easy and fun to design.

8. Sugarbooger silverware lunch set. Forget plastic silverware. Your kid will love this adorable silverware case that pops open to reveal the cutest spoon and fork for yogurt, soup or the weird leftovers you packed  because you didn’t have time to stock up on groceries. The silverware makes up for it.

9. Bruntmor stainess steel lunch containers. All that BPA free good stuff. We love our stainless steel containers for lunchboxes–perfectly sized for little snacks, cut-up fruit, or kindergarten portions of favorite things like mac ‘n cheese.

10. Skip Hop stainless steel straw bottle, bee. Stainless steel straw bottles are our favorite way to go for lunch drinks and water supplies. No parts to lose, easy flip top and, in this case, so cute!

11. ChezMax penguin stainless steel drink bottle. Conversation piece indeed–this stainless steel drink bottle is concealed in the shape of a penguin. You’d never know it was a cup!

12. BentGo kids leakproof lunch box. Heidi got me on to this lunch box. It’s compartmentalized and works great with dipping snacks like celery and ranch, carrots and hummus or, in Nella’s case, pretzels and Nutella. Clicks shut, never leaks and conveniently slips right into the dish washer for easy clean-up.

13. J World English Rose insulated lunch box. As functional as it is pretty. I love the drink holder built into the top, the extra pocket on the side and the fact that it’s roomy enough to pack a good-sized lunch.

 

Have a memory of a favorite lunch box memory? (Fess up–who had that Night Rider Thermos?!) Finding the lunch box is the easy part of this battle though. Now, what to pack? I make a list of every creative lunch idea I can think of at the beginning of the year, type it up and tape the list to the refrigerator for mornings when I’m blanking out. And yet I still end up ripping up a hot dog, throwing in a bruised apple and calling it “Friday Special” at some point in the year. Favorite, easy kid lunch ideas? Mom saving tips? DO SHARE.

I’m proud to partner with CVS Pharmacy to promote their exclusive Gold Emblem™ and Gold Emblem abound™ from CVSsnack lines. I am being sponsored by CVS Pharmacy for my posts and activities, but all opinions expressed are my own, and all product claims or program details shared should be verified at CVS.com or with the appropriate manufacturers.

Forget the Back-to-school ads, there’s still plenty of summer to enjoy. You know how I know? Because tonight’s the opening ceremony of the summer games, so technically it’s just the beginning. So who’s watching tonight and what’s your favorite event? Since I was a kid, our favorite events were always figure skating in the winter and gymnastics in the summer, and I can still remember the 1984 games like they were yesterday–Mary Lou Retton was everything. I mean, the haircut alone. That summer, my cousins and I reenacted our own summer games, complete with competitions in trampoline (my sister fell off it), trapeze (back yard swing set) and track and field (races down our street). I just saw one of those cousins last week, and we recalled it all together. “Remember the medals we made?” she reminded me, “we wrapped tin foil around Pringles lids.”

If you’re looking for one last summer hurrah with the kids, the summer games is a great opportunity  to get everyone outside for some good old fashioned competition. Make some homemade medals out of tin foil and lids (or dig up some real ones from any 5Ks you ran), line up some sporting events and start it all off with the running of torch.

We made our own summer games torch–super quick and easy–using a silver noise maker horn stuffed with red, orange and yellow tissue paper.

We set up a summer game snack table using CVS Gold Emblem™ and Gold Emblem abound™ snacks. And I have to tell you, I was so pleasantly surprised to see how the drug store snack aisle has changed over the years. It’s like a little gourmet  grocery store up in there! Gold Emblem™ and Gold Emblem abound™ offers an impressive variety of high-quality, great-tasting products–salty, sweet, spicy–they have them all.

As always, we had so much transforming our food to fit the theme–a task that now involves the entire family. Chewy fruit balance beams, BBQ potato torches (fill cones made from foil), uneven parallel pretzel bars and lemony gold medals.

Let the games begin!

We made our own shot put throwing a big rock in the sand and marking where it fell. This was everyone’s favorite game because it goes against everything I ever taught them: don’t throw rocks.

We rated our snacks…

…and  designed flags for made up countries we represented.

My country was Lovania, Lainey’s was Caringville and Nella’s was…wait for it…Target.

Dash’s country is full of color and expression, and he named it, coincidentally, Dash.

Want to try some CVS  Gold Emblem™ and  Gold Emblem abound™ snacks? CVS is giving away a prize snack pack. Just follow the CVS Instagram handle to be eligible, and I’ll choose one winner (contacted through your Instagram handle) on Monday, August 8th.

Go Simone Biles!