Friday Tapas: The One With All the Weather

TGIF, tapas fans!

I deliberately haven’t posted since Monday so that my 1st and 7th grade school pictures would remain on the homepage throughout the week in all their undignified glory. Okay, not really – I just wasn’t feeling the writing vibe this week. But what a way to welcome new visitors to the blog, am I right?

On Wednesday, as the entire East Coast hunkered down for the onslaught of a massive cold front following two days of summer-like temps, the weather geek in me snapped a picture of an advancing squall line and then shared it on a local weather page I follow on Facebook. The photo went pseudo-viral (think a case of the sniffles vs. full-blown flu) and I lamented not having watermarked it. Because, hey… marketing!

My friend, Bill, then suggested I watermark my 1st grade picture and make it go viral instead. Which I have to admit would be an epic way to promote What She Said. Alas, the Internet is a fickle bitch and you just can’t predict these things. But I do appreciate Bill’s entrepreneurial spirit.

Anyhoo, let’s move on to some tapas, which have never gone viral and likely never will. And that’s okay because “viral tapas” just sounds unsanitary.

What I Say

• One of the benefits of living in the Mid-Atlantic is getting to experience four distinct seasons. And this week we did just that… all over the course of two days. I documented the wild weather on Instagram using my new obsession: Snapseed. (Thank you, technology gods, for finally making this app available on Android.)

Top Right: The photo that caught the sniffles; Top Left: Jim and Lil’ Bit recreating Abbey Road

• Last weekend, I spotting a coyote running through the field behind our house. I’m not gonna lie – it kind of freaked me out. I posted about the sighting on our community’s Facebook page, only to learn that my neighbors have been crossing paths – literally – with coyotes for years. What can I say? I’m a city girl – coyotes are my version of exotic wildlife. But apparently they’re everywhere and they dine on a steady diet of pesky vermin like rats and mice, which is a good thing. In which case, I’m cool with coyotes – provided they stay away from three-year-old girls and declawed black house cats who constantly whine at the door to go outside because they just don’t know how good they have it. Ungrateful bastard.

• Back in December, I learned I had been called for jury duty for the month of January. After saying a very bad word, I gave a mental shrug and looked at the silver lining – this could provide good blog fodder. So, January came and I served my civic duty and… that’s it. Nothing happened. I never got called in. It was completely painless; I really have nothing to say about it. What a letdown.

What She Says

• A few weeks ago I proposed a theory that Lil’ Bit thinks all I do at work all day is eat dessert – mainly because every time she visits my office, our catering staff is setting up a delectable spread of sweets for some meeting or event. And as it turns out… I was right! For when we recently drove past my office one day, she suddenly proclaimed, “That’s Mommy’s building!” And then a split second later: “And the building where we eat fun food!”

• “Mommy, I think I’m going to go into this book.” This is Lil’ Bit’s new “thing” whenever we read together. Usually it’s to eat something – cupcakes or a sandwich, for instance – but occasionally it’s to play the drums. That said, she has yet to try to go into a book. And that’s a good thing – because I just don’t have the heart to tell her you can’t actually do that.

•  After asking Lil’ Bit to go play while I cooked dinner one night, she instead walked into our family room, plopped down in a chair, and stuck her thumb in her mouth. She didn’t appear to be sulking, rather simply… contemplating life? So, I questioned her – don’t you want to play? “No,” she replied assuredly. “I’m just going to sit here and think and think and think and think.” And really, how could I argue with that?

What They Said

• Curious George has taken another beating in the blogosphere this week. Only this time, Lyz at LyzLens.com takes aim at the PBS cartoon in 5 Questions I Have for the Creators of Curious George. Now I just have to say that, compared to the Curious George books, I find the show refreshing. The Man With the Yellow Hat is more goofy than douchey, George himself is adorable, and William H. Macy narrates… and who doesn’t love a little William H. Macy? With that said, however, Lyz makes some excellent points in this piece. And she and I are of a similar mind that The Man is definitely part of a shady ring involving the illegal trafficking of wild animals. Oh, and he’s totally banging Professor Wiseman.

• This week, Alison at Writing, Wishing put a fun new spin on some old blogging challenges in 7 Deadly Sins of Blogging. I know I’ve been guilty of all seven at various points over the past 2-1/2 years. Bloggers, can you relate?

• And speaking of blogging, someone has finally said what many of us have been feeling ever since Circle of Moms opened their Top 25 Funny Moms of 2013 contest last week. That someone is Julie at Life According to Julie and her post is appropriately titled The Circle of Moms Top 25 Mom Blogs Contest is Making Us Crazy!  Here Julie touches on every maddening aspect of this popularity contest – starting with the fact that it is a popularity contest. And so it goes that there is an absurd amount of begging and pleading and cajoling involved in the voting process. And as one of the bloggers in the running, I’m with Julie in saying… I’m sort of over it. While I will certainly plug the contest at the end of each new post – that’s just good PR – I just can’t bring myself to campaign for it ad nauseum on Facebook and Twitter. And I can’t help but feel that if I’m destined to wind up in the Top 25 (which I dare say I’m not), then I would want to do so on my own merit – not because I had to beg people to vote for me.

(That said, if you would like to throw a vote my way, by all means…)

And with that not-so-subliminal message firmly rooted in your brain, it’s time to wrap this soiree up.

Have a great weekend!