Sometimes I almost feel guilty when I shout super happy thoughts from the rooftops on Twitter. Almost. It’s so easy to turn to Twitter and Facebook when things are ridiculous—because let’s be honest, I have now stepped on dead birds, uh, twice. Ridiculous things seem to find me, it’s beyond laughable at this point. I love to share the funny things my kids say, because if weren’t already aware, my children are the best material ever. EVER. I love to share when Isabella tells me that she’s having the worst day of all time because I forced her to have cake for breakfast and I forced her to use sub-par goggles for when she spent the entire livelong day in a pool with her friends. The worst, clearly. I love to share when I am in desperate need of coffee, when I can’t put my brassiere on because Trainer Kim has destroyed my body.
But when my updates are filled with simple goodness, its feels weird.
Why does it feel weird? It shouldn’t feel weird to talk about good things, to be happy.
For example, I didn’t tweet this, even though I wanted to: We had three ridiculously good report cards this year, including one that was all A+s. See? Because then all of a sudden I’m a show-off, neener neener my kids are brilliant.
But I did tweet this last night:
Because seriously, it was just that good. I didn’t even care if the internet turned on me and was all, Jesus Ali why can’t you just go back to tweeting about The Bachelorette and your fear of pictures of other people’s feet and how many Oreos you can fit in your mouth at one time**?
I didn’t even care. Because it was just one of those days. Good from top to bottom. Jays games and lunches outside and laughs and long bike rides through unexplored places and perfect peppermint tea and trampolining and good coffee and inside jokes and Warm Bodies and snuggles and Chinese leftovers and smiles and giant maple-leaf-shaped festive cookies that were not only delicious, they were completely nut-free. It was a Canada Day that wasn’t out-of-the-box, over-the-top spectacular, but it was just a really good day.
It was a day that I needed—to recharge my energy and my old-lady bones as we head into the busiest summer of our lives, both personally and professionally. Things are spiraling out of control, in a good way, but looking at the calendar makes me want to cry. There are so many good things happening, but there’s no time scheduled in there for breathing and taking breaks. It’s all go, go, go, go.
And after yesterday, I’m ready to go!
Bring it, summer.
I’m ready.
For it all, especially for The Great Dark Circle Challenge of 2013, for which I will be needing your help. It seems that thanks to age, heredity, stress, and allergies (all four, wheee!) the dark circles under my eyes have become permanent fixtures on my face and are as stubborn as my first-born.
So, the challenge this summer is to find a solution for them, since not even photoshop can fix these puppies.
See?
Well, maybe it can a wee bit…
Behold! I am one of those Spot the Difference cartoons from your Highlights Magazine!
But I’m still asking—nay, begging—for your best under-eye dark-circle concealer tricks and tips.
Just don’t say less stress, because, well, that’s not happening—at least not until the kids go back to school in September.

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