Friday Favorites--Last Week of Summer Faves

We are back from our dreamlike vacation and it's the last week of summer vacation around the Good Better Best household. It's Friday so I am linking up with Erika, Narci and Andrea to talk about what I am finding Joy in this week, even though we came home to a broken air conditioner.

1) Gluten Free Fried Food

If you have been around here for even a hot minute, you know that I am gluten free and I have been since 2010. While I don't miss much being gluten free, there are several foods I really miss, one of those is fried clam strips. When I was trying to figure out if I really needed to be gluten free, fried clam strips was my test food. The answer is yes...oh yes do I need to be gluten free but the clam strips were Good.


So imagine my sheer Joy when discussing the menu with the most adorable waitress at Skull Creek Dockside told me that all of their fried food was gluten free. Like all of it. The scallops, the shrimp, the fish and then I spied the clams on the menu. I asked her if the clams were "strips or bellies" and she said they were fresh strips. I literally almost cried and they were amazing. Between those and the gluten free coffee cake I had that morning, it was quite possible the Best food day of my life.

2) Less Working Mom Anxiety

As a mom who works outside my house, the summer gives me anxiety. I really don't have a lot of working mom anxiety during the school year because there is a schedule, there is a rhythm and there is usually a lot of notice on both school and work commitments. But summer...makes me anxious. It was one of the things that really played into my decision when I was deciding between two jobs earlier this year and I know I absolutely made the Best choice.

Well, as usual, the summer worked out. I am blessed with an amazing amount of flexibility at work. Not a problem to pick up Hockey Guy at camp, totally fine to leave early for camp carpool or get the class list at school. The Best thing is that I am blessed with a school community of amazing families, who have these really Good older kids that I have been able to hire to hang out with Hockey Guy during the work week. 

The camps worked out, the off weeks worked out, my work projects all worked out. This year summer was all Good. 

3) New Sandals

I am a big fan of Oka-B shoes. They really helped my plantar fasciitis and they are also super cute. When we were riding our bikes to the beach the first few days of our vacation last week I was wearing my Oka-B slides but they were not great for bike riding. I needed a toe grip or an ankle strap. So how lucky am I that I spied these cute Oka-B sandals while we were out getting a treat one night. Same level of foot support, same cute styling, but with an ankle strap. I am still not a very Good bike rider, but these made it Better. 

4) Pelicans

I learned on our trip that I am really into pelicans. They are such cool animals. I was just fascinated by watching them hover over the ocean and then dive in for lunch. Someone told me that they are kind of nasty, but I just enjoyed watching them fly and dive all week.

5) Skinny Cocktails

On our trip I really wanted to order a fun cocktail on the beach but just couldn't justify the calories...see #1 above about the fried food! I kinda of altered the skinny colada on the menu because I wasn't sure if the coconut vodka was gluten free. So I had them make me a Malibu rum, pineapple juice and soda water. It was so Good. It had all of the taste of a pina colada without all of the calories. 

I have an idea for another version that I a going to test out this weekend. If it turns out like I hope it will, I will post here soon.

We start school this week and then I have a work trip, so this weekend is all about organizing and soaking up the last minutes of summer! To those of you who still have a week before school starts I hope you enjoy every last drop of summer. If you are back, I hope everyone is in the swing of things.

I am going to try to focus more on food and recipes in the next few months, please feel free to leave any request or things you would like to see on Good Better Best in the comments below.