When you’re crushing on a celeb, you hope to meet them in person. Make-A-Wish recently facilitated the wish of 16-year-old Emily—who has kidney disease. Her dream was to meet Keanu Reeves. Mom Deborah said Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure is one of Emily’s favorite movies, “She came across it one day and was instantly hooked.”

Plus, Emily appreciates Keanu’s personality and all his movies. 

Emily met her man on the set of Bill & Ted Face the Music, filming in Louisiana. She got to ask him questions, get autographs, have lunch with him and the crew—and got to watch a scene being filmed.

So jelly!

Mom Deborah said, “It was an unbelievable day. She hasn’t been this happy in months! Keanu seemed to be having as much fun with Emily as she was with him.”
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Whoa…

Brown-bagging it is so last century. Seriously. Those bags are just trashing up the environment.

Whether you’re a tree hugger or not, eco-friendly lunch accessories are the pizza bomb! Keep Cool has launched a new sustainable bag brand for Target called Out of the Woods. Whether it’s back-to-school or a desire to be the office envy, these three new must-have designs are the answer to consumer demand for products that are more environmentally-friendly and ethically-centered. That’s nice and all, but we think the designs are cool. ​

​These styles all feature Supernatural Paper—a renewable, lightweight material derived from paper that matches the strength and aesthetics of leather while being 100% animal free. They’re even washable!

Crack Wise-ing: We don’t feel our lunch is worthy enough of such awesomeness. A pb&j with a side of pickles and barbecue potato chips sounds more like a leftover-plastic-shopping bag kind of thing. We feel like we need to eat salmon and quinoa in order to use these bags…

All three styles are priced at $11.99.          

Babies’ cute little tushies are just so precious! And their skin is delicate and needs the utmost care.

Huggies has introduced Huggies Special Delivery—the softest diaper with plant-based materials designed to provide comfort without compromise.​

​These diapers feature a baby-sided liner and waistband made with fibers derived from plant-based materials such as sugarcane for superior absorption and fit. They’re free of parabens, fragrance, and elemental chlorine—and are dermatologically tested and clinically proven hypoallergenic.

Huggies Special Delivery are available in sizes Newborn through Size 6.
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Get your baby’s booty off on the right foot. There are plenty of adult years to be booty-rude.

The beach. The sand. The water. The beverages. For us, this is the ultimate escape. We’ve always been fascinated with those who can surf. Because we cannot. And will not. Because we have the klutz gene. Which means—ultimate injury. There is a huge 10-day everything-surf event happening in North Carolina starting this weekend. 

Perhaps we can merely be observers at the 14th Annual O’Neill/Sweetwater Pro-Am Surf Fest in Wrightsville Beach. The two-day event August 16th-18th attracts 200 pros and amateurs from Florida to Rhode Island. There will be longboard and shortboard competitions, along with the new extreme surfing with the Red Bull Tow-At.
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On Saturday, you can keep dry on solid ground with the Music and Art Fest, combining local musicians, arts, crafts, and family activities. Proceeds will benefit non-profit organizations Hope From Helen and Surf Club.

Monday the 19th is dedicated to Surfers Healing—an organization dedicated to enriching the lives of those with autism by exposing them to the experience of surfing.

And from the 23-25th, don’t miss the 7th Annual Wrightsville Beach Wahine Classic—open to lady surfers of all ages.

With surfing now a part of the 2020 Olympic Games, maybe we could… nope. That whole klutz thing…

We’ll wait for an Olympic competition involving surfing channels…

​Social Media. It’s a love/hate relationship. Love the cute animal memes and videos, hate the political stuff and—the scammers.

Here’s how to keep your personal information safe, according to author/entrepreneur/creative director/smart person-type Jason Pinchoff:

Google yourself!
Reason why is you are doing one of the steps basic hackers start with. So, if you find information about yourself on websites I suggest emailing them or calling to get them to remove your “private” information.   
Next step, always check, recheck than check again your privacy settings in ALL social media platforms; especially the giants like Facebook/Instagram. It’s how they make their money off you. They find ways to alter and reset privacy tabs public with a lot of legal mumbo jumbo. But all you need to do is set it to PRIVATE again! 

Common Social Media Scams:
First anyone who slides into your DM to offer you anything-- just delete. Real corporations will call you, email you, or find other ways to contact you personally.  

The BIGGEST scammers are those who say they can do this or that and tell you they have 20-50 thousand followers and can make you get more traction. These scams are really easy to figure out but for those who don’t know-- here’s the million dollar secret.    If they have 20,000 followers and only get 500-1000 likes on every single post and no one really is entering into conversations or added comments they probably bought those followers and likes.  I see it a lot in the entertainment/public relations areas.    

It’s unfortunate because there are truly amazing, talented young hustlers out there that don’t get noticed because they aren’t able to get the same engagement as the scammers do. On a final PINCH Tip:  always make sure you stay on top of what you do and post. Because there is always somebody around that can capture anything you do or say!  So be smart and protect yourself with knowing the tricks and thinking everything you do out beforehand. 

Crack Wise-dom:
First off, PINCH tip? Makes us think of “pinching” the tip, which could go way wrong… or “pinching” a loaf. But, we’ll at least give the Pinchmeister credit for some good advice (though we had to clean up some of the spelling and grammar.)

Second off, be paranoid. And realize the Russians have all the info on us. So either, be very, very, very skeered. Or give ‘em something to really talk about.

We’ve got plenty of grilling to do still this summer, and into fall. Heck, sometimes when we’re pissed at Mother Nature, we’ll grill in the midst of a snow storm.

If you’re a complete grillmaster and a football fan, then you need to get a grip on these:
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The Classic 3-Piece BBQ Set from The Grommet includes a heavy-duty spatula, grill fork (both with built-in bottle openers, and tongs. They’re made from stainless steel and hard maple wood, each with a laser-etched logo of your favorite pro sports team, 140-college teams, or any branch of the military. The $49.95 price tag might be worth it.

While we’re on the topic of meat (?)….

Let’s say you’ve grilled up a divine roast of some sort, and now you want to shred it up for tacos, or slip some meat between buns. Perhaps this tool will come in handy…
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Oh, yeah! You’re a professional now! The Meat Handler and Shredder, also from The Grommet, uses six super-sharp prongs to easily shred meat. The awesome grip allows you to also lift large roasts or turkeys and hold them stable if you choose to carve. For $12.95 this is a must.

Get your grill on, and wow at your next gathering…

It’s a slippery slope. Credit cards, that is. Some people don’t realize that credit is not a magical tree where there is an endless supply of funds. You charge, you pay. And if you don’t pay it off, there’s interest accruing.

We didn’t have a credit card until we were in college, but it seems parents are handing their children credit cards for the school year. And according to WalletHub, dads are three times more likely to be the purveyors of plastic. 

 
Here are some interesting discoveries:

42% of moms think kids should get their first credit card at the age of 21. The same percentage of dads say it should be age 18.

Dads are more likely than moms (65% vs 58%) to think their kids’ education is worth going into debt.

48% of parents say students should be paid for good grades.

Nearly 3X more parents say Walmart is the best place to do back-to-school shopping than Amazon.com.

Plastic’s cool, if one is educated on how to use it responsibly. Doh!

Is there such thing as free time? We have some. But what little we have, it seems we’re using on other things like out-of-town weddings, birthday celebrations, bachelorette parties, etc…

According to research, 80% of us would rather start using our hard-earned vacation time for ourselves.

Research firm Mortar gathered results for travel company Flash Pack. It found that:

On average, 3.5 of our earned days off are eaten up by other people’s events. With 10 days being the average vacation time given to employees, that’s 35% being used to celebrate other people’s milestones.

25% of respondents took more than 5 days off in the last year for other people’s events. That’s half of their yearly allotment!

For 25-44 year olds, wedding season is particularly dreaded! 61% of respondents within this age group have had up to 10 local weddings in the last 3 years, 34% have had up to 4 destination weddings in the same time period.

Here’s a thought from Uncle Crack Wise: just say NO! It’s okay. Send a gift. Then go on a damn vacation for yourself! Or, we could show up at your house and smack the livin’ dixie out of you. Your choice.

The Illuminati. Some say this mystical, powerful, yet dangerous group exists and has forever—and controls the most famous celebrities. Some have claimed to have sold their soul in exchange for fame and fortune. What is the true story of the Illuminati?

ILLUMINATED: THE TRUE STORY OF THE ILLUMINATI dives into the fascinating group and shines a spotlight on the truth behind the mysteries.  Johnny Royal ("33 & Beyond: The Royal Art of Freemasonry") directs the documentary, which reveals the true historical origins of the Illuminati by examining their hand-written documents from the late 18th century, along with faithful reenactments of the secret society's authentic rituals which have never been previously seen by the public.

The film will make its L.A. debut on July 30th.
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​We kind of feel like the Illuminati is creepily watching us read this story… but we realize we have nothing to offer the Illuminati, so….

Dating is difficult at any age. So. Many. Douchebags. And the older we get, the more our don’t-give-a-f&ck is in full effect. Plus, there’s no time to play coy.
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Lumen is a free dating app exclusively for those over the age of 50. The goal is to help people make connections with true, genuine people. According to their mission statement:

“We know we’re not inventing the wheel. Senior dating sites exist. But they are dull, and boring and they just don’t represent the single over 50s we know. ‘Mature dating’ has become a euphemism for dry and boring, but once you get to a certain age, generic dating apps aren’t fun places to date either. Which is where we come in. Welcome to Lumen - the dating app designed just for you.”

Lumen is the first dating app to:

Photo-verify every single user: On sign-up, users are asked to take a selfie. This doesn't appear in their profile but is used to cross-reference against profile images.

Age-restrict: No under 50s. If you are under 50 the app automatically blocks your entry and sends you a polite message telling you that you are a spring chicken.

Safety is of importance: Users can easily block and report users for inappropriate behavior.
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Download the app and get ready to mingle. You got this!