My Lunch in a [Bento] Box
Hi guys! How are ya?? The weekend is in sight!! So. Stoked. 😀
The morning’s breakfast was delicious, but I was way more excited about lunch 😉
Breakfast cookie dough cereal with a crumbled macaroon
Is it scary that I get really excited about a lunch box???
Since I’m working a regular job now (instead of the make-my-own-schedule jobs I had in Valdizzy), I’m going to be packing my lunches pretty often. I did some research on Amazon and was so excited to see this cute bento box!
You can re-arrange the little containers according to what you packed:
and I ordered some different colors and shapes to have, too.
So functional!!! Even though it’s plastic (yes, BPA is bad, I know), I figured it would be more earth-friendly than using a ton of plastic baggies to pack my schtuff.
Today’s lunch:
-Arugula and Spinach
-Hummus with cayenne
-Carrot sticks
-Roasted beets (from the hot bar) with goat gouda and Garlic Gold
Lids on:
Ballerrrrrrrr 🙂
It fits perfectly in my purse and all I have to do is wash out the containers each night. Super easy and so fun 😀
After coming home from a long day of training at work, I had some multigrain chips with my cousin (because it was “chip thirty”), and an apple with peanut butter and almond butter crumbles (leftover over from the AB I made the other day).
Perfection.
I’m off to chill for a second and then hit up the gym for weights and a Zumba class 🙂
Have a beautiful night!
xoxo
G$
Something to talk about: Visions! Brace yourself, friends, things are about to get a little deep up in here 😉
At work today, we talked a lot about goals and visions we have for ourselves in the next year, five years from now and ten years in the future. We did a visualization exercise in which we closed our eyes for a couple of minutes and thought about a time ten years from now. We were supposed to think about an entire day in our life, from the time we woke up until we went to bed. Where would we live? Who would we be surrounded by? What would we do that day??
Since I had to share my vision with the group, I figured I’d share it all with you 😀 Here’s what my day, ten years from now, looked like:
I wake up to a little girl lightly brushing my face. “Mommy, wake up,” she says, “Dad is making pancakes!”. I open my eyes and see the house- neutral colors and tall ceilings. Clean lines and modern, simple decor. The smell of pancakes and bacon fills the air and I walk downstairs with the little girl to see the Pilot and her sister making pancakes together. We eat breakfast and I get ready for a hot yoga class. After yoga practice, we take our daughters and the dogs to the park, spent the day playing until we come home and I put the finishing touches on a meal I’m catering. After dropping off the meal and saying goodbye to the girls and their sitter, the Pilot and I go out for dinner and cocktails with friends. We come home to to the house, the girls fast asleep and call it a night.
This was a really powerful exercise because it made me realize that even with how Type A and ambitious I am, my family is what matters most to me. I really believe that people’s family and connections are what help define them, not necessarily what their line of work is.
So, if you feel like sharing (especially since I’m hanging out on a limb over here, hahah), I’d love to hear your ten year vision. Close your eyes for a couple of minutes and think about an entire day, start to finish, ten years from now 🙂 (It doesn’t have to be as descriptive as mine- even if you just want to say what you’ll be up to, I’d love to read about it)
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Bento boxes are BPA and lead free. For plastic they are actually a very environmentally friendly company and care about the safety of their product!
I was just looking at a blog last night about a mom who packs all of her kid’s lunches in bento boxes– so cute! the url is bentolunch.net
Your lunch box rocks!!! 🙂
In ten years I will be 37. I hope to be happy with my choices in life, committed to my boyfriend (if we decide marriage isn’t in our cards but still want to be with each other), traveling to new places together, have my brother and his wife have babies so I can be an aunt, my parents finally retiring after over 30 years of hard work and making quarterly visits to South Carolina where they will (for reals) be living. I also want to continue staying healthy and taking care of my body the best I can. 🙂 Thank you for this post and allowing us to think of what’s important in our lives as well! 🙂
In ten years I will be 32. I see myself married, with at least one child. I’m an awesome balance of soccer (or whatever sport) mom, work and play. As for where I’m working and living- anywhere. Doing an exercise like this used to be so easy for me to do. But now I’m almost out of college, and my career goals change all the time. I want to work everywhere, do a little bit of everything, and travel everywhere. I just know I’ll be healthy and happy. 🙂
I wish I needed to take a lunch to work, just so I could use a bento box, too! (I work from home, so I know I shouldn’t be complaining… but still– it looks so fun!!)
In ten years from now, I hope to have two healthy kids with my husband, and I hope to be living in our old hometown, near both of our families. (NOT in Los Angeles like we do now!) Ideally, I’d love to be still working as a part-time greeting card illustrator, which is what I do full-time at the moment, or I’d love to work at my old gym! I also hope most of my friends live in the same area so we can raise our kiddos together! 🙂
This is fun…I get so caught up in the day to day that I forget how much there is to look forward to!
In ten years, I’ll be 38. I honestly don’t know if I’ll be with my current partner, but I know that we’ll be friends, and co-parenting the baby we’re currently working towards….I’ll be back working in international development and relief, living somewhere either in South America or east Africa and be very tied into women’s cooperative businesses and organizations wherever I land. Hopefully, I’ll be in the process of adopting more children, and be a little more grounded than my current swirling self 🙂
i have to tell you that for the longest time – my whole life, i pictured having 2 girls. imagine my surprise – still – when i look @ my boys, ages 8 & 11……..
but it’s so much better than i thought it would be. hoping your dreams come true – even if they take a different shape than you imagined!
Cute lunch box. I like how small it is!
What a cool exercise for work! I love your vision 😀 😀 I’ll have to think about mine!
your lunch box is too cute, i love it!!
Ten years from now: I”l be 39…oh boy! Anyhow. I’d wake up at my house close to the ocean [no more living in ATL!! :)] and go for a walk along the water. When I get home my husband would be making breakfast with our two young children (preferably twins 1 boy 1 girl…but, as they say, as long as they are healthy I’ll be happy). After cleaning up from breakfast the family would take a little trip together and just enjoy each other’s company. Perhaps i’d do some part time work in the late afternoon- by then I’m sure to have found my passion and real purpose in life (still searching today). My dream day 10 years from now would end with a dinner with the family then alone time with my husband, even if its just going for a walk or watching a movie.
I know I struggle with figuring out what I want to do in life career-wise, but when it comes down to it I think you are right, in the end the most important things are family and friends.
I see myself waking up to coffee, apples and warm candles. The house is a cottage. I walk over to the bassinet and pick up the baby. I put him in his stroller and we go on a walk around the neighborhood.
I go to the organic farm for groceries, come home and make an elaborate dinner with my husband – vegetarian with cupcakes for dessert with wine. We put the baby to bed and hang out by candle-light, spending the night with just ourselves, conversation and maybe a movie.
I bought some various Bento boxes of different styles and it was great the first day I took it to school/work.
Great exercise! I turn 30 in one week and I can’t imagine being 40, so I will do this exercise for 5 years from now instead.:)Killer beno box!
I want one of those lunchboxes…only I have no reason to pack a lunch. Oh well.
not to cheat, but mine would sound like yours…i love family and relationships more than anything in the entire world 🙂
Wow…in ten years, I’ll be 43. My son will be 15 and my daughter will be 13. That is crazy!!! Teenagers!!!! I just hope that they are happy and healthy!
I’ll have a teenager in 10 years- crazy! I hope to loving life with my family and the owner of a successful yoga studio that hosts a lot of charity events. I feel happy just dreaming about it.:)
I’ve never really given it a good thought as to what I want in 10 years. I’ll be 31, so I’d like to be married with maybe one kid (and another coming in the future!). We’d live in a little suburban area in a house with a huge yard and big front porch. I’ll be a sports nutritionist that makes my own hours, so I’ll have plenty of time to spend with my family. And by then I’d like to have run a half marathon. 😀
Love the bento box- might need to get me one!
LOVE the bento box!!
My vision… I wake up with the sun and crawl out of bed. After a glass of water I head out for a run, through the streets I always wanted to live in, by the water and back. I come home, shower and fix myself some breakfast before taking the dogs for a walk, and kissing my husband goodbye before I leave for the day. I spend the morning doing a grocery store tour, and spend the afternoon grocery shopping for my weekly cooking class that night. In between class preparations I am working on a menu for a family looking for healthy meals, I’m personal cheffing for them on Monday. My evening is spent teaching a group of ten the benefits and delights of whole foods cooking. I leave my kitchen satisfied and happy, and make my way home. When I get home I find my husband watching our favorite show, so I make myself a cup of tea, grab an organic cookie and curl up next to him for a relaxing end to my day.
xo
Kris
I love the bento, I rock it at work and people always love it! jessicasbento.wordpress.com
I have the same bento box, hehe! I got it for work because I was always lugging around a pile of containers with leftover food sloshing around in them, and the bento box seems to solve the portioning problems and container madness. Plus, it is BPA-free plastic so maybe it’s not too bad 😉
I love your vision 🙂 no son for the pilot??
the pilot actually wants girls 🙂 we would be happy either way though <3
Your vision sounds like my life 🙂 Thanks for making me appreciate what I already have a little bit more this morning!
you already know i have mama pea life envy haha 😉
Thanks for sharing your vision! It actually gave me goosebumps becaues I know how personal those things are. I think this is an exercise I should try at some point. I remember being at an open house with a friend of mine who is a real estate agent and we were discussing the house we were in. She was saying how it wasn’t big enough or open enough for what she would want…It was an old war time house with 2 stories and a big wooden staircase. I could practically hear kids running down the stairs calling “Mom, what’s for dinner?” and realized right there that this was the type of place I would want my family in.
Have a great weekend!
Laptop Lunches bento boxes are totally great. If you go to their website they have all sorts of cool info and you can sign up for their newsletter which always has helpful tips. http://www.laptoplunches.com/
I like “Mr. Ferguson’s Classroom.” http://www.mrfergusonsclassroom.com/ It’s a site by an American guy who lives in Japan and teaches English there in a Japanese school. He is always posting about the meals, often showing the creative ways bento boxes are used. Check it out!
I wake up from the sound of the husbands alarm. He gets ready for work. I get my twin boys ready for school, and I get dressed to go work at the hospital. Go to work as a float nurse for the hospital. Experiencing ICU’s, cardiac, ER, ped’s, wherever they need me that day. Come home to hubby making me and the boys dinner 🙂 Sit down in our beautiful kitchen with an island. After dinner spend time with our boys reading them books and playing in their playroom. Put them to bed, go downstairs to the first floor of our traditional designed two-story brick home; catch up on our shows and me walking on the treadmill. Catch up on each others days, me telling him the hospital is reviewing me for a position as Director of Nursing. Read and then go bed.
I really liked this exercise, thank you for sharing your day! 🙂
Will Bento boxes make their way to your open sky store? Hint, hint!
For some reason your exercise made me want to reflect on the past ten years and see if what I envisioned then, came true in the present. And I’m happy to say it did, though of course I am now seeking new challenges. But what I wanted at age 26 was to get into graduate school, specifically Stanford, in education or psychology and earn my Ph.D., and meet the man of my dreams (I was single then). I did all of those things, so now I need to come up with new goals. My brain is resting right now, though.
Cutest lunch ever! Love reading through everyone’s visions! What a fun and powerful exercise. Here goes… a day in the life of 37 year old Shannon.
I wake up to my alarm and take our chocolate lab for a quick run before Mike and the 2 kiddos wake up. After getting ready for work, we all sit around eating cereal & fruit and talking while Mike and I flip through the paper. Mike heads off to work and I get the big kiddo ready for the school bus. My mom arrives to watch the little kiddo, and we share a quick cup of coffee and some gossip before I head off to work.
I put in about a 6 hour day as a school-based speech pathologist. Most of my clients are hearing impaired, but I am also getting some exposure to children with on the spectrum and with language disorders. I feel proud after seeing my clients’ progress at the end of the day.
I arrive home and relieve my mom of her kiddo-watching duties. I play with the little kiddo and help the bigger kiddo with school work. When Mike gets home, we invite a neighborhood family or 2 over to grill out. I sit on our gorgeous wrap around porch and drink a glass of wine with some neighborhood ladies while Mike grills yummy dinner with the guys. The kids are running around the yard playing in the sprinkler. After dinner, the kids all get in their jammies and watch a video while the grown-ups hang out and talk.
Once the kids start yawning, the neighbors head home and we put our kiddos to bed. Mike and I split up and spend a good 20 minutes reading to one kiddo (we’ll switch kiddos tomorrow night). Then it’s grown up hang-out time. We finally catch up on the day and talk about how grateful we are to have such a happy life. We read in bed for a bit and then drift off to sleep.
What an awesome exercise! I can’t wait to try it when I have some quiet time for myself. 🙂
I hate to be a buzzkill, but unless you are a movie star or a lottery winner, your weekends with children are all about the kids – ballet, play dates, laundry, groceries, baths, homework, cooking, etc. You don’t really get to sleep in and you never really get a good, full night of uninterrupted sleep (mommy I have to go to the bathroom or I had a nightmare). You can fit in exercise and personal time by taking turns with your partner, but for the first 10 years or so, you do not really have this kind of fantasy life. Sorry to break it to you. Just want you to be prepared in case you decide to have kids.
i think it’s difficult to make generalizations like that. my dad and stepmom have two very active kids (soccer, boy scouts, play dates, baseball) and still have relaxing days where they go out with friends and hang out.
someone sure sounds bitter. i thought it was a lovely vision and i know it will come true for you!
In 10 years I will be 32, I hope I will be living the same life. Backpacking the world, working when I need the money and coming back to Canada to visit family. Hopefully I will have picked a city for a home but I can’t see that happening.
In 10 years my daughters MAY be out of the house AND graduates of college.
That is freaky!!!!
And I’ll have learned to paint.
I so know where you work! This post & your new book you are reading (good to great) was a giveaway. Hope you enjoy it. It was 2yrs of my life that I’m glad are overrrr lol. I don’t want to say too much bc I know you want to keep it secret for safety reasons!
This is suchh an awesome exercise, theres only one amazing company that I know focuses on goal setting ;P I wont say, It’s my dream job and actually interviewed for them recently, such an amazing company to be working for. I love your vision, it was interesting when I was writing down my 10 year goal I didn’t realize how much my focus was not on my career but my family, I wish u luck and lots of fun at your new job!!!
In ten years… I will be coming off of a night shift at the hospital, un-clipping the name tag that says “Team Lead RN” and stashing it in my purse before I drive home. I will walk into my house, pet my dog, peek into both my childrens’ bedrooms to make sure they are still sleeping and then climb into bed with my husband for a few hours of sleep before I go in to teach nursing classes at the local college. My husband will get the kids off to school, and head out to work at his forestry job. I will get home in time to cook dinner for our family and we will take the kids out for a hike.
Right now, I am a night shift manager at an assisted living, and I am just about to start nursing school in January. I have no children. But I do have an amazing husband!
I spent a whole year as an exchange student in Kyoto Japan, and I have to say I probably wouldnt have gotten by if it werent for a delicious dinner of udon a couple of times a week! There is even one shop where you can eat for free if you do 30 minutes of washing the dishes after, but I cant say I was ever that poor! Anyway, I found a load more tasty looking ideas at this udon recipe site.
Wow, I came across this post and it’s been over a year since you wrote it…:) but thought I would share…not really a “day” in the life of me, but how I envision my life to be…
In ten years, I’ll be 38 and fit! 🙂
I’d have finished my residency and fellowship by then, a doctor working at a wonderful clinic with other doctors who are friendly and a pleasure to work with.
I would be married to a wonderful amazing man who is a great cook, we’d have a big house, two cars, and a beautiful daughter we adopted from India. We’d probably also have a cute little cat/dog aswell.
Would love to be an accomplished doctor and a loving wife and mother.
I am just now reading this post. (It was posted under the “you might also like” from todays blog post . Anyway, I saw this one today & thought how amazing it is that the vision you had for your life long ago is coming true Congratulations on your new bundle of joy!