Bento

I got this little blue case at a shopping center in Portsmouth, England in May. I loved how cute and contained it was. It even came with (plastic) silverware! Justin's occasionally used the silverware for Jules since it's small and a perfect size for him.

I started researching Bento lunches, boxes and accessories a few weeks ago. It's pretty simple to do and to get started you don't have to have a cute little box. A simple leftover container will work too. But, really, it's all about presentation! And kids, who wouldn't want to eat something that's a cute heart, star or flower?



My simple Bento. Ranch roll-ups, carrots and hummus (in the little container). Luckily, the divider is removable so I was able to fit everything just right and tight.

It looked like this when I opened it up 4 hours later. But I think I broke a rule...or didn't follow a simple rule of Bento making - make it look good. It's pretty bland looking. So for my next one, I'll try to make it more colorful.

If you're interested in making your lunch neat, tidy and cute, here are a few resources I found:

A flickr pool with meal ideas

Just Bento is a great resource for everything Bento's

Laptop Lunches

Fun Bento's for kids

And just for fun:

Star Wars Bento

11 Months

Baby Jules, you turned eleven months in London! This month you have mastered a bunch of new skills!

Motion! It really happened after you turned 10 months but it was mostly an army crawl. Now, you crawl. FOR.REALS. I feel bad when I call you like a dog, but you do follow me. It's cute.

It can turn dangerous quickly because we have yet to baby proof the house and we need a baby gate STAT! So we just watch you closely and have you follow us into common places like the living room and kitchen.


(Hotel room in Brussels where you had a great time eating too many waffles and fries)

As fast as crawling came, pulling up came just a few days later. You now pull up to the couch, our legs, tables, and anything else that you can grab. It's fun to see things from a higher perspective. I like to do it sometimes too. One night, I put you to bed and you played for a few minutes, then started to scream. You like to yell but this was different, so I went in your room and there you were. STANDING UP! You looked so proud and so cute. We quickly learned it's time to lower your mattress.



You love to eat and prefer to eat whatever we're having. No more baby food! Ha! Or so you thought. We still give you baby food-from our spoon/fork. So you're still part of the meal, just eating your own food. I'm sorry for the trickery.


(nom nom Speculoos cookies)

Things you love:
Eating
Scully
Mommy/Daddy
A new love for binkies (oh, boy enjoy them now because they are going bye-bye when we get home)
Bath time
screaming with excitement
cuddling
opening doors or anything that you can open
kicking
Standing in your crib
grabbing
pulling my hair
knocking on the door
being outside
tickled behind your neck
taking medicine



Things you don't like:
being told "no"
me walking out of a room
messing with your sleep schedule
jet lag

I'm sure the list is longer, but you really are a good boy who loves everything!



You recently took your first bike ride through Brussels and you loved it! Guess what you'll be doing this summer with dad (wearing a helmet of course).

We think your first word is either "da-da" or "dog-gie" but you do throw "mama" in every once in a while. You also learned how to clap. And when I say "yea!" you immediately clap. You also clap when you see something you like. You must like everything because you clap all the time.



Happy 11 months baby Jules!

MIxed Reviews

When you book a big trip like Justin and I did, make sure you do your homework. I researched our hotel in London weeks before I booked it. The reviews were mixed and, as we found out, with good reason. It was in a cool area of town. Everything was in walking distance, including the BEST falafal I have EVER had. It was so good, we had it two nights in a row. So freaking good! Did I mention it was the best I've ever had?

The hotel offered free breakfast which was a bonus since our dollar was so weak there; we needed something free. And the room was adequate and cleaned almost daily. And we had a trouser press in the room. How British! I don't think we brought trousers but that didn't stop Justin from using it.

Now for the bad reviews. The room was VERY small but we didn't care because we were celebrating my 30th birthday all week in London...not in a small hotel room. With all the luggage we had, there just wasn't enough room. The room was cleaned for the most part. Sometimes the trash wasn't taken out or the bed made but we thought, "This is London. Maybe they do things differently over here. Lets go get falafal!"

Early one morning we got up to catch the Eurostar train to Paris. Looking back, I'm glad we got up at 6am because right before we left all dressed up for our big day in Paris, we started to hear something. We knew immediately what that sound was. Then it became obvious when we could see our bed hitting the wall...without us in it. Justin was impressed with our neighbors. I was impressed with our luck; us leaving that morning. I think they were French because they smoked all the time in their non-smoking room. I threatened to call the front desk but I didn't want a wake up call from them again in the morning, so I gave up.

Phone charges are killer at this hotel or again, our dollar just sucks. Make sure to ask about premium phone numbers (aka 1-900 numbers, but we didn't call one of those numbers. It was the BBC, I don't think they are that skanky.) One call cost us $30. I'm NOT kidding. Justin limited our cell phone time due to $1/min charges. Looking back, that wasn't smart. It would have been cheaper to use the cell phone. Live and learn and pay the $60 phone bill. Grrrr

Besides all those silly little problems, we enjoyed our trip to London. I'd recommend this hotel even if there are French there.

Part Two

We made it to London around 10am ready to go. As I expected, our room was tiny. The bathroom reminded me of my basement apartment bathroom - very small. We did the standard touristy things.



Outside the National Gallery in the center of London


"Big Ben kids...Parliament"



Outside Westminster Abby. Theerrr's Parliament in the background.


BBC 1...BBC 2...BBC 3...BBC 4.


My friends Eddy and Patsy. Well, their clothes. Still pretty cool. I earned that coffee mug as a news anchor. Did I forget to tell you I studied broadcasting? I was flawless!


$1 to make a call. Good thing I had no one to call.


Eurostar! Going 184 mph to Paris.


Angelina's in Paris. Drinking chocolate and real cream. So good.

Poor statue.


Outside the Louvre. No time to go inside.


Inside the Notre Dame.


Outside the Notre Dame. It was cold in Paris.


Eiffel Tower. No time to go up. Maybe next time.


Cool photo looking up the tower.


Done with Paris and trains and the subway train that got re-routed while we were waiting for it. Ended up walking back to the hotel about 2 miles. Not a fun way to end the day.


Penny Lane!


Tower of London. Lots of bad things happened here.


Pondering Stonehenge. Or maybe the sun was in my eye.


Our long journey home with our British goodies; Vimto and Walkers Roast Chicken flavored chips. Both were very good and so was our flight.

London in Eight Days

We actually have a few days left here. I'm just waiting for Justin to get up so we can head up to Liverpool to visit the hometown of The Beatles. Internet is expensive here. Actually I just looked at my credit card bill and I spent $111.00 on 2 shirts! So I'm really watching what I spend and if it's something I can get at home, I don't buy it.

London is a complete 180 from Bangkok. It's so nice and friendly. Traffic jams are replaced with subway delays and hookers are replaced with pubs.

It's hard to say if I'd go back to BKK. I need some time to think about it. London on the other hand, I'm totally coming back to. There is still so much we haven't done. But so far it's been great.

Yes, I've had some great Thai food, British food (guess that can be hard to believe) and we had some Lebonese food last night. Yes, I've taken lots of photos including photos of Justin and I in our Indian outfits. Don't worry, we'll post them up for all to see. On our way back from Paris Justin took a photo to show how I was feeling at the time. You'll be able to tell which one.

Well it's time for a traditional English breakfast. We'll be home Tuesday night. Don't worry work friends, we'll be in the office Wednesday at 7am!

You Say Goodbye and I Say Hello!

My twenties didn't suck too bad. I got married, graduated college, got my first "real" job and got laid off from that "real" job. I actually had a dream last night that my old HR lady from that place came to where I work now and fired me. And for some reason I believed her except she didn't give me a box like everyone else got last week.

We had a lay-off day last week. I knew I was on the chopping block. Once I saw the girl next to me was gone, I grabbed my personal file and a few other things and just waited.

Then I got the notice; "Can you come into my office?" I didn't want to go in there empty handed so I grabbed a notepad (always ready for notes) and a pen and smiled my way to that office. I figured if it was going to happen it'll be a big relief. Then I remembered I have the BIGGEST vacation of my life coming up and having no money would be bad. (We've saved up plenty...don't worry.)

I walked in and sat down. "Shut the door." Oh crap. This means business. But before he started talking I realized something: A)If I was going to be let go, it wouldn't be by him. 2)there was no one else in his office (i.e. my BOSS). So I was eager to hear what he had to say.

I'm not laid off. I got a job. Surprised and somewhat sad who they let go, but I was excited to finally have a job description. What a huge relief.

Speaking of the BIGGEST vacation of my young life...I was asked the other day at lunch if Justin and I get really excited before a big trip. I said yes and no. Yes for obvious reason. No for stupid reasons. Gotta get Scully taken care of, gotta get all my travel documents and shots. What to take (dress for 2 climates!), what kind of outlet thingies do I need? Oh and the biggest, flying over water for oh, 12+ hours, multiple times. So I'm stressing over that. Justin just says "if we're going to die, we'll die together." So reassuring.

But I just have to look at the big picture. Planes fly all the time and nothing happens. It's just a really long flight and I need to get over that. So I'm thinking about all the things I'll be doing mostly in London. Bangkok will be exciting but that time will be taken up with wedding events. But I would like to go fabric shopping in BKK. Imagine all the fabric! Same thing in London. Fabric stores everywhere!

Here's an inside of what we'll be doing:
Fly to BKK
Spend time in Pattaya
Wedding in BKK
Fly to London
Go to Paris (Chunnel), Liverpool and Bath
Take the Magical Mystery Tour, visit the BBC (totally dorky but I LOVE the BBC) and Stonehenge and all the other touristy things in London (too many to list!)
Fly home

Done. 2 1/2 weeks of adventures to cover us for at least 2 years. I'd say that's a good way to say goodbye to my twenties and hello thirties.

Oh sh**. I think I'll go cry now.

I know I'm slacking but there's a good reason!

After two weeks of craziness at work, I was finally able to relax somewhat this weekend. My mind was officially gone when I started to quote people flights from locations they weren't at. I knew it was time to go home on Friday.

I was determined NOT to think about work. (fyi: I'm planning this huge convention/show/event whatever you want to call it. Booking airfare, scheduling shuttles and anything else that goes along with it for 150 people.) It's all waiting for me today. Yeah!

I actually sewed on Saturday and Sunday. It was relaxed until I f-'d up my serger. Finally realizing I just needed new needles. I'm an idiot. I made 1 top and started on another one (hope to have it finished tonight). I still suck somewhat at sewing clothes but I'm learning. And the serger makes things look nicer. If I can only thread it faster.

Justin and I went out to eat on Friday. We read on our Thailand guide book to leave some food on our plate since it's a sign to the host that you were well taken care of. But it was mentally hard to leave any amount of a $20 piece of fish on my plate. But we managed to do it.

Oh and we are going to Thailand :) Justin's friend in Minnesota is getting married. So we are heading to Bangkok in January the day after my birthday for his wedding. But I still get to go to London for my birthday. Just a week later. We'll make it around the world. I think that's cool!

Well here's to a week that less hectic and idiotic. Oh and to a 3-day weekend on Friday!