bento friday wrap-up

Tags

bento, cooking, food

I’ve always done the bento presentation on Friday and I have no idea why I did it in the middle of the week this week.
I learned something this week though, that my bentos become more elaborate and pretty when I’m stressed out at work. It’s some kind of weird stress reliever that works into my evening routine, because well…the lunches have to be made anyway.
I looked back through my bento set on Flickr and sure enough, each time I had big deadlines, the bentos were cute; otherwise they were simply functional.
That being said, I’m going to duplicate a few from the post earlier this week just to keep the entire week together in one post.

And yes, mine are the boring, mostly salad lunches. I’m back to my strict vegan eating and feeling better for it, which tends to include at least one salad daily.

taking back the mantel

Tags

decorating

Now that the basement is finished, I finally have the entire mantel to decorate without much of it being obscured by giant speakers.  This is a big deal because I love that our mantel is 15 inches or so deep…it’s huge.

As the holiday decorations went down, the winter ones went up.  This year Freya helped considerably, right down to helping me cut down these small branches in the back yard.  I wish I had taken her seriously when she told me Claudius had come out with us…poor cat ended up staying outside in freezing weather for 4 hours or so.  He was not amused.

Huh. Well, I’m reflected in many of those ornaments and the big finale photo is crooked. I wish I had realized that the day I had the lovely light in that back room. I also probably could have picked up the cheesy little speakers that we hook up to my phone to play Pandora throughout the house. Wow, really, that’s a whole lot of fail, isn’t it?

It’s still a vast improvement over last year:

Which felt so busy it was whittled down to:

bento catch-up

Tags

bento, cooking, food

I still haven’t been photographing many, but I still typically make one each workday for myself and one for the little one to take to school.

 

whatcha wearing..last week

Tags

fashion, photography, self portrait, selfportrait

Last week, I spent most of the week out in the field and my clothes showed it, but there’s really nothing that could be done about that. I mean, I had to be able to climb up exterior ladders to get on 40′or higher roofs for inspections, so jeans and running shoes were pretty much the uniform. *sigh*

1/8

1/9

1/10

1/11

1/12

1/13

1/14

(seriously? How did I manage to forget to do a picture before we went out dancing when I was all dressed up??!!)

1/15

1/16

resolutions

Tags

challenge, fashion, photography, self portrait

I don’t do the New Year’s Resolutions thing.  I think I blog that every year.

I’m more a monthly challenge type of person or I pick up goals as I go.  The first of the year just doesn’t do anything for me.  I decided last year I wanted to do a 1/2 marathon so I trained and did it.  Then I decided I wanted to do it again so I did it twice more, trying to improve my technique and time.

I tried the vegan thing for 30 days mid-May to mid-June and it was very interesting.  I then decided to stick mostly with it.  In fact, I was very lax about it in December and didn’t feel well for it.  Back on it now and I’m feeling much better.

Late last year I just decided to start training for a marathon, so I am.

I just don’t do real resolutions, although I have finished several year-long photography challenges over the last 3 years, but those only started on the first of the year because I received the camera (and subsequently my fancy schmancy phones) at Christmas/Birthday, so it took until the 1st to figure out what I wanted to do.

Anyhow, this leads me to again, I don’t do resolutions, I just change things or try new things when I decide it needs changing or I want something new and different.  There is no real rhyme or reason to its beginning point.

Some girlfriends of mine did come up with this great idea to be accountable to eachother daily though in our attire.  It’s a great idea, because with us coming up on middle age, all having kids, careers (whether it be in or out of the home), family life, house stuff, etc., sometimes we let ourselves get lost in the shuffle.  We make sure everyone else is presentable as they leave the house, but what about us?  Sure, jeans and my corporate-logo golf shirt with jeans and messy hair is fine when I’m going to trapsing through the mud all day in steal-toed boots and a hard hat, but what about those other times when I’m not?  The 95% of my job where I’m at the office or meeting a client?

So far, it’s working for me.  I was tempted to dress down several days, but upped it a bit, knowing I was going to have to post a picture or at least confess to my ensemble.  I hope that it only takes me the one month to make this normal procedure so i don’t have to photograph daily.

(I’m trying to get used to this new iPhone too, and how its camera works, etc., so it’s a bit rough right now)

Tuesday-Saturday

holiday obsession

Tags

decorating, Holidays

none of these are repeated.