Monday, February 24, 2014

The Doctor, Pirates, Oceans, and Butterflies

Basically, it was a busy bento day in my family. I themed each persons bento just for them! Mondays have come to be a day I enjoy. I plan all week and spend over an hour preparing the lunches on Sunday night.

It has been an awesome way to show my family I love them and that I am thinking of them always. Below I will share what I did!

 Above is my husband's Doctor Who themed lunch. The famous lines from the Doctor's wife seemed most appropriate, "hello sweetie". You can also see the cranberry bowtie and the TARDIS I created! The marshmallow person was supposed to be one of the many aliens that the Doctor has encountered.
  
The ocean scene was for my youngest little dude. However, I found out later that neither boy would really eat the noodles because they were blue. Oh well! You live and learn.


My oldest son is totally into pirates right now. So, it was an easy next step to make his pirate themed. If you can't tell, the islands on both lunches is apple sauce. 

Finally we have mine. I stuck to a floral idea for mine. I didn't really have any cool plans for mine like I did for the boys. I was very impressed with my pear/apple flower in the top and my pretty pinwheel sandwiches.

So, what did you do to make you Monday more special?

Saturday, February 22, 2014

Creative Juices

Now my creative juices are finally flowing friends! I have a theme I will have such a blast with for the next three months. The official decision is...

March- "What's for dinner?"
April- How Does My Garden Grow (A look into apartment gardening with a barely "green thumb")
May- I dont have a title yet for this month but I know we will be discussing woman through out history that have done, said, or made things things happen and what I want to take from their lives. Should be a fascinating look into my feelings on what is important.

I can't make any promises about what will come in the summer, but I am so looking forward to Spring on my blog. I know it will keep you coming back for more.

Ive already started planning and plotting for all of them!

Anyway, just a little update. I hope you all had a fantastic Valentine's day. My hubby and I will actually be celebrating it on Friday of this coming week because we were snowed in on the 14th!

Tuesday, February 18, 2014

I Wish it Were March

I am so excited about what the future holds that I just cant wait to tell you about it! In March I will be starting a series called "What's for dinner?" It will be following the crazy concoctions I make that my family has to eat every single night! I'm one of those people who rarely use a recipe or plan in advance for meals (unless its a special occasion). I like to throw things together and see how it goes! For meals that turn out well, I will share how I made it happen and create my very own recipes so you can try it at home. I just know it will be a fun month for everyone!

I also forgot to share with you all something else I am doing this year. I have set a goal for myself to have a party at my apartment every month. So far I have stuck to parties that people can come, eat, and buy! Most of my parties will fall in this realm. It will be a good way to make me feel at home and allow me to entertain, which is something I have always wanted to do. Just to catch you up, I will tell you the parties you've missed and whats coming up in the future as far as I know!

January- Norwex (It was themed " A Night in the Orient". Which ended up being an epic fail, so I planned a birthday party for my husband. The theme of Fandom was a hit!)

February- Tasteful Treasures (If you remember back to last summer when I read the book about sexual health, I was inspired to have one of these kind of parties. It ended up being a blast!)

March- Pampered Chef (Chocolate & Cheese, I can't go wrong there. It is looking to be one of my most popular parties!)

In the future I would also like to have a Tupperware, Stampin' Up, Origami Owl, and 31 party. Any other suggestions?

Another glimpse of the future I can share is that sometime in the spring I will be starting a series on small patio space, or apartment gardening. I have grand hopes of planting edible and lovely things! Before we get there I would love advice from people who know better since I am starting completely from scratch and with little prior knowledge.

Anyway, thats a small update on what the future holds! I also have some reviews and giveaways lined up, so it should be fun, fun, fun!
Are you ready for this?!







Monday, February 17, 2014

More to Mondays

There is going to be a little more excitement to Mondays from now on! My children both go to preschool for one day a week on Mondays. So, that means bento lunches are back! If you don't remember, go back to my Life, Lunch, and Fashion series where several of our bento lunches are featured. However, this time I want you to come along for the challenge. Let's make Mondays less of a drudgery. Let's make it the day we look forward to! Making bento lunches is just one way I give everyone in my family something to look forward to about starting a new week. I challenge you to find a way to make Mondays more exciting for your family. Perhaps you might want to join the bento craze! However you choose to do it, I want to know! Keep your eyes peeled for my bento creations and I will be looking forward to hearing what your doing to put "More to Mondays"!

Below are the creations I sent with my family today. I themed my boys to their personality, while I stuck with a Valentine's day theme for the hubs and I.



The Hubs' lunch- spicy love!

My Lunch!
Also, remember to be checking out DolceDellaVita on Instagram to see my 100 Happy Days challenge photos!

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

100 Happy Days

I recently saw this cute little challenge on Facebook that said 71% of people fail it. At this point my curiosity was spiked and I was determined to break the odds! So, I checked it out. Basically, they are asking you to be happy for 100 days straight. They don't really mean you have to be happy for the whole 24 hours each day, they just want you to find something to be happy about everyday. To prove it, they ask you to share a photo of the thing that made you happy that day. I decided I was up for the challenge! I have taken one photo a day and shared it via my social media. I plan to share it with you all as well.

I decided to keep mine a simple black and white so they stood out amongst my other photos!








If you think you might want to be a part of this challenge too, you can sign up for it over at 100happydays. I'd also love to be kept in the loop so please feel free to tag @dolcedellavita on Twitter or Instagram. You can also share it with my here or on my Facebook page!  Lets do this!

Wednesday, February 5, 2014

A Letter to My Single Friends at Valentine's Day

So, over the past few weeks I've been thinking a lot about marriage, family, settling down, and all the things that supposedly come with "growing up". I've been reading just about every article and post that pops up on the topic. Its been great. I've enjoyed them. A few have reminded me why I love my husband or why its awesome to have kids. Then I got to thinking, what is it like for my dear single friends who don't live in this world.

I know its true that I too once lived a single life. I slept, ate, and woke whenever I decided. I went out and didn't ask anyone's permission and I didn't have to carry a diaper bag. However, its been easy to forget those days ever existed. This leads me to why I decided to write this letter.

Single Friends,

 I know its hard to wait for someone special. I know your parents want you to "settle down" and have a few grand-babies for them. I know you feel like it will never happen. Cheer up, I have a gift for you! I will give you a very personal, intimate view of what its like to be married and an even more open view of what its like to be a parent.

Its hard! Marriage is hard. It takes hours of work, often with little to no return. You have no privacy, no space, and you have to consult someone else on everything. Yes, its nice to have someone to talk to, but that also means you have to listen. Sometimes you will have to sit there for an hour and listen to someone talk about video games or reasons why today is a bad hair day. You will have double the stress, double the bills, and half the sleeping room. Please don't get me wrong, I love my husband but there were perks to the single life. I beg you to take advantage of them now while you can. And, if the case should be that you never get married, I hope you can see the blessings in it.

The other thing I can say about that is, flirt. Make someone else feel beautiful, special, and worth while. In fact, make many people feel that way. You have the rare opportunity of being able to freely share compliments without risk. I'm not saying go get involved with tons of people, I'm just saying that there is so much fun in the chase. Once your married, your caught and that season of your life is over.

Secondly, parenting is the hardest, lowest paying job you will ever have. Please believe me when I say that I have not slept a whole night or eaten a whole meal in peace for over three years. You wont believe me now, but you don't realize how good you have it on a nightly basis. While I'm here. Sleep. Sleep! Sleep while you can, you will miss it someday.

Children will force you to take a deep look at yourself. You will see depths of fear, anger, and love you have never experienced. The freedoms you have now will be gone and you will have the greatest responsibility you could ever imagine on your shoulders. You will have little help, many questions, and probably more ruined clothes than you think. You will have regular conversations about puke, poop, and all sorts of unpleasant things.

My friends, please don't let me dampen your desire for a spouse and family. I don't say all this to ruin or crush your hopes and dreams. In fact, I hope that if you want those things that you get your Prince Charming or Cinderella. I hope they treat you like gold and realize that they are so very lucky. Look at all you gave up to be with them. I also hope you take a few minutes every day after your married to realize they too gave up a lot for you. You are worth it! So, just because someone is not in your life right now, doesn't mean its a bad thing. Sometimes the very best things take the longest to achieve.

This Valentine's day, I have a few suggestions to make the day less depressing. (Because, frankly, I know it will be.)

One, be another lonely someone's secret valentine. Don't sign it, don't admit to it, just do it. It might be just enough to change someone's whole point of view this year.

Second, grab a friend and go out on Valentine's day anyway. I'm not talking one of the "romantic" hot spots, but to something! Don't stay in and sulk. If you can't go out, do something at home. Just don't sit there on your couch, eating ice-cream and pouting. Your better than that! You are a grown-up. You have a life and friends and so many people who love you.

Third, remember the people who love you. Send your mother a valentine. Call up your best friend, whatever it takes. Put your life in perspective.

Fourth, if you don't make a point to go out or have some kind of fun shindig at home... offer to babysit for one of your friends who is already left the single life. If they have kids, they don't have many chances to be with that special someone anymore. Just place this thought in your mind, someday you will wish that someone does the same thing for you!

As a happily married woman with two kids, I am telling you now that it is OK to be single! Its perfectly fine not to be "settled down" yet. It's not bad that you don't have kids. Stop beating yourself up! You are a beautiful/handsome person and being single doesn't change that.

Beyond that, for every day you envy me there are days I'm so jealous of you! Go, for now is but a season and who knows what the future holds!

Much love,
Me