Thank you, Goodbyn! {A Review}

 I was feeling fortunate lately when Goodbyn sent me their pink Mix and Match Sets and a bottle for a review and a giveaway.  I was truly ecstatic!  As a matter of fact the review shouldn't be due till my pre-Christmas event, but I just can't wait to thank them enough and show them my sincerest appreciation.  Come back for my giveaway coz that wouldn't happen till next month. 

Momables Lunch: French Toast

I could never be so lucky to have won 2 giveaways in a row, but I did it.
I love giveaways and try not to miss a chance especially
when it's from a product that I truly love and adore.

About a couple of weeks ago, I won a 3 month free subscription over at MOMables.  It took me every single giveaway to enter until finally my name was drawn and now I'm enjoying the full benefits of a lucky subscriber.  What else could I ask for? I have weekly menus and shopping lists all ready to be put together into 3 full months of scrumptious meals.

French Toast Lunch packed on EasyLunchboxes.

We ♥ Ponies

Well, well, well.  It seems we have some "neigh-sayers" in the audience. My Little Pony is Missy A's first love.  She loves anything horses and pink and purples. If there's anything we have, horses is part of the theme.  Or it will be a long argument as to why nots.

We ♥ Pokemon

Gotta catch them all!

Yep! That's ought to be the mission of a Pokemon fan.

Get them all and complete the National POKEDEX.

My 4th grader boy is a huge fan of anything Pokemon since he was in 1st grade.  He has played and beaten almost all the Generations 3, 4 and 5 Pokemon Nintendo DS games released.  The only exceptions are HeartGold and SoulSilver, he said. It was tough to catch Lugia.  But believe it or not, I learned to play the game too. I get to help him evolve certain Pokemon that needs to earn hp's to evolve. I must admit I enjoyed beating the Elite Four the most. And my favorite game is the Pokemon Black and White. LOVE!!

My Smart Planet Winner is......

And my Smart Planet Eco Lunchboxes winner is:
Kendra Peterson
Congratulations!! Thank you for liking Smart Planet Eco Lunchboxes on Twitter Please reply to my email within 48 hours. Thank you for participating! a Rafflecopter giveaway

'Tis the Season for Santa

This is the time of the year that we are mostly awaiting for.

The week after Thanksgiving. 

CHRISTMAS SEASON!!

We can finally start putting up holiday lights and decors.

And think about Christmas crafts with the kids.  Yearly, we make crafts to decorate our home.  It's fun! And 'tis the season the kids feel that Christmas is special, when their help is mostly needed to finish up the preparation before the big day.

Since my daughter's birthday falls on the 5th of December, we decided to hunt for our "just perfect" Christmas tree on a weekend after the 5th.  We would like to dedicate at least a week solely for her celebration, before we could actually call it Christmas.

Santa waving to let Missy A that Christmas is coming so she better
be good. I found a Winter Oreo at Target yesterday
to include in their lunches.

Happy Thanksgiving!!

I would love to greet each one you a wonderful Thanksgiving before it's finally over.  May each one take this opportunity to enjoy the company of their loved ones and express their sincerest gratitude for the people and stuffs they are mostly thankful for.  May it be family, friends, work or whatever it may be, I hope it contributed well to your life and has made life worthy to celebrate each day.

I am posting my passed lunches I posted during our Thanksgiving Hop as my way to say thanks in my own bento world.  I planned to post a different lunch but due to out of storage space, Google wouldn't let me. So please bare with me till I figure out a way to continue my blog. I'm glad I was able to schedule my review and giveaway already so that wouldn't be affected much. You will soon be notified if I need to move to Wordpress or host my own site.  Thank you for your continued support. I owe everything to you!!

xoxo, 

Marie

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Day 12: I am thankful for RICE

One of the mostly used staples in our kitchen is rice. We are huge rice consumers and can't survive a meal without it.  So just imagine when we get into shortage of rice crops? We'd surely starve.

Adults eat brown rice, which is low in saturated fat, and very low in cholesterol and sodium.  It is also a good source of Selenium and Manganese.  They are best to prevent chronic illnesses such as Diabetes and Hypertension.

We eat all kinds of rice except the forbidden rice, which is black in color. Not because of its taste or its color, but because I haven't found where it's sold yet.  But I'm sure it would be a long discussion with my kids why it's black, of all colors. We don't have any Trader Joe's or Henry's nearby, and I'm not a diligent driver who would drive far and beyond just to find what I'm looking for. I'm mostly an online shopper who'd rather skip the long lines and busy hours.  Not unless it's just across the street or less than 5 miles away.  Hub does it for me. I just give him all the list and the brands that I prefer.

Smart Planet Eco Collapsible Lunch Container {Review and Giveaway}

As all of you know I have been using a small rectangular Eco Lunch Container by Smart Planet for Missy A's kindergarten snack box.  And it's been a great snack box that is big enough to accommodate both of her juice box/yogurt drink with her snacks of  choice, with more room for mini cold packs and utensils. Best of all they collapse compactly when transporting back home. So it doesn't really occupy so much room in her lunchbag. Everyone loves that one and only box in our household.  It has been put into good use each time.  My husband has success bringing chicken soup for work without a single leak.

So just imagine when Smart Planet sent me their round, tri-compartment box. I was beyond thrilled! It was gorgeous.  I love that it looks different from the rest of my lunch containers at home.  We love varieties.  It is round. It looks similar to the previous Rubbermaid lunch box of Mr. G. He was so excited too when he saw it.  Thought it was for him, but he was quite disappointed to see that there's only one, and it's PINK! You should see his face.  He was hilarious! Told him that it was meant for mom's use. But since mom eats at home most of the time, Missy A gets to try it out.

Day 11: Thank you for MRM

"What is MRM?" you might ask?

Well, it is short for Most Requested Meals.

I Am Thankful For Bento Blog Hop!

As Thanksgiving Day approaches, my fellow Bento Bloggers and Friends group decided to do another hop, not the traditional turkey lunch (though we still could if we want to), but of the stuffs that we are mostly grateful for.

I am always grateful for FAMILY, FRIENDS, and GOD.
For WITHOUT them, I am NOT me.

On this hop, I'd like to give special mentions to all things BENTO.  Everything that contributed to the success of my bento lunches every single day.  I figured this would be the greatest opportunity to give a nice and warm shout-outs to bento retailers who have believed in me all this time.

Thank you to:

EasyLunchboxes
Momables
All Things For Sale/BentoUSA
Goodbyn
FunBites
Smart Planet Eco Lunchboxes
CuteZCute
The LunchPunch

And here are all the lunches I've sent using all these products with pride and glory.

Thank you so much for the support!!

And last but not least, I will never be so inspired without my Bento Bloggers and Friends Group, who are all so generous about lunch ideas, moral support, and bento tools shopping.  It will never be so much fun without you bento moms!

As a reminder, please never fail to hop around till you get back to where you started on this hop. I'd also like to take this opportunity to thank each one of you who visited and took time to jot comments for us. I am always appreciative of your generosity in time and in words.

Click the hop button below to transport you over to Kathy of Eclectic Lamb.

Enjoy your hop! ~Marie

Day 9: I am Thankful for Bento

A Pizzawich/Quesadilla Tutorial

{courtesy of CuteZcute}

 I may sound so vain with this post.  But really I have to admit that I am grateful that man created bento.  Bento has truly played an important role towards our food choices and eating well.

Bento has brought me to blogging and discover foodie blogs which nurtured my food choices for my family. Not all healthy, but I always choose the lesser evil.  I have learned to read nutrition labels and ingredients. We do not belong on the nut-free, dairy-free, vegan, whole grains only, or diet-restricted family. We eat everything we want and crave for. No restrictions. But the rule is always in moderation.

Day 8: Thank A Veteran

Why is Veteran's Day special?

On this day we honor our nation's heroes, who died fighting for our country in foreign shores.  Without our brave soldiers, we would not have known peace or tranquility.  Let us honor the martyrs who laid down their life to protect their country from external threats.  ~courtesy of Veteran's Day quotes~

Day 7: Thank you CuteZCute

Of all the cutters I have, cuteZcute has given me the most inspiration to use because of the many faces it created on my lunches when there's only sandwiches in mind to pack for school. My children are not huge fans of sandwiches.  The only way I could make them devour it is thru cute sandwich cutters. like cuteZcute. I wish I could buy all sorts of cutters in store but I'd love to put into consideration that neither one of us liked to be swamped with bento accessories inside my lovely cozy house.  We just had too many toys lounging around, and anything more of my bento collections would send the hub nuts.  SO I have to be wise on my purchases and requests. I carefully choose only the best and the useful ones in our household.  

So I am thankful for cuteZcute for the opportunity I was given to try out their cutters before it even came out in the market.  I had the grandest opportunity to play around with its endless possibilities.  It actually outweighs my creativity.

Here's a cuteZcute Linky Love by Lunches with Eyeness,

for a vast lunch ideas created by the genius bento mommas.

Day 6: Thank you for the Seasons

Today's lunches have nothing to do with what I am thankful for.

I am thankful for the changing season.

♪♫♫♪ Summer - Fall - Winter & Spring  ♪♫♪

The season has given off so much colors in our life.  

Every season inspires us to celebrate life at its best.

It's getting to be tough to rise up in the morning lately especially the weather has dropped and it's getting darker earlier on each day. Fall has finally set in.  Well, at least for Californians, who always have a favorable warm climate all year round except on late Fall and Winter days.  But still better than any other state.  At least we could still wear our flipflops and sandals, summer clothes on warmer winter days. No need for warmers, beanies and mittens unless on freezing nights and snowy mountains.  At least in our experience.  It might be better or worse for other Californians.

Today's lunch was inspired by "Hotdog on a Stick". 

Day 5: Thank You Momables!

My lunch for the week wouldn't be complete without the help of Momables.  Like any other moms, I have days when most of my lunch ideas are exhausted, or just too lazy to plan. These were the days I turn to Momables. And our favorite is their Homemade Chicken Nuggets.  Something that I make in bulk and freeze to stock up.  This is my go to breakfast and school lunches on a morning rush, like today.

For Missy A's lunch, she requested the chicken nuggets with 

BBQ sauce on the green dipper.  I also gave her red globe grapes

to snack on after.  All packed in her favorite pink

 Goodbyn Small Meal Mix and Match Set.

For recess, she had fudge covered pretzels and mini 

jello packed in her pink Goodbyn Snacks Mix and Match Set.

Day 4: Thank you EasyLunchboxes!

I must admit that my lunches wouldn't look better hadn't EasyLunchboxes given me the opportunity to try out their awesome lunch containers.  EasyLunchboxes had given me the flexibility to pack lunches according to portion size.  It's given me enough room to pack decorative bentos without sacrificing portion size.  It has the perfect size for every kid and adult.  The possibility is endless.

Day 3: Thank You for Friends

No man is an island, so today I am grateful for friends who has always graced our lives.  They have brought out the best and worst in us which led to life's realization in a whole new way. They who have so much love, care, support, shoulders to cry on, who are patient, honest, loyal, sincere and faithful. They are YOU who have stuck with me at my best and worst possible bento I could come up with. So thank you!

Today I am with my MOMMY friends. The whole day just after we brought the kids to school. By the time you read this, we already took off for a MOM's Day Out.  A good friend got tickets to watch The Ellen DeGeneres Show.  We had stand by tickets so there's 50/50 chance to get in or not. If we don't get in, we get guaranteed seats next time we come back.  But I am with high hopes that we get in coz it's the Twilight Week. I'm not a huge fan until recently when I was forced into reading the Breaking Dawn since all 3 of them were talking about it. I told you peers play an important role in our lives. They could make and break things for you...LOL!!  So let's see what happens today.  You'll hear me talking about it tomorrow.

Day 2: Thank You for Fridays

Star & Hello Kitty Sammies

It's the 2nd day of November.  TGIF!!

Yes, I give thanks for Fridays.  We always look forward for Fridays because it has splendid meaning to our week.

For me, it's the end of my early morning bento chores and for always rushing to school.  I know that I could have done things differently to make my mornings peaceful, but it has been my routine for so many years. And it is so much easier when you just follow through your routine rather than change it.

For Mr G, it's the end of his never ending homework, and it's the start of his weekend to play video games and watch tv shows.  So I made him a star turkey and cheddar clubhouse for a job well done in school. All packed in his favorite box, Easy Lunchboxes.

Day 1: Thank You for November

Octodogs

It's November! It is time to give thanks.

I thought of posting daily stuffs that I am mostly thankful for, 

which made me survive the day.

I thank for November because it is the birth month of my mother, who is responsible for my existence. I miss her so much since we live a million miles away. We moved to California after marriage to start a family. We visit once in a while, but it's not the same that I can just see and talk to her anytime the need arises.

November is also a month that bridges October to December. 

So without it, it wouldn't complete the calendar year. I love November because it's the time of the year that allows us to reflect on our lives and be thankful for what we have and appreciate the simple blessings we get on a daily basis.

I packed turkey octo-dogs for their school lunch, as I reminisced the days mom prepared hotdogs for breakfast each school days.  Bento wasn't known at our household back then, but she'd packed home-cooked school lunches for us too every single day.

Missy A had octodogs with crackers and ketchup on the pink condiment cup.

I made use of Starbucks plastic coffee stirrers for my watermelon kebabs.  I love using these because they're not sharp and safe to use around smaller children in school.  So if you're a coffee sipper, you might want to save this pretty little stirrers that could make lunch packing fun and exciting.