The return of Mr. Bento...

I fell in love with Mr. Bento in 2007. I had unhealthy lunch habits and he inspired me to make healthier (and more attractive) decisions. I used Mr. Bento frequently and even joined Flickr groups for Bento lovers. After I left my job as managing editor for a magazine to work in politics (lunch was usually carrot salad and grilled chicken from the Chic-fil-A next to the campaign office, if I had time to eat) and later, worked from home, I got out of my Bento habit.


Tuscan white bean & tuna with cottage cheese, fruit, mixed greens.

Now that I have a regular schedule again (and have had one for almost four months), it was time to break out the Bento from storage (the cabinet above the fridge where no-one ever looks) and stop eating lunch like a 12-year-old. Yes, Lunchables are an affordable and easy way to control calorie intake, but turkey + cheese + crackers - any green vegetables EVER = an ass that doesn't fit into my skinny jeans. I have also gotten into the habit of shopping for produce at farmer's markets on the weekends and saving all of that healthy stuff for home eating just wasn't practical.


Spicy noodles, yogurt and fruit, granola, avocado.

So I'm cooking again. I made a Tuscan white bean tuna salad last weekend (and even soaked the beans overnight and cooked them myself). I made spicy whole wheat noodles yesterday. I have a list of Bento-friendly recipes to try. My goal is to Bento my lunch every day between now and the end of the year. Two days in, I already feel healthier. My ass expects to wear my skinny jeans around the end of next week. And I have lovely, lovely lunches that I'm not embarrassed to break out in front of coworkers. Proud of me!

Today I tick many things off of my to-do list...

There's something about peace of mind and a stress-free day job that makes me oh-so productive. I think I've fed my blog monster more in the past week than I have in the past year. Just this week:

I researched and wrote a blog post (not one of my own).

I paid my car taxes online (and remembered that inspection is due this month, sort of amazing for me since I don't pay attention to the stickers on my own windshield and never had to get my car inspected when I lived in Charleston).

I went grocery shopping and actually bought enough food to last a week.

Laundry: Not just bed linens, but clothing and towels as well.

Filled out paperwork for health insurance prior to benefits meeting this week.

Located my social security card (see last item).

Made dinner for myself and roommate last night, as she was on her second double-shift work day of the week. Meatless Tuesday: Couscous with chickpeas, onion, garlic and toasted pine nuts.

Scheduled hair appointment in hopes that weather will cooperate and I may begin wearing my hair down.

I could store all of these tasks in my iPhone (surely there's an app for that), but I still prefer the old-school method of list-making: Post-it notes and various scraps of lists collected in a small Moleskine notebook with accordion pocket that I keep in my shoulder bag and update daily. There's something really satisfying about crossing items from the list (or moving them to next week) with pen to paper that doesn't really translate to high-tech. There's always the possibility that I'll change my tune and tout the advantages of the next amazing "to-do list app" by the end of the year. I do love my apps.

I'm also learning how much is too much. I had the best of intentions to attend the Austin Social Media Club meetup (on crowdsourcing) yesterday evening, I went home and watched Glee instead. I had a long discussion with myself and the final decision was that I'd really rather be home watching actors pretending to be high schoolers sing and dance. I don't call it lazy, I call it Kelly time.

Are you more productive at a certain time of year? Do you have iPhone apps I should know about? Do you still hand-write your to-do lists?

What I do all day...

As one of my nieces so elegantly put it over the holidays, "so now that you don't have a job, what do you DO all day?" I was sleep deprived and didn't feel like getting into it, so I told her I ate bon bons, slept late every day and watched DVDs. She said, "must be nice." It was Christmas, so instead of saying, "actually I'd rather have a full-time job and I've been applying all over the place and being on unemployment sucks," I said, "yeah, it is nice."

I can't even call myself a former workaholic, because I've discovered that I am a workaholic whether I have a "real" job or not. After spending almost 5 months of 12-14 hours days (sometimes longer) working on press for a congressional campaign, I'll admit to sleeping a lot in the weeks following Election Day. But that didn't last very long. I decided I needed a reason to get up in the morning, so I got a puppy. I've wanted a dog for a while (no one was more surprised than I, being a lifelong cat person) and it wasn't the only reason I decided to bring Lou into my little family, but there are a lot of benefits. The best one: I go for 4 or 5 long walks a day because she's very active and forces me to (a) get out of the house and (b) get some exercise. And having a puppy is like a job. Between Lou and Miss Kitty, I spend a lot of time feeding and brushing and bathing and taking care of my four-legged little ones.

Once I got my groove back, I started writing again. I have a schedule. I get up in the morning and after I walk the dog, I power on the laptop and start working. I've written a few pieces that haven't gone anywhere yet, one for Charleston Magazine's March issue, and have scheduled four speaking engagements and workshops to promote my book so far. When I run out of writing ideas, I run through my to-do list. I've done a lot of early spring cleaning around the house, caught up on all of the things I dropped the ball on while I was working for the campaign, and even managed to spend time socially with friends and family. I'm definitely not an anomaly. I think I actually have more friends who have been laid off or otherwise dismissed from jobs last year than I do friends who still have full-time jobs.

This is the short answer. I love working from home again, love afternoon naps, love being able to go to a yoga class in the middle of the day, love walks with Lou, and love that I always have clean clothes and a clean house, and I'm healthier than I've been in months. But since I'm on COBRA, I'm paying a ridiculous amount for health insurance, have been dipping into savings to cover bills (no idea how anyone can live off of unemployment), and have applied for jobs that I never thought I'd consider six months ago (like corporate management positions). It took longer than I thought to get my creative mojo back, but the muse is taking baby steps and she's beginning to trust me. And I've made a promise that I'll never ignore her for long periods of time again.

My schedule lately...

...feels like I'm participating in a triathalon - without the cardio benefits.

It's not just the day job (though that's getting busier by the day); it's the book stuff for my book that's out now, interviews, book signings, etc. (and Universe? I'm not complaining here - I love every minute of it!); book number two that I'm supposed to be working on; and managing the other aspects of my life from washing clothes to picking things up from the dry cleaner to remembering to buy skim milk for my coffee that gets me started at 6:30 every morning. I know when I've reached the point where I can't remember the last time I did a load of laundry, when I'm plucking clothes from the back of my closet because I can't find anything clean in the piles that are in my guest room (and now my own bedroom too!), when I'm too tired at 7pm to even talk on the phone, when I want to go to bed desperately at 8pm even though Lost is coming on in an hour and I really (really!) want to stay up and watch. I'm on autopilot a lot now. I've had black coffee. I've gone commando. I've driven on an empty tank. I have an envelope stuffed full of unanswered mail in my bag, an inbox full of unanswered email, a to-do list that is getting embarrassing, and a head full of static. Worse, I haven't seen the inside of a gym since I bought myself a new pair of workout pants for Christmas.

I'd hire a personal assistant or a cleaning person, but I'm almost too embarrassed to show someone just how long it's been since my kitchen floor had a good mopping or tell them how long my contact lenses have been ready and sitting in a bin at Pearle.

Again, not complaining because I do know what the alternative is; I was there just a few years ago. However I do fear suffocation-by-clothing-piles, having to use a bedsheet to dry myself off after a shower because I have no clean towels, and having bad credit because I haven't had time to go through my overdue bills.