Balance, Bento Lunches, and Planning for a Blog Birthday

I hope y'all have had a blessed weekend.  My weekend was full to the brim.  I had the opportunity to go to a holy yoga event here in Dallas Friday night and Saturday.  I have practiced yoga for three years, but this was my first chance to experience praise and worship combined with yoga and exercise.  It was so awesome to worship in such an active way. It made the expression and act of surrendering all to God so much more authentic. 

Source: jesusatthecore.com via April on Pinterest

You may (or may not) have noticed I have not been blogging as much in the month of January.  I began to 2013 with a commitment to Balance.  For me, this has meant committing to exercising more and eating better.  Establishing healthier habits and routines always takes a lot of time and effort.  Hence, I have had less time for blogging and my TpT store. Although, this entire school year seems to have rendered little time for my store.

I started researching lunch ideas for work on Pinterest and discovered bento box lunches.  It was love at first sight.  I ordered some containers from Easy Lunch Boxes, spent lots of time on Pinterest gathering ideas, and then ventured into planning more balanced lunches and snacks.  The result has also been that I have been more actively trying to plan dinners as well. (The pictures below are not great.  They are from my phone, and the lighting in my kitchen is not great.  I have a DLSR camera, but it is so big and bulky.  I have decided I need to invest in a good, small camera that would be good for blogging.  Any camera recommendations of small cameras that are good for indoor or low light situations?)

For my snacks for the next two days, I have carrots and celery with pretzels and laughing cow cheese. Tuesday, I will also have grapes and cheese.

First lunch is a spinach, cheese, and turkey bacon quesadilla with watermelon and trail mix. Day 2 is a lemon pepper pasta with turkey sausage, olives, and sundried tomatoes, along with apples and trail mix.

Today, I fit in 1.5 hours of hot yoga, church, a 3 hour nap, the grocery store, laundry, Downton Abbey, and making lunches for two days and dinners for the week. I will be blogging on a separate blog called Balancing the Backpack about my journey toward Balance.  This will include expressions of gratitude, what exercises I am doing, what I am eating, and whatever other changes I encounter as I try to find balance and joy. On Feb. 7th I turn 29, and Feb. 22 my blog turns 1. I would like to plan a big blogiversary giveaway.  Let me know if you would be interested in contributing.  I feel like I should do something fun and different for my birthday.  So far I have not really thought of anything.  Any fun ideas to celebrate turning 29? 

Good night, y'all!  Hopefully going forward I will be better able to add blogging into my routine, along with exercise, work, and sleep.