Bento vs. Bridezilla...Tokyo Smash!!

I've been watching this super cute, warm fuzzy anime lately. Aishteruze Baby! http://www.animecrazy.net/category/completed-anime-shows/aishiteruze-baby/ You can watch it for free at anime crazy, just follow the link. It's a story about this lady with this super cute 5 year old daughter. After her husband dies (unexpectedly) she finds she just doesn't have the courage to grieve for her husband and still be able to raise her daughter, Yuzuyu. So she leaves her, and another family member takes Yuzu over to the Katakura house, the mother's side of that family. Kippei, the high schooler, is charged with taking care of Yuzu, which means packing her a lunch, or Bento, everyday for Kindergarten. You can blame this show for getting me so interested in Bento, or the Japanese Packed Lunch. It would show the whole room of Kindergartners' with all their different bentos, and most of them were beautifully packed with kid friendly foods in very fun shapes. The brilliance struck me instantly. I was an incredibly picky eater, and sometimes revert to that obstinate side of myself, and it was almost impossible for my parents to get me to eat anything except peanut butter and jelly without a lot of fussing and tears. The bento shapes all the different foods into fun faces or shapes like stars, and I am now fascinated with the idea of making onigiri and attaching uemboshi. There are some foods that I don't particularly like, but because of the presentation, I am interested enough to try them again. I want to make bento for myself, and BJ if he would be willing to eat it (might think the whole thing is just silly), and I want to practice making lunch cute! Why would I want to practice, you might ask? Well, with BJ and I getting married, we're having random discussions like, how do you want our future children to be raised? BJ and I both agree we do not want them to have picky eating habits like I did. So the idea of arranging bento for our future children is really a fun idea. So, I've got to practice. I'd rather experiment on myself than my future hapless child. And BJ will make an excellent vict...guinea pig. I've been doing a lot of research and hopefully today BJ and I are going to go to some of the Asian markets so I can pick up some sticky rice, quail eggs, and hopefully some bento stuff.
I like this one...

but I would rather buy one from a store than wait for international shipping from ebay. Thus we must investigate the asian markets here in Atlanta and see how it goes.
Another part of life that demands a great deal of my attention involves *insert fanfare* the wedding. BJ and I are chasing down the various folks who didn't remember to RSVP. About half our guest list is unable to attend. Which, I totally understand, gas prices are terrible and plane tickets are expensive and some people can't get away from work. So BJ and I will probably end up with about 45-ish people there, and we're still happy with the size so it works well for us. And then I'm realizing that people need to me to make hotel reservations, or find them somewhere to squeeze in at the hiker hostel, which is also fine, but there is a limited amount of space, so it's hard to decide who gets to be there and who has to stay elsewhere and figuring out how to say that without hurting anyone's feelings, hence STRESS. But, BJ keeps me calm, and Mary is a big help too. Our Maids of Honor and Best Men are really being supportive and offering to help out, which I love. #1 tip for brides, take deep breaths often, and watch some cartoons, or anime. And please, don't go smashing Tokyo.