Another day, another mid-day meal. But a good one!
On the menu for today was a roasted eggplant sandwich, starring my new favorite cream cheese.
Roasted Eggplant Bagelwich
Monday Lunch!
The supporting cast included Portobello mushrooms and a cup o’ strawberry banana Chobani Greek yogurt. (Side note: Have you heard that Chobani now has mango-flavored Greek yogurt!? I gotta try this soon!)
I was nice and full after inhaling this lunch.
Now let’s discuss the future!
My Plans for Retirement
Yes, I’m only 25, but I have big plans for my retirement. Though I love my life now and feel very fortunate to be employed in a job I actually enjoy, Ryan and I often talk about our dreams for the future. Our conversations about the future typically involve events that will likely occur in the near future, but we like to daydream about the days when we (hopefully) won’t have to work and can wake up and do whatever we want that day.
I touched on some of my aspirations yesterday when I said I want to live near hiking trails so we can hike regularly. Some of my other dreams for the future include:
- Be the “Free Sample Lady” at my local grocery store. I will not refuse samples to anyone. I hated being snubbed a free sample when I was in college because the free sample lady didn’t believe I was 16. I will give 10-year-olds all of the cookies and beef-on-a-tooth pick they can eat!
- Wear holiday sweaters. I cannot wait to be the grandma who has a sweater for every occasion. I want pumpkins and ghosts on my sleeves at Halloween, a turkey on my chest at Thanksgiving and trees with blinking Christmas lights adorning my sweater at Christmas.
My Retirement Uniform
- Travel. When Ryan and I were on our honeymoon, we started talking about how much we enjoy traveling and exploring new cities, towns and countryside. I want to see everything I can see!
- Be a cookie queen. My whole family knows that when we go to my grandma’s house (Mimi, the grandma you guys loved in our wedding video), she’ll have a big jar full of her special homemade sugar cookies for us to enjoy. I want to be the brains behind a delicious cookie that everyone looks forward to every time they come to visit.
Cookie Monster
(The cookie pictured is one of my oatmeal almond chocolate chip cookies.)
- Participate in book clubs/social activities: My sorority sisters and I have joked about eventually coming together later in life to live at a retirement home together. I hope the Kappa Delta Retirement Home is hoppin’ with lots of karaoke nights, bingo tournaments, book clubs and other social events.
Question of the Afternoon
What do you want your retirement to look like?
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Your retirement plans sound awesome! hahaha, carefree, loving and living life. As we all should 🙂
My plan is to “retire” at 40 and work as an independent consultant in the utilities industry about 20 hours a week, and spend more time on swimming/synchronized swimming. Definitely want to get into traveling the world as an international judge.
To make that happen, I not only put the $16.5k IRS limit into my 401k each year, but I set aside my own “pre-retirement” savings and plan to pay off my condo before I turn 40.
I’m kind of lame. And a compulsive planner.
My grandparents live in the cutest little retirement community. It looks like a “village” with little paths, old-fashioned street lights, and candy-colored houses overlooking a reservoir. It would be my dream to live in a place like that when I’m retired!! This is morbid, but I also hope that my husband and I don’t die too far apart. My grandma and grandpa have been married almost 70 years and he still calls her his “little girl” and will tell anyone who listens about how much he loves her. To me, old love is the best because it’s stood the test of time- even past all the high-flying careers and good looks and hot sex (!) they still love each other.
That is the sweetest thing ever! I really miss my grandparents, and they were the same way. I hope to be like that with my husband even when we are older!!
I love that you already have your retirement uniform. Mine will surely include black stirrup pants and Mary Jane shoes (worn with socks, of course). Score!
When I retire, I would love to own a working farm and build my own trail system on the property. My boyfriend and I often talk about moving out of the city and becoming “country folk” when we’re older. I would absolutely love to be so close to nature.
Although, I’m not sure how well my stirrup pants will match with mud boots and milking equipment…
I love this post! I think it’s so cute! I’m not really sure what I want to happen with my retirement plan. I know of a few things that I most definitely want. I definitely want to be happily married to my boyfriend and have a beautiful home. I want us to be completely debt free, happy and healthy! I would love to retire someplace warm, perhaps Orlando so I can go to Disney World any time I please 🙂
I too want to be one of theose really sweet and totally adorable grandmothers who loves to cook and bake for her family! I also want to have the means to travel a lot and enjoy all the time that I can with family…. I do however want to spend time each winter down south… it is far too cold up here in boston right now!
I love your sweater idea! Who says you can’t start now? 🙂
I definitely want to travel when I retire. On the flip side though, I’d be happy with a little cabin or house on a few acres in the woods. All cozy and LL Bean-like!
I hope my retirement will involve lots of travel, warm weather and fishing!
Mimi was seriously a top 5 highlight of that video. Too cute.
Hi Julie. I was just wondering how often you check your pbfinget@gmail.com email. I wrote an email about a week ago. Do you usually respond to readers?
yes, i definitely do… it just takes me a while! i get backed up on emails very quickly between writing posts, working full-time and trying to live my life. i wish i had a couple extra hours in the day! i promise i read every email that comes in, it just takes me a while to respond sometimes. 🙂 thanks for following up!
1. Living close to my family so we can have lunches and Sunday suppers together
2. Travel to NYC, Bali, Italy, New Zealand and anywhere else I add on my list between now and then
3. Continue to volunteer but spend more time with different organizations
4. 7am breakfast “meetings” with my girlfriends at a local breakfast joint (Denny’s, Smitty’s, Humpty’s…)
5. Friday night card/boardgame nights with Jarod and friends
6. Be blessed with family, great friends and love
Bring on 65 😉
P.S. What did you think of the Social Network?
1. Retirement plans include having my hubby retiring first so he play poker full time (After already saving all of our money for years and years) and maybe wining big ( we have seperate poker fund and retirement fund that isn’t touched).
2. We already travel a lot but want to travel more when we aren’t working any more. I don’t ever want to stop traveling because I don’t want till I’m old.
3. If I need to live in retirement home/assisted living, I want my own little apartment with my hubby and friends all around. I wanted to be one of those happy old ladies who lived their lives to the fullest.
A lot of crafting, baking, traveling and card playing!!
My plans include summers in Europe and winters in Tahoe..or maybe the reverse..who knows 😉
Maybe I’ll have my own winery and spend all my free time volunteering at the SPCA 🙂
Travel + lots of books + plentiful bottles of wine + a constant supply of prosecco + a villa in Tuscany.
Small dreams I have! 😉
My husband and I already agreed that we will be moving into a 55+ community with a clubhouse!! We are going to try and get our friends to also move into the same community so we can all have fun together and lean on each other as we get old. I know people think it sounds crazy, but I think it’s important to plan ahead!
I also want to be a crossing guard! LOL!
I have NOT heard of the Mango greek yogurt…but I’m definitely going to investigate!! 🙂
And, the whole sweater wearing grandma?! Oh ya- that’s totally me too 😀
you are so cute! i think it would be a lot of fun to be a sample lady at the store…so cute 🙂 i am definitely down with traveling, reading, and i would love to pick up gardening!
Hahhaha you are adorable! i LOVE how you gave this thought. The sample lady at the grocery store cracked me up!
Did you roast your mushrooms or just eat them raw?
I want to be like you! A fun, loving grandma that bakes cookies and is fun, and loves to spoil children! LOL
I loved the sample lady thing! I hate when they are like “nope, you already had one!” Like c’mon? Lol
oh and that mango greek yogurt! YUm! I can’t wait to try! I am sad they have not even came out with the pineapple here! I look every store I go to! Errr!
ahhhah i am in love with this post.. and totally diggin’ the holiday sweaters! mango chobani- sounds great!… and my retirement plans? I should probably focus on college first!
Your lunch looks soooo simple yet super delicous!!
Quick question: how do you cook your eggplant? I’m a huge fan but everytime I attempt to bake it , it comes out all dry and yuckie! Any tips would be greatly appreciated!
do you salt it for 30 min. after slicing it? when i slice the eggplant, i salt it and let it sit for 30 min. or so to remove water. then i rinse it, spray it with cooking spray and sprinkle w/ garlic salt before roasting.
Nope- I’m definitely trying this method out tonight! So salt it for 30 then rinse the salt off. spray with cooking spray and sprinkle with seasons! Sweet! thanks!
I agree to all of the above. Only I also want to be the overenthusiastic grandma in the stands at all of my grandchildren’s sporting events too.
I’ll probably also be the grandma in the audience of all the school musicals crying about how “byooteeful” it all is. 😉
This is such a cute post. That holiday sweater is fab!!!!
Does Chobani yogurt have much sugar in it? The few yogurts I actually like all have so much sugar in them that I end up finding other less sugary foods to substitute.
HAHA I can’t WAIT to retire! I dream of living in one of those retirement communities with games, movies and events. It’s like College without the stress. Sign me up!
I definitely think about spending time with my grandchildren when I retire (which seems so far away!)
I want to be holding hands and still over the moon in love with my fiance (who will be my husband!). I love nothing more then seeing a older couple who are still so in love and who do nice things for eachother. <3
I haven’t really thought about my retirement plans! I have to think about where I’m going to work soon. I’m hoping I can get in as much traveling as possible in while I’m in college.
Oh my gosh, I was totally at Costco the other day with my live-in boyfriend and I was trying to get a sample. The last asked me if I was 14. I am 21. There was a guy next to me who said, “Ooh! Burn!”
Needless to say, I was not happy.
I want to move to another country and enjoy another culture when I retire. This post comes at such a perfect timing because my boyfriend and I were just talking about retirement! I cant wait 🙂
I love thinking about the future. All your dreams for the future are so adorable!
Wait wait. Hold everything. What is this nonsense about being refused free samples?? You had to be 16 in order to get one?!
I’m wondering about that too!?! I’ve never heard about an age limit on free samples! How funny!
My favorite is the cookie queen. Hehe, love the sweater. 😉
I am in culinary school and grew up in europe. So when I retire I would love to return to europe and travel while private chefing on the side!
Good plans!! If you become a free sample lady, be sure to be sweet to little kids if you have to turn them down from samples for being too young. I remember being yelled at by the lady because I didn’t look old enough and my parents weren’t around. 🙁 Boo.
Haha, love your retirement plan! 😉
You are too funny…I’ll join you on ALL of em! 😉
I aspire to be an apple-doll craftin’, moonshine-still brewing, log-chopping old Appalachian lady goat. Lots of grandkids, always making quilts, with enough savings to travel if I want, but land to return to in the end.
I might have to add the Christmas sweater bit to this fantasy though – I can wear them over my aprons!
My retirement plans look like me and my old husband surrounded by our entire family partying at our beach house in Greece… Family is the most important thing in my life, and I can’t wait to have accomplished all my traveling goals and sharing this beautiful life with my children and grandchildren… plus, I can’t wait to move back home <3 🙂
I want a rocking chair, I want to play bingo!
Firstly, your wedding pictures are gorgeous, you are absolutely stunning!!
And for my retirement, I agree with most of your points with a particular emphasis on the COOKIES. I want to be the grandma who fattens all her little grandchildren up with zillions of baked goods.
I mean, let’s be honest, I already do that. Minus the grandkids. 😉
Oh, and I am going to have a massive collection of christmas decorations. My house is gonna be DECKED OUT! 😉
So I always accidentally read two posts and think they’re one. Oh well. Your wedding WAS gorgeous 😉
You are so hilarious — I feel like we would totally be friends if I met you! Love your retirement plans 🙂
ha! my chapter of KD had plans for a KD retirement home too!! 🙂
I’m with you on the sample-lady not giving me samples!! they always raise an eyebrow and give me the sample with skepticism! But it’s their job though. They’re afraid that younger kids won’t know what they’re allergic to and.. the end result won’t be too pretty 😉 I SO want holiday sweaters too! I think they’re fun in a retro way!
Vacays, grandkids, no work, volunteering, being in charge of old lady church things and lots of pets…oh and I will openly admit I kinda liked my “ugly” Christmas sweater and wore it to my church Christmas volunteer event…luckily I was surrounded by mom’s and they all thought it was so cute…I will def be wearing coordinating sweatsuits (who am I kidding, I already do) and sweaters and earrings for every holiday 😉