Damask Dings 1

Now if you are wanting to try out a new Banana Bread recipe, I have a great option for you! I know that we all have the one recipe that we run to when we want some banana bread , but change is good, right?! This Cinnamon Swirl Banana Bread is a fresh new spin on the regular recipe. It is not necessarily a unique recipe but it is absolutely delicious and beyond bread in my opinion. Definitely one to keep on hand. Here’s a quick shot of my finished product for your viewing pleasure.

And if you were wondering if this recipe involves sugar… as you can see below… yes. it. does. ENJOY!

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We enjoyed a sunshiney day at Pier 39 all bundled up in our fall attire. Unfortunately the Alcatraz prison tours were all booked up through Sunday so we didn’t make that trip (highly recommend scheduling your tour days ahead of time!); it was disappointing but instead we spent the rest of our day at the Exploratorium which turned out to be a laughter filled time that reminded me of our dating days — it was lovely.

All in all the trip was relaxing, as we stayed with my Aunt & Uncle who are always hospitable and fun! My auntie even taught me how to crochet which has become the new venture in my life! It is so relaxing and I can not wait for my first creation to be complete — perhaps a scarf, but more realistically a coffee cozy ;)

When we returned from our mini trip, it was straight to some full-fledged baking since it was my lovely cousin’s birthday that week. Enjoy an awesome recipe that I tried out in honor of her love of Nutella, below:

Banana Nutella Cupcakes

• 1 Batch: Best Banana Cupcake Recipe from Food.com (5 star recipe)
• 1 Cup Nutella
• 1 Batch: Nutella Frosting from BeingElliot.com (my own measurements below for a more icing texture)

Bake cupcakes as directed — Since the recipe is for cake you will need to adjust your baking instruction. I baked my cupcakes at 350 for 16 minutes and they turned out perfectly! Cool completely and use a knife or apple corer to cut out the center top of the cupcakes (save cut out piece). Scoop some Nutella into each cupcake and top with their matching cut out piece.

Mix the following ingredients to create the icing:

• 1 cup Nutella
• 1/4 cup Butter, softened
• Approx. 1/2 can Condensed Milk (pour in a little at a time until desired textured is reached)
• 3 cups powdered sugar, sifted

First cream the butter and nutella together; mix in the powdered sugar one cup at a time, until crumbly. Now slowly mix in the condensed milk a little at a time until desired texture is reached. This creates more of an icing and would be great for a cake! However I wanted to pipe flowers on top of my cupcakes, so this was perfect.

Ice your cupcakes as desired — to ice flowers like my photo above: I used a petal tip (Wilton #125) and put a small amount (1/2 c.) of the icing in the bag at a time. I slowly piped the icing on while turning my cupcake and creating a somewhat scrunched up look for petals until it spiraled into the the center. I then added three small edible pearls in the center to finish them off.

**Note, my hand was killing me after just three cupcakes so beware! …so worth it…

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Fave Traditions:

There is nothing like a great tradition that you can enjoy with your loved ones each year! Below are three of my faves that are a must do in October.

Trick or Treating (with our adorable nephews!)

Pumpkin Carving (this cute owl was a winner!)

Apple Dippin’! (Sweet times with the fam)

New Faves:

I am proud to say that I have been doing some cooking and baking this season and loving it all! So far no bad recipes which is always a great thing. The recipes below were found online and are linked accordingly (cookie photo is from the original blogger since I never snatched a photo before they were all gone!). Each of these three recipes received rave reviews from family, friends and coworkers and will be permanently added to my recipe collection.

Pumpkin Cinnamon Roll Pudding Bars (Picky Palette)

Best Italian Soup (All Recipes)

Caramel Stuffed Apple Cider Cookies (Scrambled Henfruit)

Faves to Try:

I have been finding recipes upon recipes on Pinterest and saving them to my “Cozy Fall” board. There are many more than I could even imagine trying in one season but below are two that I will for sure be trying out before Thanksgiving passes. Check out this board for more ideas and recipes. The photos below are from the original blogger.

Cinnamon Almonds (One Charming Party)

Johnny Appleseed Bars (Eats Well With Others)

I sure hope everyone is enjoying Fall as much as I am! November has finally arrived and I can not believe it is a short three and a half weeks until Thanksgiving! Be blessed and happy cooking, creating and loving!

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Here are some of my faves

For those of you looking for a fun or cute case for your iPhone, below are the links to the sites that had the best options:

• Society 6
• Cuptakes
• Case-Mate

In the end, I purchased this case because of it’s simple beauty. I don’t want a case that I may easily get tired of or a case that would clash with my random choice of screen background. Not to mention the fact that I do adore gray and this design! I am excited for my new little piece of technology!

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I am absolutely in love with this genius tool, forum, community — whatever you want to call it! You have to check it out.

First  go here — and see my “Boards” which include different “databases” of sorts that allow me to store my inspirations, ideas, recipes, favorite photos, etc. Each board has a category such as “Christmas Time” to help you find it and know what you are in for.

Now if you are interested, unfortunately you can not just join — you must be invited. And can I tell you how long I waited to find someone to invite me! (Actually, I had no clue I had to get invited, I sent in my email address to apply and never got anything back from Pinterest). So don’t do it that way. You are welcome to leave me a comment on this post with your email address if you would like to be invited and I will gladly send you an invitation!

Here are some snapshots of what type of boards I have going right now:

The best part is that the photo is only just the beginning. If you click on the photo you will also be able to select the link to the original post at the top right-hand corner to see the recipe or instructions or maybe even more details depending on the category of the photo.

This is the perfect database!

You can “Follow” other pinner’s boards so that you can see what they are pinning and even re-post their items (idea-networking at it’s best!). See why I am in love!?

Thanks for letting me share my latest obsession! I will have some new creations up this week so stay tuned!

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Five years sounds like a very long time — it kind of is when you think back on everything that has happened or changed in that amount of time, but I can hardly believe that is how long we have been married! It has been a short 5 years! I am so thankful for so many things in our lives and I can definitely say that I love Garrett in so many more ways than I ever imagined possible.

We got married at age 21 (which at the time felt oldddd!) and all we knew is that we loved each other and needed to be together forever. After we had been married a year and learned so much more about each other and the responsibilities of being a husband and wife, our love was so much stronger and complete. It is amazing to think of the blessings God has placed in our lives through that time.

In honor of our 5 years together, here is a little time capsule.

Here we are, the night before our wedding:

Our Wedding Day! ((More Photos Here))

Our 1 Year Anniversary!

Two years of love — 2008:

Happy Together in 2009!

Sweet Times in 2010:

Never Been Better in 2011!

Thanks to everyone who has been a part of our lives and blessed us with love, support, encouragement, good memories, advice and so much more! God has blessed us greatly and I can not wait to see what He has in store for us in the next 5 years!

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I’m sure we are not alone when life gets busy and often times we realize that we haven’t been on a real “date” for over a month — that is, besides the occasional movie or dinner out which isn’t always date material. So needless to say this was one of those times were we were due for a good time just the two of us. We drove out late in the morning and had lunch at The Reel Inn before heading to the festival — Clam Chowder, Shrimp n Chips and some fresh Fish Tacos. Have I ever mentioned that we LOVE food?!

To start off, here are some of the gorgeous orchids that were displayed in one of my favorite booths. They have all kinds of orchids and I could stroll back and forth in this booth for the entire day!

Next up, one of our favorite artists that we ran into last time (forgot his name but will add it later!). He is so sweet and we just love the color and texture of his work. I have a feeling that next year we will be coming home with one of his pieces — I had to drag Garrett away from this booth because he was eye balling a piece that another young couple had already chosen and I was afraid he might pounce!

Each year there are always several artists out creating a replica of a photo or piece of art in chalk! It is pretty amazing to watch. The man below was doing a portrait of the Beatles. He had just started but you could just tell it was going to be amazing!

Again, did I mention we love food? Particularly ice cream! We both agreed that we couldn’t leave Malibu without stopping at the Ice Cream shop!

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Yellow is so bright and beautiful! I have been searching for some beautiful yellow items to add to my life and thought I would share some of my faves (with links below)! Have a beautifully bright Monday!

*Click to view the full image*

L I N K S

1. Distressed Photo Frame
2. Ruffle Pillow
3. Bright Chalkboard
4. Decorative Wall Hooks
5. Tri-Fold Wallet
6. Honey Yellow Ruffle Top (from Windsor)
7. Cute Owl Shea Butter Soap Bar
8. Pear Ear Rings
9. Bird Chain Necklace (this one I actually purchased, so far!)

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First of all, you have to check out the FREE digital copy of the 2009 Holiday CARDS magazine — http://ow.ly/2Y7AX

That is exactly where I found these beauties by Tamara Jensen (Instructions on pg. 76)!

Aren’t these so gorgeous?! I just have to make a couple for my home this Christmas! I am more of a traditional girl when it comes to Christmas colors, so I will have to search for some fun ribbon to use that will match our decor and our Christmas tree! Check back soon for the finished product!

Happy Weekend!

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I am still around… it has been two weeks (or more) since I have blogged but it is all for good reason. Mostly because my husband and I are working on being less wasteful of our time. Not that blogging is wasteful, but computer/internet time can get that way if you let it! We got rid of television last week (now watching just a few select t.v. shows on Hulu.com) and I have been reading! Yay!

Just wanted to check in to the blogging world and share a few of the awesome things going on in my life right now. First, 100 CALORIE CUPCAKES! from Chef Curtis Stone. He appeared on this last week’s Biggest Loser to show them that baking can be healthy. The recipe is below.

Second, I have been reading two books. It has been tough because they both are so amazing and thought provoking — it is hard to decide which I will read first each day! Both are HIGHLY recommend to you all.

Radical by David Platt

I am a Christian. I have been for a long time, but what I want to know is that I am truly following Christ. So many people say they believe in God or that they are Christians, but the Bible says that we need to test our faith. This book brings about thought provoking points using Scriptures that help you understand why God created us and chose us. FOR HIS GLORY. Not because he loves us (and he does) but because he deserves glory in this world. Do I live this out in my daily life? No. God’s message through David Platt digs deep and if you desire to live out Truth in faith and have confidence that we are truly living for God, this is a must read. Highly recommend for all who “believe in God.”

The Aquariums of Pyongyang by Kang Chol-Hwan

I think many would steer away from a book like this, yes, it is detailed but not too vivid. As a matter of fact, I think it is good for us to remind ourselves of what is happening (currently) in our world. My husband and I recently started supporting LINK (Liberty in North Korea) financially. LINK is an organization that helps escapees of North Korea start their new life in South Korea or the United States. This isn’t easy because many times they are unwelcome and don’t know what to do. Also, many of them escape into China and if they are found they will be returned back to North Korea (and punishment could be death). After Hitler, we said we would never let this happen again… this IS happening and has been happening — it is worse, many more have suffered and died in North Korea.

100 CALORIE VANILLA RASPBERRY CUPCAKES

Vanilla Cupcakes

Makes about 14 cupcakes

Ingredients

• 5 organic egg whites
• Pinch of salt
• 3 tablespoons honey
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• ¼ cup nonfat Greek yogurt
• ½ cup whole wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

Raspberry frosting

• 1 cup nonfat cream cheese, at room temp
• 1 cup fresh raspberries
• Fresh raspberries to garnish

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 325F.
2. Place the egg whites in a large bowl and using a handheld mixer whip the whites on medium speed for 3 to 4 minutes or until the whites begin to lighten up and hold their shape.
3. Increase speed to high and whip in the salt and honey until the whites hold a soft peak, then add the vanilla extract.
4. Fold in the yogurt.
5. In a separate medium mixing bowl combine the flour and baking powder and mix well.
6. Sift the dry ingredients into the egg whites a little at a time, gently folding them in with a rubber spatula.
7. Once fully incorporated, scoop the batter into cupcake tins lined with cupcake papers.
8. Bake the cupcakes for 15 to 20 minutes or until they have colored and gently spring back when pushed with a finger.
9. Remove from the oven and cool the cupcakes at room temp.
10. While the cupcakes are baking, puree the raspberries in a blender until smooth.
11. Pass through a fine mesh strainer into a small saucepot and cook over medium heat for 5 to 7 minutes or until the puree reduces slightly.
12. Cool completely.
13. Place the cream cheese into a medium mixing bowl and fold the puree into the cream cheese until fully mixed.
14. Once cupcakes are cool, spread a little of the berry frosting over the cupcakes, garnish each with one raspberry and serve.

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