This year I came across some lovely ways to use eggs for Easter celebration and have to share them with you! I am so excited to hopefully try out a couple of these this year if I have time. At the end of this post I will also share a wonderful article on fun ways to  keep Jesus the main part of Easter!

My favorite — Adorable Easter egg cupcakes! via  Cupcake Project

DIY Speckled Eggs! via Southern Living

Oh, and I can not resist some awesome neon Easter eggs! via Oh Joy!

Leaf-print Easter eggs, too! via Apartment Therapy

Loved the idea of dying eggs using muffin tins — especially if you only want partial dying! via Parent Hacks

And last but not least, I thought I would share a fun link that I found on Pinterest — Ten fun ways to keep Easter about Jesus. Which is obviously the most important one! I pray that you all have a fun and blessed Easter celebration. My favorite part this year has been teaching our Sunday school class about the meaning of Good Friday and Easter. I love hearing them understand that Christ did such a scary and painful thing because He loves us and in the end, He rose again because He is our Deliverer and is victorious! Thankful to be a part of that part of their lives.

Happy Easter!

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I have created 2 new boards which are specifically for the purpose of sharing the pins that WE have actually tried out. One board is for recipes and another is for projects. I would like to invite you to these to boards as contributors and hope we can end up with a great collection of tried and true (or terrible) recipes and projects.

The idea is to re-pin any of the pins that you have tried and include a review of sorts or even tips in the comments to help the next person out. I think that this will be especially helpful with recipes. For example:

So who is with me?!

If you are interested either send me a message on Facebook or leave a comment here with your email address so that I can add you as a contributor.

Hope you will join me — there are no expectations or commitments — just re-pin when you feel like sharing! Happy Pinning!

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If not, I highly recommend you get out and purchase them right now! Don’t just buy the first book thinking you may not want to continue on… it wont happen! You will want to keep reading even after the third book has completed the story. These books are so well written that you get drawn in instantly. You fall for characters immediately and end up in love and broken-hearted through the entire journey.

Here is a brief snippet of what the trilogy is about — I prefer not to explain it myself for fear of giving too much away with my passion guiding my words. So this is from IMDb.com

Set in a future where the Capitol selects a boy and girl from the twelve districts to fight to the death on live television, Katniss Everdeen volunteers to take her younger sister’s place for the latest match.

Yep, that is all you get! Because it is THAT good and there is no way I am ruining your reading pleasure by giving you anymore. I promise that you will thank me! As a matter of fact I am surprised you are still reading this post when you should be out getting the books! (hehe, I told you…obsessed!) If you read it for the first time, please do return and let me know your thoughts. I hope they are as exciting and touching has they have been for me.

I’m off to read the first book again. Happy reading!

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Just about 6 months ago, I was in excruciating pain with 4 compressed disks and pinched nerves. Today, I am still struggling to heal and keep the pain away, while still attempting to live life normally. For the past 5 years our life has been jam-packed; weekend to weekend we had parties, events, church, ministry, gatherings, chores, etc. etc. etc. And now, we plan NOTHING. Every day is different for me. Some weeks are amazing and I am able to get so much done and then the next week I am bed-ridden trying to bear the pain. So here I am, taking it one day at a time…

I thought now would be a great time to list out the blessings that have been revealed and even more amplified in my life during this time:

1. My amazing husband has stepped up in helping keep the house clean and take care of me when Im in pain. He loves me when I am defeated and encourages me when I am questioning if I will ever get better. All this while working pretty much two jobs.
2. My family who lifts me up in prayer and encourages me. Especially my mom who has helped deep clean my apartment and made it feel more like home again — priceless.
3. A workplace that while stressful is very flexible. If I need to come in late and make up hours, they are totally understanding.
4. My relationship with God has grown; I desperately need Him for strength and the reminder that He never gives me more than I can handle. He knows what is good for me and what the end result will be.
5. Control; I have had to give up complete control over my life to God and be humble in asking for help and allowing people to be a part of my life. I am a planner and I love helping others, but now I realize that I was never letting others help or bless me.
6. Sleep is huge! Some nights I just plain can not sleep due to lack of comfort or just enough pain to keep me awake. Every morning that I wake up from a full night’s rest I am praising God and feeling so great!
7. A more positive outlook; the last couple of years in my life I have been around a few people that are just plain negative and that can wear you down and even influence how you view life as well. I feel like I had gotten more negative and now I can say that God has shown me that I can be up even when I’m down. He has taught me to find blessing and greatfulness in even the smallest of things, holding on to those blessings throughout my day!
8. A praise-filled life! This sort of goes along with #7 but I can not stress more how much more praise I can give to God now that I have so little else to offer. God is the only One who gives me the strength and ability to offer anything of myself and now I see that all I can do is only because of Him. He is so praise-worthy.
9. Opportunity; God has placed ministry & learning opportunities in mine and G’s lives that have turned out to be a huge blessing to us during this time. Teaching Sunday school and actually learning more and loving God more because of it. Also studying the Word with our community has given us time to be in the Word together and grow closer together through that.

Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable—if anything is excellent or praiseworthy—think about such things. Philippians 4:8

Thanks for letting me share. Thanks for those who have and continue to pray for and encourage me/us. Please let me know how I can help you and encourage you in turn.

Right now I am simply praying for direction on what may be next for me in this journey. What else can I do? I love and trust my doctors but still wonder if maybe this is more serious than they may think (I have only seen a chiropractor (2) and not a doctor) and possibly may be other solutions out there for me. I am already spending the money, so I want to know I am doing everything I can! After some reasearch, I am going to go get some Vitamin D supplements tomorrow and see if that will help. One day at a time…

Have a blessed day!

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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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