One Month Countdown

 In four weeks from this very second, my husband and I will be relaxing in Cancun at a gorgeous all-inclusive resort.  In honor of our upcoming trip, I am posting some of my favorite Pinterest beach pictures labeled under my "Favorite Places and Spaces" category.  Take me away...

A comfy bed with an ocean view.  Oh and my sun hat to protect my delicate skin.

A dock to dangle our feet in the ocean and watch the boats go by.

Fruity drinks galore! All included.

Gorgeous sunsets to end the day.

And a swing hanging off a palm tree.  Is this heaven??

Countdown:  28 days.

Banana Crumb Muffins

You can't really go wrong with muffins, in my opinion.  They are the perfect breakfast to start the day or a great afternoon pick me up when your belly's rumbling.  Or a sweet dessert, for that matter!

So today, I picked a recipe from All Recipes.  

BANANA CRUMB MUFFINS

Hello, heavenly deliciousness!

The recipe has a five star rating and over 7,000 comments!  I just had to try it out myself.

Because the recipe calls for three bananas and I only had two, I added about 1/3 cup applesauce for extra moisture.  I also added a tsp of vanilla, a pinch of nutmeg, and a tsp of cinnamon to the batter.

Still loving my Christmas present.

Make sure to spray the pan with cooking spray or else these will be hard to get out of the pan without a huge ugly mess.

Fill up the pan with the batter, then top them off with the butter/cinnamon sugar mix.

Pop em in the oven.  At 375 degrees, I baked them for 17 minutes.  They could have come out at 15 or 16, but you learn as you go how hot your own oven is.

Hot out of the oven!  Try not to eat them yet...

These turned out so pretty!

Come on over and share them with me before I over-indulge. 

Happy Wednesday!

The Yard Project

So this spring, we decided to tackle a rather large project.
Rip out the weed garden and plant a flower bed!


























After many blood, sweat, and tears, our flower bed is finished. It is fun being a homeowner-after you see the finished project. We turned a plain, weed-filled area into a flowering beauty that we see every day when we go in the front door. Not to mention the pretty mailbox bed, too. Now, to tackle the back yard!

Instagram

The android market FINALLY got with the program and came out with the INSTRAGRAM app. For all of us non-cool iPhone users...it's a happy day. (If you don't know what Instagram is (Mom?) it is a social media app on your phone that allows you to take and edit photos and post them for your friends to see.)





So without further ado, here is my week in Instagram pics.





Frosted cupcake is my FAVORITE candle from Bath and Body Works. Nothing like having the whole house smell like I'm slaving away in the kitchen, baking up something spectacular.





Cookie desperately needed a grooming. His hair was completely covering his eyes!





Here is my baby after his hair cut on Saturday. He is so cute all shaved down. He also tends to be extra cuddly after he gets shaved. Adjusting to being cold without his wooly coat?





Surprise cupcakes. Chocolatey goodness with a surprise center. Is your mouth watering yet?




Last but certainly not least, roses from my sweetie. Nothing beats coming home to a dozen roses on the table, just because. Not Valentine's day, not our anniversary, not even because he was trying to get out of the doghouse for something. For no other reason than expressing his appreciation of me. I love him!

The Shack

I have never been a huge fan of reading books. It usually takes me a long time to get through a whole book, especially if the font is really small. Thus, I have never really enjoyed reading for entertainment. But ever since I got an iPad last year, I have gone through several books that I loved! I wish they had iPads back in the days of Accelerated Reading all those years in school...I feel like reading wouldn't have been such a chore. Who knew reading could be so much fun!?



Here is my review of my most recent read.

The Shack
William Paul Young




This is the story of a middle aged man (Mac) who is grieving over his daughter's kidnapping and death. He struggles to understand why God would allow such tragedy happen to an innocent young girl. One day, Mac finds a letter in the mailbox inviting him to "the shack" to meet with God for the weekend. He accepts and finds himself in the presence of the Holy Trinity for several days. The rest of the book is centered around the conversations Mac has with the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. He asks them his deepest, most intimate questions about sin, death, tragedy, renewal, forgiveness, etc. etc. I won't tell you how the story ends, but it was definitely a surprise to me.

Overall, I have to say this book was very enlightening. I know that it is fictional, but the way the author explains the concepts of the trinity is written in a very clear, understandable way. It made some great points, even things I had never thought of in my 20 years of being a believer. So if you're ready to dive into some of Christianity's toughest questions, pick up a copy of The Shack. I started reading it on Saturday night and was finished by Monday. You won't be disappointed. Happy Reading!

Hair

Check me out. I finally have my long hair back!



The pic below is me. Right after high school. I had the longest hair. It seriously took me like ten minutes to dry it in the mornings.



Throughout college, I always had medium length hair. I would grow it out a few inches, then go back home on a college break and have my friend cut a few inches off. Then of course I grew it out for the wedding. Then after I got married, I chopped it off.



Here we are in May of 2010. I had that angled bob for about a year until I got tired of going to the hairdresser every six weeks to keep it a good length to work with.

In September of 2010, I decided to start growing it out again.




This pic above was April of 2011, after growing my hair out for about 8 months with very few trims.

Now, here we are. A year after that picture...

April 2012




Check out my long hair! I like having it long because there are so many cute hairstyles you can do with it. I love having it curly, and when it gets a bit longer, I can't wait to sport a beachy wave.

I have not been brave enough to attempt dying it again, as you can see how "strawberry blonde" turned out in college...





Oh, the adventures of hairstyling! I can't wait to see what hairstyles are "in" in about twenty years from now. Maybe this??