Yum!

Last night, I made the most of over-ripe bananas and whipped up a favorite childhood recipe...Bisquick banana bread! I can remember growing up and making this, consulting the cardboard recipe card cut from an old Bisquick box. I've had to look up the recipe since then (the recipe card is burried somewhere at Mom's house) but it's still just as good.

Banana-Nut Bread

Ingredients:
1 1/3 cups mashed very ripe bananas (2 large)
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup milk
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs
2 2/3 cups Bisquick mix (I used the Heart Healthy version)
1/2 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts)

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350ºF. Grease bottom of 9x5x3-inch loaf pan.
2. Stir bananas, sugar, milk, oil, vanilla and eggs in large bowl. Stir in Bisquick mix and nuts. Pour into pan.
3. Bake 50 to 60 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean; cool 10 minutes. Loosen sides of loaf from pan; remove from pan and place top side up on wire rack. Cool completely, about 2 hours, before slicing. Wrap tightly and store at room temperature up to 4 days, or refrigerate up to 10 day.

Fun in the Sun

A day at the beach + my fair skin =

We spent the day at Cocoa Beach yesterday, celebrating a birthday with one of our friends. It marks the first of 4 (that's right - 4!) beach weekends in a row for us and I did not start them off well. Unfortunately, even though I did reapply (I swear, Mom!) and didn't even go swimming like the rest of the group, I still managed to get pink (in some painful spots, no less). Thankfully, some of the spots faded overnight but my upper thighs are still pretty tender and I have quite the lines on my chest. Oops!

Next weekend we are off to Vero Beach to visit Ryan's aunt and uncle. Then, for Labor Day, we head to Hilton Head to celebrate my Grammy's 80th birthday. After that, we have a 3-night cruise to the Bahamas to celebrate another friend's birthday. Hopefully I can be better about sunscreen for all of those!

make it work!

It's been a pretty brutal summer in terms of tv-watching. Considering there are VERY few things that Ryan and I can agree on watching together, and there is so little on right now to even pick from, there've been a lot of nights filled with channel surfing and compromising with science and nature shows and sports.

But that all changes this week! At least for me. Two of my favorite shows are now back on and even if I have to DVR them to be able to watch them after the fact, I am excited to see what unfolds with "Top Chef" and "Project Runway".

Now, the countdown to college football begins and then Ryan will be happy, too.

Before & After

You may remember all the home improvements we had done over the past year. We got a new roof and windows earlier this spring and with the new windows came repainted shutters. The finishing touches got installed last weekend...a new front door, painted to match the shutters, and porch light.

While I was pretty impressed with the handyman we hired to install it, there were a few things left unfinished so I spent the last two days applying stucco patch, touching up paint, and painting the new trim. I am so pleased with the result! The fanlight in the door lets so much light in the foyer now, and I love the clean look of the black accents against our "khaki" house.

Here are some before and after shots (notice the new windows, too)...

"He's Her Lobster!"

I find myself quoting "Friends" regularly. The latest? A favorite phrase from Phoebe when Rachel realizes she and Ross are meant to be (one of many times, I guess). And how appropriate for Jax, now that she has a new toy to destroy...
He's her lobster!

Crafting for Etsy

I am so excited to show off my latest creation...hand-made, "earth-friendly" gift wrap for my Peaches & Palm trees shop on Etsy!

Currently, any order from my shop comes wrapped in tissue with a Peaches & Palm trees label. I plan on continuing that for regular orders, but anyone that wants an extra special touch can now add gift wrap to their order.

For my birthday this year, I received a sewing machine that I regrettably have not put to much use (yet - I definitely plan to, Mom, I promise!). But, feeling an urge to be creative, I turned it on tonight, opened the manual and put together a little project based on something I received at work.

The end result?

A cute, reusable (hence the "earth-friendly") gift bag to house a special onesie (when the order comes in). I bought pink polka dot fabric for girls and blue polka dots for boys and will be offering it as an add-on service for each purchase.

Now that I feel a little more confident on the sewing machine, I can't wait for all the projects I can do! Next step...trying out the embroidery function. I'm excited!

Onesie Update

Hooray! I got another sale! This one was actually a direct purchase, rather than a special request, from a design I had painted for a good friend. She paid right away so I got right to work and painted a "bee-utiful" bumble bee.
If you know of anyone who needs a special, hand-painted onesie send them my way! I just love doing this and hope to get more business to keep me busy.

Photoshoot

I am a terrible mom. I have no photos of my "baby" anywhere in my house...thanks to the digital age, I take a ton of pics but then store them on my computer instead of putting together photo albums like I used to. Poor Jax is not the only victim, either. I rarely order prints from any occasion anymore. I must get better at this before real kids enter the picture (pardon the pun)!

Realizing the lack of photos we have in the house of Jax, I spent Sunday afternoon readying her for her close up so we could have some good shots to print. She did a great job, thanks to the help of her dad holding up cookies to hold her attention.

The results?

I think she did a great job! And my favorite one...

What a happy pup!