8.30.2010

Banana Bread Recipe!

So as most of you know, or don't, I love baking! I got some bananas the other day and they didn't all get eaten, so I decided to make some bread out of them before they went bad, and I thought I'd share the recipe with you all!

First things first, cleaning the work space! The fuzzy little guy in the background...not on the TV...likes to lay on it!

Here are the ingredients:
3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 c. melted butter
1 c. sugar, can easily be reduced to 3/4 c.
1 egg, beaten
1 tsp. vanilla
1 tsp. baking soda
pinch of salt
1 and 1/2 c. all purpose flour

Mush up the bananas!

Melt the butter and add it to the mushed bananas.

Beat one egg!

Add sugar, vanilla and egg.

Add baking soda and a pinch of salt. The fiance helped! My hands are not hairy! haha

Finally, add in the flour!

Mix it all up! No need for a mixer.

We had an audience member. :)

We lack a bread pan, so we used an 8x8 glass pan and it worked fine! Bake at 350 degrees. The recipe said for an hour, but mine only took about 45 minutes, so keep an eye on it.

Ta da! Our finished bread! Very yummy! You can probably add nuts of some sort if you'd like, but we left them out.



8.26.2010

Thursday Five! 8/26


It's Thursday Five time! Almost another week over, but here are things that made me...

Happy

I went to the gym today and actually ran for a little bit! By little, I mean just a few minutes, but hey, it's a start. Baby steps. Baby steps.


Giggly

Brandon and Charlie always make me laugh, but we watched Role Models the other night, and it was pretty good!


Excited

My bridal shower is Saturday and my dress fitting is tomorrow!! SUPER excited!!


Loved

Charlie sat in the window and watched me leave for class this morning, and popped his head out when I got home too! I know he's "just" a cat, but I thought it was sweet!


Thankful

I learned a classmate from high school died today. So, so, so thankful for every day God gives me. Never take life for granted! It could be gone before you know it.



8.20.2010

Friday Five! 8/20


Time for this week's Friday Fives!
This week is 5 Things from Your Dream Home!

1. Porch - there has to be a hammock! Does this not look super relaxing?

2. Laundry room - Bright and open and plenty of room to fold the clothes!

3. Bedroom - as long as you don't fall off the bed, you're good! Brandon sleep walks and can't swim, so this might not be ideal. Haha

4. Living room - Cute and cozy! If only there was a fireplace in this one!

5. Kitchen - LOVE this!! So open and pretty!!



Feelin' Good!

So today is the official Day 1 of the Slim Fast plan. I've been eating pretty healthy (minus yesterday, it was my last bad day before starting this) this week. I'm proud to say I've only had one soda!! That is CRAZY for me. I'm a diet coke freak. Me and Dasani are developing a relationship now. We hated each other before. The only irritating thing is having to pee every 20 minutes. But I've heard you get over that. I got my rings re-sized a few weeks ago, and trying both of them on at the same time was still a little difficult. But since I've been drinking more water and retaining less water, I tried them both on today and they fit perfect! It's seeing things like that that reassure me and make me feel like this is all actually doing something!
[Excuse the lack of make up, it's Friday.]
I had my Slim Fast meal bar for breakfast and it was pretty good! Tasted kind of like a Luna bar, if you've ever had those, but less gritty. Then I had a shake when I got home from class. Again, it was pretty good. Not Hershey's by any means, but I got the whole thing down. lol. I have a feeling it's a "learned" taste. I had a little snack bar which was REALLY good but REALLY small. I think that's going to be one of the things to get used to - smaller portions. I did a little research though, and there are some really good snacks that I can still eat! Like 100 calorie popcorn bags, graham crackers with peanut butter, sherbert, applesauce and all kinds of fruit! So that definitely helps for adding variety to it all instead of the same bars every day. For our balanced meal tonight, I'm making baked pork chops and veggies! Yum!


8.19.2010

Thursday Five 8/19



This week has been a little crazy, with school starting and all, but it's time for the Thursday Five! Here are things that made me feel...

happiness
My visit home was really nice and I got some more done on the wedding planning front!

glee
So I started school back, but most of my classes seem A or B-able, so that's really exciting!

exuberant
Brandon gets paid today! Which means we get to go grocery shopping and I can get a few things for school! And start Slim Fast! Loans come in next week, so I will be REALLY exuberant then. Ha.

proud
I've been drinking mostly water this week! And eating decently, for the most part. I'm going to give Slim Fast a shot starting tomorrow, too!

giddy
I'm officially kicking into Mary Kay gear Sept. 1. If you'd like to host a party, let me know! :D


Fed. Up.

You might think by the title of this that I'm mad at someone. No. I'm fed up with myself. I've felt like this for a while now but it's slowly getting to me and just driving me crazy. I've gained a decent amount of weight lately, and I'm just disgusted with myself. I hate my stomach, my arms, my legs. I'm getting a double chin, something that would look wonderful in wedding pictures the month after next. I'm hoping writing all this down will make me commit to it more or making it a more public thing will.

I think not having a job this summer was really bad for my waistline. I had nothing to do, so boredom made me eat...a lot. And I have a huge sweet tooth, so it wasn't always the best food I was eating either. I find myself eating one meal and thinking about the next one I'm going to eat. It's pretty pathetic. I won't be hungry at all, and I'll be thinking about what to eat for dinner. Or I'll be eating dinner and planning snacks for later. It's just became something that has consumed me and I need out, now. As cheesy as it sounds, I feel like I need to reclaim ME and not let the food get the best of me.

I feel self-conscious all the time and it's really stressful and frustrating. Like even around Brandon. And the self-consciousness is making me insecure which ultimately leads to trust issues, which is never a good thing. Brandon gets paid tomorrow, so I'm going to start the Slim Fast plan. I'm going to try out a pack of the shakes and bars and see if I even like them, because I'm not going to commit to something nasty, but I've heard good things so hopefully it will work out. As for the one balanced meal a day, I'm not going to use the ones on their site because they have a lot of stuff I don't like in them (I'm really picky), but I'm going to try some Lean Cuisines and non-fried meats and veggies.

As for working out, I'd really like it if I could fit it into my schedule to do it 3 days a week after my Personal Health and Fitness class. Fitting, huh? I could go to the gym after class ends at noon, work out for an hour, go home, shower, and go to my next class at 3:30. They don't have showers at the school gym, that would make too much sense. But I think that would work, time-wise. According to the "lost 2 pounds a week to be healthy" rule, I could lose 16 before the wedding! That would at least take care of the double chin. lol. My dress isn't form fitting, so it doesn't really matter anywhere in the stomach area or legs, but I still want to get them all in better shape.

I feel so much better after writing all this out and developing a plan. It all just seems so overwhelming and impossible to do, but I know little by little, it can be done! Nicole at Flip Flops and Combat Boots is my inspiration, I guess you could cheesily say, that it can and will work! She's a real person, not some lame airbrushed fake person on TV telling me it'll work, so that's comforting. I guess that's all for now. I'll keep everyone updated on my progress, so I'll be obligated to stick to this thing! Maybe Thursdays will now be my Weight Loss Update days or something. We'll just see. Until next time!


8.18.2010

8.16.2010

First Day Back!

It went surprisingly well! I started out having 3 classes today. I'll get to that in a second. I went to my first two and I liked the teachers and the classes seem really easy! Which is definitely what you need when you need your GPA to go up like I do. One class doesn't even have a final! Thank God! One is a sociology class focusing on Marriage and Family (which I find appropriate since I'm getting married in October) and the other is a Personal Health and Fitness class.

I was supposed to have my 3rd class, Microbiology, at 6 pm tonight. Yeah, tell me about it. That time sucks. Especially when all my other classes were over by noon. I'd been stalking the registration page allll day and for the last 3 weeks. FINALLY today at like 4:45, a spot opened up in another class. YES! I took it ASAP. Sooo that means I missed the class today, but at least I don't have the 6 pm class anymore! The lab for it was even 7:30-9:30 one night a week! Bleck! I'm sure that class will not be easy like the others, but with the others being easy, I can focus on it more. All in all, things are going off to a good start!


Weekend Recap

So this weekend was a pretty good weekend! I drove up to my dad's house on Friday afternoon and spent the night just hanging out there. Saturday morning, I got up and met with my Mary Kay sales director and sat in on a party her co-worker was hosting. It was a Beauty Bash just like I had won through David's Bridal, but it was interesting to see it from a consultant's perspective instead of the pampered bride. I'm feeling a bit more comfortable about starting things with Mary Kay, my only hurdle now is the $400 order deal. In order for me to profit for the next 3 months, I have to place a $400 order first. Sooo *shameless plug* if you'd like to order something, let me know! :D I met up with Manda for lunch at Schlotzky's (yum!) and then we saw Inception. Holy smokes, it blew my mind. I want to see it again, but I'll wait til it's on video or at the dollar theatre. Then we got icecream at Maggie Moo's. It was pretty much like a Coldstone, so it was really good! Plus we got my icecream for free with our movie ticket! Sweet deal! Later that night, me and my dad got dinner at the Varsity! Which if you are EVER in Georgia, you need to eat there. It is amazing. I don't even want to know how many calories I ate that day. lol.

Today was good too! I slept in and went and visited my aunt! It was good to catch up with her and go over some wedding details! Everything is coming together and there's really not that much else to do! I'm SO exciteddd! Then I stopped by and saw Lauren's new apartment! It was so cute! I must admit, I'm pretty jealous. This apartment's kinda getting to me. Maybe the fact that we've lived here 8 months and had a working heater/AC for about...3. Ugh. Anyway, I'm back in it now and I start class tomorrow! I'm a little nervous about Microbio but other than that, I think I should be okay. We shall see! I need to go to bed soon though, but until next time!


8.13.2010

Friday Five! 8/13

I love weekly blog posts! Here it is brought to you through Just Me and My Life
...the Friday Five!
Top Five Favorite Websites

1. Facebook - I'm addicted. Those people that give it up for Lent, I admire you. Between normal activity, FarmVille (yep, I'm one of those people), and all those other addicting games, most of my online time is spent on Facebook. And I met my fiance on Facebook so that pretty much seals the deal. :D

2. Gmail - Best email ever. I'd heard before I joined it, but it is oh so true. It's the easiest, most organizable email I've ever used and I get all my other email accounts (school accounts) forwarded there. And this is what my layout looks like. It's cute too!
3. Blogger - I've become a recent addict to this too. I love these little weekly subject blogs and I love all the giveaways that people do!


4. The Knot - Any bride-to-be planning a wedding should know this site! It is absolutely fabulous and has everything you could ever want to know about wedding planning (EVERYTHING!) plus a free personalized website AND a store! I love it!

5. USMC Yuku - When Brandon left for boot camp last year, I found the Parris Island yuku board and it was pretty much my boot camp saving grace. The people there kept me sane, and once Brandon graduated at Parris Island and went onto his unit, I graduated from the PI board and moved on to the "big" board. It was intimidating at first but the ladies there are wonderful and SO helpful too! I love them!



Friday Fill-in!

1. What is one thing you'd like civilians to understand about being a military family?
I know we're not an Active military family, but when the time comes that we have to be apart (boot camp, MOS, drill, ...the other D word), hearing about going one day without seeing your boyfriend, really pisses us off. We know you don't understand, but still.

2. What is your favorite mistake?
I really have no idea on this one. There have been guys I've dated that turned into mistakes which led me to know who I should and shouldn't date or what was or wasn't my type. I guess that could count? Cause that led me to know that Brandon was The One! :)

3. What indulgence could you give up for a year?
Starbucks. I absolutely love it, but lately, being on a tighter budget, I don't get to enjoy it as much. I guess I could go a whole year without it. If I had to.

4. If you could be a winged animal, what would it be?
A penguin! Cause they're so darn cute!

5. What is one question you'd like to see asked in a future MFF?
Hmmm...maybe some "deeper" questions like religious stuff or something like that. Something we can each state our beliefs on, and then be able to see what everyone else says without it being a debate, since we're on our own personal forums.

8.12.2010

Thursday Five 8/12


It feels like the last week has flown by! Which is sad, because I start class on Monday. Boooo. Anyway, for now, here are things that made me...

Ecstatic
I just got offered a free bridal session with my photographer! She originally asked to do shots of me and my fiance in my dress and his blues, but I'm old fashioned and I don't want him to see my dress until the wedding!

Gay
I got a new frying pan with my Target gift card I got for my birthday from my brother and sister-in-law. It works SO well and cleans so well. These are the kinds of things that make you happy when you get older.

Giddy
Brandon's birthday was Sunday. I made him brownies, got him a little present and made him breakfast! It made me happy that I could make him happy. :) Surprises are always exciting too!

Happy
I'm getting mail (not bills) like every day now! Either ordering things for the wedding or getting RSVP's returned makes me excited to check the mail now!

Content
All the little things are coming together for the wedding and I'm getting really anxious!

I hope everyone else has had a good week and has a good weekend! :)


8.09.2010

My Wonderful Sunday!

I had a greattt day yesterday! It was my fiance's birthday, so I made him brownies while he was asleep the night before, got up in the morning, cooked him breakfast and gave him his present (the new A7X CD)! He loved it! And I loved that he loved it!


Then we set out for my hometown and met with our pastor to talk about the wedding! We went over tons of details and got everything straightened out for the big day! Which is only 2 months away as of today! We did our premarital counseling too, so I was glad to get that checked off the To Do list. Then we went to Men's Wearhouse and got our tuxes set up for the guys that need them and then I fell in love with sugar gliders.


They had a display of them at the mall we were at and they are SO darn cute. I held one and it purrs!! How cute is that?! Then the guy called it and it jumped from my hand, 4 feet away into the guy's pocket! If it wasn't $489, I would own one. Sooo after prying me away from them, Brandon dropped me off at David's Bridal and I got my first alterations done! That was a pain in the....feet. The shoes I wore hurt like crazyyyy. So standing in them for an hour was wonderful. I will be investing in some bridal flip flops! After that, we went and visited with my dad for a while and then went out to dinner at Loco's (thanks Dad!) for Brandon's birthday. And then we came home! It was a longgg but really good day!