Quick Tip Tuesday!

I'm excited to share my latest find! While packing for a week at the beach, I came across these clear, plastic, zippered bags that a set of sheets had come in. I knew I'd find a great use for them.

I loaded up this one with my iPad, phone, ear buds and a good book. It slides nicely into the pouch on the back of my beach chair and holds all my goodies within reach. It isn't water proof but certainly will protect your items from splashes and sand. And I love that they are transparent so you don't have to open them to see what's inside. 

                       

I have a few of these handy little bags. Another holds three different sunscreens and my Chapstick, while a large one I filled with toiletries.

                       

Don't toss out these great bags. The possibilities are endless! 

You Can Do It!

See Jane Bake {Banana Bread}

If you like to bake, chances are you've tried your hand at making banana bread at least once. Growing up in my house, the red and white checkered Better Homes and Gardens loose-leaf cookbook was considered food gospel. I'm pretty sure all of our meals were either TV dinners or products of this culinary scripture. We had no internet with recipe sites or Food Network programs teaching us creative ways to prepare foods. Banana bread recipes consisted of the basic ingredients of a sweet bread plus mashed, over-ripe bananas.

Recently, we attended my daughters first regatta. Each family is responsible for bringing food to share in the crew food tent. This is the most genius idea. It's like tailgating breakfast, lunch and dinner {sans the keg}. It was here that I discovered the most delicious banana bread.

After tracking down the responsible party, I was pleased to discover the recipe came from one of my favorite websites. I'm sharing so you can make your own. It's called Janet's Rich Banana Bread. Whoever Janet is, she's a revolutionary, slicing the bananas instead of mashing and adding sour cream to the mix. Simply divine. 

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/17066/janets-rich-banana-bread/

This is my finished product. You can see the thick slices of warm gooey banana through the glass pan and the sour cream makes it super moist!

Try this recipe and let me know how it turns out. I'm planning on making Janet's Rich Banana Bread again and perhaps adding crushed pineapple and toasted coconut!

You Can Do It!

A Spoonful Of Sugar...

One of my favorite movies of all times is Mary Poppins. Her can-do attitude, strong will and ability to solve any problem with show tunes and a spoonful of sugar makes her my role model. So when I got the news that a young family friend was having an emergency appendectomy, I thought, she needs a spoonful of sugar to help that medicine go down. 

I don't like to send flowers, they're so expensive and only last a week. Instead I prefer to put together a personalized gift and include something sweet so I set off to the local bakery and Home Goods for provisions. Admittedly, I have a sweet tooth and I get a little sugar rush just walking through the bakery doors, practically breaking into song in true Mary Poppins form. I was thrilled to discover they offered 4 flavors of mini whoopee pies! I grabbed a box with 3 of each flavor and headed out for more supplies.

Donning a bakery box of yummy goodness, I made a bee-line for the stationary section at Home Goods and selected a fun storage container making sure the whoopee pie box would fit inside. 

Once I found one that was pretty and matched our little friend's personality, I searched for some treasures to place inside.  Note cards come in handy, there's a lot of downtime after surgery and thank you's to write {for all those flowers people send}.  I think Tweens like journals and I love this sassy little white leather number. A pretty pen just finishes it off.

Placing a sheet of pink tissue paper over all the goodies, keeps the suspense a little longer once she opens it. 

On goes the lid and a simple bow tied from a length of tulle.

So, the next time someone special in your life needs a little pick-me-up, think outside of the boring cardboard box. Pick up a pretty one and fill it with treasures that lets them know you made it special for them. And of course, include something sweet!

You Can Do It!

Rockin' Robin

Have you ever met someone in an unexpected place and became fast friends? Some call it kismet. When you encounter something, or someone by chance that seems like it was meant to be. Once you start getting to know that person, you think, "How have I not met you until now?" As I've gone through life, I've stumbled upon these hidden gems every once in a while. My most recent find is named Robin.

One day, this quirky mother of two showed up at the Kick Boxing Class I take at my gym. She was friendly and outgoing and I was drawn to her kind spirit. We started chatting and found that we have a lot of the same interests, both personally and creatively. Not a lot of my friends share my crafty desire to create {and recreate} things. Eventually, we exchanged contact info and became Face Book friends. It was then that I knew Robin and I were meant to have met. Where has she been all my life? 

I started poking around on her page and discovered that she is incredibly talented and creative. I found out that she hosted a Shakespearian themed book club and prepared foods from that time period and took a woodworking class and built a little table from scratch! What??? We've been sharing ideas like wildfire and she gave me permission to share the following, one of her latest projects, with all of you!

With the arrival of Spring, many of us are putting out bird feeders. Does it drive you crazy when the squirrels eat all the birdseed you put out before you can even close the lid? Here's a fun alternative, something else you can do for our feathered friends. Pick up a decorative grapevine orb at the craft store and fill it with bits of yarn scraps and pillow stuffing. {The more colorful, the better} The yarn should be cut short so the birds can't get tangled up in them.  Fill with the stuffing allowing it to stick out enough for the birds to grab it. Hang from a nearby tree or you could use a shepherd's hook like in the photo.

The birds will collect what they like and use it in their nests. Apparently, this bird likes a neutral color scheme.

Whether you have bluejays, cardinals or even robins, you'll be able to admire their beautiful works of art in your own yard! I just love this idea. I'll share pictures of mine as soon as I put it out.

You Can Do It!

Toss Out Those Paint Cans...{Quick Tip Tuesday!}

How many partially used cans of paint are you hoarding? Do you plan on using them? Probably not, but you can't toss them out because you need that precious information found on the lid. Chances are pretty good, you'll have to repaint a wall or touch up a door in the future. By the time you get around to it though, the paint will be spoiled, you won't be able to find it or your husband will have purged the garage and its long gone.

I started snapping quick pics of the labels and saving them in a folder on my phone. Not on my computer because when I go into the paint store I won't have it with me. I'm sure to have my phone! It's a good idea to also write on the label what room it's for before taking your pic. {I only have one grey room so I didn't do that here.}

You Can Do It!

April Showers Bring May Flowers...On My Gym Pants

With the arrival of Spring, and Summer on the horizon, it seems as though everyone is flocking to the gym again in anticipation of bathing suit season. It's the first influx since the New Year's Day rush. All resolutions have long been forgotten and their plan for a fresh start for the new year has been foiled by February Vacations spent at Disney eating their way through the World Showcase, being cooped up in the house due to early Spring Nor'easters or binging at Easter dinners. Finally, they come to the conclusion, they must get back to the gym. Meanwhile, we regulars are trying to stay motivated.

Everyone has good intentions of living a healthy lifestyle, but sometimes it's just too damn hard planning healthy {edible} meals and getting to the gym. Especially when it's -10 degrees outside! As a stay-at-home Mom, my husband and I joke about my going to the gym every day as one of my many jobs.  If I miss a day, he asks if I called in sick. Yes, it's foolish but it helps me to think of it as my responsibility to be there every day. And isn't it my responsibility to be healthy and set a good example for the young women I'm raising? 

There are three things that get me to the gym:

1. Guilt.

2. A kick-ass group of women who encourage and empower me.

3. Floral workout pants.

Generally, I select my workout wear in various shades of black. After all, black is more slimming, right? I like to blend in at the gym hoping my neutrality will mask the fact that I'm incredibly clumsy and self-conscious. Recently though, I stepped outside my comfort zone and bought a pair of floral lycra pants.  I found myself visiting them on the regular at Kohl's and finally bit the bullet and bought them. On Monday, I showed up like usual for cardio kickboxing donning my new duds. Somehow, instead of feeling clumsier or more self-conscious, I had a little hop in my step. The numerous compliments may have helped a little but whatever the reason, I enjoyed wearing my new snazzy pants. I even let my friend take a picture of me!

You Can Do It!

A Rainbow Of Fruit Flavors...{Quick Tip Tuesday!}

This is a super simple tip that will make your finished product spot-on. 

For some reason, people {myself included} are so impressed with a hollowed out watermelon full of fruit. Perhaps it's all the pretty colorful fruit or because watermelons are indicative of hot summer days and good times. Whatever the reason, when I'm asked to bring fruit to an outing I like to start with a watermelon. Since its early in the season, the selection was limited and I could only find half and quarter melons. 

Previously, I blogged about a watermelon baby bassinet I made for a baby shower. {Booties and Blankies and Binkies, Oh My!} For this occassion, I decided to do rows of fruits lined up inside the watermelon "bowl". 

                                 

This is where my OCD takes over and I have no choice but to place them in rainbow order. I am a product of the 80's after all, surrounded by Rainbow Brite dolls and My Pretty  Ponies, Care Bares and Strawberry Shortcake...all manufactured in perfect rainbow order {and scents?}

This was incredibly simple. I hollowed out the melon with a melon baller, sliced cantaloupe and used a small cookie cutter to make stars, cubed honey dew and cut wedges of pineapple. 

                               

                         

                         Different shapes makes it more fun! 

Then I placed 4 small side plates in the "bowl" and added the fruit in between them. Once all sections were full, I slid the plates out and voilà! A rainbow of fruit flavors. I finished it off with a few pieces of greenery saved from the pineapple top for a little pizzaz.

You Can Do It!