Homemade Banana Pudding

It is summertime and that means lots of outdoor dinners, BBQs, and picnics in Texas! I love taking a light and cool dessert and this banana pudding is one of my favorites. Although I originally got the recipe from my Dad (who is a fabulous cook!), he doesn't remember it. Who knows where it came from!

I've made sure to share all the ways you can reduce the fat and calories inside without losing the rich flavor. A little can go a long way with this one!

Dad's Banana Pudding

1 lg box vanilla pudding (I also like to use banana pudding)

8 oz. cream cheese (you can go fat free on this one!)

1 c. Eagle Brand Milk

3 c. milk (2% works fine, too!)

1 t. vanilla

8 oz. Cool Whip (fat free of course!)

3-4 chopped bananas

vanilla wafers (why yes, Reduced fat works!)

Mix all ingredients together and chill overnight. Bananas will brown up in this dish as it sets- just chop up the bananas for garnish just before serving. I also like to add a few wafers at the end so you get a few crunchy ones in there.

Who Me? An Award!

I love the love shared among bloggers! Lucy gave me an award this week and I just love it! She said some nice things about me on her blog and we've never even met. Isn't that just the coolest? Thank you so much Lucy! I love having a happy reader and new friend!

So, in honor of the award, I'm to tell you 7 random things about me and share the love with other bloggers. So, in random order... hehe!

1. I spent a summer in Europe studying the European Union and attended Wimbledon as part of that trip. I am not a tennis fan, but I would go back just to eat the strawberries and cream. That was 12 years ago, but I can still remember them vividly.

2. I met my husband while interviewing to be on the student senate at Angelo State University. He didn't vote for me. :( It didn't matter. I was elected and served each year I was in college as a Freshman Representative, Student Senator for Liberal Arts, and as Student Body Vice-President my last year. I loved every bit of it!

3. I would love to meet Tim Tebow.

4. I could eat doughnuts every day for breakfast for the rest of my life. Likely, a short lived life due to a heart attack!

5. My daughter was originally a twin. Her twin passed away really early on (like 8 weeks pregnant) and if she had been a girl, her name would have been Amelia, or Millie for short. Through World Vision, my husband and I recently began sponsoring a little girl named Millie in South Africa born on the same day as my daughter. God is into the details of our lives!

6. I love colored pens and Sharpies, pretty file folders and my label maker. I spend too much money on office supplies.

7. I have been keeping a big secret for almost 3 months and finally get to share it next week in bloggyville. It makes me heart smile and will change this blog for sure! Stay tuned!

Along those lines- I created 2 new pages on the blog- my bucket list and our home. More ways to meet the person behind the birdie.

Now, onto my versatile bloggy friends!

Shannon at Bless Our Nest

I love Shannon's mix of family, faith, and home decor on her blog! Her style is simple and still unique. I want to sit around and chalk paint things with her! We've never met and live states apart.

Katie at Harrington House

Katie is the epitome of a Southern girl and she is moving to Texas soon! I can't wait to learn from her as she brings her Southern charm to Texas. Plus, her home is beautiful and now she has a new home to decorate!

Jessica McCash

I love Jessica's style, too! She mixes colors and patterns like a skilled artist! We share a love of scrapbooking, card making, applique and monogramming on our kids. She recently moved from the South to Detroit and had the best attitude about it. I can't wait to see Detroit and her new house through her eyes!

Friday's Foot Fetish: Beaded Heel

Aren't these new sandals by Steve Madden so cute? I love the detail on the heel- really cool!

I can only find them on the Steve Madden website (after I tried them on and kicked myself for not buying at the mall in San Antonio last week!).

The good news- they are on sale! Go here to get a pair!

June Desktop

Ahh, summer is here! I love the bright colors of summer- swimsuits, beach balls, flowers in bloom, sundresses, watermelon!

I hope you have a wonderful month of June!

Remember, wear sunscreen!

Show Some Leg!

I have recently lost some weight and am excited to buy some new Spring dresses one size smaller!I have been looking online for my reward dress and there are so many cute options out there this Spring. I love so many of them. I am trying to decide which I will get the most out of... date nights, work, a wedding in September on the beach... but, there are so many options!

Here are a few of my favorites- let me know which ones you like most!

Nordstroms- purple or pink

Garnet Hill- maxi, flowers or big sleeves

Lands End- green or red (these are both in the lead in my eyes!)

I think they'd be light and fun on the hot summer weekends and cute paired with a cardigan and big jewelry during the week. They are under $50 which is also a big plus!

Boden and Macys

Boden has a TON of dresses I love- click here to see all of them. They always have the best prints. Plus, the Macy's dress was recently on sale, so I bought it up! I think it'll make a great summer church dress, especially with the patriotic holidays coming up!

Cowboy Cavier

My husband and I are on the final leg of a 40 day very low carb diet. We have both been successful, but are wanting "real" food as we celebrate with friends pool side this weekend. So, I dug around and found a pretty healthy side dish. It isn't real low carb (corn and beans), but it isn't potato salad which I almost always make.

If you are looking for a semi-healthy and colorful side dish, give this one a try!

Cowboy Cavier

1 can drained- corn, black beans, black eyed peas

1/2 each- red bell pepper, green bell pepper

1 bunch chopped green onions

1 sm. caron grape tomatoes, sliced in half

Mix all ingredients and toss with 3/4 cup Zesty Free Italian Dressing by Kraft. Let it set overnight and enjoy with Baked Tostitos or as a salad.

Enjoy!

Friday's Foot Fetish: Bubblegum Pink

Love love love! I own two pairs of bright pink shoes- always fun with black and white outfit, with my favorite white pants or with denim and a springy top!

Nerissa by Zappos

New Outdoor Living Room

You might recall back in February, I listed my home goals for 2011. I am thrilled to have accomplished the big one this past week- we expanded our patio and created an outdoor living room!

We went back and forth on flagstone, brick pavers, or concrete and ultimately the slope of our backyard made the decision for us- we went concrete. The picture above shows the slope- it is level with the ground on the right side and 7" off the ground on the left side!

They framed it out at 10' deep by 15' wide. I would have loved to go deeper, but our backyard is shallow and I didn't want it to be all concrete back there!

Hooray! Once the patio was poured we had to wait 3 days to place our furniture on it! We (I am sure you know I mean he) had already put it together out of excitement! It sat all sad in the garage for 5 days just waiting! We want to stain the patio, but decided to wait a while since Abby is really into sidewalk chalk. She is ready to decorate her new canvas!

Ta Da! Our new patio with the lively furniture! I just love it! I searched patio furniture online for weeks and polled my Facebook friends for recommendations. We ultimately went with the Catalina collection from World Market. The wood feel was more homey than the metal and I think we can keep the stain up annually and make it last. The pillows are all scotch guarded and weather proof. Plus, the covers come off to be washed!

We opted for the storage bench over a traditional coffee table. It gives us a place to store the throw pillows outside, allows for additional seating if needed and serves as a coffee table. Everything was 25% off, too which made the cushions all free!

When moving our plants to place everything on the new patio, we discovered why a bird kept visiting our old patio- it was her home! Look at these little blue bird's eggs! I'm so glad we neglected our fern the past few weeks!

Can you tell who loves the new patio the most? I have a feeling come rain or shine, this little girl will want to spend all her time out here! We did our nightly reading and computer time outside and read books in our jammies at 6:45 this morning.

Project Flip- Part Two

I am in love with my new craft room! We flipped it with the guest bedroom (in the post below) last weekend and I just want to hang out in here! The sunlight is wonderful and the pops of color make me happy! I bought new curtains and picture frames for this room, but everything else is from the smaller craft room. It doesn't have to cost money to look new- just move things around!

This is the wall to the right of the entrance. The closet door is covered with a shoe rack that is filled with tulle, paint brushes, mod podge and more! My create letters are here.

The china cabinet was featured months ago- we bought it on Craigslist for $100 and fixed it up with paint and wrapping paper! She holds so much for me including pretty books in the glass shelves and boring things like envelopes and shipping tape in the drawers and lower cabinets.

Behind my desk (really just a dining room table!) is my console, big Ballard Designs beloved bulletin board (a bonus purchase 6 years ago!) and my homemade shutter notecard holder.

Just inside the entrance, opposite the china cabinet, is one of my low profile bookcases. It is filled with scrapbook albums, stamps, inks, and notecards. My perfectly matching storage boxes are stored here and on the other bookcase by the window. The spinner on top and the white lazy susan are Pottery Barn Kids purchases from years ago. I love them both! The platter, is a simple chalkboard paint project.

Next to the bookcase is my zebra chair. It was another Craiglist find! I wanted a cozy little corner in case I wanted to read a craft magazine! I need to find a fun ottoman for this corner!

I'm so grateful my husband agreed to move my fancy lighting- this room has taller ceilings and it fits in here perfectly! I think lime green shades would also be fun in here! And, it I was able to spend more money on this redo- a bright green ceiling would be in my plans!

Finally, the new additions! My Delta Girl frames are perfect for the wall between the windows that you see when you first walk into the room. And, thanks to my sewing Momma, I have buffalo check curtains to pretty up my windows. Her poor overworked sewing machine died during the second curtain. Luckily she owns more than one, so I'll have a new curtain for the window above next weekend!

Thanks for visiting my new room! I hope lots of fun new projects are inspired out of this room! I know I'm inspired to do more in here!

Project Flip- Part One

Do you remember when I redid our guest bedroom here? Well, this past weekend, I redid it again!

The front of our house has three rooms- Abby's room, our guest bedroom, and my craft room. The guest bedroom was the front room in the house- it has a walk in closet, 2 large windows, an arch, and is the largest of the three. The craft room was in the back of the hall and had lower ceilings, one smaller window, and the smallest closet. With me spending more time in my craft room, we decided to flip the guest bedroom and craft room last weekend.

It was a simple weekend project- change our shelving in closets, switch ceiling fan into new guest room and chandelier into new craft room, oh, and move lots of furniture.

Here is the new smaller and cozier guest bedroom!

Since I was moving things around, I went ahead and changed up the configurations of the art on the walls. It makes it feel new without spending any money.

I really like the way our furniture fits into this space and my Mom (our most frequent guest) likes that the room is darker allowing her to sleep better.

My new and totally lovely craft room/home office pictures coming soon! I am finishing up the new curtains and waiting on my one new purchase for the room- Delta Girl Frames! I recently made a day trip to Dallas for work and decided to blow my mileage check on these frames! They are in the mail and I'm so excited to see them!