healthier banana bread

I had a huge banana bread craving for the past few weeks but since i was "off" sugar i thought i should wait to make it. Well, last week I had bananas begging to be used and I figured I could sub something natural for the sugar so thats what I did! This is the first thing i've baked in the new house.. actually, i think it's the first thing i've baked since i moved (January). crazy...

(the muffin pan and liners are from ikea. they make the cutest tall and skinny muffins)

3 or 4 ripe bananas, smashed
1/3 cup canola oil
3/4 - 1 cup honey (or agave... or sugar)
1 egg, beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups of all-purpose flour

Preheat the oven to 350°F With a wooden spoon, mix oil into the mashed bananas in a large mixing bowl. Mix in the honey, egg, and vanilla. Sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and mix in. Add the flour last, mix. Pour mixture into oiled muffin pan (or loaf pan if making a loaf). Bake muffins for 18-20 minutes, (if baking a loaf about 1 hour). Cool on a rack.

spring

There has been some really amazing spring days here lately... (don't be fooled, they are few and far between.. it's mostly grey and drizzly) I try to take advantage of the sunshine whenever possible and take strolls around the neighborhood and one day i walked to the cute ice cream shop a few blocks down and had a couple scoops by myself.. (have i mentioned i'm ready for josh to be home..getting ice cream by yourself is pretty depressing!)

The house is finally completely unpacked.. and mostly organized. I even managed to get a few of the DIY's done last week. Now I'm just focusing on getting it decorated and feeling homey. I'm pretty much starting from scratch as far as decor so it'll be awhile before it really is done they way i want.. but it'll get there! I actually bought rachels style your space e-course and it has been worth every penny. So much useful info in there! I'd highly recommend it if you want a cute space but don't quite know how to pull it all together.

p.s. josh will be here in two weeks. countdown is on!

cupcake head

Going baby pink all over is something i've been wanting to do for awhile with my hair. I've secretly been stashing pictures from the internet of gals that have done it (or wigs) and i rediscovered them about a month ago and decided since I'm planning on going dark the beginning of May I thought I might as well go for the pink while i have the plain palette. So here it is. I'll probably be keeping it for a couple weeks... just in time for easter, yeah? It's fun to have. Little girls everywhere want to talk to me now.

I took these pictures yesterday right before heading out to lunch with chelsea and another lovely (blog-less) lady. We ate at blossoming lotus, then after talking about how we should cut back on sugar, we decided nah, forget it and went to get some frozen yogurt. It was the best i've had in a long time.. red velvet mixed with peanut butter with lots of mochi of course. Then we shopped around at some local vintage shops. Pretty perfect afternoon, yes?

breakfast

I cannot stop eating these two things for breakfast (not at the same time..eww)

breakfast number 1: greek yogurt, walnuts, sprinkle of chocolate chips (okay, those aren't the healthiest but it doesn't hurt.) My sister turned me on to this yogurt combo and its to die for.

breakfast number 2: toast, sunflower seed butter, banana.
sunflower seed butter is one of my favorite things in the world right now.. i eat it daily and go through a jar a month. its like peanut butter but way better somehow.

p.s.

i finally did something i've been dying to do forever. more pictures soon..

new home

i FINALLY got internet at the new place... hooray!

it's crazy how much i've missed blogging on a regular basis.. but i'm so so happy to be in my own place with all my own stuff.. making meals and feeling normal again! I'm still working on getting everything unpacked and set-up and decorated.. but since i've been working 50 hour weeks the past few weeks i haven't had much time to do so. i'm going down to 32 hours from here on out (50 is way too much! holy cow, i'm tired) so i can finally catch up on everything i've been behind on and get into a better routine as far as spacing out free time for my hobbies. yay!
so expect to see lots of stuff soon, as i feel the need to make up for lost time.

some photos from the last week..