Author: SidebySide Photography

going bananas!

I love baking…I think it really helps me to change my pace if I’m stressed or busy with lots of the same. It’s nice because it’s different than what I’m usually doing all day, I end up with a treat in the end (hopefully to share), and if you can follow directions, you usually can’t screw up!

Banana bread is one of those things I like making a lot. I don’t like bananas but tend to buy them and then don’t eat them. So when they’re about to go bad, like pretty brown, I make them into bread. It’s pretty easy, uses most things you have around in general (i.e. no uncommon or weird or expensive ingredients) and makes good bread out of otherwise wasted bananas.

YUM!

So here’s the recipe I use straight out of the 1976 Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook that my mom handed down to me when I left for college. Let’s just say I made this recipe a LOT in college and my roommates loved having me around!

1/3 cup shortening
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 3/4 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup mashed ripe (and I use very ripe) banana
1/2 cup walnuts (if you like them, mine are nut free)

Cream together shortening and sugar; add eggs and beat well. Sift together dry ingredients; add to creamed mixture alternately with banana, blending well after each addition. Stir in nuts. Pour into well-greased 9x5x3-inch loaf pan. Bake in moderate oven (350 degrees) 45-50 minutes or until done. Remove from pan; cool on rack.

And that’s it!!

meet mr. meowkins

So we got a little too excited about Halloween and carved pumpkins a little too early with Leslie and Jon. The gentleman and I worked on this one together, so meet Mr. Meowkins!

Unfortunately Mr. Meowkins met his untimely death just 4 days after we made him. Yeah, it happened fast!!!

The good news though, is that jared didn’t cut open his finger like last year! We were at the E.R. until 3:30 am and of course, I could have just super glued it back together.Oh well!

play things to do

photo booth fiends!

So last week (the 11th i think) we finally got to shoot a wedding with a photo booth!! Yippee! We had a photo booth at our wedding and it was a hit. So at this wedding (since we were working and all) we told the guy we’d “do the test run” before all the guests started using it.

So we edited the best 4 together and here they are!

Like how professional we look in our all black attire?? 🙂

nest things to do

how to decorate for fall with less than $5

Post author By SidebySide Photography
Post date October 8, 2008
1 Comment on how to decorate for fall with less than $5

Gourds.

They are really cheap and you can get them in just about any grocery store. If you’re like me and want to decorate for holidays but just don’t want to spend a ton of money to do it and don’t have the year-round storage space, then this is the way to go! They’re colorful, they’re Autumn-y, they’re cheap and you can throw them out when you’re done with them.

I especially like all the different kinds there are and how they each have their own character. Now, if only they were edible, then they would be even more useful!! And maybe I’ll even grow my own someday in that future garden I talked about in an earlier post, wahoo!

P.S. new post on SidebySide…check it out!!

reminisce things to do

Discipline

So, as it turns out, I struggle with discipline. I never used to think I did but that’s probably because when I was young I never quit anything I started and in my naiveness I thought that’s what discipline meant. All it really meant was that I had put my mind to never quit anything I started. So in a sense, I was disciplined never to quit anything, but in the actual activities I participated in, I was never too disciplined at all. I took piano lessons but if I practiced as much as I complained about practice, I’d be much more proficient. I’d go to swim practice but I could have been a better swimmer if I had practiced to the fullest. I went to college but I could have learned more if I had actually read all the books that were assigned. Now I’m starting to realize that I’m great at doing lots of things just not doing any of them to the fullest. The times where I see my lack of discipline the most in my life are with reading the Bible, praying and eating healthy/working out. I have the hardest time getting into healthy routines and because it’s not something I HAVE to do (as opposed to work etc…), it usually gets left out. See what happened to my photo a DAY!

So, I’ve decided, baby steps. I’m going to start becoming disciplined one step at a time. If I can’t be in good practice now, how will I ever teach that to children someday?!?! Not only that, but where will other big things in my life suffer?

Step 1: Eating Healthy/Exercise
The gentleman is going to do this one with me. We are going to really be intentional about what we put in our bodies and how we treat them. It will make us feel better about ourselves and give us more energy to be disciplined about other things in life! How will we do this? Well, I’m going to make a menu on Sunday nights so that I’ve written down what we’ll be eating all week = more accountability, less snacking (we’ve already cut chips out of our diets), and more working out (3 times a week at least).

Here’s my photo for the week (we’ve been very busy) and it’s of a yummy smoothie he made for us for dinner the other night.

So, we’ll see how this goes. I’ll keep you posted.

the z team

play things to do

Don’t Vote Video

WOW! I had no idea that celebrities were so smart and we were so stupid! Gosh, and you’re right, I didn’t know that I had to register to vote, wow!This is the most insulting video about voting I’ve ever seen:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VhDRVKDcXQo&hl=en&fs=1]

But seriously, you know you gotta vote, right?