The perfect guilt free pancakes!

2 eggs (I used 2 egg whites and one yolk)
1/2 mashed large banana (best when softened)
1/4 cup ( i used a little less) cup of organic oat flower
1/4 cup of almond milk
A pinch of cream of tartar and baking powder
Cinnamon & pumpkin pie spice

I added some of my organic honey spread that was given to me as a gift from a wonderful generous man!

Note to self: these pancakes are the most delicious ones I have ever made by far, and you don't have to feel guilty about them either.
Fun fact: (Yes I'm a lefty)

Pharmacy friends.

Marks work had a Christmas party. Which I very much enjoyed to meet all his co-workers and hear all the lovely things they had to say about him. It never phases me to meet new people and enjoy a lovely dinner filled with laughter and Scrumptious food (at Portifinos-Waterfront dining) over a beautiful view. I slightly regret not taking more pictures.

The perfect Sunday.

Lovely Sunday. Started off with a beautiful service, I love my church! Festive Christmas lights twinkled and made this it feel more like December since the weather isn't cooperating (still hot). My cute brother decided to match me today, I love him dearly. It still shocks me today to see how quickly we have all grown up. I wish I could switch the pause button sometimes. But that's how life works, live in the moment. Well ok please don't laugh, but this genius right here was trying to throw her keys to her brother and accidentally got them caught in a tree. Only something like that would happen to me of course. Thank goodness not many people were around, and a nice gentlemen helped me get them down. Problem solved thanks to generous hearts. I love all the joy that is shared this time of year!

(The drawing was done at bonefish, with some kid crayons).

Ladies pizza party!

Well I'm in a ladies grogroup, and we have decided to throw a pizza party (thanks to patricia). The way it works is everyone brings their favorite toppings, sauces and together we bake our pizzas any way we want. It was a great turn out! We had so much fun throwing ingredients left and right, coming up with creative and flavorful pizzas (I rather do this than order pizza any night). Besides the full bellies, we played white elephant which is always a joy to play and full of intense excitement. These ladies mean the world to me and I'm so blessed to have them in my life. Lately I have realized that I never really had an age based friends, most of them are years ahead (wise very wise women) of me or much younger. It's funny because even at the age of 12 I was just the same; age never really mattered when it came to friendship. I'm just really glad that the women in my life are so amiable.

Christmas will be here soon and parties, friendship, laughter, and giving come at hand. It's my favorite time of the year hehe.

A sweet visitor.

It's been pretty crazy... Between 2 jobs, studying for finals, and my bed... I've been living in isolation. Ahh sometimes this time of year could be a little overwhelming. I'm trying to slow down and keep my stress level as low as possible hehe. Well over all I haven't had time to do my Christmas-y usual baking, wrapping, decorating, shopping. But next week I'm hoping to catch up on all of it!!!
I have to get real for a moment though... I have accumulated a lot of change within the last two weeks it's been more than I expected. However, change is good... Right? I mean everything around me, my life... It's slowly transforming from my usual realm. Life is fascinating, when you actually look at your daily routines and pay attention to the details, there is so many small things we miss. And I appreciate it all. Even Santa came in today to visit me at work, it really made my day!

(That's not raw meat... I know it might look like it, but it's actually watermelon, grapefruit, and berries "best combination ever")

Good to bad to good.

Today is defiantly not my favorite day, started out great and everything just went down hill. 

But my too priority is not to let this ruin the rest of my evening. Yes I'm not perfect and I have 

bad days, but life does go on. It's not easy to simply brush things aside but sometimes you

 just have to. It really gets me when people are so rude and they simply hurt you in so many ways. Time to carry on and smile.

The picture is my Facebook status, just something on my heart that I have been wanting to share.

faith.

A life full of praise and thankfulness is a life full of miracles.

-Jan Grennell 

my girls bible study literally gets me through the week; great words of wisdom from great women.

Highlight of my day: face-timing my lovely sister, ahh every time we chitchat I just want to let the tears flow out of my eyes; words simply cannot describe how much I miss her!

P.S. yes we make funny faces at each other for about 5 minutes of the time that we FaceTime. It doesn't get any better than that.

Grateful.

I randomly want to babble about the 7 things I am most grateful for this week.

 1.   My pandora, I couldn't live without her; I listen to that thing 4-8 hours a day straight

 if I get the chance to. I really appreciate Gods beautiful creation of music

 (it really helps me on both good and bad days).

 2.   The fact that in my freshman year of high school, I made the decision to chop off my hair 

(and all the other hairdresser problems that happened in between) my hair is finally starting to grow out! That I am very thankful for (Tips for increasing hair growth: biotin, eating vitamin enriched foods, and my organic cinnamon infused shampoo that helps promote hair growth).

3.   My snoozy alarm. Ok maybe I'm a little over thankful for this one since I have to have 10 alarms just to get me out of bed. I know it sounds bad, but I'm working on it.

4.   That wonderful plastic reusable Starbucks cup, always making sure I'm never dehydrated and never leaving my side. Even though you have been though a lot I'm glad our still pulling through. P.s. thanks mark for the new one (Oh and they came out with holiday straws yippie)!

5.   For getting pulled over by a cop not just any cop, but a north port cop (aka known as the worst to get pulled over by) and I got away with not even a warning... What are the chances (I did say a little prayer in the car).

6.   For my mama, she has taught me everything I know. And to this day I still ask for advice from her. 

7.   The Christmas movies that fill my heart with joy and cheer! I love this season!

Marks birthday

The day started of with church or course, If I haven't mentioned before I go to Coastlife

 (this is the place to be). I love my church. Well this Sunday Mark was given the opportunity 

to preach; the anointing on him was so powerful. It's a blessing to have such wonderful friends 

who love God as much as I do!

Well it is Marks birthday as well, and since his favorite cake is red velvet I baked him a 

beautiful cake roll; As you can see there are no pictures of it because it didn't completely turn out 

the way I had planned it (the cake was falling apart). Even though the cake wasn't a great success,

 it was devoured in minutes which completely surprised me. That made me feel a little better. 

You know what's even funnier, is that when we got together the first thing we noticed was that 

we matched completely from head to toe (and this happens quite often too).

Happy Birthday Mark!

P.S. that picture of us was snapped by a close friend, I just loved the randomness of it.

Holiday parade.

Every year the following Saturday after Thanksgiving, my little hometown holds an 

annual holiday parade. It's a tradition for my family to enjoy the parade together and wish everyone

 a Merry Christmas. Since I can remember, it's always been something we all look forward to; I

 preformed in the parade in my middle school years in the color guard, oh all the memories are coming 

back! It's always so warming to see such cheerful neighbors express their holiday cheer. 

Everyone gathers together all snuggled up in their warm winter coats, with their hot coffee, children,

 grandparents, and friends by their side. Happy faces and laughter fill the air; Then soon enough the

 night is over and we wait for another joyful year to come.

Night out with the boys.

Well since mark has family down, we decided to take the night and enjoy ourselves some adventure.

 There's a small hometown sandwich joint called munchies420. I have heard great things 

about the place and the guys wanted to try it out. Overall, great results, full bellies and flavorful 

unique selective menu. Defiantly something I recommend to someone who wants to try something 

out of the ordinary.

The one one the left is a sandwich with Mac and cheese, onion rings, chicken strips,

 2 stacks of burgers, and much more. The right is a pad Thai wrap.

Thanksgiving!

Spent the day preparing for our Thanksgiving lunch and decided to transform into a kangaroo, 

I fit that 24 pound boy in my pouch hehe. I just love how silly my family can be. With a spin of flavors

 and talented woman I will say that this meal was phenomenal. I do say that this year I had to have 

2 big meals in one day. The second one was with marks family that came down from up North.

 It was wonderful to meet some of his relatives and sweet grandma.

I have more than enough things to be thankful for, so here are a few of my favorite....

My church

Growing family

The new addition to my family (nephew)

Smiling at strangers

The strong women in my life that always inspire me

Antique shops

Cold nights

Apples (my obsession)

Cozy slippers

Farmers markets

Tickling

Have a wonderful thanksgiving!

Pumpkin cheesecake.

3 packages of keeblers mini rust rounds
2 (8 ounce) packages cream cheese
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 (15 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
2 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt

Beat cream cheese in a large mixing bowl until fluffy. Gradually add brown sugar, the pumpkin, the vanilla, and the spices. Then add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after adding each one.Simply add the salt, beating until creamy, then pour the mixture evenly into the prepared crust.
Bake for 50-60 minutes.


Topping:
1 1/2 cup of walnuts (or pecans)
1/2 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon in salted butter
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt

Bake the nuts until golden brown, on the stove stir brown sugar, butter, and cream on medium heat. Boil it for 1 1/2 minutes; remove from hear and then add vanilla, salt, and nuts. Let it cool for around 15 minutes and then pour on top of the cheese cakes. Refrigerate the cakes for 2 hours once finished.

For Dex.

Looking for a nice/cheesy/uplifting holiday movie to watch??

You might want to check out The Heart of Christmas.

Honestly brought tears to my eyes, very inspirational.

Cherish every day!

Monday.

What my day consisted of. Playfully experimenting with asparagus, as well as with my camera.

 And even though this is my so call relaxing week, I'm still stuck catching up on school work

 (it never ends). And the rest of the evening was taken by Christmas music (don't judge) 

and making stuffed peppers and cabbage rolls. They may have taken up a few hours

 of my day but they were scrumptious. I love having mother daughter bonding time in the kitchen; 

let me tell you something, I don't know any single woman who can cook better than my mama 

(oh she's so amazing). Ok I'm bragging just a littler but I'm being honest. 

I love her.