My contribution

I'm finally getting around to doing my post about a cookie/cake/delish baked thing that Trying asked for a few weeks ago. Here is the original post.

Banana Split Cake is what I made last week for my co-workers. They all loved it and promptly asked me for the recipe. I gladly shared and loved the fact that they enjoyed it as much as I did. My mom makes this cake for holiday gatherings and it's always almost gone before you can blink. It's no bake either, just needs to be refridgerated over night which makes it beyond easy.

Banana Split Cake

Crust- 2/3 stick melted butter
2 cups or 11 squares of graham crackers crushed.

Mix melted butter and crushed crackers together. Put in the bottom of 13x9 baking pan and pack tightly.

2 eggs
2 sticks margerine
2 cups powdered sugar
3-5 sliced bananas
20 oz of crushed pineapple (well drained)
1 large container of Cool Whip
Maraschino cherries (halved)
Chopped pecans
Shredded coconut

Beat eggs, margarine and powedered sugar together no less than 5-10 minutes. Spread over crust.

Add layer of sliced bananas and then a layer of pineapple

Top with a layer of whipped topping. I like to put it on thick.

Top with cherries, pecans and coconut.

Refridgerate overnight.

The finished product: (I made a half-recipe for the office, if you're wondering why my pan is obviously not 13x9)




If you make it, you have to tell me if you like it or not!

Home from Houston

I'm back from Houston and I have to say it was an awesome trip. There were a few minor issues with me getting frustrated with bad navigation on the trip, but otherwise the day was great. So great in fact, that I've had to recover all day today by being extremely lazy and napping on and off. We didn't get home until 4 a.m. last night which obviously had something to do with it.

So without further ado, here's a photo blog of our day yesterday.



Unusual crafts at the flea market.



Some pineapples for sale too.



One of the many food stands at the flea market.

The flea market was great, but not really what I expected. I thought it would be more like a garage sale, but there were a lot of knock-off booths there. Cheap sunglasses, cheap t-shirts, knock off Coach bags and things of that nature. They even sold birds and dogs there. Some of the puppies were so cute that I had a hard time not bringing Boomer a new playmate home.



My bulls-eye at Baker Street Pub where we stopped for lunch. This place had amazing food and was located near Rice University. It was an awesome area of town and I'd love to go back and visit some other places around that area.




Red Sox conference on the pitcher's mound



Pence, a player for the Astros



Sean and I at the game



Found a great seat outside the stadium!



Beautiful area outside the park



Sean and I in an awesome mirrored pavilion



Ending the night with a frozen margarita

Fab Friday

Well, our daily thunderstorm just passed through, unfortunately it didn't make it any cooler around here. I thought I might have to stop and get a drink in my half-mile trek to the mailbox. No joke! I seriously don't know how my husband and others train in this weather down here. It's no wonder Sean was "this close" to a heat stroke last summer. Now THAT was a scary event.

I'm very ready for 4:00 to get here. I've done my work for the day, my boss has left and now it's just me and Dee the administrative assistant left.

Sean did me a big favor today and took Boomer to the groomer's to have his nails clipped. We were both a little worried about this because Boomer doesn't like strangers and also doesn't like his feet(paws)being touched. So, I was very relieved when Sean called to tell me that Boomer had acted wonderfully, if not a little scared and no groomers were harmed during his visit. Thank god! He did say however that Boomer was quite upset this morning when I got out of the car to go to work. Evidently he stood up in the seat, barking and whining. He loves Sean, but I know he loves me more. It's true!

I got a lovely suprise in the mail yesterday from my mom. She sent Sean and I all our Hawaii souviners that she had bought for us. I got an awesome floral purse, dress, vintagesque postcards, bracelet, a can of macadamia nuts and some chocolate-covered macadamia nut candy. Delicious I might add! Sean got a shirt and hat and of course he gets to share the candy and nuts with me. I don't know what my mom was thinking when she picked up the hat, it's very old-man looking, but he was very appreciative of the thought.

I hope all of you have a wonderful weekend. Hopefully I'll get some great photos while we are in Houston. I'll try to share them on Sunday.

Happy Meal = Happy Mel

Ok..first of all I'm overwhelmed by the amount of cute baby pictures that I've seen on friends blogs today! Kick starts the baby fever in me. If you want to know who I'm referring to check out Andrea and Jenny. They have absolutley adorable children!

I just finished eating a McDonald's Happy Meal and I have to say I'm feeling pretty happy. The toy was crap though, that was the only downfall. (Yes I do eat Happy Meals and I'm 24) Anyway, today has been pretty good so far. My morning started out excellent because while weighing myself I noticed the scale had moved in the downward direction a few notches. I'm always very pleased when that happens!

Sean and I were talking this morning about us going to Houston this weekend with some friends of ours to see the Astros/Red Sox game. He told me he told his friend we should leave early so we can go do something I enjoy like a museum. My heart fluttered a bit when he told me that. Sometimes he really suprises me with just how much he thinks about my needs too. It gave me that giddy, school-girl feeling! I think instead of a museum I want to go to this massive flea market that they have close to Houston. It's 105 acres of vendors/stalls and I can't think of anything I'd rather do then go bargain shopping. It's like one huge garage sale! I'm already thinking of all the cool things I might find.

Speaking of Sean and his sweetness, I came home from work yesterday to find he had cleaned the kitchen, unloaded and then loaded back the dishwasher and had started dinner. Grilled fish, with veggies and rice. We'd had a small disagreement the other day about him helping out more and so I was glad that our conversation had done some good. I'll be the first to admit that marriage can sometimes be a bit of work, but it's always worth it to me.

Only 9 days until our one year anniversary! Pretty good, considering a lot of people didn't think we would make it this far.

Where are these tears coming from?

I don't know what it is with me lately. I keep getting on these crying jags where I cry for the silliest reasons.

Like tonight, I just dropped Sean off at his friend's house to play some beer pong. I opted not to go and really wasn't invited since it's a guy thing and I have to work tomorrow. They are all having a four day weekend so none of them have to worry about work. I don't mind him hanging out with friends and normally this wouldn't bother me at all, but tonight when I found out he wanted to go I felt so sad.

Maybe I've gotten spoiled seeing him so much. The first five months we were married I was living in Oklahoma to finish a work contract and he was in Louisiana. We got to see each other about 3 times during those 5 months and the times in between were torture. Now I've gotten used to actually seeing my husband everyday and I guess really miss him even when he's only going to be gone overnight. I feel absolutley ridiculous crying about this.

The other day I cried because I heard a song that reminded me of when Sean and I first started dating. I actually came home and cried on his shoulder. When he asked me what was wrong and I told him he asked me if I was pregnant. (That's a big negative by the way.)

Sometimes being a woman really has its downfalls. I hate being emotional for silly reasons!

A very wordy Wednesday

I'm alone at the office today. Well...sort of. The only other person here is my boss and since he resides for most of the day in his office upstairs it seems as if I'm here by myself. That's ok though. I have a couple of things to work on and when I'm not working on that it gives me time to blog and search the Interent to my heart's content and I'm ok with that.

Military life is good right now for Sean and I. He got word a few weeks ago that he should be going before the board soon for a promotion and we are both excited about that. I'm very proud of him to say the least. Despite rumors of a possible deployment, we are still moving ahead on planning on PCSing from here in January. I don't put much stock in rumors, especially about deployments. As Sean has been told several times since I met him that he will be deployed and nothing has happened. So...until I get offical word, I'm not worrying about it.

I met and took a walk with a new acquaintance yesterday. Her husband is deployed from Ft. Polk and she has been living in North Carolina, but moved back here this past week. We decided to take a walk last night, which Boomer loved, and had a good time talking about our lives. She seems nice, so who knows? I might have met someone else I'm actually compatible with here. No easy feat so far, I assure you. I don't mean to come off sounding snobby with that statement at all. It just seems that a lot of the women I've met are younger than me and still in that party phase. As in, going out every weekend and drinking while their husband is deployed phase. I don't mind a night out every once in awhile, but partying is a part of my past and I don't see myself picking that up ever again.

It's been storming almost everyday in the afternoons here lately. Almost reminds me of Florida and the trips to Walt Disney World when it would storm inevitably during the afternoon to later give way to sunshine. What's weird down here though is they have these warnings about tropical funnels. I guess they are similar to tornadoes, but they never touch ground? Louisiana has some unusual things about it. Trust me. I still love it though, crazy humidity and all. My hair hasn't looked right since I've been here, even equipped with what I thought was a decent straightner. Guess it's time to invest in a Chi.

Memory Monday

Time for another memory Monday. Today's memory is fairly recent. It comes from 2006 when I took a summer geography course that involved camping for 2 weeks in various National Parks and Monuments in the west. It was the best college course I ever took by far and also one of the best trips of my life. On that trip, I made a friend that I still keep in contact with to this day, even though we only spent a couple of weeks together and were from different states.

On this trip I got to experience Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons and the Arches of Utah for the very first time. I'd never really hard-core roughed it and we would have to go days without showers, cook completely on camp stoves and slept in the sometimes bitter cold nights, although it was May.

I saw some of the most amazing scenery ever. There were so many moments on that trip when I would just sit quietly and try to soak-up that exact moment I was living in. I tried to capture those moments in pictures, but the feeling can't be repeated.

My favorite moment on that trip happened while we were in Rocky Mountain National Park. There was a ridge directly behind our campsite and many times we would trek up there and sit on the ridge, watching the sun set in the west and the elk below us in a meadow. The first night we were there it was a full moon, the sun was sinking in a purple sky and the elk would bellow from time to time. It was magical. That's the best way I can describe it. I remember sittig there just trying to enjoy the atmosphere and remember that moment as best as I could. I just hope in life that feeling is repeated for me many times.

This is a view from the ridge.



Here is part of our group on the porch at the Old Faithful Inn.