tasty tuesday//iced banana cookies

Last Friday, I was in the baking mood and had some bananas that were nice and brown and perfect for baking so I decided to try a new recipe!  A few months back I found this recipe and since I have a serious love affair with bananas  I knew we would be a good match!  The hubby definitely dug them and said it was like a yummy mini banana bread! They are the perfect little moist ball of deliciousness, so if you love banana bread, write this baby down! You will love it!! 

Banana Cookies

Ingredients:

1/2 cup butter, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup sour cream

2 large ripe bananas, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 egg

2 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Beat butter and sugars.  Mix in the sour cream, bananas, vanilla, and egg.  Add the remaining ingredients.  

Use a cookie sheet line with parchment paper (I just sprayed the pan instead of using parchment paper).  Using a small scoop, drop dough onto paper.

 Bake at 350 for 10-12 minutes. 

I decided to add my own little twist to the cookies that the original recipe didn't call for.  I thought these would great with a little icing on them and I was right, they were!  I made the icing using the simple icing recipe of powdered sugar, vanilla, milk, and melted butter.  Just mix them together and it will look like this.

When the cookies have slightly cooled, simply drizzle the icing over them and let the cool.  They add this nice little glaze to it that is just perfect!  

You can barely see the glaze in this picture since this is right after I drizzled them, but as they dry you it adds  little white glaze to it, that's just perfect! I hope you enjoy it, we loved them!

**I'm linking this post  at Sweet As Sugar Cookies & The Sweet Details,  swing by there for other amazing recipes!!**

my big bro is turning 4-0!

This past weekend my family and I threw my brother Paul a SURPRISE 40^th Birthday party!  I cannot believe that my big bro is celebrating this big milestone in his life, that’s so crazy! Time just seems to fly by that’s for sure, it seems impossible that he could be 40!  After months of planning this party was definitely a huge blast and it was fun to get together with my family and plan this special event for my brother. It was so fun to see his face because he truly wasn’t expecting this in the slightest!

We decided to host a luncheon a Buca di Beppo (delish!) to celebrate with our whole family, as well as his closest friends.  My Grandma and Aunt even flew in to surprise my brother on this big day.  I think that was really the greatest surprise for him that they would come out this way to be here to celebrate in person! It was such a fun day celebrating with family and friends while enjoying a super delicious meal.  Even though we had a BIG hiccup with our reservation, it all ended up working out perfectly and I am so glad that we were able to bless my brother with this fun party, I know he really appreciated it.

My sister Pam and I did a lot of the planning and we kind of ran into problem with how to personalize the party since it was being held at a restaurant.  We really wanted to showcase pictures of my brother throughout his life, but being in a restaurant poses some challenges!  We thought about doing a display board, but it just didn’t seem like a good idea.  So yours truly came up with the PERFECT idea!!  What we did (and by we I mean me) did was create a guest book/scrapbook for him to have as keepsake.  I wish I would have taken a better picture of some of the pages, because it turned out SUPER cute.  For the book, I scanned copies of pictures of him throughout his life and made reprints (since my Mom wants the originals) and then put together a scrapbook of all the pictures.  Mixed in the pages I added slots of decorative paper for guests to sign at the party with their birthday wishes.  It added such a fun, personal touch to the book!  Also, since we have a lot of family that live out of state, as well as some of his friends that live out of state and those who couldn’t be at the party due to other obligations, I decided to email them in advance asking for them to send me a birthday greeting via email that I could print off and add into the book for my brother to have.  I got a lot of responses back and it was really fun to have my brother read those wishes and greetings from friends he hadn’t touched base with in a while. 

Overall, it was such a fun celebration and I am so glad that it went off without a hitch!  So big bro, HAPPY HAPPY 40^TH BIRTHDAY! I love you so much and I hope this year is the BEST of your life!

Here are some pics of the fun we had!

If you wanna see more fun, check out my YouTube channel.  I uploaded the video footage from the big day!

louis, louis, oh baby!

Okay, so I know I have been a HORRIBLE blogger lately! I keep getting ready to do a post, and then lazy pants out and don't get around to it! LOL! Horrible I know, but that's how life is sometimes.  Anyways, I had a very exciting thing happen last night that compelled me to blog and hence here I am. 

Wanna hint about what it is???  

Oh yah, it's that awesome! After months, and months, and months, and months (okay you get the point) of saving I finally got to splurge last night and buy myself a beautiful Louis Vuitton bag!  I have been dreaming of a Louis for ever and ever, and I cannot believe I finally have one! EKK!!!  

Okay, I am lame, but I had to take a picture after my big purchase wouldn't you?! Haha :) I love my little Louis baby and I totally freaked out when I got home and got to unpack it all! (Again, so lame!)

And drumroll please....here is the little beauty all unpacked and home! LOL!

Aww, I love it! I seriously am in heaven! All the months of dreaming and waiting for it was so worth it, it's so gorgeous! 

Yay! So that's what has been going on in my life lately! I am sorry if this is such a lame post but I just am so excited I just had to share it! I promise I will have more exciting blogs in the near future! :)