My handsome boy :) (Taken with instagram)

Set my ring down to give Ethan a bath. I totally forgot about it until Hubby did this. Lol. (Taken with instagram)

(Source: favim.com)

mochacafe:

via glossfixation

(Source: leilockheart)

Taken with instagram

I made these twice in the past week. Found a recipe on the FoodNetwork website and tweaked it the second time around to make it even better! The original recipe was just a Banana Bread. I added vanilla extract, walnuts & chocolate chips and bake as muffins…you won’t wanna make it the original way anymore. ^_^ You could add a crumble topping, but I think they’re good as is…especially fresh out of the oven!

Banana Walnut Chocolate Chip Muffins

Supplies:
Muffin tin.
Cupcake/Muffin paper liners.
Two bowls. One for mashing bananas & one for the entire batter
Measuring cups
Measuring spoons
Fork
Rubber spatula
Two spoons or ice cream scooper

Ingredients:
1 cup granulated sugar
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter @ room temperature
2 large eggs
3 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon milk 
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt (I like using the course kosher salt, which are big flakes of salt, ‘cause I like my palette tasting the salt against the sweetness of everything else) 
1/2 cups of diced walnuts (optional: toast the walnuts first in the oven or on a dry hot skillet)
1/2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate morsels/chips 
__________

Preheat the oven to 325˚F. Add paper liners to muffin tins. 

In a bowl, mash the bananas with the back of a fork. Mix in cinnamon, vanilla extract and milk. 

In a separate big bowl, cream butter and sugar together until light & fluffy. I did this by hand, so I used a rubber spatula and added the sugar to the butter 1/4 of a cup at a time to make it easier to blend. Then stir & mash until fluffy or very well blended. If you’re using a mixer, then use the paddle attachment.
Add eggs, blend.
Add banana mixture, blend. 
Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. Blend well.
Fold & stir in walnuts & chocolate chips. 

With two spoons or an ice cream scoop, fill the muffin tin(s). I only have one 12-count muffin tin, so I baked in batches. Fill the tin 2/3 full. Bake for 20-23 minutes or until a toothpick/butter knife comes out clean of any batter when you poke a muffin. With this batter, I made 18 muffins with a standard size cupcake/muffin tin. 

So easy to make. Enjoy!

Retro Spring Nails

This look is very very simple to do. Just polish and dot away! Just keep the dotting structured. ^_^ I think if you’re going to make the dots relatively the same size, keep the dots in a structured pattern. Random dots look better when using different size dots (another time, another tutorial). 
I like the soft-squared look when nails are short, but for long nails, I like the oval/rounded look. Looks more feminine. That’s why I reshaped my nails. I think it adds to the retro-ness. Plus, when my nails are squared and long…I’m always stabbing myself. 

Colors used » 

Base colors:
OPI Gargantuan Green Grape/ thumb & pinkie 
Essie Guilty Pleasures/ index
Sally Hansen Complete Salon Manicure Yellow Kitty/ middle
OPI Designer..de Better/ ring

Dotting colors:
OPI Banana Bandana/ thumb
Essie Tart Deco/index 
OPI Alpine Snow/ middle 
Essie Mint Candy Apple/ pinkie 

My son. 
Ethan Thanh Ho
Born March 27th, 2012. 6lbs. 9oz. 20 inches.
He’s my litto chubbers now. He’s about 7lbs. 3oz. here. 
I love him so much…& so does Daddy.
^_^ 

I’ll work on a picture collage later. I want him to get older so we can really see who he looks more like: Mommy or Daddy. (: 

Everyday when I look at him, I am…speechless. I really cannot explain the feeling. Carrying him for 38 weeks and now he’s here.
Such an incredible-crazy miracle ♥