Huzzah! That interjection of joy was given by yours truly when Blue Bell ice cream came to Arizona and the fact that we’re celebrating Blue Bell’s centennial it’s even better. I can remember my first tour of the Blue Bell factory with my BFF Sara.

Sara and I ran a lot in high school. Not only for the school, but in the summers we would trek off to University of Texas to track camp and we did countless fun runs. Two of our favorites were the 5Ks hosted by Amy’s Ice Cream and Blue Bell. Not to brag, but we were the reigning champs two years in a row.

She had come back to Texas for summer break our Freshman year at college and we took a road trip over to Brenham. Taking a tour that was geared for kindergärtners (like the umlaut over the A) as college freshman made us giddy and giggley.

And their motto really is “Eat all you can and we’ll sell the rest,” and we tried!

I guess what I’m trying to convey is that this little Blue Bell obsession I have comes naturally. I have more little stories and I might be feeling a bit nostalgic since I’m back home in Texas this weekend and it’s nice to remember these things.

Hmm. But there must have been a trigger. Something that made me recall these memories. I wonder if it was the four gallons of Blue Bell I found in my parents freezer this morning while rummaging around for breakfast!

Clockwise we have: Coffee, Dutch Chocolate,(Ja)Mocha Almond Fudge and Sugar Free Vanilla.

Yay! I’ve really been looking forward to this trip home. You have no idea. Usually trips home packed full of running to see friends and family. This trip, I’m sure that will happen, but I’m not feeling any pressure. I’m really going with an open and we’ll see how it goes attitude.

If you didn’t know, PHX SkyHarbor airport has free wireless. It’s one thing I really appreciate about this airport. I know that DFW, you have to pay and I think you have to in AUS too.

Check this out, this has got to be one of the coolest things I’ve seen all year. My friend Dara found this local to Arizona artist to makes food in miniture. I haven’t had a chance to read up on the medium she uses, but they’re freakin cute.

You can go the web site for yourself to check it out. www.amyville.com. I’ll be checking back in during the week. Y’all have a good weekend!

In Texas there’s a saying that if you don’t like the weather stick around for a minute. It’ll change. That’s not the case in Arizona. When you live in the desert one thing is very constant…the summer heat.

What makes it so bearable is knowing that at the end of summer is some of the most perfect weather anyone can ask for. Feeling inspired by Autumns first knock on my door and candy corn starting to decorate the store shelves, I started putting together my first fall cupcake.

Where to start! I make a mean pumpkin bread. I’m not ready to get that deep into Fall just yet. I wanted tastes of the season, but just a little taste. I found a recipe that read lighter than most traditional bread recipes and I thought I’d give it a go. It’s delicious. Check it out!

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Prep 20 minutes Bake 20 minutes 350 degree oven

2 cups flour, all-purpose
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
1 cup packed light-brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup unsalted butter, melted and cooled
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
15 ounces pumpkin puree

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and allspice; set aside.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together, brown sugar, granulated sugar, butter, and eggs. Add dry ingredients, and whisk until smooth. Whisk in pumpkin purée.
4. Divide batter evenly among liners, filling each about halfway. Bake until tops spring back when touched, and a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 25 minutes, rotating pans once if needed. Transfer to a wire rack; let cool.

$1 Make & Take. There’s this super cute stamp store in downtown Chandler called StampWorks and on Saturday mornings Nikki hosts a $1 Make & Take. She creates a one of a kind card and for a dollar she gives you all the supplies and the space to recreate it.

With the weather cooling off a bit in Arizona (that means that it’s below 100, but still above 90), this morning I woke up with a mission! I was going to dust off my beach cruiser, ride towards downtown Chandler, grab breakfast and make a card.

I love bike lanes. Woot!

Did you see the Elvis special on TV Tuesday evening? Watching it I got a little hint of inspiration and headed to the kitchen. What if I made banana and peanut butter cupcakes?

I surfed to my new favorite blog, Cupcake Bake Shop, and found a great looking banana cake recipe. My thoughts were to make a banana cake, stuff them with peanut butter and top with a buttercream frosting.

Here’s how far I got. Notice anything missing? Like the peanut butter filling and the buttercream frosting! This week totally caught up with me and here’s where I am. Elvis has left the building people.

But that’s OK! I’m not bothered one bit. The weather finally dropped to around 70 in the morning. I’m sitting with a nice cup of joe and catching up on my blog. Not too bad. HAPPY FRIDAY!

And we’re off! This is the official start to my family’s birthday season. In one month (starting September 14 and ending October 14) we have seven birthdays. SEVEN! Our birthdays always mark the beginning of the holiday season for us. As soon as we finish birthday weekend, we have Thanksgiving and before you know it Christmas is here.

Being in Arizona means that I might not see family as much, but I found my own little bunch of birthday girls at the office. Michelle, Gina, Dara and I all have birthdays in a two week period. Yay! Birthdays!

Gina and Michelle are up first! Happy Birthday Y’all!

Banana Chocolate Cream Cupcakes

Ok, so I’m going to post an official recipe since I sorta borrowed a lot of really great ideas from some of my favorite web sites.

Overall concept I derived from Cupcake Bake Shop but because it got late and I got sleepy-head I didn’t make the banana custard. I used instant banana pudding. I also used Betty Crocker Dark Chocolate Frosting. It was really good.

Method

1. Bake dense vanilla cake
2. Cut a cone shape hole in the middle of baked cake reserving tops
3. Place banana pudding in center of cake and cover with reserved top
4. Spread dark chocolate frosting on top
5. Using a bit of butter, sautee or caramelize banana and place on top of cake

Action leads to motivation. I truly believe that. Over the past few months I’ve mimicked initiatives started by other people. AfricanKelli sent out a charge to see what each of her readers could do in a week focused on ‘reduce, reuse, recycle’ and I picked up what I think are great habits.

I was just preforming an act. Following. But do you know what began happening? I starting seeing so many other opportunities in my life to be more conscience. AND IT FEELS GOOD.

This weekend I became uber conscience of the pantry. Ugh. How many times when running to the store did I pick up another can of Rotel or Cream of Mushroom soup?

Guess where all this goodness is going? To the food bank. It’s amazing how so much food came out of the pantry and I had a stock pile still.

The good news, since I’m more aware of what I have, my mind is just bouncing with all the goodness I can still cook with what I have. Lunch today is Black bean Couscous Salad. Delish! I might, I dare say, be starting to feel a little motivation!

Black Bean Couscous Salad

Prep 10 minutes Cook 5 minutes Serves 6

1 1/2 cup uncooked couscous
1 1/2 cup chicken broth
2 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil
3 tablespoon fresh lime juice
1 teaspoon red wine vinegar
1/2 teaspoon ground cumin
2 green onions, chopped
1/2 red bell pepper, seeded and chopped
4 tablespoons chopped fresh cilantro
1/2 cup frozen corn kernels, thawed
1 (15 ounce) can black beans, drained
salt and pepper to taste

DIRECTIONS

1. Bring chicken broth to a boil in a 2 quart or larger sauce pan and stir in the couscous. Cover the pot and remove from heat. Let stand for 5 minutes.

2. In a large bowl, whisk together the olive oil, lime juice, vinegar and cumin. Add green onions, red pepper, cilantro, corn and beans and toss to coat.

3. Fluff the couscous well, breaking up any chunks. Add to the bowl with the vegetables and mix well. Season with salt and pepper to taste and serve at once or refrigerate until ready to serve.

 Copied from Co-Op America

Garbage.  Americans produce more and more of it every year, when we need to be producing less.

Even the most waste-conscious among us can feel overwhelmed by the amount of household waste that goes beyond what municipal recyclers and compost bins can handle.

That’s why our editors have spent the summer investigating the state of waste management in our country, and putting together information for you, our Co-op America members, explaining how we can get serious about the three R’s – reducing, reusing, and recycling.  Supporting members of Co-op America can expect to receive this issue of the Co-op America Quarterly this fall.  If you’re not already a supporting member, join us now to get this special issue mailed to you.
1.  Appliances: Goodwill accepts working appliances, www.goodwill.org, or you can contact the Steel Recycling Institute to recycle them. 800/YES-1-CAN, www.recycle-steel.org.

2.  Batteries: Rechargeables and single-use: Battery Solutions, 734/467-9110, www.batteryrecycling.com.

3.  Cardboard boxes: Contact local nonprofits and women’s shelters to see if they can use them. Or, offer up used cardboard boxes at your local Freecycle.org listserv or on Craigslist.org for others who may need them for moving or storage. If your workplace collects at least 100 boxes or more each month, UsedCardboardBoxes.com accepts them for resale.

4. CDs/DVDs/Game Disks: Send scratched music or computer CDs, DVDs, and PlayStation or Nintendo video game disks to AuralTech for refinishing, and they’ll work like new: 888/454-3223, www.auraltech.com.

5.  Clothes: Wearable clothes can go to your local Goodwill outlet or shelter. Donate wearable women’s business clothing to Dress for Success, which gives them to low-income women as they search for jobs, 212/532-1922, www.dressforsuccess.org. Offer unwearable clothes and towels to local animal boarding and shelter facilities, which often use them as pet bedding. Consider holding a clothes swap at your office, school, faith congregation or community center. Swap clothes with friends and colleagues, and save money on a new fall wardrobe and back-to-school clothes.

6.  Compact fluorescent bulbs:   Take them to your local IKEA store for recycling:  www.ikea.com.

7.  Compostable bio-plastics: You probably won’t be able to compost these in your home compost bin or pile. Find a municipal composter to take them to at www.findacomposter.com.

8.  Computers and electronics: Find the most responsible recyclers, local and national, at www.ban.org/pledge/Locations.html.

9.  Exercise videos: Swap them with others at www.videofitness.com.

10.   Eyeglasses: Your local Lion’s Club or eye care chain may collect these. Lenses are reground and given to people in need.

11.  Foam packing: Your local pack-and-ship store will likely accept foam peanuts for reuse. Or, call the Plastic Loose Fill Producers Council to find a drop-off site: 800/828-2214. For places to drop off foam blocks for recycling, contact the Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers, 410/451-8340, www.epspackaging.org/info.html

12. Ink/toner cartridges: Recycleplace.com pays $1/each.

13. Miscellaneous: Get your unwanted items into the hands of people who can use them. Offer them up on your local Freecycle.org or Craigslist.org listserv, or try giving them away at Throwplace.com or giving or selling them at iReuse.com.  iReuse.com will also help you find a recycler, if possible, when your items have reached the end of their useful lifecycle.

14. Oil: Find Used Motor Oil Hotlines for each state: 202/682-8000, www.recycleoil.org.

15.  Phones: Donate cell phones: Collective Good will refurbish your phone and sell it to someone in a developing country: 770/856-9021, www.collectivegood.com. Call to Protect reprograms cell phones to dial 911 and gives them to domestic violence victims: www.donateaphone.com. Recycle single-line phones: Reclamere, 814/386-2927, www.reclamere.com.

16. Sports equipment: Resell or trade it at your local Play It Again Sports outlet, 800/476-9249, www.playitagainsports.com.

17. “Technotrash”: Easily recycle all of your CDs, jewel cases, DVDs, audio and video tapes, cell phones, pagers, rechargeable and single-use batteries, PDAs, and ink/toner cartridges with GreenDisk’s Technotrash program. For $30, GreenDisk will send you a cardboard box in which you can ship them up to 70 pounds of any of the above. Your fee covers the box as well as shipping and recycling fees. 800/305-GREENDISK, www.greendisk.com.

18.  Tennis shoes: Nike’s Reuse-a-Shoe program turns old shoes into playground and athletic flooring. www.nikereuseashoe.com. One World Running will send still-wearable shoes to athletes in need in Africa, Latin America, and Haiti. www.oneworldrunning.com.

19.  Toothbrushes and razors:  Buy a recycled plastic toothbrush or razor from Recycline, and the company will take it back to be recycled again into plastic lumber.  Recycline products are made from used Stonyfield Farms’ yogurt cups.  888/354-7296, www.recycline.com.

20. Tyvek envelopes: Quantities less than 25: Send to Shirley Cimburke, Tyvek Recycling Specialist, 5401 Jefferson Davis Hwy., Spot 197, Room 231, Richmond, VA 23234. Quantities larger than 25, call 866/33-TYVEK.

21.  Stuff you just can’t recycle:  When practical, send such items back to the manufacturer and tell them they need to manufacture products that close the waste loop responsibly.

I’ve mentioned several times (here, here and here) that I’m in an amazing volunteer group called the Junior League.

So, what does the Junior League do besides sip wine?

We volunteer and raise money. We support several charities in Phoenix with our volunteering wo-man power. Each person who joins the League is responsible for ‘clocking’ several volunteer hours. We do it all. We clean houses for terminally ill families, we work with women who are recently out of jail and help children who have been abused.

Last year several women, on their own dime, put together a trip to New Orleans to meet up with a Habitat for Humanity project.

But, what about the wine?

OK! That does happen (a little). Another great part about the League is that I’ve gotten an opportunity to build friendships with great like-minded women. We get together several times a month to plan out our next project and there are times that a little sippy-sippy happens. It’s great to blow off steam and and to share in each other’s joy.

Here is how CareCard works?

Individuals purchase a Care Card for $50.

Participating retailers offer a generous 20% discount on regular price merchandise to cardholders for the specified week of shopping, some restrictions may apply.

100% of the Care Card sales price goes directly to the Ryan House and to The Junior League of Phoenix’s community programs.

How can I order one?

This CareCard program is for Phoenix, AZ only. If you would like to purchase one, you can get here by following this link: http://www.acteva.com/booking.cfm?bevaid=123985.

Here’s where your money will go: http://ryanhouse.org/index.html

 Thank you!

You can visit this Unity Memorial at Tempe Town Lake in Arizona.