Giveaway - last chance to enter!

Don't miss your chance to win a Blurb book credit on my giveaway!

How would you use the credit? There have been many great ideas from recipe books, to a-year-in-the-life-book, to photobooks from vacations.

Click on over to the giveaway post to enter by midnight EDT today!

Banana nut chocolate chip bread

On the weekend I was going to make muffins like I always do for snacks during the week...and the Mr. suggested banana bread instead. I haven't had banana bread in ages, and don't think I've ever made it (indeed we had to go out and buy a loaf pan). This one turned out to be magical.

Yumm...this recipe was from my Taste of Home Cookbook. Here's the recipe if you want to try it out (I recommend it...)

Ingredients

• 1/4 cup butter, softened
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 3/4 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 2 medium)
• 1/2 cup sour cream (*I used plain yoghurt)
• 2-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (*I used pecans because I didn't have walnuts on hand. I also tossed in about 3/4 cup of chocolate chips)

Directions

• In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in bananas and sour cream. Combine the flour, cinnamon, baking soda and salt. Stir into banana mixture just until moistened. Fold in nuts.
• Transfer to a greased 8-in. x 4-in. loaf pan. Bake at 350° for 1 hour or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

Yield: 1 loaf (12 slices).

Don't forget that tomorrow is the LAST day to enter my giveaway! Get your name in there before it's too late...



Blogger Book Club #2: When God Was a Rabbit

Welcome back Monday...after a nice relaxing weekend sometimes Mondays aren't SO bad. And, it's that time again friends - time to applaud, blast, cheer, or just plain old comment on our second book club book.

If you've read our second book, When God Was a Rabbit (Sarah Winman), I really would love to hear what you have to say in the comments below, or on our Facebook page (under "Blogger Book Club", set up by Carol at The Design Pages).

This story is about a brother (Joe) and sister (Elly) and the deep connection they share with each other. There are many times in this book when it states that the only person that Elly truly feels understands her is her brother Joe. Joe is older, and seems more independent - running off to the US to work and leaving his sister and their family behind in the UK. Elly however still has an unstobbable reliance on Joe and his listening / understanding.

To me this book was a little bit disconnected. A number of things happened - the family won the lottery, the brother moved away to New York, the parents started up a B&B...but none of these actions really seemed monumental to me.  They just sort of happened. The most piercing part of this book was when it depicted 9/11 and its impact on the characters. I think 9/11 will always grip people because it was so monumental, and so recent. However, in this book I felt like it was thrown in as a last ditch effort to grab people's attention. I didn't really think it fit with the story, and I didn't like how the author dealt with it or its outcome on the characters.  It came late in the book and tied itself up nicely at the end.

Overall, this book gets a B from me. It wasn't a terrible book that I couldn't finish, however it won't make it onto my recommendation list. I also read it immediately after The Glass Castle...and I kept on having to remind myself that these kids aren't poor, actually quite the opposite! I think it says a lot when a book stays with you and the Glass Castle definitely did...I just can't say the same for When God Was a Rabbit.

I believe that so much about liking / disliking a book depends on when you're reading it, what else you have read recently, what's going on in your life, etc. Given that, I'm really excited to hear what you have to say about it!

Don't miss our third book - this is the one I'm most excited about: Day After Night (Anita Diamant). That one I think WILL have a strong female character (an area where our first two books were sorely lacking). Day After Night will be reviewed on July 16.

Friday faves: Shiny things

Today's Friday Faves is going to be a wee bit different...instead of inspiration pics, it's going to be my favourite outcome of the week.

Remember when I got that cute silver (REAL silver) cup at the yard sale? Well, I had some silver polish that I had yet to use on some of my grandmother's candlesticks and got to work. Have you used silver polish? This stuff is like an infomercial - rub it on, rub it off, and you have delightful, shiny things. Love it!

Seriously? Who knew it was so easy...here are the candlesticks:



And, all together now:



Happy Friday (and happy June) lovelies!



Giveaway!

Well friends, the benefits from BlogPodium just keep on coming! While I was at BlogPodium, I spoke to the Blurb book people, and loved what I saw. Do you know about Blurb?

Blurb is a publishing platform where YOU can easily design and publish professional quality books. I asked the people at Blurb for a bit more information - are they photo-book specific? Who should use them? How customizable is it?  Blurb answered:

"When I say books, I mean anything from a photo book outlining your last vacation to a full-blown novel. Blurb is especially useful for creative types who are storytellers by nature because it enables you to customize every last square inch of your book. From the photography to the fonts, the design is entirely up to you"

You could make photo books, an instagram book, cookbook, notebook...the options really are endless. Here are some great examples of what creative folks have managed to churn out:

Love the idea of making a family cookbook with all of your favourite recipes!

A wedding book is SUCH a great idea - perfect place to put all your shots, and a great gift for your parents, new parents-in-law, or bridal party / groomsmen

Or you could do a much more modern take on the baby book... I have also heard of people making

"year books" - photo books that capture everything the family has done that year (what a great way to make sure your photos don't just live on a computer!)

Now that you know a bit more about Blurb....the exciting stuff happens....they are willing to offer a $35 credit to the lucky winner of my giveaway!! It's up to you what to use it towards...Here's how to enter:

1. Follow Interior Groupie (see my "follow" button to the right) and check out Blurb's website for all the fantastic book options you can do

2. Leave a comment below telling me what kind of book you would make, and what your inspiration is (recent vacation, wedding, family reunion, awkward teenage years, etc etc...)

That's it!

You can get an extra entry for tweeting about the giveaway (make sure to CC @InteriorGroupie and @BlurbBooks). Don't forget to come back here to leave a comment telling me you did that!

The deadline for this giveaway is midnight (EDT) JUNE 6th.  I will announce the winner (chosen at random from the comments) on Thursday June 7th...good luck!! *make sure to leave your email address if it's not connected to your commenting profile* This giveaway is from Blurb Canada, therefore only open to people ordering from the Canadian site (sorry US and International readers).

One man's trash is another's treasure...

Just last week I was reading Emily A. Clark's post 5 Things to Grab at Yard Sales. It's a great post with tips on items to buy at yard sales that will ALWAYS be useful. Pre-Blog Podium, the Mr. and I wandered Saturday morning for a coffee and pain au chocolat, and on our way back home a part of our street was having a yard sale! I looked around quickly at a few houses - focused on finding things that I actually liked AND were a good deal, not just clutter. We saw a bunch of junk (cassette tapes, anyone?), and a few treasures (to me) that I picked up:

How cute are those? A gold owl (seriously on-trend), and a (real) silver cup that I would love to use for a little vase for big flowers like peonies or hydrangeas. Can't go wrong with a unique / vintage take on a trend, and a high quality item. By the way...the owl was $4, the cup $1.50 - I obviously bargained to $5 for each because they were from the same seller.

Here's a pic of the owl in action:



I also bought this:

I know, kind of creepy to have a portrait of someone else, but I obviously bought it for the frame...and because it cost this much:

I heart deals, what can I say. But seriously, where else can you find a frame, of any size, for $2? It's begging to be spray painted (one of Emily's tips) - I'm thinking gold? Depending on what I put in there the existing finish could work too.

My next mission will be out-of-the-way antique markets...surely they won't have much for $2, but it's a fun treasure hunt none the less!