I have bag envy

Sometimes I wander etsy and look at all of the pretty things I know I will never own.  Sometimes I limit myself to only looking at things that I could feasibly afford, but yesterday I mentally splurged a little and looked at some snazzy camera cases and other bags.  Bask in their loveliness.  Click on images for shop pages, should you feel the urge to send me a special present.  Just sayin . . . I wouldn't object . . .


Camera Bags (in order of personal OH-MY-GOSH I WANT THIS preference)

I feel like this would make me look like I was backpacking across Europe.  I wouldn't mind that.

SO PRETTY.  Such good craftsmanship, too.  Alas, even this shipping for this one is out of my price-range—it's from Hong Kong.

LOVE this fabric AND color.  The only downside is the lack of dividers on the inside, but that might almost be better for me, because I don't have multiple lenses to carry with me.

Purses, in the same order of preference

UHhhhhhhh . . . I love zippers.  And red.  

This bag is made by my good friend, Jade, and her boyfriend, Bob.  I bought a bag from them a few months back, and I am IN LOVE.  They have such good construction and craftsmanship that I would not mind owning this cute little clutch :)

I'm not one for labels, but this little Dooney and Burke clutch is really dainty and classy :)

Last but not least . . . 

SUITCASES.  My greatest addiction.  I have quite the collection, but all of them are weekender size, nothing of substantial size . . . which is why I've been drooling over these two.

American Tourister makes SUCH good luggage.  I am a huge fan . . . 

This one looks like the perfect companion to my little red, hard shell carry-on . . . 

Be back a little later this week.  Joshua is going to start going out of town again this weekend, so I'll have a little more free time :)  Talk to you later!

xoxo Alyssa

A Weekend Rescued!

Well, my plans for this weekend were supposed to include finishing up work on the apartment and hosting a housewarming party where both sides of our families would come visit, see the new place, and get a better feel for the work we will be doing at the coffee shop.  However, due to lots of snow and my dad's sudden case of the sickies, it appears that neither of our families will be able to make it to the party tomorrow (hopefully to be rescheduled) and because of our lazy attitudes and general blah-ness, the apartment is no where near finished.  We haven't even finished moving our stuff over from the old building or unloaded the stuff that has been in our cars for two weeks.

(Feel better Daddy!)

However! Tonight we had the pleasure of going to see The Mikado performed by music and theatre students from SEMO and it was FANTASTIC.  I knew it was supposed to be funny, but what do you expect when you hear that an opera is funny.  Exactly.  My hopes were not the highest for the humor side of the evening, but I figured at the very least the music would be great.  We had a good friend (Aaron of Concerning Humans) playing Nanki Poo, and he was wonderful!  The script was absolutely hilarious and Joshua and I have several new one liners that we will be quoting on a regular basis, such as , "Chop it off!  Chop it off!" and "She has a right elbow that people come from MILES around to see . . ".  It was so great.  I highly encourage the viewing of this opera if you should ever get the chance, it was absolutely hysterical.

And now, I leave you with suspicious kitties.  Enjoy!

 Yare was working on his cat-like reflexes.  He hasn't quite mastered stealthiness yet . . . Have a happy Sunday!

xoxo Alyssa

Week of the Blah

The last week has been sort of . . . blah.  Joshua and I have been working bit by bit, trying to get the apartment together for the housewarming we are having for our families this weekend, but it seems that no matter how much we get done, there is still a mountain of tasks to be tackled.  It also didn't help that the Spring semester started today, and Joshua is still receiving little to no information about when his masters classes are going to be starting up again.  There are tons of little things piling up and leading to a very tired, very overwhelmed little pair of newlyweds (I feel like I can still call us that, it's only been 8 months).  However, I have decided that it is what it is.  Everything will get done in due course, and things will work out one way or the other.  My, rather unspoken, goal for this semester is to not let it get to me.  I say that every semester, but I feel like since this is my last one, I have a pretty good excuse not to let things get to me, since in about 4 months I will be DONE and I won't have to think about school again for a little while.  I'm very much looking forward to it.

Anyway, I digress.  The moral of the story is, that even though some things have been getting me (and the Mister) down lately, there are still some things to be very pleased with.  Although the apartment still requires a lot of work, the stuff that we have done is looking rather fabulous.  So far, I have maintained my week-by-week goals for the new year, and even finished a book that I have been trying to tackle since or honeymoon.  And I have two adorable little kitties that love me, despite the fact that I bathed both of them this evening and they were rather displeased.  

Sorry for the rambling.  More fun stuff soon, I promise :)  Love you guys!  Hope this helps you realize the little things :D

xoxo Alyssa

photo courtesy of weheartit

Hannah's Present!

My lovely bestie, Hannah Bagnall, has an equally lovely mother who commissioned me to make a baked goods carrier for the wonderful baker.  Mrs. Bagnall designed the carrier and it contains many, many baking accoutrements . . . and it's PINK!  Take a look:

I was NOT looking forward to making this at all, I thought it would be a beast of a project, and I put it off as long as I could, but still have it done by Christmas.  Once I started, though, it really wasn't bad at all!  It is a fairly simple construction, and it was really rewarding to see that I could go off of some pretty basic design instructions from Mrs. Bagnall, and be able to create and put together something that was the correct size, and functioned the way it was supposed to.  haha.  Confidence . . . growing . . . 

Have you ever had an experience like that?  Where you surprised yourself with your abilities?

xoxo Alyssa

Catch up!

Life has been so crazy over the last few months that I haven't had the chance to fill you all in on some very exciting stuff!  First on the list is my brother's wedding!

(Click on images to enlarge)

My brother and I

All of my siblings and the new in-laws!

Joshua and I played the music for their ceremony.  I know, we both look so thrilled to be there.  We had a blast.  I promise.

Ain't they cute?  They both graduated from Mizzou.  I think the picture with the tail is my favorite. haha.

Trinity is a photographer, so she had all sorts of funky pictures she wanted taken.  They all were super cute :)

Next up on the catch-up list:  The new apartment!  However, I'm waiting until we're done painting and shifting things around before I take pictures, so it will probably be a week or so before I have them ready to post.  But there are more fun things to come :)  

xoxo Alyssa

all photos courtesy of Amanda Eaton Photography.  She's awesome.  Check here out!

*cliche goals post*

Yeah . . . I did it.

1. Get Etsy shop running-  I have the space set aside on the site and have designed the banner, however, I have very little motivation to list anything.  It takes so long and I was so discouraged with the lack of interest the last time I had a shop and that isn't helping me to try again.  I really want to get it up and running, though, and give it another go.  Hopefully this one will be met by the end of January.

2. Read 1 hour a week-  I love reading and have several new books that I have accumulated over the last year or two, but hardly ever set aside time to actually read.  I want to do this more.

3. Blog 4 times a week-  I think I can . . . I think I can . . . 

4. Keep checkbook balanced- I usually balance our checkbook about once a week, and catch up to everything we've bought/deposited at once.  Usually this works, but every once in a while it leads to some unpleasant surprises.  The goal is to minimize/eliminate those surprises by being more diligent about balancing my checkbook more often.

5. Be proactive with plans for Anavah House-  My husband and I are in the beginning stages of a very exciting project, and he has done most of the leg work.  You can read more about the project and our ideas here.  I want him to feel like I am more of a part of the brainstorming and not feel like he has to do it all on his own.

6. Create product line for BBRC-  BBRC is the coffee shop that is located on the first floor of the house that Joshua and I just moved into (we moved to the third floor apartment).  The building and business are a big part of our future plans, and the goal for the last few months has been to establish a line of handmade goodies that use the burlap coffee bags as the main material.  I have experimented a little but not gotten very far.  Therefore, the goal is to have a line of at least 5 different products with at least 3 variations/styles each by the summer time.

7. Get REAL business cards-  I have been printing my own business cards on cardstock for a while now, and those work, but I feel like for as little as it would cost, it would probably do a lot of good for Adorkable's image if I had some professionally printed business cards.  I got some mini-cards to use as tags for my merchandise from Moo.com and I LOVE them, so I will probably just order them from there.  Now I just have to save my pennies . . . 

Thanks for bearing with me through the gushing of my very self-centered blog post.  I hope you have some goals for this year, too, and would love to hear about them!  Maybe we could help each other achieve them in some way :)

xoxo Alyssa

Start the new year right!

I don't know who came up with this, it may have been the friend whose page I commented on, or she may have gotten it from someone else, but either way—it's awesome.

PAY IT FORWARD:  I promise to send something handmade to the first 5 people who leave a comment here.  They must in turn post this and send something they make to the first 5 people who comment on their status.  The rules are that it . . . must be handmade by you and it must be sent to your 5 people sometime in 2011.

Try this on your facebook!  I have 3 people who have commented AND reposted the status, so that leaves room for two more!  GET ON IT!  I don't know what I will be sending my friends, but it will be awesome, that I can assure you.

xoxo Alyssa

*edit*  I now have all five of my handmade pen-pals!  Can't wait to get started!

Hmmmm . . .

Seriously considering taking this course.  Thoughts?  I always worry about whether I will get my money's worth out of those classes because they're geared for all sewing levels and I worry that it will either be too difficult or too simple. . . . but $32 might be worth this one.

xoxo Alyssa

Exhale

The Christmas season is coming to a close and I have finally made it back home and started to fall back into a normal routine.  I promise I will bring you up to speed with my crafty adventures of the last few months soon, now that all gifts have been given and I will not be ruining any surprises :)  Joshua and I also added another feline member to our family (the big brother of our existing kitty, who will be formally introduced later) and are developing all sorts of exciting plans for the future (more details can be found on Joshua's blog), which I also plan to share with you, but for now . . . I am sleepy.  I bid thee farewell until tomorrow after I get off of work.  

xoxo Alyssa