Crazytown

is what these last two weeks have been (credit for that word goes to this lovely lady).  Absolute insanity--but such wonderful insanity :)  Two weeks ago Joshua, Nathan, and I had the pleasure of traveling to Charlotte, NC in a van (yes, we drove from Saint Louis to North Carolina).  We spent the week attending various aspects of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, which was generally, pretty great :)  In other news, I got to see this pretty lady:

My roomie from DC, Miss Mary (pronounced Miss Murr-ee, thanks to a little nine-year-old Rihanna look alike that we had the pleasure of caring for last summer).  She is truly one of my best friends and it was so wonderful to spend some time with her :)  She lives in NC, so we don't get together very often, but when we do, the universe explodes with awesome.  Joshua and I already decided that when we have kids (a zillion years from now) she will be known as Aunt Mary.  And they will have to learn to pronounce it correctly.

We returned from Charlotte on Saturday, did laundry, attended church, packed up again, and headed to Marietta, IL to attend Cornerstone, a week-long music festival.  We camped out with Nathan and his girlfriend Laura and had a wonderful time.  There were some days when we stumbled upon some theologically and politically questionable stuff, but it seemed that for every frustrating encounter we had, there was something awesome that outweighed it.

Like them.

(mewithoutYou)

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and them.

(The Illalogical Spoon)

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and them.

(Jon Felton and his Soul Mobile)

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Please listen to this.  It is marvelous.

Now I am home for a week, without Joshua, while he is working at Blue Mountain Camp.  I have oh so many plans for the week like:

-shipping an Etsy order! My first one who does not know me personally :)
-cleaning the apartment
-crafting and *possibly* adding some things to the shop?
-finishing up a few baby gifts for some lovely ladies who are just about ready to pop
-go to the new waterpark with my WONDERFUL friend Aaron, who I have not spent nearly enough time with, lately.  I am quite excited.
-take pictures of the apartment so I can FINALLY share them
-take pictures in general
-make homemade ice cream according to this DIY.  I'll let you know how it turns out.
-get pierced with my sister-in-law! So. Pumped.

Oh my.  That's not even all of it.  I can't wait.  Hopefully with my immense amount of free time this week I will be more diligent about posting.  We shall see ;)  I'm thinking of adding a new feature to my posts: movie reviews.  I L.O.V.E movies and watch a TON of them, so I figure it's only natural, right?  Right.

Thanks for joining me, today!  Keep smiling :)

Alyssa

Is anyone else as excited as I am?

I know right? I watch such high quality television.  I just. can't. stop.

Home is wherever there is you . . .

Last night I went with Joshua and Matthew to The Pageant in Saint Louis to see these guys

open for these guys

Aren't they the cutest?

I decided last night that Jade and I needed to be great friends.

We got fun concert goodies

and generally had a really great time.

In other news:

I'm getting this today! I can't wait!  The only thing it needs is a rack for the back so I can ride it to class, but that can be easily fixed :) 

Thanks for joining me today!  I'm off to clean up the apartment so I can take some photos to share with you, and to work on a baby gift for a friend that I CANNOT wait to give her :D

Keep smiling :)

Alyssa

Oh my . . .

It has been quite a long time, and for that I apologize.  Life got cri-zazy these last couple of months with wrapping up the semester and . . . oh yeah . . . that whole wedding thing.  I am going to try and be better about posting this summer, and maybe even do some advertising on other blogs?  I think I'll have to become more dedicated about posting first . . . but that is the ultimate goal :)


I have so, so much to share (wedding photos, Etsy plans, and new apartment apartment pictures!) and I plan on doing that over the next few days/week, but to start out--


A recipe!  Please do not be a tofu hater and therefore ignore this recipe-- it is delicious.  If you do not believe me, come over to my house, next time we make it, and eat some with Joshua and I whilst playing Bananagrams. 

It. Is. To. Die. For.

Emily's Easy-as-Pie . . . . Pie
All you need for this recipe is--

1 Premade pie crust 
( I suppose you could make your own if you wanted to be fancy, but we make no guarantees that it will work as well.)
2 bags of either Milk Chocolate or Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips 
(Semi-Sweet for an entirely vegan recipe)
1  lb. of SILKEN tofu  
(must. be. silken--firm or extra firm makes "batter" too thick)

Begin by melting your chocolate chips in a double boiler.  If you do not have a double boiler (like us) you can make your own by setting a Pyrex pie plate on top of a regular ol' pot.

After your chocolate is successfully melted (NO LUMPS--completely liquid is best), combine with the tofu in a food processor.  Do this quickly, because the chocolate will begin to harden, and nobody wants that.  

You may also want to wash those dishes (or at least put them in water) relatively quickly, too, as hardened chocolate is rather difficult to remove from food processor pieces. 

Mix together in food processor until tofu lumps completely disappear into chocolately-goodness.  

Pour into pie plate and put in either the fridge, or freezer.  The freezer works best if you are making it in the afternoon and want it to be done in time for dinner.  If you don't have room in the freezer, the fridge will work just as well, it will just take longer.

After about an hour in the freezer (or overnight in the fridge) remove the pie.  You don't want it to freeze completely through or get too thick. 

Devour immediately. 

I dare you to do otherwise.  

It's really good with whipped cream, but equally as good without it.
If you don't like really rich foods, I would recommend Semi-Sweet Chips to the Milk Chocolate.  Both are delicious, but the milk chocolate makes it considerably heavier.

That's all for now!  Thanks for joining me today--hopefully I'll be back a little later this week with some pictures and other funness :)

Keep Smiling, 

Alyssa Smith

BIG ANNOUNCEMENT

So, Jess of Oh my, yes and I have quite the announcement to make . . . 

OUR ETSY SHOP IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!

Come by and visit the shop and let us know what you think!  Custom orders are also available ;)

Keep Smiling,

Alyssa

Can't wait for Saturday . . .

RUMMAGE SALE.

I am pumped.  I got a sneak preview at the merchandise at the church tonight, and there was a BIG box of fabric and sewing paraphenalia, with 3 1/2 yards of a very pretty pattern right on top.  

I CANNOT WAIT.

Button, Button, who's got the button?

I do!


Joshua and I visited his and my parents this weekend for Easter and to see some family and visiting friends.  When I got to my parent's house, my mom showed me these adorable jars that she found for me to store my buttons in.

Aren't they adorable?!

I love it because I can see the buttons that I'm looking for, and they're all color coordinated thanks to a fun sorting party with Trinity from Trips, Tips, and a Tripod.

On a side note, I got to spend the afternoon napping and making soap with Joshua, today.  It was absolutely lovely.


I'll leave you with some pictures of a trifting make-over from a couple of weeks ago.  This is a box that I bought at my church's rummage sale last year and decided to freshen up with a coat of paint.  It was a really warm, orangey wood color.

I put a coat of off-white paint on it to match the face in the cameo that is on the front, and a deep purple color on the inside. Isn't it cute?!  I love it :D

That's all I have for now.  Thanks for joining me today!  Back soon after my crafy-time this Saturday!

Keep Smiling,

Alyssa