Meet Delainey

This is Delainey! Shannon and Zach got her for me several months ago and I am very grateful! Shortly after I began to paint I realized that an Easel would be important if I were to progress very far without my mother or father killing me for getting paint on the dining room table. I love to paint on her! You can totally fold her down so she is just a couple inches wide and about 2 feet long. On all my travels this summer every painter I saw had the exact same Easel, and if it is good enough for an Italian painter it is good enough for me! I love my Delainey and thought I would show you my support in all my painting endeavors!

I am going through a bit of an artistic rut right now. I feel like my mind is elsewhere and I think the problem is that I don't even know where it is exactly. I am trying to continue to do my art with my hands at least and eventually my head and heart will catch up with my hands.

Have a wonderful day! Happy Trails....

Frodo...

Tonight at work I was bored and did this personality test! It is actually true and I, like a hobbit, will never say no to second breakfast... or elevensies! You can go here if you want to take the quiz! You know you are all obsessed with Lord of the Rings like I am!

You are most like Frodo. You're very friendly, and you have a great personality. Although you like to have fun, you can also be pretty serious at times. It's pretty hard to get you mad, but once you're mad...everybody better look out! Keep that temper under control and realize that you're better off than you may think.

Books By My Bedside...

Today when I cleaned my room I found several large stacks of books scattered all around my bed. I even found some in my bed that I have been sleeping with... I am a deep sleeper apparently. Some of them will always be as near to me as they can possibly be and some are just first time reads on their way to the shelf. I love books and I love to have them near me. The mere sight of them is comforting.
My brother Preston introduced me to Billy last Christmas and I truly do appreciate this mans poetry. I love the pure simplicity of it. I like the language alot! I have to read enough confusing wordy poets for school and love to come home and read Billy! I enjoy reading him before bed... I have good dreams when I do!

What can I say about this lovely collection of Poems? They are all fabulous and you are never too old for them! His illustrations are great and his poems even better! I hope that I am never without this collection near me wherever I am!

This is one of my favorite poems...
I made myself a snowball As perfect as could be.
I thought I'd keep it as a pet And let it sleep with me.

I made it some pajamas And a pillow for its head.

Then last night it ran away, But first- it wet the bed

-Shel Silverstein



This is my man Langston Hughes and he is my favorite poet. I could write an expansive amount about him and his poetry but for every ones sake I wont. Just let me say that if you are not familiar with his poetry please because acquainted with him because it will be life changing and you will never be the same! Brilliant!


Then of course I have my bakers dozen of Dr. Seuss gems! I read them very frequently and love them more and more every time ! I have recently become a big fan of him as an artist as well. His illustrations are brilliant! Check out Mcelligot's pool if you want to see some beautiful art! Whats a bed side without Dr. Seuss?

This book is done by Lonely Planet and contains a page about EVERY COUNTRY IN THE WORLD! It has important facts about every single country on this lovely planet of ours. It talks about food, language, important facts, best times to visit (it even helps those of us who have time machines by explaining the best time to visit for example: the best time to visit Egypt would have been when the Egyptian empire was at its peak) It is very handy and I find myself looking at it probably more often than is healthy for a restless travel obsessed college student who has no money. I love it and every once in a while I will randomly flip to a page and decide that is where I am going next............ I am going to Mongolia today!

Inkheart is a great novel written for lovers of books........... that is quite obviously me so I thoroughly enjoyed it. It isn't groundbreaking no new territories explored here but pleasant and fantastical which is always a winning combination for me!

For those of you who do not know Neil Gaiman he is the author of Stardust. I liked stardust tolerably well and I LOVED Neverwhere which was simply fantastic and would suggest that you all read it! This is a collection of short stories and they are good. They are much like his books. They are twisted, dark, odd, but they work in a very positive way. I also like the cover of this edition, my copy doesn't have a cool cover like this!

I have already written about my Douglas Adams obsession so I wont go into it now but I could not leave this lovely volume off of the list. If you are ever going hitchhiking across the galaxy or trying to find the meaning of life take this on your journey it will help you find the answer to your question............. or just your question!

Hands Down

Happy Saturday! I am having a lovely lazy day! I wanted to post about the institute dance last night that was SUPER HERO themed! Everyone was suppose to dress up like Super Hero's but only cool people did. I was Rogue from X-Men, Jordon was Dash from the Incredibles with the rest of his Incredible family, Pat was Random Man or Super Abe (abe lincoln), Dylan was sick but was content staying up late reading the new Eragon! It was fun to dress up, I am not a big fan of dances in general but it was short so I survived. I got to use my stage makeup and was the "Hair Artist" of the evening... check out Jordons hair!

You cant see them but Pat has 6 belts on and one around his ankle... he also has about 7 necklaces on... hence the random man name. I made his hair silver with a black stripe... very cool, and well random!
I love to bake and occasionally when I bake I get rather impressed with myself and my baking skills. Well... last night was one of those times. I made chocolate torte that was so good I thought that the possibility of me dying from it was very high. Here are some pictures and I have typed in the recipe incase any of you want to try it. Everytime I would take a bite I would think... life is beautiful, everything is happy... and who doesnt want to have some cake that does that to you?

Triple Chocolate Torte

Ingredients
CAKE
3/4 cup butter or margarine
12 oz bittersweet baking chocolate, corself chopped (semi sweet will work too)
3 tablespoons orange liqeur (you can use any flavor you want, it called for coffee but I used orange... it also works if you dont put any flavor at all)
4 eggs
2/3 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
GANACHE and TOPPING
3 tablespoons whipping cream
4 oz white chocolate baking bars, chopped
1/4 cup milk chocolate chips

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray bottom of a 9-inch round cake pan with baking spray with flour, then line bottom of the pan with cooking parchment paper or waxed paper and spray again.
2. In 2-quart saucepan, heat butter and bittersweet chocolate over low heat, stirring occasionally, until melted. Removie from heat; stir in liqueur. Cool slightly, stirring occasionally.
3. Meanwhile, in large bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and salt with an electric mixer on medium speed for about 4 minutes or until pale and thickened. Gradually beat in chocolate mixture until blended. Beat in flour, scraping bowl occasionally, just until blended. Pour into pan.
4. Bake about 30 minutes or until center is set (it is suppose to be doughy so a toothpick wont come out clean). Place pan on cooling rack. With sharp knife, loosen cake from side of pan. Cool 30 mintues. Carefully removie cake from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
5. In 1-quart saucepan, heat whipping cream just to boiling. Removie from heat; stir in white chocolate until melted and mixture is smooth. Refigerate until mixture is thick and spreadable.
6. Place cake on serving plate. Spread white chocolate mixture just over top of cake. Melt chocolate chips then put in a small bag and cut off a small corner of the bag; squeeze bad until chocolate in over the cake.
7. Cute into slices with a sharp knife and ENJOY!

Solar Chaos!

Solar Chaos is done and is now at home on my blog! I really enjoyed painting this one! This painting as part of the chaos collection is on the sun this time! There is just something about the little houses and the curley smokes that always make me smile and remind why I love to paint so much. I love to put myself and how I feel on a canvas and I feel like with these I truely do! My dad told me that all the houses should be "encapsulated" because they live on the sun and therefore could not live because of the sheer temperature... but it is my world and my painting and they can survive on the sun! That is the point of the chaos collection and life in general, we live through and survive things that not only are uncoventional but often seemingly impossible. Sorry Dad, maybe I will "ecapsulate" something in the future.

Happy Trails...

Road Trip...

This last weekend I had a three day weekend because safford decided long ago that the county fair is something to be celebrated and therefore there is no school (and no... Columbus and the discovery of America is not important but the fair most definitely is here). Dustin and I decided that we would take this opportunity to go to Flagstaff to visit Loren and road trip it up. It was simply a lovely weekend. We went to phoenix then up to Flagstaff and it was utterly beautiful. The weather was rather cold and the leaves were becoming beautiful. I was finally united with my jackets and scarves again I have missed them and they didn't seem unhappy to see me. To be honest we didn't do much but the absence of activity was wonderful! We went shopping (sorry Dustin) and went downtown a looked around, we had some yummy hot chocolate, we watched lots of movies, and we played so much rock band that I got blisters... and dominated on the drums! It was lovely to spend a weekend with two of my favorite people in such a beautiful place! We only had one near death experience and what is a road trip without a "almost died" experience?

Look at this beautiful tree!

Dustin and I getting hot coco mmmmmmmm

Loren and I in our winter garb!
Tonight is the Project Runway Finale! Dad and I have not missed an episode this season and we are very excited about tonight's Finale! We have our predictions but I will keep them to myself. It really has been a great season with alot of talent... I would really be fine with any of them winning and yay for the ladies, it is about time for a lady to win! Let me also say that my 52 year old father got me into this show not the other way around that you may assume. This morning I was in the bathroom getting ready and Dad knocked on the door and gave me a rundown of the last episode that I missed and apparently it was a good one! We are excited for tonight! YAY! Months of watching, 15 contestants, only one project runway finale... only one winner!


Happy Trails.... Until Tomorrow!

Its A.... Person Covered In Eyeballs!

When the Blogtoberfesting began I promised I would share some Halloween Costume Idea's, and dont you worry the time has come! This is my favorite Halloween Costume to date! I was a night... with animal/human/alien eyes shining through. It is very easy to make and even more entertaining is to see the looks of people when they wonder what the heck you dressed up in. We still have this costume and I wish I could fit into it again... I probably could but it would probably not be pretty. So here is a hallo-memory for you!

Where am I... I lost myself!

Happy Trails...

The Cutest Zombies On Earth!

I was flipping through old photo albums yesterday and stumbled upon THESE! I am pretty sure these are the cutest little zombies I have ever seen. They are wee little Preston and Stacy my two oldest siblings! Aparently my dad liked to dress them up like zombies because it was "the easiest and most grusome"... hmmm well dad certainly looks grusome but these two little kiddos are ADORABLE! This was a bit of Halloweening in the smith family before my time.

Just thought I would share... This is Day 11 of BLOGTOBERFEST... I havent missed a day so far! Happy Trails!

October Basketball!

Since I have been participating in Blogtober fest I have been trying to think about all the things I love about October. I love the weather, the trees losing all their leaves (and changing color in normal climates), I love that you can bake without striping off all your clothes because it is so hot, I love Baseball post season, I also love that october marks the beginning of Basketball! Pre-Season just began and on the 29th of this month the real season starts! GO SUNS! A couple years ago I decided that even though my uncordinated self was not going to develop any sport playing skills at this point in my life I could still learn to appreciate sports. So I have done my best to learn a little about every sport. Basketball and Baseball are my favorite but I tolerate football (american style...) and listen to dads excited highlights whenever he wants to give them to me. I also have learned a bit about hockey, volleyball, and soccer(least favorite by far!) Two years ago I was WAY into the suns... and what do I do when I am way into something other than crafty things? I create crafty things having to do what the obsession...

These are cookies/suns players... We didnt have a gingerbread man cookie cutter so bears had to do. I did them for the 2007 playoffs and it was suppose to give them lots of luck but I suppose they didnt work... oh well they were tasty! My friend Mandy helped... the only way to get her to create is if it has to do with sports, a brilliant plan I thought...
So here is a little basketball memory for you! I am very excited for the season to start I love watching the suns!

Happy Trails...

A Heart of Gold...

This tree is from is from the Golden Wood... Straight out of Middle Earth/ My house! I decided to make a tree out of copper wire and I thought it turned out just lovely! It is not quite as strong as my steel wire trees but neater! I havent gotten a base on it yet, my "project manager" is off somewhere in the wilderness being "Square Knot" (he has decided that Slip Knot is his evil nemesis and that he gains strength by drinking cran-raspberry juice... I come by my oddities honestly!) so I will have to wait a few days on the bases. Enjoy!

Happy Trails...

Mummify Me... (again)

My creative bakeing juices were flowin today and I wanted to make a tasty hallo-treat. I had big plans... big plans... and then I looked at the clock and realized that the "big plans" I had would not fit into the minimal time I had before I went to work (wednesdays are evil... all school and work... no time for creation!) However, I did manage to wip something up in the midst of the craziness of wednesdays! These are some cute sweet little mummies. I adore them and I am sure they are very tasty to eat... I wish I had one with me here at work! I saw these last year and just had to give them a try. They are about as simple of a sweet Hallo-treat as you can get.



Mummified Cupcakes

1 package cake mix (chocolate or any kind you like)

Cupcake Liners

Frosting (canned or handmade)

Bake the cupcakes like the box says (you can also make the dough handmade... they are better to be sure just not quite as easy). You then let them cool a bit and when they are nice and cool you get your frosting and get a plastic baggy and make about a centimeter long slit in it. You can then mummify your cupcakes.

Soundtrack of My Life

A couple of years ago I saw on my brothers I pod a soundtrack of his life. This seemed like a rather good idea to me so during the last couple of years I have slowly created my own. These are songs that may completely apply to me... and may not have any apparent thing to do with my life, but it is the music I live to. So here it is... The Soundtrack of My Life!

Tire Swing- Kimya Dawson
I Feel It All- Feist
Rain- Bishop Allen
Naked As We Came- Iron and Wine
All these Things That I've Done- The Killers
Come Downstairs and Say Hello- Guster
Career Day- Format
Our Swords- Band Of Horses
Anna Begins- Counting Crows
Merry Happy- Kate Nash
Hanasakajiijii (Four: A Great Wind, More Ash)- Anathallo
The Background- Third Eye Blind
Rebellion (Lies)- Arcade Fire
Oh, Sweetheart- Shout Out Louds
The Queen of the Rummage Sale- Bishop Allen
Blues Run the Game- Jackson Frank
Running To Stand Still- U2
Fireflies- Bishop Allen

Have You Seen Me Lately?

I love Counting Crows... I love Adam Duritz... I have an obsession I admitt it... With all that being said, however, can I just say that I got a self esteem boost today when I saw this picture... All of a sudden the hours spent reading Adams blog, looking at the website, reading concert reviews from the last 8 years, spending lots of money on T-shirts and concerts, and the hours upon hours listening to the music does not mean i am obsessed. I am not obsessed... I am not obsessed UNTIL I get one of these on my back, if i do that then i will admitt to my obsession and everyone is aloud to drown me... or at least torture me until I come to my senses. I have a nagging suspicion that the person who got this tattoo instantly regretted it, but then again his love must run really deep... so I am not to judge! I love you Adam... just not enough to put a gigantic tattoo of your entire head on my back, and for some reason that makes me feel alot better about myself.

Adelia...

This is Adelia... She got caught in a bit of wind today and has left the ground at the moment. She was frightened at first but has now decided that she likes the freedom of not being bogged down by that very inconvenient thing called gravity. She is not sure if she wants to come down... She is content to live up with the wind and the clouds...

I love her hair... and her scarf!

Happy Trails...

Nick, Norah, and the Eye of an Eagle!

I realized today that I see a ridiculous amount of movies... If I dont see it in theatres then I watch it at home... So now and again if I feel like reviewing a few I think I shall. Last week I saw Eagle Eye and I was pleasantly surprised!

The last few months I have felt cinematically deprived! I did not go to the theatre for about 2 months which is unheard of for me. I was itching to go to the cinema when Eagle Eye came out last week. I had only seen 1 trailer for the film and didn't know what I was getting myself into, but it was definitely a good surprise! I thought it was a good action suspense movie with a good plot. They developed the characters very well the acting could have been alot worse. It was not a ground breaking Oscar worthy film, but it was good. I would suggest going... It is alot like I Robot but better in my opinion.

Friday I went and saw Nick and Norahs Infinite Playlist... Let me start with the things I did like about it. First of all Bishop Allen was in it which is always a positive thing if
Bishop Allen is in anything. They played a gig in the movie at this little place in NY where they are from. It was fun to see them on the big screen :) There were also Bishop Allen posters plastered everywhere throughout the whole movie... that made me happy... Infact the film would have been excellent if they would have just showed Bishop Allen the entire time (the picture has nothing to do with the movie by the way, except that it is Bishop Allen...) The soundtrack was awesome! I would buy the soundtrack but I have every song on the it except for a few newbies. I knew almost every artist in the movie including some songs in the movie that arent on the soundtrack like a National song they snuck in there. I also really like the new Vampire Weekend and Rogue Wave song featured in it. As far as the movie goes, there were some entertaining bits... I laughed alot (partially because of the comments from group of guys behind us who loved it more than snow on Christmas... I seriously thought that they were going to cry at the end) I also loved the sight of NY at night, but on the whole it was not very good. The main characters were very like able enough and I adore Michael Cera. (I love arrested development and JUNO... I also love juno) I thought there were alot of odd parts that could have been left out and honestly if you wanted to see it I would say stay at home buy the soundtrack and look at pictures of new york and pretend you are on a rigid search to find a band called Where's Fluffy? and you can call it good... you experienced the highlights of the movie. I will probably never watch it again, but I will listen to the music for years to come.

Theres my movie advice for now... feel free to disagree with and ignore everything I have said, I would if it was me!

If your a dreamer...

I am reading Inkheart (Review to follow...) at the moment and found this lovely poem by Shell Silverstein in it. The second I read it I realized that it had to go on my door. So here are the welcoming words to my fantastical land/ my room/ art studio/ dwelling of my dreams. Again, Lord of the Rings is in the background. My lovely brother-in-law Doug gave me some old copies of LOTR to use in my art and quite frankly there is no book I would rather use. So if any of you have the desire to entire my room you have to meet one of these specifications... magic bean buyer is preferable by the way.

Enjoy Everyone... Have a WONDERFUL WEEKEND!

Happy October... Happy Trails...

Mummify Me!

Today I got up and it officially felt like fall. It was a bit chilly this morning (yeah okay 75) and it didnt get passed 85 all day! I had soup for lunch and when I got home mom had gotten all of the halloween decorations out! Yep... tis the season for ghosts, gouls, zombies, and yummy things! I cant wait until it is cool enough for me to wear my scarves... they get vastly deglected, i feel bad!
In celebration of it finally being fall we had chilli made by mom and I made some yummy mummy sausages!

Dad cut the cheese in the shape of cats! MMMMMM it was good!
I instantly fell in love with these guys the instant I saw them! They are super easy and great for parties or just a fun family meal! Truely mummifying dont you think?
Yummy Mummy Sausages

1 can Pillsbury Crescent Recipe Creations refrigerated flaky dough sheet

Breakfast sized (or any size you want) sausage either pre-cooked or not (just cook them before you are ready to wrap them)

Some kind of Mustard

1. Heat oven to 375 degrees. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper (or any kind of paper)

2. Roll out 1 can of Pillsburry Crescent Rolls. Cut into thin strips. Get your pre-cooked breakfast sized sausage and wrap your thin strips around sausages like you want them. Then place them on the paper about an inch apart.

3. Bake about 5-10 minutes or until pastry begins to turn brown. Get your mustard and a toothpick and put dots of mustard for the eyes.

This concludes day 2 of BLOGTOBER FEST... happy FALL everyone! Happy Trails...

Blogtoberfest!

A couple of days ago I was looking on my blog friends Cathy's blog and she has come up with a month full lovely blogtivities called BLOGTOBERFEST! I instantly decided to join in on all the fun. I love fall and Halloween and everything October! Basically what I have agreed to do is to post everyday but it is a no pressure deal so even if I fall off the wagon a bit I will not be banished or ostracized. I will post about all sorts of fall-ish things and am very excited to whip up some tasty treats and some awesome craftiness and my blog will show all this craziness. In Arizona October is finally a month were the intense heat of summer starts to give way to the beautiful weather of winter. So even if our fall lasts about two weeks it is still lovely and I shall celebrate it.

A picture my mom took up Manti Canyon... look at the tree's and their beautiful leaves! This is NOT in Arizona, these colors do not exist here... and I shall be moving to somewhere with those colors ASAP I assure you!

So you may be wondering what will be going on in Tessa's Life and Blog in this long month of October?

*Crafts (my life never ever exists without crafts but they may be more fall-ish)

*Recipes (you cannot believe how excited I have been to try out some ghouly and ghosty recipes... dad said I could start october 1rst so here we come...)

*Trees (I LOVE TREES.............................)

*Blog Highlights (every week I will find a blog that I love that I want to highlight... very likely it will be crafty but it is of course not a given)

*Thoughts

*Road Trip Highlights (been planning some road trips... going to post about them)

*A Giveaway (yes watch out for my first ever giveaway!)

*Halloween Costume Idea's (as a child I would plan my halloween costume at christmas...)

*Everything Lovely and Fall!

I do know that most of you are busier than Santa on Christmas Eve and cannot possibly post everyday... but you still may want to participate in BLOGTOBERFEST. All I ask is that you post about any fall activities you are doing or craft ideas or just thoughts about fall and life. It doesnt have to be frequent just join in on the loveliness of fall.

Happy October Everyone... Happy Trails... and Happy BLOGTOBERFEST!