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!

Only a steel man...

This last summer I had the oppertunity to spend a month at my grandparents cleaning out their old hardware store. It was a great experience to see where my mom grew up and spend some time there. Yesterday Simmons Hardware, the store that has been in my moms family for about 112 years closed. It was where my mom learned to work, it is where my grandpa spent his life serving the community he loved so much. It was a bitter sweet closing but it was time.

I made these neckaces yesterday out of some ball bearings I got out of the basement of the store... they were in a pile of old bike parts. I am thrilled with how they turned out...

This black one has little bearings with little buttons and of course they both needed a little superglue for support.
These are my first successful necklace attempts... please excuse the close up picture of me but I wanted you to be able to see the necklace on...






Happy Trails... HAVE A GREAT WEEK!

Square Knot Does A Triathlon!

This morning Dad (Square Knot) did a triathlon! He has done some mini triathlons for the last few years but he decided to go hard core this time around and do a larger one. This triathlon consisted of a 650 yard swim, a 15 mile bike ride, a 5K run, and of course a bunch of exercise obsessed weirdo's (no offense I live with some at home... I love them too) He has been very excited about it for the last few weeks and said that he was a bit nervous but he did great! Dylan and I got up to went with him for support! He at least had the most excited support group! He did it all the right way.... last night he loaded up on carbs (and explained in detail why he did this...) I felt like it was a bit of a role reversal. I was on the sidelines cheering on dad, i felt like a proud parent... Oh well, we always knew we were weird. I will be the proud daughter on the sidelines! Someone has to be there at the end to tell the people there was still one person left to come across the finish line... I really should be more motivated by my parents efforts to stay healthy... but I think that only a miracle is going to motivate me to exercise, or Christian Bale... that would do it!

Square Knot did great today... I was and am very very proud! He is now off to work saving lives... Square Knot never rests! He has only one thing to add "I, like David Dunn, the hero in Unbreakable, must be weakened by water, but I find my strength on land!"

The 52 on his leg represents how many hairs he has left... or some would say how old he is...

Me and Dylan at 6:00 in the morning... Doesnt he look like a little kid? Dad just done with his swim...
Beginning the bike...

ALMOST THERE...
A BIG finish!
Happy Trails...

Synergy...

I first have to give a shout out to the movie In Good Company for providing me with a great title for my post today. Now I want to give a big shout out to Dylan and Pat for their amazing creative minds and their willingness to fuse their ideas with mine to create greatness. I am a collaborator... I do better when I bounce ideas off of others so i greatly appreciate it when others are willing to keep the ball bouncing and throw them back. Synergy means combined action, so this post is about everyone who helps me out with my creative endeavors!

Dylan is a brilliant drawer, I am not... so... I asked him to help me with a painting of mine that required some detail so he willingly and brilliantly did so. He did a wonderful job and I am almost finished! Thanks Dylan, you are amazing!

Pat is... well, Pat. He is creatively inclined although now that I think about it I have never seen any of his work before. Anyway, he had the idea to make some necklaces because he has been wanting some and homemade things are slews better than bought things. So we went and got some supplies and it turns out that he is really good at this. He is hopeing that the necklaces will help with his chickless situation... I told him not to worry... he can be assured that it will not make it worse in the least. It was fun, I enjoy creating with others...

The round things are old bike parts... BRILLIANT!

Speaking of Synergy... A BIG shout out to my family who are my biggest fans even when I am not my own fan. Dad and Mom are so supportive with helping me out with supplies or giving me ideas, and being positive even when "it is the weirdest thing they have ever seen" (thanks dad...) Dad has also named himself my "project manager" I am not sure what that job entails but I appreciate it anyway. My siblings Stacy, Preston, and Shannon for your constant feedback and compliments. I am pretty sure that you have seen every piece of art I have ever done but you still act excited... I know it is not always easy... THANK YOU.

My last shoutout is to all of you and your support! I love all your positive comments about my art and often it is what keeps me going. Thank you for your synergism...

Happy Trails...

Time To Pretend

Lately I have been seeing very creative lovely hair stuff and I keep thinking to myself "I can make cute hair things"... and... I finally have! Here are some hair things I have created lately...

These are some ADORABLE buttons I found that I promptly made into hair things. I love them...


This is a headband I made that you cannot see very well but it is very cute and it loves to reside on my head (my head likes it at least) I love headbands and plan on makeing many more!


I just want everyone to know that the creative juices are still flowing, just not with a paint brush right now... will post about some more projects tomorrow!

Happy Trails...

What Do Stars Do Best?

England is a wonderful country, it is the land of Churchill, Harry Potter, and David Beckhams right foot... anyway yesterday we inexplicably and spontaneously had a British movie marathon. It began I suppose with Bridget Jones on TV and then we were all in the mood for British humor so we watched Love Actually.
Then we started catching on to a theme so we gathered all the movies english in nature up and off we went, the english accents arrived around this time as well. We ended up then watching Stardust and finally Fellowship of the Ring! While all this was going on I worked on my seven unfinished paintings I have lying around. I absolutely loved just lying around painting and watching movies. Shannon came down for part of the day and it was lovely to have her here.

Throughout the night I got several phone calls from Preston who was at a music festival in San Diego. He would hold the phone up to the music and for a few minutes I would get to listen to my favorite bands. Some of it was a little hard to make out but I do know that I got to listen to Cold War Kids, and the National. I appreciate the thought Preston and I am insanely jealous! Basically it was a wonderful day and unfortunate my reality doesn't deal with watching British comedies all the time and painting but some days I like to pretend.

Happy Trails Everyone...

Blistering...

This is the newest creation out of Zelbies mind of madness (my brain)... It is the sun, or rather a sun because it doesnt necessarily have to be ours. I have a bit of a problem, however, I was wondering if any of you would like to help remedy this problem... I am wondering if any of you have any ideas with what else I should add to it. I feel like it needs something else, but I am not sure what. So feel free to spew out thoughts at me, even if your comments are that it should stay just the same, or that it is a rather aweful sun all together, or that you do not care what I put on that scrap of material I call a canvas... all comments are good comments in my eyes. I am a collaborator, meaning that my mind is stimulated my bouncing ideas off of others... so now this very bouncy ball of a thought is headed your way and you get to decide what to do with it. Thank you all...

Happy Trails...