Rolo Stuffed Snickerdoodles

It is another lazy recipe day! It is super snowy out here in PA, so no great adventures today. Sad sad.

Do not fear though, domestic Alyssa is here. I baked a great recipe today featuring all of our favorites. Caramel, cinnamon, chocolate and cookies. 

Welcome in the Rolo Stuffed Snickerdoodle. 

I altered this recipe a little from my favorite, Sally's Baking Addiction. Here is the recipe. Just replace the caramel with the rolo! It is such a great combination, and this recipe (unlike other snickerdoodle recipes) keeps the cookie puffy and beautiful.

One tip: do not be alarmed by the crumbliness of the dough. Sally does not fully explain how crumbly it is, but man is it crumbly. Really use that heat from your hands to compact it. 

 In other news, the past few days have been relaxation central. I have seen a few friends from home and spent New Years Eve with several friends from college. Biggest blessing being surrounded by them for what made an awesome evening. 

Oh yeah. Plus J is staying at my house for a few days before we head back to school. That is pretty great. We have just been snacking like champs and running random errands. So good right!

 Alyssa

The Artistic Mind

Another semester under my belt. Lets just say if feels good.

Today I finished up what is the end of my finals. If definitely was a crazy two weeks to end the semester but so undeniably worth it. I can finally say I finished up my Entrepreneurship minor which truly has wore me down the past two years. Now I can just focus on my Communications classes as well as my regained love of art classes. Plus lets not forget about my beautiful sorority sisters. Spring semester consists of pledge, new freshman, double the bonding and even more love to go around. Let us not forget about the endless Coffaro's Pizza runs that will also arrive to the doors of our hall next semester.

Today my last final, aside from a presentation, was a Civilization and the Arts final. This class is a required class by the school that looks at the history of art and applies it to the Christian mind. These humanities classes are the things students grown about. Absolutely dreadful to take.

This class, even though the lectures itself were not my favorite, continued to open my heart once again to the world of art. As I studied my enormous stack of note cards into the wee morning hours, I found myself at such a sense of peace. The fact that God has given his creation the ability to create beautiful art astounds me. Just looking and listening to all of the art and music of the past five centuries, I fell into such a sense of awe. Gods incredible plan for these artists was to create beauty. 

I only hope and pray that is my plan. I want to create beauty, but a beauty that will honor God. 

Here is some Debussy to float your boat this week.
Alyssa.

When Life Drives You Crazy

Well it has definitely been a while.

Seeing that my last post was an update on Nepal, the typical Alyssa business has set in with being back at school. It is crazy to see how I have been trying to cut out so many things in my life to be more free and functional, yet the pressures of day to day college life have dragged me down. Booo. 

However, in spite of all of the craziness, God has revealed his incredible faithfulness and the importance of placing my full trust in him. Truly, I would not have been able to get through the past couple months without his presence constantly there, even when I was not seeking it. 

Here is the classic life update that I so often revert to when I do not have time to actually post anything significant:

My August/September were characterized by my ability to go absolutely insane for a week as a part of my college's Orientation Board. This also included catching up with friends, my sorority sisters and getting back into the daily school grind.

September 5th was by birthday! The best present? Getting to go see the Avett Brothers for the third time with the boy. He is a champ and is the best at getting presents (even though he will avidly deny it).

School school school school homework exam school test school kill me. This stream of endless business and activities streams into today.

Also as social chair of my sorority, I had the privilege of planning so many wonderful events from our homecoming float, to fall party and our charity event Battle of the Bands. They were fantastic. Plus I love event planning. However, to say I am exhausted now from all of this planning is an understatement.

Also for Halloween Josh and I went as an old resort couple...so there is that.

I am working on some writing in the midst of internship searching and finally getting to the million things on my idealized to do list. Any creative writing, art or photography projects on your to do list? Let me know.

Keep it real. Expect to hear from me soon.

A Hiatus of Sorts

Hello my lovely readers, friends and followers. As you probably see, this is the first post on my blog since, lets think, oh January. I have constantly passed by the link on my twitter page, knowing I should probably update, but with the craziness of the semester my blog got pushed to the back burner of my life.   After I got back to school, my semester proved to be absolutely crazy to say the least. To apologize/prove my point/vent, here are the reasons why:

1. Sorority life

So as many of you may know, I ended up joining a sorority which was hands down one of the best decisions I ever made. The support system and friendship I get from these girls is unlike any other and I am truly blessed to have them here for me. Downside? My level of business has raised tenfold.

2. Semester

My classes this semester are to say the least, awful. I have a lot of pre-requisite classes I am getting out of the way and a lot of my "not so fun" classes to take, and my gpa has taken quite a downfall

3. Campus Life

I am involved in a ton on campus this semester, slightly overwhelmed, and definitely have not have time to even craft, let alone blog.

I am seriously blessed in so many aspects of my life (just got back from one of the best mission trips of my life that I will be blogging about shortly) but I have definitely been feeling overwhelmed. However, ultimately God has a reason for everything and will get me through.

So as summer approaches, expect blogging so slowly but surely start back up. I am staying home this summer and working as a nanny, so more DIY projects and posts about thoughts and life will slowly but surely reappear.

Love you all.

Road Trip Part 2

Moved back into college today. Crazy exciting to see everyone and all my beautiful friends and brothers/sisters in Christ. Classes start tomorrow which is crazy to think, but it will be awesome to get back to a routine.

However, I never finished up with the fabulous road trip I took to visit my best friend from high school! Partly because I was waiting for her to send me some pictures she took. Aurley is an avid photographer and is one of the many reasons I adore her.

So after riding up, I met up with Aurley and her roommate Claire and saw their room and got dinner at their student union. It was so great chatting, comparing colleges, catching up and picking up right where  we left off. We even watched Sweeney Todd and drank tea. Presh.

We woke up bright and early the next day, looked outside, and saw it was pouring rain and grey. Great. So in order to brighten this awful day, we went to Cracker Barrel and Tim Horton's (this was my first ever trip to Tim Ho's!). Then we went bowling (which we were the youngest there by AT LEAST 50 years). Fun fact: Aurley wants to join a bowling league.

 So we walk outside and, like magic, it is sunny and dry. Aurley and I then took a tour of Allegheny's beautiful campus. It is very rustic and colonial, which is awesome to see. Alas, it was then time for me to depart and drive home - but not without a stop at Starbucks first. This was my trip in a nutshell. If you want to know more about Aurley, you can visit her Twitter or Flickr.

Funday Sunday

I absolutely love Sundays. Hands down one of my favorite days of the week. They are always the perfect combination of busyness and relaxation. I see family and friends, yet I have a ton of time to myself to veg out and watch endless hours of TLC or Food Network.

This Sunday I met up with a friend from college who lives near me and we headed to her church in inner city Pittsburgh. Now this church is  a very charismatic, non-denominational and multi-racial church in comparison to my very traditional, Presbyterian and 99 percent Caucasian church. However despite the differences I never really felt like I fit into my church's worship style, so I was beyond excited to give this new church a try. My beautiful friend Dani even burned me a Lecrae CD (a non-cheesy and legitimately talented christian rapper - check him out). 

Well in short, church was awesome, inspiring and uplifting. I met a ton of Dani's awesome friends and praised God in the most vibrant way I think I have ever praised. Plus the sermon was great. Eye opening, practical, yet very much biblical. I just felt so welcome and loved by so many of the people there. All in all, quality morning. 

We then headed over to Pamela's Diner, a Pittsburgh icon that if you come to the city, you must visit. Seriously, I crave it when I am at college. The pancakes here are very much crepe like and are chock full of strawberries or blueberries and a delicious sugary syrup. Plus the diner itself is so cute and 50s sock hop-esque. 

To top off the already fantastic day, since we got to Pamela's around 2ish, we did not have to wait in the typical Sunday brunch line. You have no idea how much this made my day. My impatience did not have to even bother today.

Well that was my Sunday in a nutshell. A tad different then the usual, but it still followed the usual church/brunch routine. Do you have any Sunday routines? Or awesome churches or places you go for breakfast or brunch? 

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A Bundle of Thoughts

Can we just talk about how fabulous Robert Downey Jr. is? Well he is. I had a beautiful night out and about with my Dad, fulfilling my Chipotle fix and watching Sherlock Holmes 2. Witty, hilarious and just an overall good time. Plus the fact I was filled up on Chipotle before made it so much better.

Ahh I am so excited. I finally received my Skinit laptop decal in the mail! My school gives us our computers and puts the most hideous decal on the front. So in my small stint of rebellion, I bought this fabulous and adorable vintage decal that I absolutely love. I cannot wait to head back to school to show it off. I love decals, especially one's for macs (this one is my favorite). Do you have any awesome decals for your computers or ipods?

Today I did some filming for the admissions department at my old high school.  This was the first time I have been back at school, and let me tell you it was so strange. But I had such a good time seeing old friends and teachers, as well as filming a huge group of middle school kids about why they love their school. Let me tell you, middle schoolers have such a sass factor - it is hilarious. I by no means miss my school, but it was nice seeing how it has both changed and stayed the same.

Fun fact: it finally snowed here for one of the first times all winter. It took till mid-January, but I finally got a winter wonderland. I am off to go be a little kid and frolic in it. 

Photoshoot and Exploring

Well what a beautiful few days its been since being home for break. Hardly any snow, a ton of sun, and a Dance Moms marathon (The premiere is tonight - SO EXCITED). In short, it has been an extremely quality break, but definitely long. I cannot wait to head back to school for my second semester of freshman year. It is hard to believe first semester is already over. Well here is a glimpse into one of my most recent days of break, aka a photo shoot in downtown Pittsburgh.

I got an awesome lunch with my high school friend Grace at a cute Chinese restaurant in Squirrel Hill (which as awesome Bubble tea). In honor of our Chinese/Bubble tea experience, the first picture featured is of course, a classic asian pose.

From there we strutted around Oakland and I showed her a ton of my favorite places around the Pitt campus. For a January day, Pittsburgh was seriously gorgeous. 

I cannot wait for more winter beak adventures, hopefully with some more college friends. Keep you updated! Have a fabulous rest of the week lovelies.