obsession: fall nail colors.

left to right: sew psyched (army green, obsessed with this color this season) // shearling darling (the perfect blue/red) // smokin hot (a beautiful dark grey) // incognito in sausalito (the most beautiful navy according to this navy blue hater) // smoke and ashes (the perfect subtle sparkle black) // licorice (jet black staple. need.)

I am a chronic nail polish buyer. No matter how many bottles of polish I own, I always think I could use just one more because it's perfect and I need it. False. But I'll never change, sorry not sorry.

pumpkin rice crispy treats.

A couple of weeks ago I took my rice crispy treat game to a new level - pumpkin. I made cake batter rice crispy treats last year and they were a hit with all of my friends, so I figured that for a pumpkin carving party I would make fall sensation pumpkin flavored rice crispy treats. They too, were a hit (obviously).

These were just as easy to make as the cake batter version and can be whipped up right before a party or event.// 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
// 1/4 cup pumpkin puree
// 10 oz. bag marshmallows
// 6 cups rice krispies cereal
// 1/4 tsp. vanilla extract
// 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
// hearty shake of pumpkin spice
// pinch of nutmeg1// melt the butter in a heated sauce pan, then mix in the pumpkin puree until combined.
2// add in the vanilla, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and nutmeg.
3// add the full bag of marshmallows and once melted almost completely, take of the heat.
4// wait about ten minutes or until the marshmallow looks a little too sticky, then add the rice krispies a cup at a time.
5// mix everything well, then transfer to a dish for cooling.
6// once cooled, use a buttered knife to cut into pieces, and serve.

You definitely want to make sure that you let the marshmallows cool a little bit more than usual because the pumpkin gets very hot, which makes the cereal get a little soggy. Let everything cool in an open environment and the cereal should stay nice and crispy. These are the perfect addition to a party, great for a snack with your PSL from starbucks, or just as a sneaky little snack.

story of my life.

Ladies and gentlemen, One Direction has done it again. It is an understatement to say I am proud of these boys. It is so typical that a fan of One Direction would praise the crap out of them, but considering my typical music preferences, I am speaking as a well-rounded music lover when I say that these boys have grown up. If 'Story of My Life' is any indication of the maturity level of this next album, Midnight Memories, I will be one happy girl (I'll be happy either way because I love them, but this song takes them in a Second Direction - get it?!)

'Story of My Life' was released last week as an audio video, and as soon as I heard it I teared up. It sounds so grown up and much more mature as a piece of music. I played the song on repeat all week, and starting a few days ago, the band's twitter rep was announcing things about the video being released this past Sunday. I woke up Sunday morning and the first thing I did was get on youtube to watch. I sobbed. I am typically not a music video person. I think they're a little bit silly usually, the stories are weird, and the acting/singing always looks fake. There are a select few videos that I really love, for example 'Give Me Love' by Ed Sheeran, 'We Found Love' by Rihanna, and 'Beauty and a Beat' by Justin Bieber. I know there's a few more, but I can't think of them off the top of my head. However, this video for SOML has completely topped them all. I like most of One Direction's other videos because they normally go a sillier route that makes me laugh and enjoy the song even more, but this more serious song came with a serious video and it is fantastic.

The video starts in a dark room where the boys are developing old family pictures, until finally they are in a giant dome with pictures hung all over the place. The real photos are then brought to life with present day versions of the boys and their families. Each boy has one picture transformation, and the last one you're shown is Louis' family photo (when I teared most), in which he and his four grandparents are smiling. But in the transformation two of his grandparents slowly disappear when the photo is brought to present day. I think the video is really clever, and it is relatable to anyone watching whether they like One Direction or not. Everyone has photos like the ones shown in the video and everyone wishes they could go back to the times that they were taken to spend just another minute with their loved ones in that exact moment that the photo was snapped.

Watch the video below, and bear with me as I analyze the parts I love from second to second, much like I did with the 'Best Song Ever' video because I just can't help myself. I love these boys no matter what the 'stereotype' of loving them is. I appreciate them and their hard work and how little they get to see their families to take pictures and enjoy the little moments because they are so busy making music for the fans that they love.



:17 Zayn's facial hair
:22 Harry's smolder
:44-49 my favorite line of the song and Liam's forearm tattoo, which I love
:53 Zayn's baby face
:56 Zayn's photo transformation
1:07 The amazing room of photos
1:18 Harry's face. Always Harry's face.
1:22 The way Zayn looks at his baby sister
1:32 tiny Louis with a baby
1:36 baby Niall
1:37 Niall's photo transformation and the fact that he's so much taller than his older brother now
2:01 the way Liam tugs at his suit
2:06 Liam smiling at a picture of his younger self
2:12 Louis' smile
2:23 baby Harry
2:31-36 the way Harry looks at his mom with so much love in his eyes
2:42 the way Niall looks at his brother
2:58 whoever that baby is (Niall?) with the spaghetti all over his face (I wish they transformed that one into present day)
3:08 Zayn's suspenders. I loooooove a good looking man in suspenders.
3:19 baby Louis
3:24 when Louis' grandparents disappear I really lose it. That one hits home for me.
3:27-29 the way he looks back and forth to their missing spots. Rip my heart out and throw in on the ground.
3:42 Harry and his mama laughing
3:49 Louis laughing
3:52 baby Liam and those cheeeeeeeks
4:00 Zayn hugging his little sister

So lots of trends there in the parts I like and the things that caught my eye (#typicalalessia).

Their full album comes out at the end of this month, but three more songs are due to be released before that date, so if you love them, be sure to keep up with me over here because I swear that on this blog that I intended to post crafts and recipes on, One Direction makes more appearances than anything DIY or edible.

allegiant.

I have been waiting for October 22 to roll around since February of this year, when I finally caved and downloaded Divergent and it's sequel Insurgent to my nook and devoured them both in three days. The first two were so great, couldn't put them down, sat on the edge of my seat, all that jazz. This third and final installment, Allegiant, was similar in that I couldn't put it down, but it was kind of for a different reason. It was less about the action with this one, more just curiosity at where it could and would go next.

I am not unhappy with Allegiant, I'm just a little bit disappointed because I think the way the first book built to the second book was so good that I expected this third book to blow the second one out of the water and leave me settled about this little fiction world's story. I feel a little like there was something to be desired, and that the storyline was a little too straight for me. Nothing had a significant connection to the beginning of the book, and a lot of it was just a little too easy for me. An event was planned out, it happened, it was over, something new happened, that was over, and so on until the end. I am still coming to terms with the ending of it, and I'm still on the fence as to whether or not I like it (I'm pretty sure I don't) because it seems to me that the author kind of clued me into the ending straight from chapter two. I really don't want to give anything away because it's such a popular series, and I would definitely read this one again when I start the series from the beginning in preparation for the movie, it's just not exactly what I expected, and not really in a good way.

One of my tips before reading this (besides obviously reading the first two books for the first time beforehand), is to go back and reread Insurgent again. I didn't, and I was a little hazy on some of the more specific details in the beginning because it has been so long since I originally read the first two. I'm glad that this book came out when it did, because I'm kind of (or was) in a place where reading wasn't really on the forefront of my mind, even though I have a list of a million books that I want to read. Like all of my dry spells in the world of books, reading this one book has really jumpstarted me again, and I am ready to devour my next one.

Top want-to-reads:
// Catching Fire (again, before the movie comes out in November)
// Ender's Game (recommended to me by a friend, and because I guess it's nice that I'll have a movie to watch right after I finish instead of waiting months for it)
// Night Circus
// The Tiger's Wife

I'm always looking for something new to read and often my list grows faster than I can read, but I like it that way. Keeps me on my toes.