Meet Our New Family Member

After thinking about it for well over a year, and putting it off, then thinking about it some more, Kyle and I decided to add to our family. But not in the way that everyone around us keeps asking about- no, we are not having a new baby. Or at least not a new HUMAN baby- yet. We have added a new kitty baby to our family, and we could not be any more excited about her. 

Meet Alice.

She's the sweetest thing since candy. Her spunky, playful personality fits in so well with our family.


We brought her home last weekend, and we have spent the week loving her, and allowing her to adjust to her new forever home.

Our first baby, Jasper, who is about 4 1/2 years old, has had the roughest time getting used to her. However, to our surprise, he has adjusted must faster than we thought he would. He went from hissing at her every time he saw her, and hiding upstairs all day, to running through the house with her, and playing kitty games half the day- all in a matter of 4 short days.

It's almost like instant friends.

We can't wait to watch her grow, and see how the dynamics between Jasper and Alice develop. (Does anyone understand where their names come from?) ;)

8 years down. Many more to go.

Today is the 8 year anniversary of when Kyle and I started dating. 

Want to hear a story?

I'll tell you how it all began...

(2005, I was 17! Holy Moly!)

I was the photo lab girl at Eckerds Drug Store when Kyle was hired as our new cashier in June 2005. 

I wouldn't say it was love at first sight, but when I saw him for the first time, I knew something was different. I like to think I knew that he would have a very special meaning to me.

4 months later, we had our first date at the movie theater- we saw The Exorcism of Emily Rose (awful movie, BTW). He was a gentleman. He came to pick me up, and met my mom for the first time.

It was a night I will never forget. I remember the next morning walking around school with a permanent smile plastered to my face all day long. I seriously could not take it off. I had had my first date. Little did I know, my first date would eventually become my husband.

(You can see the tutorial on how to make this graphic here)

This all happened 8 years ago, and I still remember every detail like it was yesterday. Not many people find a love like ours, and I am so grateful for the opportunity to spend a lifetime with an amazing man, who loves me for who I am. He's supportive, and kind, and just perfect for me.

In the last 8 years we've been on quite the journey together.
In 2008 we moved into our first apartment together.
Shortly after that, we added Jasper, our first fur baby to our family.
In 2009, we were married.
In 2010, we moved into a house, and welcomed our first baby, Jackson, into our family.

We've laughed, we've cried, we've worried, and we've dreamed. But through it all, we were together, holding each others hand, and supporting one another.

I couldn't have found a perfect partner in life.

DIY Sewing Machine Cover

A few weekends ago, I finally finished converting a section of our basement into my workshop for Hoot & Bumble. That weekend, I completed a few projects I've been meaning to get to for a long time. It felt good to knock them out of the way.

One of those projects was a sewing machine cover. I had wanted to make one for a while, but since I didn't have a craft area, it was never a priority. Now that my sewing machine is in our unfinished basement, I figured now I must have one to keep my machine clean and free of dust.

I didn't set this project up to do a tutorial, so excuse the lack of pictures, and proper measuring. 

I had some soft apple fabric I bought over three years ago, and never used. I decided to use that along with some yellow ribbon (it doesn't match great, but I was trying to use up things I had sitting around).

I did this project without a pattern, so it's not perfect. I didn't measure great. Instead I kind of draped the fabric over my machine, and marked where it landed on the table. Then I cut out a rectangle using my markings. 

From there, I draped the fabric back over my machine, and marked where the corners were. Since the back of my sewing machine is wider than the front, the markings were not even. 

Then, I cut the corners out where I marked them, so the fabric looked like a big lopsided cross. 

I cut 8 pieces of ribbon a few inches in length, and sewed them as ties onto each corner a few inches down from the top.

If I wanted it to look perfect (I was being pretty lazy), I would have folded the edges all the way around, and created a hem for a more finished look. 

When finished sewing, I placed my cover on my sewing machine, and tied all 4 corners into a bow. 

And it's done! If you make one, link me to it in the comment section below. I would love to see it!