Summer Beach Trip 2

J and I were lucky enough to go to the beach TWICE this summer.  Talk about spoiled right!?  As you saw in my previous post, we went with his family down to Corolla, OBX in the beginning of June.  Towards the end of June we were able to go down to Ocean Isle Beach, NC with my family.  Here are some pics of our journey...

Just arrived!  Had to hold my niece E since I hadn't seen her since Christmas.

First day out on the beach

Little kiddos making sand holes and castles.  Any castle we tried to build M loved demolishing :)

On the way to play putt putt.  She's so cute in her bike seat!

My brother being Super Dad :)

M did so well.  He score several holes in one!

When we were finishing up the 18 holes, some crazy storm clouds showed up.

J and I went to Salty's Surf Shop just in time before the storm hit.  My brother and his family (including the little ones) headed back to the house but were hit by the storm half way!!

After the storm, we decided to take a walk down to the beach.

Of course, though, as soon as we got there we noticed this looming cloud sprinting towards us!

This was taken about 3 minutes after the one above.  Notice how fast the storm moved towards us.

On a clearer day, J and I decided to take the waverunners out.

View down the canal

Sunset view from the deck

What better to do on the final night than stay up late with S painting sunsets?

 

Summer Beach Trip 1

Here are some pics of our beach trip to Corolla, NC with J's family.

Ready to hit the road!

Sunset views from the back deck.

Enjoying the sunset!

Dinner out!

Last day.

KitchenAid Mixer Cover

So, about 5 years ago I purchased this awesome new, apple red KitchenAid mixer.  I've loved it since the first time I used it!  It's been so helpful with many things: mixing cookie dough, freezing ice cream, whipping egg whites, etc.  And that's just for the attachments I have.  They also have attachments for making different types of pasta, grinding grains, making sausage.  Pretty much all attachments I want.  LOL  

Anyways, let me get off my tangent and back to the point!  I like to take care of my things, especially things that get used often and cost a pretty penny in the first place.  My mixer is one thing I like to thoroughly clean and maintain.  I noticed a while back that with the bowl and mixer just sitting out in the open it can collect quite a lot of dust.  Usually I just clean out the bowl before I use it and wipe the machine.  Over the past year or so though, I decided I should just get a cover for it so it won't get so dirty and bother me as much.  I scoured Amazon and other internet sites for a cute cover, but to no avail.  Everything I found was hideous.  I mean look at this....

I guess it's not so bad, but it's just not my style.  I love the sleek design of the mixer and don't want to cover it up with something like what's pictured above.

I finally found a creative idea on Pinterest.  Why not cover just the bowl instead of the whole mixer.  Then I can utilize the design of the mixer as a decoration and still keep the bowl covered from dust.  AND, I can pick the fabric pattern and make it myself!  Here's a link to the idea and pattern that I found:   Easy KitchenAid Bowl Cover Tutorial        

So, here's what I did (Also, thanks to my brother and sister-in-law for my birthday present - the blue cutting mat, the yellow measuring stick, and the rolling cutter!!).

I measured the diameter of the bowl and found it to be the same measurements as in the tutorial so I just followed what she did.  I cut out a 12x12" square then folded it in half twice.  I then measured 6" in semi-circle angles and marked them with a pen.

After marking the angles, I cut the fabric along the dots to form a circle.

After ironing the fabric, I sewed 1/4" elastic around the inner edges using a straight stitch.

Ta da!!  All finished and placed on the bowl.

It's been a little over a month since I covered my bowl, and I must say it has worked out perfectly.  I wasn't sure at first about the fabric pattern, but it adds a little bit of flare to my otherwise dull kitchen ;)

Update

It's been so long since I've updated on here!  Agh! Almost 4 months.  Well here's some pictures to catch you up.

And, apparently it's been so long that I needed to search all the way back through my March pictures to figure out where to begin.  Let's start with my birthday :)

J had this set up for me when I came over for my birthday.  I added the cards from everyone for the pic :)

Relaxing on my birthday (J thinks he's funny by putting this horrible Redskins blanket on me!)

Easter Sunday! Just got to J's house after church, waiting for a scrumptious dinner.

Easter bunny left us plenty of candy to make it through the year.

Apple Blossom weekend enjoying the Grand Feature Parade.

Meeting my brand new nephew S, born on May 19th, 2014.

My mom, for her birthday, decided she wanted a framed portrait of J and I.  She took tons of pictures for us and this one is my favorite! :)  It's also the one I printed and framed for her.

I know that wasn't a whole bunch of pictures to span 4 months, but it'll have to do!