DIY felt dog ornaments

Okay so this is my favorite DIY that I have ever done. I actually started it back in July with one golden retriever ornament. I found this shop on Etsy and thought the ornaments were SO cute. But the second time I looked at the shop they were on vacation and haven't been back since so I wanted to try and make something similar myself. I started with the golden retriever because it seemed the easiest because I had a good outline and reference. My dad has a golden retriever named Hank so I knew it would be perfect to give him for Christmas. After I finished the first one I did Knox and my brothers dog Duke because all I had to do was change out the middle nose strip to white. So those two were easy.

I know I don't have a very good step by step tutorial here but this has been my favorite DIY and I just couldn't not share it. The hardest to do were the blue heller mix and the white little white dogs because I didn't have a reference to go off of but they worked out good. Everyone was like why didn't you put the year on it so we can remember it. Well maybe they can just write the year on the red string and if I make something again I will make sure to put the year and my name on it haha. Turns out people want to remember when you have done something sentimental for them haha. 

I hope everyone had a great holiday season and I can't wait to put my ornament on my tree every year and see my families ornaments as well. I think they will be cherish for a long time and those are my favorite DIYs to do. Hope everyone has a Happy New Year!
love, Carlee

Holiday card photos

Hey all, these are the photos from our Christmas card shoot. I took these photos myself with a tripod and a self timer. We actually took them at the beginning of November and thats why the trees are all still green and pretty. It's crazy how green it is here for the majority into the fall. But anyways, I sent the Christmas cards out last week so hopefully everyone has received them by now. Knox is a really good boy and sits pretty well but it is so hard to get him to look at the camera when there is no one behind it and also have Clark and I look good and be smiling at the same time. We happened to get the perfect shot which I am so thankful for.

This is the photo we went with because Knox is looking at the camera and Clark and I look pretty good too. I love these photos and I know it is kind of cheesy to do Christmas cards before you have kids but I don't care. I will cherish these photos forever. 

Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas, Happy all holidays in December and a Happy New Year! 

love, Carlee

On the town

Yesterday, I needed to get out of the house and do something. I took Knox for a long walk in the morning but then Clark got home at 1pm (they are getting out early for the holidays) and I just wanted to go do something so we got dressed and jumped in the car and went downtown for a walk. We walked around and saw the pretty decorated Christmas tree in the market house and then we got smoothies and walked some more.

It was really nice to just do something different on a random Wednesday. Sometimes life gets a little predictable and you need that difference (even if it's so tiny) so make you feel satisfied. After we walked around some more we drove to this park and parked the car and watched the fountain while chatting. We finished our smoothies in the car and watched two guys drink beer on a bench in the middle of the day. haha. It was nice and calming and this is what I wore.
love, Carlee

Dress & Sweater & Purse: Target

Boots: Famous Footwear 

Under the Christmas tree

On Saturday, I wanted to take some photos in our matching red pajamas with Knox by our Christmas tree. The photos turned out so good and Knox was so game to just chill and take photos it was awesome. I am only sharing the photos of Knox and I because I didn't want to subject Clark to having photos of himself in red pajamas on the internet so those are more for just me. 

Then on Sunday, we had our own little Christmas celebration. We opened our gifts from each other and Knox opened some gifts and I woke up early to finish making the cinnamon rolls that I had let rise the night before. I know Dec 13 is super early to open presents but it was our last full day off before we flew back to Washington State for the holidays and I didn't really want to open presents after work one day this week so instead we did it super early but we made a whole day out of it and it was awesome. 
love, Carlee

pjs: Target (last year 2014)

Winter Intentions '15-'16

(1. Methow River in Washington State. 2. The Christmas tree lot last year. 3. Knox in Christmas lights in 2013. 4. Christmas in the park 2014. 5. Boken lights. 6. Snoqualmie pass last year.)

1. Make Christmas cookies(12.5.15)
2. Go skiing
3. Go home to WA for xmas
4. Show my Dad, stepmom, and little bro a good time when they come to visit in January.
5. Take photos in the snow
6. Have a party with the whole family when we go home for the holidays
7. Make Christmas candy with my mom
8. Make a snowman
9. Watch all the holiday movies
10. Make a gingerbread house
11. Knox photo with Santa(12.8.15)

Knox Santa photo

This was the best / most/ awesome cheesiest thing I have ever done and I loved it and it was awesome and I will cherish this photo forever!

So yesterday, we took Knox to take photos with Santa at the mall and it was awesome! The mall had  two dates for pets. December 1st or 8th. We actually went to check it out on the 1st to see where exactly it was and how it was set up to make sure Knox wouldn't be to overwhelmed. On the 1st there was NO ONE there so we thought it would be similar on Tuesday but we got there and there were more people. There was about 5 people in line ahead of us, most with dogs. Knox was actually very well behaved and he didn't mind Santa at all. Once we sat him next to Santa on the couch Clark moved off to the side and I moved behind the camera. Knox got a little nervous. But it was great and the photo turned out perfect!

Now excuse me while I go make 100 copies and save it to ever single device so that someday when I am 90 I will still have a copy to look at and enjoy. 
love, Carlee 

Indecisive Christmas Tree

Okay, so the Christmas tree isn't the indecisive one. I am. Actually I am not. This year we got our Christmas tree on the Friday after Thanksgiving. So Black Friday. When we got our tree back to the house, I got all the decorations out and of course wanted to start decorating right away because CHRISTMAS TREE! But I did want to put color lights on my xmas tree this year. I always grew up with having colorful Christmas lights on our family tree, and handmade ornaments, and corny garland. I loved it growing up. When we got our first tree three years ago, I was thinking maybe I'll have a little more of a sophisticated tree and just do red and white and pretty ornaments. What I didn't take into consideration was that I love my funny ornaments and didn't want to hide them in the back. So after 2 years of red and white lights I wanted to do colorful. BUT, I didn't want to go out on Black Friday to get colorful lights (because I didn't have any) I was just like "oh well, I'll just do red and white then colorful next year." 

But then about 2 days after, I was like no really do want colorful lights this year. So I took all my ornaments off and bought colorful lights and put them on and put my ornaments back on. It was a little bit of work but so worth it. I love the colorful lights and I am so glad I didn't wait until next year. Who knows what I will be feeling next year but I will have the option to go either way. haha. 

I don't really have any post lined up and we haven't been doing much. I have just been making mugs and cards on repeat. (shop here) So you might not hear much from me but follow along on instagram if you want, I am sure I will be posting there. 
love, Carlee

Dickens Holiday and our xmas tree

The day after Thanksgiving we went to Dicken's Holiday Christmas in downtown Fayetteville NC. We have done this for the last 3 years and each year it is getting bigger and better. There are vendors and people dressed in old fashion clothing. Carolers, police, scrooge, death, Jacob Marly, etc. There is even a band and horse drawn carriages. We got smoothies at Rude Awakening (our favorite, the strawberry banana is very good!) Then we walked around and just enjoyed ourselves.

After that we headed to a Christmas tree lot near our house and picked out a tree. They don't put the tree lots up until Thanksgiving so they at least make you wait until after Thanksgiving to get into the Christmas spirit. Which is totally okay with me. I think one should wait at least until after Thanksgiving. I know some people had there xmas trees up the day after Halloween! I wanted to make sure to get a pretty tall tree this year. Last year it was a little too short. This year our star is about 2 inches from the ceiling which is just perfect.

It was crazy because Thanksgiving weekend was SO NICE. It was 75 degrees on Friday and around the same the rest of the weekend too so we were picking out our tree in tank tops which I thought was really funny. I told my mom what the weather was like and she said it was 15 degrees in my hometown in WA.

Been super busy over here! Shipping out SO MANY mugs from littlesloth.etsy.com if you want to order something do it soon because the shop will be closing in a couple weeks so I can enjoy some time with family! I hope everyone is enjoying the holidays and the start of December!
love, Carlee

Jeans: Old Navy

Tank & Bag: Target

Sandals: toms.com

Carolina Panthers

Yeah I am still sharing posts of events that happened almost 2 weeks ago. Oh my where does the time go. Anyways, this is my last post from our trip to Charlotte NC. This was the main reason we went. Back in September for Clark's birthday my dad got him Carolina Panther tickets. It was the first NFL game that Clark had been to so he was pretty excited. I grew up going to Seahawks games back in Seattle but this was the first Carolina game I have been to and it was super fun. Especially since they are undefeated!

Some of Clark's friends were giving him a hard time about wearing Carolina stuff and routing for the Panthers but I was thinking it would be totally lame to go to a NFL game or any other sports game for that matter and not route for a team. Since we are Seahawks fans all our friends thought we were bandwagoning. BECAUSE, we are haha. No just kidding. But seriously we have living in North Carolina for 2 1/2 years now I think I can route for Carolina while still being a Seattle fan. Anyways, sorry about that rant.

It was a really fun game and the panthers killed the redskins. We had really great seats as well. We were taking photos and sending them to my dad like "did you know, you got us club seats!?" and he was like yeah. He is a good Dad. Since we were staying the night on Sunday night as well. (Clark got Monday off) we weren't worried about leaving early. Usually when a game is a blowout like this one was at the end 44-16, we just head out early. But since we were just walking back to our hotel after the game we stayed until the very end which was awesome. Then we had a nice stroll back to our hotel and then later went to IKEA to get a coffee table. It was my first time at IKEA actually and we had been using a bench as a coffee table for 2 years so it was time to get an actual one.

We had an awesome time and I totally recommend going to an NFL or any major sports game if you are into that sort of thing. They have the best atmosphere. Although, I will say I think college football might just be a little more fun then the NFL, routing wise.
love, Carlee

Charlotte NC

As you probably know by now we were in Charlotte NC last weekend for the Carolina Panthers game and some light exploring. I was fully prepared for all the leaves to be turned and on the ground be the time we got to Charlotte cause it's late November but they were at peak foliage! It was awesome. I kept saying look at the full yellow tree or that red one haha. And it's still really pretty here right now.

These photos were taken at Marshall Park which is the furthest east of Uptown (read downtown) before crossing the freeway. We stayed at the Fairfield in right by this park and in the uptown area. It was nice because they had a free shuttle within a 3 mile radius of the hotel. After walking around the uptown area a little bit we drove about 15 miles south to Prineville to go to the restaurant Buca di Beppos. Have you guys ever been? There is one in Seattle and I would go there a lot when I lived there but haven't been in like 3 years so it was awesome that I realized there was one in Charlotte so we had to go. We got the bianca pizza and the baked ziti and for dessert the colossal brownie sundae which was amazing and huge (Clark was afraid it wasn't going to be big enough haha) 

Another must for us was getting Duck Donuts! The closest one to us is in Cary NC which is about 1:30 from us so whenever I get a chance to go to one in a near by city I always go. This one was just a mile from our hotel so on the way out of town Monday morning we stopped by and got 6 fresh donuts. If you don't know about Duck Donuts, it was started in Duck NC on the Outer Banks of North Carolina and they make the donuts fresh right in front of you so everything is hot and freshly made and yummy! We had a great time in Charlotte and I am so glad we got to explore a little bit of the city and surrounding area and not just pass through it on the way to the airport!
love, Carlee

Leggings: Old Navy

Purse: Target

Shoes: Belk

Sweater: TJ Maxx