our christmas meal.

after we ate all morning & all afternoon long on christmas, it was time for our christmas dinner! 

 {since it is christmas, after all,

i went all out & we drank the best - 

kendall jackson grand reserve.

good wine is so good.}

we started a christmas tradition last year of eating cornish hen - blakey was certain the "traditional" christmas meal is a christmas bird.  {i'm pretty sure he got this theory from a christmas story...}  since i was positive i didn't want to cook a huge bird for just the two of us, i decided cornish hens! 

they are cute little things.  one bird a piece would be perfect if you hadn't eaten all day long.  we had.  so we each hardly ate half of our bird.  maybe next year we will share a tiny bird :)

{hen recipe HERE}

i found a delicious looking semi-healthy version of french fries on pinterest, so i decided to try them.  i love french fries.  all potatoes, really.  oven baked garlic parmesan fries.  pretty darn good. 

{baked fries recipe HERE}

for a little piece of home for blakey, i finally made his aunt susan's famous caesar salad.  it was delicious!  i added a little red onion & accidentally used all of the parmesan on the above potatoes, so we went with asiago.  so good!  thank you thank you, aunt susan!

& for christmas dessert, i continued with our traditional christmas rum cake.  it's so darn good.  {& if you'll keep a secret, it is quite fabulous with coffee for post-christmas breakfast :) }

{pioneer woman rum cake recipe HERE}

{love our family}

merry christmas!!

love, the porters.

our christmas morning.

happy happy post-christmas!  we hope you had a marvelous christmas.  blakey, tanky, & i certainly did.  

since blakey had to work on christmas day, we got to celebrate all day saturday.  after a little sleeping in, we let tanky open his christmas present first...

he tore into that gift!  it took him about 45 second to get his new elephant unwrapped.  he gets one, maybe two, stuffed animals a year... as it takes approximately 3 minutes to rip them open & get the stuffing out.  i think this guy was a new record - probably 1 minute. 

{hard work being the t guy}

we spent much of the morning chatting with blakey's family & my family.  & then we continued with gift opening!  

{pretty new christmas ornaments!}

my sister & benny boo did a pretty freakin awesome job with gifts this year.  we had a numbers theme for the girls & a ninja theme for the boys.  they definitely followed the themes much closer than we did.  but all gifts were fantastic.

{my amazing new bubblewrap calendar!

there is a bubble to pop on each day for 2012.

so so excited about it.}

{blakey's stink bomb...}

{& his ninja gear!

ben - you suck.

but blakey totally loves it.}

then to our gifts!

{to: birdie.

from: byrds.}

i got blakey a new wedding ring!  he lost his earlier this year {tear}, so he needed to be married again :)  & he got me two AMAZING gifts!!  a new super awesome "buffet" le creuset.  it is in between a skillet & a dutch oven.  & is so so great.  & he got me matching le crueset coffee mugs!  they just started making coffee mugs.  & i love them.

{he's the best.}

onto christmas breakfast!  i got to immediately use my new super awesome buffet & make migas topped with chorizo.  what are migas?  delicious mexican eggs.  i know this will shock you, but i used the pioneer woman's recipe {HERE}.  super delicious.  super easy.  try them.  i think they are our new christmas tradition.

{christmas mimosas!}

{migas & chorizo!}

love love,

kjp.

a very merry christmas to you!

rejoice!
for unto you a Savior is born.

a very merry christmas to you & yours!

love love,

kjp + bwp.

thankful thursday # 46.

{our 2011 christmas ornament!}

today & everyday, i am so thankful for our Lord.  i am thankful that regardless of how "ready" i am for Christmas, Christ is coming.  regardless of how prepared you or i am for the coming, He is here for every one of us any way.  

an entire year of thankfulness.  & i saved the greatest for last.

merry christmas, friends.  

love love,

kjp.

our new christmas {story} tradition.

when we lived in oklahoma city, blakey & i had a christmas tradition of going to a very merry pops  christmas show every year.  so this year in birmy, we found our new alabama christmas tradition!

each year, the historic alabama theatre shows classic holiday movies in its gorgeous building.  blakey's favorite christmas movie is a christmas story, so we were super excited to see his family tradition & experience the beautiful downtown theatre.

 {literally around the corner from our loft}

originally built in 1927 & costing approx $1.5 million, the theatre underwent a complete restoration in 1998.   it seats an impressive 2500 people throughout three levels.  & a mighty wurlitzer organ adds to the awe.

we were amazed by the gold leaf ceilings & fabulous chandeliers...

inside the auditorium is nothing short of fabulous...

the organist lead all of us in a few christmas carols & then our christmas film began...

merry christmas from alabama!

love love,

kjp.

showing off our birmy to beau & cara.

we love loved having beau & cara in birmingham last week!!! 

& i think they liked our wonderful city too. 

what's not to love?  we showed them the fabulous city + campus view, the gorgeous southern homes, the gigantic trees lining all of the streets...  we ate the best bbq, a fantastic gastropub meal, & maybe a baked good or two...  our friends hosted them at an amazing dinner...  tanky & fuchsia snuggled as much as possible in three days...

&, of course, we showed them the amazingness of blakey's shuffleboard bar.  heck yes.

it was so much fun to hang out with our fam.  we have missed you two!!  & are already looking forward to seeing you next week for our christmas celebration!

love love,
kjp.

sunday funday with my sleepy boys.

blakey was on call all day saturday, so when he got home sunday morning, i decided to enjoy every moment of the cold holiday morning with my boys.

i had absolutely nothing i had to do, so the morning was full of things i love to do.

delicious coffee & a maple pecan scone...

our brightly lit christmas tree...

one of my favorite horrible chick flicks, the wedding planner...

 {matthew mcconaughey, you are so dreamy}

& my two favorite boys in the world dreaming away...

i hope you weekend was absolutely wonderful & filled with many things christmas.

love love,

kjp.

everything is prettier with sprinkles.

{pumpkin whoopie pies

with maple creamcheese frosting

& brown sugar sprinkled on top}

it's so true.

everything IS prettier with sprinkles.

hope you have a marvelous weekend, friends!  9 days until christmas!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 45.

beau & cara are here!! & i am so happy.

{how is this the last picture we have together??}

yesterday, we ate a fabulous lunch at zaza.  & walked down to urban for a cupcake & chocolate chip cookie dough brownie.  & took a little tour of birmy with the beautiful view on the mountain & vulcan & campus & our awesome railroad park & the best shopping sites.

it was a lot of fun to show off our city.

& today, i am taking beau to eat THE best bbq in birmy - saw's bbq.

& then tonight, we all get to go eat an amazing dinner, courtesy of lisa & dave.  {a huge thank you in advance!!!}

we have the best siblings.

so thankful.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today.

love love,
kjp.

a taste of birmy's hops.

birmingham is pretty awesome.  & two local microbreweries have made it even more awesome.

good people brewing company has been "legally brewing" in alabama since 2008.  but they just recently opened a tasting room at their super cool downtown brewery this year.  across the street from our favorite & frequented park, good people might become our favorite neighborhood hangout. 

we took julie & ben to the gem while they were in town for thanksgiving to try some of the tasty tasty beers.  most boys in birmy love good people's IPA.  not a fan of hoppy beer myself, i do enjoy their brown ale.  they had just brewed a batch of Bret IPA, which the bartender & girlfriend of one of my birmy favorites told me i had to try.  again, i do not like hoppy beers, but it was really really good.

 so happy to have you in the neighborhood, good people!

for date night this past weekend, blakey & i stopped by one of the other new & fantastically spoken about local breweries, avondale brewing company. 

blakey immediately fell in love with their tasting room.  it was the perfect combo of manly rustic & urban sleek.  when he took a moment to look away from one of the big screen tvs, he noted many of the details he'd like to copy in his future man cave. 

we really like avondale's saison - a very flavorful ale.  & avondale's vanilla porter was delish too. 

i have a feeling we'll be back.

birmingham - you are such a cool town.

love love,

kjp.

christmas lights!

i love christmas lights! 

so blakey took me to go see a house in birmy that had a fantastic light displayed that danced with the music on the radio.  it was fabulous.

twinkling lights everywhere.  a merry christmas sign.  a big tall christmas tree.

loved it.

he's the best.

love love,
kjp.

alabama, the beautiful.

on our drive home from the mountains, we finally stopped at the alabama, the beautiful sign!  i've been wanting to do so upon our first drive in when moving here.

thank you, teeny tiny alabama "highways". 

love our home - alabama, the beautiful.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 44.

christmas time is here!!

& that makes me really really happy.

i love christmas.  & christmas lights.  & christmas decorations.  & christmas candy.

& most importantly, i love the preparing for Jesus.

{ps i found THIS christmas scripture reading list for each day of december on pinterest.  if you're interested!}

so i am thankful today!  thankful for christmas!  thankful for the joyful season.  thankful that our christmas tree is up & beautiful!

 {i turn the lights on every moment i am home + awake.  makes me so happy.}

 {our engagement ornament!}

 {our 2nd christmas engagement ornament!}

 {our first christmas ornament!}

 {tanky's ornament!}

{after years of white & silver, we added red this year.  so pretty!}

i turn the lights on every moment i am home + awake.  makes me so happy.

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today.

love love,
kjp.