a lazy sunday.

after a super awesome, warm saturday afternoon full of urban, the dog park, margaritas on the patio with alpha & omega, & a marvelous dinner at bettola, blakey & i had a most amazing lazy sunday.  

we slept in.  we went to a church & worshiped & listened to the "you are beautiful" sermon.  we ate a very delish middle eastern lunch from makarios.  

then we fell asleep on the couch watching the thunder game. 

it was wonderful.

i did a little more baking training at urban.  we discussed plans for our spring vacation & our 90s party.  {yeah, you're excited to hear more about that.}  we g-chatted with julie byrd & benny boo!!

lovely lovely weekend.

remember: you were created in God's image.  you are beautiful :)

love love,

kjp.

look what i did!

this was a week of pretty.  & that is a good week.

one of the lovely residents came back from maternity leave this week.  rumor has it she really likes my lemon cake, so i made her lemon cupcakes!  aren't they super cute?

then i finally made a pretty latte heart!  luckily, it was for me, so i could take a picture.

it is petit four week in class, which means lots of adorable little cakes!  these are my favorite.

hope you had a week full of pretty too.  happy friday!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 4.

sleeping in during the rain...

i am so thankful for getting to sleep in while the morning rain came pouring down on our huge skylight above our bed.  it is a small thing, but i am so grateful.

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

love love,
kjp.

wedding wednesday # 24: the wedding dress.

it's a big deal.  it is the dress you've always been dreaming about.  it is the dress you'll be wearing in every picture.  it is the dress you'll be wearing when your husbands sees you walk down the aisle.

it's a big deal.

so how do you pick?  these are my tips!

1. go somewhere fabulous.  ask your friends/fb friends for recommendations.  find somewhere with knowledgeable, kind, honest, & fun staff.  find somewhere you can trust to actually order the dress {you'd be surprised...}  find somewhere that treats you special.

for me, that was meg guess.  & they were so so great!  all of those things i mentioned above & more.  

2. make a budget & be firm.  before you go dress shopping, seriously look at your budget & see what your price range is.  & consider alterations costs, which can be big!  when you are at your super trusty fabulous wedding dress shop, tell them up front how much you can afford.  hopefully, they will be awesome {like meg guess} & not show you anything over your price range.

how horrible would it be to fall in love with a dress you can't have?

3. whatever your dream dress is, know you will not pick that one.  if you are anything like me, you will find your "dream dress", ooh & ahh over it, try it on, & think you look ridiculous.  i had found THE dress.  i liked it in every magazine, every blog, every everything.  i looked at myself in the mirror & i knew that was not my dress.

keep an open mind.

4. stop looking at wedding dresses.  when you have found & ordered THE actual dress, stop looking at other wedding dresses!  this was the one thing i second guessed myself on all of the time.  looking back at the previous THE dress, i still thought i wanted it.  but then remembered i look ridiculous.  seriously, stop looking & remember how you felt when you tried on YOUR dress.

good luck, friends!

love love,

kjp.

cupcakes, cupcakes.

this weekend was full of cupcakes!

blakey was on call all day saturday, so i made him & his fellow residents chocolate on chocolate with chocolate chip cupcakes!  no idea if they were good or not - after making them i did not feel like eating any cupcakes.  but they all said they were yummy :)

then on sunday, i got trained on baking at urban!!  i am super excited.  although mine don't look quite as beautiful as this one below yet, they will eventually.

hope your weekend was simply fabulous too.

love love,

kjp.

jillian, you're killing me.

since its gotten cold outside, i've been having quite the time getting myself to the gym.

we have a membership at the UAB gym, which is super nice.  but with no designated parking lot, one must find a parking spot somewhere on the hospital/college campus & walk to the gym in the super cold. {read: excuses, excuses.}

i decided if i don't want to go outside to workout, i get to workout inside.

have you ever watched "the biggest loser"?  it used to be blakey & my favorite show.  we lovingly referred to it as "fat people".  {funny side note:  after realizing we always ate dinner while watching the show, we felt a little guilty & started working out during commercial breaks.  that lasted, oh, one week.}

jillian michaels is the female trainer on the show.  & she is insane.  she could get anyone fit.  anyone.  so i decided to buy her workout dvd to get myself to workout inside.

oh.

my.

gosh.

jillian is killing me.  & i invited blakey to join in the pain.  we have been waddling around all week.  a 20-minute workout.  & i'm dying.

on our day of fun, before blakey joined in the killer workout, i told blake i could not express how sore i was.  to which he responded, "you're lying.  you've been telling me all day."  smart a.

so i invite you to give it a try.  $10 at target.  your thighs will be screaming at me :)

happy friday!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 3

this week, i am thankful for life.

a friend at work's cousin died this week.  18 years old.  

it makes us remember to be thankful for everyday God gives us.  every morning we get to wake up & breath. 

be thankful today.  even when you're tired, even when you don't want to be at work anymore, even when you just want to be home with your family - be thankful.

love love,

kjp.

wedding wednesday # 23: our honeymoon! {part 2}

all i wanted to do on our honeymoon was sit in the sun, read some books, eat tons of good food, & hang out with my amazing husband. 

& that is exactly what we did. 

 {first night sunset}

 {unbelievably gorgeous sunsets in pv}

 {THE feet on the beach honeymoon pic}

 {maybe add "drink a few tropical drinks"

to the list of things i wanted to do}

 {my new honeymoon hat!}

 {blakey's creation in the sand.

love him.}

 {although most days we played at the pool,

we did have a beach day!}

 {i do}

{2010}

 {reading books in our hot tub on the porch}

{love you, husband}

oh, pv, you were amazing to us.

love love,

kjp.

christmas @ the porters!

our third & final christmas celebration was at blakey's parents'!

{lisa might have been as (more?) excited to see the tanky as she was to see us!}

{with this cute little face,

how could you not be excited?}

{play play play}

{my boys}

dave's brother + family joined us for the christmas celebration!

{the mrs porters & soon-to-be mrs porter}

{the men}

then we got to open gifts!

{blakey got a shuffleboard trophy!}

{the pre-wedding flippers}

{lisa & dave got puppy print ornaments from all 4 of their grandpuppies!}

{tanky's paw vs rooney's paw}

{the boys & their pups}

{tanky really wanted to make sure we were not leaving him,
so he jumped into the car as soon as we started packing it.
no worries, my dear puppy,
we would not forget you!}

christmas in oklahoma with our families was so much fun.  love you all.  & miss you already.

what a wonderful first christmas as mr & mrs porter.

love love,

kjp.

day of fun in tuscaloosa!

{our bear bryant hat cup}

blakey & i had so much fun exploring tuscaloosa & the university of alabama this weekend!  roll tide :)

first stop was lunch at the original dreamland bar-b-que.  delicious ribs, sausage link, & potato salad.  yum!

{ain't nothing like 'em nowhere"}

the most telling parts of the lunch: there were 3 tvs inside of the joint.  one was on the alabama vs arkansas basketball game.  the other 2 were on fox news.  not a person was watching the basketball game.  

they live for football.  & they make oklahoma look like a state of liberals.

{alabama stuff everywhere!}

{almost gone}

{the waitress took the plate of sausage away with two pieces left.

blakey was very sad.

haha}

next, stop.... THE KAPPA HOUSE!!!

{3 cheers for girls who wear the blue & blue!}

the alabama football stadium is huge.  gigantic.  & it is only the 2nd largest in the SEC.  it has a super prominent spot on campus, next to greek row.  in fact, kappa is across the street, maybe 50 yards away.  so neat.  

{that is me with the statues}

{proud}

{me again catching a pass}

in front of the stadium is the walk of champions - statues of each alabama coach leading his team to a national championship.

{blakey with coach bear bryant}

{where is saban??}

this is awesome - phi psi's back yard is the football stadium.  

{blakey just chillin at phi psi}

{some things never change}

so we decided to continue our stroll around campus...

{the business building}

{one of the oldest celestial observatory buildings in the US}

{the quad}

{the mound:

the site of an old dormitory building

that was destroyed by the Union in 1865.

craziness.}

{a sentry post:

a look out for the confederate soldiers.

1 of 4 structures that survived the civil war.

seriously neat history.}

{manly hall.

enough said.}

{gorgeous architecture.}

{hahaha}

{more southern architecture}

{massive, old trees}

{denny chimes: the clock tower.

built in 1831.

destroyed by the union in 1865.}

around the clock tower, each captain & co-captain has their name, year, hand print, & cleat print, going back to 1947.  as i said, they live football.

{leron mcclain now plays for the baltimore ravens.

rashad johnson now plays for the arizona cardinals.}

{large feet}

{not so huge hands in the '50s}

love love,

kjp.