boom goes the dynamite.

blakey & i are on vacay this week!!!!

we are headed to the beautiful savannah, georgia for a week of relaxation, food, & fun.  i could not be more excited.

love my husband.  love vacation.  love life.

hope you have a wonderful week.  no more posts here.  but know i will tell you all about it when we get home.

love love,
kjp.

my first wedding cake!

we all know i LOVED blake & my wedding cake by amy cakes.

so when we got to make our first wedding cake in class, i, of course, decided to attempt to recreate ours!

i have so much to learn & get experience doing, but i am really proud of it.

                                         {my version}                                   {the amy cakes original}

we learned how to cut out the cakes, to ice & stack them, to roll out fondant & cover them, to make fondant swags, to make gum paste flowers, to stick gum paste flowers in a cake...  

it was so much fun!  i remember why i wanted to make cakes for a living.

{my gum paste peony bouquet}

{my gum paste peony close up:

15 petals}

{a pearl-brushed pearl on a fondant swag}

{& my wonderful little bird cake toppers}

tonight is our written final & kitchen clean-up and then we are FINISHED!!  next up is my 3-month externship with urban.  i get to bake cupcakes & cookies & other delicious goodies, as well as make the dessert pastries for dinner service.  happy happy me.

hope you have a wonderful weekend!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 12.

ONLY 2 DAYS LEFT OF CLASS!!

& i could not be more thankful.

things i am super excited to do now that i will be home during the evenings:

• hang out with my husband!!
• make lots of yummy dinners & actually eat them when they are made!
• happy hour with our friends!  
• sidebar @ cafe dupont
• twenty six
• cocina superior
• mccormick & schmick's
• wine tastings @ the wine loft
• game night @ crestwood tavern
• go see something at the alabama theatre!
• read a good book at the coffee shop!
• attend some jcrma events!
• find a great organization to volunteer for with blakey!
• take a cooking class at birmingham bake & cook!  {ironic, i know}

so, birmingham friends, let's do stuff!  fun stuff!  

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

love love, 

kjp.

wedding wednesday # 31: i.j. ganem band

one of the biggest reasons our reception was a blast {for us... & hopefully you too!} was mr i.j. ganem.

this man & his band are not just a band that plays at wedding.  this man is an all out wedding singer.

he is fabulous.

my wonderful little bro-in-law & his bride attended a wedding with the i.j. ganem band & told us we had to have him.  so we obliged!  & i am so happy we did.

even before the wedding, mr. ganem was a gem.  he loves to talk & talk he did with blakey.  when i had a minor panic attack a few weeks before the wedding, nervous that horrible music would be played & a lull would bring down the party, etc etc, mr. ganem listened to all of our concerns & assured us he had it all under control.

he even let my ocd husband & self create a time line for the entire wedding reception.  i am a little embarassed to admit, but it was down to the 5-minute mark.  & not only did he follow it, he was so kind to find me anytime we were "supposed" to be doing something, kindly ask if that is what i would like to do, & do everything to make the transition as easy as possible.  for instance, my tossing bouquet was no where to be found.  when i went to pick up my bouquet, he said "no no, i will get you your tossing bouquet."  he knew where it was & brought it to me!  all the while having a genuine smile on his face.  exactly what you want on your wedding day.

in addition to being super kind, he is a PHENOMENAL party man.  he did not just sing songs.  oh no.  he went into the crowd & got them involved.  yesss.

he even convinced my dad to get on stage & sing a song he didn't know the words to.  well done, my friend.

my biggest want for our wedding band was one that could play journey.  i love journey.  you should know this about me.  i. love. journey.  & although mr ganem & his band were not the journey type, his son is.  & lucky for us, i.j. jr {no idea his real name.  although i should.  he was amazing too!} was available!

update:  ij's son's name is morgan, the one with the incredible journey voice.  his band's name is sownds.  check them out too!

now this man can belt some "don't stop believing'".  amazing.

so when searching for your wedding band, make sure you find one that can play the songs you want played, has experience running a party, & is someone you want to spend your wedding reception with.

i cannot wait to be a guest at a party at which he is playing.  & lucky for us, we get to do that at beau & cara's wedding!  ooooh, i am so excited.

love love,

kjp.

super moon!

did you get to see the super moon on saturday night?  it was beautiful!


tanky & i went on a wild goose chase to find it.  as it turns out, you cannot see the horizon due east in downtown birmy.  so we headed to the railroad park.  although it was a beautiful evening with tons of people there, you still cannot see the horizon due east at the railroad park.

so next stop was the tallest place i know in birmy - vulcan!  we drove up to vulcan & walked to the highest point, & due east of us...was another mountain & trees.  jimminy christmas.

but vulcan at night is really, really pretty...

& as my dad pointed out, he was "mooning" me on this evening.  haha.  dad joke, dad joke.

 {remember this?}

downtown birmy is also really pretty at night...

as i was about to hop back in the car to drive around the mountain blocking my view, i saw the super moon!  due east was a different direction than i had thought.  windy roads.  definitely nothing to do with my sense of direction :)

i only had my iphone, so i was unable to capture any of the magnificence of it.  but the moon was huge!  & very glowy.  & it was framed between two big trees from where i was standing.

some clouds rolled in & started to cover it in slivers, making it look all the more magical.

i do hope you got to see the super moon.  as my dad pointed out, the next time it happens, we will all be old.  thanks, dad.

love love,
kjp.

blakey is home from night float!

i am thankful beyond words that blakey is finished with night float!!!

my husband is actually going to be home in the evenings.

& in one week, we are both going to be home.  & i can cook dinner.  & hang out with him.  that's the best.

the one upside to blakey being at the hospital 5 nights a week was that he was home every day.  granted, he slept the entire day.  but sometimes it was nice knowing that at least he was home.

{these are all different nights,

even though it appears blakey wore a grey tshirt

every single day.}

{he eventually learned that sleeping on the couch was better,

due to our incredibly large & thus bright skylight above our bed.}

not sure if tanky will be as happy about the change as i am.

love love,

kjp.

lots & lots of petit fours!

our buffet was a huge success!

i am so very proud of our petit four team.  we dreamed big & accomplished even more.  well done, ladies.

my absolute favorite of our 12 varieties was the coffee french macaroons.  but really all of the macaroons were fabulous.  those little suckers are hard to make just right, but that only brings more joy to a wonderful product. 

& although i sound like i am completely bragging, i truly am humbled by how far we have all come in these 1-week-less-than 6 months. 

 {our complete spread of petit fours}

the french macaroons:

 {pistachio with raspberry buttercream}

 {vanilla with strawberry buttercream}

 {cafe with coffee buttercream!}

our eclairs:

{traditional, of course}

 {cherry kirsch}

{roasted banana}

{fruit baskets}

frangipane + fondant {what i think of when i imagine "petit fours"}:

 {raspberry}

 {apricot}

{lemon}

the others:

 {puff pastry bouches with a spring berry compote}

 {orange tart}

 {madelines}

& a little bit of our set up at the buffet:

 

although my family didn't get to enjoy the event, amy & ogden did!  so thankful to have those to there to support me.  thank you thank you!

have a wonderful weekend, friends!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 11.

a completed to do list.  i am so thankful.

our big end of class buffet is thursday night.  my friends jess, kaci, anita, & i are the petit fours group.  we are making 6 different types of petit fours.  with variations of those 6, we have 13 kinds total.  at least 50 of each kind.  so that makes far more than 650 petit fours.  {not to mention the two entire batches of one kind of macaroons & one of another that were thrown in the trash...}

but we finished our to do list today.  8.5 hours of baking & we finished.  & i am so very grateful.  

& exhausted.  

so i am going to sleep {it is wednesday night still as i write this}.  with a smile on my face.

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

love love,

kjp.

oh... look forward to pictures of the petit fours soon!

wedding wednesday # 30: the boys' suits.

isn't it neat when things just work out?

the groom's & groomsmen's suits were completely that.  perfect upon discovery.

blakey & i knew we were not tux people.  we are a have a lot of fun & look cool while doing it people.  but it took us quite the hunt to find how that translated into suits for a wedding.

but when we found "the one", we knew it.

the khaki wedding suits are from jos a banks.  a perfect {& inexpensive!} find for boys all across the country. 

we decided to spruce up the look with champagne vests rented from men's wearhouse {again, inexpensive!}.  we wanted the boys to still look snazzy & important at the reception after they took off their jackets to do a little jigg on the dance floor.  & i would say, they absolutely do look handsome.

& if i give you one good {& inexpensive!} tip on this post:  check out the tie bar.  my wonderful MIL ordered a handful of samples from their online store to match each up with the suit.  great quality ties.  & great prices might have inspired us to keep a few of the ones we didn't choose for the wedding.   

& what boy doesn't love a good boat shoe?

especially when matched with a fantastic argyle sock?

seriously though...could these boys looked any more perfect?

love our boys.

love love,

kjp.

ps i am going to type "khaki wedding suits" a few times in hopes it helps future khaki wedding suit searchers in their search.  my MIL said she had the hardest time finding them.

khaki wedding suits.

khaki wedding suits.

khaki wedding suits.

:)