happy 30th birthday, julie byrd!!!

julie's 30th birthday party was a blast!!!  a beautiful sunny day greeted us for a fun celebration with wonderful friends & family, the best tacos ever, & an adorable little baby bump.

best 30th birthday party.  ever.

our absolute favorite, big truck tacos, brought their truck to the party!  ooooh, amazing tex mex, i love you.  you really are saving the world, one taco at a time.

 {the menu.

beef al carbon: you are so good.}

 {truck party!}

 {the vandaveers!}

 {caric!}

 {oh yeah, i went with three.

& ate them all.

delish.}

& you must eat cake!  so julie went with the very best for that too: amy cakes.  remember my gorgeous & ridiculous delicious wedding cake that i loved?  this is the same cake.  amy cakes lemon cake, i love you too.

believe it or not, we actually partied in addition to eating!  

 {a successful pool party for julie's birthday.  a first!}

 {my gorgeous neice.  my soon-to-be step-sister-in-law.  & my step-sister.}

 {my other sisters: my half, whole, & me!}

{a group of boys means game on!}

{the real adults}

{harvey!!!}

& when our family gets together, if we aren't eating or drinking or partying, we are taking pictures:

 {dad & mom & the mom-to-be!}

 {dad & his girls}

 {the mom-to-be & the grandmas-to-be!}

& to close any good norman party, we ordered a little pizza shuttle :)

happy 30th birthday, julie byrd!!!  

love love,

kjp.

caric moved to oooklahoma!!!

one of my BEST FRIENDS moved back to norman!!!  with her adorable fiance.  & i could not be happier about that.  partly because norman is amazing & i am so excited for their life to start together as husband & wife in our lovely state.  but also partly because i am super selfish & so freakin excited to have my bff back when i come to town!!!

thank you for moving home :)

 {blakey, aric, & aric's bro jesse}

 {my two bffs: cari & armstrong!!

love you love you!!}

oh yeah, so back to the story.  caric {get it? cari + aric = caric.} invited us over for a cookout at their fabulous new home.  best friends + husband + oklahoma beef on a grill?  this girl could not be happier.

{cari, you are a fabulous little cook.

may i have your recipes please??}

& after dinner, we went college style to campus corner!  numbers was dead, so we headed to louie's for club specials.  game on.

{cheers!}

blakey & i could not be happier you are back in the ok.  i look forward to seeing you every time we are home.  happy new beginnings to you, caric!

love love,

kjp.

little aveer kicked me!!

what a wonderful weekend!!  blakey & i had so so much fun in oklahoma - seeing family & friends, celebrating a birthday & a baby, & just being home.  & we got to meet little aveer in womb for the first time!!  he kicked me.  it was pretty darn awesome.

isn't my pregnant sister adorable??  

we had a most lovely weekend & i am going to tell you & show you all of it.  after i get more sleep.

happy memorial day to you!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - just go.

blakey & i have been going to a young couples' bible study through our church on tuesday nights.  it's been a fun way to meet new people our age around birmy.  one girl & i have had a great time chatting & getting to know each other more.  & tuesday night, she invited me to her & her husband's house to get a little xbox dance central on with them & their friends.

it. was. fantastic.

{my new friend brooke is on your right.

& her friend katie is on the left.

katie is a dancer.  & she is really good at dance central.}

have you ever played??  i had not.  & i was a little nervous i was going to be horrible.  but i somehow wasn't all that bad!  & really, it doesn't matter whether you are bad or are not.  it is so much fun.  the best is watching people dance without watching the screen.  soooo funny.  & so awesome.  it was a fabulous evening.

let me back up & say, i really did not want to go to small group this week.  i was tired.  & blake hasn't been able to go in a couple of months.  & i just wanted to go to bed.  but i kept having this inkling telling me to go.  so i went & got my hair cut & i thought "if i get finished in time, maybe i'll go."  so i was finished in time.  & the guy actually styled my hair pretty cute, so i figured i may as well see people since my hair was done, so i went.

clearly, if i hadn't gone to small group, my friend wouldn't have asked me to join in the gathering.

so i'm thankful.  i'm super thankful for my new friend.  & thankful for a super fun evening.  & thankful for that little inkling tell me to just go.

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

love love,
kjp.

ps maybe blakey & i will have to get an xbox or wii, so we can have dance central parties...

the "what should i wear to church??" game!

when julie & i were little, we would play the "what should i wear to church??" game every sunday morning.  this game involved going into the other's closet, picking out a bijillion {it's a real world in little girl speak} outfits which included everything from the outfit itself to the jewelry to the shoes & even the frilly sunday best socks, & laying them neatly on the other's bed.  then the other would go through all of the outfits & finally pick out what she wanted to wear.

it is one of my favorite sunday morning memories with julie byrd.

so you can only imagine the joy i felt when i walked into my bedroom this sunday morning to find three outfits, from the jewelry to the dress to the shoes, laying neatly on my bed...

my husband is adorable!  he picked out three pretty great outfits with jewelry & shoes that actually matched!  {ok ok, i would not wear my sperrys with that yellow dress but the rest was very impressive.}  & he even took pictures for me to put on the blog.  

seriously.  he's the cutest.  ever.

oh oh & the worst part of our favorite game was putting everything back in the closet.  blake did that part for me as well.

i picked the blue dress, by the way.  which was the one he guessed i would pick.  a smart one too.

love love,

kjp.

birmy threw tanky a birthday party!!!

do dah day was back to throw tanky a huge birthday bash!!!

as you probably remember from tanky's 2nd birthday last year {HERE}, do dah dah is birmingham's outdoor festival for pets & their humans full of beautiful weather, fun bands, & two parks full of friends.  last year was tanky's favorite day of his life.  & this year lived up to that task again!

{look at that tongue!  the usual first attempt at a family pic}

we hung out on our blanket, people & animal watched, & enjoyed some music & fun in the sun all afternoon long.  last year the most impressive pet was a goat on a leash.  this year?  it was a toss-up between the lady with a gigantic snake around her body or the man with two birds on his shoulders.  impressive, birmy, impressive.

"our friend gretchen" joined in tanky's birthday celebration!!  he is pretty sure he has a new girlfriend.

& my favorite part?  tanky sitting in my lap all day long, of course.

birmingham at it's finest:  we thought this sign was awesome...

{well done, jim 'n nick's.  well done.}

a happy & tired little guy!!  happy birthday, tanky!!!

love love,
kjp.

happy 3rd birthday to our little guy!!!

{tank's birthday bone & lion toy}

our little tanky turned 3!!!

i cannot believe he is getting so big!  every year has seriously been even more amazing than the last.  he is my best bud.  he is as fabulous a snuggler as ever.  & he actually gets tired now.  i truly understand why boxer people are boxer people.  but no boxer or any other dog could be as wonderful as our tanky.

a face only a mother could love?  absolutely not.  but this mother does love that face:

happy birthday, little guy!!!

love love,
kjp.

happy friday, night team!!

when i came home one day this week, i found blakey sleeping on the couch, snuggling with green man!  apparently he loves green man just as much as tanky does.

or perhaps tanky loves his dad so much he gave it to him to snuggle with.

my sweet boys.

ps blake is smirking in this picture because he woke up to me taking a picture of him sleeping, which of course was blurry the first time.  so i quietly yell at him "no no!  go back to sleep!  you are snuggling with green man!!"  thanks for letting me get the picture :)

happy friday, friends!!  & happy friday, night team!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - new beginnings.

today is a big day of new beginnings.

today is my friend matthew's last day at urban.  we started the same week almost two years ago.  & he moved up to breakfast cook a few months after i started working in the kitchen.   he is an awesome dude.  & we are a pretty fantastic morning team.

matthew has taught me everything i know about classic rock.  he's taught me the beauty of lynyrd skynyrd.  he taught me that the marshall tucker band sings "can't you see".  he taught me the greatness of listening to steve earl in the morning.  & he taught me that sometimes the best thing to do when you are frustrated is to throw something :)

matthew & his lovely girlfriend are moving to tuscaloosa for her great job & to further his ability to play music.  he's in this band.  it's pretty darn fantastic.  lee bains iii & the glory fires.  you should check them out {HERE}.  their album was just released on tuesday.  it's seriously good.  you should check that out too {HERE}.

matthew, i wish you the absolute best.  but don't become too famous for urban!

 {remember this ridiculously delicious biscuits & gravy?

matt made it.}

today is also the day that my dearest cari & her adorable fiance are moving back to oklahoma!!!  i am so so so so so so so so so happy & excited for them.  starting their life together in home sweet 'homa.  i pray for safe travels today & a wonderful beginning to an amazing life.

& i'll see you next week!

{our rehearsal dinner.

heck yes.}

i am thankful for your new beginnings.  & i'm thankful for our's too.

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

love love,

kjp.

let him eat cake.

the sweetest customer of urban's asked me to make a cake for her son's baptism this weekend!  her family always celebrates with a tres leches cake, so i did my best to uphold their family tradition with my version of tres leches cake with whipped cream frosting.  {& buttercream frosting too, so the colors wouldn't bleed onto the white frosting.}

her son's name is teddy & they call him "snuggle bug" {so cute!}, so she asked for a cake with bugs on it.  i made a few gigantic colorful fun bugs to represent her little guy.

& to feed a few more, she added nutella cupcakes to the mix!  i tried a new recipe of nutella cupcakes with nutella frosting, all made from my homemade nutella, of course.  i might have tried one & it might have been pretty darn good.  good thing the recipe made about 3 times more than i was expecting.  we all enjoyed the extras.

my customer sent the sweetest note after her son's big day:  "kendall, thank you so much... the beautiful cake was a huge hit too, & i even gave teddy a little bite {his first sweets... might as well be the best kind!}"

i am so grateful for kind people.  & for the opportunity to make someone smile.

love love,

kjp.

secret stages!

one of the many awesome street festivals on 2nd avenue north, secret stages, was this weekend!  secret stages is a music festival to celebrate those artists coming up in the music world.  blakey & i hung out at the outdoor stage & block party enjoying a fun hip-hop artist from orlando named skip, a delicious pbr or two, & some fan.freakin.tastic interactions with our fellow festival-goers.

&, of course tanky joined in the fun!  on my lap.  terrified of/protecting me from the crazy people.

{most hilarious & awkward picture ever}

{oh, hey, tough dog}

while we were eating a delicious fair meal, the rain came down in birmingham!  but we didn't mind too much.  we hid under some cover & made some more friends.  & tanky continued sitting on my lap.  so after a bit of relentless rain, we ran all 6 blocks home.  & watched the vow from the comfort of our warm couch.

{tired little guy from the big day}

fun fun weekend with the byrds.

love love,

kjp.