happy friday with blueberries & lime on top!

happy first weekend of football, friends!!  one of my top five weekends of the year.  so happy it is finally here!

{by the way, the others include, in no particular order:  ou/texas, christmas, thanksgiving, & my birthday.}

you should probably come down to birmy & celebrate with my blueberry pecan cornbread...

 {i truly am southern now}

or my lime bars with lavender graham cracker crust...

boomer sooner!!!!!!!!!!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - you're doin' fine.

how stinkin' cute are these oklahoma shirts??  my fabulous mother-in-law mailed them to us as an i-know-you-had-a-long-week-so-here-is-a-pick-me-up! gift this week!  so incredibly thoughtful & sweet. not to mention, my new thunder shirt is freakin' awesome.  & my first one!

{check out an article about the awesome new store at which these shirts were purchased in norman HERE!}

everyone should be so lucky to have amazing in-laws.

of course, blakey is pretty darn lucky with his too ;)

thankful for the encouragement after a long week.  thankful for our wonderful family.  & thankful i get to look stylish too.

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

love love,

kjp.

beau & the fantasy football draft!

beau is in alabama!!!  blakey & i haven't seen him in... three years, we think!  that's crazy long.  so we were super excited to find out he {& soon jaci too!} will be in alabama for the next few weeks for some air force training.  heck yes.

as with all wonderful friends, we picked up right where we left off three years ago.  the three of us spent the afternoon chatting away about life & friends & all of those wonderful things.  we, of course, took beau to enjoy some fantastic wings at moe's.  & later that evening, he got to meet some of our best friends in birmy at a backyard cookout.  the perfect saturday!

on sunday, it was time to get to business.  fantasy football draft day!  our best friends from high school have had a fantasy football league for the last seven years.  blakey has won twice.  overachiever.  i got third once.  pretty impressed with myself, being the only girl & all.  i am pretty sure this is my year though, friends...

{how many electronics are needed for a draft, you ask?

two computers, two ipads, & three phones, of course.}

{bloody marys, southern style with pickled okra}

{my mascot!}

by the way, tanky loved having beau here.  they played & played & played outside.  good boy time.

{little man loves the huge branches from our huge pecan tree}

{by the end of the weekend, he was exhausted!}

so ridiculously happy to spend the weekend with beau!  & super excited for jaci to get here to party too!

love love,

kjp.

the best to three of my favorites.

last week, three of my favorite urban friends worked their last day at the standard.  each is moving on to an exciting new journey in their lives.  i'm so proud of each & so very blessed to have gotten to know them over the last few months to the last two years.

it has become the going away gift by our handwriting talented baristas to rewrite our coffee chalkboard.  marygrace's is pretty darn beautiful, which is very fitting for her.  well done, lady.  & thank you for our daily reminder of you!  it will make me smile every day.

much love to all three of you, mg, roscoe, & jeff!  you will be missed!

love love,
kjp.

intern party year 3!

intern party 2012 was here to officially welcome our new class of 'terns!  this group is pretty fantastic.  & man, do they know how to party.  the photo booth full of wigs & boas & colorful sunglasses & mustaches was a huge hit.  as was the dance party.  you should see some of these doctors dance to "single ladies".  a.amzing.

i was asked to do the desserts again this year!  this honor gets more & more fun every year.  i went with the ever-so-popular neon theme.  & i think they turned out adorable & delicious!

{the chilton: peach cupcakes with peach cream cheese frosting}

{red velvet cake bites, of course}

{& the popular chocolate chip cookie dough brownies}

happy monday, friends!  

love love,

kjp.

that's miss chanandler bong.

before blakey & i got married, cari helped throw the world's most amazing bachelorette party for me {check it out here}, so i was super excited to do something special for her.

a bachelorette scavenger hunt!

cari had lots of bride & wedding & marriage tasks to complete:
- find the funniest wedding card.  {julie!  your bachelorette card won :) }
- take a picture with another bride-to-be.
- find the most creative wedding ring in a local hardware store.
- model your best representation of a wedding dress, garter, or veil:

there was a little bit of a friends theme:
- introduce yourself as the owner of the tv guide {"that's MISS chanandler bong."}
- "look at me! i'm chandler!" act it out in costume.  {"could i be wearin' any more clothes??"}:

cari had plenty of fun things to do:

- start a dance class in a parking lot & ask 3 strangers to join.
- sing "BOOMER SOONER" in a bar.  loudly.
- take a picture spelling out "CARIC" with your bodies:

& she had to get some good advice:
- ask 3 children "how does a couple know they are ready to get married?"  {my favorite: so they can have babies!}
- find an older couple {married more than 30 years} & ask what makes their marriage successful.
- find a younger couple {married less than 10 years} & ask what makes their marriage successful:

{this is cari CHASING down a couple that looked like they were newlyweds.  hilarious.}

{the overwhelming answer to this question: remember your anniversary!}

love you, bride!!  i hope your bachelorette party was all you hoped & dreamed.  & that you know how very much we all love you & are so incredibly excited for you & aric.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - cooking with friends.

while we were bachelorette-ing, one of my favorite things was getting to cook with my friends!  we all know - cooking is one of my favorite hobbies.  & getting to do so with my favorite people is extra special.

one morning, cari & picked out a menu from our pinterest boards & favorite blogs and actually wrote out a grocery list ON PAPER.  cari hearts paper.  it was pretty darn cute.  & a little 1990s of us :)

for the appetizers, we made some delicious guacamole with tomatoes & onions & jalapenos & cilantro, a fabulous queso blanco {the pinterest recipe is here!} with two types of white cheese & half & half {of course it was delicious}, & a super yummy roasted corn salsa...

roasted corn salsa

original recipe: food network

5 ears corn, in the husk

4 tomatoes, chopped

1/2 red onion, finely chopped
minced garlic, always

4 T evoo

4 T red wine vinegar

1 lime, zest & juice

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped
salt & pepper

1. roast the corn in their husks on 400 for about 30 minutes.  let them cool until you can handle them.  remove husks.  slice down the sides to remove the kernels.  then use the back of your knife to scrape down & get all of the delicious corn sweetness.  throw all of that in a big bowl.

2. add the rest of the ingredients & taste!  if you can wait, it is so much better the next day.  but i bet you aren't going to wait that long.  so dive in!

then for our main course, cari & i each made a taco filling!  cari made a delicious vegetarian roasted poblano filling for her tacos from bon appetit with lots of extra cilantro & lime.  {poblano recipe here!}  for mine, i went with a super summery chicken lime taco filling:

super summery chicken lime tacos

original recipe: favorite family recipes

2 T evoo

lots of minced garlic, always

2 pounds chicken, cubed

1 yellow onion, chopped

1/2 red onion, sliced

4 green onions, sliced

{i really really like sauteed onions.}

1/2 bunch cilantro, chopped

1 lime, zest & juice

1 tsp sugar

1/4 c red wine vinegar

salt & pepper

1. heat olive oil & garlic in a big ole saute pan over medium heat.  add chicken & cook until no longer pink.  add all of those onions & cook until tender.

2. add the rest of the ingredients & simmer another 10 minutes.  taste & enjoy!  {i think this chicken lime filling is pretty awesome with the roasted corn salsa.  just sayin...}

& cari taught me a new trick!  i had honestly never heated tortillas on a stove before.  we always go the super easy route & heat them in the microwave.  but this is so much better.  just heat a saute pan over medium heat.  throw in a tortilla.  cook until it starts to brown just a little bit.  flip & cook that side just until it starts to brown.  & there you go!  so much more delicious tortillas!  thanks, cari marie!

so i'm thankful for cooking with my wonderful friends.  new tips & new food.

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

love love,
kjp.

she's the bride. {yeah, you are.} awoohoo!

our goal of the entire weekend was to make our fabulous friend feel like the special bride she is.  & i hope we did just that.  

{the fantastic "caric" koozies from rouge & co

& the fabulous bridesmaid wine glasses the allison gave us!}

have i ever told you about cari, armstrong, & my love for friends, the tv show?  it's pretty much ridiculous.  we used to sit in our dorm room & kappa room & watch episodes over & over & over again.  we can literally quote entire episodes.  just ask & i promise we will :)  #1 favorite: the one where no one's ready.  # 2 favorite: the one with the embryos.  & the absolute best part of that episode: the trivia game.

"michael flatley, lord of the dance!"

"the irish jig guy??"

"his legs flail about as if independent from his body!"

{"the game board is ready."}

so armstrong recreated the game board just for cari!!!!  it.was.amazing.  absolutely incredible.

{it looks the exact same!!}

she asked aric lots of questions about him & her & their relationship & their future.  so we then got to ask cari what his answers were...

{"firsts.  favorites.  future.  fears & pet peeves."}

& for every wrong answer, cari had to put a piece of bubble gum in her mouth.  the huge gigantic not tasty double bubble kind.

{she might have gotten a few wrong}

the very best question was last: "what are your future kids' names?"  cari has been naming her unborn children for as long as we have been friends.  she's been pretty darn secretive about them & the list is ever growing.  so when we asked, she got super excited & started naming them off... & when she couldn't remember ALL of them, she ran & got her phone & started reading them from her phone.  armstrong might have been egging her on...  

to which we finally found out aric's answer: "i was sworn to secrecy on this one!  cari might kill me if i tell.  they are all picked out though."

{smart boy}

{HILARIOUS}

& as in the fabulous episode, the game ends with THE LIGHTENING ROUND!  aric listed 50 reasons why he loved cari.  each of us had a card & read them off to her.

{cari is marrying a good one.  a very good one.}

& what bachelorette party would be complete without a lingerie shower?!

{super cute & classy bride veil & soon-to-be sash.

well done, allison!}

{the gorgeous lingerie cookies from brittany}

& even more bachelorette party to come!!

love love,

kjp.

it's a lovely day for a hike, mrs holmes.

one of the things cari wanted to do most on her bachelorette weekend was take a fun hike through the gorgeous ski slope mountains.  i have been told a million times how beautiful mountains are in the summer, but until this weekend, i had never gotten to experience them myself.  well, let me tell you - they lived up to their fabulous hype.  although i am not a fan of skiing, i am a fan of summer ski slopes.

{the bachelorette & her adorably pregnant sister}

{the view up the mountain from our street}

the only person i know who takes more pictures than i do is cari.  so we had a blast snapping away the entire hike.  clouds & trees & all the beauty of nature + our pretty friends.  luckily for her, cari also takes pictures approximately 8.2 million times better than i do.  & she has a fancy shmancy camera.  "you mean there are better pictures than iphone + instagram filters??"  luckily for me, we shared all of our pictures :)

{so professional!}

{my shot of the ski lifts}

{& cari's.  you win.}

we discovered on our hike that cari's fancy camera has a self-timer!  so it only took us about 10 tries to get this pretty darn cool group shot:

{friends!}

not until moving to alabama the beautiful did i grow a huge appreciation for tall trees.  they really are amazing.  growing that long to become so tall.  gorgeous.  well done, God.  well done.

through the trails we did & didn't follow in & out of the trees, we stumbled upon lots of fun stuff like a little wooden bridge & a creek & teepee of trees.  more photo ops :)

one afternoon when the other girls were taking a nap, cari & i headed back up the mountain for another little hike.  a rain storm was headed into town, which made the view all the more beautiful.

love love,

kjp.