neapolitan cake bites!!

believe it or not, i have had a {little} bit of time to bake between all of these {amazing} vacations!!  my favorite treat recently are these neapolitan cake bites - strawberry cake mixed with vanilla frosting, dipped in bittersweet chocolate.  all with a little white frosting piping & pink sprinkles.

i should certainly mention the wonderful girls who have been baking for me while i was out of town.  marygrace & emma, you two are fabulous.  thank you so much for being so awesome.

happy friday to y'all!

love love,
kjp.

the absolutely beautiful napa valley.

blakey & i are back from my dream vacation in napa.  six days of absolutely gorgeous mountains & valleys, delicious wineries & stunning vineyards, a fabulous 10-mile hike, many fantastic meals, a day with old friends, a truly beautiful wedding, & a little bit of time to relax with my husband.

i'm excited to tell & show you all about it.  but first i must further narrow down my already substantially narrowed down 261 photos.  & maybe i'll actually fold & put away the gigantic pile of laundry sitting on our dining room table.  also, i might cook a meal for my husband for the first time in far too long.

i promise i am not complaining - i am, for the first time in my memory, vacationed out.  excited to bake, excited to eat normal-sized meals, excited to go the gym, excited to snuggle with tanky, & even excited to sit down on the couch & do nothing for an evening or two.

hopefully you're intrigued.  i am certainly looking forward to reliving it all again.

love love,
kjp.

resident fun at the beach!

blakey & i got to spend a few days at the beach with all of the third year residents for alabama acog!  we rented a swanky little house, got some rays, & enjoyed some relaxing time all together.  it was a lovely little weekend.

blakey actually kicked his feet up for a few days...

while all of the residents spent the mornings in meetings, i slept in, went for a run around the beautiful neighborhood, enjoyed some coffee & books, & hung out at the pool with the other spouse, jeffrey.  it was pretty awesome.

then we all went to the beach!!  the water was gorgeous & blue & actually warm enough to toss around a football.  the sand was soft on our feet.  & the sun was lovely.

it was fun to spend time with the entire class & my sweet husband.  a great weekend away.

{oh, ace & gary...}

by the way, on our way from nola to the beach, we stopped in mobile for lunch at the infamous brick pit.  the restaurant was shown on man vs food, so blakey had to stop.  this bbq was quite delicious & oh so southern.  definitely a good stop.

love love,

kjp.

praying for oklahoma.

prayers for you, oklahoma.  prayers for safety, prayers for comfort, prayers for strength, & prayers for hope.

thanksgiving for all of the love.  thanksgiving for all of the helpers.  always always look for the helpers.

thank you so much to so many friends & loved ones thinking of our families.  the bellers & porters were very lucky.  we are so thankful.

through all of the devastation, it has been amazing to see the love for our great state all over fb & insta & the news & every where else.  all of these photos were "borrowed" from fb & insta.

we wish we were there to help.  we wish we were there to join with our fellow oklahomans.  

but until then we will pray.

much love to you.

love love,

kjp.

happy 4th birthday, tanky!!

happy birthday to my sweet little tanky!!  he's four years old!  oh my goodness, my little boy is growing up :)

as happens every year, birmy threw tanky a birthday party!!  do dah day, our favorite dog festival, just so happens to take place in the park across the street from our house.  so we set up shop in our yard with our favorite patio chairs, a delicious drink or two, & invited our friends & friend pups over to celebrate!

mother nature tried to rain on tanky's birthday parade, but he did not care one bit...

he did, however, realize he is becoming an old man & hid in the shade for part of the afternoon :)

oh oh oh!  tanky finally got in his puppy pool all on his own for the first time!!  so proud of my little guy.

ashley, neil, & guinevere joined us for their first do dah day-o-fun!  amy, ogden, & lola came to the party too!

it was a fantastic birthday for mister tanky.  best birthday festival in the world.  thanks, birmy!

& then he slept all day long with his new birthday toy.  {which he tore out the squeaker & tossed the stuffing all over the house in a few short minutes.  his second favorite birthday tradition.}

happy birthday, little guy!

love love

kjp.

a lovely friday to you.

happy friday, friends!  birmy is throwing tank his annual birthday party this weekend at do dah day!  {check out last year's & the year before's}  he is pretty darn excited about it, let me tell you.  his girlfriend, lola, & amy & ogden are coming this year too!  it's going to be fantastic.

i hope you have a lovely & sunny weekend with your loves.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - sweet baby hannah.

welcome to the world, sweet baby hannah!!  the beautiful little miss arrived at 1:23 on tuesday morning weighing 6lb 8.8oz & measuring 18 inches long.  she is perfect & so is her joyful mom, marybeth.

 {the proud papa with blakey}

{the lovely marybeth, the perfect baby, & the happy obgyn}

{congratulations to the absolutely wonderful parents}

it's a lovely week in alabama.  we could not be happier for the new family of three.  & cannot wait to spoil this beautiful little girl.

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

love love,

kjp.

fun & cocktails in nola.

a full stomach & a happy heart.  that pretty much sums up our wonderful vacay in new orleans.  so grateful to have my sister & my benny boo & my sweet husband all in one wonderful place.

new orleans is full of amazing craft cocktail bars.  impressive bartenders, ingredients of which you've never heard, & art & science together in one beverage.  we loved it.  bellocq was first up.

this super swanky hotel bar captures the essence of the pre-prohibition time.  cobblers {classic drinks with fresh seasonal fruit & crushed ice}, fancy cocktails, & great spirits.

julie really wanted to check out the historic cemeteries in nola; however, we were really bad at planning ahead on this one.  so our monday afternoon consisted of walking around outside of the cemetery.  but it was still quite impressive.

{benny boo checking out the inside.

this is totally legal, by the way.}

oh!  we also got the chance to thunder up in the big easy!  #wearethunder.

we took julie & ben to the oldest bar in the us, lafitte's!  delicious hurricanes & a super old, historic bar. right up our alley.

& our favorite bar in new orleans, bar tonique.  this place is absolutely fantastic.  it's rustic & historic & classic.  with original brick walls, chalkboard menus, & an amazing bartender, this was a true treat.  we went twice.  & had we been there longer, we would've gone many more times.  it was so fun to sit at the bar, chat about the delicious drinks, & watch the bartender with all of his concoctions.  a treat.

{my super sister & benny boo}

of course we stopped by the carousel bar at hotel monteleone, my first car's namesake.  

a stop at the musical legends park in the french quarter rounded out our trip.  celebration cigars for the boys & a beautiful evening for all.  

love love,
kjp.