week 23: sweet home kansas city!

we're here!!  kansas city is our new home for the next three years, as blake begins his fellowship training in maternal fetal medicine, aka high risk ob.  we are so excited to be closer to oklahoma, closer to family, closer to life long friends, closer to sooner football.  we are thrilled to begin this chapter of our lives in which we learn to mom & dad, in addition to husband & wife.

{our adorable new home & first house!}

i'll catch you up on all things saying goodbye to birmingham, as i begin my new career of "homemaker".  that involves blogging, right?  

blakey & i are so incredibly grateful to all of our family who helped us pack up, move out, & begin again.  we've said it a hundred times but we absolutely could not have done it without all of you.  seriously.  so so many thanks.

{my sweet mom & me}

{dad & blake having man time at home depot}

happy to begin our family of three {ok, tanky, family of four} in sweet home kansas city!  ready to experience all that's next.

love love,

kjp.

week 22: saying goodbyes.

our four years in sweet home birmy have come to a close.  it's been an incredible four years of ups & downs & beginnings & endings.  blakey learned how to be an excellent physician.  i learned how to be a pasty chef & actually love my job.  we learned how to live in a city we knew nothing about.  we learned to make friends, truly amazing lifelong friends.  & we even learned how to be husband & wife.

the biggest life lessons i learned while in birmingham:

1. be selfish with your marriage.  learn to put your spouse & your marriage first before all of the other things that are in your life - work, friends, even other family.  it might sound rude, but it's so important to start there & learn to live out your life together.  i will point out a very wise thing my father-in-law said to me before blake & i got married: when marrying a doctor, you have to be ok with coming in second.  you are always his first priority, but you are going to come in second sometimes.  this is also a good thing to remember.

2. find an amazing group of married friends with similar beliefs about marriage.  i cannot tell you how lucky & blessed we were to find these amazing friends.  not only because they are each awesome but because we all understood how important our spouses were to each other.  it made it even easier to put our marriages first.

3. marriage is a choice.  a wise friend of ours once told me that the key to a good marriage is to wake up each day & choose your spouse.  sometimes it's easy & sometimes it's hard.  but it's always a choice.

4. even if you love your job, it's ok to love home more.  i always wanted a job that i looked forward to going to on monday mornings.  after having my dream job for the last three years, if you asked me if i'd rather be at work or at home, i'd choose home every time.  & you know what, that's ok.

5. please don't ever say "i don't have time" or "i don't have a choice".  you have time.  you get to choose how to spend your time.  & you have a choice.  just because you don't like your options, it doesn't mean you don't have a choice.  

four years ago, i never would've dreamed it would be so hard to leave birmingham.  this city with its beautiful trees & hills, its cool summer nights, its amazing food, its southern hospitality, & its incredible people.  birmy, you've been good to us.  

& because you know i couldn't leave this city we love without having a "final meal" {& telling you about it} - our last meal was at saw's.  a pulled pork baker with lots of delicious saw's sauce & the best fried okra there is.  technically, we ate our "final" saw's meal at least six or seven times, including twice in the last week. each one was absolutely incredible.

"you get a strange feeling when you're about to leave a place.  

like you'll not only miss the people you love 

but you'll miss the person you are now 

at this time & place 

because you'll never be this way ever again."

love love,

kjp.

week 21: blakey is finished!!!!

oh my goodness, blakey is finished with residency.  four years of extremely hard work & play.  four years of learning & growing & teaching & baby catching.  i am so proud of the man, doctor, & husband he's become.

to honor this great group of outgoing chiefs, we had an evening filled with dinner & dancing at the country club.  all eight chiefs were accepted to a fellowship program in his/her specialty, an impressive achievement.  well done, y'all.  well done.

it is so bittersweet to say goodbye to this place that has had such a part in turning blakey into the man he has become.  they've supported him & they've supported me so well over these years.  we could not have asked for more.  

{we're going to miss you, boone,

& your amazing tennessee orange.}

happy pre-father's day, love!  you are going to be an excellent dad.

love love,

kjp.

week 20: halfway there!

the halfway point brought with it the most amazing thing i've ever experienced in my life - nora belle's first kick!!  i was laying on the couch with tanky all snuggled up to my belly & blakey by my side when i felt the weirdest little thing inside of me.  i sat straight up with my eyes gigantically wide.  blakey said i had the funniest look on my face that he has certainly never seen before.  "oh my goodness, what was that?!  i think i felt her kick!"  forget what people say about it feeling like butterflies fluttering, it feels like a fish.  a fish was swimming around in my belly.  my sweet little nora belle fish.  i am so happy to feel your little feet in my "nora belly".

twenty weeks was also blakey's toast & roast to his outgoing chief class!  we had a fun night celebrating these eight fine doctors & all they had accomplished over the last four years.  with tears & laughter, we had another round of goodbyes.  

our final few weeks were also filled with farewell meals at our favorite restaurants.  highlands, of course, made the list with an incredible meal of seafood & steak & an amazing chocolate dessert.  frank stitt, you sure know your stuff.

happy halfway!

love love,

kjp.

week 19: my final week at urban.

week 19 meant my last week at my beloved baking job.  urban standard became my home away from home in birmy.  i started working there in only our second month in alabama, when i knew almost no one in the state.  over the years, blake & i met so many friends at the shop and felt much more at home.  after graduating from pastry school, i was enabled to create my dream job.  i could not be more grateful for the experience.

saying goodbyes are always hard.  saying goodbye to your dream job when 19 weeks pregnant - oh my goodness, so many tears!

over my last week, i made so many of my favorite treats, customers' favorite treats, & a few fancy things i had been wanting to try.  but my last day was purely selfish with my favorite espresso donuts, my favorite chocolate chip orange zest cookies, & my favorite spicy mexican chocolate cake bites. blakey & i even shared one a piece.  & they were delicious :)

with all of the goodbyes were also many hugs, so many kind words, two beautiful flower bouquets, fun photos of me baking, & more fun gifts.  helen even taught me how to make her amazing banana pudding!  y'all have to try it.  ask me.  i'll make it for you.

goodness gracious, y'all are the best.  four of the best years of my life with so much learning & experiencing & loving.  urban, you are so going to be missed.

love love,

kjp.