love, the porters

a christmas miracle!

2012-01-27T05:00:00.000-06:00

i completely forgot to tell you -

remember in the fall when blakey decided he was going to grow a magnolia tree in our loft {HERE}...

well, i will be honest. i had given up on our little plants. a couple of months had gone by with nothing. no trees. no sprouts. no sign of life.

but when we got home from our christmas vacation home, we discovered our christmas miracle:

one of the seeds is growing into a tiny little plant!!

who would've thought. apparently you can grow a magnolia tree in a loft. or at least a tiny little sprout. but we are very proud of our little seed-that-could.

grow, little guy, grow.

happy friday to you!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - to start the day.

2012-01-26T05:00:00.001-06:00

this morning blakey turned on the hit jams radio station while we were getting ready for work. heck yes. jammin' out to nelly at 5 o'clock in the morning. heck yes.

that is a fantastic way to start out your day.

it's amazing how little things really can make or break your whole attitude for the day.

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

love love,
kjp.

mother nature is a little confused.

2012-01-24T05:00:00.000-06:00

mother nature is a little confused.

it is january. the high today is 65. & there is expected to be "abundant sunshine."

in january.

& there was a substantial tornado that came through alabama early yesterday morning. we are just fine {thank you to those that thought about us!} but others were much less fortunate.

a tornado. in january.

oh, mother nature, you are confused. but after a lovely run in the park with the tanky yesterday, we did come home & enjoy some hot chocolate with mini marshmallows! {in my awesome new le creuset mugs!}

it is still january, after all.

love love,

kjp.

amazing shredded beef {& green beans too}

2012-01-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

this is officially blakey's favorite meal of all time.

ok, that might be an exaggeration, but it is pretty darn close.

while we were home for the holidays, my stepmom made some a.freakin.mazing shredded beef sandwiches. blakey has been talking & talking & talking about it since we ate it...twice. so clearly that means i needed to make it.

the recipe she uses is a combination of two different pioneer woman beef recipes. & that, in my book, makes it now her recipe! so thank you thank you, ruth, for this fantastic recipe!

amazing shredded beef sandwiches

2.5 lb to 5 lb chuck roast

4 T butter

1 onion, sliced thick

3 cloves garlic

8 oz jar whole pepperocinis + juice

1/2 c soy sauce

1 c sherry

1/2 tsp salt

2 T italian seasoning

serve with: buttered & toasted deli rolls & a delicious melty cheese

1. heat butter in dutch oven over medium high heat. saute onions for a few minutes, until starting to brown.

2. set roast on top. add remaining ingredients. cover.

3. bake at 275 for at least 6 hours, until beef is completely fork-tender & falling apart. if it is not, keep cooking until it is!

4. shred completely. serve, continue heating, or chill.

so so so good. so good.

& here is my embarrassing side note: ruth made this recipe for new years two years ago. i loved it then. so i went searching for the recipe shortly after blakey & i got married. i searched & searched & searched & couldn't find it. so i made my now favorite & completely overused pw dr pepper pulled pork.

yep, that's right. i apparently did not know the difference between pork & beef.

great find though. so i'm ok with it.

oh! about the green beans. blakey loves green beans. i, on the other hand, would rather eat just about any other vegetable. but i decided to make a "blakey's favorite dinner", so i went with a green bean recipe in my awesome food network magazine.

believe it or not, these are pretty darn good! they sound super strange - green beans, tarragon, & whole-grain mustard. {so strange.} but you should seriously try them! {recipe is HERE.}

fabulous meal.

love love,

kjp.

happy friday, even to the sec!

2012-01-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

{my current seasonal cupcake: caramel cupcake!}

{by the way, i learned we say "caramel" wrong in oklahoma.

in the south it's care-a-mel, not car-mull.

must pronounce it right.

butter & sugar is, after all, very southern.}

yesterday, we had a big lunch & cupcake order, which we later found out was for an SEC meeting going on in birmy. one of my super SEC fan cohorts knew that all of the coaches were in town for a meeting.

so we're pretty sure we made lunch & cupcakes for saban & the like yesterday.

even though i very much dislike the SEC, that is pretty darn cool.

certainly my cupcakes are now his favorite cupcakes ever.

happy friday, friends!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - pinterest.

2012-01-19T05:00:00.000-06:00

yes, i'm saying it. i am thankful for pinterest.

certainly i waste a lot of time on the website, but it has truly been a great source of information {& entertainment}.

two things have specifically been so helpful:

#1. the abundance of recipes. the owner at urban always wants me to be more creative. however, creative i am not. but i can search the internet for awesome recipes. first it was allrecipes, but i really wore out my ability there. then foodgawk. now pinterest.

& there has been no shortage of awesomely creative & delicious recipes!

two fantastic ones that you should probably try:

{orange dreamsicle cookies HERE}

{peanutbutter bars HERE}

#2. an impressive amount of at home workouts. some days i just don't want to go to the gym or take tanky for a run. i just don't want to. but i still would like to do something good for myself. i've found great circuit cardio workout, arm workouts, ab workouts... you name it, it is out there.

don't want to workout? try one. you'll feel better knowing you did something.

{at home circuit workout HERE}

{14 day ab workout HERE}

that really is my life in a nutshell, right? working out enough to eat the food i want :)

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful today. even if it is a little thing.

love love,

kjp.

a DIY coffee sack ottoman!

2012-01-18T05:00:00.037-06:00

while we were home over christmas, my mother-in-law made us a super awesome ottoman using old coffee bean sacks & a used footstool!

she took photos along the way in case it "turned out cute enough for a blog post". well, it is so darn cute, so here we go:

things you will need:
an ottoman of some sort
2 coffee sacks
thick cording
jute string
a yarn needle
pins, sewing machine, tan thread, marker & yardstick {she LOVES yardsticks :)}

she found these awesome coffee sacks at one of her favorite shops & the footstool at a used furniture store.

our footstool is actually a "sewing bench" with a top that opens to reveal a stash of old sewing supplies. so cool! since we always need more storage, i am positive i will find a good use for the new hidden extra space.

#1. remove the side stitching of the coffee sack, so you have one long piece of burlap. you can either rip or snip the side stitches with a seam-stripper or small scissors. be VERY careful not to snip any of the burlap, as it will unravel. the safest way is to loosen a stitch & then unravel the rest by hand.

{key: burlap ravels terribly. the sewn sides are "selvages" or finished edges. save them to use later to finish edges.}

you will end up with a long strip, about 6' long by 2' wide. {ours had been sliced open along one side....machette-like...}

#2. decide how you want the printing from the sacks to be on your ottoman. we wanted the design on top but not perfectly centered. we made the top & three sides from one sack and the fourth side from the second sack.

mark edges with pins.

#3. measure & cut your pieces. remember to allow for the seam & cording. {we had a 5/8" seam allowance. & a 2" cording circumfrence which means 1" allowance.}

double check all your measurements! {measure twice...cut once.} make sure your bottom edge is on the selvage edge. so each side piece will have three cut edges & one selvage edge.

{tanky helped!}

#4. using a sewing machine, sew the pieces together with a tight, straight stitch. {goal: to keep the burlap from unraveling}. burlap is double-sided, so make sure the pretty side is on the outside. & make sure the selvage is the opposite end from the sewn side.

then sew the side seams to create a slip cover. be careful with your seam allowances. press open all of the seam allowances & press the hem.

{check out the progress!}

#5. cording! cut twelve pieces of cording - four for each side of the top & four for each corner edge & four for each side of the bottom. cut each 1 1/2" shorter than the edge measures, as the corners will be pretty stiff on their own.

cording also unravels easily, so tape the ends & cut through the middle of the tape, leaving it taped.

{how the end will fray if you don't tape it!}

sew the cording in by hand with jute string & a yarn needle.

place the cording along each seam with the seam allowance flat & pin it in place. start sewing about an inch from the corner - take a little stitch & pull the thread almost all the way through, then tie the ends together for the first knot. pull tight.

stitch with a running stitch, making sure the stitches are even. knot at each corner.

sew the cording in the hem with the same running stitch going right through the selvage.

{please play, grandma!}

& the finished stool is fantastic!! we absolutely love it. perfectly urban & homey all at the same time.

total cost = $66:
footstool: $40
two coffee sacks: $20
7 yards cording: $6.

{confession: i know NOTHING about sewing. so not only did my MIL make this awesome coffee sack ottoman, she also wrote the crafty blog post.}

thank you, lisa!!

love love,
kjp.

sol y luna date night!!

2012-01-17T05:00:00.000-06:00

saturday night, blakey took me out for an awesome date night!

we met up with alpha & omega to watch the end of the saints vs 49ers game at a sports bar. there were tons of band wagon saints fan {i say band wagon because no one in alabama cares about pro sports. college is life.}, so it was kind of fun to be cheering for the underdog & win.

then we dined at a little restaurant we've been wanting to try since we moved here! sol y luna is an adorably authentic Mexican tapas restaurant in our favorite lakeview district. they have fantasticly interesting margaritas. i went with the sol y luna house special with a spicy sangrita. & blakey had to try the puerto vallarta in honor of our honeymoon. both were delicious!

we tried quite a few dishes, as is the fun in tapas restaurants. we had queso fresco, a guacamole sampler, sea scallops, shrimp ajillo, & beef tenderloin medallions. all of the food was super inventive. our favorite was definitely the tenderloin - served with chimichurri & yuca strings. yum!

a fun fun night out with the byrds. love it.

love love,

kjp.

day of service #1.

2012-01-16T05:00:00.000-06:00

my new year's resolution for 2012 is to make a solid effort to do good.

last year, my resolution was to be more thankful. after a full year of consciously thinking about all of our blessings, big & small, i truly recognize that blakey & i have a pretty amazing marriage & home & life.

so now it's time to focus outside of us & on others. i'm pretty darn excited about it.

to make it feel like a realistic resolution, we are going to attempt to have a day of service each month. i honestly have no idea what twelve things we will be doing. if you have any fun or special volunteer/service/good things you've done, please tell me! we would really appreciate any ideas.

as with most things in life, you ask God to help & He provides. so i prayed about our january project & received an email about our church's day of service in january! {no joke. that's actually what it was called. how awesome is that.}

there were a ton of projects to choose from - some indoor projects, some outdoors, some donating, some creating, some physical, some sedentary. but one stuck out as exactly what blakey would want to do. & to get him on board with my resolution, that sounded like the perfect place to begin.

framing walls for a habitat house!

awesome. outdoors & manly. i had no clue what i would do, but let's give it a try.

we were in a group with a few 30something dudes from our church at a habitat house just a few doors down from the one we worked on last year {HERE}. when we arrived there were only a couple of walls up, so we knew we had a full day ahead of us.

{building one of the walls}

{holding up a wall while it was being nailed in}

can you believe an entire house can be framed in a morning?? it blew my mind. there were three habitat workers, a group of girls from the university of new hampshire, a few fellas from hands on birmingham, the lady who would be purchasing the house, & our group. & we built a house. pretty darn cool.

{our framed house at the end of the morning!}

month #1 is a success! looking forward to where God will lead us.

love love,

kjp.

roll tide red velvet.

2012-01-13T05:00:00.000-06:00

i am being a big person & congratulating my fellow crimson & creamers from the south on a big national championship win with these roll tide red velvet cookie sandwiches.

well done, bama. a shut out in the national championship game.

& i will stop at that.

:)

happy friday!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - a phone call away.

2012-01-12T05:33:00.000-06:00

i am really thankful for my family for always being just a phone call or text message or gchat away. for helping, for advice, or even for listening to me complain.

y'all are the best.

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

love love,
kjp.

a little healthy in the new year.

2012-01-11T05:00:00.001-06:00

for christmas, my super awesome bro-in-law {ehemmm, his super awesome wife} got me a subscription to the food network magazine!

it's pretty darn awesome. i've read every one i've ever purchased cover to cover, so now i get to do that with each month! heck yes.

january's magazine theme is, i know this will shock you, healthy eating. although that is never really my thing, a few of the recipes looked quite good. & i guess i can participate in this ever so popular tradition. {& it probably never hurt anyone to eat less butter...}

oh.my.gosh.

this is one of the most surprisingly delicious meals i've ever made. blakey & i both devoured it.

do it. you will be really really glad you did.

food network magazine's falafel-crusted chicken with hummus slaw: a little different & slightly blah sounding, right? super easy baked chicken with the fried crunch with out the fried oil. awesome. but the hummus slaw was the real kicker. so so good. i'm still craving it & i ate it 5 days ago. i might never make slaw without hummus again.

{by the way, this dish apparently has only 366 calories! that's nuts. well, it is only supposed to have one pita, which i only realized after taking the picture. & with the next side dish, you will only be able to eat one anyway.}

{recipe is HERE!}

food network magazine's roasted carrots with red onions: carrots, red onions, canola oil, allspice, salt, dried cranberries, walnuts, lemon juice & zest, cilantro, & dill. strangest grouping of ingredients. & the whole is so much greater than the parts.

{recipe is HERE!}

so go on, friends! join the crazy let's-eat-healthy-just-because-the-last-number-in-the-date-just-changed tradition.

love love,

kjp.

home for the holidays at dad's!

2012-01-10T05:00:00.002-06:00

to complete our home for the holidays tour of oklahoma, blakey & i spent a couple days at my dad's!

food, football, wine, sleep... we did it all again. & it was just as marvelous this time.

you know about my love for kendall jackson chardonnay, right? when we arrived at my dad's, there was an entire case awaiting us in the wine fridge! it was fabulous. love you, dad.

ruth made some super delicious food. really really good. pioneer woman's shredded beef sandwiches. {ironically, the recipe i was originally searching for the first time i made her pulled pork. so good. i will be making this!} steaks & potato boats. fried catfish. {the one seafood we do better in 'homa. much better.}

& i was worried about there being good food in oklahoma. there is. great food. you just have to cook it :) challenge accepted.

new year's eve was celebrated while we were in oklahoma! not my favorite holiday, but we celebrated anyway. three of us might have gotten a little nap in, but we all woke up in time to countdown & drink some champagne!

{happy new year!!}

{hehe. love our generation.}

one of our great friends from medical school was in oklahoma too & joined us for dinner one night! so so good to see you, newton!!

after all of that eating, blakey & i decided some exercise might be in order. an actual neighborhood & a gigantic house are being built behind my dad's house, so we went to explore. fun stuff. i never would've imagine my dad's house being in town. our little city is growing up!

{the sky is so big in oklahoma}

{the insanely gigantic house with the even bigger pond}

{in the very middle of the picture,

the right stick-looking figure is in the devon building.

yes, you can see 17 miles north when the building is that tall

& there is not much in between :)}

home for the holidays to home sweet 'homa.

love love,

kjp.

home for the holidays at the porters'!

2012-01-09T05:00:00.001-06:00

next stop on our home for the holidays tour of oklahoma was at blake's parents' house!

as with every good porter event, we hung out with great people, ate a lot, talked about eating while eating a lot, & did something revolving our beloved sooners. it was a mighty fine time.

{beau, nonie, & blake}

{the newest mr & mrs porter}

{lisa & her mom reading on their kindles...

which need any other name.}

the two foods we miss the most while we are in alabama are mexican & beef. since we did the mexican & steak thing with my mom, we did a lot of hamburger with the porters. we always have to go to the family favorite red horse grill - best onion burgers in norman. & we got to try out a new downtown instant classic - the garage. we had some fabulous bison burgers with fancy toppings. & played skeeball! oh my gosh, we will have to have a skeeball machine in the man cave someday.

blakey hadn't been home since last christmas! craziness. he was so excited to get to hang out with his family again. we missed justin & peyton a ton, but blake did get a good bit of little brother time:

{playing with blake's fantastic christmas gift -

a arcade game cover for the ipad!}

{watching a bowl game outside on the ipad}

the sooners played their bowl game while at the porters', so we watched outside from the hot tub! a not too hot hot tub on a not too cold december evening with a big tv & a couple of beers is a pretty fantastic way to watch the sooners, even if it is the insight bowl.

& tanky got to play with his cousin, kaizer! they ran & ran & ran & ran. & loved every minute of it.

{my tired little guy}

{love him!}

for breakfast, dave created a belini bar! it was fabulous. tradition peach, delicious blueberry, & strawberry too. what a fun morning. we should remember this for a bridal shower some day...

love the porters! {hehehe. such a fitting phrase, isn't it?} love our time at home.

{somehow i didn't get a single picture with dave in it. what the heck, dave?? next time. or no more huehuetenango for you!}

love love,

kjp.

home for the holidays at mom's!

2012-01-06T05:00:00.001-06:00

our first stop on our little vacay home for christmas was my mom's!

our first two days were a great start to our vacation - food, more food, a little wine, some football, & a lot of rest. exactly what we had hoped for. we got to eat fantastic oklahoma mexican food. ate delicious steak. & enjoyed a scone or two. oh, & i took my mom for her third pedicure ever. third. craziness, mom! treat yourself more!

& blakey & i might have fallen asleep by 8 o'clock both nights. {by might i mean it absolutely happened.}

mom & ray just got the most adorable {ehemmm... 2nd most adorable} boxer puppy! her name is dakota. she looks JUST like tanky did when he was a puppy. so, of course, we loved her immediately.

& of course we had to take dakota to meet our little guy!! at first they weren't too sure about each other... tanky wanted to protect his grandma's house & dakota thought he was gigantic. but after a little running around outside, they became best of friends!

as soon as we saw little dakota, we knew the perfect christmas gift for her. a pink green man!! tanky loves green man so obviously she will too. & she did. squeak squeak squeak squeak. perfect gift!

& after two days of play play play, these two were a sleepy duo...

by the way, oklahoma sunrises, as it turns out, are just a beautiful as sunsets. but i had to turn 26 to learn that :)

merry christmas, mom & ray!!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - tanky.

2012-01-05T05:05:00.000-06:00

my little guy wasn't feeling well last night, which makes him the most adorable pouty guy on the planet. he crawled into my lap & wouldn't move all evening long.

i wish i could make him feel better, but i am so grateful for times i can snuggle with him & blakey & fuchsia monkey.

they are the best.

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

love love,

kjp.

home sweet 'homa.

2012-01-04T05:00:00.000-06:00

blakey & i spent the last week in good ole oooooooooklahoma!! which taught us there is nothing better than being home for the holidays.

& reminded us there is nothing more beautiful than an oklahoma sunset...

merry christmas & happy new year to you all!!

love love,

kjp.

our christmas meal.

2011-12-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

after we ate all morning & all afternoon long on christmas, it was time for our christmas dinner!

{since it is christmas, after all,

i went all out & we drank the best -

kendall jackson grand reserve.

good wine is so good.}

we started a christmas tradition last year of eating cornish hen - blakey was certain the "traditional" christmas meal is a christmas bird. {i'm pretty sure he got this theory from a christmas story...} since i was positive i didn't want to cook a huge bird for just the two of us, i decided cornish hens!

they are cute little things. one bird a piece would be perfect if you hadn't eaten all day long. we had. so we each hardly ate half of our bird. maybe next year we will share a tiny bird :)

{hen recipe HERE}

i found a delicious looking semi-healthy version of french fries on pinterest, so i decided to try them. i love french fries. all potatoes, really. oven baked garlic parmesan fries. pretty darn good.

{baked fries recipe HERE}

for a little piece of home for blakey, i finally made his aunt susan's famous caesar salad. it was delicious! i added a little red onion & accidentally used all of the parmesan on the above potatoes, so we went with asiago. so good! thank you thank you, aunt susan!

& for christmas dessert, i continued with our traditional christmas rum cake. it's so darn good. {& if you'll keep a secret, it is quite fabulous with coffee for post-christmas breakfast :) }

{pioneer woman rum cake recipe HERE}

{love our family}

merry christmas!!

love, the porters.

our christmas morning.

2011-12-28T05:00:00.000-06:00

happy happy post-christmas! we hope you had a marvelous christmas. blakey, tanky, & i certainly did.

since blakey had to work on christmas day, we got to celebrate all day saturday. after a little sleeping in, we let tanky open his christmas present first...

he tore into that gift! it took him about 45 second to get his new elephant unwrapped. he gets one, maybe two, stuffed animals a year... as it takes approximately 3 minutes to rip them open & get the stuffing out. i think this guy was a new record - probably 1 minute.

{hard work being the t guy}

we spent much of the morning chatting with blakey's family & my family. & then we continued with gift opening!

{pretty new christmas ornaments!}

my sister & benny boo did a pretty freakin awesome job with gifts this year. we had a numbers theme for the girls & a ninja theme for the boys. they definitely followed the themes much closer than we did. but all gifts were fantastic.

{my amazing new bubblewrap calendar!

there is a bubble to pop on each day for 2012.

so so excited about it.}

{blakey's stink bomb...}

{& his ninja gear!

ben - you suck.

but blakey totally loves it.}

then to our gifts!

{to: birdie.

from: byrds.}

i got blakey a new wedding ring! he lost his earlier this year {tear}, so he needed to be married again :) & he got me two AMAZING gifts!! a new super awesome "buffet" le creuset. it is in between a skillet & a dutch oven. & is so so great. & he got me matching le crueset coffee mugs! they just started making coffee mugs. & i love them.

{he's the best.}

onto christmas breakfast! i got to immediately use my new super awesome buffet & make migas topped with chorizo. what are migas? delicious mexican eggs. i know this will shock you, but i used the pioneer woman's recipe {HERE}. super delicious. super easy. try them. i think they are our new christmas tradition.

{christmas mimosas!}

{migas & chorizo!}

love love,

kjp.

a very merry christmas to you!

2011-12-23T05:00:00.003-06:00

rejoice!
for unto you a Savior is born.

a very merry christmas to you & yours!

love love,

kjp + bwp.

thankful thursday # 46.

2011-12-22T05:00:00.002-06:00

{our 2011 christmas ornament!}

today & everyday, i am so thankful for our Lord. i am thankful that regardless of how "ready" i am for Christmas, Christ is coming. regardless of how prepared you or i am for the coming, He is here for every one of us any way.

an entire year of thankfulness. & i saved the greatest for last.

merry christmas, friends.

love love,

kjp.

our new christmas {story} tradition.

2011-12-21T05:00:00.000-06:00

when we lived in oklahoma city, blakey & i had a christmas tradition of going to a very merry pops christmas show every year. so this year in birmy, we found our new alabama christmas tradition!

each year, the historic alabama theatre shows classic holiday movies in its gorgeous building. blakey's favorite christmas movie is a christmas story, so we were super excited to see his family tradition & experience the beautiful downtown theatre.

{literally around the corner from our loft}

originally built in 1927 & costing approx $1.5 million, the theatre underwent a complete restoration in 1998. it seats an impressive 2500 people throughout three levels. & a mighty wurlitzer organ adds to the awe.

we were amazed by the gold leaf ceilings & fabulous chandeliers...

inside the auditorium is nothing short of fabulous...

the organist lead all of us in a few christmas carols & then our christmas film began...

merry christmas from alabama!

love love,

kjp.

showing off our birmy to beau & cara.

2011-12-20T05:00:00.000-06:00

we love loved having beau & cara in birmingham last week!!!

& i think they liked our wonderful city too.

what's not to love? we showed them the fabulous city + campus view, the gorgeous southern homes, the gigantic trees lining all of the streets... we ate the best bbq, a fantastic gastropub meal, & maybe a baked good or two... our friends hosted them at an amazing dinner... tanky & fuchsia snuggled as much as possible in three days...

&, of course, we showed them the amazingness of blakey's shuffleboard bar. heck yes.

it was so much fun to hang out with our fam. we have missed you two!! & are already looking forward to seeing you next week for our christmas celebration!

love love,
kjp.

sunday funday with my sleepy boys.

2011-12-19T16:24:00.001-06:00

blakey was on call all day saturday, so when he got home sunday morning, i decided to enjoy every moment of the cold holiday morning with my boys.

i had absolutely nothing i had to do, so the morning was full of things i love to do.

delicious coffee & a maple pecan scone...

our brightly lit christmas tree...

one of my favorite horrible chick flicks, the wedding planner...

{matthew mcconaughey, you are so dreamy}

& my two favorite boys in the world dreaming away...

i hope you weekend was absolutely wonderful & filled with many things christmas.

love love,

kjp.

everything is prettier with sprinkles.

2011-12-16T05:01:00.000-06:00

{pumpkin whoopie pies

with maple creamcheese frosting

& brown sugar sprinkled on top}

it's so true.

everything IS prettier with sprinkles.

hope you have a marvelous weekend, friends! 9 days until christmas!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 45.

2011-12-15T05:00:00.001-06:00

beau & cara are here!! & i am so happy.

{how is this the last picture we have together??}

yesterday, we ate a fabulous lunch at zaza. & walked down to urban for a cupcake & chocolate chip cookie dough brownie. & took a little tour of birmy with the beautiful view on the mountain & vulcan & campus & our awesome railroad park & the best shopping sites.

it was a lot of fun to show off our city.

& today, i am taking beau to eat THE best bbq in birmy - saw's bbq.

& then tonight, we all get to go eat an amazing dinner, courtesy of lisa & dave. {a huge thank you in advance!!!}

we have the best siblings.

so thankful.

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

love love,
kjp.

a taste of birmy's hops.

2011-12-14T05:00:00.000-06:00

birmingham is pretty awesome. & two local microbreweries have made it even more awesome.

good people brewing company has been "legally brewing" in alabama since 2008. but they just recently opened a tasting room at their super cool downtown brewery this year. across the street from our favorite & frequented park, good people might become our favorite neighborhood hangout.

we took julie & ben to the gem while they were in town for thanksgiving to try some of the tasty tasty beers. most boys in birmy love good people's IPA. not a fan of hoppy beer myself, i do enjoy their brown ale. they had just brewed a batch of Bret IPA, which the bartender & girlfriend of one of my birmy favorites told me i had to try. again, i do not like hoppy beers, but it was really really good.

so happy to have you in the neighborhood, good people!

for date night this past weekend, blakey & i stopped by one of the other new & fantastically spoken about local breweries, avondale brewing company.

blakey immediately fell in love with their tasting room. it was the perfect combo of manly rustic & urban sleek. when he took a moment to look away from one of the big screen tvs, he noted many of the details he'd like to copy in his future man cave.

we really like avondale's saison - a very flavorful ale. & avondale's vanilla porter was delish too.

i have a feeling we'll be back.

birmingham - you are such a cool town.

love love,

kjp.

christmas lights!

2011-12-12T05:21:00.000-06:00

i love christmas lights!

so blakey took me to go see a house in birmy that had a fantastic light displayed that danced with the music on the radio. it was fabulous.

twinkling lights everywhere. a merry christmas sign. a big tall christmas tree.

loved it.

he's the best.

love love,
kjp.

alabama, the beautiful.

2011-12-09T05:00:00.000-06:00

on our drive home from the mountains, we finally stopped at the alabama, the beautiful sign! i've been wanting to do so upon our first drive in when moving here.

thank you, teeny tiny alabama "highways".

love our home - alabama, the beautiful.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 44.

2011-12-08T05:00:00.002-06:00

christmas time is here!!

& that makes me really really happy.

i love christmas. & christmas lights. & christmas decorations. & christmas candy.

& most importantly, i love the preparing for Jesus.

{ps i found THIS christmas scripture reading list for each day of december on pinterest. if you're interested!}

so i am thankful today! thankful for christmas! thankful for the joyful season. thankful that our christmas tree is up & beautiful!

{i turn the lights on every moment i am home + awake. makes me so happy.}

{our engagement ornament!}

{our 2nd christmas engagement ornament!}

{our first christmas ornament!}

{tanky's ornament!}

{after years of white & silver, we added red this year. so pretty!}

i turn the lights on every moment i am home + awake. makes me so happy.

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

love love,
kjp.

our okla-mex dinner.

2011-12-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

last week, blakey & i hosted an applicant dinner for the obgyn group at uab. the program gives you a maximum spending limit & asks you to provide dinner for about 35 residents & applicants & spouses.

throw a party... & you'll pay for it... deal!

i love throwing parties. especially when food is involved. & desserts. & maybe a glass of wine or two.

to welcome the potential new friends of ours, we decided to have a mexican-themed dinner. well, the oklahoma version of mexican food.

{let me start out by saying, i bit off insanely more than i could chew. i wasn't near ready when everyone arrived, but the wonderful wonderful ladies & gents in blakey's group were incredibly helpful. chopping & sautéing & shredding & stirring & arranging & hosting. i can not thank you all enough! not that any of you have enough time to read my blog :) }

with all of my incredibly behind-ness, i didn't take a single picture. but i have to share some of these recipes & ideas with you!

for our appetizers, we had my favorite homemade salsa {recipe HERE}, nebbia's wonderful black bean & feta dip, & blakey's favorite chorizo queso. chorizo queso?! yes. make this for your next gathering. you will be so happy:

blakey's favorite chroizo queso!

1 lb chorizo from your local mexican market

1 block velveta

2 cans rotel - 1 hot & 1 mexican

1. brown the chorizo in a hot skillet. "brown" is a bit misleading because the stuff we buy just stays red. it's ok. it takes about the same amount of time as browning ground beef would.

2. throw everything in a crockpot & heat on high until melty & delicious!

3. serve with chips or any other vessel you'd like.

for our meal, we had my incredibly over used but always always delicious pioneer woman pulled pork! {recipe HERE} i have learned that if you cook it on low in a crockpot for hours & hours, it will be delicious. oh, but the most important part - sprinkle liberally with salt before cooking. not for flavor, necessarily, but to break down the meat, so it becomes ridiculously soft.

so pulled pork tacos it was! tortillas, pulled pork, lettuce, tomatoes, cheese, sour cream... & sauteed onions & bell peppers & jalapenos for the vegetarians.

& for our sides, i decided to try a couple of new recipes. why not?? you are just hosting a dinner party for 35 people for the first time in your life.

recipe #1: ranchero beans. these turned out quite beautifully. we've eaten the leftovers for days. & as most things in a le creuset dutch oven do, they only get better each day. the original recipe is HERE. first thing to note is this recipe makes an absurd amount of beans. after our party for 35 people, i've eaten it for at least 3 meals & have more left. my changes: canned beans because i couldn't find dry. vegetable broth instead of water because we had some leftover. i used a ham shank instead of bacon because someone suggested it & it sounded awesome. do this. fabulous decision. loved these.

recipe # 2: papas fritas. my attempt was to have something like those awesome potatoes from abuelo's in okc. they didn't really turn out anything like that. but they were good. chop & boil red potatoes. saute some onions in evoo to add. also throw in some butter & salt & garlic & cream/half & half/milk. & then the mexican part: add a few cans of chopped green chiles. more than you'd think. for 7lb of potatoes, i added 5 cans & could have definitely added more. & of course throw some cheese in there because who eats potatoes without cheese? delicious!

you think i would be finished now, right?

you should know me better than that.

desserts!

there is nothing mexican about my desserts. but they were good :)

i attempted my very first solo batch of my grandmother's english toffee! julie & i had a refresher course the week before, so i was feeling brave. with all of our written down discoveries, i actually had success! except for the minor detail of not making it early enough, so it wasn't hard enough to cut. so no one actually ate any. but know, it actually turned out! julie will be so proud.

my current fave dessert of mine is the chocolate chip cookie dough brownies. they are gooooooood. & rich. ridiculously rich. i told you about them HERE. they are a gooey brownie on bottom...with an equally large layer of chocolate chip cookie dough minus the raw egg on top. {sub milk for the egg for bacteria & texture purposes.} so good.

& everyone else's fave dessert of mine: pumpkin whoopie pies. the cake/pie/cookie portion is my version of the city bites pumpkin cookie. it has always been super cake-like, so it works quite marvelously. & a maple cream cheese frosting sits between the two. they are pretty darn good.

so that, my friends, is my first dinner party for 35. there were quite a few snags along the way. & i could not have come any where close without blakey & his wonderful residents. but it was a ton of fun. & a great learning experience. {note: make less next time.}

if you aren't hungry yet... then you must not know about an oklahoman-in-alabama's love for mexican food.

love love,

kjp.

fun with a beautiful mountain view.

2011-12-06T05:00:00.001-06:00

our four year tour of the great south continued with a stop in the beautiful chattahoochee forest of the great smokies. we were so happy to have peyton & justin & the pups join us for this wonderful weekend of chilly weather, outdoor fireplaces, & a fabulous mountain view.

{from our back patio}

{tanky & green man loved georgia}

as he loves to do, blakey got to be super manly this weekend - grilling burgers, gathering firewood & "kindling", & keeping the fire alive all weekend long. tanky, of course, helped in the quest. anytime blake went outside, tank followed. blake kicked a dead tree limb, tank bit at it. blake threw a gigantic 20 lb branch, tank ran down the hill to fetch it. adorable.

{my manly men!}

the weekend was incredibly relaxing. we even stayed in our pajamas all day. my dad's old lambda chi sweatshirt, my fuzzy slippers, & blake's caroline panthers sweatpants. happy happy day.

in addition to relaxing, the main goal of the weekend was FOOTBALL!! now, we don't really need to discuss our game. ou clearly forgot they had a game last weekend, so we can too. boomer sooner.

for our football weekend, blake made some pretty darn awesome ou beer helmets. hard hats, coozies, & ou stickers. awesome. the boys did not take them off ALL weekend. it was hilarious.

{day 1}

{& day 2.

note there isn't even beer in them on day 2.

just wearing them because they are awesome at this point.}

there was a hot tub on the patio with gorgeous mountain views, so we took our laptop out back to include football in all parts of the day.

{helmets still on.}

{tanky is the cutest!}

& it is not a porter vacation unless copious amounts of food are involved. so after the full breakfast & grilled hamburgers & homemade salsa & jalapeno poppers, peyton made us a fantastic second thanksgiving dinner! rosemary chicken, bourbon creamed corn {which i need the recipe!}, wild rice with bacon, mashed potatoes & gravy. so good! {who needed a football game...}

{rio & rooney were a great help in the kitchen}

it was amazing to hang out with our siblings & enjoy life together. such a blessing.

{the gorgeous sunset view}

as the guest book summed it up: we watched a lot of food, ate a lot of football, & drank a lot of beer.

& we so hope to go back soon. thank you, georgia, for being so beautiful.

love love,

kjp.

the beautiful north georgia mountains.

2011-12-05T05:23:00.000-06:00

blakey, tanky, & i headed to the north georgia mountains to spend the weekend with justin, peyton, rio, & rooney. it was beautiful! & an amazing weekend of eating, drinking, hot tubbing, & football.

i will tell you all about it tomorrow.

& although my boys didn't look they even knew we had a game to play, i am always proud to be a sooner.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 43.

2011-12-01T05:36:00.000-06:00

i am so thankful for everyone who has taught me how to cook.

my mom. my sister. my dad. ruth. my grandma. everyone at work. everyone at school. the pioneer woman. tons & tons of blogs out there. the food network. amy & ogden. miss nebbia...

it is so much fun to learn about something & actually get a bit better at it. especially when it is something you really love.

& after pastry school & baking almost daily for over a year now, i am certain that the best way to learn how to cook is to do it a lot & make mistakes & pick up tips from those around you.

i made a huge batch of salsa last night for a dinner we are hosting tonight & it is really bitter. i have full confidence after talking to my chef & stalking the internet, i can salvage it.

& i am making my umpteenth pioneer woman pulled pork for the dinner too. some have been better than others but i am learning that part of it has to do with the quality of the meat but part of it is the amount of salt i put on the pork first to break down the proteins & make it tender.

that is so cool.

so thank you all who have made me a better cook. & thank you all who cheer me on to keep cooking. it is a lot of fun.

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

love love,
kjp.

fun after all of the thanks.

2011-11-30T13:52:00.000-06:00

after the thanksgiving feast on thursday, we had a super fun weekend with julie & ben. as everything else with us, most of it revolved around food. we had to show them all the awesomeness birmy has to offer... which is a lot of food.

real southern bbq was a top the list, so saw's had to be on schedule. their ribs are amazing. if you are in birmingham ever, eat saw's ribs. so good.

one of the local breweries recently opened a beer tasting room. good people brewing company. very tasty beer. my fave is the brown ale. all boys love the ipa. oooh, & we tried their new bret pale ale. very good too. we ran into one of my favorites in birmy, so it was an evening of all things fun.

for the lsu vs arkansas game, we headed to our favorite chicken wings & patio. you guessed it - moe's! for a november afternoon, it was a gorgeous day for a patio full of football, beer, & bbq. ben & julie loved the redneck nachos. obviously. & the wings were fabulous too.

{tic-tac-toe in beer foam = awesome}

our friends, matt & ashlee, were in town for the holiday, so they joined us too! oh, it felt like the good ole days. we absolutely loved seeing them. & were very happy matt got out of the shower long enough to hang out with his buds. {haha.}

once the patio got a bit chilly, we went across the street to the best package store/bar. oh yes, two in one. the bar tenders are quite funny with their adult jokes. always a laugh. always a good time.

{little kiiiiiings. holla.}

on saturday, after we convinced julie byrd & benny boo to stay an extra day {HECK YES!}, we had to watch THE big game. if you live in alabama, you must know what game this is referencing. the iron bowl. alabama vs auburn. the biggest game of the year, regardless of how bad one of the teams may or may not be.

so even though i refuse to pick a side, as all say we have to do {i am sooner born & sooner bred & when i die, i will still not cheer for alabama or auburn}... i do love football, so we watched the game at the clyde & enjoyed a tasty alabama beer or two & maybe even a deep fried bratwurst. & deep fried sauerkraut balls.

it's the south. don't judge.

did i mention blake & ben went to a shooting range? just for fun. man time. boys are funny.

also funny about man time: sitting on the couch. next to each other. watching tv. while each on their electronic device. somehow equals man time. boys...

so girl time was a must! & what do julie & i do for girl time? make grandma's christmas candy!!! english toffee & peanutbutter balls are made! if you ask really really nicely, i might share with you.

in conclusion, we had the most fabulous weekend. & the final result was...

love love,

kjp.

a happy happy day of thanks!

2011-11-29T05:00:00.000-06:00

so so many things to be thankful for this year. & that absolutely includes my sister & bro-in-law and our birmy friends. so happy & blessed you all would join us for our thanksgiving feast!

a feast it was. 2 turkeys, 2 dressings, 2 gravies... an appetizer with cranberries & champagne... 5 more delicious side dishes... pumpkin pie & of course julie & my famous rendition of our grandma's pecan pie!

{paula dean's brie en croute. delish.}

as it turns out, blakey is a master turkey carver. proud of you, babe.

{how pretty is our platter of 12lb turkey?!}

& we all already knew ogden is a master meat man. fried turkey... i think so!

{my grandma's cornbread dressing}

{amy's family's traditional dressing}

{mushroom gravy for my almost-a-vegetarian sister. surprisingly good.}

{amy's mom's giblet gravy}

{it wouldn't be thanksgiving without mashed potatoes.}

{& it definitely wouldn't be thanksgiving without green bean casserole.}

{ben's favorite corn casserole}

{& bobby flay's ridiculously expensive mac & cheese.

totally worth it. even when i forget one of the cheeses.}

{our leftovers. impressive.}

thanksgiving would not be complete without a game or two of shuffleboard. so happy julie & ben could learn the ropes.

a very happy thanksgiving to you!!

love love,

kjp.

so thankful.

2011-11-28T05:25:00.000-06:00

we had a most wonderful, fun, relaxing thanksgiving week with julie & ben!

we ate. we drank. we were very merry.

& i am excited to tell you all about it... tomorrow... when i've re-joined the real world.

i hope your thanksgiving was absolutely wonderful too.

love love,
kjp.

it's thanksgiving!!!

2011-11-23T05:00:00.000-06:00

& i am so thankful it is here!

my sister & benny boo are here.
groceries are purchased.
the house is decorated.
& i am super ready to start the cooking & baking extravaganza that is thanksgiving.

thanksgiving last year was one of my favorite birmy memories that we will remember for years & years to come. our first thanksgiving as husband & wife. our first thanksgiving in birmy. & my first thanksgiving meal to cook. it was a wonderful day...

my annual panic of "oh my gosh, how am i going to fit a 5-gallon bucket in my fridge with all of the other groceries?!" has already been here & been solved. wine fridge = beer fridge. success!

ooooh, i already look forward to all of this...& more...

my grandma's pecan pie with julie & my twist...

my most amazing husband...

so ready for thanksgiving 2011 & all of our new memories.

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

love love,

kjp.

get your vote on! {for pentatonix}

2011-11-22T10:18:00.000-06:00

remember last week when i told you about the AMAZING group pentatonix on the sing off? {if you missed it, check it out HERE.}

well, they made it to the finals! & their performance was pretty kick a. you should probably watch it:

so. voting has begun! if you love them as much as i do {how could you not?}, you should vote! it is super easy. go here: VOTE HERE! enter your email address, click that you are 13, & vote!

{don't worry. nbc doesn't email you. or at least they haven't for me yet. & i voted all 10 times :) }

shameless kappa love.

love love,

kjp.

happy engagement {party} to elyse & matt!

2011-11-21T05:00:00.001-06:00

the mcgowans hosted an engagement party with us for elyse & matt this weekend! the weather cooperated quite beautifully for our backyard party. we celebrate our wonderful friends' engagement with a southern soiree - an evening of paper lanterns, whiskey punch, & a few paula dean favorites. it was so much fun to celebrate these two with our friends & so many of theirs.

our southern soiree menu was quite delicious. we had pulled pork sliders with pickled onions. {have you ever pickled anything?? amy made these amazing little gems. i must try pickling things!} we had amy's family's pimento cheese dip. delicious!

mrs paula dean's south georgia caviar:

{super easy & tasty recipe.

link above.

add salt & garlic, of course.}

& no southern meal would be complete without a tasty treat or two! we had pumpkin whoopie pies with maple cream cheese filling, which turned out to be everyone's favorite. oh, how i love pumpkin season.

& of course red velvet cupcakes too.

a huge congratulations to the lovely couple! we are so happy for you two. & are happy for a reason to throw a party :)

love love,
kjp.

mom's new puppy!

2011-11-18T05:11:00.000-06:00

{dakota}

my mom & ray got a new puppy! an adorable little boxer named dakota. we cannot wait to meet her in december when we go home for christmas.

she looks so much like tanky as puppy! what do you think?

{my t guy}

happy friday, friends!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 41.

2011-11-17T05:26:00.000-06:00

on this week before thanksgiving, we are thankful for so many things.

i am thankful for my wonderful husband who shows his love for me every day.

i am thankful for our families that we miss so dearly. & super thankful that we are going to hang out with every one of them in the next two months.

i am thankful for our friends. our friends from norman that we still talk to weekly on fantasy football. my college friends that i gchat with on a regular basis. our med school friends that are way too busy but know we miss them. our birmy friends that have made us feel so welcome in this new state.

i am thankful for my tanky. he is the best snuggler in the world. & probably the cutest too.

i am thankful for my fuchsia monkey. my first pet. she still greets me every morning with a lot of purrs.

i am thankful for my wonderful job. i am so blessed to have a job i truly enjoy.

i am thankful for a night out with great friends last night & a great meal.

i am thankful for an engagement party with friends this weekend & my sister & ben coming to town next week.

& i am thankful for God showing His love to us every day. His patience with us when we need it. His encouragement when we need that too. & His amazing blessings.

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

love love,
kjp.

let's get it on.

2011-11-16T05:31:00.000-06:00

do you watch the sing-off? you should. it is fabulous.

the show is all types of performances by acapella groups. they are really really good.

& probably my favorite so far is:

seriously good, right?

& that adorable girl. she's a kappa. at ou. that's right. rah rah for kkg.

you should watch the show. monday nights. they are down to 4 groups. & we will get to vote for the winner. you should probably vote for pentatonix :)

love love,
kjp.

a huge gigantic yay.

2011-11-15T05:00:00.006-06:00

{via all of our new favorite obsession pinterest

& originally blondebirdie.com}

my sister & benny boo are going to be here one week from today!!!

a huge gigantic yay.

i love my sister. & benny boo too.

love love,

kjp.

a potter wars birthday!

2011-11-14T04:00:00.000-06:00

i finished the super scary baking job i told you about last week!

& i must say, i am a little bit proud of myself. mostly for accomplishing something that i wasn't sure i could do. & a little bit because i actually did a pretty darn good job.

first up, star wars cookies! i used these williams-sonoma cookie cutters. they were much easier to work with than i expected. as for the decorating, i have never made royal icing, so this was the ultimate learning experience. if you want to decorate cookies, ABSOLUTELY watch this video from joy of baking. it is a super helpful step-by-step instruction. thank you, joyofbaking.com!

i also know nothing about star wars. so i had to look up a lot of pictures. but they are cute little guys:

{darth vader. i did know this one!}

{& yoda!

blakey always calls tanky "yoda",

so i knew this one too.}

& then a harry potter book cake. chase wanted a white cake, & delicious white cake with white buttercream, i can do. since it had to be in the shape of a book, i got to slice off the ends...& then eat the slice. it was yummy :)

there was quite a bit of fondant work on the cake. although fondant sounds super intimidating, it really isn't. once you roll it out super thin {takes some arm muscles!}, it can make a cake look so pretty & smooth. & shaping little figurines is like working with play-doh. this cake was so much fun.

{the awesome feather thing is snitch.
it's a game ball.
& no, the feathers are not fondant. they are real feathers.
i liked the effect.}

{harry's wand with the page detail in the background}

{the sorting hat:

yes, i totally just googled that}

{harry's awesome black glasses}

{love piping.}

chase, i hope you loved your birthday treats! it was a huge growing experience for me. i learned a ton. & i learned even more about believing in myself.

love love,

kjp.

everything is cuter in a cupcake wrapper.

2011-11-11T05:33:00.000-06:00

it's true. everything is cuter in a cupcake wrapper.

like these gingerbread whoopie pies. adorable little touch.

& to give credit where credit is due: crimson & whipped cream, an adorable coffee shop & bakery on campus in norman, posted a picture of a super cute pumpkin whoopie pie in a cupcake wrapper. i fell in love & had to do the same.

happy friday to you!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 40.

2011-11-10T05:28:00.000-06:00

sometimes you just need one person to believe in you. even if that person isn't yourself.

one of the doctors hired me to make a really impressive cake & cookies for her son's birthday this weekend. i said yes, for some crazy reason. it is going to be pretty difficult. i'm really nervous.

but she believes i can do it. & so does blake. & so does julie.

so i'm going to do my best. & day 1 went incredibly more smoothly than expected.

{well, after i found my lost sheet pans. how does one lose two sheets pans?! when they get stuck behind the drawer under the oven. you should have seen how boggled i was.}

today, i am thankful for people believing in me, even when i don't believe in myself.

{yes, yes, i'll post pictures next week! if they don't look awful.}

maybe you can be that one person who believes in someone that really needs just one person to believe in them.

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

love love,
kjp.

a little kj.

2011-11-09T05:26:00.000-06:00

sometimes a long day calls for a great glass of wine!

& kj, to me, is a great glass of wine. my favorite, as you probably know, is kj's vinter's reserve chardonnay. but i thought i should try the syrah for a wintery beverage.

it is quite good too. no chard, but very good.

by the way, i'm pretty sure i was named after kj. kendall-jackson...kendall jordan. coincidence? i think not.

but my parents would never admit to that :)

love love,
kjp.

sunset at railroad park.

2011-11-08T05:00:00.000-06:00

blakey, tanky, & i took a walk to railroad park on friday night to watch the sunset from the top of the hill over the railroad tracks.

it was awesome.

we love this city. & being downtowners. & our life.

love love,

kjp.

we heart college football.

2011-11-07T05:00:00.000-06:00

we heart college football.

a whole lot.

so we headed down to tuscaloosa to experience all the wonderfulness {minus the sooners} that is a saturday afternoon of college football.

it was awesome to be in a college town with school colors & pride & cheers all around. the abundance of crimson & cream definitely made us feel a bit more at home. the "roll tide"s, not so much. but i always responded with a little "boomer sooner" :)

we walked around campus. saw the gigantic stadium. breathed in a little post-game day action. experienced the amazing-ness of the southern tailgate. even walked by the bama kappa house:

it was a wonderful saturday. all of it.

& we even made it home in time to watch the "game of the century" {most boring game of the century, if you ask me.} from our couch.

hope you're hangin in there, tide. we feel your kicker pain.

but i'd be lying if i said i was cheering for you :)

love love,

kjp.

happy friday! eat a pumpkin cupcake.

2011-11-04T05:00:00.001-05:00

it cracks me up the things i forget to tell you all about.

in september, when we passed the autumnal equinox, i changed up our seasonal baked goods at work. the blueberry scones went to maple pecan scones {& are ironically changing today to cranberry citrus. yum. both. all 3, actually. as it turns out, i really like scones.} & our lemon cupcakes changed to pumpkin spice!

love me some pumpkin.

& my favorite fall trio: cinnamon, clove, & nutmeg. throw those three in cream cheese frosting & you will be a happy person too.

so happy friday, friends! go eat a pumpkin spice cupcake. maybe a pumpkin spice latte too.

{the alabama cupcakes i had to make at work the other day.

don't judge. i had to.

at least they were crimson & cream.}

ps to the sooners out there - who are you rooting for: alabama or lsu?? blakey & i are headed to tuscaloosa on saturday to breathe some college football amazingness. so excited.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 39.

2011-11-03T05:05:00.000-05:00

did you see the cute little ghost cupcakes i made for halloween {HERE}?

those things were an enormous pain in the butt.

but it made me really thankful for an amazing life lesson:

{almost} everything i need to know, i learned by messing up the first time.

truth.

homemade rolled fondant that you haven't worked with in years & definitely not since you had the super easy & expensive rolled fondant at school that just works like it is supposed to: difficult.

my little ghost topped devil's food cupcakes were an ACCD. i knew i needed to roll it super thin, but then the fondant was cracking & it kept ripping off of the ghost body & it just looked horrible. so i did a little research. learned what i was doing wrong. then the Lord blessed me with a customer running an hour behind. & i had time to fix them.

& although they were a huge pain in the butt & almost didn't happen, i learned a lot about fondant.

& patience.

& just maybe that i'm not going to be good at everything the first time but i definitely am going to keep working to become good at it.

{i can already hear the i told you sos being laughed out loud here.}

so i am thankful today for the frustrating moments when i am truly learning. in baking & in life.

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

love love,
kjp.

halloweeen braaain! & other treats.

2011-11-02T05:00:00.000-05:00

for a halloween work treat, i made these devil food's cupcakes with vanilla brain frosting. blakey said it was pretty atomically correct. heck yeah. :)

one of blakey's attendings hired me to make goodies for her halloween party. she wanted two treats for the kiddos & two treats for the adults. since it was my first holiday gig, i thought i should go all out...

the only thing better than brain cupcakes - brain sugar cookies with splashes of blood {aka red food coloring}. looks so real & gross, right?

the grown-ups had to have my city bites-inspired pumpkin cookie with spiced frosting.

& my current most favorite item i make - chocolate whoopie pies with salted peanut butter frosting. now, whoopie pies are going to get their very own blog post some day soon. but let's just start by saying: 1.) if you have never had a whoopie pie, do. 2.) salted peanut butter frosting is the definition of delicious. & then add in a few orange sprinkles to make them festive.

for the little ones' final treat, a spooky ghost-topped devil's food cupcake with chocolate buttercream frosting! so scary. & pretty darn cute.

& did i mention tanky LOVED the ghost-topped devil's food cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting? he did. loved them right off of my kitchen counter while i was off delivering all of the treats to the doctor. he enjoyed two entire extra cupcakes in full. cupcake + frosting + ghost. + the tootsie pop. + two other non-frosted or ghost-ed ones.

luckily little guy.

cilantro & cupcakes. his two favorite things.

love love,

kjp.

pumpkin carving!!

2011-11-01T05:08:00.001-05:00

{my BOO & blakey's half a pirate}

{amy's state of texas, of course}

we had another fun pumpkin carving extravaganza with the mcgowans! & this year, the boys got to join us. with all of the wonderful pumpkin food & dessert & beverage choices, we had an entire pumpkin meal with a pumpkin beer tasting! so much fun. & delicious too.

{the pumpkin goo might be my favorite part}

so many kinds of pumpkin beer! there are actually plenty more than this, but we thought five was enough for us. which was the best? o'fallens. definitely. it was the least clove/nutmeg spicey at the end while still having the pumpkin flavor. you should try it!

{amy's pumpkin hummus}

{my annual pumpkin creamcheese dip with store bought ginger snaps}

{oh! & we had pears to dip into it too.

how long has it been since you've had a pear?

go get one. so so good.}

{ogden's pumpkin beer bratwurts}

{my pumpkin bars.

beau - we thought of you while eating them!

i hope you had some this year too.}

it's a halloweened theme week on the porters' blog. blakey has decided this is one of his favorite holidays. so we celebrated quite a bit :)

love love,

kjp.

a christmas kind of halloween!

2011-10-31T04:52:00.000-05:00

happy halloween from the bunny pajamas & leg lamp!

{get it? a christmas story. yesssss.}

love love,
kjp.

happy hallOOOOOOween!

2011-10-28T04:55:00.000-05:00

{blake's halloween craft from elementary school!}

{LOVE it.}

happy halloween weekend! i hope all of you are doing something very fun. we have a pumpkin day planned filled with pumpkin carving & pumpkin dip & pumpkin dessert & pumpkin beer!

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 38.

2011-10-27T05:00:00.000-05:00

sometimes it is the little things.

when i graduated from ou, i moved to tulsa for a few months for training for my big girl job. another trainee & i lived in an apartment with one of my dearest college class friends & his buddy living in the same building. i would go to their apartment & watch tv with them some evenings, & i would always immediately call dibs on their super soft & comfy blanket.

it was the best blanket in the world.

so when i was moving back to okc, my friend, jed, gave me my very own super soft & comfy blanket.

i LOVE this blanket! it is my favorite blanket in the world. i have taken countless naps on that blanket. every morning in the winter, i do my daily devotion wrapped up in the blanket. blakey has learned about the amaziness of the blanket. & tanky loves my blanket too.

{tanky's first day home!}

{my little guy!}

{murph man - miss you!}

{nap time with the byrds!}

{fuchsia loves the blanket too.}

ok. i swear i actually narrowed down all of the pictures i have with us on the blanket. haha. pretty great.

OH. back to the point. blakey lost my blanket a couple of weeks ago. i was so so sad about it. but i talked to jed & found out what kind it was & where to get it!

go to any big super mom-type store. or the world wide web. get the perfect touch throw blanket by berkshire. you will be so happy.

{tanky is!}

so i am thankful. i am super thankful for my dear friend jed for getting me the best blanket ever. i'm thankful that i can find so much happiness in a $20 blanket. & i'm even a little thankful blakey lost my favorite blanket because it is a million times softer brand new than many years & washes later.

maybe i'll buy a new one every year...

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

love love,

kjp.

chili time!

2011-10-25T05:00:00.000-05:00

fall is here in birmy & that means it is chili time!

i have actually never made a batch of chili before. {except ashley's amazing white chili. but that really is soup...} so i used my favorite, allrecipes.com, to search for the best rated chili & found this one {HERE}!

believe it or not, i actually followed the recipe pretty darn closely. that's new & different. it's a thing i'm trying. you can really discover some pretty neat things if you follow other chef's ideas. crazy, huh :) the few changes i did make:

1.) used 4 cans of medium chili beans with the sauce.
2.) no purchasing of bacon bits in my house. & i didn't feel like making bacon.
3.) used an extra teaspoon or two of cumin because chili = cumin.
4.) cooked for 7 hours, as what is more fun than getting up early on sunday morning to make a batch of chili & smell the delicious aroma all day long?!

the recipe begins with chopping up quite a few vegetables & peppers. nice. it has to be good.

& these probably helped the goodness too...

how pretty does this look?

seven hours later & voila!

one of the many great things i have learned since becoming a porter is that you should eat chili with yellow mustard. sounds so strange, right? yeah, it is. but it is way good. try it.

{my husband's happy bowl}

so many joys of fall. so many revolving around food.

love love,

kjp.

doing a little habitat

2011-10-24T04:00:00.000-05:00

blakey & i have been wanting to get involved & give back to the wonderful birmy community we have come to love. we truly spent the first year of our marriage focused on the "us" - learning to be married, learning to love each other fully, & growing that husband & wife-ness. but after a year...& a "good" marriage foundation, if i do say so myself...it is time to be real, productive citizens again. let's now learn to share us!

habitat for humanity is an organization blakey really respects. he appreciates the idea of people getting together, getting their hands dirty, & helping people who just need a bit of support. i have actually never worked with the organization before, so i took his word for it & he signed us up for a few hours this past saturday!

it was a really neat experience. blakey & i worked with one of the habitat project heads to finish up the painting inside a house that is almost finished. although it wasn't quite the manly project blakey had hoped for, it was pretty cool to see what the end goal is.

the houses inside of a whole habitat neighborhood are pretty darn cool. this one was a three bedroom, two bath with an adorable front yard & curb appeal. & did you know the families pay for their house? i had no clue. they pay for all of the materials but are able to afford it because they don't have to pay for the labor. volunteers & habitat employees do the work. really really cool. & once a family buys a house, they volunteer to help other families. it was a great sense of community on the street.

we were super grateful to have an afternoon to do something good. & we look forward to doing it again. although, i think next time blakey will find a newer project, so he can swing a hammer & drill nails & saw stuff!

it definitely put the big sooner loss in perspective later that evening. at least we keep reminding ourselves of that :)

hope you had a fabulous weekend.

love love,

kjp.

sparkles!

2011-10-21T05:02:00.000-05:00

my toes are sparkling with this awesome shade from opi. i hope you find some sparkles in your weekend too.

a happy friday to you!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 37.

2011-10-20T05:35:00.000-05:00

{watching the cold front come in on urban's patio}

a cold front is here! & it is gorgeous.

i am not the biggest cold weather fan, but this is pretty fabulous. high in the mid 50s & even cooler in the evenings. it is fantastic for the day.

so i am thankful.

to celebrate the cold, blakey & i stayed in & watched our favorite tv shows & ate mac & cheese & drank hot toddies. a wonderful evening with the byrds.

by the way, yesterday i said some things to someone i care about that i shouldn't have, at a time i shouldn't have, in a way i shouldn't have. i am feeling really crappy about it. i apologized, but sometimes that just doesn't feel like enough. so i'm confessing it to you all. maybe you can hold me accountable for my big mouth?

i hope you can think of something for which you are thankful on this beautifully cold day.

love love,
kjp.

blakey, the handy man!

2011-10-19T05:00:00.002-05:00

my husband is a really great handyman. which is pretty freakin awesome.

he decided we needed to expand our shower. & what easier way than to get a curved shower curtain rod. so we headed to lowe's this afternoon to get the goods. {note: a walk around lowe's or home depot is blakey's idea of a fantastic afternoon. fun stuff.}

step 1: take down existing shower curtain rod. easy enough.

step 2: hope that the old shower curtain rod's screw holes + anchors in the tile will fit the new rod.

fail.

luckily, we purchased a tile drill bit for blake's handy dandy cordless drill. {thanks, dad! it comes in handy a lot.}

step 3: drill new holes into the tile.

{socks on tile.

super safe.}

step 4: hope new anchors fit.

fail again.

there was some sort of metal behind the tile + dry wall. we weren't super comfortable drilling into it. {or maybe our drill bits weren't super comfortable drilling into it.}

note: do not start a home improvement project when your local home improvement store is closed.

step 4b: go with plan b - remove old anchor. drill new hole for old/shorter anchor. {luckily there were multiple options for screw placement. these people apparently have worked with do-it-yourselfers before.

step 5: screw shower curtain rod into new holes.

success!

{blakey got to use both of his drills.

this is like dude heaven.}

step 6: hang shower curtain back up & stand in awe of how gigantic your shower now feels!

{tanky was a HUGE help.}

thank you, byrds, for being super handy & making our bathroom feel like we moved into a spa shower! :)

love love,

kjp.

my kind of dinner.

2011-10-18T05:00:00.000-05:00

since blakey was on call on saturday evening, i got to plan, make, & eat my kind of dinner. it is my bright spot when my husband is at the hospital. & it was a very delicious bright spot this evening.

when julie & i were little, our mom would fix us an artichoke to eat for an appetizer all of the time. & i loved them. but, for some crazy reason, i had never made one myself. so after a little reminder on how to do it, i made a very tasty artichoke!

for those of you who don't know: boil some water. throw the artichoke in. let simmer for a really long time, until you can no longer pick the artichoke out of the water fully by one little leaf {& thus the leaves are tender}. for me, this took about an hour & fifteen minutes.

by the way, you may be wondering why the bottom leaves have straight tops. well, that's how my mom did it. i have no idea why. but you have to make it like your mom does :)

{serve with melted butter.

because that makes everything more delicious.}

oh.my.gosh. dish # 2 is the most delicious thing i have ever made in my life. seriously. make these onions tonight. i don't care what you are having for dinner, this will go with it. & you will be so darn happy.

slice a sweet onion into rings. toss with olive oil, some salt & pepper, a tablespoon or so brown sugar, & a dash of cayenne pepper. throw in the oven at 375 for about 45 minutes to an hour.

it is amazing!!! the most deliciously sweet & spicy onions you will ever eat. do it.

& dish # 3 has become my go to vegetable. it is really really good. probably because it tastes like olive oil. with a little crunch. what more could you want in a vegetable??

chop up a head of broccoli into bite size pieces. {i keep some of the stems because they are good too.} toss in olive oil, some salt & pepper, & a good bit of minced garlic. if these little guys are not fully eaten by the time your oven heats up to 375, bake them for 15 minutes-ish. really, they are pretty fantastic raw. but heat 'em up, if you so desire. not until mushy though. mushy broccoli is not delicious broccoli.

{ps tanky LOVES broccoli.
shocking, i know.
tanky loves everything mom makes :) }

love love,

kjp.

sunday funday!

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-05:00

yesterday was an awesome day.

while blakey had his post-call slumber, i got to brunch with amy! we had a lovely meal of fish tacos & mimosas on the patio at avo in mountain brook while we did a little planning for elyse & matt birmingham engagement party. the food was very tasty & the company divine.

later in the afternoon, blakey & i had to experience this absolutely gorgeous weather, so we went to our favorite mexican restaurant patio for sunday afternoon football! a nice breeze, some fantasy football cheering, chips & salsa, and a mojito for me & margarita for blake was our day of fun.

absolutely loved it.

i hope you had an awesome weekend too, my friends.

love love,
kjp.

a sweet sweet friday to you.

2011-10-14T05:00:00.004-05:00

blakey is on a rotation in which he actually gets a few afternoons off during the week. & we have been taking full advantage of this opportunity!

fabulous lunches together at food trucks, fun downtown spots, & even urban standard with our new fall menu. {it is so so good. try the reuben. & the pork scallopine. they will not disappoint.}

we've taken tanky for runs around the railroad park, enjoyed the gorgeous weather on a patio & maybe even taken a nap or two.

the time together has been so sweet...

very similar to these fantastic chocolate chip cookie dough brownies that are the new hit at work. oh, yes. it is as great as it sounds. no raw eggs, of course. only sweet sweet goodness.

a happy & sweet friday to you!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 36.

2011-10-13T05:00:00.000-05:00

last night was the last meeting of our church small group that i told you about {HERE}. it was a 6-week course for newly married or engaged couples called "a marriage built to last". we met some really neat people around our age from our church & learned some new insight on a good marriage & i am so thankful.

i mentioned it to blakey when i first heard about it & totally thought he'd say no, he was too busy, etc. but he actually encouraged me to sign us up. he is the best.

we talked with the couple i told you about after the first night & invited them to our ou/texas party this past weekend. turns out they are, in fact, awesome.

they told us about a little hole-in-the-wall mexican place down the street from church called la bamba, so we all went to dinner there last night.

IT WAS SO GOOD.

seriously. #1 key: there were actual mexicans working there. yes, you from oklahoma or texas don't know that sometimes this isn't the case. it is very very important.

# 2: good chips & salsa. they also had this.

# 3: good margaritas. check again!

# 4: great food. & it was!

we will absolutely be back.

new awesome friends. a new welcoming vibe at church. a deeper respect for our marriage. & a new great mexican restaurant in alabama.

i am so thankful.

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

love love,
kjp.

blakey's green thumb.

2011-10-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

in our future dream home, we would love huge old magnolia trees to line both sides of our driveway. every time we drive home we would be able to imagine ourselves in beautiful savannah. {especially if someone could get spanish moss to grow in oklahoma... this is a "dream" home, after all...}

so blakey had the brilliant idea to start growing some magnolia trees now. {how long does it take a magnolia to go from seed to gigantic tree? how are we going to grow trees in our loft? will we really move trees half way across the country in a few years? oh yes, i have asked my amazing husband all of these things. they did not deter. if you know him, you understand.}

so on our beautiful walk at the park on sunday, we picked up some magnolia pods that hold the seeds. squirrels apparently love magnolia seeds, so you have to dig into these pod things to find the bright red seeds. we gathered quite a few after discovering what they looked like.

blakey researched how one grows a magnolia tree {on a texas aggie website. those aggies know their horticulture.} & here's how it goes...

1. gather some magnolia seeds hidden in magnolia pods.

2. soak the seeds in water to soften the outer shell.

3. peel & peel & peel that annoying little outer shell.

4. plant the seeds in soil about 1/2" down in a root promoting potting soil.

5. keep the soil moist & grow little trees! wish our future magnolia trees luck! {we'll see if they last a week :) }

love love,

kjp.

welcome, beautiful fall leaves.

2011-10-11T05:00:00.001-05:00

fall is here! & with it the leaves have begun to change colors to the beautiful shades crimsons & golds that i love.

blakey, tanky, & i took a walk around the downtown park on sunday morning after brunch to take in all of the pretty.

So i'll share it with you...

{little t guy was having so much fun.} {he discovered his love for chasing squirrels.}

{you ARE beautiful.}

love love,

kjp.

it's monday morning & texas still sucks!

2011-10-10T05:00:00.006-05:00

boomer sooner. boomer sooner. boomer sooner. boomer sooner.

boomer sooner. boomer sooner. boomer sooner. oku!

i'm sooner born & sooner bred & when i die,

i'll be sooner dead.

rah, oklahoma! rah, oklahoma! rah, oklahoma! oku!

we beat texas!!! & it was amazing.

although i am pretty darn sad we weren't at the cotton bowl to experience every breath of it,
we had a fantastic time at our ou/texas party at our loft.

the sooners were out numbered by the longhorns, however that probably made it even better.
i played boomer sooner every time we scored, which, as you know, was a lot :)
it might have been a little overboard.
but i.loved.it.

boomer sooner!

as is true with pretty much everything awesome in our life, our party revolved quite heavily around food. let me tell you about it:

EVERY year {yes, all 10 of them} my favorite thing about the texas state fair is fletcher's corndog. it is so good! blake & i stand in the super long one before walking into the game every time. so to honor this tradition, we made state fair corndogs!

{the mini frozen kind with toothpics & mustard!}

for our breakfast entree, we went with breakfast pork tacos! you might be surprised to know this, but breakfast tacos are not "a thing" in the south. what?! they are missing out. make your favorite taco & throw some scrambled egg in there & voila! breakfast tacos!

{slow-cooked pulled pork.

always good.

no matter how you do it.}

{blakey wanted to try some al pastor pork from the mexican market.

it comes already seasoned, so all you do is throw it in a skillet.

it was quite tasty!}

{i, of course, made my favorite homemade salsa}

{breakfast tacos!

yum!}

for our breakfast beverages, i went with sooner red sangria & longhorn orange mimosas!

{love our loft}

one of the really neat things we discovered in birmy is that you can buy draft beer from one of our favorite liquor {excuse me, package} stores! have quite a few taps that change seasonally. so we decided to get a few kinds to have a little beer tasting at our party!

we had two octoberfests {if you can find bob's 47 octoberfest by boulevard, definitely try it}, an ipa, a local brown ale, a stout, & of course some pbr.

{our bucket of ou coozies!}

our friends are even better cooks than i am. one of the interns helped me a ton with the prep for our breakfast tacos. love her, in all of her longhorn-ness.

amy made these delicious pepper-stuffed sausage & cheese eggs:

& elyse made fantastic sausage-suffed peppers. you are understanding our food loves from our part of the country :)

ashley, another intern's wife, made amazing apple cinnamon muffins. they were so so tasty. i am going to have to get that recipe.

so many new friends at our home for the first time. the interns were awesome to join in the fun. & we even had over our new friends from church small group.

fabulous game. fabulous party. fabulous friends.

boomer sooner!

love love,

kjp.

boomer.

2011-10-07T05:19:00.000-05:00

sooner!!!

happy friday, friends! have a most wonderful weekend. hope you watch some sooner magic.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 35.

2011-10-06T05:00:00.001-05:00

it is ou/texas week!!!!!!!!!!

& that, my friends, is one of the 3 best weeks of the year.

{in case you are curious:

# 1: christmas.

# 2: my birthday.

# 3: ou/texas.}

this is my first year to not be at ou/texas since i was a sophomore in high school. to date myself, that was TWELVE years ago. i cannot believe i am missing it.

but we are going to celebrate the weekend, birmingham style. & that means a party!!! kegs & eggs. love it.

{although, by "kegs" we mean a couple different jugs of draft beer. & by "eggs" we mean pulled pork breakfast tacos. it's a loose interpretation. go with it. it will be fabulous.}

our friends are coming over to join in the fun. even our longhorn friends. we are such kind people :)

so to all of you going to the most wonderful game of the year, please eat a fletcher's corndog for me, go look at the big cows in honor of my dad & the cars to get your red bead necklace, break out into "boomer sooner!" as much as you can, scream your heart out for all 4 hours, & make sure we win that ball game.

our birmingham style ou/texas is going to be a super fun experience all our own. & any new experience with my husband makes me thankful.

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

& boomer sooner. texas sucks.

love love,

kjp.

my mom & alabama the beautiful!

2011-10-05T05:00:00.001-05:00

i've been mia for a few days because my mom came to visit me in birmy!!! & we were super busy hanging out, eating, walking around alabama the beautiful, & hanging out with the t guy.

it was all so wonderful.

on our first day, we had a lunch at a downtown restaurant i've been really wanting to try. mix is a super urban bakery run by one of my pastry school chefs. the bread is seriously fantastic. he knows what he is doing.

after lunch, we headed out on our girly day of fun. first stop: pedicures! my mom has only had 2 pedicures ever? what?! oh, they are so lovely, aren't they? she needs to treat herself more often. then we walked around downtown homewood doing a little shopping. we found a dog store that had deer antler chew toys & mom bought her grandpuppy one. he LOVES it. & he loves her. it was a great combo.

for dinner friday night, we went to one of the best restaurants in birmingham - bottega cafe. we had a couple of glasses of wine & some scrumptious pizza on the patio. it was quite the perfect evening.

on saturday morning, mom hung out at urban while i did a little baking. she got to drink coffee, eat my scones, read a book, & people watch. oh, people watching at urban. one of my favorite activities.

the gorgeous fall weather sent us to the botanical gardens to enjoy the day. the leaves have just begun to change in birmy, which means the next month is going to be even more beautiful than ever. we walked among the bright flowers & tall trees & shiny sun. it was so lovely.

the girls told me about a super cute cafe in mountain brook to take my mom for lunch called olexa's. it did not disappoint. this adorable restaurant is decorated to feel like you are sitting outside in the middle of paris eating a great meal. it was a neat afternoon.

& because it was saturday, it was football time!

the ou vs ball state game didn't quite make the tv schedule in alabama {62-6. well done, sooners.}, so we did a little cooking too. the homemade salsa was delicious as always. {recipe HERE. i left out the cumin, which turned out quite nicely.}

we picked up the penzey's catalogue when we were there the previous day & found a sweet potato & black bean enchilada recipe. so strange, right? we had to try it. it was quite good! the flavor combinations were definitely interesting but went together very nicely. {find the recipe HERE.}

on sunday, mom went to church with me. we had special guests from haiti, india, & nigeria that sang songs in their home languages. what a neat experience to share.

then we ate brunch at a favorite neighborhood gem, zaza or trattoria centrale as they now call themselves. we ran into some urban regulars, had tasty lattes, & dined on a really delicious brunch.

afterwards, we took tanky on a walk around railroad park. he reallllllly needed to get some energy out. he was showing off just how cute/annoying he could be for mom all weekend :)

when blakey got home from his retreat, we introduced mom to alabama bbq at jim 'n nick's.

we finished off our lovely weekend with a little shopping at the summit. mom helped me pick out some thanksgiving decorations for our feast this year. {julie, ben, amy, & ogden: we are so excited!!!} & i finally bought the red jeans i've had my eye on at urban outfitters for weeks. i'll let you know if i ever actually wear them. red jeans...can i really do it?? they just yell boomer sooner at me, which makes me love them.

it was truly a wonderful weekend getting to hang out with my mom.

love you, mom!!!!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday # 34

2011-09-29T05:11:00.000-05:00

my mom is coming to birmy to see me!!!

i am so excited. she hasn't been here since she moved us into our loft. & we didn't do much fun then. we moved & moved & moved & unpacked & unpacked & unpacked.

but this time we are going to have a ton of fun! girly weekend, here we come.

we are going to eat lovely food; we are going to get pedicures; we are going to go shopping; we are going to cook; we are going to walk around the beautiful botanical gardens...

& the weather is supposed to be lovely & cool for all of this wonderfulness.

i am so excited. & so thankful.

see you soon, mom!!!

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

love love,
kjp.

apalachicola oysters = the best.

2011-09-28T11:01:00.000-05:00

that is pretty much all you need to know. apalachicola oysters are a.freakin.mazing.

so we ate them a lot. it was awesome.

the first night, we went to a fun open air restaurant called eddy teach's. the raw oysters were definitely the best part. that & the florida state fan that lent us bug spray. thanks, dude!

{classy. loved it.}

we drove across the bridge to the town of apalachicola for lunch one day & ate at up the creek raw bar. it is a fabulous restaurant right on the bay with all sorts of interesting seafood. i had an alligator burger - ground up alligator with a fancy slaw. so different from anything i've had & so good. we will absolutely head back to this place if we are in the area again, which i really hope happens soon!

{beautiful food with a beautiful view!}

in addition to the great restaurants at which we ate, we cooked a fantastic amount of fresh seafood at our beach house! there was a local food truck that sold all the fresh seafood you could want. food truck + fresh seafood = a wonderful wonderful combo.

have i told you about our little cuisinart fryer? it has become one of our most fun kitchen tools. we love bringing it on vacation when you are totally ok with eating ridiculously fattening & delicious foods. {see...you want to go on vacation with us!}

so we fried a lot of foods...

{fried shrimp!}

{fried oysters & fried onions!}

{fried okra!}

on our first night in, we made the most lovely of all beach meals: the shrimp boil. it was peyton & my first time to do a shrimp boil ourselves, & i will say we did a mighty fine job. {one tip: cook the shrimp for a very short amount of time! the instructions we were following had us cook it far too long. bright pink after a couple of minutes is all you need.}

{yum!}

{my wonderful husband being artistic during our meal.

so cute.}

fabulous food. fabulous vacation. let's go again...soon :)

love love,

kjp.

oysters & boomer sooner & the beach.

2011-09-27T11:51:00.001-05:00

for blakey's fall week of vacay, we met up with his brother & sister-in-law for a few days at the beach before the fan-freakin-tastic ou vs fsu state game.

one of my favorite parts of traveling lately is the road trip there. since blakey works his butt off all of the time, it is nice to get to sit down with him & just chat. we talk & talk & talk for hours about God knows what... blake's recent random obsessions {currently: building a house on multiple acres with a "man barn" & buying a super fast sports car. ask me how likely these things are to happen in the next couple of years.}, trips we want to take, what our family & friends have been up to...

the drive to st george island is on smaller highways or even streets through alabama & florida. {hey, alabama. take a trip to texas & learn what an interstate is please.} the last hour of the drive was through the apalachiciola national forest. it was so pretty! super tall & super skinny "naked" trees surrounded the little road. & a bear ran across the road a few hundred feet in front of us!

st george island is gorgeous! we lucked out again & had the sun & the sand & the water all to ourselves. so most of our days were spent with the girls sitting in the sand getting a nice little tan, while the boys talked sports & medicine in the waves. it was quite perfect.

on our last day, we took a stroll down the shoreline. each couple picked out which beach house they wanted. justin & peyton - the new england cottage. blakey & me - the southern wrap-around porch with big columns. love it.

& then the boys' hunting skills took over our walk. a crab ran out of the water right in front of blake, so blake decided he had to have that crab. it.was.hilarious. blake would try to scoop up the crab with a slap coozie {oh yeah} & the little guy would fight back. over & over & over again. but b's persistency paid off & he caught that crab.

so on our trek back to camp with crab-in-cup, we found a big ole jelly fish that tumbled ashore. blake had to have that too, so he conned justin into carrying it back for him.

{boomer sooner, crabby!}

{we decided we had likely pissed this little crab off,

& thus it would not be a good idea to let him run off into the ocean near us.

so blakey rannnnnnn down the shore

with the crab holding onto coozie for dear life
to drop him off a ways away from us.}

you totally want to vacation with us now, don't you?

once we had enough sun for the day, we all headed back to our gorgeous beach house to hang out on the porch. {note: if you are vacationing at st george island, a screened-in porch is a MUST. i cannot stress this enough. long story short: peyton & i each had approx 100 mosquitos bites after our first outdoor dinner. screened-in porch + camping strength bug spray = 100% necessary.}

the rest of our vacation revolved around food & ou football. {this shocks you, i know.}

each afternoon through evening, we got pumped up for ou football. we saw each of the intro videos at least once per day. the very first "there's only one" video from 2005 has to be my favorite. {take a look HERE.} but 2007's "welcome to the house that bud built" is really good too. {HERE} &, of course, i love this year's "i swear my allegiance to the crimson & cream" {HERE}.

we played boomer sooner & the fight song & the chant over & over & over.

we watched one of my absolutely favorite football moments of all time - jump around during the ou vs tech game {HERE}.

& if you ever had an option about kevin wilson, please please watch this {HERE}.

it was amazing. everything we want in a vacation.

thanks, justin & peyton for joining us for the most fabulous week!

stay tuned for the food blog post. it will be lovely.

love love,
kjp.

a lovely weekend with the hubs.

2011-09-26T05:00:00.000-05:00

even though blakey was on call saturday, we had a lovely little weekend. friday night, we headed to parkside for a relaxing evening on the back patio. with vintage doors & little light strands hung, it is the perfect mix of casual eclectic. & with the cool breeze, we were a happy two.

after blakey woke up from his post call slumber on sunday, we took the little t guy for a run at the railroad park. the beautiful fall afternoon was perfect for an hour outdoors. he joined me on my trip to urban. me baking & him watching football is great fun.

our weekend concluded with pizza, beer, & sunday football with our tanky. my fantasty football team absolutely stunk up the weekend, but a possible win for blake's team & the first carolina panther win in more than a season made up for it.

we hope you had a wonderful weekend too!

love love,

kjp.

happy autumnal equinox!!!

2011-09-23T05:00:00.000-05:00

{my pumpkin cookies with cream cheese frosting!}

happy autumnal equinox, friends!!!

welcome to the cooler temperatures, the fantastic flavors, & the beautiful foliage {also know as "beautiful tree shit" to our dear friend jake uber. prayers to you & holly & jack as you leave for deployment for the year. love you all.}

happy friday. & happy weekend. do something fun with someone you love this weekend.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday # 33.

2011-09-22T05:00:00.004-05:00

tomorrow is the autumnal equinox, & i am so excited.

{julie & dad - i win!!!}

there are so many wonderful & amazing things about the fall. & i am excited about all of them.

i am excited about all things pumpkin. i downloaded 8 pumpkin recipes last night in approximately 10 minutes that i want to try for work. i am excited about pumpkin bread & pumpkin scones & pumpkin spice cupcakes & pumpkin and chocolate chip cookies & pumpkin whoopie pies & even pumpkin mac and cheese.

& outside of pumpkin, i am excited about butternut squash & spaghetti squash & root vegetables & cranberries & maple syrup & cloves & cumin. i'm excited about soup & chili {not stew, dad. not stew.} & hearty warm meals. oh, & octoberfest.

& believe it or not, i am actually excited about a few fall things outside of food. i want to wear boots & boots & more boots. i am excited about scarves & cardigans & comfy non-hooded sweatshirts. & furry moccasins. i look forward to wearing fall colors like mustard & eggplant & midnight blue.

ooooh, i so want to see the leaves change colors! i've probably already told you, but there are the most gigantic trees in birmy. trees that have beautiful color changes of maroons & golds & oranges. you can drive down one of the big state highways here & be in total awe. each & every day for weeks.

for the first time in months, there will be a breeze in alabama. i know you okie folks take for granted the loveliness of cool breeze, but we don't. there is never wind here. until fall. & it will be awesome.

& i am excited about pumpkin spice lattes. even if i don't make it to the big bad starbucks, i can have one of urban's wonderful lattes with the pumpkin spice syrup i secretly hid at the store for all of us psl lovers to drink. and...there we are back to the food.

full circle.

i should probably stop now.

but i am so excited. & i am so thankful it is almost here. welcome, fall. we welcome you with open arms.

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

love love,
kjp.

urban photo shoot.

2011-09-21T05:00:00.004-05:00

while ashley & cari were in birmy, we had a little photo shoot at urban. cari got a new super awesome camera for her birthday, so she wanted to practice. with fabulous creative eye & the uber hip backdrop of urban, the pics turned out pretty darn fabulous.

{cari shot & edited most of these fantastic photographs. the lesser great ones - specifically the ones she is in or of the urban details - i took.}

{the epitome of cari.}

{our kate spade nicklaces!!}

{how amazing are these vintage boots of my mom's??}

{GORGEOUS.}

{one of my favorite pictures ever.}

my mini photo shoot:

the alley behind urban. yes, there actually is food-related graffiti.

{hahaha}

love it! love you two. thank you so much for coming to birmy!!!

love love,

kjp.

this is oklahoma football!

2011-09-20T05:00:00.000-05:00

speaking of oklahoma football {you did read yesterday's post, right?}, i have to tell you all about our football weekend kickoff party!

armstrong & cari were in town {check it all out HERE} to celebrate one of the top weekends of the year, so we threw an ou football bash!

{the sooner streamers to welcome you in}

{the fantastic cups blakey & i designed just for such an occasion}

{& the ou water bottles lisa brought us for the party!}

cari wanted to bake with me, so she brought a fun new recipe to try from food & wine magazine: bourbon bacon brownies! bacon is so the in thing right now. & why not? bacon makes everything better!

& armstrong made the greatest appetizer: the pioneer woman's bbq bacon jalapeno poppers! so so so so so good. i know you've had jalapeno poppers before, but these are better. i promise. try them. {recipe HERE} armstrong did a fantastic job!

&, of course, we had the football watching set up: 3 tvs for optimal football viewing. well done, blakey.

like any good football party, we had a little photo shoot. {wait, what? yes, it is important.}

{my beautiful, beautiful friends!}

{norman meets birmy!!! love it.}

we were even kind enough to let the longhorn join in the party.

{boomer sooner. texas still sucks.}

the puppies took some time out of their running around for a quick pic:

& then family photo time. love my boys!!

& WE HAD TO TAKE A KAPPA PIC!!!

as you know, no porter party is complete without some shuffleboard!

& the patio was a great addition to the party. dudes love patios.

{my little guy was exhausted.

don't worry, t guy.

we were too :) }

boomer sooner from birmy!

love love,

kjp.

it's always a big deal when oklahoma comes to town.

2011-09-19T05:00:00.001-05:00

we won!!!!! the sooners won the game...in florida state's house...against the # 5 team in the nation. that's huge!

& we got to be there to cheer & stress out & celebrate & enjoy every minute of it.

it was so much fun.

this was my first ou away game to attend, outside of ou texas {which doesn't really count since half of the stadium is a friend} & baylor {which totally doesn't count because, well, it's baylor.} what a fantastic game to choose for my first, right? yeah, we rock.

justin & peyton and blakey & i tailgated in tallahasse before the game at the huge chesapeake tailgate, which was awesome. thank you chesapeake for the fabulous free food & bevs & tv watching. much appreciated.

{boomer made it to the tailgate}

{& the band stopped by to play a little boomer sooner}

we got to hang out with so many people we know! who knew you had to go to florida to see your friends? high school friends, college friends, birmingham friends, church friends, people i worked with, & even a random fsu fan who recognized me from urban. it was pretty fantastic.

in front of the stadium before the game...

the 'noles were pretty darn pumped up. they had beat ou shirts of all kinds. tailgates every where. & the stadium was PACKED 30 minutes prior to kick off. the huge student section all had gold pom pons to wave & go crazy.

but the sooners were so ready. {ok, i admit. i totally did not think we were going to win. we are HORRIBLE at road games. but the boys had faith. smart boys,}

florida state's big pre game thing is their chief osceola that rides onto the field with a flaming spear & plants in in the center. neat. but it's no schooner.

so the 'noles "oooooooooooooooh, oooooooooooh" {insert chopping motion} all game long. & we cheered & screamed & OUed & boomer soonered all night long too.

& oh my gosh, we won! i really really hope you watched this game. it was fantastic. i was so mad at our defense for awhile. & so mad at landry & heupel & everyone else too. for awhile. & then the 4th quarter came & those boys played their hearts out.

so i apologize to each of you, sooners. i am now very very proud of you.

you need practice to win a national championship. but i am still really proud of you.

since my dad always rushes out of the stadium at the end of the game, i was super excited to stay & breath in all of the win after the game. it was awesome.

we even headed over to watch the college game day crew!

{hey, kirky!! you are too cute.}

{& the gorgeous, erin andrews.}

{bobby, of course, made his debut.

well done, BGB.}

{the boys loved it.}

the florida state fans were super gracious hosts. so many told us good game & welcomed us to their city. we even made friends with a few at whataburger after the game. {yes, clemson fan, your ripped shorts are, in fact, AWESOME. :) }

a game to remember for a lifetime.

boomer sooner.

there's only one.

love love,

kjp.

500 days!!!

2011-09-13T05:22:00.000-05:00

blakey & i have been married for 500 days!!!

500 wonderful & amazing days.

happy 500th day, byrds. so excited to share the next thousands of days with you too.

love love,
kjp.

ashley & cari in birmy!

2011-09-12T05:00:00.000-05:00

ashley & cari came to visit us in birmy!! & we had the most fabulous time.

i hadn't seen cari since our wedding - crazy. & had only seen armstrong for about 10 minutes since then. it had been far too long, friends. let's not wait that long again. k? sweet.

{tanky was SUPER excited he had friends for the weekend!

he slept with them each night.

what a good boy :) }

our first stop in birmingham was no other than moe's bbq! we, of course, had to take the girls to our favorite patio with our favorite wings & our favorite nachos & our favorite summer beverages.

& they loved it! duh. it's fantastic. what on earth is there not to love?

{blakey made it out!}

the potters were there too with a few of their visiting friends. & the mcgowans joined too. so we pretty much went ahead & took over half of the patio. why wouldn't we? we pretty much keep this place in business. fun fun fun.

{ADORABLE asher.}

saturday morning, we stopped by urban for a breakfast of my baked goods! so fun. & they got to see my awesome work place. {they loved it so much we decided to have a photo shoot there later in the trip. more to come on that in another post...}

{buttermilk oatmeal muffin}

{blueberry scone}

saturday was the FIRST DAY OF FOOTBALL SEASON!!! which is one of the best days of the year. so we celebrated. all day long. more on that to come in another post too. we like to take pictures. you'll see all about it.

{boomer sooner!!!}

cari had to have chicken & waffles while she was in the south, so we brunched at a new restaurant on sunday morning. ore is taylor hicks' super modern with a rustic twist restaurant in crestline. there was a jazz band in the bar area playing some fun tunes. the owner + head chef at little savannah {one of our birmy favorites} was eating brunch there too. that has to say something. i have to tell you - the chicken & waffles were pretty darn good.

{my BEAUTIFUL friends}

{& my ADORABLE husband.}

{how awesome are these lights?!

we need to get one for our dining room "chandelier".

any thoughts on where i could find the rope portion?}

ashley & cari were so happy to learn that piggly wiggly is a real place. "the pig", as we like to call it, is a local grocery store. oh yeah, it's not just in sweet home alabama. welcome to the south, friends.

on monday morning, i drove the girls around to see the sites of beautiful birmy. we saw campus & vulcan & the gorgeously huge trees & old historic homes & hills bigger than any mountains in oklahoma.

{the lovely sites of downtown}

{love this!}

& we had to end our trip with one more fantastic meal. so top chef richard blais' gourmet burger joint, flip burger, was it. my beef tartare burger was fantastic. cari tried another southern favorite - the lobster roll. i've actually never had one, but she loved it. & armstrong had some good ole southern bbq. oh, & we had fried picles! yummm.

{oh my gosh.

the ridiculously good shakes.

really really good shakes.

nutella & burnt marshmallow.

pineapple upside down cake.

impossible to choose a favorite.}

{why, hello, huge rain strom.

not only did you make my hair look beautiful,

you also let armstrong stay another night with me!

i'll forgive you for the hair since ash got to stay.

so thank you.}

so so so so so much fun. these two are the greatest. excited to show you even more of our fun!

love love,

kjp.