happy 4th anniversary, byrds!!!!

celebrating a very happy 4 years with the love of my life!  four years.  four years of creating a life together, creating an even greater friendship, creating an even stronger love.  & now onto creating a little porter!

 {1st year of happiness in montevallo}

{2nd year of happiness in memphis}

{3rd year of happiness in nola}

i love you, dear love of my life.  you are truly the man of my dreams.

love love,

kjp.

a beautifully cool & rainy saturday.

this summer in birmy has been absolutely gorgeous.  if you like fall-like weather, then the last few days would have made you swoon!  we went four days without making it into the 80s.  that's right, the eighties.  it was fabulous!  & cloudy & rainy & i loved every second of it.  so when blakey finally made it home saturday morning, we enjoyed a beautiful morning on our patio.  coffee & tanky & greenman, of course.  our saturday morning happy place.

to make our saturday morning even more amazing, we got to see little man of facetime!  he's so darn cute.  & man that boy has a lot of go in him.  crawl crawl crawl crawl.  search for a kitty.  play with the puppy.  & he can stand up all on his own!  we saw him do it.  big little man!

after body pump, we enjoyed our new favorite saturday lunch - a gigantic bowl of fro yo with granola & chocolate & blueberries & candy & so much deliciousness.  ice cream on the patio in the rain after the gym.  absolutely lovely.

& then you'll never guess what i did next - i cooked dinner!  it's been forever.  it was so nice to get in the kitchen & chop & stir & smell the deliciousness.  my happy place.  i made my mom's marinara sauce with ground turkey & spaghetti squash.  homey & healthy.

{our wedding flutes & wedding rings}

to wind down our fabulous, rainy day, we had a glass of dark, thick beer in our beautiful wedding flutes.  because everything is more fun in a champagne flute.

{tanky holding his dad's hand}

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - my lobster.

my sweet, wonderful, amazing husband turns 30 this weekend!!  30 years awesome, that is.  excited to celebrate him, his day, his incredible accomplishments in these 30 years.  love you, byrd.

"see!  he's her lobster."

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

love love,
kjp.

let the anniversary celebrations begin!

my husband is the best.  on our anniversary, he brought home the most beautiful purple parrot tulips for me!  i love flowers.  any flowers.  all flowers.  but these were truly gorgeous & unique.  then we walked down the street to a lovely dinner on the patio with tasty food on a gorgeous night.  afterwards, we got some frozen yogurt for dessert topped with oreos & heath bars & lots of chocolate goodness.

cheers to the start of year four!  excited about all of our celebrations this weekend & many years to come.

love love,

kjp.

happy 3rd anniversary, byrds!!!

three years!!!  an amazing & joyous & blessed three years.  i would say i cannot believe it's been three years, but then i look at that picture of us on our wedding day... & my husband looks like he's about 14 years old :)

 {our first anniversary at the montevallo bed & breakfast}

{our second anniversary at the beale street music festival}

cheers to you, my love!  the best husband & man in the world.

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - he built a table for me.

blakey built a table for me!  & it's fabulous.  he knows i love farmhouse tables, so he found a diy farmhouse table on pinterest to model ours after.  dark wood table top with wide planks... stark white legs & chairs... it's beautiful!

our dining room table had seen better days.  it was almost a decade old.  the top was unattached to the legs in a corner or two.  the finish had started to come off in many places.  & there were about 400 pinholes from a certain wedding pinwheel project that will remain nameless...

my favorite duty of the project was picking out new drawer knobs!  i love looking through beautiful drawer knobs but have never had a reason to buy them.  until now!  so julie & i had a fun knob shopping spree at anthropologie.  check out these beauties we picked out:

clear knobs with little bubbles blown in the glass.  so interesting!  so awesome.

on to the table building!  the legs & chairs were holding their own, so we painted them a bright white.  blakey took the chair seats off, sanded them down, & stained them the beautiful dark brown.

we threw out the old, sad table top & bought five 2" by 8" boards for our new top.  the nice fellas at home depot cut them down to the length we needed.  blakey sanded those down too & we got to staining.

 {tanky was a huge help.  green man too.}

once everything was sanded, stained, & dry, blakey put the table back together!  nailed the wood to the support from the bottom... re-built the drawers... screwed the chair seats to the chairs... & a gorgeous table was shining in our dining room when i got home from work!

thank you, byrds!!!  you're the best in all the world.

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

love love,

kjp.

thankful thursday - the gentleman.

when blakey i started dating, i was quite adamant about him opening my car door for me when we walked to the car.  i, the oklahoma/southern belle, & blakey, the college midwesterner, did not see eye to eye on this.  but he eventually opened my car door enough to appease me.

years later, i am much less strong minded about car door openings, but blakey now very gentlemanly opens my car door anytime we are on date.

lately, he has decided that going to the gym is a "gym date".  so as we are walking back out to the car, all workout sweaty & gross, he hurries to my side of the car to open my door.  it is seriously the sweetest thing ever.

love my gentleman of a husband.  &, as always, for him i am thankful.

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

love love,
kjp.

o christmas tree!

this weekend, blakey & i put up our christmas tree!  i know i know - it's not even thanksgiving yet.  but please forgive our early holiday cheer, as we will be traveling away the next three weekends.  & it's just so jolly in our home now!

we began our saturday morning with a couple of mimosas, football all day long, & lots & lots of christmas decorations!  our beautiful tree fits quite nicely in our living room.  & i finally have our christmas tree in front of a window to bring christmas cheer to those outside too.

when i said "we" put up our christmas tree, i might have been exaggerating just a bit.  this is much more of what blakey & tanky did while i put the christmas ornaments on the tree.  but blakey did take everything down from the attic, so he gets a little credit :)

our beautiful christmas tree with red & white & silver sparkles all around...

every year, blakey & i get a new christmas ornament.  this tradition began when blakey proposed to me during christmas time with my beautiful ring sparkling from an ornament on our christmas tree.  & it is certainly one of my favorite traditions to continue.

{this year's ornament!}

                          {our engagement ornament}               {our 2nd year engagement ornament}

                               {our first christmas}                                  {last year's christmas}

i love getting to look through all of our christmas ornaments each year that bring some wonderful memories...

                             {on our wedding day}                                            {tanky!}

                       {an advent festival ornament}                               {my barbie bride}

last year we received our first byer's carolers - the medical doctor & the pastry chef.

so a very early merry christmas to you!!

love love,

kjp.

memphis playing our song.

have i ever told you how much blakey & i love magnolia trees?  we do.  a whole whole lot.  we even planted a few in our loft... {here} & {here}

so when blakey found a gorgeously southern bed & breakfast named "magnolia grove" with beautiful magnolia trees lining the front of the home, we knew we had to stay there.

& we were absolutely at home...

{welcome to the south}

{hey, maggie!}

by the way, the breakfast at this place was unbelievable.  four course breakfast both mornings.  

morning # 1:  poached pears with a cinnamon sauce & cranberries... super cheesy hashbrown & sausage casserole... a legitimate egg souffle... & french toast with maple syrup & fresh strawberries.

morning # 2: fresh pineapple & mango... food coma set in & i might have forgotten course # 2 on day # 2... quiche lorraine...  & the amazing finish to it all: blueberry & oatmeal coffee cake.  do not be surprised if you see this dish at urban sometime soon.

we stayed in suzanne's room...

{hey, byrds!}

{i do love a good chandelier}

{there was a vintage wedding dress completing the room.

smart boy of mine to pick this room.}

& outside of our room we had our own little porch... 

{sweet tea & champagne!}

{before our first night on beale street}

& after our first night on beale street, we fell asleep in this beauty...

{& before our day at the fest.}

a beautiful house.  an amazing breakfast.  a wonderful host couple.  two lovely couples to share our breakfast with {who were about 35ish & 60ish & beat us home both nights}.  the bridal suite.  gorgeous magnolia trees.  & the love of my life.

happy anniversary, byrds.  here's to # 2 & 200 more...

love love,

kjp.