sol y luna date night!!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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!

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.