week 22: saying goodbyes.

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

the biggest life lessons i learned while in birmingham:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

like you'll not only miss the people you love 

but you'll miss the person you are now 

at this time & place 

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

love love,

kjp.

week 21: blakey is finished!!!!

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

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

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

{we're going to miss you, boone,

& your amazing tennessee orange.}

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

love love,

kjp.

week 20: halfway there!

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

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

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

happy halfway!

love love,

kjp.

week 18: ultrasound pics galore! & week 17 too.

eighteen weeks eighteen weeks!  our baby is growing & my belly is growing & all is good in the world.   maternity clothes are becoming very wonderful.  multiple outfits this week have consisted of maternity tops & maternity bottoms.  it's a good thing i am pretty darn good at shopping.

our anatomy ultrasound was this week!  blakey & i got to see our little baby girl for twenty whole minutes!  we saw the important parts of her brain & the four chambers of her heart.  she has an adorable little nose & lips {no cleft lip}.  she sucked her thumb & grabbed her little bitty feet with her little bitty hands.  miss nora belle is growing big, measuring sizes of about 19 1/2 weeks & weighing 10 ounces.  apparently, little us made a big baby.

 {nora belle's little bitty feet}

 {& her little arms crossed}

last week, i was a little too busy napping to blog, but i did take my bump date photo!  it's a rough life being pregnant :)

love love,

kjp.

a jolly resident christmas party!

the annual "couth" christmas party was this weekend!  all of the obgyn 3rd & 4th years, fellows, & attendings gathered with spouses to celebrate this wonderful time of year.  we enjoyed the evening with our friends full of delicious dinner, treats, & libations.  and after all of that proper socializing, we had a rockin dance party!  katy perry, meatloaf, & journey.  it was a fantastic holiday event.

{blake & neil looking quite dapper}

{my favorite UAB party friend, ashley}

{dance party time!}

our last uab christmas party.  crazy how fast it all goes.  a very joyful time indeed.

love love,

kjp.

boom soon from tuscaloosa!

we finally saw it!  the incredible bryant-denny stadium, home of the tide, where alabama rolls.  it really is an impressive stadium.  the fifth largest football stadium with a 101,800 seat capacity.  it's gigantic & very pretty.  &, man, alabama really can play some football. 

{TL: the one & only bryant-denny.
TR: the walk of champions.
BL: the ridiculously long walk up to our upper level seats.
BR: our delicious gameday hotdog.}

 {the UAB docs}

we headed to tuscaloosa for an afternoon of tailgating with a few alabama & tennessee faithful UAB residents, attendings, & former attendings.  & we got to hang out with one of my favorite former urban cooks, matthew!  so much college football fun.

at halftime, when alabama had pretty much run up & down the field on tennessee, blakey & i headed out to moe's for some delicious wings & redneck nachos & a fantastic sooner football win!

boomer sooner from tuscaloosa!  

love love,

kjp.

dinner with the residents & a blueberry corn salad recipe.

one night last week, i got to take a homemade dinner to the hospital for blakey & the residents!  it's always nice to take a hot meal to these awesome people who are working so hard.  they are super appreciative & let me join in their "family dinner".  & date nights with my husband are even fun at while he is busy working.

for the main course, blakey requested his favorite slow cooker shredded beef {recipe here} with pepperocini peppers to put atop kaiser rolls with havarti cheese.  yummm.

for dessert, i brought some of my favorite cookies as of late - brown butter sugar cookies!  it's a nice twist on the good ole sugar cookie.

ps have i told you my theory that in the next decade we are so going to make fun of this decade for our obsession with things like brown butter, pickling anything, & bacon on everything?  just wait & see.

since i always have to try out a new recipe on our friends, i went with a delicious seasonal salad i saw, of course, on pinterest - summer blueberry corn salad!  it's full of raw veggies & fruit with a tasty vinaigrette; exactly what i want to eat in the summer.  so get a tiny bit brave & try this creative new dish!

summer blueberry corn salad

found on: pinterest

original recipe: dining at my desk

 8 ears corn, freshly cut off the cob

{check out my tips here}

1 large cucumber, sliced into half moons

1 small red onion, finely chopped

2 jalapeños, seeded & finely chopped

1 large bunch cilantro, chopped

1-2 pints blueberries

dressing:

3 T evoo

1/4 c red wine vinegar

juice of 3 limes

1 T honey

1/4 tsp ground red pepper

salt & pepper

1. in a large bowl, stir together corn, cucumber, onion, jalapeños, & cilantro.  gently fold in blueberries.

2. in a cute little mason jar with a lid, add oil, vinegar, lime juice, honey, red pepper, & seasonings.  shake it up until everything is mixed well.  pour on top of blueberry corn salad & gently stir it all together.  taste it to make sure it's delicious.  best if chilled & left to marinate for a few hours or even overnight.  enjoy!

love love,
kjp.

honoring you, chiefs.

we've celebrated & sent off an incredible class of doctors.  they've been great friends & dinner double dates. they've been fun at happy hour & the pool.  & they've certainly been mentors & teachers & leaders to blakey in residency.

blakey & i are so incredibly happy to be sending dr jared roberts & his wife to our oklaHOMEa!  we so look forward to continuing our friendship with them, watching their beautiful children grow, & seeing them thrive as a couple & as a family & as a doctor in norman.  so so happy for y'all!

of course, my favorite resident party partner in crime, ashley, was there to celebrate with us!

cocktails, dinner, awards, dancing, friends, & so much fun! it was a fabulous party.  & oh yeah!  blakey won an award!  he was awarded the best resident research day award.  so so proud of him.  he worked so hard on that research project... that he had been stressing about for three years.  he did so well.  & it is so finished.  thank God.

a fantastic send-off for a fantastic group of doctors.  congratulations, chiefs!

love love,

kjp.

a toast & roast of the chiefs.

last weekend, the celebrations began to send off the outgoing chief class with the annual toast & roast.  every year, the third year class is in charge of roasting the chief class, so blakey & his classmates had a great time with this honor.

they had costumes & props & powerpoint slides & videos.  there were faux text messages between attendings, an ever shrinking wig, a game of "what actually is in this backpack," appearances by the ninja, & so much more.  it was hilarious.

a fun night had by all celebrating the great group of doctors heading out into the world.

love love,

kjp.

officially three years down!

as of today, blakey is officially a fourth year resident!  oh my goodness, i cannot believe it.  three years down.  one to go.  just one more year.  wow.

 {orange baked donuts with chocolate orange ganache}

i'm so proud of him.  how hard he's worked, how little he's slept, how much he's learned, how much he's grown.

 {our new decorations above our baking table!}

i cannot say it's gone by fast.  moving to birmy three years ago seems like a lifetime ago.  a wonderful, fun, & amazing lifetime ago.

 {mexican lime bars with a graham cracker crust & a hint of spice!

what kind of spice??  sri racha!!

in the whipped cream, in the lime bar, & in the crust.

this might be my favorite thing i've made in awhile.

more spice next time :)}

to everyone who said the greatest thing we could do for our marriage was move away - you were totally right.  it's been amazing & challenging & we've done it all together.  

{nutella cream cheese brownies with housemade nutella}

our big black tie party for the outgoing chiefs is this weekend.  a great group of people.  some fabulous friends.  super excited to celebrate them.  super excited for them all.  

love love,

kjp.