downtown kicked us out.

on friday night, blakey & i had our final downtown date night!  it was a celebration of our awesome two years in downtown birmy & 3 years in midtown okc.  we have loved being downtown lofters with our super open home, gigtanic tall ceilings, homeless friends, & a coffee shop & bar or two only blocks away.

so for our final night, we decided to finally try dinner at one of the fancy restaurants only 3 blocks away, cafe dupont.  upon our arrival, we discovered the restaurant was closed for a private event that evening.

downtown kicked us out.

so instead we headed to our new neighborhood for great beer & good southern food at j.clyde.  bar atmosphere, lots of brews to choose from, fried green tomatoes & fried sauerkraut balls.  that's more our scene.

we're very excited for our move to highlands.  peace out, downtown.

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - he moved my desk.

last night, i got really overwhelmed with packing.  we have gotten so much accomplished, but i feel like we still have far to go.

in the midst of all of that, right before i went to bed, we discovered the outlet my computer & modem are plugged into was dead.  d.e.a.d. dead.  it has a surge protector plugged into it but there wasn't even a storm.  the breaker was not flipped.  & to make the problem even more fun, it just so happens to be plugged into the outlet directly behind one of two drawers on our super heavy bookshelf/desk.

awesome.

so frustrated, i said "forget it.  it's time to move." & went to bed.

then i woke up this morning to my entire computer desk set up on the other side of our grand room.  blakey moved the super heavy bookshelf/desk away from the wall to get it unplugged.  he disassembled the computer & modem.  he moved our dining room table against the wall.  he reassembled the computer & modem.  & moved all of my office supplies & chair to my new "desk".

i cried.

it must have taken quite some time.  & it was absolutely not light.  & he wakes up shortly after i do.

so selfless.  so wonderful.  just to make me happy for a few more days before we move.

i am so thankful for my husband.

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

love love,
kjp.

i had to cook.

since we've been in the ridiculously long process of packing & {hopefully someday} moving, i haven't gotten to cook in so freakin long.  on monday, i just had to cook.  i had to! it was blakey's first night home post night float & i had to make dinner to celebrate!

the cooking things we have left unpacked include:  a knife, a cutting board, salt & pepper, olive oil, & garlic.  that plus fresh ingredients is all i need to make something delicious, right??

i get home with three delicious dishes planned & i realize... we packed the darn knives.  crap!  luckily for me, i have a knife kit down in my car!  negative, knife kit at work.  so i drive to work.  on the way to work, i realize i don't have a single bowl unpacked.  seriously, what was i thinking??

so i grab my knife & some handy to-go boxes from urban.  problem solved!  to-go boxes are kind of like bowls.  execution: this could still be interesting.

i wish y'all could've seen me trying to cook chicken with the one le creuset pot i have unpacked, wash it, stir one dish in it, transfer to to-go box, wash it, stir another dish in it, transfer to another to-go box, wash it, & finally stir the final dish in it.  it was quite comical.

the things i will do to cook for my husband.

after all of that, dinner actually turned out quite well.  i made avocado chicken salad & roasted corn, avocado, & tomato salad from this post & one new recipe:  watermelon cucumber feta salad.  let me tell you - this was the most peculiarly delicious thing i have ever eaten.  every time i took a bite of it, i immediately thought "this is so weird.  but i really want to keep eating more!"  so i think you should try it too:

the strangest salad i have ever eaten

aka watermelon cucumber feta salad.

originally found from: pinterest, of course.

adapted from: the healthy foodie.

a quarter of a watermelon, coffee scoop balled

{it's my favorite watermelon portioning method}

1 cucumber, chopped

3 T fresh mint, chopped

2 T basil, chopped

salt & pepper

2 T cooking wine... or just wine because that is all you have

1 T evoo

1/2 c toasted walnuts, chopped

2 oz feta, crumbled

1. throw all of the ingredients in a bowl & toss until well combined.

2. chill for 30 minutes or so to allow the flavors to marry.

3. enjoy!

happy first day of 3rd year, byrds!!

love love,
kjp.

thankful thursday - a huge help.

lisa drove out to birmy to help us pack!!  i honestly could not be more grateful.  she spent all day yesterday packing up our kitchen.  & this might shock you, but i have a lot of kitchen stuff.  my mother in law is a fabulous packer.  i am one who packs one box, gets overwhelmed, & calls it a night.  but lisa went from a completely full kitchen to this:

{amazing!}

oh, & lisa also packed up our shuffleboard table to take back to oklahoma for us until we have a new place to display it.  she couldn't bare letting us let it & all of the awesome memories go.  so cari & aric are keeping it for us in their new home!  i cannot wait to get to oklahoma to play!  & by "play", i mean kick their butts at shuffleboard. :)

while i'm being thankful, our wonderful friends, jordan & trey who just moved out to birmy for residency too {awoohoo!!!} & their mothers saved all of their boxes & bubble wrap for us & helped get it all to our loft!  huge.  

people are so nice.  we truly could not have done it without y'all.

a few more boxes to go.  but i think we can handle it now.

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

love love,

kjp.

we are moving!!

{isn't it adorable?!}

it is finally official - we are moving!!  we have loved our downtown loft home in birmy over the last two years, but we have decided it is finally time to graduate to doors & walls.  & i get a washer & dryer!!  & blakey gets a backyard patio!!

it's an upstairs unit, of course, in a grand historic home.  the 3-window room will be our dining room.  i already know tanky & fuchsia monkey are going to love watching out at the beautiful view of the park.

oh, & the kitchen...  marble countertops, light-colored cabinets, a fabulous fridge & center island & dark wood floors...

 {oh my gosh.  a washer & dryer IN my unit.}

phoenix, you have been so good to us.  but we are pretty darn excited about our next step in this alabama journey!  

ps as we are spending most of our free time packing over the next month, please forgive me if i miss a blog post or two.  i dislike packing.  very very very very much.  but it is going to be worth it.

love love,

kjp.

fun with tanky.

blakey & i have recently discovered how awesome our super long hallway is for playing ball with our little guy.  he will chase after green man & sprint back as many times as we will him.  especially if treats are involved.  & he will get so darn tired from it.

it's pretty awesome.

 {he is very good at sitting for green man}

 {intense face before you throw it}

 {go, tanky, go!}

 {my love!]

& later things just got a little silly...

love my boys.

love love,

kjp.

a christmas miracle!

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 # 44.

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.

blakey, the handy man!

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.

blakey's green thumb.

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.

this is oklahoma football!

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.