Day 22: Lunch With Daniel

It probably seems like all we do is go out to dinner with friends around here, doesn’t it?

This month has surprisingly been filled with opportunities to see and meet people from out of town and we’re taking each and every one we can. Yesterday we had lunch with our friend Daniel she his two friends from Nashville. Can you guess how we met Daniel? If you guessed Instagram, you’d be right :). 

So so thankful for the chance to meet so many amazing people from all over, and especially thankful to meet people from our home town (through Instagram) that we wouldn’t have normally met if not for IG.  

How did we make friends before Instgram? 😂 

Day 21: Dinner With Alex

Last night we had dinner with our friend Alex, who is in town from Orlando and always makes a point to see us when he comes in. He's one of the nicest people we've ever met, so it's always great to catch up on what's going on in all our lives whenever we see him.

He's actually originally from Cleveland, but moved to Orlando for work. You may remember him as our second Feature Friday almost exactly a year ago, which is so crazy because where has the time gone? Speaking of Feature Friday, we've been traveling so much lately that it's been difficult to keep that up, but we plan to start them back up again soon, so stay tuned for that!

Alex had lived in Cleveland his whole life up until a few years ago, but we hadn't met him until late last year, and the only reason we did was because of Instagram. Isn't that wild? That app has basically where we've met almost all of our friends in the last couple of years. Who ever would have thought that so much would come from one app? So many friendships and now so many memories. 

We're grateful for IG and the friend that we've made in Alex because of it, and all the friends we've made, and will make. So exciting to think about.

Happy Friday, friends! Hope you have a good weekend, and we'll see you back here tomorrow. xx

Day 20: Husbands Who Cook

Hi. It's me, Thomas again. Because I just can't stop talking about my husband, apparently. 

I came home last night after being at work all day( and then having to run an errand after work, so I didn't get home until an hour after I usually do), and when I walked in, I could smell dinner on the stove, and there PJ was, cooking it. My heart swelled, and I let out a sigh of relief.

The thought of having to make dinner at the end of a long day is daunting and overwhelming, and I guess he knew that, so he went ahead and did it for me. As a bonus, it was also pretty healthy: salt-free and using the vegetables we already had at home, so the whole thing was free! He called me earlier in the day and said we really need to start taking my health seriously (remember how I have high cholesterol? Womp womp) so it felt like the most caring form of love he could have given me. I never really stop to think about it, but the act of making someone food, the one thing we all absolutely need to survive no matter what, is such a kind act of love. And sharing that food once it's cooked is my favorite part.

He made brown rice with chopped onion and corn & black beans, with a homemade tomato sauce, all on top of a spring mix salad. He didn't think it was that flavorful, but I thought it was delicious.

While writing this, it got me thinking how this is maybe my third post this month talking about how grateful I am for PJ. But honestly, it's nothing new. If you've followed my Instagram or even our joint Instagram, I've been talking about how much this man means to me for years. When he does stuff like this, I almost can't help but write about it, you know? And like I said in the last post I wrote about him, we're not a perfect couple. Sometimes I even question it when people call us #relationshipgoals because we have our faults, too. But maybe that's not how a successful relationship is measured. Maybe it's about acknowledging that there will be good and bad times and then being grateful for the good while learning from the bad.

I don't know what I would do without PJ to make the  bed for us, work on the yard for us, and make dinner for me when I don't feel like making it for myself. Life would be a lot less whole without you,  PJ McKay. Today and everyday, I'm thankful for you most of all.

-T

Day 19: Summer/Fall Nights

Tonight we hung out on the porch for a little while and it was the perfect end to a relaxing, rainy day.

We brought the speaker outside and turned out Bossa Nova radio because you know our feelings about that music. The humidity was low, the heat just didn't show up tonight, and the sun was going down. There’s a cool breeze in the air that’s so refreshing in the middle of summer. It almost feels like fall again tonight, but you can still hear the crickets doing their thing. It's a nice and surprising mix of mother nature and it creates an intoxicating atmosphere of being completely content for this exact moment in our life. Do you know what we mean?

If we could bottle this feeling and sell it, no, GIVE it away for free, we would send you a bottle tomorrow. Summer nights that feel like fall are suddenly our favorite kind of nights. 

See you tomorrow, friend. xx

Day 18: Quick Land Trip With The Girls

And not our little dogs. Nope! 

We brought our big girls out to our land Monday night to let them swim and run around. We posted it on our story and, as usual, received a lot of messages from folks either saying they didn't know we had other dogs besides out little ones, or asking why we never post about them.

In any event, we take them out to the land every once in a while to let them stretch their legs and they love it. The grass is really high out there right now, so it makes it a little challenging to really enjoy it to the fullest, but it's going to be mowed one more time this year (maybe in August?) and then it'll be back to cleaning it up and getting ready to build. 

When we left the land, we drove around downtown looking at a couple of the buildings that are for sale and began to daydream by listing off what we would do with each one if we were ever to buy them. Our downtown is filled with pretty brick buildings that are dying to be renovated and restored to their former glory, so who knows? Maybe one day....

Hope your Monday was a good one, friends. And if it wasn't, there's six more days in the week to try again. xx

PS- we relaxed on the back porch last night for the first time in what feels like forever (it's been too hot!!) and it was nice. Do you spot anyone familiar in the bottom left corner? Look hard :).

Day 17: Cool Summer Day

From the minute we stepped outside to walk the girls on Sunday morning, to relaxing on the front porch later that evening, it felt like fall almost all day.

Granted, by "felt like fall" we mean that it was very cool in the morning, still very hot all day (but only a high of 88 degrees!) and pretty cool at night. We'll take what we can get, though! Have we ever told you that fall is our favorite season? The leaves, the drinks, the clothes, the smell in the air. If we could move to Stars Hollow, where it appears to be perpetually fall, we would.

Because of the slight chill in the air (and seemingly less humidity), we decided to start Castle Rock on Hulu. Have you seen it? It's a mix of a bunch of things from Steven King's universe, so of course it's set in Maine and is equally mysterious and spooky. It's set in a cute little town, too, and you know how we feel about small town living. :)

In the same vein, we also FINALLY washed all of our slipcovers on our couches. We can't tell you how badly they needed it, y'all. The arms were almost completely brown (!!!) because we hadn't washed the entire cover (we usually just wash the cushions) since we moved in, so they were long overdue. We may be reaching, but this also reminds us of fall in the way that cleaning the outside of your house feels like spring. We can't say it enough, but it really is the little things in life that make the days extraordinary.

We woke up before the sun today and the birds are starting to chirp, so we're off! We hope you had a break from the heat wherever you are, too. xx

PS: Thomas' shirt is from here.

Day 16: River Saturday

(Alyster pretending to be a statue in the living room yesterday)

Saturday saw us having such beautiful weather that it was hard not to have a good day. 

Do you ever have days like that? Where even if you were trying, the weather is keeping you from being in a bad mood? For whatever reason, it wasn't very humid all day, and while it was still really hot, it didn't ever feel smothering like it usually does. When we were hot, we'd hop in the river and cool off. 

Taylor (Thomas' brother) lives about 30 minutes away in a house he built a few years ago on the river. We've spent the majority of our family holidays at his place since it's big enough to accommodate everyone. He's the best host, and opens his house to anyone who enters. 

We spent most of the day on the boat with the family and our good friend Golden. He had never been pulled on a tube behind a boat before, so it was so fun to see him experience something for the first time and actually enjoy it. 

Chicken salad made a popular appearance, too.

When we got back to Taylor's, he grilled some bratwursts with peppers and onions for a late, late lunch. We ate and laughed and relaxed for a bit, then packed up the car and headed home. 

Any day that we can spend outside with family is a win in our book. Feeling grateful for days like Saturday where we have no real obligations but to be with the people in front of us. To soak up the sun and share experiences with each other. How about you? Did you have a good day, too? xx

P.S.: obligatory cute morning pictures of Alyster because he was being such a ham yesterday morning. What did we do before him?

Day 15: TGIF Again

Here we are, halfway into our 30 day challenge! Are you keeping track of the most beautiful part of your day, too?

It's tax free weekend here in Tennessee so while we were in Chattanooga showing houses, we hopped on over to Best Buy and bought a new computer! And not just any new computer. A desktop. Do you remember those? We haven't had a desktop since we were kids! We've just relied on our laptops for the last 10+ years so the thought of actually having a home base to go to and work each day is exciting to us. We went with the iMac. Do you have one?

In related news, we came home from Chattanooga to find a little note on our door that informed us we'd missed our package delivery- don't you hate when that happens?!? So we went to UPS a couple hours later and picked up.......our new camera!  What's crazy is this camera has been sold out EVERYWHERE. For weeks. But PJ found this website that suddenly got a big shipment of them in on Wednesday so we jumped on it and they told us it would be shipped in a minimum of 4 weeks, which like, cool, that's fine, we can wait a little longer. Then, we got an email saying it would be here Friday (!!!) and suddenly our week was made.

This has been a long time coming because we've mainly be using our iPhones to record vlogs and take pictures with. The cameras are obviously great, but we've been looking for something a little more professional for a while, and thanks to our friends Justin & Nick, we were pointed in the right direction for an affordable, good camera. 

We spent the night tinkering with it and figuring it out, drinking wine and listening to Bossa Nova, which you know is our favorite way to spend a Friday night around here. Chill. Relaxed. At home with our fur babies. 

Saturday we're going out on the boat with family and it's one of the only times we've done that this summer, which is crazy because it seemed like we were on the river all summer last year.

Hope you had a lovely Friday, wherever you are. xx