Winter Wonderland

As I was going through some old photos this morning, I found this one my mom took back in the 70’s. It’s of her church down the street from her childhood home in upstate New York, and it has me dreaming of a white Christmas this year, something that only happens once in a blue moon here in Tennessee.

Doesn’t the idea of a small-town, snowy Christmas sound so idyllic? The freezing cold air, the crunch of the snow beneath your feet, the wool scarf around your neck to keep you warm. Sigh. We can dream, can’t we?

Happy Wednesday xoxo

A Fresh Site Design & Happy Friday!

Happy Friday!

How was your week?

After four years of the same general layout and design, I’m so happy to debut a new look for PJandThomas.com today!! While I liked the simplicity of the old design (more of a standard blog look), I really love the feel of this new one. The new landing page that you come to when you first get to our site allows you to see more posts all at once, along with letting older posts (and our most popular ones) stand out.

For reference, here’s what's it looked like before:

Also after four years, the orange is officially gone, and in its place a more sophisticated red (which feels especially appropriate as we welcome the holidays) takes over as the main “meta data” color on the site. We don’t have a website designer (which is probably blatantly obvious 😂), which means it’s just me. I’ve learned so much about web design over the years and playing around with different templates, fonts, layouts, etc. has been a lot of fun.

And speaking of red, Taylor Swift’s re-recording of Red comes out today!! And you better believe I stayed up until midnight last night to listen to the 10 min version of All Too Well as soon as the album dropped. So incredibly good and nostalgic and beautiful. Highly recommend giving this album a listen if you haven’t already!!!

And speaking of the color orange, we probably have about a week left of fall foliage in our area, so I took them in as much as I could on our walk around the neighborhood yesterday. If I could somehow make fall last all year long, I would in a heartbeat. I don’t think I would ever tire of these colors. Would you?

Today is for picking up the house (which has never been messier, I’m sure of it), taking a trip to the grocery store with Anna, and shooting a fun holiday campaign we’re both really excited about. A busy day to ring in the weekend but those are secretly my favorite days anyway.

Thanks for stopping by and checking out the new design, dear reader. Hope you have a lovely weekend!!!

xoxo

Fall Foliage at the Farm

Two out of three kids have been sick this week, so we’ve been cooped up inside for what feels like forever. Yesterday, though, since they were feeling much better (and no more fever!), I loaded them up and we drove out to the farm to see PJ and get some fresh air.

But when we got there, I wasn’t prepared for how beautiful the farm looked in all its autumn glory. The colors of the mountain hit me like a ton a bricks and all I could do was yell at the kids for them to look how gorgeous it was 😂. Okay I didn’t yell, but every time we see beautiful colors of the sky or of leaves, I always point it out and ask them to tell me what colors they see. Yesterday, there were a lot of oranges, greens, yellows, browns and some reds. All the colors of our favorite season.

These photos don’t do it justice (I always find it so hard to capture what something really looks like through a picture). It was overwhelming, in a sense. We walked the property and checked out the pond, as there’s still a little bit of water in it from all the rain we’ve been having lately. We’re thinking it might take an entire year’s worth of rain to get filled up, so we’re hoping for next summer.

PJ also showed me the fence that goes around our entire farm (!) and it’s thisclose to being finished!! It feels so…real to have a fence to keep our animals safe and let them roam free. The fence being added is one of those things that no one but me and PJ would find makes a big difference, visually or otherwise, but we are so damn excited about it and what it means for the overall future of the farm.

Yesterday was one of those days where, when we were out there, we kept asking ourselves (and each other) why we don’t just sell everything and move to the farm already. It’s so beautiful there, so peaceful, such a magical place the children would have to grow up. Surrounded by nature with endless opportunities to run and get dirty and explore and let their imaginations run wild. We get those thoughts quite often while we’re there. Who knows?

Lastly, in other news, tomorrow we’ll be debuting a brand new look for PJandThomas.com!! We’ve had the same template and general layout since starting this blog back in the summer of 2017 (how has it already been four years?), so I’m excited for a different look. I’ve been working on the new site design for the last few months and I think it’s finally ready to go live. I hope you like it as much as I do.

Riah Turns 5 Today & Happy Friday!!!

Happy Friday!!

How was your week?

Today our middle son, Riah, turns five years old!!! How is that possible? When he and his brother and sister came to live with us, he was only 2 1/2 (with long crazy hair and a bad temper to boot). And even though it’s only been two and a half years, because they change so much at this age, he seems like such a completely different kid. His mood, his behavior, the way he expresses his feelings- all so very different than he was years ago.

Sure, he is still the same lovable and cuddly Riah, but he has really come into his own and brightens up our entire world. He makes us laugh on a daily basis and I swear he is a mini PJ. He takes after him so much, from the faces he makes to his sense of humor, it’s all classic PJ and I absolutely love it. Riah is so unapologetically himself, never showing off or trying hard to be anyone but who he is. What would we do without him?

We’re celebrating at home tomorrow with some close family and friends, complete with hotdogs and our favorite cake from a local bakery.

Hope you have a lovely weekend, friend. xoxo

House to Home

While the article came out in the magazine at the beginning of last month, our Out.com feature is now live on their website! A huge thank you to Dan Reynolds, Out’s Editor-In-Chief for the sweet write up on starting our family. Truly such an honor and we are extremely grateful!

You can click here to read the full article, if you want :).

New Projects and the Excitement Surrounding Them

PJ looked at me the other day and said he wanted a new project.

At first I was confused because we aren’t even finished with the reno house in town and aren’t even close to finishing Holiday House, so it’s not like we’re short on things to do around here. In fact, it seems like we’re stretched so thin as it is, I honestly don’t know how we would even have time for a new project.

But then we talked about it more and he reminded me the reno house is almost complete (2-3 more weeks, if that) and that Holiday House is not a race to finish, but more of a journey that we’re in no hurry to complete just yet. We want to take our time with it and make sure we’re making the right choices because it’s a complete gut job and we have to add an entire laundry room and bathroom (plus so much more!), so there’s a lot to consider.

So then that brought us to this new project that PJ has been itching for. The thing about him is that he loves to be busy and to work hard to complete a goal. When he’s renovating a house is when he feels the most productive, happy, and accomplished. His passion and work ethic is one of my favorite things about him and even after all these years I still marvel at how hard he can work. Like, really and truly hard. The man pushed himself so much but he gets so much fulfillment out of it when he does that it’s hard to argue it.

Which brings us to now, yesterday, when we went to look at a property that may just be his new project. He went to look at it earlier this week with Allan and Riah and absolutely loved it: coming home and telling me how magical it was and how much potential it has. I was skeptical because, again, do we need another project? How will we have the time? But after we all drove out there and toured it, walking through the woods and exploring the grounds (there’s a creek!) and the little house, I was on board. It really is a magical property and the possibilities are exponential.

Matt (pictured above), Beau, Allan and Anna all came to look at the property with us and we all walked around to get a feel for it and it feels so secluded and, I’m using that word again: magical. It’s tucked away in the woods with privacy and beautiful trees surrounding it. We hiked up the large hill behind the house and I quickly ran out of breath, but it felt good to breathe the cool fall air and see all the pretty leaves.

PJ already has plans for the house and now I’m getting excited about what we may do with it. Were we in the market for a new project necessarily? No. Was one of our words for 2021 “simplify”? Yes. Did we do that? Well…to a certain extent we did. But I’m deciding right here and now that we will never declare “words of the year” again, because I know us and I know we will most likely always be looking for a new project. That’s just who my husband is and, when I really stop and think about it, I wouldn’t have it (or him) any other way.

Here’s to new projects and all the excitement (and possibilities) surrounding them!!

A Stroll Around the Block

As the air cools and the days get shorter, we find ourselves spending more time outside these days. But that’s nothing new: this time of year is always my favorite for taking walks, and the other day was no exception.

My love for fall knows no end. This time every year, I always feel like we live in a movie for a few weeks as the leaves change and the old houses in our neighborhood, peaking through shades of orange and yellow, become even more charming than usual. The whole city seems to burst with life and color and I always find myself so grateful to live here during the last few months of the year. It’s almost like a little reward for making it though the borderline unbearably hot summers we have.

The other morning, after dropping the boys off at school and stopping by the renovation house to check on the progress, PJ, Anna and I took a stroll to take in the season before everything turns brown and wet in the next few weeks. Our autumns are beautiful but short: only a few weeks of truly magic atmospheres and then it’s dark and cold for winter. Which, I don’t mind much. There’s a certain wonder and coziness to winter that forces you to be extra intentional with your time and, in turn, your happiness.

It’s truly the best time of the year, isn’t it?