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

Day 14: Dinner at Lauren’s

Alternate title of this post: We Didn't Have to Make Dinner Last Night!

But we also got to see some family that we just don't see enough. We went to dinner at our cousin Lauren's house to eat with her husband and two precious little girls. Lauren and PJ were best friends growing up, being first cousins and in the same grade, they were more like siblings, and have been through everything together.

She made us this delicious creamy pasta that we've been preparing for by eating well all week so that we could splurge last night. It's all about balance, right? She also made these rich and decadent chocolate cupcakes and again, balance. :)

Lauren and her family live in her and PJ's grandma's old house, set on this HUGE lot/farm with all of these cute little trails and areas to enjoy, like this one which used to be a pond with a little waterfall where all the ivy is pouring out of:

 It was fun hearing PJ recollect where stuff used to be on the land, how his grandma used to be, and how much stuff she grew in her garden back in the day to feed the whole family. Learning about each other's families never gets old, and after 8 years we're finding there's still so much to learn, and maybe that's what it's all about and we'll forever be learning new things about each other. 

That's kind of exciting to think about, isn't it? xx

Day 13: Hardworking Husbands

Hi, Thomas here today.

I just want to take a moment to appreciate all of the hardworking husbands out there. The ones who never give up, never stop doing their best, and never stop working as hard as they can. I have a husband like that and I'm proud of him. 

I came home yesterday to a loud and obnoxious noise coming from outside. I go out on the back deck and find PJ tilling up the dirt in our side yard. Enclosed by the fence he built earlier this year. Do you see where I’m going with this? How. Does. He. Do. It. Sometimes I get tired just looking at him. 

When PJ gets an idea in his mind, he wants to start it immediately, and doesn't stop until it's finished. When people ask me what I love most about PJ, I always say it's how hard he works and how much effort he puts into things. I look up to him so much in that respect and find myself, in certain situations, asking "what would PJ do in this instance?" I know it's cheesy, but I'm a cheesy person and way too sentimental, and I like talking about my husband (if you haven't noticed) so here we are. How did I get so lucky? 

He's always working on something. Always. If he's not, he feels like he should be. It's just how he is. Today I am feeling thankful for a husband who works hard to make this house a home. He's not perfect, and we disagree/argue just like the next couple, but to me, he is perfect. With all his flaws and quirks, I feel confident I married the perfect man for me. Someone who inspires me to work harder and be the best version of myself everyday.

PJ McKay, what would I do without you?

-T

Day 12: One of Those Days

Admittantly, nothing extremely interesting or exciting happened on day 12 of our 30 day challenge.

We were waiting (sadly) for a day like this, where it’s just a boring old normal day. We feel somewhat disappointed in ourselves for not being able to single out the most beautiful thing that happened. We went to the grocery store, stopped by the farmer’s market, went to the office, uploaded some pictures for a listing PJ just got, took Alyster to the vet (finally), made dinner, and watched a movie. And that was it.

Should we have tried harder to make the day more beautiful or extraordinary? On the other hand, if we did try harder, would it have only been because of this challenge and the fact that we’re writing it for people to see, and not just because we wanted to for us? At the same time, the point of this whole challenge is to find the beautiful in the normal, mundane, everyday. So, in the end, maybe we should have just looked a little harder.

In any event, we did make dinner and watch a movie together, which was nice enough to mention here. The movie was so good. The dinner? Not so much. We made vegan Alfredo sauce, well, tried to make it is more accurate. We followed the recipe exactly but it just wasn’t good for some reason. Maybe we’ll just bite the bullet and make our regular, tons of fat and calories Alfredo sauce from now on and only have it once a month, as opposed to once a week 😊.

You know, after writing this blog post today, we’ve come to the conclusion that it’s okay to not always have good days, at least good enough to write in a 30 day challenge. It’s okay to not always find the bright and beautiful in each day, otherwise we might not appreciate them so much. It’s okay if you’re not happy with the way the day went, just as long as you promise yourself that tomorrow will be better, whatever that may mean to you. Life isn’t wonderful and great all the time. And that’s okay. We’ll all make it through together. 

We hope you had a good day yesterday, and if you didn’t, we hope you have the strength to make today extraordinary.

xx

Day 11: New Friends

We met two new friends last night for dinner in Cleveland. 

Guess where we originally met them? Instagram! It's honestly where we've met almost all of our good friends lately. Who would have ever thought? One little app could lead to so much.

Maddie and Alyssa are HUGE Taylor Swift fans, and we talked for hours about our favorite songs and albums of hers. Thomas is a closet Taylor Swift fan, so we had a lot to talk about. We're actually going to her concert in Atlanta in August! Maybe we'll see you there?

It's such a good feeling to meet people and instantly connect with them like you've known them forever. We're thankful for those two girls up there and for an app that connects people from all over. What would we do without you, Instagram?

xx

Day 10: Tomato & Basil Pasta

We've been craving pasta lately, probably because we've been watching too many cooking shows on Netflix (hello Chef's Table), so we decided to just go for it and make some for ourselves tonight.

We wanted something light and fresh tasting, something that would go well with red wine and French Cafe Radio on Pandora because you know our feelings about getting the mood just right to enjoy a good meal. We weren't sure what we wanted to make, but we knew we had a tomato we needed to use up, so we started there.

Thomas' mom grows basil so we picked up some from her house and thus, dinner tonight was born. To be honest, we didn't measure anything and just kind of through it together, but here is a similar recipe to what we made tonight.  Here's the breakdown:

Ingredients:

• Pasta of your choice (we used whole wheat)
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 3 garlic cloves, minced
• 4 cups cherry tomatoes, halved (we used 2 whole tomatoes, diced)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup fresh basil leaves, torn
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
• About 1/2 cup Parmigiano-Reggiano cheese, shaved (we didn't use this but it sounds delish)

Instructions:

• Cook pasta according to package directions, omitting salt and fat. Drain; place pasta in a large bowl.
• While pasta cooks, heat oil in a medium saucepan over medium heat.
• Add garlic to pan; cook 1 minute, stirring frequently.
• Add tomatoes and salt; cover and cook 4 minutes.
• Remove from heat; stir in basil and pepper.
• Add tomato mixture to pasta; toss well to combine.
• Top with cheese (optional)

It took 15 minutes to make and filled us up for the whole night. Something about fresh ingredients, French music, a glass of wine, and summer nights after it just rained makes us nostalgic for a place we've never been before. Maybe Italy. Do you know what we mean? At the same time, it makes us appreciate being home and gives us that comforting feeling of being completely content in the moment. 

We hope you've had a good weekend. Here's to starting the new week off right!

xx

Day 9: Getting Our Hands Dirty

PJ still isn't feeling that well, so we didn't really do much yesterday but work around the house and sort paperwork.

But, we did manage to drag ourselves out of the house for a little bit and head over to Thomas' mom's house to drop off a piece of furniture. While we were there she asked us to help her pot a few plants she had been meaning to do for a while now. If you know PJ, you know his feelings about plants and potting and how he's completely in his element when he's getting his hands dirty. He grew up on a farm and was always planting trees and flowers all over the place. His parents didn't mind, so he was able to stretch his creativity as far as he could. Now, any opportunity he has to work with plants he takes it and runs with it, which worked out well for Thomas' mom.

Sometimes it just feels good to get your hands in the dirt and get them a little dirty doesn't it? It can be therapeutic in a way that a lot of other things can't, and most of the time, it's completely free!

Also, we came home later that night to find this scene. Love that they all get along so well because it could have gone the complete opposite way. 

Hope you had a good Saturday! xx

Day 8: TGIF

We found a lot of beauty in our Friday, y'all.

The morning was slow, just the way we like it. There was some reading, coffee, dog walking and plenty of podcasts to listen to thanks to all of your recommendations!

We went to take photos of a house PJ is listing which happened to be close to our land, so we took a quick trip out there to walk around. We can't explain the feeling we get when we're there. It's like a whole other world to us. So free and open and it's like anything is possible out there. We can't wait to show you our plans for it.

Back home, Alyster was being ridiculously cute (excuse him) all day and we couldn't stop taking pictures. He was extremely cuddly and was giving PJ little baby kitten kisses because he could probably tell PJ hasn't been feeling too well the past couple of days. We're not sure what it is. Maybe a cold? He's been to the doctor twice and got some antibiotics to hopefully help.

Then we had a mini photo shoot with Alyster. Without him knowing because he was asleep. We don't think he would mind, though.

We are so obsessed with this cat, y'all (like you couldn't tell). 

Later that night we did what anyone would do on a stormy night that called for a possibilities of tornadoes: order takeout, drink some wine, and finally start Damages. Luckily, there weren't any tornadoes in our area, just lots of rain and wind that knocked a tree down in front of our neighbor's house, but everything else seems to be fine.

So there was a lot to be thankful for on our Friday and we want to remember each one. Hope you had a good start to the weekend, too. 

xx

Day 7: Cozy Rain Storm

Suddenly this blog has turned into nothing but pictures of our bedroom. Totally unintentional. And we apologize.

But last night after we got home, and once we settled in, it started raining, no, pouring, like it hadn't rained in months or something. It came out of nowhere but we welcomed it with open arms. If you've been following us for a while, you know that dark, rainy weather is our favorite, especially if we're home with  nowhere to be. 

Alyster seemed to be loving it too.

Maybe it has to do with that feeling of home we're always talking about. You know, the safe, warm feeling you get when you're relaxing with your love, or baking cookies in the fall, or drinking your morning coffee on the couch. It's that overwhelming sense of feeling completely content in your space, regardless of what's going on outside your four walls.. 

Do you know what we mean?

Day 6: Podcasts

Do you listen to podcasts?

We've been getting into them a lot over the last year and have since become obsessed. We started with true crime ones, the obvious and popular options like Serial, S*Town, and Up & Vanished. Then we expanded our horizon and started listening to different ones that discuss topics like politics, relationships, and well-being.

There's something about the thousands of different options available out there that is both appealing and overwhelming to think about. We all have so much knowledge at our fingertips and we're can learn so much by just listening. The best part is, they have podcasts for literally EVERYTHING. Design, cooking, relationship advice, politics, pop culture, you name it. They've got it.

We like to listen to them the most when we're driving on long road trips. Last night we listened to a new one, The Wilderness, while running around the neighborhood just as the sun was going down and it was the perfect end to the day. We find them almost therapeutic at times. Do you have something like that?

So, here are the podcasts we're currently listening to, in case you'd like to know:

• The Wilderness- a brand new political podcast from President Obama's former speech writer Jon Favreau all about the Democratic party, from the history of it to how we can fix it going forward. Currently obsessed with this one.

• Getting Curious with Jonathan Van Ness- If you love Jonathan on Queer Eye, you're going to love his thoughtful and hilarious podcast, where he interviews someone new each week on a topic he's curious about that's equal parts informative and funny.

• Keep It!- Our favorite podcast right now and the reason we look forward to Wednesday mornings each week. Ira, Kara, and Louis discuss the week's pressing topics from pop culture to politics and everything in between. They're absolutely hilarious and make a lot of good points. Definitely one you'll become obsessed with.

• The Goop Podcast- You may or may not have heard of Goop, Gwyneth Paltrow's lifestyle website that people either love or hate. Her podcast is more or less a reflection of that, and is mainly aimed at women, though we enjoy the ones that discuss health and well-being. You should check out the most recent episode where GP interviews Janet Mock about growing up as trans and becoming a role model. 

• OnBeing- A very popular and long-running podcast. We love going through the archives and listening to old episodes (it's been on FOREVER) because there's something for just about everyone here. Host Krista Tippett is always so prepared when she interviews her guests and always so invested in what they're saying. Also, her voice is like velvet, so if anything you should listen because it's the most comforting and thoughtful sound ever. We're not kidding.

• Fresh Air- a political podcast from NPR that's worth listening to to stay up to date on politics and what's happening around the world. 

• Relationships, Sex, Dating and Marriage Advice- To be honest we've only listened to one of these and it's so eye opening. If you're going to start with this one, listen to the January 31st episode called "I'm Right, And You're Wrong". AHHH cannot recommend this one enough!

• Stuff You Should Know- Literally about random stuff that they think you should know about. The one we're currently listening to? How Twinkies work. What a time to be alive!

What podcasts are you listening to? We would love to add some new ones to the list! 

Day 5: Letters

We went to our PO Box today and opened it to find FOUR letters from you guys!

You don't know how much it makes our day to hear from y'all and to learn your backgrounds and read where you came from, your struggles and triumphs and what you've gone through. And not just the rough, hard to talk about stuff, but also the good stuff. How you and your significant other are doing, the things that make y'all happy, invitations to your special events. 

We don't say it enough, but it means the world that you're here with us. When we started our Instagram account a few years ago, it was mostly about renovating our 1950's ranch house we had just moved into, along with some pictures of us documenting our relationship so we had something fun to look back on in the future. Then, once we started talking to you and meeting new friends on the app, to us it became more about community, about meeting people who know what it's like to feel different than all of your friends growing up, or feeling like you can't be your true self because you're from a small, southern town and other people there just wouldn't get it.

The point is, we're so grateful to be able to connect with people all over the world who are like us, but also who are different from us. It's a beautiful learning and we're so much better because of y'all. We hope to meet and connect with even more people in the future, but for now, we hope you've had a wonderful Tuesday. We'll see you back here tomorrow night!

xx

Day 4: Instagram vs. Real Life

It’s thundering and pouring down rain outside right now which is our best night ever but we thought the below was pretty funny. Do you know what movie the first picture is from? Hint: we get a lot of inspo from her movies and this one is one of our favorites!

The bottom photo is our room and the top is from It’s Complicated, one of our favorite movies by Nancy Meyers and stars Meryl Streep & Alec Baldwin. Have you seen it? Like all of Nancy Meyers’ films, it’s filled with gorgeous, creamy white interiors and a storyline that always works out in the end. Such a feel good movie. If nothing else, you should check it out for the set design!! 

We were joking today that the bedroom from the movie set is what it would look like on Instagram, all done up and staged to perfection, while our room is more what real life looks like 😂. In all seriousness though, we’re completely happy with our bedroom at the moment and obviously the set design of that movie was a big inspiration for us, but it’s still fun to notice how similar they are, right down to the door placement (which wasn’t planned). 

Hope your day was well, friend. See you tomorrow xx.  

(Above photo via here)

Day 3: Floating Down the River

Okay we totally forgot to take a picture of what we actually did for day 3 of the challenger so here’s a picture of yesterday morning when the sun was pouring into the living room giving us all the grateful feels for a world where Sunday mornings look like this. 😊 Moving on.

It’s mid July and yesterday was the first time we’ve floated down the river all year. We’ve been meaning to go for a while, ever since we’ve had our land and since it’s been warm enough, but we’ve been traveling so much the last two months that we haven’t made time to go. So, we ordered some tubes online, blew them up, packed a cooler, and headed out to the land with Thomas’ mom and our friend Golden to finally take advantage of the river that we live so close to. 

 We loaded up two cars and drove one to our land and parked it, and then drove a little ways up the river to the “put in” spot and parked the other car. All four of us connected our tubes together and just floated down the river and it was so relaxing. The water was freezing but the weather was hot and it had us wondering what took us so long do to this?! Why hadn’t we made time to just spend time in nature and enjoy each other’s company? One of the things we promised ourselves that we were going to do now that we’re home for a while is spend more time with friends and family so yesterday felt good. It just felt right. 

If you haven’t spent some time in nature recently, highly recommend doing so, though preferably somewhere near water, especially if it’s as hot where you are as it is here. It was neat to be able to just get out at our land (since it’s on the river) and dry off and head home. Can’t wait to get the cottages and venue up and running so we can spend more time out there!

Anyway, that’s all for today. Hope you were able to find the beauty in your day, too. xx

Day 2: Cook

Do you cook a lot at home?

Ever since we found out Thomas has high cholesterol, we've been trying to cook and eat healthy more and more. It's not always easy (read: never easy) for us to cook at home because, let's just be honest, laziness, so it's something we're constantly working on.

Thomas' sister Amy got us this book last year called Cook: Visualize The Perfect Plate, and tonight we broke it out. Have you heard of it? It's filled with the most beautiful photos of meals and ingredients and it breaks down every step so it's actually really easy to make the recipes. There are so many gorgeous recipes and we can't wait to try them all, but for tonight we tried one and it was so good!!

On the menu for tonight was ratatouille! Loved the movie, but we don't know if we've ever had the dish before. It's basically a bunch of different vegetables dumped into a pot with olive oil and garlic and then it's dinner. Some people use noodles and make it a pasta but this recipe didn't call for that. 

How pretty are all the ingredients laid out? This dish is big on taste and especially big on color. 

And it's pretty healthy, too. No added salt or sugar. Just fresh veggies all mixed together for a quick and tasty meal. If you want the recipe for yourself, check it out below:

And here's how ours turned out:

It's definitely prettier before it's cooked, but the taste is delish. PJ added parmesan to his for garnish. Yum. So that's that! Have you had ratatouille before? We'll definitely be making this again, probably for a bigger group of people, though. #leftovers

See you tomorrow. xx

UPDATE: PJ made his into a pizza 😂