Someone Found PJ’s Long Lost Twin

How crazy is this picture?! Doesn’t it look just like PJ when he grows his beard out? And check out those eyebrows! Identical.

One of our sweet followers (thanks Scott!) sent this to us a while back and we just now saw it. We can’t stop staring at it and have so many questions, mainly: how can we meet this guy, tell him to grow his beard out, and persuade him to take a side by side picture with PJ? Open to suggestions...

Do You and Your Partner Share Clothes?

Something keeps happening to us every time we leave the house...

We'll be getting ready to head out the door and we'll look down and realize: we're dressed the exact same. And if not the exact same, then pretty darn close. How do we not even realize it when we're getting ready? After being together for so long, you would think we would be better at this by now.

But maybe that's just it. Maybe we've been together for so long that we've become that cliche couple who starts dressing alike! It usually happens when we're in gym clothes, and it's usually a grey shirt and navy blue shorts. Apparently we've accumulated an embarrassing amount of those two colors over the years, so it's bound to happen from time to time, right? Sometimes we catch it before we leave the house and one of us will change, sometimes we don't catch it until we're already out, and sometimes we just don't care enough to do anything about it. We embrace it and live our truth (AKA we're too lazy to change).

We're fortunate enough to be the same size in pretty much all of the clothes we wear, so we share most everything. When we first got together, our styles were somewhat different, but over the years they've sort of blended into a hybrid to where we both feel comfortable wearing one another's clothes. Still, we do have different styles when it comes to some aspects of our wardrobe: Thomas prefers baggier, oversized shirts, while PJ likes his to be a little more snug. 

What about you? Do you and your significant other find yourselves dressing alike from time to time and/or sharing clothes? How do you feel about it? Would love to know...

Mushroom Burgers with Caramelized Onions & Kale Chips

We've doing our best to eat healthier lately, and that means we've had to get creative with the types of foods we're cooking in the kitchen.

Case in point: the mushroom burger, which is a nice substitute for an actual burger and, though it doesn't necessarily taste like a hamburger, it's packed with its own flavors that make it equally satisfying. We tweaked a recipe from Christal and made it our own, leaving out the dairy, but you could totally add cheese to make it even better.

Here's what we did:

Ingredients:

• Portabello mushrooms
• 2 tbsp balsamic vinegar
• 1 tbsp olive oil
• 1 cup sliced sweet white onion
• 1 large tomato, sliced
• 2 cups mixed greens lettuce
• 4 tsp Dijon mustard
• Kaiser rolls
• Kale
• Salt
• Pepper

Instructions:

1. Preheat the grill.
2. Take a large ziploc, and place mushrooms in the bag, add the balsamic vinegar and 1 tablespoon of olive oil, and seal bag. Shake the bag until the mushrooms are coated in the vinegar and oil. Let sit for a few minutes while preparing the other ingredients.
3. Meanwhile, preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), rinse the kale and chop it into chip-like pieces. Place on a non stick baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil, pepper, and sea salt. Cook for 10-15 mins or until chips are crispy and the edges are brown. Remove and let cool.
4. Heat a non stick pan over med-high heat, add in the sliced onions and olive oil, toss to coat the onions with salt and pepper.
5. Lower heat to medium, and cook the onions, stirring often until they are soft and browned, about 10 minutes.
6. Remove mushrooms from ziploc and place on the heated grill, rounded side up. Let cook for 3-4 minutes.
7. Meanwhile, slice tomato and wash lettuce, and prepare any other preferred garnishes.
8. Turn mushrooms over so they are flat side up and top the inside of the mushrooms with the caramelized onions.
9. Continue to cook for 3 more minutes then remove from grill.
10. Using your favorite buns, assemble burgers starting with the dijon mustard, then top with the mushroom and onions and cheese, then top with tomato, lettuce, and the other half of the bun.
11. Enjoy!

Day 23: Heading to Marfa, TX

We spent all day yesterday cleaning the house for our house sitter because we’re heading to Texas!

We’ll be spending the next few days in Marfa, TX and we’re really looking forward to it. We’ve never been to the Lonestar state before, have you? We keep getting messages from folks telling us how hot and sticky it is there. We brought our sunscreen and handheld fan, though, so we’re hoping for the best 😊.

How our dining room table almost always looks when we go on trips:

We’re at the airport about to board the flight, so we’re off for today. We’ll see you in Texas! xx

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