This weekend my husband, Mark, and I celebrated our first year of marriage.
Our anniversary was Sunday, November 9th, but that didn't stop us from being super cheesy all weekend long. Saturday morning I made Mark a breakfast sandwich before leaving the house and left him a little morning message to start his day. I also left him a laminated copy of our vows on the windshield of his truck to remind him of how appreciative I am for him and everything he does for me. I have a copy of his vows taped to the side of my computer monitor at work. I enjoy reading them from time to time to remind me of the wonderful things he promised me on our wedding day.
My parents also joined in the festivities and decorated my place at the kitchen room table with boxes of our favorite Sees candy, a card, and balloons on my chair. In the card my parents invited us to dinner in honor of our first year as a married couple. We went to a fabulous sushi dinner at our favorite little shop in Orange called Hanabi. That was a very sweet, unexpected treat from my parents that Mark and I appreciated greatly.
The traditional first wedding anniversary gift is paper. The modern first wedding anniversary gift is clocks. I decided to implement both of these gift ideas into our anniversary this year. I wanted to keep the theme of time, so I wrapped the box in brown shipping paper and wrote a simple message on the outside.
Once he unwrapped the package, he opened a box and saw a handmade card I created with the picture of a watch on it. Once again, sticking with the time theme, I wrote a line about how I've loved every MINUTE that we've been married. (The time on the clock is 3pm—which is the time we got married.)
Inside the card I went on to write a novel (like I always do) about how much I love him and how I can't wait to grow old together—of course meaning I want him by my side as I age, not that I am in a hurry to get old.
Here is a picture of the faux-leather watch display case I bought him from Wolf, along with the beautiful bouquet of long stem red roses he brought home for me on Saturday evening. Mark was so excited about his watch case. He has been wanting one for several years. He loves watches, but hates having to leave them in their original box. This awesome box comes with a lock and key and was purchased from Nordstrom, so if anything ever goes wrong I can replace it.
The watch case and time inspired gifts accounted for the "clocks" portion of our anniversary, but the traditional gift is paper. I took it upon myself to put an ad in the Celebrations section of the Orange County Register wishing Mark a happy one year anniversary. I used a picture from our wedding with my grandfather and late grandmother who passed away suddenly this year. Mark was very surprised and loved the idea!
My gift was a complete surprise! I came out to sit at the kitchen table to eat breakfast with the grandfather and was greeted with every woman's favorite blue box...
I couldn't get a good picture of it on me (around my neck), so here is the stock photo. Mark got me this sterling silver heart lock pendant on a necklace from Tiffany & Co. I was very surprised because most years I will mention something that I want or need, but this year I let him completely come up with something on his own. I absolutely love it!
This is the top of our wedding cake. Mark's dad, Michael, bought a special bag to store the cake in, in their deep freezer. The cake was a blush pink and the frosting was designed to look like feathering or petals. It has become slightly distorted from the freezing process, but it was still in good condition. I can't say that it tasted great, but it was definitely edible. The inside is chocolate with fudge filling.
Mark planned a nice, relaxing day for us at Irvine Park. We took a bike ride around the park with Domino, had a picnic on the park tables, fed the ducks in the pond (which Domino fell into), and frolicked around in the grass.
That night Mark planned a surprised dinner for us at Morton's Steakhouse. We don't typically wine and dine ourselves at fancy restaurants so this was definitely a treat. We were greeted with custom menus that wished us a happy one year anniversary. It was a very thoughtful touch!
We started with a "tuna tower" which is equivalent to an poke stack at many other restaurants; however this was the tastiest one I have ever had!!! This appetizer is layered with avocado, mango salsa, some type of grains, and seared ahi tuna. They fried their own chips which are used to scoop up this delicious, chilled treat.
Mark ordered a bowl of lobster bisque wit his dinner. It was super thick and creamy with large chunks of lobster.
I ordered a Cesar salad with my dinner. This starter salad was surprisingly large and tastefully satisfying.
I decided to go big or go home! I ordered a 2 pound lobster which was pre-cracked and ready to devour. Although the content that is actually eaten is no where near 2 pounds, this was still delightful! The taste was rich and flavorful just as I had imagined. I was extremely happy with my choice—even at market price. Eeek!
Mark, being the carnivore that he is, ordered a porterhouse steak. This I obviously did not taste, but he seemed to be enjoying every single bite. The steak was so large he wasn't even able to finish it. Leftovers = I don't have to cook. Yay!
Morton's treated us with a free chocolate souffle in honor of our anniversary. This was so sweet and so yummy!
We had such a great day! I am so thankful I am married to the greatest man. He makes me happier than words could ever explain. I am one lucky lady!
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