A Year and Some Change...

By "change," I mean a couple of weeks... not a major life change. Though I'll be honest. I think Mike and I are ready for a couple life changes: namely, a house and a baby. But we're waiting, which seems to be what we do in life, isn't it? Wait? That could be why my life verse (acquired while waiting for a husband) is Psalm 27:13-14.

But a couple weeks ago, Mike and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. It's crazy to think an entire year has passed since we stood before our families, our friends, and the Lord and promised ourselves to each other for the rest of our lives. What a precious day that was. In fact, it was my most favorite day ever. You can read about it here.
It's been a wild ride. We survived and enjoyed every holiday, every awful Monday, and lots of little struggles and joys in between. 

So for our anniversary, Mike got us a room at the same hotel where we spent our wedding night-- the Intercontinental, in Tampa. It's a great hotel, and we got a free upgrade to a junior suite. Let's just say that's a little better than our room on our wedding night-- it was an adjoining room with a loud gaggle of girls next door. Hahahaha! Not this time!

Glass elevators... we are easily amused.

This is an attempted panorama of much of our room. That black part in the middle is the partial wall between the living and bedroom area. The windows spanned the whole wall.

Because of our anniversary, we got a free buffet breakfast at Shula's, and they made my my very own special omelet. Why is Mike smiling so, you might ask? Because he spotted Frank from "American Pickers," also enjoying the buffet.  We were going to say hello after he finished eating, but a couple of people finally recognized him and we didn't want to be obnoxious. Instead, Mike made this face. What a cutie.

See? There he is. I know, I know-- you can't see his face. This is all Mike would let me do. He was chatting with the concierge. Nice guy.

We walked across the street to enjoy some shopping. And weird posing with gelato that was under par.

Mike also made a reservation at the same place we had our reception: Maggiano's-- also conveniently located across the street from the hotel. 

We may or may not have gorged ourselves on fried mozzarella, 4-cheese ravioli in a pesto cream sauce, and some kind of way-too-rich peanut butter chocolate dessert. This event in our anniversary weekend was very important, since Mike hasn't let me forget that at our reception, we didn't get to eat anything because we were either dancing or taking pictures. I argue that we did eat this ravioli... hours later, in our hotel room, without silverware, holding them like Hot Pockets.

Our waiter brought us something to toast with-- some non-alcoholic peach thing, which was fantastic!

And now my favorite part: on the left, you have a piece of our wedding cake, preserved carefully by my mom, and kept in our freezer for a year. You know, it wasn't bad! Way to go, Publix! In the back are the toasting glasses my mother-in-law gave us. Then there's our toasting beverage of choice: sparkling white grape juice. I promise, we're both over 21. We just don't like the taste of alcohol! Under that is one of our anniversary presents to the other. Guess who this one is from? Instead of buying gifts, we decided that every year we would write each other a letter. I think that's a tradition I'll really enjoy.

On the day we had to leave, we wept. Not really, but boy was it nice to not have any responsibilities for a couple days! This was our sit and veg until late checkout day.

Our final meal: Chipotle. Can you think of any better way to end a fantastic anniversary weekend? I think not.

On year down, 50+ to go. Hahaha. But really, I'm so thankful to be married to Mike. He's my best friend and it's been a privilege to stand by his side, serve him, and watch him grow. I'll enjoy every year I get with him.  

xoxo, A