Celebrating the One Year Mark

photo of Jalama Beach from Rockhoundblog

For our anniversary, we jetted out of town for a short little trip to Jalama Beach. Sorry kiddies. No pictures. I forgot to charge my camera battery. We had a good time nonetheless.

Upon our return to L.A. we had a small celebration.

First, Rob bought me these.

I have a fondness for button mums.

According to tradition, 1st Anniversary gift is paper. So, we bought these.

A handful of lotto scratchers. The only thing we won was a free ticket.

We purchased this print from husband and wife illustrator team Kozyndan.

It's the last print in a series of prints we've been collecting. We originally started buying the series because I love ukiyo-e prints. These are not your typical ukiyo-e prints because if you look really carefully, there are bunnies throughout the piece. The bunnies are small homage to the fact that I was born during lunar year of the Rabbit.

Lastly, we ordered a customized version of this print by Jennifer Ramos of MadebyGirl. Instead of the highlighted letters spelling "Love", it will spell "Anne and Rob".

Of course, Rob made dinner.

Bone-in Ribeye Steak with Roasted New Potatoes, Carrots and Asparagus

We opted to do one more traditional thing. We had year- old wedding cake for dessert.

This is what our delicious cake from Leda's Bakeshop looked like last year at our reception.

This is the slice that I vacuumed sealed in a Foodsaver bag

Here it is with the seal broken on the bag

I defrosted the cake in our refrigerator per instructions I found on the internet. Sadly, it still tasted horrendous. I suspect it may be because I waited a tad too long to vacuum seal and freeze a piece. Thankfully, there are no photos of us actually eating the cake. The faces we made while eating the cake would probably horrify people and scare small children. I ate one bite and called it a done deal. Rob was braver than me and ate a good couple of bites. We then used the sad wedding cake as an excuse to get ice cream.

This is how we celebrated our 1st anniversary. No big fanfare, no fancy gifts. Although, I told Rob that he still owned me a kickass trip to somewhere exotic;)

At the one year mark

Rob and I got hitched a year ago today. I can't believe a year has actually passed. I know that's a really cliche thing to say, but it's true. It's had its ups and downs, but we've survived....for now. Just kidding. I like to say that we've completed the first year of a life sentence.

Group Portrait with our family and honorary family

Marriage isn't always sunshine and roses. There are moments where I really wonder what in God's green earth I was thinking when I married Rob. However, there a lots of other moments where he makes me laugh hysterically like a madwoman. He understands me in the middle of my procrastination-driven tantrums and my creative process. That in and of itself deserves a prize. He also makes sure that I NEVER starve. (That's the beauty of marrying a man who cooks for a living.) What I love most is that he has so much personality and allows me to have one of my own. Not once do I feel like I should be anyone other than myself. We do our best to live with a sense of equality. We still have a lot to learn, but we're struggling together.

With all of it and despite some of it, I can't imagine my life without him.

Happy Anniversary, Stinkerpants (Rob)! May we have many more to come:)

For some laughs, here are some previously unseen polaroids from our wedding reception. Because our wedding was so small, the majority of our wedding guests are featured at least once in this set of polaroids. The only exceptions are my mom, dad, Aunt Fely, Cicely and Gary. I'm a little miffed that they didn't get around to sharing the Polaroid Love.