8.29.09

                                                                 photo credit: Karen Tamaki 

Taylor Swift's new album Lover was released last week. This was an August album drop, however most of her other release dates have been right around my October birthday. In years past, I'd use it as an excuse to peruse the aisles of Target, stopping at the music section and putting the CD in my red Target basket (I was especially tickled pink when the Red album release day was on my actual birthday).

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Happy Anni to Us!

Today is our ninth wedding anniversary! Nine years ago Max and I said I do, and I'd choose this man every day, over and over again. I can't imagine a better partner, friend, Dada, cheerleader, protector, bug killer, air conditioner installer, deal finder, navigator, dish washer, smart house creator, caretaker, travel companion, adventure seeker, answer-giver, or all-around fixer of all the things. How did I get so lucky? Oh right, match.com 😉

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10 Years

Ten years ago today, I met the love of my life! (The man, not the goat, obvi 😉)

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Mimi Gets Married!

Is this the most perfect picture ever? Last month, Max's sister was married in pretty much the most perfect wedding ever! And spy the little guy on stage? Parker did his job as ring bearer like a boss, smiling to everyone as he walked down the aisle and having his best manners on stage during the ceremony! #proudparent

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The Bronze Anniversary

Husby and I have been using the "traditional anniversary gift" suggestions for anni gifts from the beginning (and when I say beginning I'm talking first anniversary, which is paper. Husby got all the brownie points for giving me a paper photocopy of a bracelet and then busting out the real diamond one 😍). Anyway, I love that it gives us a jumping off point each year for presents (and we actually toggle back and forth between the traditional and modern suggestions depending on the year). We've done practical (I've purchased a new belt for Max for the leather anniversary, and a polo shirt in a shade of turquoise like the water from our Bora Bora honeymoon for cotton), goofy (our faces on M&Ms for candy), cutesy (framed photos of ourselves together for wood), and responsible (a new dishwasher for appliances after ours broke - it was actually quite fancy and I'm still sad we had to leave it in Arizona when we moved!).

This year was our bronze anniversary. We celebrated with dinner out at The Bottle, where I reserved the famed Mafia Table (this fun booth in the corner window - we spotted a couple doing a celebratory dinner there earlier in the summer and I knew we had to have it!). Old Frond (my newest obsession) did the amazing floral arrangement for the table - it made the dinner so much more festive and fun! This was us spotting our table before entering the restaurant 💓

I'm still angling for a return to Tahiti for our 13th anniversary (😉), but dinner out with my love was just perfect for this anniversary. It fell on a Tuesday, and during this busy season of life, an uninterrupted meal for just the two of us is a rarity.

Plus, it was delicious to boot. I went with the pear salad (the honey pearls were my favorite) and the duck with foie gras sausage. Yum.

The corner table is so much fun - I loved being able to people watch and enjoy the light since sunset is still relatively late this time of year. 

Anniversary dessert is always a yes. 

So what did we do for our traditional gifts? I found "bronze" (I'm pretty sure they were just bronze colored) collar stays on Etsy that I could have hand stamped. Since husby uses collar stays almost every single day (he dons button-ups to work) I thought he'd like these sweet personalized ones.

And husby went "bonze-ish" as well with this new chandelier! It's the same model fixture we had above our dining table in Scottsdale, and I pretty much cried having to leave it when we moved, so I was all kinds of excited about this new one!

But those crystals! Right?!? So ooey gooey!

Does anyone else do traditional gifts for anniversaries? 

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8 Year Anni!

Eight years ago, this handsome guy and I said I do. I could go on and on about him, how happy I am that I found him, how I can't imagine life without him, but this screen shot from my phone pretty much sums up how lucky I am:

This was earlier in the month. I had spent the weekend in California for my sister's baby shower (she had the baby the day after I left, but that's another story). Max and Parker stayed in Alabama and had a boys weekend, which I completely took for granted because that's just my husband #bestdadever.

Anyway, I was returning on the Sunday night before Parker's first day of school, and my San Jose to Dallas flight was majorly delayed. To make the small commuter plane (the last one of the night!) from Dallas to Huntsville, I was going to have to run. At 5:54pm we were still taxiing, and I needed to change terminals before the 6:30pm takeoff (yes, takeoff, and you know they close those doors early). What did my husband do? He had been tracking everything, and as soon as I landed at DFW and turned my phone on, these messages came up. The exact route to get to my connecting plane. This isn't even the first time he's done this - if I'm traveling solo I'll frequently get a connection reminder with gate information from him, and when I'm flying on Southwest he always sets an alarm and checks in for me (which is important on Southwest because you want those early numbers to choose your seat!).

Max is always looking out for me, taking the best care of me and Parker both, and it's so incredibly sweet and comforting. So, did I make my flight?? Well, I didn't get off the plane until 6:15pm (thanks to our gate being occupied). I did the jet bridge sprint to the Skylink, raced to my gate, and somehow made it. I was the last one on before they closed the doors and I pretty much passed out in my seat. Such is life lately! With Max's crazy hours at work and added business travel, we definitely haven't been able to even see each other as much as we'd like (I kid you not when I say he was at work until one in the morning one night last week, and is only in town three days next month because of business travel). But I also know that this is a season, and it won't last forever. His work ethic, after all, was one of the reasons I fell in love with him!

So tonight we'll celebrate with a fancy dinner out, just the two of us, no cutting up food for the chatty four-year-old at the table ;) Cheers to eight years!

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Love & Mexico

 

A few weeks ago, Max and I were able to sneak away on a mini vacation to Mexico! My sweet friend from college, Jamie, planned a destination wedding there at the end of October, and there was no way I was going to miss it! Mexico is also a special place for us as it's where Max whisked me away to after he proposed (almost exactly eight years ago!). Gigi came in from Dallas to stay with little man, so Max and I were traveling fancy free! Flying without a child? It's downright luxurious.

Faux Leather Backpack - perfect for flying!

We both belong to the Global Entry program which gives us TSA pre-check when going through security (I wrote about Global Entry here back in 2014). Y'all, if you are traveling anytime soon and don't have pre-check, get it now. In addition to allowing us to keep shoes and light jackets on, we get to also leave laptops inside our bags and enjoy an expedited line (and when Parker is in tow, he gets the perks as well). In short, we get the special treatment which I'm all about :) It gets even better when coming back into the U.S. and going through Immigration and Customs - Global Entry participants have individual computer kiosks to use, and also get expedited entrance. Immigrating back into the U.S. we were done in minutes. Score.

Mexico and my love! The wedding was held at an all-inclusive resort in Playa Las Mujeres, about 40 minutes north of Cancún. We'd never stayed at an all-inclusive before, and we were so happy to be greeted by name with fresh cold hand towels and champs.

All the special touches did not go unnoticed! We had fresh fruit and more champs left out in our room, and turndown service each night (my favorite!). The weather was on and off rainy - here I am below taking a respite from the showers with one of the swim towels.

I totally took advantage of the coffee shop's cappuccinos on all three mornings...

And the days were spent here...

...with drink service everywhere. I'm not sure I've ever had so many blended beverages. And they were fantastic :)

Happy Wifey.

Normally we'd be in the ocean - but it was red flag days the entire time we were there. Don't forget that the last time I was in Mexico, I got terribly sea sick on our dive boat, so I wasn't too keen on getting in choppy water anyway. I do miss scuba diving fiercely though - husby, take note ;)

Instead, there were books to be read, flowers to be adored, spa therapy to do - basically heaven on earth for two parents of a little one. 

And always more coffee.

Saturday evening was the wedding! Friday night was super windy and rainy, but come ceremony time the weather was perfect.

How heavenly does my beautiful friend Jamie look here with her dad?

The ceremony was heartfelt and I definitely shed a few tears. I've known the glowing bride for - wait for it - sixteen years. We met as freshmen in the dorms at UC Santa Barbara, and I can't even tell you how thrilled I am for her happily ever after.

Plus, I was there with this handsome date.

You know, my husband of seven years.

Us with the happy couple - Mr. and Mrs. Moss!

The reception overlooked the sunset on the water. Everyone was barefoot halfway through :) I splurged on a new Lilly dress for the occasion and it was worth every penny. Really, though, when isn't Lilly Pulitzer worth it? I absolutely adore every Lilly piece I own. They are well made, comfortable, and always flattering.

 After dinner we danced the night away!

Thank you to Jamie & Brandon for the fabulous idea of a destination wedding and a getaway for these happy parents! Our appreciation to Gigi as well for taking the best care of our little man while we were away. Adiós, México!

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Cheers to Seven Years

Seven years ago today we became husband and wife. It somehow both feels like it was yesterday, and also a lifetime ago. 

Seven years ago today...

I still had a California Drivers License. Max and I had just moved into a rental house in Scottsdale where Max had landed his first post-Ph.D. job. I had known my husband for less than two years - this is the funniest part because I really can't imagine life without him now. 

Seven years ago today, we had no idea we'd one day be living in a sixty-year-old house in Alabama. That we would have a son who is the light of our lives. That Max would be driving a salvaged Porsche Carrera that he rebuilt entirely himself. That the blog I recently started would still be going seven years later. 

But we did know we wanted to be together forever and ever. That we wanted to face life's joys and challenges as a team. I picked this handsome genius of a groom, and I'd pick him a million times over. 

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Seasons Change, So Do Cities

Los Gatos, 2009

Six years ago today, Max and I were in California, saying I do. I had no idea that six years later we'd be living in Alabama. And you know what? Max didn't either. That's the amazing, fantastic thing about marriage: you get a partner in life. Every challenge, every opportunity, every joy, every decision over these last six years, we've shared. And put most simply, my husband makes me happy. There is no one I'd rather be with, whether we're on a boat in the ocean or sitting in traffic on a freeway. His intelligence keeps me on my toes, his humor makes me laugh, and I'm floored every day by the way he takes care of me and puts me first. It's humbling, it's flattering, and quite often I wonder what I did to get so lucky.  

My favorite Carrie Bradshaw quote starts: "Seasons change, so do cities..."

I've alway's taken the "seasons" as referring to the seasons in life. When Max and I met, we were both in our own respective young twenty-something seasons, living in California's Bay Area.


San Francisco, 2008

It was a beautiful season, as were the newlywed years. Hopping on a last minute flight to Vegas? Check. Scuba diving with sharks? Check. Sleeping in on the weekends? Double check. But, "seasons change and so do cities" - we moved from the Bay Area to Scottsdale, and from Scottsdale to Huntsville. And boy has our season changed; we're in the New Parent Season. The "we don't get nearly enough sleep" season. The "look at each other and burst out laughing because our toddler is being ridiculous" season. It's not as relaxing, we definitely don't have the freedom we did before, but somehow this is the best season yet. Becoming a parent with my husband, and sharing life as a family is amazing in ways I'll never be able to describe.

Scottsdale, 2013

I can't tell you the number of times we are stopped by older people when we're out and about with our son, always getting the same advice: to enjoy this time because it goes by fast. Most of the people doling out this advice have kids in college, and I can see the sadness in their faces about the fact that their babies are grown. The New Parent Season is tough, for sure, but it's incredible and I can already tell it's fleeting - and just like those people giving us advice, I'm going to miss it terribly. Our little baby is somehow already two! I think Max and I are both acutely aware of the fact that this season will be gone in a blink, so we treasure every snuggle, every giggle, every story time with our sweet little man.

Huntsville, 2015

To my husband of six years: thank you for making me a wifey and a mamma! Happy Anniversary! 

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5 Years: The Wood Anniversary

I wrote last month about how I try to find anniversary presents every year that follow the "traditional" gift for that year (read here to take a look back on past year's presents). This year's traditional gift was wood. I wanted something I would be able to bring to Mexico so I could give it to Max on the actual day. I ended up having one of Max's favorite photos of me and Parker printed on wood: 

It's a new product that Shutterfly now offers. The wood grain definitely shows through, so the picture quality isn't what you'd get had the photo been printed on paper or canvas, but I think that's kind of the point. It's something different and unique. 

Max also went the "traditional" route this year - he brought wooden framed photos of the two of us and placed them all around our suite while I was sleeping so I got to wake up to them! I loved taking a walk down memory lane, and it made our room so homey seeing or faces everywhere! I always want to travel with framed pictures now!

One of the pictures was of our engagement weekend, taken at dinner at one of the Fiesta Americana's restaurants (the open-air outdoor one on the ocean - it's fabulous). 

So what did crazy me want to do? Take the picture with us to dinner at the very same restaurant. So we did. I think the waiter got a kick out of it.

Perhaps that's why we were given special cake?


At the end of the meal, our server asked if we wanted coffee. We thought coffee sounded nice as there was a big thunderstorm on the horizon and we wanted to watch the lightning on the ocean for awhile and listen to the rain (we actually had to move closer to the center of the restaurant as we were getting wet at one point because the storm had kicked up). Anyway, our server asked if we wanted to try Mexican coffee, which we agreed to without question. We figured it would have cinnamon and maybe brown sugar and cream. Um, no. If you are ever offered Mexican coffee, please know it's flambéed coffee liqueurs. And tequila. It does come with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top and a sugared rim, but y'all this stuff was no joke.

I think I mentioned before that the staff at Fiesta Americana was super kind, but our server Oscar even went out of his way to make sure we kept dry on our way back to the main hotel. The storm was still raging when we were done, so Oscar led us underground through the super-secret staff passageway by the resort's kitchen and flower arranging area, up through the main hotel's (closed for the night) restaurant, all so we wouldn't get wet! 

Next year's traditional gift? Iron. I think I'm going to need a whole year to figure out a gift for that one! 

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