Our First Anniversary

Kevin and I had a slam-packed weekend to celebrate our very first Anniversary!

Friday night, I set-up a 40th birthday party on behalf of Priscilla Erwin and Orangerie Events (my lovely wedding planner that I occasionally work for when needed).  As I was picking up supplies for the party, Kevin came to my rescue to switch vehicles with me so I'd have enough room for all of the items for the set-up.  Then, he spent an evening at the driving range, while I worked myself to the bone setting up for the event.  The party was for a member of the Carolina Hurricanes Staff and was on the top floor of the Raleigh Times.  I was seriously star-struck as the guests started rolling in after the game!  Rod Brind'Amour, Glen Wesley, Ron Francis, Jim Rutherford, Eric and Jordan Staal, Cam Ward, etc.  I got home around midnight and my hubby was passed out, but I was still on a high from seeing all of the players and staff!

Doughnut set-up from the party!

Saturday, I woke up with a killer headache (most likely from my wild late night- party animal over here!) and I putzed around the house trying to get myself feeling better!  We grabbed Moe's for lunch and then came back to shower and get ready for our Anniversary photo shoot at Yates Mill Pond.  We took photos for about an hour and as soon as we left, we booked it to church and missed most of the music, but made it in time for the message.  For dinner, Kevin was craving macaroni and cheese, so we went to K&W, where I allowed him to get the tray that feeds 20 people.  Now that's true love!  And an anniversary gift for sure!  We spent the evening catching up on our favorite shows!

Sunday my love woke up with a desire to clean the entire house and quickly got me on board.  I was definitely not in the cleaning mind-frame, but I didn't have much of a choice.  We cleaned the entire upstairs and vacuumed too!  I kept saying we weren't going to have enough time to shower and get to Durham in time to see Beauty and the Beast at DPAC (one of our Anniversary treats).  And we almost didn't make it!  Kevin thought the show was at Memorial Auditorium in downtown Raleigh and we had to rush to get to the show in time.  It was a great show!  Awesome touring cast!

Selfie in the parking deck after Beauty and the Beast as we waited for traffic to clear!

We left the show and went home.  Booked some hotels for our Christmas European Adventure and then went over to TJ and Claudia's house to see Candice, Todd and Paisley, who were in town from Texas and were having everyone over to catch up.  Before we knew it, it was late and we went home and straight to bed.  (So great to see you guys!  We're coming to TX soon!)

Monday, we woke up and it was our Anniversary!!!  YAY!!!!  Of course we had to go to work, but we took our top layer of cake out of the fridge to thaw and went on our separate ways, so excited for what the evening would bring!  I left Kevin in charge of planning the night, so I had no idea what was in store.
After work, I went to get a pedicure and then stopped to pick up some balsamic vinegar that Kevin said he needed for something at work the next day (odd).
When I got home and opened the door, I immediately smelled the delicious feast he had been preparing since noon.  We weren't going out!  He had our wedding menu out as a guide and was making everything we ate during our reception.  The balsamic was for our appetizer!  That trickster!

The table set-up!  He did such a GREAT job!

I had an itinerary: Pour a glass of wine from our Honeymoon in Napa and take a bubble bath.  I was hungry, so we went ahead and enjoyed caprese skewers as an appetizer.  Then I went for my bubble bath.

Caprese skewers appetizer

I was BLOWN AWAY!  Rose petals lead up the stairs and the bathroom had been decorated so nicely for my relaxing bath. (No wonder he wanted help cleaning on Sunday!)

I relaxed in the bath and read some while Kevin finished up dinner.

Bubbles, wine, candles, a book: PERFECTION!

Then I came back downstairs and we enjoyed salad (with apples, caramelized onions, gorgonzola cheese, walnuts and cranberry dressing-hands down the best thing I've ever eaten in my life), salmon with a maple glaze, pork covered in mushrooms and cheese, chicken with Kevin's homemade cranberry, ginger and apple chutney, and rice pilaf with veggies.  We ate as we listened to the audio recording of our wedding ceremony.

This was truly a feast!

Next we ate our year-old cake!  It was pretty dang delicious!

Then we exchanged gifts!  I was adamant that the gift had to be traditional paper for our first anniversary and Kevin didn't disappoint!  He made me a "love bucket" and put in slips of paper with things he loves about me written on them (he's AMAZING).  I made him an "I love you because...." that we now need to frame so we can write why we love each other in dry erase marker and change it often!  The Beauty and the Beast tickets were also paper and a gift for both of us!

On the topic of tradition, I had asked to receive orange blossoms since they're the official first anniversary flower.  They're probably out of season and I was nervous that Kevin wouldn't find them or wouldn't even think about it.  He did think about it and he did SO MUCH BETTER than orange blossoms!  Thanks to a hint from Christi (thank you baby!), he got me my bouquet from our wedding day.  It was gorgeous and brought back so many memories from our wedding day!  It was PERFECT!  Thank you Gregg for arranging this beautiful bouquet!

But our fun didn't stop there! Tuesday night was our first Canes game of the season and we enjoyed getting back to the arena and cheering on the Canes as they played the Blackhawks.  Wednesday flew by with so many things to get done before flying up to Vermont on Thursday.  I'll share more about that trip later!

It was a busy and festive week!  Happy Anniversary Kevin!  I love you to the moon and back!