3 Years

I can hardly believe that three whole years have passed since we said vows and promised to be a team forever. So much has changed in these years- for better or for worse, and we made the best of it all together. Never once in the past 1096 days did I ever want to quit or give up. This life journey we're on wouldn't be nearly as exciting without my partner. Husband of mine: you are the greatest! Here are some of the highlights these past three years:

We've lived in 2 different states, and 4 different homes.

We've had 8 different jobs between the two of us (5 for me, 3 for him).

We've bought 2 cars and a scooter.

We've travelled high and low; in cars, planes and boats.

We've loved and lost our first pet.

We've spent holidays with family, and alone.

We've gone on adventures in our cities and eaten all kinds of amazing foods.

We've run for miles and miles together, and biked a few too.

We've stayed up late talking about all the things that may come next.

We've watched countless movies and tv shows together on our brown leather couch.

We've acted like kids and fought over who does the dishes next.

We've jumped in the snow and lounged in the sand.

We've gone on hundreds of dates.

We've made new friends, and felt thankful for the old ones.

We've gone to sporting events and concerts.

We've watched dozens of friends get married as well.

We've cooked, and baked and hiked and climbed and all the while... we have loved.

But the greatest thing that we've done in all three of these years? We made a BABY! and he's the sweetest and squishiest little baby there ever was. Thank you Keith for giving me Jonah. If he grew up to be just like you, I would have no complaints.

Marriage has made us the best of friends, and now it has made us parents too. Here's to many more fabulous years together!

First Birthday

I can't believe I couldn't manage to write this post last week, but... our favorite little car is officially ONE YEAR OLD! Can you even believe that one year ago Keith and I were newlyweds fresh off our honeymoon and car-less. Stressful? Eh, we've seen worse. Our first and only post wedding/vacation task was to find a car we wanted and buy it... and THAT is how Marty came to be. The first car we have ever bought and shared together that was only made possible due to the amazing blessing of wedding gifts. We have had some awesome adventures in Marty in the past year including trips to: Washington, DC, New York City, Boston, Atlanta, Lexington, North Carolina and moving to NASHVILLE! Just this weekend we replaced his original Pennsylvania license plate for a Tennessee one which was a little bittersweet, but we will always remember his first home of Philadelphia and cherish how much easier this little car was to park on our street than our SUV haha. Now that we're in Nashville Marty hasn't had as much of an easy time, and unfortunately we've been rear ended twice in less than a year. Hopefully that won't be a trend moving forward in our car owning life, but Marty is tough and we're just so thankfully to have a reliable vehicle to call our own. Celebrating a car's birthday may seem a little odd to the average person, but when your only means of transportation breaks down a week before your wedding and you come back from your honeymoon with enough money to buy a car, you feel pretty lucky to have it and take any chance you can get to celebrate haha.

A photo from the week we bough Marty.

So where will you take us next little car? I cannot wait for more road trip adventures with my family, and it's our hope that Marty will be part of that family for many more years to come. So hey Nashville drivers! Quit running into us!

For some more photos and stories about Marty click here and here.

Past/Present

Keith and I are currently counting down the SECONDS until we leave for vacation this week. We are so ready to get out of town and our trip to the beach in North Carolina is the perfect solution. I think I mentioned this before, but we are joining my parents and some family friends in Bald Head Island which is a small marshy, beachy island where there are no cars allowed and we'll have 5 days of absolute relaxation. My family and I have vacationed here twice before and they were some of my most memorable summer trips so naturally I cannot wait to share that experience with Keith. We have a house for the week right on the river, with golf carts and bikes to get us around the island and to the beach every day. I am really looking forward to watching the sunset each night with a glass of wine in my hand and late night chats and games out on the porch. Can you tell I'm already in vacation mode? Just two days of work and 12 hour drive through the night stand between us and bliss. I hope that we're making you jealous because we've been pretty darn jealous of everyone else's summer trips haha

In an effort to prepare myself for our island trip, here are some photos from the last time I was at Bald Head... it was the summer of 2005 just after my junior year of high school:

Dad. Lighthouse.

View of the house we rent.

Parents on the porch. Looking forward to being able to drink wine with them this time haha

Surf.

Dunes. 

Boardwalk to beach.

Tree covered trails for biking/golf carting.

View of the river from our house.

Me texting someone because I was probably bored. I was a teenager....

Having an animated conversation on the tram ride to our house.

Probably my favorite photo of my parents. Always makes me laugh haha

Kite.

Pool.

"Old Baldy" the lighthouse.

Photos compliment of my uber artsy older brother Jake... and I expect some major props for remembering my photobucket login in order to post these haha.

Flashback

One year ago today Keith and I managed to gather the most amazing crowd of people to witness us exchange vows, and to celebrate the joy of love together with us. It was a day that I will never forget, and that we've spent the weekend sharing stories about and laughing at all the crazy things that happened. This year FLEW by, and we learned so much about marriage and life and love and respect. I wouldn't take back any of those difficult moments for all the good things that have come out of it. Marriage is hard, but thankfully I have an amazing partner in crime.

Thank you Keith Richards for the most amazing year of my life so far... I look forward to all the wonderful adventures that we still have ahead of us :)

Here are some photos from our wedding that you may not have seen before:

The production that was hanging our alter.

Getting settled for our outdoor ceremony.

Mom doing flower arrangements.

Probably stressing over table arrangements (and clearly before hair and makeup haha)

Steve trying to be a bridesmaid.

Center pieces.

Guys getting ready at the hotel... livin the highlife courtesy of my brother.

Writing his vows :)

Readying...

Trying hard to keep my eyes open for pictures... SO SUNNY!

DJ Bert.

The only thing I was nervous about was all those people watching me haha

I was crying so much, and he was so sweet to me. 

Sweaty hands.

Crying again as he sang to me. 

Laughing at each other.

Goof balls.

The lovely Dane and Deb, who married us and organized the chaos.

Sibling love.

Saying hello to Matt, Eve, Sara and Drew who were in Prague haha

That cake was pretty hard to cut. 

Party scene from the DJs table.

Headed out!

Life of the party Dad.

Writing this post has been an excellent excuse to go through all of our albums of wedding photos together and reminisce a bit. I miss all the people in these picture and as much as I'm glad we got to lounge today, a little part of me wishes we were all back in Boca tonight having a KILLER party. Our reception is a night I don't think anyone will ever forget for a long time. As much as I was pushed to my stress limits through the wedding planning process, the night that we had with all our closest friends and family made every second worth it. Thank you to everyone who joined us, and made that day such a joyous occasion for Keith and I. One year later we're still talking about how amazing that day was, and I hope that we continue to tell these stories for many more years to come!

Now if only we were headed out on our honeymoon tomorrow....

Zoo Date

Today Keith and I celebrated our anniversary by taking a trip to the zoo. I LOVE zoos and I'm always excited to check out the zoo in any given city. Since our first date ever was at a zoo four years ago, it seemed like a cute little bit of nostalgia that we check out the zoo here in Nashville today.

Ready for a little now and then action? Here are some shots from August of 2007, on our first date:

Keith's favorite picture of me.

Two years of beard growth and I still thought he was cute haha

and here are some shots from today:

I made a kissy face, and this camel got within centimeters of my face haha

Clouded Leopard kittens!!!

By far my favorite of the day, they were so cute and playful! I wanted to take them home.

The red pandas weren't in their exhibit today, but I found an even CUTER red panda ;)

In honor of the first photo ^

In honor of our polaroid with the giraffes...

Of course, we didn't have our arms around each other then because we were too nervous to even hold hands haha

It was a great day :) I had heard things about the zoo in Nashville not being great, but we saw everything we wanted to see, and had a lot of fun. We were definitely the only people there without kids, but thankfully it wasn't too hot and we got to relive some first date moments. Four years ago we were just a couple of kids with a crush, and now this weekend we get to celebrate one amazing year of marriage. Love you best friend!

Now to get ready for a night on the town and dinner at the Eastland Cafe...