The First Anniversary

This was a year ago? I can't believe it. This is right as we're about to walk out, which I think turned into a run and a squeal. Our wedding was amazingly fun but the past year has really given it a run for its money.  I have compiled a list of a few highlights from the first year as well as some of my favorite things about Kevin and being married to him.

This year we have:

1) Had many awesome meals, both restaurant and homemade. Some worth mentioning are the Greek feast Kevin made for my birthday, the Meddlesome Moth meal for Kevin's birthday, all of the chickens Kevin roasted or grilled in his quest for the perfect chicken, some homemade mac and cheese that I knocked out of the park, shrimp and grits, jambalaya, and the list could go on and on.

I love that Kevin appreciates a really decadent gourmet meal, but will also eat WHATEVER I put in front of him. I pride myself on being able to pull together a meal out of the barest pantry or fridge and Kevin will love it. I also love that Kevin and I have put value on mealtime in our first year as a family. We celebrate with a big fancy meal, we make meals with friends that turn into celebrations because the food is so good, we show love with food (we are Southern after all) and we make time to eat at our table. Sitting at the dinner table, even if its just the two of us, feels special every time we do it. I can count on one hand the number of times we've eaten dinner in front of the TV and I feel like we are building an important tradition that we will continue for years to come as the family grows (hopefully).

2) Driven a lot of miles. We drove home from New Jersey in the (new to us) party Saab, drove to South Carolina and back for Thanksgiving, drove to Hayley's house multiple times, drove to OKC, Dallas, Austin countless times, drove to Colorado for a senior trip and drove to San Antonio for our anniversary!

I love road trips with Kevin because we (almost) never get bored! A little tired or sick of being in the car? Yes. But bored of each other? Never. We just talk, laugh, sing real or made up songs, snack and generally enjoy each other's company. Listening to Bossypants was particularly fun. I most definitely never fall asleep while Kevin is driving through the night. :)

3) Reached a happy medium on the state of "laundry" in our house. Kevin contains his mess to one pile in the general vicinity of his hamper and I don't gripe about it (seriously if you saw his old room when he lived with boys you'd know the VAST improvement). If Kevin's pile starts to push the limits, I'll fold some of his clothes myself. On the other hand, I do laundry about once every 8 weeks and Kevin doesn't gripe about it.

I love that Kevin and I have found a groove of not picking on each other's tactics when it comes to housekeeping. There are bigger fish to fry than the "proper way" to wash dishes. There are way too many things to love about Kevin to get hung up on his pile. There are (I hope) way too many things to love about me to get hung up on my general demeanor before my first cup of coffee.

Which brings me to the most important thing that I love about Kevin. It may not be the most profound thing but it is the one thing everyday that reminds me that Kevin just gets me: Kevin makes the coffee everyday. Before I wake up. It is hot and ready for me to pour as soon as I get out of bed. Now THAT is my love language.

So this post about our first anniversary turned into a post about our first year. I'll leave you with pics of our celebration in San Antonio that you probably saw on Facebook and then the feast that we made last night at home. We couldn't decide on anniversary traditions to start so we did them all. We watched the video from the rehearsal dinner, watched our wedding video, read the story Kevin wrote me, looked at wedding pictures AND danced to Beauty and the Beast. I think our anniversary might be my new favorite holiday*!

Do you have any traditions you are proud of in your home? What's the state of your laundry? :) 

*Tied with Christmas of course

The Day Hayley Did Me a Solid

Does that even make sense? Who cares. I am working on a post about our first anniversary but it is taking forever because thinking about it makes me too emotional for spring break. It feels like yesterday and feels like a million years ago, all at the same time. In the meantime, I have scored some major loot in the process of celiac dominating 40% of the women in my family (sorry girls :/ ). The greatest thing so far is this:

Protein powder! It may not look like much, but it is something I never buy for us but frequently wish I would/could. Bringing this home motivated me to 1) work out really hard this morning and 2) try something new in the Magic Bullet. I have it in my head that I need/want to eat more beets. I think it is mostly because of how pretty they are and how they make the kitchen look like a murder scene. I have tried the Berry UpBeet smoothie from Jamba Juice and it is good but the "beets" come from "red veggie juice." I think Jamba Juice is pretty conscious of the stuff they put in there but that is just a little too vague for me. So I whipped up this post-workout smoothie today:

See what I mean about pretty?! All I did was peel a beet, cut it up into chunks, and put about a third of the chunks into the Magic Bullet cup (I saved the other chunks for future smoothies). I added half of a frozen banana, a handful of frozen berries (strawbs, blueberries, raspberries and blackberries I think), a scoop of the protein powder and then filled it up with milk. Blend and voila! I think next time I'll add more frozen fruit so it will be a little thicker. For a first try it was really delicious! I could smell the beets but not taste them. The vanilla in the protein masked any bitterness. I will definitely make this again! I would like to find a way to include probiotics in this smoothie but prefer the smoothie texture with milk over yogurt. Any suggestions? Do they make probiotic powder? 

Thanks Hayley for making my week!