Maaaainnneee

Portland Head Light

As promised, Jake and I went to Maine for five days to celebrate our 2nd wedding anniversary and it was a-w-e-s-o-m-e.  A little known fact is that despite being together forever this trip marked the first time we flew on a plane with each other.  Isn't that strange?  

Anyway, we left for Boston at o'dark thirty and once there, took the "downeaster" to Portland.  Portland is a foodie town right on the water.  There are tons of shopping boutiques, breweries, restaurants, and art galleries... it's definitely my kind of town.  We did a little shopping and a lot of eating and walking around for two days, it was the perfect balance.

Next on the list was Newry which was a couple hours from Portland and is best known for the Sunday River ski resort turned Fall festival when we passed through.  This town made it on our list as a way to break up the trip and gave Jake an opportunity to get some exercise in by signing up for their 12 miles Mountain Epic trail run.  He asked if I wanted to do it (or one of the shorter distances) but I think you all know what my answer was.  He ended up doing well despite spending the first 30 minutes straight running uphill and having to climb 8 summits total.  Are you starting to see how appropriate naming the race, Mountain Epic, was?  (As a side note, Jake is using the word "epic" way too much since we've been home).

After just one day in Newry, we finally made our way to Bar Harbor... and it was worth the wait!  There wasn't a thing about the town of Bar Harbor that I didn't like.  We rented a small cabin close to Acadia and spent most of our time in the park sightseeing.  I have a good story to share about one of our park adventures but that's worthy of its own blog, so stay tuned.

We wrapped up the trip by driving back down the coast, stopping in Freeport, and spending just a few hours in Portland again before catching the bus back to Boston.  I had such a great time and was happy to celebrate our anniversary together in such a fun place!  If Maine isn't already on your radar as a travel destination it should be now.  I could tell you more if you're interested... for now enjoy a handful of photos from our trip!

Bass Harbor Head Light

Barn in Newry

 

Sand Beach in Acadia

Thunder Hole in Acadia

View from the top of Cadillac Mtn in Acadia

Anniversary Weekend in Manteo

 Manteo carries a lot of significance for me and Jake.  Its where we got engaged, 11 months later honeymooned, and then 12 months after that celebrated our one year anniversary!  As a matter of fact, I don't know that another town has more meaning to me right now at this stage in my life.

Since it holds sentimental value and is just over 2 hours away, it was easy enough to go there for the weekend to get away, relax, and celebrate.  We stayed at the same Inn that we did last October and made sure to hit our favorite restaurant, the Outer Banks Brewing Station.  We had plans to do dinner at Adrianna's, the site of one our all-time favorite dinners, but a wedding was going on there so we hit another local place instead.  It was a pretty chill weekend, which is exactly what we wanted!

Oh, and on Sunday we picked out a pumpkin from a Farmer's Market on the way home... something we put off last year and never got around to doing.  I'm pretty excited about it actually!  I can't wait to show you pictures after we carve it, but for now I'm keeping secret what its going to look like.

One Year!!! Can I Get a Woop Woop?

One year ago today Jake and I tied the knot!  Can you believe it?  We hardly can.  

I know a lot of people say this, but it really does feel like our wedding just happened.  I can still remember the day perfectly and its hard to tell where the past twelve months went.  A lot has changed and some things have stayed the same, but I can tell you the transition to living together after our wedding taught us a TON about one another!  Here are some things I've learned about Jake over the past year, that the 8 years of dating beforehand didn't reveal:

1. Jake loves to wear just his boxers, no matter what time of day it is.  Personally, I don't see the appeal say at 1pm on Saturday, but it's who he is.

2. Jake is isn't a morning person, despite what he might say.  Sure, he'll get up early to get a good workout in, but unless he has had breakfast its not a good time to talk to him.

3. Speaking of food, he can eat the same thing day after day after DAY and he loves to combine the strangest ingredients for these meal experiments.  A perfect example is his daily breakfast (aka his "Happy Time"): yogurt, bananas, milk, granola, and melted peanut butter... all mixed together in one bowl.  Gross.

4. Still on the subject of food, the grocery store is one of his favorite places.  Jake averages about 3 trips to the grocery store a week.  Nothing big, some bananas from Trader Joes, spinach from Kroger, and whatever else we may need come Sunday.

5. Jake isn't above reading my women's beauty and home decorating magazines.

6. He doesn't clean and he doesn't want to.  This is something I'm still working on with Jake, but so far the most I've gotten out of him is a few loads of laundry, trash taken out, and the stairs vacuumed (which actually happened for the first time today).

7. Jake has a way of showing that he does listen at the most random times.  I've found he'll do something for me based off an off hand comment or suggestion I made and forgot about myself! 

8. He is quick to forgive and forget.  So often I find myself trying to offer an explanation with my apology and every time he stops me and says he's already forgotten about it.  It's something I am trying my best to offer him as my first response as well.

9. Jake leads by example.  He is a man of God and shows me on a daily basis that our faith must be our top priority if we want everything else to fall into place according to God's plan.

10. He knows exactly who I am and happily married me anyway.  No one is perfect and being married sometimes bring those imperfections to light.  The key is to learn from them so we can love each other better.

That's just a few of the things I've learned and I'm sure his list about me would be just as awesome.  If I had to guess a few of the things he would say they'd probably be:

1. I'm a she-devil if disturbed before my alarm goes off.

2. I have really bad morning breath (I'd have to agree with him on this one, but I can't help it!  I have excellent oral hygiene).

3. I'm a good sport when it comes to what to watch on tv or rent at Redbox, unless it's multiple recordings of Colbert Report.  Don't get me wrong, I like him, but 30 minutes a day is sufficient... or else he'd record a longer show.

4. I am a treat monster... and always have been.

5. My showers last too long and I use too much toilet paper (He actually just commented, "You use a roll of toilet paper a day!" which is totally an exaggeration).

6. I spend too much time at Target.

7. I'm sensitive and speak my mind, which isn't always a bad thing.

8. At times I can be funny, but probably not as funny as I think I am (I made him laugh out loud this past weekend and was SO proud of myself).

9. I'm generous and have big heart when it comes to others, which rubs off on him.

10. I challenge him to be a better version of himself... I think this goes both ways.

There will be so much more to learn about each other over the years and I'm looking forward to it.  Nothing beats coming home every day to your best friend and being able to share life's big and small milestones with them.  It's simple, Jake is my person.

Here are just a few shots from our wedding!

Do I have to?

Our one year anniversary is coming up in exactly two months and we haven't the slightest idea about where we're going to celebrate. Tough life, I know.

The reason we want to plan a trip is because we took a short and sweet honeymoon in Manteo right after our wedding with the hope that on our anniversary we could do something more. Manteo was great but we want to travel together somewhere further. In the nine years of our relationship, we've never flown on a plane together or taken a vacation beyond the outer banks- we think our one year anniversary marks the perfect time to change that!

Some ideas we tossed around were backpacking through Scotland and Ireland or traveling through New Zealand; neither of which are now feasible considering when we want to travel and our decided budget. To be honest, I'm sort of tired of researching options. The easiest thing to do would be to go on a cruise (which I'm not too keen on for this particular occasion) or visit an all-inclusive resort in Mexico or the Caribbean (which isn't Jake's first choice). The trouble is that Jake really isn't good at or willing to make suggestions and I'm all planned out. I plan for a living and when it comes to my personal life lately I just don't want to do it. That is so not like me but its how I've been feeling.

Do you have any suggestions for fairly easy-to-plan trips? We're ok with staying in the United States. As a matter of fact, yesterday we mentioned going through Napa Valley. I'm just at a loss and this is suppose to be something I enjoy and look forward to.

Saturday

This was my favorite day from this past weekend...seriously. I woke up early and moved from the bed to the couch to watch some tv, amazing. After some time being lazy, I went for a run. It wasn't anything remarkable, but it felt good to be productive.

Jake got home from cycling soon after me and we decided we wanted to go out and do something. Jake usually approaches every day with this intense motivation for activity, but this was newer for me. We ran some errands and randomly decided to go to Conte's to check out their used bike sale. I was thinking we might find a mountain bike for Jake or a beach cruiser for myself but we had no such luck. Jake sneakily told the sales associate we wanted information on a entry level cycle for me...umm, no thank you. I have definitely mentioned that I'd like to get into the sport, but not yet!!! We looked at a few bikes and I politely refrained from mounting/test riding any of them. Honestly, I can barely get on a regular bike without almost falling over (graceful, I know) so the thought of climbing onto the something supported by 1/2" wide tires is terrifying. To avoid this fear, I quickly turned the focus on to Jake, he is the one who is counting down til graduation so he could make this type of purchase anyway. A lot of questions were asked and answered and after everything was said and done he walked out a new bike owner! There is a lot more that went into than this, but since this only takes us to about 2:00pm I'm giving the abridged version. Main details, he goes to get "fitted" this week and should have the bike by Friday. As I'm sure you've already guessed, he has made plans to cycle Saturday, and I'm sure will add on a ride for Sunday too.

After this big purchase we celebrated by painting the kitchen! I won't go into detail but here are some before and after pictures.

before

after

Lastly, this past Saturday marked being married for 6 months! We're not typically celebrators of non-annual anniversaries but Jake is a fan of unexpected celebrations...as was proven this weekend. He told me in the morning he was going to take me to Croc's for dinner and I was genuinely excited. As we were getting in the car, he got a call from his clinical instructor, Alex, asking if we could jump his car. The story was that his wife was at work and he had tried a few other people before Jake but no one was answering. Supposedly, they had just made the connection on Friday that we lived close to each other- how convenient! Anyway, I was happy to help him out and proceeded to drive out to 89th St.

The following should have been dead giveaways that Jake was up to something:

1. He suggested we bring our camera...to dinner.
2. When we left our complex (before Alex's call) he asked if taking Shore Dr. would be quicker than the interstate- it isn't if you're going to Croc's, it is if you're going to the North End...let's say 89th St. Plus, I'm awful at directions and taking the shortest route; he of all people knows this about me!
3. As we walked out, he went back to grab his jacket and asked if I wanted mine. I didn't think this was necessary...since we would be dining in.
4. He was way too excited when Alex called and even put him on speakerphone...once he hung up, he instructed me to take Shore Dr. after all.
5. When I got to 89th St. he told me to park on the street, even though I suggested it make more sense to call Alex and see where his car was.
6. Upon parking, he said Alex was killing time on the beach and we could meet up with him down there and then follow him back to his car.

As we were walking down the path to the beach I knew something was up...the picnic blanket with flowers, a handmade poster (with our names and french bulldog cut outs created by Alex and sons), and wine confirmed. Jake had coordinated this whole thing with Alex on Friday, he even recruited him to set it all up while we were painting! His plan was to have a little appetizer and wine on the beach before our 7:30 reservation at Croc's- he timed everything perfectly, I was blown away. Hallmark holidays come and go and we don't do very much, but when I least expected it he pulled something off that required actual planning. It was awesome and thoughtful.

the view