Pictures, as promised

This is my meal at Daniel Arthur's for our anniversary weekend- described in recent post

Our champagne (with strawberries) toast to 1 year of marriage- enjoyed with cake of course!

Mom studying flowers on Summer Landscape Hike at Brucemore (see last post) & photo-op of mom & me after hike in front of main house.

A Walk With Mom

Last night my mom, Lorene, and I went on an adventure. It was her birthday present from me this year- I'm into giving gift experiences rather than actual gifts lately. Let me start by explaining that Mom is really into gardening and all things nature- Mom & Dad's backyard is like a tropical oasis of plants and flowers and trees. Mom has passed this love on to me and has been the inspiration for my new gardens and plantings at my own home this year. Mom's b-day gift this year was called a 'Seasonal Landscape Hike' and was held on the grounds of the historic Brucemore property in Cedar Rapids. We got to walk around the entire property and learn all about the master gardener's maintenance, ideas and historical integrity of the gardens and grounds. It was fascinating (that's the history major in me talking) and we just had the best time! Times like this with my Mom are truly priceless. We look forward to many more events at Brucemore- there is lots more to explore.

1st Anniversary

The man did well, my friends, very well. My hubby of exactly 1 yr (as of 3:00 this afternoon) came up with a couple of the cutest ideas ever to help make our 1st anniversary weekend very special. We had the most relaxing yet productive as well as delicious weekend!

Saturday we did quite a bit of work outside landscaping and working on house stuff- we love being able to do this because we don't often have 'free' weekends during the summer for this AND the bonus was the beautiful weather! After this, a pitcher of margaritas, a walk around the pond behind our house and chatting with new neighbor friends, we showered and got dressed up all cute for our dinner reservation at Daniel Arthur's. We enjoyed one of the most delicious meals either of us had ever had. We are talking amazing food! First we were greeted with an appetizer from the chef of a small piece of seared ahi tuna atop a piece of juicy watermelon and drizzled with balsamic glaze. Then we enjoyed warm foccacia bread with sweet & spicy jalapeno jelly. For dinner Mike ordered a surf & turf special of beef tenderloin, skatewing (fish we'd never heard of) and a potato & aged cheddar gratin. He was in heaven. My heavenly meal came in the form of the most tender and perfectly cooked bone-in ribeye (my fave cut of meat) which, get this, was then topped with the sweetest most delicious crab as well as slices of buttery avocado. The combination was fabulous and my mouth waters again as I write about it! All of this we enjoyed with a bottle of Pinot Noir from Argentina. Sigh. Perfection. We then made our way downstairs to the bar/outside eating area where we enjoyed live blues music while sipping martinis (chocolate- mint for me, dirty for Mike) and chatted the night away, reliving memories and still talking about the awesome meal we'd just enjoyed. Later at home we ate the top of our wedding cake that had been carefully frozen and Mike surprised me with champagne and strawberries to go with it. The cake was as good as it was the day we married- believe it or not!

The surprises from Mike continued as yesterday morning I was awakened with a plate of fresh fruit and glass of mimosa in bed. It was so freaking cute I almost cried. All yesterday we spent more time outside- Mike working in the garage organizing and myself reading and catching some rays. I'll add some pictures of us and our food as soon as I get them uploaded.

Today is the actual day of our anniversary and I'm filled with all sorts of emotions. One of them being sadness which I wasn't expecting. I think I'm sad for how fast the year went and that I can't make time stand still because if I could I'd probably be a newly-wed forever. Although once I did hear that 'newly-wed' is a state of mind so I'm trying to embrace that and try to remember and always keep fresh all those feelings of hope and happiness that come with the decision to join your life with that one person forever. Here's to my hubby and the first year of our life together- it was awesome and I love you!

Anniversary Weekend!

This weekend Mike & I will celebrate our 1st Anniversary of marriage! The actual day is Monday, June 23rd. I can't believe it has been one year already! I have no idea what is in store for me yet because Mike said he'd take care of everything. He's a little bummed because the flooding ruined some of his original plans but I have faith in him and I'll let you know next week how he did :)

Happy weekend!

a big wet mess

After taking 2 days of (involuntary) vacation because all my routes to work were blocked due to flooded roads, I am now back at work and entering normal routine again. It was very odd not being able to travel wherever we wanted. It was also a little tough to have to abide by water restrictions but ultimately this helped me realize how dependent I am on the things we take for granted every day- like flushing the toilet after every use and showering every day. Mike and I were a little greasy-haired but none worse for the wear. We have a pile of dishes waiting to be washed in the dish washer and a few loads of laundry in the wings but we are so very grateful to be high and dry as well as grateful for life's every day luxuries and all we have been blessed with.

The recovery of our hometown Cedar Rapids will be long and hard and we are praying for the businesses and homes as they rebuild.

This is map of how far the flooding of the Cedar River in Cedar Rapids extending beyond it's normal banks.

This is a picture of Zins Restaurant in downtown Cedar Rapids and the water line showing how high the water got in their building. Mike & I had plans to eat here soon, we had a coupon for free dessert & wine to celebrate our upcoming anniversary. Hopefully one day we'll get there!

Yikes!

Well the flooding issues here in Iowa have gone from bad to scary bad. I just realized today that once I get home tonight I may not be able to get into work tomorrow or Friday due to road closings of basically every route imaginable from my home to work.

It is becoming tragic around here in Cedar Rapids & Iowa City as well as my hometown of Waterloo and surrounding Cedar Falls. Thoughts and prayers with all the people affected- especially my sister & brother-in-law who had to evacuate from their downtown Main Street apartment in Cedar Falls. Thank God they live on the top floor so their belongings should be safe.

This is an aerial shot of lower City Park in Iowa City. The Shakespeare Theatre is the round building in the background and the bottom left hand corner is the top of Mayflower dorm.

Hubby of the Year

Mike, my hubby of almost a year is hereby nominated for Hubby of the Year award. He sat through Sex & The City (the movie) with me yesterday. I LOVED it, he struggled. 2 hours & 15 minutes of fashion, wedding talk & romance- thank you Mike :)

This is a picture of Mike striking a 'senior picture pose'- he doesn't normally just stand there looking off in the distance like this- I swear.

Bragging Rights

I am going to brag here for a second because I'm just so gosh-darn proud of myself these days! Earlier this year my sister inspired me to try keeping track of and counting calories daily. Along with this and joining a gym in March, I have succeeded in losing 8-10 lbs! Go me, go me! I say 8-10 lbs because if I'm going from my weight last December (holiday season) it is 10 but 8 if I go from where I started in March. Either way I'm super proud of myself because I have SUCKED in the past at working out- I hate it, actually. I haven't gotten over the gym hate but for some reason I am sticking this out so far- it is probably because of the gym fee I don't want to go to waste. My inspiration throughout has been the approaching swim-suit season- I just want to feel better in my bikini this year- wish me luck in keeping it up!

JamPackedWeekend

Well I don't think I could've packed more into this last weekend if I tried. Enjoyed the show & fireworks at My Waterloo Days Friday night as well as some catching up time with Mom. Saturday morning Mom & I went to cheer on my sister Jessie & brother-in-law Chris at their first 5K race- they did great! Mom & I made home-made signs and parked ourselves in someone's driveway along the route. We cheered on everyone that ran past us & really screamed loud for Jessie & Chris. This was slightly embarrassing but worth it because of how grateful everyone was for a little bit of encouragement! I think we were the only people cheering along the route so we were a welcomed sight for weary runners. Check out Jessie's blog for more details about the 5K.

Next we enjoyed the Cedar Falls Farmer's Market together and had sushi for lunch (I never get sushi because my hubby Mike would rather eat dirt than seafood so I always jump at the chance) and after that Mom bought me some more flowers for my garden at home.

Then I headed back home to spend the rest of the weekend with Mike. The gorgeous weather was just calling us to take our Harley for a ride so we explored Lake McBride State Park and took a hike to the spillway. This hike caused some major thirst so we stopped for a beer at the nearby golf course on the way home. The rest of the night we spent grilling brats, watching a movie and playing Mario Cart on Nintendo Wii which is by the way THE most fun Wii game yet!

Yesterday we woke up and decided it was the perfect day for golf so we headed to the Amana Colonies golf course which we are members at for an early 18 holes to start off the day. Gorgeous course+gorgeous weather-ridiculously bad gnats and bugs=pretty good time. The rest of Sunday was spent napping & reading in my hammock. Sigh. Perfect.

What a weekend!