10!

I am slightly behind with blogging now that the kids are out of school but Mike and I celebrated 10 years of marriage on the 29th of May. I can't believe it has been so long that we have been married and known each other (dating for 15 years this August, yikes!) In some ways it feels like we were married yesterday and in some ways, it is hard to remember life before him. We were such babies when we got married and I can't believe how far we have come since then. We literally got married, went on our honeymoon and then moved right to Charlotte so our whole married life has been here. We have bought 2 houses, seen each other through ups and downs with jobs, got one crazy and out of control puppy (who is still nuts 7 years later!) and of course our greatest accomplishment is having two amazing daughters. Through it all, we have been there for each other and loved and supported each other along the way. I am not going to pretend like we never had a fight in 10 years (although I am pretty sure every one I was right!) but even when we were mad, it never lasted too long since neither one of us are ones to be mad for very long. Mike is an absolutely amazing father and always puts me and the girls first. He is there at all their preschool events, sporting events, ballet recitals and most importantly in my mind, home for a family dinner almost every night. I love to see how far we have become and where we will in 10, 20, 30, 40, years.

May 29, 2004 - Christ the King Cathedral, Atlanta, GA

Due to the timing with work and a beach trip planned, we are taking our official anniversary trip the end of July to Maine for 5 days (kid free, woohoo) so on the actual night of our anniversary, we just cooked dinner with the girls and had some really good wine. After searching pinterest and google for 10th anniversary gifts, I did 10 presents for 10 years and wrapped them all in aluminum foil since the customary gift for 10 years is tin and aluminum. Most of them were small things like a new football for the beach, a new cooze since we like to collect them and then a couple big things like a new golf driver (and it was close to aluminum.) What is funny is Mike got me two gifts and actually had them wrapped in aluminium foil also, great minds think alike! One of this gifts is an amazing new ring that is being designed and made now and the other was an aluminum frame and inside the frame was the date 5/29/04 (our wedding date obviously). But each of the numbers were different and they were all significant in our lives so far. The 5 was from a sign outside the church we got married in, between the 5 and 2 as a spacer was a calla lilly, the flower I carried on my wedding day. The 2 is from our address sign at our new house, the 9 was from a sign outside of our favorite winery in Napa, Silver Oak. In between the 9 and 0 was a tulip, my other favorite flower. The 0 was the arch in Cabo and the 4 was from a sign outside our hotel in Positano, Italy (my favorite place on Earth). I just loved that he took the time to research and find all these special places that have meant so much to us over the years and make this all on his own for me. That is something I will cherish forever and is already displayed in my bookcase.

My ten gifts for ten years

Cheers to 10 years and can't wait until July 24th when we fly away to Maine!