5 Years of Brannie

Five years since our first date at Cafe Lucky Noodle.

Five years since we both knew we'd found something... "the one".

Love at first sight? : ) Possibly.

But I think you really had me at "Art Vandelay".

I love you Brandon - then, now and forever.

Scene of our first date - Cafe Lucky Noodle in Eugene - pretty much the only Thai/Italian restaurant I know of.

Our first date table

You had the peanut curry (peanut Hamp) and I had a bellini and the Lucky Noodle. Yum.

Almost 4 years later the signature cocktail of Cafe Lucky Noodle, the key lime martini, would be the signature cocktail at our wedding. I guess the Lucky Noodle really is "lucky".

mmmm...key lime martini

My Wedding: The Sweetest Day

I can't believe it has been a year tomorrow since I married my husband. We wanted our wedding to be full of love with a classic yet vintage feel since we both love history. The historic La Playa Hotel in Carmel, California set the scene for our lovely day... Marrying the love of my life amidst magnolia garlands, lush garden roses, hydrangeas and lemon verbena, antique silver bowls and tea sets for centerpiece vessels, an ivory, baby blue and soft mint green color palette, an antique cake topper complete with matching blonde couple, my silver Carrie Bradshaw Manolos, amazingly clear blue skies and a beribboned wedding wand sendoff made this the sweetest day.

Anniversary Weekend in Carmel

This weekend (the 6th to be exact) is our one year anniversary... We are going back to Carmel, California, where we were married, for a romantic weekend. And the best part of this romantic weekend with the man I love? Doing a "day after" style shoot with my favorite wedding photographer - the incredible Stephanie Williams!! I sent her a picture of this gate in Carmel I have long been in love with - I think we'll get a shot or two in front of it. We're also doing pictures at the hotel where we got married, La Playa. I can't wait to share the results of our session!

Wedding Anniversaries: Paper

My first wedding anniversary is coming up this Sunday the 6th, and we are wanting to follow the customary anniversary gift theme for our gifts to each other. The first anniversary gift is traditionally paper.

From Martha Stewart Weddings:
"Paper is the first of a few years' worth of anniversary gift themes that suggest a young couple's modesty of means as well as inexpensive ways to celebrate. Symbolically, paper also signifies fragility; a new marriage is a blank page, a tabula rasa, on which to print reassuring words -- a favorite poem, say, or a love letter.
Use paper to propose a new adventure to your beloved. At top, a folded-paper boat heralds a cruise. Slip game tickets into a sports section. Julia Child's Mastering the Art of French Cooking and a recipe card announce enrollment in a gourmet-cooking course. The handy medium for exchanging phone numbers for many a couple who first meet in a bar or restaurant -- a matchbook -- bears an invitation to meet again where that first encounter took place. Tuck concert tickets into an envelope made from photocopied sheet music."

I'm trying to come up with something cute like the suggestions above for my husband, I love how all those ideas involve a paper gift wrapped cleverly in a paper item. I'm thinking a gift certificate to our favorite restaurant in Carmel, Casanova. (Carmel is where we got married and where we will be spending our anniversary). I saved a menu from there one time so I could fold it into that, but the problem is that the restaurant has gone the gift card route instead of paper!

Any other sweet paper anniversary gift ideas for me?