Three Years

On the day we were married, we had dreams of our future together and the family we would build. Just three years later, it feels like an eternity has passed, yet it also feels like only the blink of an eye. I'm not sure how that's possible, but it is what it is.

Today, we have the beginnings of the family we had hoped for. We have a little girl who is so much more amazing than we ever could have known. There is so much love within these (less than) 1,000 square feet that we need to move to a bigger house. (OK, so the move might have more to do with outrageous amounts of stuff that babies/kids need, but... love sounds more romantic, so let's go with that.)

Life is good. Cheers to three years, and to many more...

I swear to you - I will always be there for you
There's nothing I won't do
I promise you - all my life I will live for you
We will make it through
Forever - we will be
Together - you and me
Oh and when I hold you - nothing can compare
With all of my heart - you know I'll always be -
right there
I believe in us - nothing else could ever mean so much
You're the one I trust
Our time has come - we're not two people
Now we are one
Yeah you're second to none
Forever - we will be
Together - a family
The more I get to know you - nothing can compare
With all of my heart - you know I'll always be -
right there

"I'll Always Be Right There" - Bryan Adams

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2.22.02

Nine years ago at this exact moment, I was getting to know the man that would become my husband.

We were sophomores in college, and we were both out at one of the local college-town bars as part of a large group of friends. It was a Friday night. I was there with my roommates. He was there with his. A few of my roommates knew a few of his roommates. One thing led to another, we all got to talking and drinking. You know how that goes, especially in college.

I was familiar with most of the guys in his group--we all lived in the same dorm building. The guys lived right downstairs from us girls, Michael included. I had seen him around (we were actually in a public speaking class together that semester), but we had never really talked.

After a while at the bar, my roommates were bailing on me. One by one, two by two, they all began packing up to head home for the night, but I was having fun and wasn't ready to go back. It was always our "rule" not to leave a girlfriend out alone, so we were discussing whether I should stay out or go back with them. The guys all reassured my friends that they would watch out for me, so I stayed behind to hang out with them. Soon, however, they were ready to go to a bar that I couldn't get into (so funny to think back on those days, isn't it?), and I was unsure of what I was going to do. But then, this guy that I had just met, Michael, chimed in--"I'll stay with her." We all agreed that Michael and I would stay behind at the bar-that-didn't-I.D.-me while the other guys went ahead, and we would meet up at the bar-that-let-minors-in-all-the-time in an hour or so.

And so I found myself face to face with this Michael guy. Just the two of us. We got to talking and found out we had a lot in common. Although college was a few hours away from home, we soon determined that we were actually from the exact same town (he just happened to go to the neighboring school district instead of the same one as me). I actually didn't believe him. I made him show me his license so I could see his zip code. :) We found out that the houses we were planning to rent for junior year with our roommates were on the same street. We both worked for the same company (different locations) back home.

Soon, it was time to meet up with the rest of the guys again, so we set out to walk to the next bar together. It was on the walk that he told me he had just celebrated his 21st birthday. Again, I didn't believe him. (Man, I was a skeptic!) Again, I made him show me his license. HA!

Despite my carding him twice on our first "date," we obviously hit it off. We unofficially dated each other for a few months before making our relationship official (meaning we were EXCLUSIVE, y'all) on April 28.

We've been together ever since.

It's amazing to look back at where we started, knowing that we had no idea then that we'd end up where we are now, married with the most beautiful baby girl we could ever dream of having.

Nine years! We're not much for celebrating little anniversaries like this, but there will never be a February 22 that goes by that I don't remember 2.22.02.

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Two Years

On June 21, 2008, I married my best friend.

Now, we are just 13 (or so) weeks away from embarking on the greatest adventure of our lives--parenthood. I am so happy to have Michael as my partner in this journey.

(If you haven't been a blog reader since the beginning, and want to see more wedding photos,
check out the slideshow I made for our anniversary last year,
or take a look at my wedding recap posts on Road to the Aisle.)

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Our Anniversary, Part Deux

Yeah, so I know our anniversary was almost two months ago already. But the thing is, we were out of town for our anniversary (which was wonderful), and we've been so busy since we got back that this is the first chance we've really had to celebrate here at home.

Normally, a second celebration wouldn't be necessary, but see... we had FREE CAKE to take advantage of.

When we met with our baker prior to the wedding, she basically insisted that we not freeze the top tier of our cake, instead saying that she would make us a new, fresh cake for our anniversary instead--for no additional cost. We thought that sounded awesome, so of course we filed that information in the back of our heads for future reference. And our wedding cake was SO GOOD, there was no way we were going to miss out on the opportunity for our free cake.

We just never imagined it would be such a challenge to find time to order and then eat it. But hey, we finally did. Yesterday, we went and picked up our cake, chilled a bottle of champagne, and had a small little celebration. We used our toasting flutes, our engraved cake serving set, and fed each other a bite of cake. Awwwww.

We did, in fact, have a little bit of actual wedding cake left over in our freezer as well. Our reception venue apparently didn't get the memo about our free anniversary cake, so they did what they normally do and saved the top tier for us at the end of the night. While we were on our honeymoon, my mom ended up slicing it up for easier storage before freezing it, and we've had a few bites here and there throughout the year. We hadn't touched it in probably six months, though.

Tonight, we decided to take a few bites of our real cake, just for good measure (then we finally threw the rest away). Surprisingly, it really didn't taste bad at all. But the fresh cake was much, MUCH better. :)


Happy Anniversary to us! (Again.)

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Anniversary Day

We knew from the get-go that today was going to be a busy day. We got out of bed at an early (but not insane) hour to get a jumpstart on it all.

But before leaving the hotel, we had to take care of business. That is, we had to get our celebratory anniversary champagne (purchased at Mumm the other day) on ice. No fridge? No cooler? No problem!

From there, we rode a trolley down to the bottom of Powell, then caught a bus to go check out the Painted Ladies. We got off the bus at Steiner Street and had to walk a few more blocks to get to Alamo Square. We thought that once we arrived, the Painted Ladies would be pretty easy to spot.

We were wrong.

I'd be lying if I said we didn't walk around the entire park without spotting the Painted Ladies. Finally, after some Googling on my BlackBerry, I was able to get the actual addresses, and we were able to find the famous ladies.

Is it wrong if I say we weren't entirely impressed? Still, we took pictures, because it was kind of a pain in the ass to get there. After all that effort, we weren't going to walk away without at least some photos.

They're pretty and all, but we wouldn't really say they were worth the trouble of getting there. That's just our $0.02.

From there, we rode a few more buses to get us to Crissy Field in Presidio Park. Our concierge had told us that this was her favorite place to view the Golden Gate Bridge.

And for good reason. It was beautiful.

We had pretty perfect San Francisco weather today. It was sunny, clear, and for the most part, comfortable.

Except right down by the water. There, it was kinda freezing. I was shocked to see people swimming in the bay. Meanwhile, I had to put on my fleece, and wished I had brought gloves. (Kidding. Sorta.)

Before hitting the beach (fully clothed, of course), we stopped at a little nearby cafe to grab a little something to eat. We shared a sandwich, and a muffin for something sweet.

We spent quite a bit of time down on the beach, just enjoying the scenery and taking photos. There were a ton of dogs running down there, so we did some dog and people watching.

Eventually, we decided we should start to make our way back toward our hotel, since we wanted to stop in there to rest up for a little while to refresh ourselves for the evening ahead.

We walked down the beach for a bit, then made our way back to the streets and out of Presidio Park. We eventually made our way back to a bus route and caught a bus back to Fisherman's Wharf before riding a trolley back up to our hotel.

After several days of so.much.walking, and especially on all these hills, we are not ashamed to admit that we are pretty tired! My legs are starting to scream at me. We rested for a while in our hotel room before making our way back down to Fisherman's Wharf and over to Pier 39.

On our agenda for our anniversary evening? A sunset cruise, then dinner.

We booked our sunset cruise through Adventure Cat. They offer both daytime and sunset cruises. We opted to pay a little more for the sunset cruise, and in the end, we were glad we did. It was pretty romantic, and the scenery was even more beautiful under the gorgeous orange glow of the sunset. Plus, we got to enjoy a couple of drinks (two apiece), and some light snacks while we sailed the San Francisco Bay.

Here are some photos from our cruise:

Since Adventure Cat is located right down on Pier 39, we were right next to the famous "Pier 39 Sea Lions." When we walked down the dock to board our boat, we saw this guy taking a snooze. Apparently, he needed some quiet time away from all his buddies, because he was all alone over there.

Michael on the boat, ready to get the show on the road.

As we were pulling away from the dock, I was able to take a few photos of all the sea lions.

With the city behind me.

Our captain, Hans. Our crew was pretty awesome, too. Since it's a relatively small boat, there were only two crew members, but we really liked them. They were great multi-taskers, helping out the captain when needed, and also serving drinks and talking to all of the passengers. Unfortunately, I've already forgotten her name, but one of the crew members even offered to give us a bunch of restaurant recommendations. We told her what kind of food we liked, and she spent some time putting together a list for us while we concentrated on enjoying the view.

From Pier 39, we set sail straight out toward Alcatraz, and sailed right around it. It was interesting to get to see it up close. After hearing a few opinions, we've decided we're not going to tour Alcatraz while we're out here. We just don't think we want to devote 4+ hours of time to tour an old prison! So it was nice to just be able to see a little more of it.

More Alcatraz.

From there, we started sailing out toward the Golden Gate Bridge. Everything was gorgeous. The water was sparkling, and we just could not have asked for a better evening.

If you do decide to do a cruise like this, I recommend wearing layers, and bringing warmer clothes than you might think you need. At first, I was wearing a long-sleeve t-shirt with a short-sleeve t-shirt over it, and a thin fleece with pants and sneakers. You'll want to be wearing shoes with rubber soles, because it can be challenging to walk across the deck when the boat is in motion.

Once the sun really started to go down, it immediately felt 10x cooler than before, so I was glad that I had brought yet another layer, which was a thick, cozy hoodie sweatshirt. Ultimately, I was happy to have so many layers!

While I was standing up at the front of the boat here, we had a minute or two of rough water. At one point, we heard shrieks from over to our left, and when I turned to look, I saw that two girls, who were standing where Michael and I had been standing not long before, had gotten absolutely soaked! I guess we had hit a wave just the right way and it had sent water shooting up over the side of the boat. Whoops! I felt sorry for them, as it was cold to be walking around with wet pants, but they seemed to be good sports about it.

As we got closer and closer to the bridge, the view was more and more spectacular. Plus, the setting sun was making the bridge's color stand out even more than usual.

We sailed right underneath the bridge, which was a unique way to get a good look at it. Pretty cool.

And then we popped out on the other side so we could see the bridge from yet another angle. Shortly after going under the bridge, we turned around to start heading back to Pier 39.

At one point, I looked back behind us to see this. It was simply breathtaking.

Back at Pier 39, the sea lions were still hanging out. Some snoozing, some making lots of noise.

Remember our friend that was napping on the dock before we left? He was still there, and still out like a light.

Once we got off the boat, we decided to walk over to the area of the pier that is best for viewing the sea lions. We couldn't help but watch them for a while. It's so funny to see them all.

This guy was particularly vocal, and rowdy, too. He jumped off the dock to take a swim for a little bit, and kept popping his head above water to continue to make noise. Eventually, he jumped back up on the dock, which was cool to watch. It's amazing how easily they can jump right up out of the water, even though they are so huge.

At this point, it was 9:00 p.m. and we still hadn't eaten our anniversary dinner. We decided to stick close by, and walked around Pier 39. We settled on going to Pier Market. Michael enjoyed some seafood, and I enjoyed some chicken. We were in particularly good spirits after our awesome sunset cruise, so we took the opportunity to relax, eat slowly, and just enjoy each other's company.

Then, we did something we hardly ever do at restaurants. We ordered dessert!

After some debate between the chocolate lava cake and the apple crisp, we went for the apple crisp. The warm apples, crusty oatmeal topping, the ice cream, the whipped cream! Who can resist?! And lord, let me tell you... so. amazing. Four enthusiastic thumbs up on this one.

Soon, we wandered out of the restaurant and easily caught a trolley back up to the hotel.

Our champagne was waiting. Normally, when I open champagne, I keep the flying cork under control by holding it in my hand and simply working it out of the bottle, or by covering it with a towel so it can't go far. This is usually to avoid injury or breaking anything in our house.

This time, since we are in a hotel room, I decided to let it fly. That thing came off with a lot of force. It was quite funny. But thankfully, even though nothing belonged to us, we still managed not to break anything.

Now, we are sitting back and enjoying our champagne, after a long but wonderful anniversary day.

Happy 1st Anniversary to my husband! <3

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One Year

One year ago, I woke up to my wedding day. And two seconds later, when it was all over, we had lived the best day of our lives, and we were married.

It's been a year. Wow.

To view this video bigger, simply click on it to take you to YouTube and watch it there.

While on the one hand, it feels like an accomplishment--an anniversary! a milestone!--On the other hand, I know that this is just one year out of many, many more. We have so much to look forward to in our future.

We will certainly be celebrating today. But we'll also be celebrating again within the next couple of weeks at home. We have anniversary cake to eat, and toasting flutes to drink champagne out of, and a unity candle to burn. We may even go back to our reception venue for dinner.

And so begins the celebration... :)

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Eleven Months

Well, how about that? This is the last monthly installment of our "mini anniversaries." Next month, we'll officially start counting in years. Pretty amazing.

I've found myself reflecting on where I was in my life one year ago. Have I ever expressed just how happy I am that I started blogging? At first, I started Road to the Aisle just for me. I was so excited to be engaged and getting married, and I wanted to chronicle the whole thing. I never expected anyone to read it, but once people started doing so, I remained motivated to blog because of it. I have always sort of felt an obligation to keep it up because of all of you, and I am just so glad I did.

I love going back and reading it all, but I especially love the entries in the month leading up to the wedding, and of course the wedding itself, and then the honeymoon. For whatever reason, those posts take me right back to that time, and I can feel the feelings--I can relive it all.

It's possible I might touch on this stuff again once we hit the one year mark, but when I look back at this post, sent from my BlackBerry, right before I went inside the church to get married? I feel the anticipation all over again. And it's funny, too, because I was standing there by myself just waiting, and trying to pass the time, and when I first thought about taking a photo and posting it on the blog, I laughed at myself. Noooo, certainly I shouldn't do that. How stupid of me, to be thinking about my blog at a time like this. But I did it anyway. Now, it's probably one of my favorite posts I ever put up on Road to the Aisle. And it doesn't even contain any words! Oddly enough, it happened to post at the exact time my wedding ceremony was scheduled to start--2:00 p.m. I look at the timestamp and I can't help but smile.

One year ago, I was preparing for a bachelorette party. Making jewelry. Hunting down late RSVPs. Designing rehearsal invitations. Trying out a spray tan. Doing funny things in my sleep. Getting licensed. Running into issues with programs (then fixing issues with programs). Indulging in a glass (or two) of wine almost every night. Bidding adieu to work for three weeks. Losing weight without even trying.

What a crazy time that was. I don't have any desire to do it again (except for maybe the effortless weight loss; that, I could live with). I'm grateful to be living a more relaxed lifestyle this year. But wow, looking back on all of that? F-U-N.

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Ten Months

Remember when I said I couldn't wait to get to the 10-month mark?

It was because I knew that by 10 months, it'd be spring. So here we are; and it is. In fact, it is supposed to be 80 degrees on Saturday, and like 75 on Sunday. Finally! Yayy!

Now we're looking forward to the big 1-year mark. We'll be in San Francisco!

Wedding-related confession: Our photographers sent us the electronic proofs of our album pages like 3-4 weeks ago and I have done almost nothing with them. I know that I want to make changes, but am completely overwhelmed by it. I don't even know how to start. At this rate, our album will NEVER be done! I wanted to have it by our first anniversary, but I highly doubt that is going to happen. :(

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Nine Months

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Eight Months

I'm actually having one of those days when it feels like we've been married longer than eight months. Usually these posts involve me talking about how quickly time is flying, and I guess that overall, it is.

But right now, I am so sick of and done with winter that these last several weeks until spring are just killing me. As a result, I wish I was posting about say... the ten-month mark instead. :)

*sigh* Soon enough.

It is still nice to celebrate yet another month of our first year of marriage, however.

Speaking of the wedding, we are still waiting on our album from our photographers. I can't wait to get it; it will be nice to go through it and reminisce. I love looking through the albums that we made for our parents for Christmas.

We're really closing in on a year now. June will be here again before we know it. I absolutely cannot wait. The warm weather, the shorter hours at work, our trip out west... not to mention all of the new babies that will be here by then. We have much to look forward to.

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Seven Months

I went through a good portion of the day thinking to myself, "January 21. January 21... why do I feel like something happens on January 21?"

As it turns out, nothing happens on January 21, but the "21" will probably always sound familiar to me.

Why? Well, because of June 21, of course.

Seven months now! Well on our way to the one-year mark.

And speaking of the one-year mark... Tonight, we booked our flight for our first anniversary trip. We're going to Seattle and San Francisco!

I was born in Seattle, but only lived there until I was 6 years old. I've been back a few times, but Michael has never been. It's been on our "list" for a while, so we figured we'd jump at the opportunity to go all of the way out there while we have the chance.

Neither of us have been to San Francisco, and we've always wanted to go, so hey--if we're going all the way across the country, we might as well take advantage of it and visit two cities instead of one.

So we're going to be spending about 5 days in Seattle, and then another 5 in San Francisco. Fun, fun! We're hoping the weather will be kind to us and it'll be beautiful for mid-June. Can't wait!

Meanwhile, we still have four more "mini anniversaries" until we hit the real one. But with the way things have been going, those will all fly by before we know it. Isn't that just the way life works?

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Six months

It's our half anniversary. Half a year already! I can't believe how quickly time is passing.

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Five months

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Four months

We've been married four months today. A third of a year!

We've officially made it longer than most Hollywood couples. Go us.

P.S. Our friends, Kristin and Keith, welcomed a beautiful baby girl to the world today. Emma Rose. Big baby girl weighed in at 8 lbs., 14.5 oz. :) Happy Birthday, Emma!

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Three months

I realized today that yesterday was our three month anniversary. Wow.

Dear Time,

Please stop passing so quickly. At this rate, my life will be over before I know it.

Thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,
Heather

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One Month!

We have been married for one month.

On one hand, it's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. On the other, the wedding seems like it was ages ago already. It's weird.

I've been getting a lot of the "So how's married life?" question. It's funny, because I'm never quite sure how to answer that one, aside from saying, "It's good! Very good." I try to come up with a more unique answer, but seriously... what do you say?

The truth is that married life--at least for us--is not much different than unmarried life. We already lived together for three years before we got married. With the wedding and the marriage, all we did was make it official.

The biggest change has just been my name. I'm still getting used to it. I honestly haven't had to use it that much yet, so in a way, it hasn't even hit me that I'm not Heather Oldlastname anymore. I always knew I'd change my name when I got married. I didn't think it was a big deal. But I'll admit to being a little bit sad on the day I was at Social Security and the DMV, "handing over" my old name for the new one. It is just an odd thing--I've spent almost 26 years of my life as Heather Oldlastname, and now I am not "her" anymore. I don't regret changing it, though. I know I'll adjust.

And I love saying "my husband" now. That's a change, too.

We are still waiting (impatiently) for our pro pictures and our video. I thought for sure we would have both by Friday of last week, but apparently everyone is running a bit behind. Hurry it up already, I want to relive my wedding!

You hear people talking about "wedding withdrawal." After spending so much time and effort planning the wedding, there are the people who are really sad when it's over and don't know what to do with themselves.

Yeah, umm... that's not me. I have not really experienced any of that. There are times when I think I'd like to go back and relive the day over again. But that's only because 1) It went by so fast, and 2) I had SO much fun.

On Friday night, we were at my mom's house for a party. At one point, I did sneak away to go "visit" my dress. It's still hanging on the back of the closet door in one of her spare bedrooms. I hadn't seen it since the day after the wedding, so it was kind of funny. It is still completely filthy. I had a lot of second thoughts about my dress between the time I bought it and the wedding day, but now, I can't imagine having worn anything else. On the wedding day, as soon as I put it on with everything else--made-up hair, professional makeup, my jewelry, the bouquet--it all really came together for me and I knew I had made the right decision.

We aren't really "celebrating" tonight. I'm just going to make dinner at home.

So here I am, on the other side. And I gotta tell you... life is good.

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