Anniversary “Surprises” and a Giveaway Reminder

{we heart it}

Hey there lovelies, happy Monday!  Before I type another sentence, I just want to say a huge heartfelt thank you for all your sweet words and anniversary wishes this weekend.  You all are beyond amazing!  Saturday was super wonderful, and I am so grateful for not just a special day, but a fabulous husband who worked hard to make it so.

A quick funny story about our celebration and attempt at “sneaky” thoughtfulness…Matt and I were expecting the top tier of our wedding cake to arrive from our baker on Friday morning.  (It was part of our wedding cake package that they’d recreate the top tier for our 1st anniversary.)  Well, the baker sucked, forgot to send it, and failed to call us to let us know.  Umm, awesome.  I was semi fine with it; Matt was definitely not.  As I left the house that morning for work, I Googled the number for a local baker in Chicago hoping they could pull a miracle in a few hours.  I found someone who had a few cakes similar to our top tier, but as I got off work, I got a text from Matt saying, “I know you’re probably going to go get a cake after work, but don’t worry about it.  It’s fine, we’ll get one later this week to celebrate.”  Dang, he knows me too well.  So instead, I walked to the restaurant where we had reservations for the night (its down the street from where I work) and talked to the owner about making our dinner special.  They let me pick out a specific table and then arranged for whatever dessert we ordered to come out with a little something special to surprise Matt.  Perfect.  Sweet, thoughtful, and budget friendly (we didn’t do gifts this year due to our recent move.)  When I got home, I coyly mentioned to Matt that I had looked at the restaurant’s dessert menu online and that I couldn’t wait to try some of their yummies.  He replied, “I don’t think we should get dessert.  It’ll be too rich and filling, plus I’d rather just save the money and not order dessert.”  What?!!  I was stunned.  “Are you kidding?” I asked.  Too filling?  And too expensive?  What a cheapskate!  Was he for real?!  He looked serious, so I just gave up and frustratingly spilled the story about how I’d been to the restaurant earlier and they were going to do something special, etc etc.  I then proceed to tell Matt that as much as I loved him, he made it next to impossible to do sweet things for him.  I pouted into the other room and said, “I’ll be over it by dinner, just give me a few minutes.”  A few minutes later he walked into the bedroom with his hands behind his back laughing.  “No, YOU make it hard to do special things in secret.”  Then, from behind his back, he pulled out a cake stand with none other than a homemade, hand decorated mini cake resembling our wedding cake.  I was speechless.  “I really wanted us to have our cake,” he said, “so I just made one from scratch.”  And there, on the cake stand, was a four layer Italian cream cake, with butter cream frosting, and hot pink gum paste flowers.  Yes, my husband handmade hot pink gum paste flowers.  For me.  To make our day special.  There was nothing to do, but laugh, squeal with excitement, and hug.  It was too funny, too sweet, and beyond memorable.  So that night, we both got our way; the server brought out a special dessert at dinner and Matt served his version of our wedding cake when we got home :)

Here are a few pictures from our FIRST anniversary as hubbie and wifey :)

I had to work Saturday morning/afternoon at the store, but before I left, Matt treated me to heart shaped waffles, rosemary scrambled eggs, and mimosas.  A perfect start to our morning!

Posing outside of the restaurant.  I’m usually all for restaurant paparazzi-ness (yep, that’s a word), but this place was so chic with its dim lights and perfect ambiance , I couldn’t bring myself to bust out a flash.  So I snapped outside :)

Dessert #1 for year #1.

Matt’s fabulous creation :)  I mean seriously, how many husbands have made hot pink gum paste flowers by hand?  He’s a keeper :)  PS: If you want to see the real version of our cake, you can see it in my last post about two-thirds of the way down.

It was a fabulous first year, a wonderful first anniversary, and I’m looking forward to many, many more!  Thanks again for all of your sweet wishes.

PS: If you haven’t entered my giveaway, don’t forget.  It ends TOMORROW!