cotton couple

On October 1st Andy and I celebrated out 2 year anniversary (by collapsing in a tired heap on the couch, clutching a whiskey glass each) and on reflection, it seems that some standard cliches hold true - on the one hand it feels as if we've always been doing life together, while on the other hand I can't believe two years has flown by so quickly.

Apparently year two of marriage is for cotton, and for anyone who knows me and my cold-natured self, I officially got THE BEST cotton gift I could possibly have wished for - an electric blanket!! I love love love it. Andy found it on ebay and knew a good thing when he saw it...No more climbing into a cold bed with ice cubes for toes, and getting up in the middle of the night to add towels and dressing gowns to the pile of blankets already on top of the 15 tog duvet on my bed (no word of a lie - that's how I roll). Two years in and my husband knows me :)

I won't get too deep and soppy cos I still haven't figured out how to prevent this from streaming into facebook (just come read the blog, KP!), but suffice to say that this year has given each of us some challenges and the more time that goes by, the more I come to understand the magic, mayhem and mystery that is involved with walking through life with another person. I was trying to think if marriage was meeting my expectations/assumptions so far and I have to say it really does exceed anything I imagined - for one, in some ways it's easier than I thought - I don't mean to say it's always smooth sailing, and I know we're only 2 years in, but I just love doing life with my best bud. I love knowing and being known, and realising how much more of that there is to come as we navigate life together.

Plus, if the electric blanket breaks, I can always clamp my cold feet on his for warmth. :) Here's to more adventures to come...

Adventures in Love

Yesterday Andy and I had the pleasure of attending our dear friends Sam and Lisa's wedding. The day was packed full of smiles, laughter, good music, good food, and really excellent company. I looked around and was acutely aware of what a phenomenal pool of people surrounded these two; its so true that like attracts like - they are two of the most solid, excellent people I know and it showed by how well loved and supported they were as they embarked on their new adventure together. When they kissed and were announced as man and wife in the church, it took several long minutes for the whooping, clapping and cheering to subside and I felt privileged to be cheering for now and into the future....

Button Tree

Meet my new favourite possession: my button tree! A Valentine's gift from Andy, who felt bad for being out of town on V-day. Isn't it amazing?! It's made of red buttons of all sizes and as you might know, buttons have a special place in my heart :) Who needs flowers and chocolates when you have buttons, I ask you?

Alive and kicking

This picture kind of sums it up: even though Andy's been quiet on the blog front, he's always there in the background, working hard and giving me hugs. He rocks my world. He's kicking toosh at his job in Liverpool rather than letting it kick his, and still has energy to be my best whinge-wine-and-West-Wing buddy ever. Thanks hus!

Paper Celebrations

A few days ago we celebrated our ONE YEAR anniversary! We were both staggered at not only how the year has flown, but at how much change and adventure has been crammed into our first year of married life. A year ago on October 1st we were on a boat with a gang of our amazing friends and family, puttering around breathtaking New York City at sunset, vowing to do life side by side no-matter what life brings.
Well, our first year of doing life together saw us: Moving to a studio in Brooklyn, quitting our jobs, adventuring in Peru, Bolivia and Argentina, moving across an ocean with all our worldly possessions to England, finding an apartment, finding jobs, and going back to university for a Master's degree, as well as all the smaller adventures in between.

I would say that's a pretty big year for our first year! It's been incredible. We love doing life together and tackling the things that come our way as a team. I know its sounds cheesy, but it's so true. Apparently year one is the "paper" anniversary, so above is an origami piece I made for Andy as an anniversary gift. Goodness knows what I could come up with as we hit the tin, copper and leather years...