Our First Anniversary

Wow, I can't believe how long it's been since my last post! February has been a busy month. It's already been a week Zack and I celebrated our one-year anniversary. I wasn't able to blog about my preparations, because they were very secret, but we had a very awesome weekend. For about a month and a half beforehand, I had been making plans to surprise Zack on our three day celebration weekend. I wanted to show how much I love him, and also say thank you for my amazing anniversary gift - the trip to New York! One of the things I did was make a book with 366 reasons why I love him - one reason for each day of our first year together. (We got married in a leap year, so it was 366 days long). That was a really awesome gift to make. It took quite a while, but I enjoyed every minute, and I couldn't wait to give it to him.

I also started collecting a bunch of other little presents - a sketchbook, a package of Polaroid film (super expensive, so we rarely buy it), a Touchabubbles kit, etc. I made a set of Beartato magnets with funny moments from the comics. I also wrote my own Beartato comic, in which Beartato and Reginald help me find a perfect anniversary gift for Zack. Beartato suggests a pet, and so after traveling to the ends of the earth and bringing me a lion, an elephant, etc, they finally decide that betta fish make the best pets. Friday night, I gave him the comic along with a real betta fish that I'd just bought that day. He was really surprised and happy - he loves fish, and he absolutely loved the comic that came with it.

Saturday morning, I let Zack open his bag of presents, which was really fun. I think I was more excited about it than he was. The Touchabubbles weren't as durable as we had hoped, but they still present opportunities for some cool photo sessions, I think. We had a nice breakfast and watched a romantic movie, and afterward Zack was worn out from the work week and spent most of the day sleeping. That was ok with me, because it kept him out of the way while I went on with my plans. I had been sick for a few days and gotten behind in the chores, so I cleaned like a maniac, and then later while Zack was out at the store getting me chocolates and Martinelli's cider, I decorated the whole house with roses and candles. Roses are, unfortunately, outrageously expensive during the week of our anniversary, because of Valentine's Day. But my sister had lent me her Costco card, which was a total Godsend. (Thursday, while I was really sick with a sinus cold, I dragged myself around to a bunch of shops, collecting stuff, and lastly stopped at Costco where I saved at least ten dollars on two dozen roses. I brought them home and hid them in our shed for a few days, in a bucket of water, and Zack never knew. It was great!).

I still had a bunch of the vases and ivy bowls from our wedding, so I divided up the roses and put them all over the house. Then I floated tea lights in the ivy bowls and put those everywhere. I moved the dining table in to the living room and put a red satin tablecloth on it that my mom gave me, and then set it with roses and candles, and it looked really beautiful. When Zack got home, he could hardly believe his eyes. It was so fun to surprise him!

Monday, the day of our actual anniversary, I gave Zack the book I'd made him. He really, really loved it. He said that weekend was one of the best of his life, and I was so happy that I was able to make it special for him. I love him so much!