seven year itch

seven years of marriage already?! where has the time gone? I'm proud to say I haven't felt the slightest itch, nor a need to scratch it. ;) as usual, I stuck with tradition & gave robert the traditional anniversary gift, which was wool (or copper) this year (year four, year five, year six). for the life of me I could not figure what to give him, so on a whim I ordered some wool roving & hoped I could figure out something to do with it. a few days before our anniversary I found this tutorial on how to make a felt ball garland & got to work. it turned out super cute & I tied a card with some tickets to a baseball game to it (you know how much I must love robert to buy baseball tickets). 

robert surprised me by making the most adorable gift - a record (he tried painting it a copper color to go with the theme, but it didn't work out so he nixed it) with a label he designed, titled, "seven year itch" by "ain't gonna happen," from the record label "slim chance." ha! this guy cracks me up. so. thoughtful. 

and then he also purchased the most amazing house gift- 2 vintage hanging lights that I have been talking about for months. leave it to robert to find an amazing deal on ebay! I didn't take pics of those but hopefully they'll be hung soon & I can share them. 

anyway, I'm not gonna lie- I love gifts more than the next person. but in all seriousness, I am so truly grateful to have the most amazing gift of all- a loving, talented, thoughtful, trustworthy, fun-loving husband that I get to share the rest of my life with. that is a gift enough (although I really like the light fixtures....)

{wool roving in it's original state}

{form a loose ball & then keep rolling with soap up hot & cold water until it forms a ball}

{they look super cute once you've made a couple & start stringing them on some thread}

 {after expressing excitement over tickets to a yankees/red sox game, robert sweetly told me, "we don't have to stay for the whole game." god bless that man!}

{gotta love a husband who remembers our anniversary flower!}

{handmade gifts are the best.}

traditional anniversary gift: candy

each year robert & I like to give each other the "traditional" anniversary gift (here is year four and here is year five). year six is candy. robert got me six of my favorite types of chocolates (chocolate covered orange peels, pretzels, popcorn, pringles, oreos & toffee). my thighs kind of hate him for this, because I have almost consumed all of it already. in return I made him some sea salt fudge (which was delicious, by the way- I will post the recipe soon). we also celebrated our anniversary with another couple, our "anniversary twin". the guys signed all of us up for a candy making class this summer. such a clever gift idea.

{our wedding flower- peonies}

six years

six years ago today was one of the happiest days of my life. I married the most amazing man- someone so full of kindness, integrity, creativity, intelligence, wit & unconditional love for me. sometimes I feel it's too good to be true. he makes my life complete.

five year anniversary

on friday, robert & I celebrated our five year anniversary. each year we give each other the traditional wedding gift (see year four here). year five is wood, so I surprised robert with a little indoor tent (thanks to my daddy for building it & to this great post for the instructions). my parents set it up while we were out having dinner at 13 gypsies (and it was an amazing meal!). robert was totally surprised; we camped out in the tent & reminisced over our wedding album, ate cake & drank prosecco. it was a wonderful evening with a wonderful husband. thanks for five incredible years, rh.

 {robert's anniversary gift- a wooden radio}

XV in savannah

our good friends celebrated their 15th wedding anniversary in savannah this weekend. we had a wonderful time celebrating with them & their friends & family.  the theme was XV, the roman numeral for fifteen (and their last name also happens to start with "x"). I made some desserts for the party on friday- vanilla cupcakes with chocolate buttercream frosting & "anniversary" sugar cookies (that I didn't have enough time to decorate how I had planned). cupcake flag template from martha found here, & then I just customized them in photoshop.

traditional anniversary gifts

every year on may 20th I give robert the traditional anniversary gift for our year (1=paper, 2=cotton, 3=leather, etc). well year 4 is flowers, so I decided to give my best shot at making a manly bouquet (if that's even possible?). it turned out nice; robert said this was the first time he'd ever been given flowers. 

in return, he sent me the most beautiful, fragrant flowers I have ever seen. pinkish-white peonies... our wedding flower (big props to a husband who can remember what flowers his bride was carrying on the wedding day!). and then mister smarty-pants also gave me flowered linen placemats (linen is the "modern" gift for year four) from this very cool artist. yea. he's good.

{rosemary, liatris & lysimachia}

{peonies}

{sets of flowered linen placemats from natsumi nishizumi}