A Big Day

November 6th is a significant day in our household. Five years ago today I married my best friend, and one year ago today, I gave birth to my baby girl. Both of these events are hugely tremendous independently of each other, so the combination of both in one day is overwhelming, to say the least. It's difficult for me to even know where to begin explaining how precious both of these events are to my heart. In light of that, and for the sake of the length of this blog, and for the sake of everyone's attention span involved, I'll break the two up. Otherwise we could be here all weekend long recounting the events and revisiting all the photos that made this day so special...twice over.

Let's start at the very beginning...long before Ella was even a twinkle in Dan's eye.

Dan and I met in early 2002. Some of the initial details are fuzzy, but I vividly recall a moment we shared very early on- perhaps our second meeting- where he tried to lean in and hug me. I happened to be leaning up against something and I misunderstood his gesture completely, thinking he was grabbing something behind me. So naturally, I moved out of the way. And he leaned in my ear and had to correct me, "Um, I'm hugging you". Oh. How nice. He's hugging me. If this wasn't so awkward, it would really be quite sweet.

And there it was: the beginning of a very clumsy little relationship. And then one Saturday afternoon in March of 2004, after getting new tires put on my car and having a great lunch at Santa Cruz Diner, he proposed. Got down on one knee and everything. We were in my apartment when he suddenly walked out, went to his truck, and came back inside with my beautiful BLING ring! I was shocked. I screamed a lot. His proposal was very simple, sweet, heartfelt and a complete surprise. He melted my heart into a puddle of butter.

And then, 8 months later, he made me a Bride:

My very pretty beaded satin princess dress.

A very nervous groom. Can you imagine? Who would be nervous to marry ME?

 Although I was originally terrified to do it, I had no idea walking down an aisle to meet my best friend would be so much fun! I wanted to run back up and do it all over again. But I didn't. Instead, we exchanged vows and had a very traditional (Italian) Catholic wedding mass. It was beautiful and quite long.

Here's my Dad, giving me away. We cried when we saw each other.

Look at these pretty ladies!

We did it! And nobody passed out or objected!

Here we are thinking, "Wow! So far, the first 30 seconds of being married is WONDERFUL!"

Now this was true marital bliss. Also in the back of my mind was the excitement and anticipation of tasting the food we'd been planning and talking about for months. (It was fabulous.)

This was our cake. We went with the Carrot Cake option, and loved every crumb. Not many people have the fortitude to serve Carrot Cake at their wedding, but we fell in love with it at our "cake sampling" appointment and couldn't get it off our minds. And truth be told, you can't really go wrong with a bakery called The Buttery, can you?

People toasted us and we drank champagne.

There was a fantastic live band. They were loud and we even got some noise complaints....the ultimate indication of a really great party.

I danced with my daddy

And then I danced with my new husband

 And then I just DANCED.

 

And so did everyone else.

I'm not even sure what's going on here:

And while we're at it, this one's pretty awesome, too:

A surprise performance by the Hi-Tone Sinners, (check out my new hot hubby, busting out the awesome bass lines!)

The happy and entertained wedding guests/audience (and the proud bride):

My sister, the Maid of Honor, catching the boquet. (Yes, it was completely rigged. Also, check out my friend Alicia, right behind her, putting in an effort worthy of a honorable mention.)

Then we drank more wine and danced until I finally looked at my handsome new husband with weary wedding eyes and said, "I'm done. I can't be in this heavy dress one minute longer, and my feet can't stand up anymore.Take me home, baby."

Then we hopped onto his white horse and rode off into the sunset. And we've lived happily ever after since.

The End.

Happy Anniversary, babe! The last 5 years have been amazing. So much has changed since that beautiful day- my waistline and your receding hairline for starters. Five houses, one dog and two children later, I realize that sometimes we need to just stop and take a breath and look at all we've accomplished together. We make such a great team, and I'm so happy to be on this journey with you. Thank you for making me want to be a better person, thank you for how incredibly unselfish you are, thank you for working hard for our family, and most of all, thank you for our two beautiful children. I am loving growing old with you. My heart is yours, forever.