anniversary – emerald city diaries

happy four years {wedding anniversary}!

{some of my favorite engagement pics – all taken in seattle at sisko gallery, pike place market, kerry park, & gas works park}

{some of my favorites from the big day!}

four years has flown by, I am telling you. each year seems like it goes faster & faster! maybe it was because this year was a bit crazy, well with project baby & project house cruising along at full speed! this fourth year seems to have passed in the blink of an eye.

just a few words to my lovely husband: aaron – I can’t believe that I have been so lucky to be your partner for these past years. thru our ups & downs you love me unconditionally, & I will be forever grateful for the way that you support & take care of me. this year marks a huge change in our marriage & our relationship as we add a new life to ours. I know that you will be an amazing father to our child just as you are an amazing husband to me. thank you for the best four years so far! I know that together we can do anything & have the best time doing it! I love you more than words can express.

happy anniversary aaron – here’s to a lifetime more of celebrations!

xo M

see here for our anniversary posts years two & three.

highlights of 2013.

{via}

happy 2014!

i’ve said it before, & i’ll say it again!, yearly recaps are always my favorite kinds of blog posts. its a small way to sum up your year & to see how much the last 365 days have brought. as i look forward to the New Year, i am humbled & grateful by all of the wondrous events of 2013. here’s the rundown of ours:

january: I started out the new year with a bout of the flu. we hosted our first blog giveaway! we installed the west elm hanging capiz chandelier over our dining room table. I framed my diy polaroids for our bedroom walls. amanda & I met john & sherry from young house love during their book signing tour! I diy-ed campaign dressers for our bedroom.

february: I did lots of diy-ing for valentine’s day {here, here, & here} I celebrated my birthday! we bought a kitchen island. I tried to be better about getting in front of the camera!

march: I tried my hand at painting an antler {& was so impressed with the results!}. we took my 91-year-old grandmother to target for the first time! amanda & I diy-ed framed house keys on maps. we sold jez the jetta & bought a new car.

april: we updated our bathroom vanity with a converted antique sideboard. we updated the closet doors by stripping off the old paint in a crock pot. we celebrated our one year anniversary in our house & I reviewed all of the house diys!

may: we finally got some good weather in seattle! I painted the ceiling & hallway walls. we celebrated aaron’s thirtieth birthday with a beer tasting party! we had a fun-filled memorial day weekend. we were featured in west elm’s blog front & main.

june: aaron replaced our toilet. sadie was featured in the seattle dog spot blog. my parents visited for a long weekend en route to the olympic peninsula. my diy his & hers maps were featured. we finally got some summer weather!

july: we celebrated the long Fourth of July weekend with a holiday parade, fireworks, & time with friends. I made a nine layer ombre cake! we replaced our kitchen track lights with globe pendants from west elm. we road-tripped to idaho for my ten-year high school reunion. we started growing our first eggplant.

august: we celebrated our three year wedding anniversary. the blog got a Liebster Award Nomination. I diy-ed the tiniest baby hats for our friends’ new baby. we road-tripped to hood river, oregon to celebrate my cousin’s wedding.

september: we went to the husky vs. bronco game to kick-off labor day weekend complete with husky-style tailgating {via boat}. we took advantage of the warm weather & cleaned up the front yard with a fun game called love it or lose it. we celebrated sadie’s ninth birthday! I attended the Alt Summit for Everyone blog conference.

october: I attempted to start doing fashion posts again. we celebrated our two year blog anniversary at emerald city diaries! I finished up with the #embracethecamera challenge. we went to the pumpkin patch & carved pumpkins with friends.

november: aaron joined a team for movember 2013. we snuck off to hawaii for thanksgiving.

december: I reviewed some of my favorite weekend in pictures pics. I participated in A Pinterest Christmas for the third year {see this year’s projects here, here, here, here, & here}! we celebrated Christmas in indiana with aaron’s family.

reflecting back on this year, i am reminded how blessed we are & also how different this year has been than the year previous. it has been such a wonderful year & ringing in a new one is a bit bittersweet.

how was your 2013 – was it a year to remember, or are you itching to start 2014 already?

see past yearly highlights for 2011 & 2012.

{happy two years!}

happy birthday blog! it been two years & 284 posts here at emerald city diaries, can you believe it?

i want to thank everyone who has supported this blog the past two years thru following, reading, pinning, & commenting. it means the world that you care about our little part of the interwebs!

i thought it might be fun to share the top two blog posts from this past year, not surprising that they are both diys. {& i know, diys have been a bit absent from the blog recently. i am working on changing that in the very near future!}

the most popular blog post is the diy swaddler tutorial. i ‘made this for amanda’s baby shower. her daughter just turned one this summer – eep time flies! {sorry for the terrible picture. this was back when all of my tutorial photos were taken via iPhone.}

& the second most popular blog post is the kitchen backsplash update. {yep, i was surprised too!}

also, a happy birthday shout-out to my big brother jason {who happens to share a birthday with the blog}!

thanks for celebrating emerald city diaries with us! its been an awesome two years!

three years! {wedding anniversary}

today marks three years since aaron & i exchanged vows. it seems like it has flown by but has been super slow all at the same time. {if you ask aaron, he will tell you it seems like it has been just a minute. underwater. if you are a swimmer or scuba diver, you know that is a looong time!}

i just have to tell you that if you weren’t there, august 1st, 2010 was the best day ever! seriously. i am sure you have other dates {like perhaps your wedding day or the birth of your child} that were the best day ever, but this day tops those. promise. we gathered together with our closest family & friends, i got to wear the prettiest dress & get my hair done up, & then we got to brunch! & dance! & later that evening after we had taken a nap to avoid the 100 degree afternoon, we got everyone back together for karaoke. it was lovely. did i mention it was the best day ever?

{venue: woodriver cellars in eagle, ID // photographer: jason ropp}

aaron – each day we have been married has solidified what an amazing decision we made. you are my soul mate & i cannot imagine how my life would be without you. you give me strength when i feel overwhelmed, courage when i am scared, patience when i am all wound-up, & you give the best back rubs! thank you for being an amazing life partner & for taking a chance on a girl you met in a bar. {we really did meet in a bar – but thru friends.}

from our vows: “To love you alone, to make you happy, to do nothing which would contradict your wishes, this is my destiny and the aim of my life.”

xo M

*i try not to be political {i feel like it can be so polarizing these days} but i wanted to note how special it is for aaron & me that on our third year of marriage, our same-sex friends & family have the opportunity to marry. we are proud to live in a state that allows for this basic, constitutional right & to live in a country that is moving {albeit slowly} towards change & equal opportunities for all couples. for us personally it was only 46 years ago that we wouldn’t have been able to marry because we are different races. we were lucky enough that the u.s. supreme court found that we have a right to marry each other & feel blessed about this decision each day.

highlights of 2012.

{via}

happy 2013!

i love reading yearly highlights on other blogs & even though i try to keep up on the updates via this blog, there are hopefully a few fun things to share that you haven’t heard before. here’s the rundown of 2012:

january: i donated blood for the first {& last} time. we dined at emmer & rye in queen anne with my friend beth ann who was in town visiting. we survived snopocolypse 2012. the repairs on the jetta were finally completed from my rear-ending in november. sadie had surgery to get a small lump removed & have her teeth cleaned.

february: we took a trip to new england & managed to visit all six new england states. we spent a long weekend in boston. i celebrated my 27 {yikes!} birthday & valentine’s day with my love in manchester, new hampshire. we celebrated thanksgiving in february with my law school friends {this is a reoccurring event in which my friend miriam cooks up a big thanksgiving dinner at various times of the year}. we celebrated leap year!

march: my mom visited for a long weekend. i oversaw work to the townhouse {new venting for the dryer}. we house-hunted on the weekends with our realtor padraic. i started & completed all three books in the hunger games series. we saw the hunger games at the IMAX. we saw {& were disappointed by} king tut at the pacific science center {no tut, just his stuff}. aaron took a work trip to vegas. we made our first {& only} offer on a house. our offer was accepted!

april: we took a post-offer tour of our new house. we celebrated easter dinner with my grandmother. we showed the townhouse to potential new tenants. i co-hosted a baby shower for amanda. we packed up all of our belongings for the big move. we closed on our house after signing lots of paperwork & handing over a very large check. we moved.

may: we were rear-ended {this better not become an annual event}. my mom & dad visited for a long weekend & helped with some house projects. we celebrated my grandmother’s 90th birthday! we celebrated aaron’s 29th birthday! i took on my first pro bono case with VAIJ. we hosted a small dinner party with old idaho friends kami, travis, & their adorable daughter olive. we spent a night on the town in bellevue at aaron’s organization’s ship party with lots of aaron’s co-workers.

june: we saw dia frampton in concert at chop suey. we hosted a small dinner party with my law school friend marcus, his then-fiancée katy, & their beagle maggie. padraic & his partner justin threw us an awesome housewarming party! we ventured down to alabama for andy & hailey’s wedding. i had lots of phone interviews.

july: we attended herschel’s first birthday party {the son of one of my law school friends}. we celebrated the fourth of july! i started going to fitness classes with my neighbor leanne at community fitness. we hosted a small dinner party with andy & hailey, just back from their honeymoon! we attended thanksgiving in july at miriam’s. sadie & i drove down to idaho. i got my haircut & had drinks with my CBC {high school} girlfriends. we loaded up the car & took a roadtrip {sadie included} to stevenson, wa for marcus & katy’s wedding. we saw the dark knight rises at the IMAX.

august: we celebrated our second wedding anniversary with a picnic dinner at greenlake! we attended our first neighborhood potluck & met lots of our neighbors. we joined a summer bocce ball league with ben & sarah. i did yoga in the park with our neighbors – the friends – & tens of other people. i shopped & noshed with my friend ashley who was in town on a work trip. we attended the pratt’s housewarming party {a couple i met & befriend while i was in americorps}. we attended padraic’s wig birthday party. i met my pro bono client. i was offered a position doing media license management & started working. my bff carlie came into town – our first house guest! we attended a moroccan dinner feast at ben & sarah’s house. aaron’s parents visited seattle for a week.

september: we attended a final farewell summer bbq. we visited indiana to see family & surprise meg at her baby shower. we attended a colts game with our friends colt & erin. we celebrated sadie’s eighth birthday!

october: we visited peru & got to hike around one of the new seven wonders of the world machu picchu. my mom & sister anya visited for a long weekend. my friend meg was in town to visit! aaron made an unexpected trip back to indiana to attend his late grandmother’s service. we attended ghouls near greenlake, ben & sarah’s annual halloween bash, as a somecard. we celebrated halloween with our very first trick-or-treaters!

november: aaron attended a week-long conference for work & stayed downtown. i watched the election results while painting the bathroom trim & texting aaron updates. we hosted our first {vegetarian} thanksgiving. we spent the long holiday weekend working on the house.

december: we attended a housewarming party for amanda, george, & madeleine. we brunched with our neighbors – the friends – at the 5 spot in queen anne. my mom visited for a long weekend. i brought back a pinterest christmas & recruited some friends to join in on the fun. we celebrated the holiday season with six holiday parties with friends & co-workers. i won rookie of the year at work. we enjoyed a double-date night in bellevue with some newly engaged friends. we loaded up the car with presents & made the trek to idaho for the week of christmas. we celebrated christmas! we made it safely back to seattle only one day delayed. we plan to ring in the new year with friends & watch the space needle firework show.

how was your 2012 – was it a year to remember or are you itching to start 2013 already?

see highlights of 2011 here.

one year.

plus four days.

we celebrated our first year anniversary here at emerald city diaries on october 11.

i can’t believe it has been one year blogging – where does the time go? there have been lots of fun things happening in our lives this past year & it was so fun to be able to share those things thru the interwebs.

i just want to say thank you to everyone who reads, follows, comments, an encourages me as i continue with this blogging journey!

here is to many more blogging years!

celebrating two years!

{venue: woodriver cellars in eagle, idaho. photos by jason ropp.}

on august 1, 2010, aaron & i shared vows, exchanged rings, & said “i do” in the presence of our closest family & friends (& then we had a big party!). those vows mean more to me now than they did two years ago, & i know that will continue to be true for as long as i have the privilege of being married to aaron.

aaron – if i could do it all over again, i would in a heartbeat! you mean the world to me. i can’t wait to grow old with you & spend many, many more anniversaries celebrating our love.

i love you to the moon & back.