As wedding week comes to a close, we’ll wrap up with the as-promised details of how we honored this year’s anniversary, including where we went, what we ate, what we gifted each other, and how we added to our collection of sweet mementos around the house.
First, we’re all about checking off some of photographic traditions of the day. Wednesday afternoon we took a trip down to Richmond’s Carytown district to pay a visit to our go-to photo booth at the New York Deli. It was Clara’s first photo booth experience and she loved it so much that we couldn’t resist grabbing a second strip. And now they both live on a shelf in our dining area with all of our other strips from big days gone by (which we shared in Wednesday’s post).
One thing we forgot to show you on Wednesday is that we have another collection of anniversary photos in our bedroom. On the ottoman near the mirror, we’ve got small framed pictures that we took on our last two anniversaries (we plan to add one each year – eventually moving the collection to a wall somewhere). In the left photo (our first anniversary) you can even see us holding the cupcakes that we froze from our wedding day to be eaten 365 days later, they were actually pretty good.
So to continue the anniversary “portrait” tradition, once we got home from our photo strip session we braved the heat to snap a few pics in the backyard – with Clara being an important addition to this year’s documentation (thanks to a tripod and the auto timer button on our new camera).
We especially enjoyed taking this one with the arch that we got married under in the foreground.
After that it was time for the all important anniversary meal. Since we had already recreated our wedding menu for year #1 and dined at our rehearsal dinner spot for year #2 (learn more about those adventures here) we decided to honor our Alaskan honeymoon this year by making some sort of salmon dish. And since I’m in the midst of cooking my way through Jamie Oliver’s Food Revolution (Sherry calls it my Johnny & Jamie project a la Julie & Julia) we plucked out a salmon stir-fry recipe that, despite Kroger not having all the right ingredients, turned out quite well. Yum.
Then after dinner (with Clara off to sleep) it was present time. Even though third year gifts are traditionally supposed to be leather, Sherry and I broke tradition and coincidentally each went the art route. She had 12″ x 12″ enlargements printed of two of our favorite pics of Clara from her newborn photoshoot with our friend Dana Duncan and hung them in our bedroom in inexpensive Ikea frames to surprise me (where one of our botanical prints had previously hung). I love that we can now admire our little girl even when she’s sleeping in her nursery across the hall – plus we couldn’t have planned our outfits better (they coincidentally match the color scheme in there perfectly). See the full sized pictures here and here.
And when it came to my gift for Sherry, I knew that we’d soon have a need for lots of postcard-sized art, so I channeled my inner graph nerd to make her a geeky-sweet representation of all of the things that Sherry has meant to me over the nearly six years that we’ve known each other (and the five that we’ve been dating/betrothed/married). I got to work in a lot of sweet things (like how we went from single people to a family of four) as well as a lot of humorous stuff (like the brief time I thought Sherry’s name might be Heather, how she’s always been the passenger in our relationship since she rarely drives, and how I’ve known her as everything from a fish mom to an actual baby momma.
The gift exchange pretty much wrapped up 7/7/10 for us, but it wasn’t the end of our anniversary festivities. We had planned a day-trip too, but with the triple-digit temperatures (insane) we decided to postpone our travel until yesterday when the heat dropped about ten degrees (you know, because the 90’s is sooo much cooler than 104).
So yesterday we hopped in the car and headed west to Charlottesville, VA. Why there? It’d put us at the base of the Blue Ridge Mountains, just about 30 minutes from where we got engaged. In fact, we actually spent most of the day just outside of C-ville driving on the scenic Blue Ridge Parkway to soak up the view and tell Clara all about the fun adventures that predated her much-anticipated arrival (being mathy I’m good at recalling where we were and what we did on specific days, so there were a lot of “three years ago on this exact day we were…” conversations). Oh the memories.
We also stopped for lunch near the base of the mountains at the Blue Mountain Brewery. Yes, it’s odd that two non-drinking baby-wearing people would choose a brewery to celebrate, but we had heard good things about its picturesque setting and delicious food. Plus they consider themselves to be a “green” business (we happily counted at least three rain barrels when we arrived) so that always makes us happy to show our support. And although we didn’t head there expecting to see anything home related, as soon as we pulled up Sherry was raving about their deep bronze-toned metal roof. We’d love to have one someday… if they weren’t so darned expensive.
Inside the meal was simple, but delicious (and made from local ingredients). Plus I had the pleasure of rocking my Ergo carrier throughout.
Heck, if you can’t enjoy the view of the mountains – this one isn’t a bad substitute, eh? Clara’s like the seven dwarfs these days (sleepy, happy, bashful, and even occasionally grumpy). Here are just a small sampling of the faces I was getting throughout the meal.
After our second tasty anniversary meal we stopped at my alma mater (to get Clara her first UVA onesie, of course) and then we headed back home to call an official end to the extended anniversary festivities. Well, that is until this morning when we made one last nod to our lemon-&-lime themed wedding with Clara’s eight week photo. She’s such a good sport.
Thanks again for celebrating wedding week with us this year! It’s always fun to take a slight detour and look to relationships & the celebrations that accompany them for DIY and design inspiration. We’ll be back on Monday with our regularly scheduled programming, so until next year we hope everyone enjoys celebrating their own anniversaries and all of those other heart-warming milestones over the next twelve months!
Psst- Clamoring for more Clara? She doesn’t usually hang out on the blog all that much, so just click the sidebar button with her cute mug on it for tons of regularly uploaded photos of Baby P!
Destiny says
Another great post; loved every word and devoured each precious picture. You’re on fire this week — writing about what you know and love works for you… (and me!)
cynthia says
i love the photo booth photos! something we did with our son was every month, we went and took photo booth photos and it was a great way to do a family shot and incorporate on how big our son was getting. great keepsake too!
Bobbi says
Thanks for sharing all of your fantastic anniversary fun! You really let us in and share so many great ideas, tips and tricks with your readers! Cheers to your family — can’t wait to see what you do next year!!
Bobbi
Patricia says
I love all your ideas! My boyfriend just moved in with me and I’m trying to bring some of what he likes into decorating around here… I let him hang his Hulk poster above the fridge… but he doesn’t have much so I bought these yellow plastic frames for pictures of us.. And I realized that so far we have a picture from each month we’ve been together so I had to go and buy more of them so that I can do the whole first year.. Now I just need a place to put 12 yellow frames!!!
Patricia says
Forgot to add, yellow is his favorite color! ha!
Catherine says
Sounds pretty much like the perfect anniversary to me! John, I totally filled when I got to the bottom of your timeline. I’m such a sap.
Also, I didn’t know you went to UVA. And when I thought I couldn’t like the Youngsters any more than I already did…
Claire says
Sounds like you had a wonderful 3rd anniversary. I wish you many more to come. Your daughter is so very precious.
Allison says
You guys are awesome. You always find creative and fun ways to celebrate special days.
I totally know what you were talking about for the nasty heat. I was at James Madison University for a band camp and we were outside about 7-9 hours a day in that heat and I marched tuba. It was definitely nasty.
Christy says
Wow the details and traditions you have are amazing…it all seems a little exhausting (not trying to be negative, I’m just TIRED). You two obviously are very energetic, thoughtful & creative. Such a unique couple, almost like Ward & June Cleaver….you just seem so perfect:) Happy Anniversary….don’t ever stop doing those extra special things you do for each other.
Chaucee from Streets and Stripes says
I just adore that last picture : ) Congrats on the anniversary!
Ashley says
Great post to end the wedding week. So glad that you were willing to share how you celebrate your anniversary. I love the family photos, Sherry-where did you get the blue and black tops you are wearing… love them!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Ashley,
They’re both from the Banana Republic outlet in Delaware (I picked them up last week during Clara’s first beach trip- so cheap!). Hope it helps.
xo,
s
a captains wife says
Congratulations on 3. Ours was the day before.
You guys are such an inspiration with your seemingly boundless creative energy and fantastic ideas. I love stopping by here every morning, coffee in hand.
Thanks for you.
Stephanie@Geezees says
CONGRATS on your anniversary!!
Love the family portrait…you have a beautiful family :)
utari says
what a happy family.
i like your post, very inspiring and informative.
keep blogging.
Amanda says
Hey-
Fun times yeah? I really adore John’s gift. That’s so neat. (I like DIY and all.) I really think you guys are just and uber awesome couple. Hope you had a happy weekend!
Bethany says
I think the time-line postcard is about the sweetest anniversary present ever. Hands down. Way to go!
Alicia says
Buy a remote for that camera! I remember the days of running and forth on the camera timer. Then I found our remotes are only about $5 on ebay and they are amazing. Now I just always have to think of a way to make it look like I’m not holding a remote in my hand. Usually a dog covers it nicely…clara could do the same for you!
Alicia says
I just want to say that I have loved wedding week, so many great ideas!
I was reading the comments on this post and I noticed Sherry talking about how Burger didn’t make it into the anniversary photos since it might be hard to juggle a pup and a baby while pressing the auto flash button and running into frame. There is something that you might want to look into that I just bought (and it has changed my life). Nikon sells a remote for your DSLR. Its about $22 if you buy it in the store, but I’ve seen them cheaper online. It saves from the ‘quick set the camera, run, get in place, smile’ Just thought I’d share :-)
http://www.nikonusa.com/Find-Your-Nikon/Product/Remote-Cords/4730/ML-L3-Wireless-Remote-Control-%28Infrared%29.html
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the tip! We’ll have to check it out!
xo,
s
Lauren says
Hi! Love your blog, have been reading for quite some time now as part of my morning routine :) Where are your anniversary picture frames from? So cute!
YoungHouseLove says
The round one was on clearance from Anthropologie and the square one is from Target. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Elizabeth says
Just wanted to let John know that his photoshop skills are quite excellent because I TOTALLY thought that Clara was wearing a new onesie each week!
YoungHouseLove says
Awesome. He’s beaming with pride!
xo,
s
Lori says
Sweetest post ever! Your family is such an inspiration…
kelly says
GO HOOS! Glad Clara is already a wahoo at heart. My prego friend just got some V-sabered booties from the Bookstore. They are SO CUTE! As a local Cvillian, you should check out the new restaurant down JPA: Fry Spring Station. It’s a chic restaurant with brick-oven pizza, not to mention it was converted from the old garage. Weird to enjoy pizza where my car used to get its oil-changed back in the day…
YoungHouseLove says
That sounds fun! Thanks so much for the suggestion!
xo,
s
Lindsay says
Love the Sherry Timeline! Very sweet! Would it be possible to share instructions on how to recreate?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Lindsay,
Here’s how I did it: I used Photoshop, turned on the grid tool (to keep my lines organized) and used the line tool to make them (along with the type tool to label them). The font that I used was Otari. Hope it helps!
-John
selena@howaboutcookie says
that postcard timeline is so smart!! Love it! can you post a template of some sort?
selena@howaboutcookie says
i guess it would help to read comments first before brazenly asking for the template. i guess i’ll poke around on photoshop or illustrator.
Rene'@bargainhoot says
Happy Anniversary!! I love the 8 week lemon lime photo!!! TOOO cute!! Where does time go…feels like I just blinked and it’s 25 years for us in Aug… Love is Sweet!
Rene’ xo
Amy E. says
Clara’s 8 weeks old already?! for reaching her 2 month mark, you guys should make a tutu for her! doesn’t have to be a big one, or even one made of tulle! here’s a quick 10 minute “tu”-torial (HA! couldn’t resist) for you from Samster Mommy (who, coincidentally, is also working on a Tutu Drive for terminally ill children): Samster Mommy: 10 Minute Tu-Tu
YoungHouseLove says
So cute! Thanks for the link Amy!
xo,
s
Ashley says
Awesome anniversary! I went for a ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway for my birthday a couple weeks ago – though it was in the Linville, NC area.
On top of all of your awesome qualities, you guys are a such a gorgeous couple. You should’ve taken that offer for the sexed-up DIY TV show! :) ha!
Vania says
ooomgg!! Her expressions are too cute!!! <3
What a lovely anniversary celebration! I really liked the pictures on the wall, and the timeline!
Megan says
I love the anniversary timeline gift! How did you make it? What do the colors mean? What are the categories? So cute!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Megan,
Glad you like it! Just scroll back through this comment section for those answers. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Kristen says
Happy anniversary guys! Where did you get your 12×12 frames? Love the size!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kristen,
The 12×12 frames are from Ikea. Hope that helps!
-John
Beth says
Mmm… I love the Blue Mountain Brewery! Good beer, good food, and great scenery!
Sarah says
Hi,
I LOVE your timeline gift. It’s fantastic! I was wondering if you’d be willing to share how you made it. My husband and I are coming up on our first anniversary and I really love the idea!!!
Thanks and you two, plus clara and burger are awesome!!
Sarah
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Sarah,
Just scroll back through the comment for that info. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Shahzad says
You are such a lovely family – and I wish the best in coming years. One thing that fascinates me is your sense of organization in whatever you do. You can co-relate your history so well with your present. Just blessings ….
Brenna Y. says
best. baby faces. ever.
I love all the traditions you and your beautiful family have =) I hope to have some like that when I start a family! Absolutely wonderful and sentimental =)
carla says
Pretty Cool!Your wedding tradition is really cool.Your house decorate is very super cool!By the way,both of you are so hardworking!And the cute Clara too. ^_^
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks Carla!
xo
s