Celebrating One Year!

Can you believe it? We can't! On April 28, 2013 we celebrated our one year wedding anniversary. Tom and I have seriously had the most amazing and fun year!

We started celebrating our anniversary on Saturday. Tom was pampered with a straight razor shave and massage at The Gents Place. He's always talked about a straight razor shave, and he does SO much for us and our home I figured he deserved some serious relaxation. Sunday morning we went to church (where we were married). It was really fun to be there, and remember exchanging our vows with our friends and family a year before. After church we headed to Hen House grocery store and loaded up on meats, cheese, cookies, crackers, fruits, veggies, and drinks for our picnic. We know how to shop for a picnic.

After the store Tom told me he had to make a quick stop by the rental house to get some tools. I asked if he needed help carrying them, and he told me to come inside. I was totally 100% SHOCKED to see an awesome beach cruiser bike, flowers, and a card waiting for me inside. WOW! I have been wanting a bike for so long, and the best part of this whole gift is that Tom got one too so we can ride together. I am so stoked to ride all over this city, this spring and summer. We are altready decked out and ready to roll, (pun intended) with helmets, a bell, locks, and a water bottle.

We loaded up our picnic gear, jumped on our bikes and rode down to Mill Creek park on the Country Club Plaza. (The park to the East of the Plaza with the beautiful fountains where we took wedding photos). We sat, listened to music, people watched, and ate all afternoon in the sun. Have I not mentioned the weather yet? It was perfect - 75, sunny, and not a cloud in the sky. My great new farmers tan, just on my right arm can prove it. We figured out that we rode about 8 miles total that day. Go us - on our first bike ride!!

That night we went to our favorite restaurant Westside Local and even got to enjoy dinner outside. We were planning on eating our cake topper that night after we got home, but once again Tom totally rocked a great surprise. I am one lucky girl to have a romantic, thoughtful, (sneaky), and kind husband. He had a friend (thanks Chris and Erica!) take the cake to Westside earlier that day, and they brought it out after dinner. Beautiful presentation! Props to Tom for thinking of that, and props to Westside for helping him out. Fun stuff.

It was really the perfect day, and we were so glad to celebrate in Costa Rica and in Kansas City with each  other. When we got home that night we watched our slideshow that we played at the wedding, talked about the first year, looked at wedding photos, listened to the songs at our wedding, and read the MOH and Best Man speech. I know, I am a total cheeseball, but I hope we keep doing it every year. Make it a tradition, and remember how happy and blessed we are. People say the first year is the hardest, because of all the adjustments and challenges you face combining two lives into one. I won't lie and say that it was 100% easy all of the time - it's not. (I just got mad at him while writing this because he wanted to make sugar cookies at 10 o'clock at night after working in the yard all day - I am tired dude.)  ;) But... luckily I got to marry my best friend and the best man I know. I know that he loves me, and that we both will continue to work hard to make each other happy and be present in a healthy marriage.

I found a great site to make a book out of our first year of marriage blog. So, we wrote this next part more for us, to look back and read in 50 years.

10 Favorite Things About Year One:
Tom:

Libby:
6. Getting to see Tom everyday. I get SO excited at the end of the day and he walks in the door. He gives the best hugs, and no matter how crappy or exhausting your day, he always makes me happy!
7. You have a partner in crime... for everything. Don't want to go to a networking event alone? Need motivation to work out? Want to see a new movie that came out? Have to run boring errands? You ALWAYS have something that you love spending time with to go do everything with. He's my favorite.
8. My travel buddy - Tom and I have had the opportunity to go on some fun trips this past year. I hope we never get sick of traveling and continue to do so for the rest of our lives. Even when things get crazy with jobs, kids, and life - TAKE A VACATION. Exploring a new place is so much more fun with him.
9. Trying new things. Tom makes me want to expand my horizons and try new things. From cooking disasters, DIY projects, gardening, taking a new job, to taking classes. He is my biggest cheerleader - telling me, "What the heck, go for it! What do you have to lose?" He is so supportive and encouraging, I am so appreciative of that.
10. I get to live with my best friend. The first four are kind of wrapped up into this one, but it's so true. Honestly, I was a little scared to move in with Tom after we got married. I have lived with anywhere from just one (my sister) to 60+ girls (my sorority) at one time and the thought of not having a female roommate to ask what I should wear, cry to, and have a glass of wine at the end of a bad day. Sorry girls, he is way better than living with you all! haha If something exciting happens for me, I have someone right there to share that excitement with. I get to wake up and go to sleep with my best friend - it's awesome! I had some really frustrating and discouraging job stuff happen this year. No matter how upset I got and how bad it seemed, I knew everything was going to be okay because of Tom and our marriage. We would and will get through anything together.


Where We Want to Be In Five, Twenty, Fifty Years:

Libby
Five: I would love to move some place warmer and on the coast for a few years before we start a family. Still traveling, trying new things and really enjoying where we work.
Twenty: Raising our kids, and enjoying family life. Hopefully managing to balance work, home, family life while still putting each other and our marriage first.
Fifty: Retired, both of us. Living some place warm... traveling, swimming, volunteering, and still making each other laugh.

Our Favorites:
Restaurant: Westside Local
Place We've Been To: Jamaica
Thing to Do with Eachother: Nothingness. We have worked very hard to get our house fixed up, and cozy this past year (three bathrooms, a basement, kitchen, and two living rooms to be exact). We like to enjoy it! Just sit, watch TV, drink wine on the patio, put a puzzle together in the basement - nothingness.
Favorite Thing We Like to Cook: Anything out of Bon Appetit magazine. Steaks, banana bread, salad dressings, Christopher Elbow drinking chocolate, and of course anything that we grew ourselves.
Favorite TV Shows: Scandal, Modern Family, Men Who Built America, Parenthood.
Favorite Drinks: Chocolate milk, white win, gin and tonic, diet coke, sour beers.
Favorite Music: Of Monsters and Men, The Lumineers, Bob Marley, Fleetwood Mac, Mumford and Sons, Ray LaMontagne, Florence and the Machine, Iron and Wine, Avett Brothers.
Favorite Food: Libby-cheese. Tom- anything sweet, sugary and chocolate.

Costa Rica

For our one year anniversary Tom and I planned a trip to Costa Rica. We had an amazing time. Here is a rundown of our amazing vacation.

Day 1: We flew into San Jose from Dallas. It was about a 6 hour trip total, and we landed in Alejuela - which is right outside of San Jose and got our rental car. Everyone warned us about how terrible the roads were going to be, and to get a 4 wheel drive. We were very pleasantly surprised that the traffic, drivers, and roads were all manageable. The GPS the rental car had was a real life saver! We packed a bag that was only devoted to sunscreen and electronics (chargers, cameras, ipod, and a gps) - our GPS did not end up working though. We drove about two hours to Jaco, and enjoyed our first Costa Rican meal (and beer) at Jaco Taco. We had a reservation at a little beach hotel about 40 minutes from Jaco in a town called Oeste Esterillos. We drove up and down the road (very lost) trying to find the hotel. Just as we were about to give up, and drive all the way to Rob and Jenny's we found it! Thank goodness, we were tired and ready to hit the hay.

Day 2: We woke up super early! We had no idea what time it was because our phones had not connected and reset the time. We were so anxious to get up and enjoy Costa Rica I think we were packed and on the road by 7:30 to head to Rob and Jenny's house. Which, if you know us is SUPER early.

The drive to San Isidro was beautiful and a little under 2 hours. We had so much fun checking out all the road signs, huge fruit trees, and listening to Spanish music. (Don't worry, I did try and sing along!) We stopped at a fruit stand on the way up and got bananas and watermelon. We also discovered our favorite restaurant on the way into San Isidro called, Soda La Pena. I could eat their pinto and beans for the rest of my life and die a happy woman. We got to San Isidro about 11 am and met Rob at the central park. It was a combination of 1999, and James Bond. We went to the park, called him from a pay phone, he was waiting across the street looking for us, spotted us and we met up and headed to his home. Gotta love a good pay phone park meet up! ;)

We went to Rob's farm and he showed us around, and talked to us about all the amazing trees, fruit, and plants he had started. It's going to be an amazing location for Sofia to grow up - and for Rob and Jenny to have their finca. Tom and I were both uber impressed with the swales, the permaculture, and hard work that they had already put into the farm.

That night Rob and Jenny had a couple of their friends over for dinner and their two children. It was really fun to be able to see into "their lives" for a night and meet their sweet friends. Their friends spoke French, so it was a big hodgepodge of language. The food and the company were awesome. Jenny, if you are reading this... can I have your avocado salad dressing recipe?

Day 3: We woke up and got around to go to the beach. We drove down to a local Tican beach called, Uvita. It was THE best - quiet, relaxing, not crowded, great shade. Rob put up and Tom ripped down the hammock. (photos below) I tired my first ceviche that day, and ordered it for the rest of the trip. It's so refreshing and yummy! I need to find a good recipe and try that. I discovered that Sofia has the most energy out of anyone I have ever met, and she could play for hours on the beach. We had a lot of fun!! The sunset there was breathtaking, and I think I could have stayed right there for the next year or two.

Day 4: We got up early, and we were definitely sad to leave Rob, Jenny and Sofia. Sofia is the sweetest little girl. She just jumps back and forth between English and Spanish - it is truly amazing how smart she is. We drove to Manuel Antonio which is about 2 hours North of San Isidro. We got to Hotel Parador and were greeted with a cold towel, and pineapple punch. Ahhhh- we had died and gone to heaven. We immediately got our suits on and headed to the pool swim up bar for a beer.  We got checked into our room, took a nap and headed down to Quepos to load up on snacks, beer, and juice for the room. (We are efficient travelers, people) We had a nice relaxing dinner at Mar Luna. The Costa Ricans eat a lot of rice, beans, veggies, fruit, and mahi-mahi. We were really impressed with the fruit (specifically the pineapple- wow), and the juices. So refreshing and delicious on a hot day. Speaking of hot, we got really lucky with the weather, it only rained twice and it was while we were driving between towns, and the sun was always shining for us! Most days it was about 90+, but we were near the ocean or pool and could jump in to cool off.

Day 5: Talking about this day is when I start getting vacation withdrawals. I start to sweat a little, I find my way to the search bar and type in K-A-Y-A-K.com and start to plan our next trip to Costa Rica. I mean, this place is just amazing. Nice people, I could go on for days about the birds, plants and animals and not to mention the breathtaking beaches and sunsets. It really is paradise. We signed up for the Manuel Antonio National Park tour, and jumped on a bus bright and early to head to the head of the trail.  We had a great guide who led our group of five people.  It was a beautiful park.  We walked forward with anticipation expecting some exotic animal around each and every bend.  Never was the word "disappointment" used.  Around every corner there was some new and exciting animal with a background story always eloquently narrated to us by our tican guide.  We saw sloths, monkeys, tucans, lizards, birds, iguanas, raccoons, and much gorgeous flora.

(Tom takes over the typing/storytelling... here.)

The trail ended at one of the five Manuel Antonio beaches.  It was a smaller beach, but beautiful nonetheless.  Libby chased monkey's for at least 30 minutes which was very funny.  We saw a pair of raccoons expertly execute a snatch and grab on someone's bag.  We then walked along a beach path to two of the other beaches and ended up at the end of the main road in the town of Manuel Antonio.  Near the end of the walk the guide found a sloth sleeping in a tree 15 ft. above our heads.  Very awesome!

We then rented a couple chairs at Mary's on the beach and chilled for a couple of hours playing in the water and catching some rays.  The waves were pretty crazy there.  Then we went back to the resort where I surprised Libby with a couples massage.  They gave us some champagne, cheese, and fruits after a great massage.  After that we ordered some eats off of the lunch menu.  The whole day was fantastic.

Day 6
On day 6 we got up early and decided to do yoga.  It wasn't intended to be, but because of the ambient temperature it was very much "hot yoga."  It was about an hour long and our teacher was very strange.  We slapped our whole body and more.  I was sweating the whole time as it was very hot.  We stared off into a peaceful jungle while we went through our poses.

We then went on a 5 hour catamaran cruise.  We took off from the dock and cruised around the bay surrounding our resort.  We found a pod of dolphins and followed them for a while.  They swam with the boat for a while and Libby cried... pretty special.  :)  We got off the boat and snorkeled a bit, but the water was too dirty.  We just saw one type of fish.  Some girls were jumping off the top of the boat while holding hands and one of them dislocated her finger - ouch!  We then sailed off into the sunset and had a light dinner while enjoying each others company.  The water was calm and the night was beautiful.

Day 7
We got up slowly as we realized we had to pack and drive towards San Jose.  It was pretty sad that we had to leave our resort and head towards home.  We hopped in our rental and drove towards San Jose.  It poured down rain, but we eventually made it.  The GPS took us to town square in San Jose where there was some sort of crazy concert going on.  It was a mess, but we eventually found our way to our hotel.  It was a bit sketchy, and we had to share a twin bed.  We drove down the street to a local pizza joint to grab a bite to eat.  It was delicious.  Then we found our way back to the hotel and braved the cockroaches, radiating light from the ping pong table behind our room, and 85 degree heat, to get some "sleep."

Day 8
We awoke early to head to the airport.  We got there and proceeded to travel back to our home, safe and sound.  Overall, we loved the trip and can't wait to go on our next adventure!!!

(I apologize... I can't get the photos to display correctly for the life of me.)