best anniversary ever!

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i am pleased to say that i am one of those women that can get ready in under 17 minutes (this is with showering the night before) so i made it out the door just on time to start celebrating our 3 year anniversary today! my husband and i were married on september 3, 2013 in estes park, colorado. it was a gorgeous day and one of the best days of my life (that may sound stereotypical but it truly was).

wife anniversary lakeshore lodge settinghe’s a man that loves surprises…i am a woman that enjoys planning (and knowing where i’m headed). however, i give up some of my need for control around our anniversary so i can compromise and meet his needs for giving surprises. the biggest one was the trip he surprised me with for our 1 year anniversary….he took me to Victoria, BC. i told him he could take me out of the country but it had to be less than a 4 hour journey to get there otherwise i would want to know where we headed so i could plaaaan (thanks anxiety). it was amazing and he did a spectacular job from organizing the train ride from Portland, OR to Seattle, WA and then the ferry from Seattle to Victoria! best anniversary ever.

Wedding Victorialast year for our 2nd anniversary he semi-surprised me with a trip to the redwoods (i loooove trees) after we spent a weekend on the southern Oregon coast in Bandon laughing with wild animals. this is one of my favorite pictures ravery has ever captured. best anniversary ever.

me with llama upclose this morning when i woke up i had no idea what to expect. we are crazy busy with final preparations before our trip to RUSSIA on friday and then our NORTH AMERICAN TOUR that kicks off in 20 days so i knew it would be something local but something fun because i married a fun guy. our first stop involved donuts and the opening of the traditional anniversary cards. he got donut holes and my donut was warm from the oven/deep frier.

wife anniversary cards and shipleys donutswe both got each other the perfect combination of silly/sweet cards. i gave him one that had a truck on it since we are currently living in texas (it’s only fitting because i feel like 1 of 3 vehicles out there is a truck). he obviously got me one with food on it because he knows me well.

wife anniversary cards averysafter we were loaded up with sugar, he gave me the hint of “you’ve done this before but never like this.” what the heck does that mean?! i told him that if we were going to ride horses i was going to freak out and not in a good way (that requires a lot of planning in my brain). then he pulled into an empty parking lot and said “well, i can’t close down a Tiffany’s jewelry store for you yet, but a michael’s arts and craft store….”

wait. what.

wife anniversary grand opening of michaels humble txthere is a brand spanking new michael’s that just opened up last week a few miles from us and he went and talked to their manager to see if i could shop around before the store opened to the general public. i was shaking with pure joy at having an entire arts and craft store to myself (it’s okay, you can giggle at this).

be sure to check them out at:
19123 W Lake Houston Pkwy
Humble, TX 77346

wife anniversary chelsea avery michaelsi was very overwhelmed by this and ran up and down the aisles just because i could! i spent a lot of time trying to figure out what to get since we really only have about 8 days left in the state of texas before our tour so i couldn’t get something too involved.

wife anniversary paint by numberwe will be participating in our chosen crafts this evening after our dinner date so stayed tuned for guaranteed hilarity.

somehow everyone knew it was our anniversary so any time we passed an employee restocking shelves they said “happy anniversary” and it was so sweet and made my heart happy. if anyone is reading this from the store and to sam, the general manager-THANK YOU! i have no idea where my husband comes up with these ideas but i do know i’m very fortunate to benefit from his dynamic mind! i have also apparently had the same purse for at least a year…yay photos!

wife anniversary ryan and chelsea avery at michealsafter i spent an hour telling him all about the entire room we will have dedicated to the various holiday decorations and crafts in our dream home for the future, it was time to eat something more than sugar. he took me to the “historic downtown Humble” (Humble is a city/town in texas but you don’t pronounce the “h” that’s how they weed out tourists apparently). we ate at the cute humble city cafe to get our grub on.

wife anniversary humble city cafe outsideit was intensely decorated with all things texas and old-timey related. i highly enjoyed finding new trinkets every time i looked around.

wife anniversary humble cafe insidewe had a very greasy but very tasty (and very affordable) brunch and chatted about all of the crazy things we’ve done in the 6.5 years we’ve been together.

wife anniversary humble city cafewe laughed about that if someone 3 years ago on our wedding day would have said we’d be living in texas, starting our own business, achieved world champion status, would go through some of the ups and downs we’ve been through….we would have figuratively slapped them.

we also talked about how he got laid off the day after our wedding (they didn’t want to ruin his wedding day) and i had just graduated a few months before so i was still looking for a job. it was stressful but we knew we’d figure it out.

no way could we have imagined where we are now but are glad of the path we are creating together.

i asked my husband if there was something he’d do different over these past 3 years of marriage, if any. his response, “nope. well maybe have spent more time giving our time, not just money together.” and then i was like “c’mon…seriously!?” he was serious. when i turned the question on me, i said that “i wish i wouldn’t have let my anxiety rule as much of our relationship as it has been” but i’m being proactive about managing that better and healthier (for all involved).

and now here we are. who knows where we will be in another 3 years but i do know that as long as i’m with him…each and every year will continue to be the best anniversary ever.

the new wifestyle: anniversaries are fun but it’s the every day time together that creates a strong marriage.

questions:
1) are you an arts and crafts person? any in particular?
2) what city did you get married in?
3) anything powerful you learned during your first few years of marriage?

8 Comments

  1. Paula Howley

    September 3, 2013 at 5:04 pm

    What a mighty good man you have. ( so funny Chels, I HATE surprises too and Lloyd loves them- remind me to tell you the story of my 40th birthday one day, it’s pretty good)
    1. LOVE crafts. Meg and I like painting rocks in the summer with acrylic paint so it stays on for years. I also love making cards for people and have made some pretty awesome ones.
    2. 1st time, Pender Harbour, BC. 2nd time, same guy, Sechelt British Columbia
    3. yes. we ALL eventually grow up.

    • chelsea

      September 4, 2013 at 1:14 pm

      oh paula-how are we so similiar?! it’s crazy. i want to hear that 40th birthday one sometime-ha! so happy that you and meg get to ‘rock’ the crafts in the summer (see what i did there? 🙂 ) i was super into making cards for the holidays too! and do we eventually all grow up? crap. wait until you see what we did last night 🙂

  2. Heather Hawkins

    September 3, 2013 at 6:23 pm

    1) I quilt and knit. LOTS of quilting and knitting.
    2) Adelaide, South Australia!!!!
    3) Learn to redefine normal. Be flexible. Even in the hard times, things can be fun. I didn’t want to be back here doing all this stuff but we’ve had some really good times here.

    • chelsea

      September 4, 2013 at 1:15 pm

      heeeey i knit too! well actually i’ve only ever knitted scarves but some day i’d like to advance to a hat 🙂 so neat that you can quilt-there are some really beautiful quilts. love what you said about ‘redefining’ normal heather-so true and also true that the hard times can be fun too 🙂

  3. jennifermckennasays

    September 4, 2013 at 10:30 am

    YAY Love! Yay Anniversary! Yay for dreaming big. I love your idea of dream house decorated in different holiday decor!
    1) are you an arts and crafts person? No, I am not, but love your and anyone else’s enthusiasm for crafts- I did make a book of first time motherly advice for my friend and pasted some stickers on the front of it, that is about as arts and crafts as I get.
    2) what city did you get married in? Austin, Texas! Vintage Villas! HOT yes, Unforgettable YES!
    3) anything powerful you learned during your first few years of marriage? Yes, that time is an important factor. If I am mad about this now, will it matter in 2 hours? 2 days? 2 months? 2 years? um.. usually no.

    • chelsea

      September 4, 2013 at 1:17 pm

      thanks for your excitement and loving other people’s enthusiasm for crafts jennifer 🙂 and mother advice book-that sounds pretty crafty! excellent point on the ‘getting and staying mad’ concept-i need to use that more! thanks jennifer!

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