Second wedding anniversary

We celebrated our second wedding anniversary on Tuesday night, which was the best excuse to be festive and go out.

Before work, Tony picked up coffee and pastries for breakfast because cereal doesn't cut it on an anniversary :) We exchanged presents too - we stick to the traditional themes and this year was cotton.

I gave Tony a new dress shirt (which was the same one he wore to our wedding, only a different colour) and a couple of t-shirts from his favourite stores. And he picked a black mini dress from a shop I love! We both wore our new clothes out to dinner that night.

There's something extra nice about a joint celebration. And after spending our first year of marriage chasing work opportunities and spending some time living apart, it's felt especially nice to spend this last year settling into a new city together.

A laid-back first anniversary

Tony and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary over the weekend and it was so much fun! We decided to have a simple celebratory weekend at home, which was a lovely break after weeks of travel.

We stuck to tradition and exchanged paper inspired gifts, and I couldn't stop laughing at our almost matching wrapping paper. Tony gave me three cookbooks I've been eyeing off for ages, along with three special drawings he made himself.

I gave Tony a tea strainer and two framed poems that were written on our New York honeymoon by a guy who was writing and selling poems on the sidewalk. He wrote one on the theme honeymoon and another about adventure, and we're planning to hang them above our bedside tables.

Sunday was so lovely and warm and we walked into town to have lunch at one of our favourite cafes. At night, Tony made a much-loved pasta and I baked a strawberry and coconut cake, which was one of our wedding cake flavours. With a gifted bottle of fancy champagne, it felt equal parts cosy and celebratory :) We had such a great day and by 11pm, Tony was already looking up what the present theme was for our second anniversary - it's cotton!

P.S Do you celebrate anniversaries?

Wedding photo by Wattle + Lace.

A lovely observation about marriage

Tony and I have been married for close to eight months and every now and then someone will ask whether our relationship has changed and what married life is like. Put on the spot, I never know what to say.

I've just finished reading Joan Didion's The Year of Magical Thinking and while it is a book about her first year as a widow, it's also very much a book about married and family life.

I loved this line the most, 'Marriage is memory, marriage is time.'

I felt like it goes a way to explain why very small things can feel significant - like the purchase of a table and two chairs for our front porch, or plans to take a few weeks off in June to drive to another state as slowly as we can. It highlights the smaller moments that I'm sure will mean all the more later.

And here's a funny photo we took in Sydney a few days before our wedding - we both look so tired from all the last minute prep!

P.S Relationship advice from our wedding guests.