Anniversary Post Part 2

Yesterday I did a sort of look-back-over-the-year anniversary post, and while those were things I definitely wanted to say, I also wanted to do something a little more light-hearted!  I also wanted to share some pictures from the wedding last year, and a bit about what we did to celebrate.

As per usual, I made Andreas a little gift:

The short one’s me.

Even though our anniversary wasn’t until Monday, we decided to celebrate early and have a picnic in the park on Saturday.  We found a perfect little secluded corner, the weather was perfect, and we bathed in the sun (and sunscreen) for the first time this summer.  We also got to watch some fearless goose-families who surrounded us while grazing.

Our first wedding anniversary was celebrated in the same spirit as our wedding was a year ago–calm, laid-back, and not a huge deal (at least that’s how I remember it…)  I love going back and looking at all the pictures from that day, and I thought I’d share some (maybe a lot) here.  You might notice that my family isn’t in any of the pictures. Don’t worry, they haven’t shunned me for marrying a Dane!  My family is very spread out, and I knew from the beginning that no matter where we got married, most if not all of my family wouldn’t be able to come.  I wasn’t sad that nobody could make it, but I do remember feeling a bit sad that nobody there was there for only me.  Still, knowing I had my family’s support and love from far away meant a lot, and our wedding day was really perfect.

I didn’t pick necessarily the *best* photos to post here, but some of the ones that capture what I remember most about the day, or that mean the most to me.

Me playing Fruit Slice while the girls did my hair

Just after being pronounced husband and wife

My mother-in-law made the wedding cake, a friend of hers, a retired chef, made the dinner, I crocheted little flowers for the favors, my friends who came early helped pick out the flowers, candles, and tablecloths.  We spent time together folding the napkins, sorting bags of gummi bears into individual colors, and making cupcakes.  It felt intimate and cozy, and was practically stress-free.  In fact, I think that the moment that I felt the most anxiety that day was when Andreas and I were waiting together to come out for the ceremony, and we couldn’t tell if our entrance song or the “sitting-down-time” song was playing.  For the record, it was our entrance song, and we were a good 3 minutes late to our own ceremony.

It’s nice to remember how excited I was to have the words “my husband” roll off my tongue, and how giddy and happy I was to start our life together.  In the midst of the worry and stress of everyday (and not so everyday) life, it’s a good reminder of how very worth it this will be.

In Need of Spinach

I can tell this is going to be a lazy post because I can’t even be bothered to title it.  I’m hoping that by the time I’m done with it, something will come to mind.

I’ve been pretty busy (comparatively) this past week, and now, I feel like a maple in early spring (sapped, get it?  No?  Oh well.)  Anyway, Andreas’s birthday was last Sunday, and though we’re still noobs at this whole adult thing (it completely slipped our minds to invite anyone over), we managed to pull together a last-minute “dinner party” with his three sisters, and a brother-in-law.  We ate burgers, had cake, and it was a wonderful time.

I continued in the tradition of giving him a very manly gift…

The first year, it was a cow, the second, a pig, and now he has a monkey.

Anyway, after the party, my sisters-in-law stayed (one for a few days, the other for the rest of the week) so I spent 20x my usual weekly allowance of social energy.  And regular energy for that matter.  By Wednesday, my feet were already dragging, by Thursday, I had to find random places to sit down, and by the time we were walking her to the train station on Friday, I felt like I was in one of those dreams I have where I’m trying in vain to run and my feet are just too heavy.

However, we got to explore the city a bit, and being the “leader” really helped me a lot.  When I go out with Andreas, I have a tall (albeit very thin) person to hide behind.  I can make him talk to the cashiers, ask silly questions, and hold the map when we get lost.  This week, though, I felt like I came into my own, and this city feels a lot more like home than it did before.  I showed our guests to our grocery store, our mall, around our neighborhood, and it felt good to know where I was going.

Anyway, even one day spent with people other than those I spend every day with is exhausting for me, and leaves me a bit jittery, nervous, and wiped out, so I’m surprised I held it together as well as I did (even considering the fact that I went into hysterics after accidentally flinging an oily measuring cup across the room).  I have a post about introversion and shyness mulling in some forgotten part of my brain right now, but like I said today, I am too lazy.

However, I’m trying to at least start doing all of the things that I told myself I’d do when Rebekka left (five loads of laundry, cleaning the kitchen, vacuuming, dusting, etc.).  It’s going pretty well considering how many couch-breaks I have to take.  I am feeling the pull to CLEAN ALL THE THINGS, and I think that being too weak to do so is more frustrating and just worse than in the dreams where I can’t outrun the rabid wolves.

However, the sky has turned brilliant blue in Sweden today, and while it’s supposed to rain and be dreary for the rest of the week, it is at least supposed to be warm!  Another reason for getting the chores done today?  I can sidle through the rest of the week in peace being cozy with a cup of coffee, some poems, and my knitting while it fogs/drizzles/rains outside.  So I’ll make myself a salad with some spinach for lunch and browse foodgawker for spinachy recipes for dinner (I have a hunch that this is just some plain old boring anemia that’s wiping me out).  If it works, I’m going to feel a bit like Popeye…