Our First Wedding Anniversary: 11-08-09

The weekend of our first wedding anniversary, was a gorgeous, sunny November weekend in Chicago. So Dave and I headed to the beach with the camera to just enjoy the last of the warm weather.

That evening, we finally used my Christmas gift card from last year and went to The Chopping Block for a "Wine & Dine!" cooking class. There we learned how to prepare (and devour) Wild Mushroom and Bacon Puff Pastry Tart, Herb Roasted Chicken with Caramelized Potatoes & Root Vegetables and Chocolate Ganache Tart. Oh, and the class included wine :-) Everything was DELICIOUS. And roasting a whole chicken for the first time was a good "dry run" of sorts for our turkey we were about to prepare a few weeks later for our first Thanksgiving.

The next morning, Sunday 11-08-09, was our actual anniversary and we decided to head to the Chicago Botanic Garden. There we enjoyed a leisurely stroll, nature and each other's company.

See autumn is beautiful, too:

Peek-a-boo:

I also got a great shot of my anniversary gift, this gorgeous Tiffany Sparklers Smoky Quartz cocktail ring!

And also a shot of our wedding rings one year later:

Overall it was a wonderful weekend!

One Month Anniversary & Fun Mail

Today is our one month wedding anniversary. I know, it's not THAT long and in some ways it seems like just yesterday and in other ways it feels like forever. But either way it feels great... I love you hubby!

To top it off both the bank AND the Social Security office decided to send us a gift today... my new debit cards and my new SS card with my new name! I was torn about this name change as I had mentioned before the wedding, but now that we are married I am actually really excited about changing it. It feels official now. At work I kept my name Stephanie Maiden Married so that I can slowly transition and my clients can get used to it, but at home I am now happy as a clam being Stephanie C instead of L.

Now I just need to battle the IL DMV before mid-January when my MO license expires, but this requires a written IL drivers test to transfer states AND names, so it will not be as fun :-(