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one year

On May 20th, Sam and I celebrated our first wedding anniversary. Our first year has been amazing. Full of many many happy days and exciting times as well as the hard lessons that are a part of every couple's first year. One thing we have definitely done is go on a LOT of dates. As you know, since we have documented many of them. So for this special occasion, Sam planned a truly wonderful date.

activity. stay at the mayo hotel

dinner. smoke.
dessert. red rock canyon grill

One thing we recommend to couples who are about to get married is to schedule some time to relax after the wedding. We always wished we had planned in a little bit longer to hang out at the Mayo, where we stayed for our wedding night. Jordan had a great idea to stay there for our one year. It's the historic gem of Tulsa hotels. 

The single biggest life changing purchase I have made in the last four months? A curling wand. Seriously. Go get one and then watch a few tutorials. You will never be the same.

        

 This super fancy restaurant opened up on Cherry Street when we were in college. They have 5 dollar burgers on Monday nights (meaning that's the only time we could afford to go). Until Sam's parents took us there for his birthday this year, we had never had their other food. 

Guys. It's insane how good this food is. Locally sourced and handmade when you order, the food here has flavors that I didn't even know were possible. Some of the best food I have ever had. 

I never ever ever order steak. It's almost guaranteed to be the most expensive item on any menu. Jordan encouraged me to get it though, because it was our anniversary. I put the money out of my mind and enjoyed probably the best piece of beef I've ever eaten. 

That's how he felt when I asked him to wait to take a picture before devouring his steak. 

We also never order dessert. So we threw that in too. Red Rock canyon has whipped cream that bears the consistency and weight of pudding. It's exquisite. The only trouble was we were so full from Smoke that we couldn't hardly eat dessert! Oh well. 

We had so much fun being extra fancy on this one night. We don't often get to be all dressed up and have someone valet our car. It makes you feel like a celebrity. Even though you are sleeping less than three minutes from your real home where you have to park your car yourself. 

The traditional one year anniversary gift is paper. I don't know what I did before Pinterest. I found this journal there and thought it would perfect. It was both meaningful and made of paper. For the final product I ended up combining the original idea with a photo journal that Elsie made. We spent the next morning at topeca recording all our thoughts about our first anniversary. With a cappucino of course. 

It was a great present from the greatest of women, my wife! We really loved our first year of marriage, and are super excited for the next one! And then the next 70 or 80 after that.

wait wait...

We love NPR. So much so that my students have asked if all I do is listen to the radio because of how often I reference stories I hear. Last week, Sam planned one of the most memorable dates we have ever been on. It involved our favorite food and one of our favorite pastimes. 

dinner. chuy's

activity. the first ever live simulcast of wait wait...don't tell me!

Chuy's is an Austin original, so I grew up with this as a consistent staple of my adolescent diet. You can imagine my extreme elation when I heard that they were opening a new location in Tulsa! We frequent the Tulsa Chuy's, and always leave with (overly) full stomachs and even more full hearts. 

via ChicagoMag.com

NPR has lots of serious content. The war in Syria, politics, scientific advances, economics, etc. Wait, Wait, Don't Tell Me is NPR's brilliant departure from the norm, as Peter Sagal and company make light of each week's news in a celebrity panel-listener call in quiz show. When I heard they were broadcasting live to local theaters I knew we had to catch it. 

We just had so much fun. The show was so funny that I would still laugh out loud a few days later when I remembered a joke that they said.
...
Life lately has been crazy. We haven't had a chance to post anything about the last two dates, so here they are. Both of them. In one post.
lunch. bamboo thai bistro
activity. watching 42

I kept dropping hints about going on a date all weekend. We were busy every single night starting on Wednesday of last week and I knew it probably wouldn't happen. During church I realized that we had all of Sunday afternoon free! I mentioned this to Sam, to which he suggested that I plan a date. So I planned this one in about ten minutes.

This place is so nondescript that I bet most of you have never been here. Despite it's faded awning and broken door, Bamboo Thai is quickly becoming one of our favorite Asian places. It's much fancier on the inside and the food is incredible. 

A few weeks ago I was feeling a little under the weather. I had seen Jenna eat this soup called pho when she had a cold so I thought I would give it a try too. Oh my goodness, y'all. It's amazing. In the last three weeks I think I have convinced myself that I don't feel well just so I have an excuse to order this delicious meal again. It's almost like Mexican inspired Asian soup. Which now sounds weird. But try it. You'll understand. 

We don't usually do a movie for a date. The exception is when there is a movie we really want to see. My favorite thing is baseball. Jordan's favorite thing is history. These two affinities collided as we caught the Sunday matinee showing of 42. This is the (mostly) true story of Jackie Robinson's historic entrance into major league baseball. On top of the baseball, history, and civil rights goodness, Harrison Ford plays a feisty old Methodist general manager and civil rights activist. There were no wookies, however, which was mildly disappointing. Jordan planned a good date. 

cardigan. old anthropologie
tank. similar here
shorts. j.crew

shirt. J. Crew (similar)
pants. Gap
shoes. Johnston and Murphy

This next weekend is our first wedding anniversary. We hope to write a couple of posts celebrating this exciting day!

changing plans

Originally, Sam wanted to do an outside date this weekend. Then dreary, cold, Saturday happened. So he decided it was best to keep me happy and warm and we did a lot of fun things inside! I realize that the picture indicates otherwise, but a few minutes outside was far preferable to a few hours as per the original plans.

dinner & dessert. mod's

activity. Aphrodite and the gods of love exhibit at Philbrook

I've recently discovered crepes. Not just for dessert, Mod's fills theirs with chicken, turkey, ham, bacon, cheese, and any other fantastic "savory" thing you can think of. Highly satisfying (and cost effective). 

Even though I don't like sweet things usually, gelato is one of my all time favorite desserts. I always get stracciatella (italian vanilla). But I like to pair it with something creamy, like chocolate. This time I got the pistachio as well. It was one of the best things I have ever eaten.

Before we went on the rest of our date, we visited Sam's new office! He starts at Cyntergy on Monday, and we took a sneak peek at the lobby.

NPR always lets us know when there's a new exhibit at the Gilcrease or Philbrook that we need to catch. This particular collection really appealed to my 6+ years of Latin, which comes in useful about every two years. Or at least I bore people with some Latin fact or etymology basically every two years. 

All joking aside, the exhibit really was an interesting look at Greek/Roman mythology, specifically focusing on Aphrodite. One of the only exhibits throughout which I've ever read every plaque. Also any museum exhibit with parental warnings is worth checking out.

Despite the chill, we walked around the grounds for a while. Philbrook used to be the family home of the Phillips, legendary Tulsa oil mavens. Today, it's a museum and as spectacular as the art is on the inside, the gardens are what everyone comes to see. On this particular day, a wedding was being set up for that evening. In addition to kicking myself for not even thinking of getting married here, I could not stop staring at the beautiful set up. I almost volunteered to help the florist. shirt. similar here

pants. j.crew

shoes. toms

 tank top. old gap
chambray. j.crew
necklace. bauble bar
shoes. similar here

This may seem like a posed shot, but I really was mesmerized by this fountain. If I ever grow filthy rich, please, can I have a huge fountain at my estate? 

We ended the night at The Rusty Crane with my parents. Look for us to visit this restaurant on a date because it was awesome. Great branding, delicious food, and I had a drink that tasted like a cactus. Really. 

downtown

This week was crazy busy. We moved into our new house, I got sick and had to miss school, and we hosted community group at our new house on Thursday. Needless to say, even though we went on an amazing date last weekend, I never got around to posting it. But here it is. 

activities. the color run, coffee, and hanging out at the guthrie green

dinner. hey mambo

Our Saturday morning started off much different than it usually does. We ran in the Color Run! It is just a 5K, but it was the first race that either of us had run. It was one of the most fun things that we have done as a couple. 

Runners are supposed to wear white, and as the race progresses volunteers throw powdered paint on the runners, hence the name, Color Run. It reminded me so much of Holi, the spring festival in India. 

It was certainly a different experience for me. I grew up in Austin, where every run shuts down the city and causes no end of frustration for us non-fitness-o-philes. However, the Color Run was more party than exercise and really proved to be totally worth it!

photo via Aaron Stephenson

After finally getting all the paint out of our hair, we had an afternoon date. We got coffee at the phoenix, our new favorite coffee house. We then headed downtown to spend a little quiet time at guthrie green, a park in the middle of the Brady Arts District of Tulsa. We were surprised to discover that a concert was happening at the park, but it made the trip that much better.

shorts. j.crew

shirt. similar here

belt. similar here

shirt. j.crew

pants. banana republic

shoes. johnston and murphy

 Local businesses and downtown interests are really trying to revitalize the Brady district and surrounding areas. We're starting to reach critical mass, what with OneOK Field, home to the Tulsa Drillers, several great concert venues, new coffee shops, and great public spaces. It's exciting to see the city moving in a fun new direction. 

One of the problems with studying abroad in Italy is that I began to be really picky about eating Italian food. There are a few places in Tulsa that I think makes real Italian style quality food. Hey mambo is one of them. Order the arrabbiata (I know I always tell you to do that, but it's that good).   

 Jordan tells me that carbonara is a Roman specialty. I like it because it's got bacon in it. Not exactly the healthiest thing you can order, but hey, we were carb loading retroactively.  

Check out the color run next year, it's worth it. For those of you in and around the Tulsa area, what's your favorite new (or new to you) thing that's been popping up around downtown?