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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!