Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Marriage. Show all posts

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

thanks honey.

Thanks for the roses, honey.
Have I told you lately how wonderful you are?

My honey brings me roses. Un-arranged. Unadorned. The bunch that smelled the best.
just the way I love them...





..........And, for no particular reason.
Other than,
we love each other.

Monday, October 11, 2010

A Photo Album: Our 11th Anniversary

Matt and I made a promise to each other.

Each year, we would make our anniversary a priority, and we would make sure to focus on our marriage and get away from it all.

I posted about our trip from last year.

And this year, despite the fact that our resources were compromised, and life has been very stressful,
We continued in our promise.

We worked a lot harder this year to find a good deal, but we were able to get a last minute room here:


It was delightful. In the heart of Apple Country, and North of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, The Slocum House Inn was a perfect place to disappear {and eat an amazing breakfast}! We spent a lot of quiet moments walking the grounds and enjoying the most glorious Fall weather. Every moment felt like a gift.:




Our humble and cozy room at the B & B {I just love staying in historic homes}:

I had to show you the pool. I thought it was so cool! With the stone wall, the small size and the bush surround {I never would have thought to do that so close, but it really softens it. and works!}, I think they did a fantastic job blending a fenced pool into the landscape:

 We spent part of our afternoon finding good eateries {of course.}, and then doing an auto-tour of the Gettysburg battlefield:

 And another part of our afternoon doing this:

 Dinner was at Restaurant Sidney. It was a splurge, but we saved a lot by bringing our own wine and ordering modestly. It was SO worth it!

 Can you see that the name of our wine was "Weisenheimer"??  Yeah. We got quite tickled with ourselves over that:

 Our actual wedding cake, 11 years ago, was not white. No sireee. I love chocolate far too much to have a silly old thing like a white wedding cake messing with my chocolate. So, our wedding cake was a BROWN flourless chocolate truffle decadence cake. And guess what Sidney had on the menu? Yes. mmmmmm.
We will take two.

On Sunday, we stumbled upon the precious town of Boiling Springs, PA, which revolved around the actual Springs that fed a lake in the center of town. We had a fantastic time checking out all of the gorgeousness that God had placed there:



 snooping at historic homes everywhere we went! This one housed an Underground Railroad station:

Then we stumbled upon the Appalacian Trail. And while I did not get to witness any fun, smelly, backpackers with dreads, I pretended that I was one for a little bit as I hiked it for.......
 say....... point-3 miles, or so:

 And on our brief weekend, we did, in fact, focus on us, and our love for each other, and our many blessings:



Another beautiful Fall day, 11 years ago.  The first kiss of our married life. October 9, 1999:

plus eleven wonderful years:

Saturday, October 9, 2010

I would do it again.

If I got to marry you all over again.

I would.




11 years of blessings.
laughter.
ups and downs.
joy.
dancing our first dance, all over again.
celebrations.
trials.
growing together in the Lord.
beautiful children.

Thank you for the best 11 years of my life.
I love you, Matt.

Happy Anniversary.
Toujours.

Friday, October 16, 2009

Celebrating 10 years of Marriage

Matt and Darlene
Celebrating 10 years of Marriage
10.9.99
Matt and I decided at the beginning of our marriage not to give each other anniversary presents. Instead, we made the decision that we would make an investment instead, and each year we get away from it all and go on an anniversary trip.

This year we selected Hotel Fauchere, a Relais et Chateaux establishment, situated in the Delaware Water Gap National Park Reserve. It was a special splurge for our ten years, and we did it with help from our parents ...especially as babysitters!
Us:
Our room:
Matt delighted and surprised me with this amazing bouquet:

One of our first events on the day of our anniversary was to spend the afternoon, just the two of us, at Patisserie Fauchere, having organic (read: DELISH!) coffee and a solid truffle cake (a nod back to our solid chocolate, truffle, - and decidedly NOT white - wedding cake):
mmmmmmmm:
cute enough to eat:
if your mouth is not watering, you may not have a heartbeat. {and if you ever go to this place, the cream puffs (on the second shelf, far right) were heavenly. All 3 times we got one}:
gone:
The evening of our anniversary, we experienced a wonderful dinner at the Delmonico Room (named after the creators of the Delmonico steak):
At our dinner, we shared a 1999 bottle of Eiswein that was a gift from Matt's dad:
On Saturday, we explored the Delaware Water Gap waterfalls and nature trails:
Oh! And we shared a fantastic panini and marinated olives from Fretta's Italian deli. Wish this place was on my streetcorner! SO. GOOD:
hikers:
We stayed for 3 days, 2 nights, and finished up a relaxing getaway by taking the backroads and stopping at the Delaware River's water's edge. The leaves were beautiful.
Of course, we will never forget how beautiful the leaves were on October Ninth, ten years ago.

And forgive me for not eloquently typing what the last ten years have been like being married to this amazing man....
words cannot do it justice, of course.
But I can tell you that we have a love that stands the tests of time, trials, and triumph.
And as we grow closer to God, we grow closer to one another... and that makes our marriage even better now than it was 10 years ago.
******
I love you, Matthew.
Happy 10 year Anniversary.
Toujours.

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