1 year

It's hard to believe that one year has passed we said our "I dos".

A year of firsts is over, and we've [mostly] settled into married life.

We celebrated the milestone by heading to Palm Springs for a short weekend getaway.

California still gets me every time.

Shortly after headed east from SD, we hit the dry, dusty, rocky desert. (most of it wasn't even this green)

Then about 2 hours later, we emerge into this lush, green oasis!

i love the diversity of surroundings!

We stayed at Korakia Pensione, a hybrid Mediterranean Villa/Bed & Breakfast. The website describes this place as a retreat, which is the perfect word for our weekend.

There are no tvs, alarm clocks, technology (they did have very slow wifi, so we couldn't watch the world cup games, but we got over it). The grounds were beautiful, peaceful, serene.

We stayed on the Mediterranean side and felt like we stepped into another world (even though we were just a couple blocks off of Palm Springs main drag)

we stayed in the Acropolis Suite

Amazing stone tub with rain shower!

Later that afternoon we did a little shopping at the Desert outlet malls, where my husband bought his first J.Crew shirt. (he was pretty excited about that)

Then headed back for a relaxing evening in.

Because we opted out of cake at our wedding, we celebrated our anniversary with a honeymoon bottle of Chianti (from the Chianti region in Italy!)

YUM

Both days we had late lunches/early dinners and then settled in around 8 or 9 with wine/ champagne, cheese and fruit and chatted in the dim lamp light.

in the mornings, breakfast was served on this idyllic patio

we were early-birds and showed up at 8:30am for breakfast, but still needed to sit in the shade. it was at least 85 degrees already!

They served simple yummy breakfasts of french toast, and hashbrowns and eggs. (i was too hungry to take a photo of the food!)

Saturday morning, we decided to go for a short hike at Tahquitz canyon. It's a 2.5 mile trail with slight elevation that ends up at a 60 foot waterfall. it's pretty pricey to use the trail ($25) but since this was the only activity we did, it was worth it for us.

wading was allowed in the waterfall pool--and even thought it was ice cold, it felt delicious in the 100+ heat.

silhouettes

Then we stepped into the sun and a nice couple offered to take a photo

We spent the rest of the weekend lazing and loving it. Sun, books, a pool, and my lover.

could life be any better?

We needed at least 3 more days of this!

To my husband:

This year had been the biggest challenge, the best adventure, and the most fun I've ever had.

I love that you are in my present and future.

The new-found love tummy butterflies were sweet, but this feeling is infinitely better.

I'm so excited for the rest...

Happy Anniversary!

We've got a Latte Love: Party all night long

We opted to wait until after dinner for our first dances, so after the toasts we just enjoyed each other's company and yummy food.

We tried a pork and beef option at our tasting and weren't totally impressed, so this was our menu:

Garden salad

Minestrone soup

Asparagus with feta

Roasted garlic mashed potatoes

Lemon Chicken Piccata

Chicken Florentine (to DIE for)

Baked ziti

We ate enough, maybe even too much! I had heard enough from my Weddingbee girls that you should eat whenever possible on the wedding day, and I have to say I was stuffed at the end of the night!

The drawback of this, was that we were so busy eating, we didn't get to greet many of our guests. I was really disappointed about this the day after the wedding, because once we left for our honeymoon, we were moving almost directly to California. So our wedding was the last/only chance to spend time with all my family and our friends.

Our slideshow played in the corner during dinner, which was a great idea for us as people could watch or not watch if they wanted. I have mixed feelings on slideshows (especially long ones) because for newer friends and in-laws, baby pictures aren't always terribly interesting. But people seemed to expect it, and our DJ offered to do it as part of our package--all I had to was send him photos in chronological order!

I'm embedding the three sections of our slideshow here for anyone who is interested, but please feel free to scroll right on past them! (I'll list all the songs used at the end)

E Growing Up from LatteLove on Vimeo.

KT Growing Up from LatteLove on Vimeo.

the "Us" slideshow from LatteLove on Vimeo.

Songs

E--

God Made Me by Judy Rogers

Sunshine by Johnny Cash

You're my Home by Billy Joel

Me-

The Dress Looks Nice on You by Sufjan Stevens

In My Life by the Beatles

Us--

Anyone Else But You by the Moldy Peaches

Beauty and the Beast (instrumental) by Alan Menken (let it be known that this was entirely E's choice! Disney has a place in our hearts, but I certainly don't think him a beast)

It took us ages to come up with the songs we did so I hope someone finds them helpful!

Somehow 6pm turned into 8:40 lightning fast and it was time for the dances.

Press play before scrolling through the photos

Let it Be Me performed by Rosie Thomas

We danced like high schoolers and got lost in the moment. But after the first 30 seconds, we started to realize all the eyes on us and were glad we picked a short song!

I never gave my bridesmaids clear instructions on keeping the "wings" of my bustle under wraps, and I didn't realize i had virtual horns coming out of my backside all night until I saw these pictures. Ugh!

photo by Stephen (DJ)

I danced with dad to "My Girl" by the Temptations. A little strange because it's obviously a more romantic song, but we grew up listening to the Temptations in my dad's old honda on cassette tape so it holds many fond childhood memories for us

we laughed and chatted, I did a final spin and we scooted off.

Then E took the dance floor with his mom. They are really close, and the dance was so sweet to watch!

We had asked out guests to wait on the chocolate fountain until we did our first taste, and guests were anxious!

So we each dipped a strawberry and fed it to each other.

and sealed in with a chocolatey kiss

Then it was back to the dance floor for the dollar dance.

BM and MOH ready to collect for us.

It started out slow--we danced to some Rat Pack while a small line formed.

my brother

Caitlin's Wil

(E also danced with a 2 month old baby! wish we had a picture!)

When things started slowing down, E's groomsmen Austin had our DJ start playing Money Honey by Lady GaGa

The groomsmen surrounded us dancing

>

and started making it rain with dollar bills!

That really got the party started. We danced (and sang and air guitared)

all my little cousins!

and chatted

and danced some more.

It was absolutely the time of my life!

The night wore one and we did the traditional bouquet and garter throwing

(i threw it right into the ceiling!)

Then the dancing started to wind down, and we started to say goodbye to our guests.

Welcome, blog world, to my ugly cry face, saying goodbye to Caramel

The night was over.

I only wish I could do it over again, and again!

I'm not finished with recaps, per se, but I am finished with the chronological order of events for the day--which is good enough for me!

and just in time.

As you read this, E and I are on our way to a little weekend anniversary getaway. I'm so excited for 2.5 uninterrupted days with my husband in bliss. It won't compare to Italy, but it's something

Can't wait to tell you all about it when we're back!

Photos, unless otherwise noted, by Little Hands Photography

Previously, on We've got a Latte Love:

The Day before the Big Day

The Rehearsal...Disaster

Getting Pretty

The Girls and the Details

The Boys

Seeing Great Grandma

For the First Time...

Just the Two of Us

Train Stations, Fountains, and Ice Cream, Oh My (#1)

Train Stations, Fountains and Ice Cream, Oh My (#2)

Set Me As a Seal...

More photos?

Details

The Fun Begins