See what I did there? If our fourth wedding anniversary were a movie sequel, that’s probably how the poster would treat the title. (Yes, we’d be shamelessly borrowing from Scream 4.) As we do every year, here’s a quick roundup of how we marked four years of marriage last Thursday. This year’s celebration, like most days, started with breakfast.
I made Strawberry-Orange Stuffed French Toast with Raspberry Butter as a little nod to the dreamy meal we loved on our Alaskan honeymoon. My presentation wasn’t magazine-perfect—though I’ll claim points for the strawberry hearts—but I made up for it with flowers in our wedding colors.
We’d agreed not to exchange gifts this year—the new laundry project was going to be our joint present—but I couldn’t resist when I saw bee-themed stationery from Smock Paper. Sherry is an epic list-maker and our wedding invite had bees on it, so a few pretty notepads and cards came home with me. Full disclosure: Smock is a sponsor, but this purchase was a personal impulse.
They didn’t have a bee-themed big sticky pad, so I chose the closest color instead. Sherry had been running low on office notepads, and these large sticky pads are already getting used. We also love that their products are eco-conscious—one even has a simple reminder printed on the bottom: “use this to do good.”
In lieu of a retail gift, Sherry made me a homemade card listing thirty things she, Clara, and Burger love about me—ten from each of them. It was thoughtful, specific, and way better than the generic “Love, John” I wrote in her card. Proof that she truly loves lists.
But the day was more about being together than exchanging paper. After tying up work in the morning, we headed out for lunch at one of our favorite casual spots, Sticks Kebob Shop. We even used a $10-off Groupon, which felt suitably thrifty for lovebirds—cheap dates and good food.
Next we visited the Crossroad Art Center, a local gallery we’d heard about for years but never explored. It’s a large space showcasing lots of regional artists. We admired many works—Morgan E. McKinney’s pieces stood out—though most were outside our current budget. We did, however, fall for some $4 paintings-turned-notecards by Sherri Conley that, once framed with generous mats, would be perfect for a calm corner in our master bath.
One tiny card said “I Love You,” and we both picked it up at the same time—standing in different parts of the booth and both calling it sweet. It felt like an anniversary-approved coincidence, so we took it home.
After the gallery we did our annual corny family photo tradition: a snap on 7/7 each year. This year was the most challenging—we discovered that a spirited 14-month-old doesn’t understand “look at the beeping black thing and say cheese.” Last year’s 8-week-old who slept through the whole thing suddenly felt like a very blessed exception. Still, we eventually captured the stacked-heads shot, maximum cheesiness and all.
We even attempted to include Burger the dog in the picture. This was our best effort—at least the adults were looking at the camera.
Later we grabbed our anniversary photobooth strip. We go to the same vintage booth at New York Deli that actually develops film strips, which keeps the ritual feeling authentic. The booth was having an off day so the prints came out a little smeary, and Clara cried through much of the first strip. After a few attempts—one of which went awry when the booth fired early and left me calling for Sherry while half the strip showed just me—we finally got some frames with happy squeals.
After a short break spent catching up on blog tasks from the car (what did people do before smartphones?), we headed to dinner at Brio Tuscan Grille—the same place where we held our rehearsal dinner back in 2007. It had been years since our last visit, and this was Clara’s first time at that table.
There’s something endlessly funny about a sippy cup, a handful of Goldfish crackers, and a Dr. Seuss book on a carrera marble table. Thankfully those simple magic items, plus her own pasta meal, kept Beansie content despite a long day of celebrating.
To top the day off, Sherry did something she’s done before on anniversary week: she chopped off a bunch of hair. Her ponytail is officially retired for now. I think the shorter cut looks fantastic—she was a little shy about posing for me, so she snuck off and took mirror selfies because I apparently make her “nervous.” Four years later and I still got it.
She wants me to add that everything’s fine for painting projects—she can still pull her hair back into a tiny pony when we need to. How would she know? Because we’re working on the laundry room right now. More on that tomorrow.
As much fun as we had on 7/7, our minds are already drifting toward next year’s bigger milestone: the five-year anniversary. Inspired by memories of our Alaskan honeymoon, we’ve been joking that Hawaii would be a perfect five-year escape—Alaska’s non-contiguous partner in crime, if you will. We haven’t booked anything yet, but saying it aloud feels like the first step toward actually making it happen. We haven’t flown anywhere for vacation since our honeymoon in 2007, so maybe year five will finally get us back in the air.