celebratory day

We had such a fabulous day celebrating our anniversary! Well, it wasn't one whole day, but rather two half days... so I figure they make one whole day added together.

On Tuesday we both had off at noon (yay!) so we packed a snackie lunch and headed out. Our first stop was Marshall's to get Rob some new sunglasses, since he left his at home and it was a super-bright sunny day. They were in the process of biting the dust anyway, so we figured now was as good a time as any to get new. Besides, any excuse to shop is valid in my book! We managed to find not one but two really great pair; one sporty New Balance ones, and one hip pair of gold aviators by Marc Jacobs. Sadly, I have no pictures of them. Yet. :)

We then took our hungry selves to White Bear Lake, a big, beautiful, lake (no, really?) to eat our lunch, consisting of hummus, various veggies, pistachios, goat cheese, three varieties of cracker-type things, chocolate-covered pretzels, Jelly Bellys, and Woodchuck cider... yum!

Since there was pretty much no one but us there, and the sun had a lazy-ing effect on us, we stayed about two and a half hours just talking, making up stories, snoozing, and just enjoying each others' company. It's hard to get bored of each other. Really.
At around 3 o'clock we decided to pick up and move on to our next destination: Aamodt's Apple Orchard just outside of Stillwater. Upon our arrival (which was not easy, lemme tell ya... the road construction was a mess!) we were delighted to see that Aamodt's shared property with Saint Croix Vineyards, a small Minnesota winery. We wandered about in the orchard, picking apples and stealing a kiss or two under the shady trees for about an hour. It was load of good ol' country fun. Or at least it was what I imagine country fun to be like... I'm good for about an hour of it.

Here's the orchard:

I wanted to eeeeeaaaat them!

Ohmigosh! Sour!

Oh, you're taking a picture??

We'll take a whole bagful!

I think they're going to make great pie-making apples. Small, crisp, and tart. Once we had filled our bag, we went back through the orchard's store which was a great big huge old restored barn. They had all manner of apple-y things for sale; from pies and cider to jam and popcorn... and of course caramel-covered apples. We managed to restrain ourselves and walked out with only a small apple crisp and a package of apple bratwursts. Oh, and our small bag of hand-picked apples.

Leaving our apple treasures in the car, we decided to pay a visit to the winery next door.
Sadly, I only have a picture of the outside; we were too busy to take any pictures inside, plus the lighting was dim and dusty. The two of us were the only ones in the whole place, so we got the undivided attention of the girl in charge. She told us all about the history of the winery (it a U of M endeavor) and how they make the different kinds of wine... with special French oak to make the barrels, blah blah blah. We tasted a tiny sip of about about 6 different types, (with dark chocolate in between!) and settled on a *very small*, very expensive bottle of raspberry dessert wine. The thought of pouring it over cheesecake sealed the deal for us. :)

We went home and had a cozy evening in. We had planned to watch our wedding video, but we... didn't exactly get to it. It was late, y'know. :)

Then, to round out our celebration, on Saturday I had planned a surprise for Rob; I got tickets to a string quartet concert in downtown St. Paul. So after a day of studying and relaxing by Snail Lake (we're luuu-vin' hanging by lakes these days!), we got all dressed up and went out to dinner, then to hear the Enso string quartet. It was lovely. I felt so very cultured. I almost fell asleep. hahaha. Evidently this particular quartet is quite famous (popular?) amongst the circles that know about string quartets, which are mainly Ivy league musicians and such. At any rate, they were very good, quite young, and wore deliciously coordinating outfits. We enjoyed ourselves and decided to take advantage of other opportunities to go to sophisticated concerts in the future. By the way, St. Paul is a very charming town; I much prefer it to Minneapolis... I think because it's older and feels more artsy. Before the concert, we wandered around the Seventh Street Mall (outdoors, with twinkly lights, cutsy shops, and street musicians) and the old Ham Building (no meat involved) which has gorgeous marble floors and beautiful dark woodwork. I felt like Anne in Anne of Green Gables when she goes to visit Diana's aunt and lives the city life for a day or two.

The only picture I have of the whole evening is one of the quartet, stealthily taken by Rob with his iPhone. Unfortunately that means we have none of our dashing outfits, which is a shame 'cause I had on a new black dress that I felt rather elegant in. Ah well, another time!
In all, I can't believe that I've been living in Minnesota (a state I forgot existed before I moved here) with this crazy, handsome, fun, God-centered man! It's been an adventure and I'm looking forward to what's next. We're happy... so happy.


(yes, we did indeed wear our "Bride" and "Groom" t-shirts from our wedding rehearsal. Why not, right?)