This sure beats year-old wedding cake.

About a month ago, Matt asked me to take off this last Friday from work. He said he had a birthday/anniversary surprise for me, and wouldn't give me any more hints. Throughout the past few weeks I have sneakily tried to pump him for information on his plans.. but his lips were sealed. So, Friday morning we packed up and headed out. Let me tell you.. for a girl who takes forever deciding what to wear each morning, packing for a mysterious destination was not at all easy, and I somehow ended up over packing as always. But off we were. Pretty much as soon as we were outside Yuba City Matt yelled for me to close my eyes at every road sign we passed. I happily complied because even though I was as curious as ever, I didn't want to ruin the surprise.

This is me waiting anxiously for our surprise destination:

I think he is enjoying watching me squirm.

I decided to take a picture.. for what reason I don't know. Who knows where we were at this point, and I think it was just after I put the camera down that I declared that I have "never been on this road before in my life." Or so I thought. Every destination we passed I would ask Matt if that was the surprise. Without fail, he humored me and answered yes. Is Colusa Casino the surprise? Yes. Is Clearlake the surprise? Yes. Is that old shack on the side of the road the surprise? Yes. If I was annoying him, he never once showed it. He is a patient man. :)

And finally he said I could start looking for signs to where we were..

Fort Bragg!!

The first night we watched the sunset, which of course was breathtakingly romantic.

The next morning, we got up and drove to Mendocino, neither of us had ever been there before. Of course Matt had done his research and looked up a yummy deli to get sandwiches for a picnic. How cute is this little place?

This place with the flowers completely cracked us up. The house had absolutely no lawn. At all. Nope. Strictly flowers. How funny is that?

Time for the beach.

Saturday afternoon we went down to Glass beach. We laughed when we discovered that the mounds of polished glass we remember from being kids has magically shrunk.. by a lot! Instead, we found a peacefull bluff where we propped up our blanket and read for a couple of hours. It was so beautiful sitting in the warm sun while the ocean breeze cooled us down. Definitely one of those "it doesn't get better than this" moments.

One of our traditions since we were dating is to pick out a Christmas ornament on every trip we take together (I think I need to give props to Joe and Sarah for originally coming up with this idea). We love doing ornaments because rather than buying some cheap-o souvenir that you will never use, we have an ornament that we can bring out at our favorite time of the year to remember all the adventures we had throughout the year (also it gives some much needed decor to our otherwise bare Christmas tree during our first years of marriage). So after an afternoon at the beach and grabbing a bite to eat, we headed downtown to shop for our ornament. It took only about three stores to realize a reoccurring pattern. EVERYTHING in Fort Bragg closes by 5:00 at the latest. Really?! We walked several blocks hoping to find one store that would cater to us youngsters who don't crawl in bed at 8:00 p.m. on the button, but no such luck. We did find one store that had designated an entire corner to drug referenced t-shirts and Obama "The Change We Need" stickers, but needless to say, no ornaments there. Instead, we took our time window shopping.

... and goofing off. Nice Speed-o babe.
We finally caved in and rested our weary legs with a scoop of ice cream and a stack of free 'Real Estate of Mendocino County' pamphlets. It made me feel old. :)

My parents love love love Fort Bragg, and went on their honeymoon and many of their anniversaries there. One summer they took us kids. Sitting on the beach reminded me of a memory I had when I was there as a little girl (I will warn you.. it's beyond cheesy, but what can I say.) When Mom and Dad took Kate and Cody and I for a walk on the sunset, I thought to myself that this is the most romantic place in the world and couldn't wait until I could have a boy to sit with me to watch the sunset together. Mind you I was probably ten years old, but still, what girl doesn't dream? A year ago today I married the man who helps me make the bed, feeds me ice cream, makes me laugh until it hurts, kisses me every morning when I am at my most vulnerable looking, dances with me, listens to me, knows my faults and loves me regardless, holds my hand and tells me not to worry, and is my best friend.

We left our hearts in San Fransisco...

So have I mentioned that we really love San Francisco?? :) My sister and her boyfriend (whom we all grew to know and love this past week) mentioned that they would like to take a trip to the city before they head back to NY. Matt and I agreed that he had to visit San Francisco on his first trip to California, so Saturday morning we all headed to the bay area. This time we were so excited to show a first-timer all our favorite sites to be seen.

Can anyone tell me what is special about this house??

The Musee is one of my FAVORITE places in the city! It right on the wharf and full of old arcade games, some of which even survived the San Francisco fire. But the part that I absolutely love love love...

Who doesn't love photo booths?!

What kind of kissers are we?

Let me tell you, that scary masked man is even stronger than he looks. Don't be too hard on yourselves boys... that guy was made of steal. Who can tell me what movie HE is from?

The weather was absolutely perfect, so we headed over to Crissy Field for some of the best Golden Gate snapshots you can get.

And a quick drive through Chinatown on before the day was done.

Such a fun day.

Summer is finally here..

I admittedly considered skipping this cabin blog altogether. Primarily because you and I both know that if you are looking at this blog, you have probably already stalked my sibling’s blogs who have had plenty of pictures to go around. However, I just couldn’t bring myself to do that, so here are a few of my favorites from our relaxing week in LaPorte. This family vacation is one that I look forward to every summer for fifteen years now, and it really does break my heart to leave. Anyways, if you want more pictures, feel free to look at all my family’s blogs on the right hand side of the page, as if they haven’t already, I am sure there will be plenty of pictures to enjoy. :)