The Best Two Years of my Life

I can't believe it's been 2 years since Mike and I tied the knot in Laguna Beach, California!   These past 730 days have been the best 2 years of my life, and the happiest I have ever been, and it's hard to believe how quickly time has flown.  As I mentioned last year, Mike and I have adopted the tradition of alternating years in planning anniversary celebrations.  Mike was in charge for our 1st anniversary, and we had a beautiful spring dinner and exchanged unique and thoughtful gifts of paper, the traditional gift for the first anniversary. 

Because I'm competitive in nature, I have been mentally preparing for my year to plan since May 1st, 2012...and my plans did an about face and I started from scratch this past Sunday!  While I wont divulge the details of my original plan (gotta keep that stored up for our 4th anniversary!), I changed my mind completely while running along the East River over the weekend.  On a beautiful spring afternoon, while the sun was shining, and the breeze was blowing through the city, I saw a sailboat...on the water...and that is where my idea was hatched.

For our 2nd anniversary, I surprised Mike with a sailboat cruise on the Hudson River around Manhattan at sunset.  The boat company had complimentary champagne, wine & beer on board, and I left work early to leave enough time to pick up a lobster roll picnic box from the Lobster Place in Chelsea Market to bring on board for our anniversary meal.  I even had time to pick up special cupcakes & macaroons for our dessert. 

Yesterday morning started out with some rain showers and a few low clouds...which was not optimal for a 2 hour tour on a boat.  But by noon, all of the clouds parted, the sun came out, and the weather was perfect just in time for our 6p departure from Pier 62 on the west side.  We boarded with about 6 other people on an 80 foot schooner and brought our hand-packed picnic boxes. Within five minutes of boarding, we were ssnuggled up and sailing across the Hudson river!  

 We sailed past Battery Park, we sailed past Ellis Island, and we spent the majority of our time cruising past the beautiful Statue of Liberty, in all her glory.  In 3 years of living in New York, and in Mike's 10 years of being a New York resident, neither one of us had ever done anything like this before.  Neither one of us had ever seen New York in this way.  When you're out on the Hudson River, you don't here the sirens, you don't here the horns honking, you don't hear the cab drivers yelling at each other.  It's just a peaceful view from the water & all you can hear is the water splashing and the wind ripping into the sails.  We were so blessed to get to enjoy a beautiful sunset as well.  When the sun went down, and the light hit the buildings just right, the whole island of Manhattan looked like it was made of gold!!!

Every day that we are married has been an adventure, and I wanted our anniversary celebration to be another testament to that.  Being married to Mike Mobley has ensured not only that life is full of surprises, but that life is full of reasons to be festive.  Similar to last year, we also exchanged the traditional gifts for 2nd anniversary - and we bought each other gifts of cotton! And because it was part of our vows & wedding ceremony, I of course got red roses. 

I'm thankful for each day that Mike brews and makes me the perfect cup of coffee, and for each time he cleans the bathroom, because it's just too gross for a girl to scrub. I'm so lucky to have a husband who takes care of dinner for us both when I'm working ridiculously late and is patient with my erratic work schedule.  I'm happy that I'm married to a man who starts each morning with a song and who is the only person that can cheer Winston up enough to eat breakfast in the morning. I'm grateful that my husband will do whatever it takes to make sure I'm happy, even if that means letting me do a little bit more shopping...yikes!  I believe I have the best travel partner in the entire world & I'm so appreciative of everything that we've experienced so far in our marriage together.  We have quite a year ahead of us for the rest of 2013 & I can't wait to celebrate 3 years together in 2014, and every year after that!

A Trip of a Lifetime

On the week before our second anniversary, I found myself reminiscing over the best vacation we've ever taken, and it occurred to me that I have never done a honeymoon blog!  Since we've been together, Mike and I have gone on some pretty incredible trips, but our honeymoon will probably never be beat.  Since I started our blog after returning from our honeymoon, it occured to me that I haven't done a blog about what really was a trip of a lifetime.

We selected our honeymoon destination before we even booked a date and venue for our wedding.  It was the easiest wedding planning conversation we had.  Mike and I agreed that we wanted to relax, we wanted to enjoy miles and miles of crystal blue water, and we wanted to have our choice of tropical beverages to drink out of a coconut - so naturally Bora Bora was the ideal destination to spend 9 days in paradise while enjoying our newly wedded bliss.

Since there are not a lot of "mainland" options in Bora Bora, it was pretty important that we loved the resort we were staying at as all of the food/activities we enjoyed were within the hotel itself.  For that reason, Mike and I agreed that we would stay at two different resorts during our 9 day stay in paradise. Our first hotel was the Intercontinental, and I still remember how weird it was to see myself referred to as Mrs. Mobley for the first time.  After 4 days, we took a boat just a few resorts over to the St. Regis to spend the rest of our honeymoon at what is the most beautiful hotel I've ever been to in my life.

We got upgraded to what I'm sure was the biggest over-water bungalow in the entire resort and were greeted with champagne on arrival.  We had two whole bedrooms and our own private pool that had an incredible view of the lagoon.  My favorite feature was the glass bottom in the living room & the bathroom, where you could enjoy a bath while watching the peaceful fish and sting rays floating in the ocean beneath our feet.  It was pure bliss.  

During our ten days in Bora Bora, we had some pretty incredible adventures as well.   We took a jet ski tour of the lagoon, we went to the mainland to pick out our own black pearls, we kayaked around the resort, we jumped off the bungalow into the crystal clear water, we drank rum cocktails out of coconuts, we got massages, and we ate like kings!  My favorite excursion was swimming with the sharks!  Here are a few of my favorite pictures from our first two weeks of marriage in paradise!

I can't believe that it's almost been two years since that wonderful vacation. It's almost been two years since we left our little over-water bungalow to start our lives as Mr. and Mrs. Mobley in New York City.  Mike and I have agreed that we want to do everything in our power to return back to Bora Bora, perhaps to celebrate an anniversary or maybe an extra special birthday.  Yes, the drinks were upwards of $30, and the flight cost us a lifetime of our frequent flyer miles, but there is no where else in the entire world I could have ever imagined to spend our honeymoon.  The escapades of our first few heavenly weeks of marriage are some of the happiest days  and it was a vacation that I think can never be outdone.  I look forward to many years of adventures with my husband - we're just two months away from a romantic trip to  Paris & Italy!  But our honeymoon in Bora Bora was incredible and I'm so grateful for the memories we made in our first days of husband and wife!  

The Fruits of Our Labor

I haven't been shy about how busy this year has kept me at work.  We have recently under-gone a pretty massive re-org at the agency and the campaign we launched earlier this year for Axe took on a pretty ambitious mission when they endeavored to send guys to space.  So far, 2013 has kept me on my toes to put it delicately.

It was with great pride that I was able to travel out to LA to see the fruits of our labor come to life at the MTV Movie Awards in LA last weekend. I hadn't been out to California since 2011, when we headed out for the Charlie Sheet Roast.  Since the winter in New York has been longer than typical, so I was extremely anxious for some Southern California vitamin D.  Unfortunately, I was greeted with a bit of ol' fashioned Los Angeles cloud cover instead.  But that was totally ok because, it was an unbelievably pleasant coincidence when my cousin Julie was staying at the same hotel in LA for a friend's birthday.  So to pass a few hours before the rest of the Unilever/MTV crew landed, we caught up over lunch and a bit of shopping on Robertson.


But my sweet cousin Julie wasn't the only person who shared the hotel with me last weekend.  During the welcome dinner at the Four Seasons, we were graced with the presence of Peter Dinklage - and as a Game of Thrones fan, I was almost in tears when he sauntered through the bar.  We had a few more encounters with him over the weekend, one may have included some borderline stalking techniques, but I never actually talked to him...sigh.  If there is one man who could have one-upped Tyrion Lannister, it would be Paul McCartney....and Paul McCartney was also staying at our hotel.  It's no secret that if you can get your hiney to the gym at the Four Seasons after a night of cocktails, you're guaranteed to have a mind-blowing encounter with someone pretty incredible.

A little Pitch Perfect action

As part of our big Axe
deodorant launch this year, the team has been working for what seems like at least 6 months on a partnership with MTV for the Movie Awards.  We had countless emails, hundreds of conference calls, and upwards of ten meetings, all to perfect the program and ensure that each of the elements went off without a hitch.  It truly took a village to polish up the program from start to finish.  So at the risk of sounding cheesy, I have to thank the MTV team for all of the resources they put in to making sure that Mindshare & Unilever were happy with all aspects of the sponsorship.

The rest of our time was spent consuming glutinous meals, chasing celeb encounters, bonding with the team and creating some new inside jokes.  And after a bit of a "work hard, play hard" time in LA, I realized that its weekends like this where I'm so thankful that I have a job where I can enjoy the payoff and the great results from all of the hard work and effort our team puts into our jobs. When we are working some late nights and 60 hours weeks, these are the moments that make it all worth it.  I take great pride when I can see our program live on TV, and it makes me smile when someone in the office, or even a friend tells me: "Hey, we saw Axe in the Super Bowl" or "I love the astronaut campaign".  We have a great team, we work with some excellent partners, and our clients are some of the best people I've had the pleasure of working with.  I'm honored to be a part of such ground-breaking work and I bring on the challenge to continue to keep bringing these excellent programs to the brands that I work on.  It was an excellent execution and it was an excellent weekend spent with the amazing people...and I'm NOT just talking about Tyrion Lannister!

Easter by the Bay

This year, Mike and I decided to head out west to San Francisco to have Easter with Mike's family!  I don't think the 6 of us have been together since last April when we went to Mexico, so I was SO excited for a trip out west.  While it was only going to be a 48 hour trip for us, I had been looking forward to seeing everyone, kicking off the springtime, and having a few festive meals with the people we love.

Unfortunately, Mike and I were both SO sick the first day we were there.  I'm going to go out on a limb and say that I get sick once every 3 or so years.  Sure, I'll get the sniffles, or maybe be burdened by an allergy attack, but I rarely get sick.  Even when Mike has spent weeks battling an upper respiratory infection, or when he has come home from a business trip with a fever, or when the work plague starts to circulate...I have had an immune system of steel.  In the almost 7 years since I've graduated college, I called in sick maybe once.  But we were BOTH sick, like extremely sick.  After a beautifully festive brunch with the Menzies side of the family on Saturday, Mike and I were quarantined to our hotel room where we were surrounded by mounds of tissues, cough syrup, heating pads, and medicine bottles.   My mother-in-law was so sweet to come by the hotel and bring us a little care package of treatments.  It was devastating missing out on the egg dying, and we felt terrible not being able to attend the family dinner, but we were both out like lights by 8p.

It was a good thing that we took care of ourselves, because on Easter, we both woke up feeling like different people!  I have to admit, my photography was lacking because of my condition, but we both had our appetites back for a delicious Easter brunch at Grand Cafe with my mother/father-in-law. 

By the late afternoon, we headed over to my brother/sister-in-laws amazing apartment for continued Easter festivities.  Jennifer did an amazing job decorating their home for Easter.  There were bright, vibrant tulips everywhere, egg shaped candy, meringue chicks, bunny cake pops, and a beautiful table setting & spread of springy treats and appetizers.  The only thing I wish I could have changed was maybe the fact that I couldn't take advantage of Bill's superior whiskey collection due to being on medication.  

Jennifer made a delicious meal complete with a bunny-shaped cake that was picked up en route from Boise to San Francisco.  It was so refreshing to spend the holiday with our West Coast family after spending the past few Easters surrounded by our friends.  There are few things that I love more than sitting down with a family to enjoy a meal together. And even though we were in SF for only 2 days (and one of them was spent rehabilitating my health), it was totally worth it.  San Francisco is one of my favorite cities to visit, I only wish that we could have had a better showing for our family (and maybe that there was better weather, but it IS SF!).  We'll just have to go back soon so that we can have a "re-do".  It was so lovely to see everyone and thank you for your understanding and taking care of us! 

New York, I Love You!

Dear New York City - It was officially 3 years ago today that Mike and I left our sunny Southern California life in the rear view and started our adventures in your sweet little Gramercy Park neighborhood.  Since that beautiful day in 2010, we have fallen madly in love with you.  Thank you New York for being such a lovely home for the three of us.  Thank you for welcoming us with the changing of the seasons four times a year and for treating me to my first ever "snow days".

Thank you for always having a taxi available when I need it most and for the brisk (or sometimes balmy) walks to and from work every day and for sparing me from having to pay for gas and from the burden of the added expense of having a car.  Thank you for always knowing when I need a cocktail. Thank you for the endless options of new restaurants and fabulous bars to try out whenever our hearts desire and for some of the best Italian food I've had outside of Italy. 

Thank you so much for  your never-ending energy & your sparkle on even the gloomiest days.  But most of all, thank you for being the perfect home for the three of us from Mike and my engagement, through (almost) two years of wedded bliss.  I cannot think of a better place for us to be starting off our marriage and I can't believe that it's already been 3 full years since we've lived here - it truly has gone by so fast.   Here is to another great year in one of the best cities in the country!  We love you Manhattan!