Happy Anniversary to Us!

Some brides enjoy the hours before their wedding relaxing at the spa, getting a pedicure, or having a nice, dainty, girly, classy lunch.

However, as a girl who is uncomfortable with all things spa/pedicure/relaxing, I chose instead to spend the hours before my own wedding, exactly one year ago today, by insisting that my friends run an early morning (which was REALLY early for some of us who chose to have a little too much fun at the bar party the night before... but I won't name any names... like my Italian Stallion...)









... as I was saying, an early morning Big Day 5K with me around Georgia Tech's campus, having a post-race snack at Starbucks, playing the "Name That State Capital!" game (yes, I am a nerd), and then heading over to Moe's for an overstuffed burrito lunch.









And some brides relish in taking that first trip to the bridal salon, spending hours, if not days, weeks, or months pouring over bridal magazines, looking for that perfect dress, anticipating that magical moment in which she steps out of the dressing room, white-dress clad, and her female relatives cry since she looks so beautiful.

However, as someone who despises shopping (especially with, no offense, my mom), I took great pleasure in going to jcrew.com one afternoon and ordering the white version of the $99 dress that Rosalie had originally picked out to wear to my wedding. I told her she could wear the same one in a different color, but she decided against it and looked hot anyway.

Did I mention I wore flip flops? The whole time?



And some ladies enjoy obsessing over every detail of their "big day," retaining complete control over the planning of their nuptials. I, however, made a list of everything that needed to be accomplished by June 6. I handled the cake, playlist and hotel arrangements. Dave handled EVERYTHING else: invitations, food, transportation for our guests, venue arrangements, and anything else I wanted. It was the only way I could get married and finish a dissertation at the same time.

Even for a skeptic like myself, who thought there was no way I'd enjoy my wedding day as much as everyone/all the media messages said I should or would, and who had spent the past year of my life writing pretty critical pieces about the wedding industry as a whole, I loved it. It was one of the best days of my life. Our friends and family showed up, supported us, drank beer, ate barbecue, joined me in eating the cake right off the pedestal, and danced on the bar at the end of the night. Some of them even became Facebook friends. All of them were incredibly awesome and made the night unbelievable.

Today is a celebration not only of the super fun day we had on June 6, 2009, but also of our friends and family who have been super supportive of us ever since the beginning. As Christy said in her sermon, all of our friends had high hopes that we would work out in the end, and everyone has done some amount of work to see us make it happen. We are forever thankful for all of you for helping us make it!

To celebrate, we have a ritual that we decided upon at some point during our honeymoon. We:

ate barbecue from Dave Poe's BBQ, the restaurant that catered Team Dawmilam Beerfest/Wedding (that macaroni is amazing, primarily because it's drenched in butter... good thing I did a triathlon right before consuming this meal)

ordered a replica wedding cake from Gabriel's Desserts. Why freeze part of your cake when you can pay $20 and order a smaller, fresh version every year? No brainer to me.

and are going to consume a few SweetWaters this afternoon.




We exchanged presents, following the tradition of "paper" for the first anniversary:

I got... post-it notes (really, I LOVE getting post-its and office supplies) and super cute stationery! Can't wait to get it monogrammed!

I got Dave a vintage map of Hawaii. It's hard to buy a paper item for someone who doesn't really use paper, ever.

Happy Anniversary to us! Next update will be later this week from Panama City Beach for our summer vacation with Casey & Tommy!

Catching Up

It's been a super busy 3 months since leaving Auckland, but the adventures haven't stopped for Team Dawmilam! What have we been up to? Well...

the weekend after we returned home from Auckland, I ran my first half marathon! When Lindsey (friend from Auburn), Steve (Rosalie's husband, friend from Vermont/Michigan/Kentucky/Indiana), and I signed up for it, we knew that the weather could be sunny, mild, and beautiful - like it was the day before the race - or rainy, cold, and miserable - which is what we got on race day! The temperature was about 45 degrees, and it was raining. We did the half anyway, in really good time. Can you say, bad asses?


After the race, we stuffed ourselves with brunch at my favorite brunch restaurant in Lexington, Doodle's. Mmmm, beignets! French press coffee! And an omelette!

Still at a caloric deficit, Lindsey and I ate half a big giant bag of Jelly Belly's on the way home, stopped at Dairy Queen outside of Chattanooga, and had Super Dave pick us up a Mellow Mushroom pizza that was waiting on us when we got to Casa Dawmilam. And I used "I just ran a half marathon" as an excuse for the rest of the week to eat literally whatever I wanted (like the rest of the box of chocolate cake doughnuts from Magee's). Granted, I was so sore I could barely walk the next few days... but still. It was fun once it was over, at least for all the yummy food! Plus, it was great to be in beautiful Lexington again, as well as see some very dear friends that I miss, like, whoa.




How did I miss pictures with Alyssa, Jim & Jennifer?! Oh well. I miss y'all too and was glad to spend time with you that weekend.


Our friends have had big birthdays this year (it's the year to turn 30 and 40 apparently), so we've done fun birthday parties for Meredith (no pictures, unfortunately, of her fun 30's themed party at Provino's), Kevin's 40th



and Jason's 30th (surprise party!)




Lindsey, Meredith and I went to Memphis for the Southern States Communication Association conference where we presented a panel about social media in the classroom with two other awesome/fun colleagues, Jennifer, from Eastern Kentucky, and Elizabeth, from Georgia State (who knows more than anyone else I know about Twitter)



that's me with Emmett Winn, who was the Duck Master for the day at the Peabody, and also the person who brought me to Auburn.

and then we had fun together out on Beale Street!


Rosalie came to visit... we saw Bon Jovi, went to our favorite local comedy club, and got haircuts!








The next weekend, we hosted a dinner party, which gave me an excuse to get new plates and dining room decor!


Then, I went to Allison's baby shower in Birmingham (I think she's having a girl... a little ADPi legacy)

it was great to see my ADPi sisters and catch up with them. You know you're true friends when you can go months without seeing each other, but pick right back up where you left off without missing a beat!




LOST, our favorite television show of all time, had its series finale, and we celebrated with a LOST watching party at the Swan Station, I mean, our house. Everyone dressed up like a LOST character, and all the food had something to do with the show (think I went a little overboard?)


And I've spent this week freaking out about the amount of free time I've had, working on my summer class, and getting geared up for my second triathlon tomorrow at Lake Lanier!

This summer, I hope to update this blog a little more regularly. Team Dawmilam has lots of fun travels and adventures in store... and hopefully we'll have fun stories to share too!

Goodbye, Auckland. :(

Why is it that the last day of vacation is the one that makes you wish you were staying much longer? The weather today (yes, today, since yesterday was technically Saturday in Auckland, even though today is Saturday in the states... confused yet? yay, time travel!) was absolutely perfect: warm, sunny, and only a few clouds in the sky. My sleep was interrupted around 5 am by some very rowdy youngsters, no doubt making their way back from a night of drunken debauchery at a local bar. Still, I got up early and did a very slow, lazy 5K, then went out to enjoy the last day in Auckland with Dave.

We started out with pastries at this little shop down the street from the Heritage called Ronnie's. I insisted on going there because it smelled like Magee's in Lexington - yeast bread doughnut yumminess. I smartly chose a chocolate pastry that was simply delicious. Dave went for some sort of pastry with icing and raisins - not nearly as good. :) Coffees and pastries in hand, we proceeded to the ferry loading docks and hopped on board for a short cruise around the harbor. It was amazing! We saw pretty sailboats, water, islands, sailboats and big yachts. It was the perfect day for a harbor cruise, since the weather was so nice. We only wish we'd discovered Rangitoto Island earlier, so that we could've picnicked and kayaked out there. Oh well - guess we'll have to come back!








One cool thing we saw was the bungee platform/cable car under the harbor. Too bad we didn't know about this earlier, too; I bet Dave would've tried to jump off the bridge just to complete his adventurous tour of Auckland! He did enjoy bragging about jumping off the SkyTour to a couple elderly women from Arizona and Canada. It was cute.





After another brief snafu with the luggage (thanks, Mike, for packing up ALL our stuff unexpectedly!), we were on our way to the airport.

Sad face here. :(

We are in the San Francisco airport, waiting on our flight back to Atlanta. We should be home by 10:30 pm, if all goes well. The flight back over here wasn't quite as comfortable or easy, as we were on a smaller plane that was full, but it definitely could've been a lot worse. We are ready to get back to our lives and little Chloe Cat, but not ready to leave this beautiful paradise. I love Auckland. The people were super friendly, the food was absolutely delicious, the location is picturesque. Incase something goes wrong with our current career plans, we now have a "Plan B": move to Auckland. People there bike to work, run on the paths along the harbor, and they say things like "no worries" and "brilliant" with a very cute Auckland accent. It seems like a very livable city. I'd visit again anytime.

Many thanks to Mike and Elaine for tolerating the craziness that is Team Dawmilam for 6 days straight! We had a blast spending time with you, and are lucky to have been able to spend so much time with you. Can't wait for our next adventure together. :)

I feel so, so blessed to have been able to visit this wonderful part of the world. I know just how lucky I am to have that little "New Zealand" stamp in my passport, and am bringing back many happy memories and the hope that I get to come back someday to experience it all over again. I never in a million years would have thought I'd have the chance to visit Auckland, but feel incredibly lucky to have done so. I hope all of you who are reading this also have the chance to someday visit this very special place.

Subsequently, I've caught the travel bug, and am ready to see the rest of the world. I'm already planning my next trip(s)… :) Who's with me, and where are we going?

I've enjoyed blogging about our adventures so much, that I think I'll keep up this blog to share stories about our everyday life. Not that our everyday life is so adventurous, mind you; it's just fun to write these things down so we always remember how much fun we had on vacations, little trips, and other stops on our happily-ever-after journey. Thanks for reading, and stay tuned for more!