Celebrating our 1st Anniversary - Taiwanese style

Yesterday marked our one year anniversary. If you would have told me last year that I would be Taiwan for this occasion, I think that I would've laughed and called you crazy. However, here we are, in Taiwan, celebrating this very special day. Last year on August 4th, I married my prince charming and (in my opinion) had a fairy tale wedding. I enjoyed every minute of the planning process. The best part was that I did it with my mom. She definitely was the director of the entire process. If it hadn't been for her, we would have had a disastrous reception. Everyone who worked with us on our wedding day was fabulous, and I would highly recommend them all. I will put a list at the bottom of this page. Nick and I have wonderful memories from that weekend that will last a lifetime. A special thank you goes out to everyone who was a part of the process, especially our parents.

We went into Hualien yesterday afternoon and checked into our room at the C'est Jeune hotel. I cannot explain how good it felt to finally be back in a nice room. We have been without hot water for days, so I enjoyed a long steamy shower! The staff at the hotel spoke good English and they directed us to a steakhouse downtown. Funny thing was, when we asked them to call a cab for us, they suggested that we should ride our scooter there. I think they thought we were silly to be spending the extra money (it was only $3), but I was not getting on the scooter in a dress. The restaurant wasn't anything fancy, but the food was good. It just felt very good to be dressed up and doing something special with my husband. During dinner it started to rain and we hadn't brought an umbrella! One of the waitresses gave us her's - just another example of Taiwanese kindness. Nick walked me to the nearest storefront to wait for the cab, and he took the umbrella back.

When we got back to the hotel, we opened various cards that my family and Kalie had sent with us. It was nice to have something from home to help celebrate the occasion. Nick bought me a beautiful jade bracelet from Taipei, and I gave him a journal and a picture of his gift - a Playstation 2. Yes, I know that there's a PS3 out now, but I knew he would be satisfied with the older one. He was very excited, and I'm afraid I will have to set time limits on his new toy :) We also chocolate cake from a bakery in town. It wasn't as sweet as something you'd get at home, but it was definitely the best cake that I've had here in Taiwan. We both enjoyed very large pieces of it!

I was very sad to return to our dorm room. We still do not have any hot water. The last few days, we have also had problems with "pea" ants. I cleaned this place from top to bottom (well I cleaned around the junk) and I think I may have eliminated most of them. Just so you know the magnitude of our problem, I found them in my Special K cereal on Monday morning - only after I had taken a bite!!! We only have 3 more nights here, and I cannot wait to leave!!

Oh, as I'm typing this, 2 little ants just ran across the screen. How lovely?!? I cannot wait for Nick to get home so I can get out of this place for a few hours!

Wedding vendors we used:

church: First United Methodist Church in Henderson

reception: Evansville Country Club

rehearsal dinner: Kirby's in Evansville

photographer: Paul Van Hoy - Fotoimpressions in New York (he comes to Evansville for free)

videographer: Black Tie in Newburgh

dresses: Abbington's in Owensboro (I loved these people)

tuxes: Abbington's (Nick's tux vest perfectly matched the trim on my dress)

flowers: Old Saltbox in Evansville (The owner, Doug, is amazing)

cake: Piece of Cake downtown Evansville

hair: Guys and Dolls in Evansville (everyone loved their hair)

rings: Blue Nile and Stall and Kessler's in Lafayette

travel agency: The Travel Authority in Lafayette