One year ago today was the best day of my life because I got to marry my best friend, my favorite person in the world. Every cheesy thing about love and weddings and marriage is true. It was the most overwhelming moment of things just feeling right (not to mention the feeling of pure joy). I always used to hate it when people would say about finding your person, “When you know, you know,” because I have a hard enough time knowing what clothes to put on or what to eat. How would I just know about who I wanted to spend my life with? But then I met Tony in his short shorts and socks and sandals and something in me just said “Oh, it’s you.” And he’s been making me laugh and feel so very loved every day since. Someone recently told me how rare and lucky it is that I actually like my spouse and he likes me. That bummed me out because it’s kind of true, but also reminded me just how lucky I am. We don’t just love each other, we also like each other. Any time with him is the best time.

{ Looking down on all of our favorite people in the world dancing at our wedding, one of our favorite parts of our favorite day }

I definitely got the Bridal Blues after the wedding was over and life went back to “normal,” after the year and a half frenzy of planning, parties and anticipation. I will probably be that girl who keeps her profile pic as a wedding photo for years to come, and continue to think about the happy, perfect day our wedding was all the time. I’ve always been obsessed with weddings, and I couldn’t believe it was actually happening on the day of; and now, I can’t believe it’s been a year. It feels like we’ve been married forever, but the wedding still feels like it was just a few weeks ago. I think it’s a good sign, though, that I lived in that moment the day of and am reflecting on it happily, but not still trying to live in it. We’re looking forward to our future, and as much as I thought I would be wearing my wedding dress every day with a tube of cookie dough in hand and a pile of wedding magazines wishing we could do it all over again, we still haven’t put together a photo album… Or even watched our full-length wedding video. Maybe I’ll make Tony do that tonight. (I DO still want to do it all over again, though. I want to renew our vows in Tahoe annually. Working on Tony about that one.)

I am still crazy enough about weddings, though, that I’ve been wearing the bride robe Tony got me for our wedding all day today. I’m still this girl at heart, who liked to wear child-size wedding dresses (side note: Who makes child size wedding gowns?!):

{ I got this wedding dress as a reward after diving face first into the steps of the shallow end of my grandparents’ pool, and plastic surgery to put my lip back together }

I was going to write today about all of the things I’ve learned in our first year of marriage (and maybe I still will, or I’ll make Tony do it as an “anniversary present”), but instead I want to talk about how we celebrated our anniversary. Even though today is The Day, we turned the weekend into an anniversary celebration because Tony has a busy work week and we knew that we might not have much time together today. And also, I like to drag celebrations (whether they be holidays, birthdays or anniversaries) out as long as loved ones will put up with it. I had grand plans of making it Instagram-perfect, defrosting the top layer of our wedding cake, wearing white every day, swimming in our new pool and taking long hikes with the dogs. Instead, Saturday morning, I went for a run around Lake Hollywood and fell so hard I bent two of the prongs on my engagement ring. I also tore my knee and hand up and sprained my ankle. I don’t know what I was more upset by, how much I hurt or the fact that the weekend wouldn’t be “perfect” anymore.

It ended up being more perfect than I could have ever planned. We spent two days in bed in our totally unfinished bedroom (note the TV perched on top of the dog food container, plugged into the hallway), marathon watching The Night Of. (SO GOOD. If you’re not obsessed yet, what are you doing with your life?) Tony put ice packs together and timed it – 20 minutes on, 20 minutes off – and popped the fancy champagne my dad gave us as a wedding gift for our first anniversary. He called it my medicine (when we both know it’s my #1 food group).

He helped me hobble around to still take my “Instagram Perfect” pictures and, for our big anniversary dinner at Union, (chosen for it’s delicious pasta, not because the name of the restaurant was really hitting the nail on the head with the whole “celebration of our union” thing. That would be TOO GROSS. Even for me), Tony helped shove my swollen foot into heels and basically carry me into the restaurant because I was so hellbent on still celebrating the way we had planned.

{Posing strategically to hide my bruises, bandages & puffiness}

It was the best reminder that truly, any time with Tony is the best time. And even though it was so low-key, it felt more special than a splashy vacation, over-the-top gifts or other brag-worthy moments to smear across the internet (like I usually do). Instead, we just focused on each other and lived in the boring, perfect moment. The highlight of the weekend was spending the entire dinner last night talking about our favorite memories of our relationship, from when we first fell in love to the most joyful parts of our wedding. It felt a little like Defending Your Life, reflecting and rehashing all of these bits of happiness that led up to us deciding to get married. I’ve shared our wedding photos, and I’ve written about our “dateiversary” and shared a million photos over the years. I started this blog as a way to preserve all of the amazing, insane highs and lows of planning our wedding and it’s evolved into a daily account of our life. So today, I want to put the mental slideshow we reminisced over last night into photos. I know I’ve shared some before, but I don’t care. Just like I make Tony tell me the story of how he fell in love with me over and over again, there are just some pictures that make me so happy I’m going to make you look at them again, too. Thank you, Tony (and thank you) for putting up with me. NOW LET’S TAKE A STROLL DOWN MEMORY LANE, GUYS!

The day I met him, I invited him to my birthday party. For all to see, he wrote “I don’t know who you are.”

One of the first photos of us together (I don’t even know if we were “together together” at that point, but I do know that spray tan was ill-advised.)

My favorite sketch we’ve written together. It’s like a melodramatic Nicholas Sparks movie – he’s the stripper at my bachelorette party before I marry a boring, terrible guy, and it turns out we were each other’s first loves and our families tore us apart when we were teenagers, and we rekindle our romance and realize we are soulmates.

Performing anything with him is the most fun.

Especially when it involves the motorized scooter, Scootie, that my GrandBettye left me in her will.

The show we wrote together and performed at The Groundlings, where we met.

Our first vacation (in Bora Bora, where we later returned for our honeymoon).

The time he drove 6 hours to my parents’ house for a charity event, despite horrific food poisoning.

The night he booked School of Rock.

Twinning with my dad, both in clothes and spirit – they are both selfless, optimistic, hilarious, family-oriented men with high-maintenance wives. (HI MOM!)

Having so many moms, and loving our big extended family so very much.

Tony steaming my dress at The Groundlings for my bridal shower.

Picking out our wedding rings.

He lets me have ALL THE DOGS.

Our first day in Tahoe before the wedding, out on the boat with the first arrival of friends. BLISS.

The Cartorialist drawing for our wedding.

The day Tony proposed.

Eating the top layer of our wedding cake this weekend.

Dreaming of one day being a bride with my lifelong bestie/Co-MOH Jax.

Celebrating being a bride with my other bestie/Co-MOH Katierose.

That I get to spend the rest of my life creating new memories with this guy.

He believes in my dreams and in me, even when I don’t. He lets me keep puppies when I find them on the streets. He tells me he loves me all the time and means it, even when I’m being hard to love. He makes me laugh so much, so hard. He calls my mom just to talk. He brings me a latte in bed every morning and flowers just because (not just when he’s in trouble). He leaves Post Its around the house with compliments or motivational quotes, depending on which I need that day. He likes to dream about our life, and wants to be a dad. He’s going to be the best dad (one day in the distant, not-soon-at-all, sorry Moms future). He makes me feel like I’m living in a romantic comedy. I love you to the moon and back, Tony. Happy 1st Anniversary.