Our First Wedding Anniversary!!!

We've already been married for 1 year! I can't believe it! It sounds so weird to say that.. even though at the same time, it feels like we've been married forever! To celebrate, we decided to take a day trip to Newport. We were originally thinking of going away for the weekend, but we didn't want to miss Madison's birthday (last year we barely spent any time with her due to last minute wedding meetings, the rehearsal and rehearsal dinner), so we decided to just go on a day-cation. We started off our day with breakfast at Pat's Kountry Kitchen in Old Saybrook. We had never been there before, but drive by often. It was really good.. we compared it to a bigger Timoleon's.. not the same feeling, but similar. Our food was really good too (and only slightly more expensive than Timoleon's). Ryan got a ham and cheese omelet and I got 2 sunny side up eggs and toast with grape jelly. We both also had home fries, which were similar to the style at the DC, but better. While we were waiting for our food we looked at all of the "House For Sale" books we found in the lobby.. Nothing stuck out at us... :-/
After breakfast we set out for Newport, Rhode Island. It took us probably about a hour and a half.. a large chunk of the drive was on back roads in RI, but it was pretty. We were worried it was going to be a rainy day, but it was actually pretty nice out. Ryan had never been to Newport before, so we started off by stopping at the Visitor's Center to check out what we could do. We grabbed a map and just decided to drive around. We drove by the mansions (and saw a bunch for sale... we figured they were out of our price range though), then drove along the coast line a bit.

We decided to stop at Fort Adams and take a tour. A cute puppy came on the tour with us, but unfortunately I never got a picture of him :( Part of the tour took us in tunnels underneath the fort where they would send children to listen for the enemy. It was pretty cool!Inside the front entrance of the fort.Ryan on the roof of the fort (with Newport harbor behind him)Me on the roof of the fort.. with a pretty sailboat (the difference in sky color can give you an idea of what the day was like.. if you looked in one direction it was nice, in another it looked like it was going to rain)

Next we decided to check out a mansion.. Ryan chose The Breakers because it was the largest mansion. We saw Kellie (a friend of mine from college) inside.. she works there! It was nice to see her.. we haven't seen her since graduation! The house was just as cool as I remember... Something I thought was interesting though was that the house didn't seem to take advantage of their amazing views of the ocean. Yea, there were huge decks off the back, but it seemed like the rooms didn't take advantage of the view... and the "man of the house"'s bedroom was in the front.. with absolutely no view! Maybe they just didn't care..

I love this picture...

We had reservations at Water's Edge, so unfortunately we had to leave Newport already! As part of our wedding package, Water's Edge gave us a gift certificate for a free dinner (including appetizers, dessert, drinks, etc). It was a lot of fun to go back here on our anniversary. I think we'll do this every year! Ryan really enjoyed staying here (our room was really cool!), but it was also really expensive, so we may book a weekend here for our 5th anniversary. Dinner was amazing... It still wasn't raining, so we were able to eat out on the deck (with beautiful water views). I love eating outside... the views and the food made it an amazing end to the day!A wedding reception was going on at the time, so we got to see what cocktail hour was like (since we were so busy during ours). And as we were leaving, a couple got engaged on the beach.. so many new people sharing our anniversary date!

Our meals were amazing.. Water's Edge has some amazing chefs! Appetizers: Ryan had the Thin Crust Grilled Flatbread (Kalamata Olive and Black Fig Jam, Proscuitto di Parma and Gorgonzola Cheese) and I had the Yellow Fin Sushi Tuna Stack (Sweet Japanese Sticky Rice, Mango, Avocado, Yellow Fin Tuna, Snow Pea Shoot Salad, Chili Garlic Sauce and Lotus Chips). Salads: Ryan had the Classic Romaine Caesar Salad (Foccaccia Croutons, Shaved Parmesan Reggiano, and Oven Dried Tomatoes) and I had the Summer Field Greens Salad (Native Grape Tomatoes, Watermelon Radish, and Cucumber, with Black Mission Fig Balsamic Dressing). Entrees: Ryan had the 12 oz. "High Choice" All Natural N.Y. Sirloin Steak (with Wasabi Whipped Potatoes, Port Wine Ginger Syrup, Sesame Stir Fried Broccolini, Honshimeji Mushrooms and Baby Bok Choy) and I had the Filet Mignon (Peppercorn Skilled Seared, Roasted Garlic and Pinot Noir Jus di Viande, Roasted Potatoes, and Baby Vegetables). Desserts: Ryan had the Lemon Cheesecake with Summer Berry Compote and I had the Dark Chocolate Hazelnut Tart with Frangelico Anglaise. We were both too full for dessert, so they let us take them home.
When we got home, we settled down with year old cake (which we swear tasted just as good, if not better than it did last year!) and watched True Blood's season premiere (SO GOOD!). The cake was amazing.. I meant to take a picture, but we were too interested in eating it to think of anything else! It was the top of our cake (obviously), but it still had 3 layers of cake to it, so we got some of the strawberry filling between the layers... which was soooo good! Water's Edge did an amazing job with the cake (but based on the rest of their food we weren't really surprised!), and my mom did an amazing job of wrapping it to freeze it! MMMM!!! Here's a picture of the cake as a whole..

Yay! Happy Anniversary to us!!!