Love Letters

Our one year anniversary is in two days! Hearing and realizing that we've only been married a year is shocking! It feels like we were married a long time ago, in a good way. A really good way. I wanted to write a few love letters to my Mr. van der Wel to celebrate our very first anniversary.

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Taken on our honeymoon road trip. I love this photo.

Dear Philip,

Our anniversary is in two days. Can you believe it? A lot has happened in one year. We were married. We moved countries. We became pregnant. We bought a house. We had a sweet little girl and we named her Audrey. We did all these things together which is my favorite way to do things.

I'll never forget when we first met. I had butterflies, actual butterflies! I was so nervous and clumsy around you. I had trouble understanding your accent at first, but I was so taken by your gentleness and sincerity, things which I still admire so much about you. I wanted to spend as much time as I could with you before I left to go back to the States. I remember sitting and playing guitar with you, grocery shopping, and taking walks in the snow. Even though we lost touch for a few years, I still treasure those moments in my heart. I'll never forget the last walk we had before my flight the next day. I cried.

Here we are, married now. I am so madly and deeply in love with you. You are such a pillar in my life and your love for me astonishes me every day.

I love you. Always.

Your wife,
Lamb shanks


Also from our road trip. It was awesome.

Our New Vintage Record Player

(Or: How I Have The Best Husband Ever)

When we shipped my stuff over from the states we included my gorgeous record player. One of my prized possessions. Getting the record player was one of the things we were looking forward to. When we got it here we attached the adapter to be able to plug it into the wall and held our breath. It started smoking. My heart stopped. It smelled like the record player equivalent of burnt toast. Uh oh. I took it to the electricians at work to have them take a look at it. It would cost more to repair than it would to buy a new one. I was bummed, but it was only a temporary set back until we could listen to all our beautiful vinyl again.

That's when Mr. van der Wel started looking online for a new vintage record player for us. He found a great deal on Trade Me for 45 bucks and we won the auction! We opted to drive out to the seller in Thames to pick it up.

I love it so much!!! It's even better than the last one. It's such a beautiful piece of furniture.







When we plugged it in one of the speakers wasn't working it was just giving out fuzz. Phil grabbed a screw driver and dove right in and fixed it. See?
I really do have the best husband ever.

I'm listening to Greetings From Michigan by Sufjan Stevens right now.

I'm a very happy camper.

xoxo
Talia Christine

P.S. - My favorite part is that the vintage player smells soooo good!