Newly Domesticated

One year ago, I experienced the most radiant day of my life thus far. Our friends and family surrounded us with love, and Sean and I became husband and wife.

I don't really remember saying the vows. I remember crying, I remember literally hearing birds chirping, I remember feeling my heels sink into the grass. I remember dancing, doing an unexpected twirl, dragging Sean onto the dance floor to serenade him with Kylie Minogue's "Love at First Sight." It's a blur, but when I think about it, I think of all-encompassing love and happiness, a fullness I had never experienced, and the completely unironic display of love we received from our family and friends. It was the best day EVER.

If you want an idea of what that one day was like, watch this awesome montage by our photographer, Ryan Burke:



But that was one day, and a wedding is just the prologue. Our one year of marriage has been full of highs and lows (90 percent highs!), but mostly it's been full of laughter, adventure, mishaps and laughing over the adventure of our mishaps. Here's what one year of marriage looks like in pictures:

We got hitched. I changed my name, Sean added me to his insurance, we merged bank accounts.

 We honeymooned in San Francisco.

 We carved our first pumpkins with our new monogram.

We went to the National Geographic offices to visit Sean's sister. Er, we landed on the moon and made the cover of the magazine, obvi.

 We walked a giant puppy balloon in a Christmas parade.

 We survived an incredibly cold, incredibly rainy, incredibly bad Redskins game.

 We survived an incredibly icy, barfy, blizzardy Christmas.

 We bought a china cabinet.

We bought a painting.

I started painting (Sean keeps this one in his office).

We went to New York and Sean didn't flinch when I suggested we watch the Gay Pride parade.

And we had so much more fun than that. I'm giving marriage two thumbs up! I can't wait to see what's in store for our second year!