1.12.19: Aaron and I had the pleasure of going to my good friend Jess’ wedding on our 5 year anniversary. It was so fun being at a wedding and taking a trip down memory lane from ours 5 years prior. Being January in Arizona, you never know what kind of weather you’re going to get. The year of our wedding it was gorgeous mid 70 degree weather and most of my family had been swimming all weekend at the pool. However, the year prior to our wedding to the day was the coldest day in Arizona history. Thankfully this wedding had gorgeous weather during the outdoor ceremony and it didn’t start to rain till later in the evening after the reception. I wanted to wear a long sleeve and a long dress that didn’t feel too formal. My cousin wore this Lulus dress to our other cousin’s wedding last year. It’s the perfect combination of a dress that shows off some skin, but it actually keeps you much warmer than a short or sleeveless dress. I also love the big floral print for almost any wedding, but definitely an outdoor wedding. I tagged some of my favorite long dresses, floral dresses and dresses that show some skin without being too much skin along with the perfect gold footwear that will allow you to dance all night without taking your shoes off.
Hair & Makeup: For my hair and makeup, I wanted to keep it fun and flirty, while playing off the flowiness of the dress and the bright colors. I decided to use the Morphe Jaclyn Hill Eyeshadow Palette from 2018 and I used most of my favorite colors, which are the lighter ones on the upper left and the dark brown/gray tones on the bottom right. I really wanted to wear my new Morphe matte liquid lipstick in Hot Shot, a orange-reddish color that my sister-in-law gave me for Christmas, so I kept the eyes more neutral. As for the hair, I have had a really difficult time holding curl. It seems that when I actually use a hot tool to curl my hair the curl goes flat immediately, so instead I used two different size curling rods (a .75″ inch and a 1.25″) and I switched off using them on my whole head. I used the smaller one towards the bottom since those curls always go flat first and the bigger one towards the top so that the top curls are big flowing waves. After I would curl a piece of hair, I actually wrapped it back up with my fingers and secured it with a small metal clip. This allowed the curl to set in a tight ring formation. After all of the curls cooled, I was able to pull them down from the clips and the wave/curls stayed much longer than usual. Plus, it removed the ringlet look and gave more of a wave look.
North Scottsdale: Since we got a killer deal at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess Luxury Resort on Hotwire and it was 10 minutes from the wedding venue, McDowell Mountain Golf Course, (instead of our house, which was 30 minutes from the venue), we decided to make a little weekend out of it to celebrate our anniversary. I love the Princess, but I hadn’t actually stayed there until this weekend. I go each year with my girlfriends for their winter wonderland and for our annual holiday dinner. I’ve also used their spa facilities too, which is probably my favorite spa in all of the Greater Phoenix Valley. The reason why I love the Princess is because it feels like it’s own town. You could stay there for an entire week and never leave. They have everything all right there and it’s so big that you could stay at the Princess multiple times and continue to discover new sections of the resort each time. In order to take the experience to the next level, we decided to stay in the Northern Scottsdale side of town all weekend, which is an area we rarely go to. We discovered a couple breakfast spots; one is called Egg ‘N Joe and has the worlds best German Pancakes, and the other is called Soul Cafe and has the worlds best actual pancakes (photo below in gallery.) Since we had the wedding on Saturday night we did not explore dinner spots, but there are so many to choose from in Desert Ridge Marketplace, Scottsdale Promenade, Kierland Commons, and Scottsdale Quarter shopping areas.
Second Celebration: The following weekend, exactly a week from our 5 year anniversary, Aaron and I decided to go out to dinner to continue the celebration. Since we didn’t go to a dinner or exchange cards/gifts during the weekend of our anniversary we thought Hearth ’61 at Mountain Shadows resort would be the perfect place to do that.
Hair + Makeup + Attire: I decided to wear my hair straight so that the attention could be on my eye makeup. I wanted to test out some of the colors in the Morphe Jaclyn Hill Eyeshadow Palette that I never use. I went with all of the red colors, like Hunts, Jack, Roxanne, and Buns, while also giving myself an excuse to wear all black and match my red suede jacket. This is my all time favorite jacket and unfortunately Blank NYC is sold out of this color way, but I tagged similar jackets in other colors along with my most favorite black jeans. They’re by 7 For All Mankind and called B(air) because they feel as comfortable as being wrapped in air. I included this fabric in multiple styles along with some over the knee Stuart Weitzman boots that are on sale (all items are at the very bottom of this post.)
Gifts: Before the food got to the table Aaron and I exchanged cards. I am very big on cards. I love being able to write something so personal in a card that already expresses my feelings so perfectly. And, I love reading that from someone else because if they wrote it down then it must be true! Aaron gave me my anniversary present early because it was tied in with Christmas and was the Carter Love Bracelet in rose gold that I have been wanting, talking about and saving up for for so long. For Aaron, I decided to go traditional and get him something made of wood since that is the traditional 5 year gift, a wooden beard brush. It’s called the Beard Balm Brush and is from the Art of Shaving (pictured below.) I also got Aaron a pair of Apple Air Pods since he started a new job that will require him to be on the go and on his cell phone more than normal. His third gift is NSFW, so I won’t talk about it here and I don’t have a photo of it, but feel free to DM me if you want an idea for a “sexy” anniversary gift – sorry mom!
Food: Aaron and I have been to Hearth ’61 a total of three times now and each time was in a different season. For the most part, the menu has kept the staples, but there always seems to be a new dish or a new special to try when we go. For appetizers, I got a Lobster Ravioli that was a chef special for the evening, and Aaron got the Italian Sausage Flatbread. For the main course, Aaron had the Saturday night special, roast prime rib of beef, and I had the Niman Ranch Tenderloin of Beef. I usually never get steak and I always get fish, but I had the salmon previously, which I already knew was fabulous, and the sides that came with my steak dinner sounded perfect that evening. For desserts, I had a seasonal peanut butter crunch bar with gelato, and Aaron had their seasonal break pudding with cinnamon gelato. Every bite was amazing! We were so full afterwards because we didn’t want to stop eating any of the courses. Plus, the wine and dirty martini I had really hit home.
