An Anniversary at Home: Silly Facial Hair, Lobster, Champagne and Baked Alaska

Eric and I decided to celebrate our anniversary at home again this year. (It's been Five Years!) Spending an evening at home could easily be dull, but Eric and I had a lot of fun making the extra effort to make it extraordinary.

We spent the whole day cleaning, cooking, and decorating together. It was so nice to spend the day preparing together, making a special effort to create something memorable for each other. And there is a lovely intimacy that comes from spending a whole day together this way that one would never get at a fancy restaurant with a waiter hovering over you and violinists circling around waiting for a tip. Instead, it was just the two of us, quiet happy preparations and some Tropicalismo on Pandora.

I made this pretty centerpiece with grocery store roses and leaves snipped from around our tropical home. I'll show you how to get the same look in another post.


The blown glass candlesticks were a thrift shop score- $2 a piece! The candles I had on hand were a little small for them, so I used an old trick of my Mom's and filled them with rice to hold the candles in place. Don't they look dramatic? The damask linens were scored on ebay and all the pretty china and crystal came along with our furnished rental apartment.


After the food and atmosphere were ready, I got good and gussied up. I wore these crazy long false eyelashes just for fun. (They have a leopard pattern on them and matched my hair quite nicely!) I did a bouffant sixties hair do and wore a pretty blue silk chiffon swing dress, heels and eccentric cocktail earrings of my own making. Eric shaved his beard but left a silly Frenchie Foo Foo mustache just to make me laugh.

For dinner, I made a simple spinach salad to start with and Eric made delicious cheddar bay biscuits (with a super decadent butter sauce!) and grilled lobster tails. There was plenty of iced champagne of course!

The crowning touch to our feast at home was this Baked Alaska. I used Martha's recipe for the most part, but substituted boxed cake mix for the fancy from scratch cake she made for the bottom. Browning the meringue with a blow torch at the table was a fun and dramatic way to finish a spectacular meal.



Afterwards, we read our vows to each other in the candle light (thanks Momma D and Daddy G!) and talked about the moments we remember from our five years of married life. Then we snuggled up to watch The Princess Bride, which is extra special to us since my Dad gave us a copy on our wedding day and reminded us to tell each other "As You Wish" whenever possible.

We're still learning, but I know how blessed I am to share my life with my best friend.