4th anniversary weekend

With being apart right now in a long distance marriage, it makes marking the milestones extra important. And since we always love to celebrate with experiences, we ended up on an epic Alaskan Anniversary Adventure this year for our big gift to each other a month before our anniversary. But we wanted to acknowledge the actual day too. 

Our anniversary was on a Thursday this year, so Husband flew in Friday night and stayed through Monday. We did things low key because we both have so much going on right now. Having both of us in grad school pursuing doctorate degrees at the same time all while living hundreds of miles away from each other has ALWAYS been difficult. But right now is the most stressful time of the whole process for both of us at once. We actually spent most of the weekend with me at school and husband sitting alongside me on his laptop. Not the funnest weekend, but we go on plenty of adventures together. And I'm thankful that we could both be supportive of each other and the work we needed to get done while still craving out time for each other. 

Even though we do a big trip for our anniversary, we still like to give each other a small gift. Though this year, I think we both went overboard. We always do the traditional wedding gifts and four years is flowers. I expected the bouquet, but wasn't expecting the new wedding band Husband gave me, especially with all the weird places I've lost my wedding ring. But husband was so clever and gave me a "rose" gold band to tie into the flower theme. It's delicate and dainty and perfect. I've been wearing it by itself or with my wedding ring only (no engagement band), especially on clinic days where I'm wearing gloves all day.  I think lots of women in medicine have a similar set-up and it's nice to have more options. 

Thinking up a flower gift for a guy was definitely tough, I ended up going with floral print ties from here & here to tie things in together. Husband was in need of new dress clothes, so it was the perfect tie to get some shirts and suit jackets. By the way, this was our first time with trying these dress shirts, can't believe how quality and inexpensive they are all at once.  

I know this was mostly a recap of the gifts we shared with each other, but as I said, most of our weekend together was spent doing work because we are both making lots of sacrifices right now in the pursuit of a better life together. We're just so thankful for the time that we had together. Will share more from our Alaska trip later this week.