Back in July 2007, we couldn’t imagine celebrating our wedding any other way than the way we did: a small, intimate ceremony in our own backyard. Ten years later, there are a few things we’d approach differently in hindsight. In this post we reflect on those lessons, share how we marked our 10th anniversary (some traditions stick), and reveal a current home purchase debate. We’ll also admit that I probably need an intervention for an accessory I’ve kept around longer than Sherry.
What’s New
This week we took a few days away to celebrate our 10-year anniversary in Puerto Rico. It was a balanced mix of relaxation—time by the pool and on the beach, lots of good food and reading—adventure, including kayaking, hiking, and paddleboarding—and culture, with a stroll through Old San Juan. We’ll publish a full trip post with lots of photos soon, but here are a few snapshots to hold you over.
For anyone curious about our very different honeymoon, you can read about our 2007 trip to Alaska, which leaned heavily into adventure rather than downtime.
What’s Not
In the episode I quizzed Sherry about trademarked colors. If you enjoy trivia like that, there are several articles that list trademarked hues and explain quirky cases like a rejected Ikea color combination. Those reads are good if you like design oddities and legal color stories.
Our Wedding
If you want the full story of our backyard wedding—including the budget breakdown and lots of photos—we put together a virtual wedding album that covers every detail. We also have a post about how Sherry dyed her wedding dress gray so she could wear it again, plus an engagement story and a look back at how we’ve celebrated past anniversaries, including a particularly memorable cake tasting for our seventh year.
We’re Digging
Sherry has been imagining four different couches for our living room. The styles and silhouettes vary, and the exact color is still undecided, but the photos above capture the range of shapes and scales she’s considering. We’re narrowing down choices that fit our space, lifestyle, and the way we actually use the room.
On a more personal note, here’s photographic proof from our 2012 book tour that I often pair a business-casual outfit with a very college-era backpack. That same bag has carried our laptop to speaking events, come to the gym, and even traveled with me during a recent triathlon. It’s reliable, but I’m ready for an upgrade to something a bit more polished.
We’ve been eyeing a few new bag options. Some are pricier and more refined, while others are durable and casual. My preference remains a backpack rather than a briefcase or messenger bag—just a version that reads less like “this is the bag I had in college” and more like “this is the bag I actually use as an adult.” I’m open to suggestions.
If you’re trying to find something we mentioned on a past episode, we created a master list of everything we’ve recommended across shows—handy when you want to revisit a favorite item or episode pick.
Finally, a note of thanks to Modsy for sponsoring this episode. Their realistic room renderings made it easy and fun to reimagine our home office as a modern living room, and seeing everything to scale was surprisingly helpful. We used their service to explore layout options and finishes, and if you’re curious about visualizing your own space, their renderings are a great place to start.
Thanks for listening and reading—your support means a lot to us.
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