"She waited a long time," pal Marc Lawrence says of Bullock (with James at an L.A. Kings game in April). "She did it the right way." Photo by: Niklas Larsson / Stella Pictures / ABACA
So in Love| Jesse James, Sandra Bullock
Then again, this is a couple who often defy first impressions themselves: He's a tattooed biker who likes pedicures and bakes flaky homemade almond tarts. She's a reported $17-million-per-movie star who's learned to "catch air" – fly off bumps – on her off-road dirt bike. A year after their glam-meets-grit nuptials near Santa Barbara, the union between Hollywood's Miss Congeniality and Monster Garage's Mr. Don't-Mess-with-Me is proving to be as solid as one of James's welded-steel choppers – with a surprisingly domestic bent.

Whether burning rubber in Long Beach or cuddling over a shared scoop at their favorite Austin ice-cream parlor, Bullock, who turns 42 on July 26, and James, 37, are "the perfect match," says Long Beach Vice Mayor Bonnie Lowenthal, who has known James for years. "He sees the potential in people and works to give them the same opportunities he's had. She's a down-to-earth person who has the same concern that Jesse does." As James told PEOPLE in May, "She pushes me to be a better person. . . . It really does make me feel like I'm Superman."

His Wonder Woman is feeling pretty invincible these days too. At their wedding last year, "She seemed as happy as you can get," says Bullock's friend, writer-director Marc Lawrence. Speaking to her pal about her husband's December trip to Iraq for a Discovery Channel special, says Lawrence, "She was talking about him with enormous affection."