This post makes me feel like I'm really married!

By yesterday afternoon, I felt a lot better about that whole name change thing. I'm still a little torn on whether I should've just added it onto my name, but I'm OK with how it is now. I'll just make sure I tell all my girlfriends who are getting married (Courtney, Heather: Consider yourselves warned!) to consider all those options before going to change their names. It seems like such a no-brainer, but I managed to miss an option!

Yesterday was a little slow at work, so I busied myself through part of the day with practicing my new signature. I'm getting pretty good at it, and I actually like having a capital G in my name now. It's a fun letter!

Last night was a late night for me. K has been here since Friday night. He's got two weeks of vacation since he's deploying soon, so we'll get to spend 11 straight days together. That ties our previous record of consecutive days spent together. It's been nice, even though I've had to work for three of the five days we've had so far. I'm off work for the rest of them, and I couldn't be more excited about that.

We spent last weekend just relaxing. We hadn't gotten to do that in such a long time! Sunday, we found a recipe online and headed to the store to buy the ingredients. Beingmccrary had recommended a yummy pumpkin dish that I really wanted to try until I realized it had no meat in it. K and I browsed Rachael Ray's 30-minute meals until we found one we thought sounded good: Turkey Sweet Potato Shepherd's Pie. Just like last time we cooked together, K teased me about my lack of kitchen utensils. (Seriously -- who needs a potato masher? Or even a potato PEELER?! That's why we have instant mashed potatoes!)

So after spending a ton of money on ingredients and finding 2 1/2 pounds (yes, pounds) of sweet potatoes, we headed home to start cooking. For starters, Rachael Ray is a liar, because it took the two of us much longer than 30 minutes to prepare this dish. And once we finally got it onto our plates, we felt like all we were eating was sweet potatoes! I don't know what Rachael Ray has against meat, but this recipe was so bad I've kind of lost faith in her. K is still willing to give her another shot. I think I'm done with sweet potatoes for life, though.





























































At least we had good wine to go along with the dinner. There was a little vineyard right by our hotel at K's cousin's wedding. We stopped by on the way home and picked up a couple bottles. It was delicious! We're trying to figure out if we can work in a trip by there when we're in PA this weekend so we can get more bottles. We're going to get one bottle of their nicest wine to save for after K returns from Iraq. That'll be a neat way to celebrate.

Monday, K and I made dinner again, but this time, we stuck to what we (especially half-Italian K) already knew: spaghetti. It was delicious. And it took so much less time, which was perfect, since it gave me time to get crafty.

Some of our friends are expecting their first child in just under a month. The husband is in Iraq right now until April, but he's coming home for his two weeks of R&R soon, and they're hoping to time it just right to where he's in town just a couple days before his baby girl is born. Now, you have to know him to really grasp how perfect this creation is for their family, but I'll try to explain it as best as I can.

Scott is a man's man. He can build things (fences, decks, grandfather clocks -- you name it), he's in the Army, he's got a little bit of a Northern accent (he's from Ohio, but he still has an accent), and he likes to talk a lot of smack. The thing is, though -- and this becomes very clear pretty quickly -- that Scott's a big softie. Around the guys, he acts like he's the tough guy who wears the pants in the family. But the guys all laugh at him, because they know he would do absolutely anything his wife asked him to. He's really just a giant teddy bear.

A giant teddy bear who really wanted a son. So much so that he upset his wife with his reaction to the fact he was having a daughter. None of us were surprised he reacted that way, but we all had to laugh at him because we know Scott, and we know the very second he lays eyes on his daughter, he will be done. Done.

Still, his loving wife is trying to keep the pink to a minimum, so the baby's room is decorated in neutral colors of green and yellow. But K and I knew we had the perfect idea for a shirt for the girl. It was so perfect that we had to make it ourselves. I think it turned out pretty cute, don't you?




















I also decided to update the shirt I made for myself. I wanted it to be really clear why the shirt is camo. Mission accomplished.




















Last night, K and I had leftover spaghetti and headed out to run a billion errands. When we finished, we immediately headed home and got dressed for the gym. We worked out for an hour, and it was so cool to have K there on a weeknight. He got to meet a lot of the people I have gotten to know in our little gym community, so that was exciting. It's been so cool getting to do all these mundane, normal, routine things with him these past few days.

After the gym, we redid our unity sand (I'll post pictures of that tomorrow, hopefully). I love how it turned out! We got a package ready to send to Scott and his wife, and I packed for PA. By the time I showered and climbed into bed, it was after 2 a.m. But I'm all packed for a fun extended weekend in Pennsylvania. K and I have some awesome things planned: a trip to a pumpkin patch to pick our own pumpkin and carve it (I've never done either before); a night or two in Washington, D.C., to visit some friends; and spending some time with some of K's friends from back home. It'll be busy, but it'll be fun. I just hope I get some rest somewhere in there!