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!

Surprisingly bittersweet

I did it today -- I changed my name. That's such a big thing! I had no idea it would feel as weird as it does.

I attempted to change it yesterday, but the line at the social security office was way too long when the place opened. After 30 minutes of waiting, I left -- I had to get to work! So this morning, I found myself there 40 minutes early so I could be the first one in line. So far I've only made the change with social security, but the ball is rolling. I did the standard changing-last-name-only update, but I can't quit thinking about it.

Should I have changed my middle name to my maiden name so I could keep it? Should I have combined the two last names with a hyphen?

And now a co-worker tells me she just added her new last name onto her old name, so it's like she has two middle names. Damn. That's a good idea.

I like my middle name, so I didn't want to lose it. And the whole hyphen thing might just be a bigger pain than it's worth. But two middle names? Ugh! Why didn't I think of that?

I didn't think it would be so weird to change my name. And it is just a name, but it's the one I've carried with me my whole life -- over 24 years. It's my identity. A

s common as my last name was and as much as I said growing up how cool it would be to have a unique last name, now that I've got one, I already miss the plain one. People always knew how to pronounce my maiden name (so weird to say that!), but the new one? This says it all:

I called my dad to tell him I had officially changed my name this morning. His response: "Now how do you spell the new one again?" And I went over with him again how to pronounce it. With my dad (and after almost 2 1/2 years with K)!

But it's done, and I'm sure I'm just panicking over the change. I'll get used to it, and it'll be normal. My new signature will become less foreign and I'll eventually feel comfortable introducing myself with a new last name.

That better happen, anyway, because I sure as heck am not standing in that line again!

Awesome!

Karma will get you, bad driver!

K is in Dallas for the weekend (for a few days, actually!), and we had a few shopping errands to run today. We headed to lunch, then to the mall. We ran one other quick errand before heading to Old Navy for a bit.

When we left the store, K and I headed toward my car. We were admiring how clean K's truck was, since we'd just picked it up from getting detailed. As we neared my car, I caught a glimpse of something that wasn't quite right. I stopped dead in my tracks, and my jaw dropped. I gasped, and K looked over at my car.

Some time this afternoon -- probably while K and I were at the mall -- some douchebag hit my car. And drove off.

Yes, my beautiful red Honda Accord now has a hideous black gash about 2 1/2 to 3 inches long where some crappy driver in a white car managed to hit me. There are several white streaks where the person's paint was taken off of his or her car.

And there was no note on the windshield.

Mr. or Mrs. Really Bad Driver in White Car, I have mall security reviewing their tapes so I can hunt you down (actually, so I can have the cops do it). But considering that odds are on your side that you won't be found, I'm finding comfort in the fact that I truly, fully believe in karma.

So here's hoping that you, Mr. I Don't Have Enough Courtesy to Leave a Note Admitting I Ruined Your Bumper, wind up parking next to someone whose talent behind the wheel is just as fabulous as yours.

An unexpected start

In the first weeks of marriage, a couple is supposed to be adjusting to living together. They're supposed to be still in the honeymoon phase. They're supposed to be picking out furniture for their back patio.

Not us.

No, today, as I sat unsuspectingly at my desk, catching up on the blogs I haven't read in over a month, I got a call from K. He needed a break (from work), he said.

He asked me for my dad's address. I thought it was weird, but I gave him the address. I asked why he needed it, and he said something about some deployment paperwork. He explained it a little more: If something were to happen to me while K is in Iraq, he had to give the information for who would take care of things here.

Fine.

But then, he asked who would be here for me if something happened to him. Only the way he worded it was confusing; I didn't get it. "What do you mean?" I asked him.

"Well, God forbid, if something happens to m--" he started.

"No no, I get that part. I don't need that part explained," I said. "The last part." Did he mean someone in the military? Did he mean a specific person, a specific rank, or someone from my (read: non-military) life?

He told me he needed the names of anyone who I'd want there with me to help me or to support me. I told him that's a phone call I would make, that it would be weird for someone in the Army to be contacting my close friends or family if something like that happened.

"Well, sometimes the wife just mentally shuts down," K said.

"I can't imagine why," I said sarcastically. I gave him ER's phone number, and I told him I didn't have her address. He said that was fine.

He asked who my religious adviser would be. "I don't have one," I said.

"Well, would it be ---?" He named off the pastor at ER's church, the church where we'll be getting married when K gets back from Iraq.

"Well, that's kind of a big thing," I said. "That's a member-of-a-church kind of thing."

He persisted on the idea of the pastor. He was talking about it all so casually -- he's done this several times before. My eyes were flooding over and I was wishing I was anywhere but at work when we had to talk about something like this.

At that point, I asked if we could finish this form later tonight.

I needed a break.

Picture post (after my catching up post, you need this!)

The leaves are already starting to change in Pennsylvania. Pretty!














GFF always manages to post such amazing pictures of food on her blog. She cooks it. I have to go to a wedding to eat stuff this yummy (I'm guessing she'd be a little disgusted by the huge piece of fat on this prime rib, but the rest of it was delicious!). This was served at the rehearsal dinner.














The ceremony was really pretty.














K and I after the wedding. He looks so nice in his uniform!



















Crazy ice sculpture!



















The yummy filet mignon and twice-baked potato at the reception. The asparagus was delicious!














Me with K's cousin's wife, and sister-in-law of the groom. She was also a bridesmaid in the wedding. I managed to wear a dress the same color as the bridesmaids.














Italian wedding + full open bar = packed dance floor. Me with the groom's sister-in-law, aunt and mom.














With the lovely bride toward the end of the night! She changed into a destination wedding dress for the reception.














K is always the life of the party ...














I absolutely adored this flower girl, Abigail. Someday when I decide I'm ready to have a daughter, I think I'll clone her.














K and me at OU/texas. Don't you love the camo OU shirt?














Danielle & me watching the band warm up. She said she got her t-shirt idea from me.














Boomer, the new OU mascot (All OU students & recent alumni are opposed to the addition), stopped by to sing the chant with the Pride.














This gives you an idea of what the St@te F@ir of Tex@s is like on OU/tx game day.














And this shows you what the fair is really known for. Take a look at the top right section of the square sign. Only in Texas.

Does the tooth fairy visit puppies?

This is a sign that Piper's constant chewing could actually be coming to an end -- and if it doesn't, at least she'll soon be chewing with teeth that don't feel like barbed wire!

Finally: A normal week!

Behind!
Wanna know how crazy my life has been the last month? I haven't been to the gym since Sept. 13.

September 13!!! That's almost a month ago! At the end of August, I was complaining about a three-day break. I'm sure after a four-week break, my next workout will totally kick my butt.

I haven't read most of my blog reads in over a month. I was able to catch up on just one of my regular reads. But I have absolutely no idea what's happened in almost all of your lives. One of you could have realized your new guy is Prince Charming! One of you could be finished with one of the biggest projects of your life, and one of you might have gotten a new job. I'm missing new baby pictures and wedding planning -- I'm so far behind!

Week after the wedding: Preparing for another wedding
Since the wedding, I feel like I've hardly been home. I got home from Florida late Monday night. That left me Tuesday to unpack, rest and look at all my pictures from the wedding. Wednesday, I hung out with ER. We watched Private Practice, which I decided I'm not a fan of. I packed, and Thursday, I headed to Louisiana after work. K's cousin was getting married that weekend, so I'd taken off work Friday so K and I could fly out bright and early to Pennsylvania.

We found out on Thursday that our original flight had been cancelled. We rescheduled for a larger airport a couple hours from K. Our flight time was 6 a.m. I got to K's house after midnight Thursday night, and we slept until 3 a.m. Less than 30 minutes later, we were headed to the airport. K's dad picked us up in Pennsylvania a little after noon. I showered as his dad finished up lunch. We had just enough time to eat and head out for the three-hour drive to the wedding rehearsal.

I was really glad I'd taken that shower before lunch, because traffic was so bad that by the time we arrived at the hotel, we only had about 10 minutes to get dressed for the rehearsal. I had packed my Biosilk in my suitcase, and the bottle had managed to completely drain itself in my suitcase, primarily on the shirt I'd brought as my single option for the rehearsal. I threw on a denim jacket and tried to hide it. When I shared the story with K's cousin's wives, they looked at me with confused expressions. They had no idea what Biosilk is! Poor things!

The bride had requested that K and I have a dance at their wedding since many of K's family couldn't make it to Florida (partly because of this wedding). She knew we had had a smaller ceremony and that we hadn't gotten a first dance. When she first approached us, K and I told her we didn't want to take away from their day. She insisted and persisted, though, until the night before the wedding, we found ourselves telling her she was the bride, and we'd do what she wanted.

So at the reception, after the father/daughter and mother/son dances, we were called onto the dance floor. The DJ told everyone that K was deploying in a couple months and that we'd had our ceremony just the week before. K had been a reader in the ceremony, and the bride and groom wanted him to wear his dress blues, so he was in his uniform with all his medals and ribbons. We danced to Josh Groban's "When You Say You Love Me." I love that song!

The wedding itself was really pretty. The bride and groom incorporated some neat things into the ceremony that really made it special. The reception was really fun too, and had I not already been to the reception of all receptions in June, I'd have thought it was even better. K and I have already decided we're totally stealing their idea of handing out glow sticks and other fun party favors on the dance floor. But the ice sculpture, crab cakes made in front of us and the 8 bridesmaids & 8 groomsmen were a little fancier than our plans.

Football (backtracking a bit)
At the reception, I realized I had forgotten to check our football score. I had K check his phone, and I couldn't believe it when he told me we lost. In fact, I made him hand over the phone so I could see for myself.

I think the altitude had a little bit to do with our troubles in the game, but I think our players probably were overlooking Colorado too much and looking to our game the next week: texas. I was so sad that we'd lost! I thought we were going to be undefeated. I actually cried when I saw the score.

Later that night, though, I saw the scores from all the other games and realized that if we had to lose a game, that was the day to do it. And after USC's loss (thank you, Stanford!!!), I don't think any team will go undefeated. (LSU will lose to someone this season.)

Back in the South
The weather in Pennsylvania was gorgeous. It was true fall weather, and it felt amazing. So when K and I landed in Louisiana again at about 10 Monday night, we were both feeling pretty cranky. I worked from K's apartment the next day. He had a long day, so I didn't even get to see him that night before I headed back to Dallas. I got home after midnight.

I managed to catch K's brother's cold, so that night, I stayed home hoping to get to bed early. Instead, I caught up on laundry and cleaned my entire apartment. I had a big weekend coming up, and Danielle was coming in the next night to stay the weekend with me for OU/texas.

Thursday night, I watched Grey's Anatomy with Danielle and ER. I'm about on the end of my rope with that show too. It's just getting to be too ridiculous to me.

Big weekend in Big D
This is Danielle's first year to experience OU/texas being out of the Pride (she graduated in May), so she wanted to experience all the traditions of the weekend. We went to watch the Pride's halftime performance at a high school football game, and then we headed to the West End. We ran into so many people I haven't seen in years. It was really cool to catch up with everyone. It would have been nice if I wasn't coughing my head off from my cold and the fact I was having to yell to carry on a conversation, but it was a fun night.

And Saturday, we all headed to the fair to enjoy the festivities and watch the game on a big screen. We had a really good time. We had beer, funnel cakes, Dippin' Dots and corny dogs. We didn't try any of the new fried foods, which included fried cosmopolitans, fried lattes, fried cookie dough and fried peach cobbler (seeing a theme here?). We yelled with all the Sooner fans, and we went crazy when we scored our last touchdown of the game. We won by 7, which is good enough for me.

Still not too late for marriage counseling!
Sunday, K and I went to church and then met with the pastor for our first marriage counseling session. This was just a getting-to-know-you kind of meeting, since K hasn't really ever gotten to talk to the pastor here like that. We got the information we'll need to get the ball rolling on the rest of our counseling sessions, so I'm excited to start that.

I do think it's kind of funny that we're doing all this now that we're actually married, but honestly, it's all still the same. We still live 5 hours apart. We're not joining finances, so all that will be changing from this is my last name and an additional sparkle on my left hand.

So that's my life over the last two weeks. This week is finally back to normal. I'm going to go to the gym tonight for the first time in forever. Thank goodness! K is coming here again this weekend, so I won't have to worry about having to get things in order and pack by Thursday night. Finally, I can relax -- and catch up on my blogs!

Wedding weekend, part 4: The wrap-up

K and I woke up early Monday morning so we could get our things together and be on the road between 8:30 and 9. When we'd switched to our suite on Saturday, K had accidentally left our unity sand from the ceremony and the leftover cake we'd taken for ourselves in his dad and brother's room. I asked him on Saturday and on Sunday if we'd need to go get them, but since his dad and brother were driving back with us, we just left them there, knowing we could get them on Monday when we all loaded up K's truck.

K and I were down at his SUV by 8:30 loading up our things. Shortly after, his brother came out to load his things. I asked him if they had our unity sand. His brother said he did, and that he had put Saran wrap and a rubber band, and another layer of plastic wrap over the top so the sand wouldn't come out. I wondered why he would need all that protection over the top of the container if it wasn't turned sideways -- which, if it was turned sideways, I was going to be upset. The whole point of the unity sand is that it stays the way you poured it. Turning it sideways would ruin it.

I asked K's brother a question about it again so I could be sure it was all intact. "Well," he said, "I wasn't sure if you wanted to keep the container it was in or not."

"Yes!" I said, blinking in disbelief. "Yes, we wanted to keep it!"

K's brother explained that he poured the sand out into a cup, had covered it with plastic and a rubber band, and then put another layer of plastic over it. The container should be wrapped up in his bag somewhere. He left to go back to his room to make sure K's dad had gotten the container. As soon as he vanished inside the hotel, I turned to K, who was too busy loading everyone's luggage to hear what his brother had just told me.

"They poured out our unity sand!" I told him. He looked upset and slightly confused, so I explained what his brother had just told me. I was crying because the sand was a memento I'd hoped to keep forever. I know it would be hard to keep it exactly as it was, but I figured it would at least last a good few years before it got messed up.

K tried to make me feel better by telling me we weren't any less married, that the sand wasn't that big of a deal, but I knew he was upset by it too.

K's brother and dad headed out soon after, and we finished loading and got on the road just before 9. While K was checking out of the hotel, his dad spilled coffee in the backseat of K's truck. Then, after we were about a half a mile from the hotel, we thought we were going to have to turn around because K's dad couldn't find his glasses. He thought he'd left them on top of the ice machine at the hotel. Lucky for him and for K, he found the glasses just before K turned the truck around.

Needless to say, the day was off to a rough start, but at least K's dad and brother weren't doing their "Are we there yet?" routine.

The drive went pretty quickly, but it was a long day in the car. K's brother was sick, so he was coughing constantly in the back seat. He kept bringing up that it would probably be a couple weeks before he felt completely better. At one point, he said, "I can't wait until I feel better in about two weeks." K's response: "I can't wait until I'm sick in about two weeks." (And go figure, I woke up this morning -- a week later -- with a sore throat. Thanks, brother-in-law!)

In the afternoon, I got a craving for a piece of our wedding cake. I couldn't wait until we got to K's so I could enjoy another piece of it. It was a white sheet cake, but it had yummy buttercream icing. I could almost taste it as I remembered how delicious it was on Saturday. I asked K if we had it, since it had been in his dad and brother's room. K asked his dad if they'd brought our cake.

"What do you mean?" K's dad asked.

K explained to him that he had left our cake in their room on Saturday. "Oh, we thought that was ours," his dad said. They had eaten a piece Sunday night, and they gave the rest to the cleaning lady because they didn't want it to go bad.

"Go bad?" I asked. "They just made it on Saturday!"

"Well where would you have put it?" K's brother asked.

"In my stomach!" I said. We were in a big Chevy Tahoe, and there would have been plenty of room for a to-go box with leftover cake. Especially if it had buttercream icing.

"Well, we gave it to the cleaning lady," his dad said again. "She was very grateful: 'Oh, thank you!'"

I turned toward the back seat, where K's dad and brother were both sitting. "Just for future reference, I keep everything."

K interrupted me, telling me it was his fault.

"No, that's fine," I said. "But just for future reference, I keep everything, exactly as it is, and I don't change it." I hoped the keeping and not changing it would prevent any recurrences of the unity sand or cake fiascoes, although I promised myself we'd never again leave anything we wanted to keep in the care of K's father or brother.

We got to K's apartment right at 5 p.m. I stayed there for just under an hour, and I was on the road to Dallas by 6. I got home between 11 and 11:30 p.m., and I talked to K on the phone as I unpacked. He had been frustrated by his dad and brother also, and he swore he'd never again take a trip that long with them -- especially in one vehicle. He brought up a good point as we talked: His dad and brother had done an excellent job of making us deflect our frustrations toward them instead of at each other.

In just 48 hours of marriage, we had already survived a tropical depression, his 45-year-old (old enough to know better) brother messing up one of our wedding mementos, his dad giving away our wedding cake to some lady who didn't even speak English, and eight hours in the car with one man who was constantly sneezing and another who was constantly sucking his teeth. I'm pretty sure we can make it through anything now.

The post you've been waiting for: PICTURES!

It may not seem like, it, but these pictures are shown in chronological order. The sky during our ceremony looked completely different depending on which way you were facing with the camera. These are just a few of the 50 bajillion pictures we have that everyone has taken -- and we haven't even gotten the professional ones yet!

See more about the wedding here and here. See our professional photos here. 



*** Does anyone have a really great photo-sharing site to recommend? I still have so many photos left, and it would be great to have a place online to store them all -- especially if people in other states could add theirs as well and see everyone else's. We're going to compile all the pictures we get and put them on a CD eventually, and we'll send those CDs out to everyone. It would just be great to be able to keep them all online as well.