One Month!

We have been married for one month.

On one hand, it's hard to believe that time has passed so quickly. On the other, the wedding seems like it was ages ago already. It's weird.

I've been getting a lot of the "So how's married life?" question. It's funny, because I'm never quite sure how to answer that one, aside from saying, "It's good! Very good." I try to come up with a more unique answer, but seriously... what do you say?

The truth is that married life--at least for us--is not much different than unmarried life. We already lived together for three years before we got married. With the wedding and the marriage, all we did was make it official.

The biggest change has just been my name. I'm still getting used to it. I honestly haven't had to use it that much yet, so in a way, it hasn't even hit me that I'm not Heather Oldlastname anymore. I always knew I'd change my name when I got married. I didn't think it was a big deal. But I'll admit to being a little bit sad on the day I was at Social Security and the DMV, "handing over" my old name for the new one. It is just an odd thing--I've spent almost 26 years of my life as Heather Oldlastname, and now I am not "her" anymore. I don't regret changing it, though. I know I'll adjust.

And I love saying "my husband" now. That's a change, too.

We are still waiting (impatiently) for our pro pictures and our video. I thought for sure we would have both by Friday of last week, but apparently everyone is running a bit behind. Hurry it up already, I want to relive my wedding!

You hear people talking about "wedding withdrawal." After spending so much time and effort planning the wedding, there are the people who are really sad when it's over and don't know what to do with themselves.

Yeah, umm... that's not me. I have not really experienced any of that. There are times when I think I'd like to go back and relive the day over again. But that's only because 1) It went by so fast, and 2) I had SO much fun.

On Friday night, we were at my mom's house for a party. At one point, I did sneak away to go "visit" my dress. It's still hanging on the back of the closet door in one of her spare bedrooms. I hadn't seen it since the day after the wedding, so it was kind of funny. It is still completely filthy. I had a lot of second thoughts about my dress between the time I bought it and the wedding day, but now, I can't imagine having worn anything else. On the wedding day, as soon as I put it on with everything else--made-up hair, professional makeup, my jewelry, the bouquet--it all really came together for me and I knew I had made the right decision.

We aren't really "celebrating" tonight. I'm just going to make dinner at home.

So here I am, on the other side. And I gotta tell you... life is good.

Driver's License

My new driver's license came in the mail on Wednesday. Took 9 days from when I went to the DMV, so that wasn't bad at all. And the picture wasn't nearly as horrendous as it looked on the computer screen at the DMV (it's actually an "upgrade" from my previous picture), so all is well on that front. :) My signature is still a squished up mess, though. Ah well.

I was going to take a picture of my new license and post it, but then I realized I would have to blur out pretty much ALL information, so it seemed pretty pointless.

Still waiting on my bank debit/ATM cards, and my Mastercard. I'm in between identities right now, it's kind of weird. I have to remember to use/sign Newlastname on some things, and Oldlastname on others. I'll be happy when it's all switched over and I can really start adjusting to the new name.

Officially Heather Newlastname

After almost two hours of waiting, everything went smoothly at the Social Security Office. I left there and immediately went to the DMV. Luckily, they were running quickly. I was probably only there for less than 30 minutes. I got my picture retaken (ugh), filled out a couple of forms while I was waiting, paid $10, and bam... done.

They gave me my new registration on the spot, and a temporary license. My photo license and my new title for my car will come in the mail within two weeks. Now, I can change my name with everything else... work, banks, credit cards, etc. I'm going to try to get all of that squared away this week so I don't have to keep living with a bit of an identity crisis. I'm Heather Newlastname some places, but still Heather Oldlastname in others! Confusing.

What an afternoon!

Social Security

Sitting in the Social Security office, just trying to change my name. They are currently serving number 87. I have number 51. This means I have to get all the way up to 99, then back through 1-50 before I get helped. How pathetic is that? I am going to be here for hours. Just how I wanted to spend my day. Lovely.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Home Sweet Home

More than 27 hours after arriving at the airport in Kauai to begin our journey back to New York, we finally got home around 9:00 p.m. last night.

Although it sounds like the trip from hell, and we definitely were exhausted, it really wasn't that bad. Our time in Hawaii was certainly worth everything we went through to get there and back.

We were so happy to come home to our dog, Tessa! She has been so clingy since we got home. I think she's happy we're here.

Today, we're just trying to get caught up and get back into the swing of things. Tomorrow, Michael goes back to work (I took one extra day off to recover), and I go to the Social Security Office and the DMV to start the process of the name change (assuming our marriage certificate is in our pile of mail at our neighbor's house, which we still have to go pick up).

As much as we loved Hawaii, it is good to be home!