What's in a Name?

What's in a name? I'll tell you... its paperwork. 

I am knee deep in the process of changing my name. Or to put it more appropriately, up to my eyeballs in various forms, websites with instructions, phone numbers to call, and certified copies of everything. Why, oh why do they make it so complex? I feel that somewhere along the line there should have been an invention where when I make the first official change via the federal government, ya know that big group of people that is over all the other places I need to change my name- that change should just be passed on down the line to all of the other things. 

But no...apparently no one has come up with that yet. Apparently, they aren't even working on it as an option. So I've mailed things to social security, I've made two- I repeat TWO trips to the DMV and various other trips to the post office in order to get things sorted. Why two trips to the DMV you ask? Didn't you look online ahead of time for what you would need? 

Of course I did! I came so prepared with all the things, in the order I knew she would ask for them. And right before she told me something was wrong, the gatekeeper of the DMV had just commented on how prepared I was. But due to some very unclear language on their site, what I had brought with me did not meet appropriate requirements for proof of address. Here is where it should be noted that I was not changing my address. I live at the same location I lived at before I changed my name. And both names are on my marriage certificate. And the paper I went home to get had the same address as the one I'd already been holding. Mrs. Gatekeeper did not seem to grasp the ridiculousness of what they were requesting from me. How does one have mail in their new name delivered without changing their name first? 

So I was sent home to collect something else and return. Good thing the DMV is just around the corner from my house right? Oh wait..it's not. It's 20 minutes away. But I returned, and I smiled as I went back up to Mrs. Gatekeeper because I imagine people fuss and roll their eyes at her a lot- so I did that in my car instead of to her face because I feel pretty confident she didn't make these rules she has to enforce. 

Fast forward to that afternoon, feeling so accomplished to have 2 major pieces of identification with my new name complete, I looked up a list of things you need to make sure you change once married, not wanting to miss anything. I discovered that those major legal pieces that you need to change right away are only a fraction of all the things that need doing. Why is our name in so many places?! And I ask again...why is there not some magical database where now that I'm legally this new name, everyone just knows it?

So if you need me between now and December, that's what I'll be doing and even then I'm pretty sure I'll still be finding odds and ends that are not up to date. 

This was a word heavy...picture lacking post. Because there aren't many fun pictures to take when at the DMV and post office. So I will leave you with one more tidbit about life these days. 

Hubby and I spent Sunday evening with a friend at a small live music event. It's in someone's backyard and is free to anyone and everyone through word of mouth. The couple that sets it up does it out of the goodness of their hearts just so people can come together and enjoy some summer live shows which is so hospitable and lovely. It was warm but not hot, the band was excellent and company even better. 

This is the man who's name I am running all over town to have. And it makes me the most proud to be his wife and have his last name. It's weird giving up your own last name, or in my case moving it to the middle. It can feel a little bittersweer as you're writing it down on all those many forms. But looking at my new name on my new license- our name, the name for our family and future children, the name that represents our live together fills me with nothing but joy. 

Back At It...With the Hodgepodge

Breaking my blogging silence with a hodgepodge...I will be back to regular blogging soon I am sure of it. I feel like I have a bunch of things to blog about but then the more time I leave it the trickier it gets to get back to it. But I'm doing the manageable thing for now and hodgepodging. You can link up too over at my mom's blog! 

 

1. Tell us about one small blessing you have counted in the past week? 

Summer break! It's not really even a small blessing, it's a big one but this summer has been a necessary refresh I'm so thankful for that time to rest, recharge and time with family. 

2. Bastille Day is celebrated on July 14th...have you ever been to France? Any desire to visit or re-visit, and if so what site or city would you most want to see? (pretend for a minute international travel isn't an issue) 

I have been to France..more than once lucky for me! I blogged about some of my travel experiences during my month long A-Z writing challenge. I have been fortunate enough to have been to Paris, Normandy and Chamonix. All trips were very different and each part is special in a different way. Paris feels like a very traditional or typical experience that you're expecting from France complete with all the cafes, crepes and the Eifel Tower. Normandy is steeped in history and Chamonix was filled with snow and skiing. If I were to return, I'd go back to any of the above places I mentioned, but would love to see parts that I've missed- areas in the south probably such as Cannes.

3. A food associated with France that you love? 

Cheese. I love cheese and the french do it well. And bread. I mean, who doesn't love cheese and bread? Not to mention you can get crepes all over the place! 

4. Something you recently purchased where a coupon was involved? Do you regularly shop with coupons? 

Hm, I feel confident it was at CVS but I'm not sure what. That's just really the only place I use coupons. I shop sales for sure and sometimes get digital coupon codes from companies I've subscribed too but it's not a regular occurrence. Did anyone ever watch that show "Extreme Couponing" ? I used to find that fascinating...they'd go into a store and shop the sales and deals then shell out a whole bunch of coupons and pay NOTHING for groceries! Or I even saw some where the store owed them money back. 

5. You have to give something away this week...what will it be? 

Shoes. I've decided I have too many shoes for someone who wears like 3 pairs on a regular basis. I've been trying to find ways to downsize our belongings so I've been on the lookout working through different areas and while I've trimmed down my closet pretty well clothes wise...the shoes are an issue. 

6. Insert your own random thought here.

As I said earlier, I'm going to be working to get back into blogging so stay tuned for more from me. But for now, I will leave you with a wedding picture because we are celebrating 6 months of married bliss this week. 

Honeymoonin' (Part 2)

Where does the time go during summer vacation? I had every intention of writing this post last week but alas, I was busy with who knows what that it got away from me. When we left off last week, we had finally arrived in Grenada after a bit of a stressful travel day and a few too many nose swabs in my opinion but we were there! 

We had a lovely dinner at one of the 10 restaurants on the property that first night after getting settled into our room. Particularly given some of the travel restraints still in place, it was so wonderful to be at such a fabulous resort. Where we still got to enjoy dinner at a new restaurant each night and over indulge in all the deliciousness. Our first official full day was spent at the beach. We got up early the next day (husband is an early bird and he's working on getting me to become one too) and headed down to the beach where our chairs were already set up for us, under the umbrella with a cooler of drinks and towels ready to go. While the butler service is definitely not a must, and a bit over the top, it was super fun to be pampered on our special trip. 

The beach at this particular sandals isn't huge but its beautiful. They have two areas jettied off to allow for some calm shores and the chairs are spread out a bit so you're not right on top of your beach neighbors. And it never felt overly crowded or anything less than relaxing. Our butler had also set up a snorkel trip for us for that afternoon so after some relaxation, dipping our feet in the ocean and a walk down the beach we headed over to watersports and loaded up for some snorkeling.

As you can see, we ended up with gorgeous weather for the trip. We arrived on a Saturday and didn't see any rain until Wednesday. And even then, it was a quick downpour and then done, never ruining the day. 

It was after our snorkel trip that we wandered to a separate area of the resort that we hadn't explored yet and found ourselves at the swim up pool bar. So fun!

We toasted our first full day with some yummy frozen drinks (a must when you're on vacation) and decided that this is where we'd camp out tomorrow. At what our butlers fondly call the "party pool". The resort has a couple of pools, including 2 main large pools. One is right off the beach and the other is towards the other side of the property, complete with a swim up bar and some games and entertainment each day. I was a big fan of the trivia! I've decided that trivia, which I love anyways, is even better when you're standing in the pool sipping on a daiquiri. 

And so this is where we spent the next couple of afternoons. Hanging out in our personal lounge chairs, or in the water. We made friends with a few other couple that were vacationing there as well which filled our days with even more laughter and fun. Hubs even played a few games of pool volleyball. And after a day of sunshine, we would head back to our room, maybe take a final dip in our swim-up pool before getting cleaned up for dinner. 

After dinner each night we typically would head over the "living room" which is a communal bar space where there was nightly entertainment. We'd play pool, or enjoy the live music or show for the night. 

Our "couple friends" from the week! And unexpected bonus for the trip was new friends!

Unfortunately due to island restrictions, they weren't offering their usual off property excursions. Initially I was worried, we would end up feeling like we didn't have enough to do but honestly I loved getting to stay on property the whole time and relax by the beach and pool. But even without excursions they still have their usual watersports and activities. So like I said earlier, we were able to snorkel early in the trip. And a couple of days later we took an island boat tour where they take you around the coast to give you a feel of the island outside of the resort. 

The island is beautiful and if we come back, I'd definitely love to explore it more. But we were able to see some of the downtown of St. Georges's, the vet school, and Oprah's house! 

And during this trip we were able to talk with another couple who talked my husband into signing us up for Snuba!  

What is snuba you ask? It is a snorkel/scuba combo of sorts. You have a regulator attached to an oxygen tank like in scuba. But unlike scuba that tank is actually sitting on a float, not your back, and you are connected via a long hose. It allows you more freedom than snorkeling, and you can go to about 20 ft. They have you practice with the regulator in the pool the day before you take your trip so your comfortable. Although I still needed some warmup time in the ocean before feeling comfortable to go under all the way, with the weight belt. Hubby was a rockstar and loved it! I enjoyed it, but was definitely a bit more hesitant. I'm going to share a bit more about our snuba trip hopefully in a later post once we get our underwater photos developed. Apparently, disposable cameras are so rare these days, it takes weeks to develop... So stay tuned on that one! 

That was Thursday, only a couple days before leaving and so that last full day we had, was spent enjoying every second of sunshine we could at the pool and a special last dinner at their french restaurant. 

We were able to snag these pictures before dinner I love them! The evening sky behind us, the palm trees, the sunkissed faces and relaxed smiles after a week of paradise.

It was the perfect celebration of our marriage and all the joy that's to come! 

Here's to many, many more! 

Honeymoonin' (Part 1)

Well multiple loads of laundry are done. Groceries are shopped for. And my weather app tells me that it's only 60 degrees outside. So I guess that means, we're back from our honeymoon. Hubs and I scooted off to paradise last week for our delayed honeymoon. We got married in January, but due to a bunch of travel restrictions opted to wait until now to actually take off. And let me just tell you that even waiting almost 5 months, there were still a whole bunch of hoops to jump through. Travel verification forms, and authorizations from the Grenada government, and several covid tests but we were finally ready to go! 

We have two sweet dogs, and one of them is pretty medically fragile these days so we wanted to leave them with family. So Friday, we loaded up the car and headed down to meet up with our families, enjoy dinner together and leave the dogs. Can I just pause here for a moment to share  how awesome it is that our parents get along so well? I love that my parents and in-laws are friends- it is just the best! Moving right along, we were up bright and early to head to the airport. We arrived at the airport with what we thought was PLENTY of time- 3 hours. But as we walked in the airport we realized that may not have calculated that correctly. Because apparently, the entire state of North Carolina decided that was the day to travel internationally. After waiting in the longest line of my life and running through the airport (an experience I would like to never repeat), we skidded into the gate as they were boarding the plane. Whew! 

But 4ish hours later. We landed in Grenada and headed straight for customs. We were going to be staying at the Sandals resort, which meant we could forgo the covid test at the airport (since Sandals does them on site for you) and after the quick little shuttle we were greeted by the world's friendliest staff with cool towels to beat the heat and our butlers for the week. Yep, butlers- you only honeymoon once right?  After our quick nose swab and negative results we were given a short tour of the resort and escorted to our room where a bottle of champagne and hors d'oeuvres were waiting for us. 

And we toasted to our marriage, paradise and the rest our lives.

This post was a bit more long winded than I had anticipated so you'll have to stay tuned for the rest of our trip until later this week...

It's Hodgepodge Time!

I'm linking up with my mom today for the Hodgepodge. It's a little late. But better late than never! 

 

1. Besides the flag, tell us about something red, something white and something blue from your weekend. 

There was a lot of white in my weekend...white trim paint that is. We painted all of our baseboards on the main floor this weekend. And we had chili one evening which is kind of red. Yep, you read that right, CHILI, in MAY! Because it was 48 degrees and rainy. Blue...hmm we did have some beautiful blue sky FINALLY on Monday. 

2. June is here and it's National Give A Bunch of Balloons Month. Who would you give a bunch to if you could? Tell us why. 

I would give a bunch of balloons to my nephews. Because I think they would most thoroughly enjoy them. We got a big 2 balloon for my oldest nephews 2nd birthday a couple of years ago (is he really almost 4?!?) and he had the best time! I think his almost 4 year old self would still enjoy them and now the little one could get in on the fun too!

3. What are three adjectives you associate with the month of June? Something you're looking forward to this month?

Relaxing, HOT, Leisurely. June is always the start of my summer vacation as a teacher (see my random thought below). But this month is going to be even better because not only will it be officially summer but hubby and I are headed on our honeymoon!! Woohoo!! I actually quite recommend a delayed honeymoon because it gives you something to look forward to that lets you savor that just married feeling for even longer!

4. Tell us about a time (besides the obvious Corona answer) when you felt stuck in second gear.

Waiting to see about job things for next school year. The position I took this year was a permanent term sub position, meaning that while it was full time and through the school year, the position isn't necessarily available for the following year. So I've reapplied for a new position and am waiting on what that will look like as the district is still making their plans for next year. 

5. Sum up your May in fifteen words or less.

May was full of house projects, rain, countdowns to fun and glimpses of summer. 

6. Insert your own random thought here. 

Friday is the last day of school for the kiddos. We made it!  This school year was wild. And crazy. And all around challenging. But I had a sweet group of kiddos that I am confident in sending to the next grade, which is pretty much all I can ask. Happy Summer to all my other teachers out there! 

Bathroom Reno: COMPLETE!

We made it! I've been sharing snippets here and there about us redoing our master bathroom. We actually finished it last weekend but my blog was giving me attitude this week and would not upload pictures. I digress. We have a very small master bath and we wanted to update it the best we could. Adding additional space was not an option for us but upgrading definitely was. So we opted to do some painting and replace our fiberglass insert shower with a nice new tiled shower. 

The before picture does not do justice to what we were working with since the shower curtain is closed, but you get the idea at least. Just needed some TLC.

A while back we had painted the vanity cabinets in both of our bathrooms a dark grey- from their original wood. So when looking at tile colors and wall color we wanted something that would compliment it well. So we went with a solid grey oversized subway tile and a very light grey for the walls. We could not be happier with the outcome! A new shower curtain, that was more suited to the new color scheme was added and we feel like we have a whole new bathroom! 

And of course...why paint one bathroom on a Sunday afternoon when you could paint TWO! We matched the guest bathroom with the new paint color and everything feels just wonderfully fresh and updated. 

Two weeks. A day for demo (my hubby is very handy), a few days for the plumber and tile guy and one Sunday afternoon with my man in two tiny bathrooms taping, painting and smiling. Totally worth it! 

Catching You Up

Whew! Where did the last week go? I feel like things have been going a million miles a minute...although I don't feel like I have all that much to say to show for it HAH! So even though I missed the hodgepodge questions this week from my mom's blog...I present to you a hodgepodge of my life right now. 

Over the weekend, hubby and I enjoyed some delightful weather and a delicious lunch out! We had the yummiest fried chicken sandwiches complete with a hot honey drizzle. I have determined that I need to be better at taking pictures of my life so I have better images to go with my blogging words. But for today I will leave you with this picture of our yummy lunch...with a few bites taken out of it because I remembered to snap a pic only after I dove in! 

It is finally warm here! So what did I do on Monday? Made soup hah! Because why not? I love soup and can eat it year round even though it feels more "fall/winter". This particular soup was a new recipe and it is 100% one I will be trying again! I've linked the recipe I used and I followed it almost exactly. It's full of italian sausage, creamy tomato sauce, tortellini and kale (which I swapped for a kale/spinach combo). It was a big hit for both me and my hubby. And it made the perfect amount! Each of us had 2 bowls for dinner and then we had just enough for leftover bowls for lunch the next day. So do yourself a favor and pretend its 30 degrees out and curl up with a bowl of this deliciousness! 

Gemma...sweet Gemma. Last week I mentioned that she was having some trouble with her foot. We did go to the vet and had a corn removed and had a little sore on her foot treated. Well a week later and we were back at the vet today...some more yucky boo boos had developed and I noticed them last night. Why do things with pets always seem to happen after vet hours? But nevertheless we managed to squeeze in for an afternoon appointment. Only to be told that these new booboos were actually a result of her foot being bandaged from the previous injuries. Maddening! So I feel like a horribly neglectful puppy parent that I allowed them to develop but she's gotten treats and snuggles and I think she's forgiven me. 

And I will leave you with a story from yesterday. I am a teacher, for those that didn't know. And in these warm weather days some of us enjoy eating our lunch outside to soak up that sunshine. So yesterday as we're enjoying our lunch, we heard a yell. And we all kind of looked at each other because you just knew this was not a "playing with my friends/being silly" scream. This was a a hurt/scared scream. So we stand up and look over in that direction, not really seeing much and then all of a sudden I spot it...

"That kid is stuck in that tree!" And lo and behold we heard the scream again. And this time I was sure..it was coming from this boy who had climbed up a tree one leg on each side of a y shaped branch only to decide he in fact did NOT want to be up there, and was very scared. So I ran. Yep I RAN. And let me tell you I do not run. Should you see me running, know something important is going on. But myself and another teacher got moving because it seemed like he might fall any minute and was going to need a grown up pronto. Luckily, he decided as we came skidding to the base of the tree that he could attempt to jump down and he made it to the ground with no injuries and only a few more tears. 

One thing is for sure...there is never a dull moment.