First Month of Wedded Bliss

A more literal meaning of "the two shall become one...?"

Matthew & I celebrated our 1-month anniversary on Sunday - wow, one month already?!  But the honeymoon's not even close to being over yet... ;)

We certainly have been enjoying our time as a newly married couple, and we're deep into "Project Integration" heading into the holidays.  (In case you're wondering, "Project Integration" is the more "physical" aspect of the two becoming one.)

We were blessed enough to find immediate renters for Matthew's house (they were very eager to move in before Christmas - one of the benefits of owning a home on Christmas Card Lane!); I've been having "fun" changing my name, and we're having a blast merging two households into one.  Well, maybe I'm exaggerating...a little...(except for the thing about the renters!).

Changing your name is a lot like changing your address...except...it's not!

If you've ever had to change your name, you might remember it as a relatively painless procedure (or do you?), other than having to run around town with your marriage certificate in your hand.  Well, I challenge you to try it with no driver's license or an expired passport. (Oops)  You see, after our honeymoon, I realized my driver's license was missing and I hadn't seen it (and several other items) since our wedding day.  (Yes, it took me over a week to discover this...I was on my honeymoon, what do you expect?!)  No problem, I can use my passport, right? Sure, except that I let it expire back in April.  Ugh.

Okay, so it was a bit more "challenging" for me to initiate my name-changing process.  After some frustration and extra running around, I got it going, received my new social security card just a couple of days later, and I expect my new driver's license any day now.  AND I confirmed that my Costco card works for ID when using a credit card at Starbucks :)  In the process, I also learned that CA governmental agencies are much more pleasant to deal with than federal governmental agencies :\

Next on the list for name-changing...pick away at the long list of organizations and institutions who need to know my new last name...all while experiencing a bit of an identity crisis (which, I found out is completely normal - phew!).

As we consolidate our lives and learn how to live with each other, we're especially looking forward to spending our first Christmas as Mr & Mrs and creating some lasting memories and traditions.