Christmas Decorations (and a peek at our home)

To be honest,my Christmas decorations almost didn't happen this year, and I have given up on trying to actually get everything finished.

I ran around hitting the sales to get some new decorations for our new place. I needed a giant wreath to go above our fireplace, and I needed some ribbon and other little fillers to spice up my greenery; but somehow, I lost the entire bag. I have no idea what happened to it.

In any case - Here's a shot of our place Christmas eve. Hope you enjoy (they're the only pics I got before we took everything down).

4 Years Ago

My little blog started right here 4 years ago. Maybe even this week. In fact, I started it for two reasons 1) So that I could tell my fam exactly what I wanted for Christmas, and 2) so I could document my first holiday with a boy.... today that boy is my husband, and I'm even more thankful for this Thanksgiving and getting to spend it with him again.



Thanksgiving might just be one of my favorite times of the year. It's the time we get to spend with family, the cooking I actually get to do, and it marks the beginning of Christmas Season.

I figure this is an appropriate season to get back on board with my blog. Life is finally settling down around our place, and we're looking forward to sharing it again.

Marriage

In response to my last post, I wanted to write a little about my thoughts on marriage. First off, I have to say that it is wonderful. I've never been able to do so much in my life. The hours during one of my first weeks back from work were brutal. When I say brutal, I mean I would go to work in the morning, and come home about a half hour before I needed to go to bed. I still remember one day I was so stressed because I hadn't had the time to do my laundry. I was actually planning on starting to wear dirty clothes to work (I didn't really have much of an option). Then when I got home from work that day, I was so relieved to see that Branden had taken the time to wash our clothes. It was just such a relief! I was amazed at how something so simple could make such a huge difference.

The first two weeks though were so difficult. I expected to instantly be the perfect homemaker. I took time off of work so I could finish buying our furniture, cook, and clean. Well, I learned that if you spend all day buying furniture (I fit a coffee table, a chair, a laundry basket, and two night stands in my car -- I'm still proud of that), you don't have time to cook dinner for your sweet hubby before he walks in the door (a failure in my head). And, I also learned that my duvet cover is really too big for the dryer, and after 45 minutes or so, I learned that ironing it doesn't really work.

Fortunately for me, my husband has more realistic expectations than I do. He doesn't want a perfect house or dinner waiting on the table when he gets home. He just wants a happy wife. Hopefully soon I'll get used to calling him my husband!

What's in a Name?

So, I'm happy to announce that I have officially changed my name. Great, right? So you would think.

It took me a while to decided what I wanted my new name to be. I've never gone by my first name, but I thought that dropping it, though it would make sense, would be a pain. I can't drop my middle name (it's what I've always gone by), and I LOVE my maiden name. So after much contemplation, I decided just to live out the rest of my life with 4 names. I mean, Branden has two middle names, so why shouldn't I?

 

Well, apparently, the Social Security Administration disagrees. Apparently they can't change my first name without a specific court order. And they had a gall to tell me while I could use my maiden name and my husband's last name for my new last name that they wouldn't be able to fit my middle name and maiden name as a middle name on the card. I actually considered just truncating it as a middle..... and then I realized that having Jeffer as a name on my card doesn't make any sense. My name is not Jeffer. It has never been Jeffer. 

So, in the end I lost my maiden name, and it broke my heart. I seriously considered going back to the social security office to see if I could change my mind and do a two-name last name, but ultimately I want the same last name as my husband and children.

So here's to you SSA. I may never go by my legal name in my life--because I'm not willing to pay $600 for a court order.

Oops

Here I am, less than two weeks away from the wedding, and I definitely did not update my blog like I said I would. Ha.

Another oops. Branden and I have already started moving some of my stuff into our new apartment. I felt like moving most of my clothes yesterday (it was easy) and moving my bed so that the big/more difficult things would be done. Well, I want to leave my house in 20 min and all of my church clothes are at the apartment. Oh well. I'll figure it out.

California and Anniversaries - [58 Days!]

Things have been crazy! Since I last posted, we've had quite a few changes and less time than ever. Branden got a new job doing some html coding, and I'm still working long hours. Things are great between us, and the wedding planning is really starting to ramp up. Last week I put together some sample invitations, and tonight Branden and I sat down with a friend of ours who has some experience with graphic design. After printing out my invites, I couldn't believe I ever thought the design I had come up with was a good idea. In any case... it was good to get a sample out there floating in the universe.




Also, last Wednesday or Thursday I got a voice mail from my dress shop. They called to tell me that my dress was in....only my dress wasn't supposed to be shipped for another few weeks. I called the shop to double check, thinking that they must have been talking about my fabric for my bolero, as that was scheduled to ship last Tuesday. When I explained my concerns to the lady at the store, she told me that they didn't have any record of fabric for me, and she offered to look into the whole situation. Well, to my surprise, not only was the fabric in, but the dress had come in early. I ran to pick it up that afternoon and had my first fitting today (2 lbs lighter than last week I might add). I was on cloud 9 all day waiting for my appointment.

In between all of this craziness....Branden and I decided to take a trip to California for Independence Day. We have a friend out there who graciously let us stay on his boat, which reminded me of when I was a kid. We drove all night on Friday and went to the Sailing Pro Shop and Beach first thing on Saturday. As Branden and I celebrate our anniversary on July 5-6, we decided to get each other sailing bags. Saturday was wonderful, but I ended up being so tired that I slept all day Sunday after church.



Monday by evening we found ourselves in Mesquite, NV, just in time to watch the fireworks show and listen to the Nevada Pops Orchestra. Let me tell you... that was a special day, and we got some good use out of the July 4th quilt that I made Branden for our anniversary a few years ago.


On our actual anniversary (or one of them..... we honestly aren't sure if it's the 5th or 6th), we finally registered for wedding gifts, and let me just say that it can be a challenge to decide on things together.

Well... I'm off to bed. Hopefully I'll get some more posts for you tomorrow!

Preview

Here's just a preview of things to come