Workout April

So, had I been a good blogger, you all would have known about "No-Elevator January" - where I refused to use the elevator in my office building, and instead chose to take the stairs up and down every single day. P.s. I work on the 5th floor - so this is no small task. It was so refreshing that I'm actually still doing it! Tomorrow marks 3 full months of not stepping foot inside my office elevator - Not even to go down! I'm quite proud of myself. (And my co-workers think I'm quite nuts and have taken to locking me in the stairwell after lunch because that's just the kind of guys I work with now.) So anyway - "No-Elevator January" was a big success.

And then there was "Cookie-Free February". See, my new office sits on top of an amazing bakery. And this amazing bakery makes A.MAZ.ING cookies. And they're only 80 cents a piece. 80 cents for a big, delicious, fresh out of the oven chocolate-chip, or peanut-butter, or snickerdoodle, or chocolate-white-chocolate-chip-with-macadamian-nuts piece of heaven. Heaven I tell you. Heaven for less than a dollar. I was HOOKED. It got to the point that I was having a cookie EVERY SINGLE DAY. Even when I had to climb down and then back up 5 flights of stairs - I still could not go a single day with my cookie fix. It was getting silly. So I cut myself off. For an entire month. (You'll note I picked the shortest month - because, darn it, I'm only human.) So yeah - that was February. It was tough, but I survived. (And I've since broken my cookie habit and can now go a whole week without one! Go me. Although on Friday afternoons they cut the price to 40 cents - and then... well... I'm not made of stone!)

March, ummm, was, ummm...."Plutonium-free-March"? "Don't-go-bungee-jumping-March"?? "Think-my-cats-are-adorable-March"??? Ok, so I didn't actually have a goal for March. It was more like "Keep-living-your-life-exactly-as-you've-always-done-and-don't-change-or-give-up-anything-March." I was VERY successful.

And now we're at April. And although "Give-up-nothing-March" was an unabashed success - I think it's time for another challenge. So I've decided on "Workout-April" (!!!) I plan to work out, for a minimum of 30 minuts EVERY SINGLE DAY for an entire month. Now, I realize that there are folks out there who exercise 5-6 times a week already and are thinking, pa-shaw, what's another day or two per week for a month?! But it should be noted that I am not one of these (as I lovingly like to call them) exercise freaks. I do not currently exercise. At all. Taking the stairs up to my office everyday has been a BIG deal for me. I'm not an exerciser. I never have been. And to be honest - it's starting to make me feel like sort of an outsider. An outsider with a flabby backside. So what the heck. I need SOME SORT of goal for next month. And with bathing suit season quickly approaching, my other option was "1200-Calories-A-Day-April." And you do NOT want to see how unpleasant I become when I'm hungry. So "Workout-April" it is.

Wish me luck.

6 months

Just a short post - because it's late... and it's a Friday night... and what the heck am I doing online anyway... but guess whose 6-month anniversary it s today? MINE AND KYLE'S!!! :D We've been husband and wife for 6 whole months! Woah.

And to celebrate, we went out to dinner. And while walking around on what turned out to be a GORGEOUS San Francisco evening, we happened to stumble into the restaurant where we had our very first date. (Except, of course, back then neither of us really thought it was a date. What did we know?) It was delightful.

Being married is the best. :)

Preparing For A Lifetime Of Correcting People

Hi!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Hello?

Helloooooooooooooooooooooo!?

Hmmmm - sure is dusty in here.

Sigh.

Well I'd better get to work sprucing the place up...

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I don't know why I picked today of all days - but for whatever reason today just felt RIGHT. I grabbed my passport, my social security card and my marriage license and I trotted down to the Social Security Administration building. They opened at 9am, and by the time I walked in the door at 9:08 the place was PACKED. I took a number and waited. And waited. And waited. And waited. Drat. I should have brought a book. Or made an appointment.

At 10:37 they called my name. My maiden name. Hmmm - that'll probably be one of the last times that happens. Weird. But anyway, they called my name, and I walked up to the window and handed over the documentation that proved that I was currently Courtney K, and I was married to Kyle H last September. The lady at the window asked, completely nonchalantly, if I was just dropping my maiden name and replacing it with my married name. JUST DROPPING my maiden name??? Listen lady - I am HARDLY just dropping the name I've carried around proudly for 28 and a half years. This is not a WHIM. This is not some tiny decision. This is not like "just dropping off some clothes at goodwill." Just Dropping. Sheesh! I am making the VERY HUGE decision to give up a part of myself. I am deciding that I love my husband and his family so much that I want to carry on his name and pass it on to our children. I want to declare to the whole world that he and I are now a family. Husband and Wife. One unit. With ONE last name. HIS last name. Because I love him. Because it's important to me that we have the same last name. And because it's important to me that that last name have a history attached to it - that it not be some made up, "new" last name. I don't think it's sexist. Or terrible archaic. I just think it's, well... nice. And I know it doesn't work for everyone, but it works for me and Kyle. Marriage is about compromise. I agree to change my name and Kyle agrees to catch and release any and all spiders we find in the house (because while I can't stand spiders, I also can't stand the thought of squashing them.) It works for us. And although it may have taken me almost 6 months to really feel comfortable with actually doing it (and actually spending the requisite hour and a half in a place that makes the DMV look fabulous and fun) it's done now. And it really is the best feeling and I couldn't be happier. Besides my sister-in-law took my brother's (and my) last name when they got married so I know that my family name will go on.

Lady at the Social Security office better recognize!

So yeah. I got a new last name today. Wow. And the first time someone pronounced it (the lady at the social security thanked me as Mrs. H as I gathered up my stuff to leave) - she got it wrong. Sigh. Kyle tells me I should get used to it. Apparently it's a hard name to pronounce. Oh well. At least it's MY hard name to pronounce now.

:)

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p.s. it's great to be back - sorry I was gone for so long.