This Is Why Kyle And I Are Different

We found a cat turd in our bedroom the other day. Lovely. But what can you do other than sigh, clean it up and move on. I volunteered to bring Kyle a paper towel if he would pick it up. He agreed but asked if I would bring him some toilet paper instead so that he could just flush it. My husband is a genius. I love him. So I leave and bring him back a box of tissues to use. Upon receiving the tissue box he stares blankly at me and asks what happened to the toilet paper. To which I reply that the tissue box was easier to grab and what difference does it make??

Him: Well, can you flush tissue?
Me: Ummm, duh. Have you never flushed a tissue before?
Him: No.
Me: Seriously?? So, like, when you run out of toilet paper, and you have to use a tissue, do you just throw it away???
Him: I've never run out of toilet paper before.

And this, ladies and gentlemen, is why my husband and I are very, VERY different people.

BCBC

Me: So, I was thinking... how about a little Brown Chicken Brown Cow today
Kyle: huh?
Me: Brown Chicken Brown Cow
Kyle: Brunch at brown cow???
Me: No.... Brown. Chicken. Brown. Cow.
Kyle: ::blank stare::
Me: Brown Chicken Brown Cow (::sung to the tune of bow chicca bow wow::)
Kyle: ... like Brown Cow yogurt???
Me: NO!!! Like BOW CHICCA BOW WOW!
Kyle: ::seriously confused blank stare::
Me: It's code for sexy time! (you, idiot)
Kyle: Oh.
Me: Sheesh.
Kyle: Ok. But, can we still get brunch? I'm hungry.

:\

Wedding Planning

Kyle and I had the rare (and uber fun) opportunity to play "Let's plan a wedding" last weekend. Now, if you had asked me a year and half ago* if I thought "Let's plan a wedding" was a fun game, I'd likely have socked you in the eye. I'm not gonna lie, one of the best feelings in the whole world was waking up on the morning after my wedding and realizing A. I married my soul mate (Eeee!) and B. I never had to plan another wedding. Ever.

But it seems that planning SOMEONE ELSE'S wedding is a smidge different. There's all the fun of making big plans and dreaming about little details, without any of the stress that comes along with actually committing to a decision. A decision that could make or break the ENTIRE wedding and therefore make or break THE REST OF MY LIFE. (I'll admit that I got a bit carried away when planning my big day.) Anyway, when you don't have to make any concrete decisions yourself, planning a wedding is down right fun.

So when two of my and Kyle's dear friends asked if we would help them select a venue for their wedding next year (they live on the east coast and plan to get married here in California) I all but jumped for joy.

Our friends selected a cute little wine country town on the Russian River in Northern California for their nuptials, and asked if Kyle and I wouldn't mind driving up there to check out a few spots. Hmmmmmm, spend a day in wine country looking at beautiful wedding venues along a river? OK! Plus - Kyle and I got to experience that "JustEngagedLet'sPlanAWedding" giddiness all over again. It was an awesome day. I found myself saying things like "Ok, so here is where we... uhhhh, I mean the bride and groom... would stand during the ceremony" and so on. :) I totally found myself getting lost in excitement of it all as if it was my own wedding. But again, without the stress and fear of making, *gasp*, the wrong decision. So much fun.

And the best part is that it seems I'm not half bad as a wedding scout. I diligently took pictures and copious amounts of notes. I checked out restaurants/bars/hotels in the neighborhood so the bride/groom could tell their out of town guests where to go the weekend of the wedding. I asked about preferred Vendors , and bathroom facilities, and the availability of lights and electrical outlets. And then I wrote up a whole report for the bride and groom. Man - if I thought I could actually make a living doing it, I might just toss this whole Engineering career thing out the window and opt, instead, to be a wedding planner. Trouble is, I'm sure every other starry eyed little girl living her life as a cleverly disguised adult would do the exact same thing (either that or own a flower shop - my other secret fantasy job.) Which is why I doubt I could ever make a living doing it. *Sigh* Sure would be fun though.







*Can you believe I've been married for OVER a year!!!!! Kyle and I celebrated 1 year of absolute bliss on Sunday, Sept 27. Eee!

Inching Ever Closer

Another milestone... Kyle and I signed (about eleventy-million) loan and homeowner documents at the title company today. Eeeee! Man, they make you sign for EVERYTHING. We even had to sign a piece of paper that said, in the event of a clerical error, we promise to come back in and RE-SIGN everything. Ugh. And they took fingerprints. And made photo copies of our drivers licences. It was intense and took almost a whole hour. A WHOLE HOUR of signing my name over and over and over again. And I couldn't just do my normal signature that consists of my first initial and a few letters of my last name. No, no. I had to write out Courtney A. NewLastName. 9 million times. My hand was cramping by the end of it. But we got through it!

Now all we need is for the seller to sign the 2 inch stack of papers and to find some freakin homeowners insurance (which, p.s. is turning out to be another nightmare in and of itself because in addition to finding coverage for our unit, we also have to find coverage for the entire building and the HOA. Since this place JUST became a condo there never was an HOA before so there was never an HOA to insure. They just had one policy covering the entire 3 unit building. Now we need insurance for each unit AND insurance for the building/HOA. Ugh. And of course our credit union won't even consider funding our loan until we have all the insurance policies in place. Booooo.)

Close of escrow has officially been set for July 17. Fingers crossed that we make it.

In other, less frustrating, news check out how cute we are at the escrow office signing our house papers:
(thank goodness our escrow lady was awesome enough to take our picture... I can't imagine not having this moment on film SD Memory Card.... hmmm, doesn't have quite the same ring to it, huh? Oh well)

:)

Oh, and that beard that Kyle's sporting in the picture (his "Christmas Beard" that he likes grow every December...) is now gone. Gone! I came home from work this afternoon to find a naked faced man standing in my bathroom wearing nothing but socks and boxer shorts (b/c apparently hair was getting everywhere! Oh dear! I didn't ask for too many details...) holding a razor and inspecting his neck for stragglers. It caught me quite off guard. I love Kyle with a beard, but I'll admit I've missed snuggling up to his freshly shaved cheek. I was starting to worry that he was getting an early start on next Christmas! So yeah. He's all baby faced again. I'm enjoying it immensely.

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...

**************

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.