Quick, Like a Bandaid (ha!)

I did go in to the Social Security office today. I waited just over an hour for my 2 whole minutes at the window. It was boring and I noticed they have no clocks in there, maybe to keep you from realizing how much time has passed.....creepy.

I also decided to go to the DLD/DMV for my new license, since my name changed and I also needed a Utah license (yes, I've been back for 3 years and never changed it...so I'm a slacker, deal with it). I figured I would treat the governmental dread I had like you would a bandaid, rip it off really quickly. Get it all done in a day. But that's a really bad simile, as it wasn't quick, but I guess as quick as the government will let you be. I even had to take the written test (and fortunately passed, but hey, it was open book), so I think we were there for about an hour and a half. In a few weeks when I get my new card, I will officially be a Zwahlen!

Governmental Dread

I will go to change my name tomorrow, but I'm dreading it. For one simple fact: it's a government office, and the government doesn't do anything quickly. Let's hope that if I arrive before 1 pm, that maybe I will be helped by the time they close at 4 (yeah, they are only open M-F 9a-4p!)

We Are a House Divided

We knew before, but with the huge local college football rivalry game coming up in November, the pot is already stirring.

We are a house divided: I a Y fan, born and bred, Matt a U fan, born and bred.

For those not familiar with my topic.....We have The University of Utah, a.k.a. The U, here in Salt Lake. We also have Brigham Young University, a.k.a. The Y, in Utah County. You are either a U or Y fan. It's a huge rivalry, known to cause tension in the workplace, or the home. All in good fun, but still....

We are already jesting about who our future children will cheer for.

We'll see who has bragging rights for the next year, when the game is played at the end of November.

Hovering pays off...I guess

So that anxious watching of the mailbox is over! It will now get ignored, again, except for the bi-monthly check of it for bills (that we don't like seeing anyway). The marriage certificate is here!

Now I get to beg my boss for a half day off, so that I can go the the Social Security office (which I hear is an experience like going to the DMV, ie: lots of waiting for your number to be called) to get my name changed. That is only step one of the long process, in which I will have to wait a few weeks for the new ss card to arrive anyway (more patience).

I see why people get married before having kids...the entire process of planning, execution and the aftermath (name changing) are lessons in patience.

Matt Grows Older

Happy 27^th Matt!!











Matt's birthday was today, and although he had to work, I tried to make it a special day. I cooked and baked for him (yes, seriously). It's not that I'm afraid to cook or can't, as some people surmise, I just don't like to. But for the hubby's birthday I pulled out what skills I had. Granted, I'm no Martha Stewart.

I made him chicken parmesan and cupcakes. Here's the proof!


Now, I didn't hand make the pasta or the sauce, but I did bread the chicken myself I also did not make my own icing, because really, cream cheese icing is just fine from the can, in my opinion.

Giddiness

You know the section of greeting cards labeled "husband", you know it's there. You toss it a side glance, but it feels like you're looking at something forbidden. You have no reason to buy from it. You're single (or involved but that really doesn't make a difference).

Matt's birthday is this week, and I went to get him a card. I sat there looking at the wall of cards, giddy, excited, because I got to enter that previously forbidden section. I got to buy my first card marked "husband", not "boyfriend" or "loved one". It made me deliriously happy, such a little thing :)

Side note: Why is it that greeting cards for boyfriends are sexy romantic, but for husbands they are sappy romantic? I felt a little disappointed, that the greeting card industry stereotypes marriage like the rest of the world: you get married and all passion and/or sexiness is lost. What the hell? Maybe I should have just bought a boyfriend one and crossed out boyfriend and wrote husband....

Anticipation as a form of masochism

We usually don't check our mail very often, as in once every two weeks. There's no need to as it's bills (paid with bi-monthly checks) and junk mail. Yet, I have checked it everyday for the last week and a half, hoping to seeing our marriage certificate. I must be a masochist for one main reason; when it arrives I can start the intense and time-consuming process of changing my name on everything. Excited to go through the torturous hassle of legal paperwork? Yes, I must be a masochist.

Adventures with Porkchop

So our Canadian friend came down for the week of the wedding, and we rand her ragged around town. She cooked us meals (we'd almost forgotten what homecooked meals were), ran errands with us, and we played too.

On Thursday (before the wedding), we ventured up Big Cottonwood Canyon (I think it was Big, I always get them confused) to Silver Lake at Brighton. Lo and behold, we are on the trail six feet from a huge moose! He was just chomping down on some yummy dinner trees. He was right below the trail, and while we where standing around watching him he actually crossed the trail and went further up the mountain. Now, Porkchop was a little unnerved from seeing one in person, but eventually we got her to pass by the moose and finish our adventure around the lake.



He was at least 6 feet tall! Here's some pics:


You can see how close he was to the trail in the second pic.

Frustration

I know, so many posts in one day about feelings....

Why oh why must the bath accessorie set we both loved from our registry no longer be available in stores or online? The towels we picked were to match the set, and I don't wanna pick a new one!!!! Oh and one of the color of towels on our registry got put on clearance so we have to pick a different color? So we find a new coordinating similar shade, but it doesn't look nearly as good as the 1st one, but we'll make do.

Frustrated, yes, because 6 months ago we already suffered through picking out towels, hand towels, wash cloths, bath rugs...in coordinating colors to match the bath set, and now again.

Call customer service? Okay!

Oh you're no help, you can get me the set, but it'll take 6-8 weeks. HA!HA!HA! You must not read my blog and know of my impatience problem, you want the link? No? Okay....wait what's that, because you no longer stock it, it's considered a "special order item" and you won't give me my completion discount on the set?!!! Hmmmm, you stocked it when I registered for it, but now I must suffer because I want to complete my registry...hmmmm.

So now I must choose, "special order" the set and wait 6-8 weeks, and pay full price. OR go through the painstaking process (yes painstaking! have you ever stood in the towel corner at Bed Bath & Beyond trying to pick the right shade of charcoal! It's unnerving! The rows of colored towels go all the way to the ceiling!) of picking out a new set to match the towels we already got. Choice B is highly likely to also come with the possiblity of not finding one to match and picking out towels for the 3rd time! Aaaaaaaaaaaand since we already used the "one-time-in-store" completion discount, I'd have to order them online and use my "one-time-online" completetion discount. (I haven't found out shipping lead times for online orders, cuz I don't wanna know!)

Did you also know that I am not a very decisive person either? Especially in situations like this where I'm frustrated and it's costing me more effort than I feel is necessary for towels and bath sets!!!!!!

Another kind of Impatience

I am impatient for all the things we have discussed in the last 9 months; all those "after we get through the wedding" discussions. I've had to be very patient about certain things.

Like, moving out of this small cramped apartment that sufices, but I dislike (no HATE, I honestly hate). I can't wait to have a home, that we own. Somewhere we can have places to actually put things and live in, instead of stumbling around the furniture and ignoring the what seems like clutter piles, that really aren't we just don't have anywhere else to put stuff!


Like, taking a vacation. I mean an honest to God real vacation. Not a "we're taking a trip to attend this or that thing". (Besides the day I was violently ill and down for the count at the family reunion, we did enjoy it). I'm talking about going somewhere to relax and have fun, no alternative agendas.

Like, getting things in order so that when our "year after the wedding" is up, maybe we won't just start thinking about having children, but be ready to take that leap.

I want to start checking off that instinctual checklist that human beings have. Everyone has different feelings about what to accomplish in life, but I see it a certain way. For a long long long time humans have had a checklist that looks similiar to this regardless of the era:

Be born
Learn
Work
Find someone to love
have a home or place in the world (land, apt, house, tent, what-have-you based on the time of the world)
procreate and pass along your knowledge, feelings, life experiences
die

Granted, things may not always fall into that exact order for everyone, but you get the gist. I know it may sound crude or too simplistic, but it's the reality. And it worked for thousands of years in many forms of civilizations. It seems to be worth considering, that maybe things have been done this way for so long, because they DO work.

It's not something I can just ignore, my basic human instinct for all these things that make a life. At the same time I don't have a magic genie to whom I tell what I want and POOF it's done. I have to be that darned patient thing and work my way to these things :)

Picture Impatience

I fancy myself a logical person most of the time, but I can't help but want my wedding pictures, now! And I feel selfish about it, which you'll understand if you keep reading.

I realize that it takes a few weeks, and I've come to terms with this in the 6 whole days since the wedding. However, knowledge has come into my possesion today regarding our photographer. It's actually quite wonderful news, but good ol' impatient me, now has to try and be even more patient. He wasn't able to go home and rest his feet after the wedding ended at 9:30. Later that night he had to take his expecting wife to the hospital, as she was now in labor. He has a brand new little girl, and is a first time father. I don't know him that well, but I can't help but feel joy and excitement for him! So being that logical person I so claim, I realize that it will take longer than normal. But honestly I can respect that, because newborns don't exactly give you lots of spare time. It's such a life changing experience (I would assume) to bring home another being that you are responsible for, and being a self-employed photographer, it's not exactly like you can take paternity leave.

So along with me, please be patient for the pro photos!

No more "soon-to-be"

We are no longer "soon-to-be The Zwahlens", we now ARE The Zwahlen Family!

The wedding on Saturday went beautifully. The weather was gorgeous! I was extemely happy with how everything went. Matt was filled with tears as I walked to the alter, and I couldn't help but smile and be happy, although I wanted to cry but didn't want my make-up to run, so I held back best as I could. What little of the food we had a chance to eat was delicious, especially the traditional hamballs (thanks Net & Pete!!!). The cake was exactly as I pictured and beautiful!!! (thanks to Merlene for making it and Jeff for icing and decorating it!!!!!)

I hope to have pictures from friends and family soon (HINT HINT HINT), and from our photographer in a few weeks. As I get them I will post them.

We were both so thrilled to be surrounded by so many friends and loved ones on our special day. We are thankful to those who made the journey in person (some coming from far, one internationally), and for those who couldn't make it, you were missed, but we know your hearts were with us!

some sneak peaks of the wedding