Ricky, Lucy...Brad, Erin

Up until yesterday, Brad and I were channeling our inner Ricky and Lucy. Coming into our marriage, we didn't have a bed made for two people. When I moved in with MEV last fall, my great-aunt and uncle allowed me to use a lot of their excess furniture. So, I brought two twin beds: one for my room and one for our "guest room." Ergo, when Brad and I came back from getting married...we had two twin beds to sleep in.

Go ahead...laugh. It was pretty funny. Actually, it was over-the-top comical. Here's a visual for you:

It looked somewhat ridiculous when it was made up, but...

...it was WAY more ridiculous this way. Also, what you can't see it that my side (black sheets) has a mattress topper that had me sleeping about 2-3 inches higher than Brad.

It really was ridiculous. Unfortunately, it also gave me the false impression that I would have plenty of moving room for ever and always. Sigh...that part is not true. (I still love Brad, though. I just kind of miss my wiggle room.)

Fortunate turn of events: we went to Alabama this weekend to get some furniture for our house, which included (drum roll, please) a REGULAR BED! It's even queen size. Victory! Here's what our room looks like now:

Yea! A real bed. I'm so excited.

We were blessed with a lot of other furniture for our house, which we've been arranging and fitting into our house for the past 24 hours. If I'm really good, I'll be able to put up some more pictures for you soon, Mom.

Also, I have a kitchen disaster story to share. It might take me a few days to work up the courage; my pride was severely wounded, and I'm mad at the kitchen currently. We'll see if I can be the bigger person.

Change of identity

Legally changing your name is a hassle. And a pain. And really time-consuming (as I've already mentioned). Good thing I love Brad, right?

Here's what I've accomplished so far:

1. Social Security*

2. Driver's License**

3. Bank***

4. Union U Human Resources****

Items in progress:

1. Passport*****

2. Credit Union******

What I just realized I need to take care of:

1. New UU I.D.

2. I'm sure there's something/many other things I haven't realized yet.

*The Social Security office is a sad place to hang out. Two women before me were dealing with SS stuff following the deaths of their husbands and another harangued-looking woman (who was the mother of several children) was having to have her card replaced after having it stolen. Yikes!

**The DMV here's-your-ticket-wait-your-turn lady accidentally gave me the wrong number/sent me to the wrong counter and dude behind the counter wasn't too happy about it. However, he gave me my license anyway. I didn't have my glasses on for the first eye test, so I failed it. Oops. I wasn't prepared to take an eye test/didn't realize I needed to put those suckers on. Then, I put my glasses on, fixed it, and passed the test. Unfortunately, I had to surrender my Alabama license...sad...

***I went to the bank to officially change my information. Interestingly, the lady who added me to Brad's account about a month ago totally remember who I was, when we got married, where we went on our honeymoon, and where I worked. She's good.

****I went in to change all of my HR stuff, and she sighed deeply, telling me that she'd send me ALL the forms I needed to fill/ re-fill out. That let all the wind out of my sails. I knew that was going to set me further and further back in my updated-in-the-UU-system process. Good news! I didn't leave immediately (swung back by my office to show Mrs. Tignor and Mrs. Hopper my new driver's license picture- it's pretty good!), and she tracked me down to say that she realized I only had to fill out 3 or 4 things and would I like to take care of it right away? Um, only of course! I got updated in the system and even have my new email address already. Yea!

***** Passport. Got it off in the mail this morning. This makes me really nervous. It's a little reminiscent of this. On two separate occasions whilst living in Ukraine, I had to surrender my passport to the government and lived without it for more than 2 months. When you live overseas, this is enough to give you gray hair.

****** I talked to THE nicest woman at the Credit Union. I haven't completed all the stuff for them yet, but she was so nice.

Since writing the first part of this post, I've also gotten my name changed with AAA. Yea, me! I'm mostly Erin Boswell now. Mostly. Not sure I'll ever completely get there, though.

Thanks so much for all the comments! Somehow, I accidentally deleted the first few posts' worth. I'm sorry! Here's hoping I can improve my blogging skills. Oi...

Back when I was single...

...which was about 2 and a half weeks ago. Actually, this is just an extremely belated birthday post. For anyone interested, here are some pictures of my cool birthday decorations and gifts (most of which was courtesy of my sister! Here's a picture of us- how cute is she?)!

This is from Easter, but it's still us.

Here's my decorated office door. I got compliments, comments, and open-mouthed stares all day long. :)

Closer up. These are notes/cartoons from friends. Highlights: a cartoon depiction of my relationship with Nicole (far left), Shakespeare (thanks, Kat), and a rendering of an Alot (Yay, Kylie! To read about the Alot, go here).

Cupcake from the Barnard boys! (Mom Tracie may have had something to do with it, as well.)

Birthday messages from Luke Barnard. Look at his spelling skills!

If you missed the original birthday post, you can catch up on it here. Sorry that it took me this long to post about it!

The thank you notes will never end...I think that's a good thing, though

Brad decided that he LOVES this whole getting married thing; partially because he thinks I'm awesome and fabulous and partially because of the gifts. He's a big fan.

Our friends and our parents' friends have been over-the-top generous. We had 7-ish showers, and our Bed, Bath, and Beyond registry was almost depleted by the end. We've gotten gobs of cool stuff (and multiples of some- the returning/store credit thing is really great, too!), and it's been really humbling and sweet.

We've gotten our fair share of dishes (17 place setting of Fiestaware, folks) and towels and kitchen supplies (those have been fun to play with). We've also gotten a cool assortment of "fun" and "different-in-a-good-way" kinds of gifts. I thought some of them were straight-up genius. Given that, I thought I'd share some of them with you (please note that I am in no way diminishing the value of our other gifts- we needed things like towels and sheets! I just wanted you to know about the good ideas I wouldn't have thought of):

1. Kroger gift card. A college buddy of Brad's gave us this unexpected and extremely handy/useful gift. With a combination of coupons and our $30 Kroger card, my $50+ grocery bill came down to $12.47. I'm a fan.

2. Date night gift! This was from my bff, Kat. She gave us gift cards to Outback and Red Lobster. Heaven knows we wouldn't be going there out of our own pockets (or maybe it should be "pocket" singular, now that we're married and have things in common...?) without her. Her card was cute; it said that she realized we probably needed something like a blender or toaster but that she thought date nights would be better. I wholeheartedly agree! (besides, we already got two blenders and a toaster).

3. Game night in a bag. One of my college roommate's parents actually got us this: Boggle, The King's Speech, and a box of microwave popcorn. LOVE it! Thanks, Sills! (Your note is forthcoming.)

4. Handy, man-gifts. Roommate (daughter of the aforementioned parents), Molly, and her husband gave us some work/handy gifts that Brad was super excited about: outdoor extension cord and some really nice Command strips. Thanks, Mols!

5. Picnic paraphernalia. Another college roommate, Amanda, and her husband gave us a picnic basket outfitted with plastic cutlery and place settings. I'm SO excited about it! Can't use it any time soon in Jackson, though. The forecast this week is for daily thunderstorms. Boo.

Woo hoo!

6. Home Depot gift card. Another buddy of Brad's gave us this. We've already used it for extension cords/surge protectors, wood glue, fertilizer, and a garden hoe. We are living it up.

7. My aunt gave us some of the most thoughtful series of gifts that we received. In memory of my grandmother, great-grandmother, and great-aunt, she gave me items for our house that were important to each of them. On behalf of my grandmother, she gave us pie crust shields. My grandmother made the world's best (and I'll go to the mat on this point) pecan pies. She taught me her secrets, and I'm looking forward to making some this year. On behalf of my great-grandmother, she gave us a "good, sharp knife" (which I've used MANY times already) and a rolling pin. On behalf of my great-aunt (to whom a good-smelling house was vitally important) a fancy candle (that I've already used daily). Thank you, Auntie!

8. Additionally, Auntie and her family gave us most of the crystal serving pieces that we've received. All manner of serving dishes, platters, and bowls. They're absolutely beautiful, I have no doubt that she scored them for a fantastic deal (an extremely important and revered skill in our family), and every time I use them, I'll think of her.

This is only a fraction of our crystal pieces. Hopefully, you'll see these making appearances in the future.

9. Brad's mom gave us several gifts that she put a lot of consideration into and that have already been very useful to me. One that I've been using daily this week is a good, solid, wooden tray (like the kind you would use for breakfast-in-bed). Her card that came with it asserted that she knew it wasn't very attractive looking (it's actually not unattractive, fyi) but that she thought it would be useful. It has been!

10. Best gift: OUR WEDDING! It was the best ever. Thanks, Brassart parents! We love you.

Maybe this list will inspire some of you in future wedding-gift ideas. There are many more great ones that we've gotten like the super-fun print casserole carrier (Breanne, I feel like that would be right up your alley!), the matroshka-shaped salt and pepper shakers (that was also bff Kat; she knows me REALLY well), the dinner napkins that have our Spode Christmas china pattern on them (Thanks, Ms. Angela!), the nativity set (even though we got married in June. Thanks, Mrs. Twila & co.! I love it!), and the rolling cooler (Thanks, Mom and Dad!).

Kat's matroshka shakers from World Market hanging out with the matroshka measuring cups from Anthropologie that Amiee got me (apparently, Kat had planned on getting me these a while back...only to find out that Amiee beat her to it. Amiee has it coming, I believe).

I might never get through all the thank-you's that need to be written, but I'm thoroughly enjoying each and every gift. And the friends that sent them. :)

Two weeks in: Thoughts on Marriage

1. I still love Brad. Let's establish that right off the bat.

2. I have never really had to share a room, much less a bed. I had my own room growing up, I went to a college where the dorm rooms are like little apartments (everyone has their own bedrooms), and I lived alone in Ukraine (minus when I had Hands-on volunteers or visitors...and they slept in the guest room). So, this whole sharing a room bit is weird. I had to make room for his stuff. I had to de-girlify areas. I had to consolidate my clothes and shoes so that his would fit (that was maybe the least fun part). And, I'm not used to someone else sleeping very near to me. I like my space. Ask Amiee. I'm adjusting. Mostly.

3. There is a lot more laundry. Part of this, I grant you, is due to the fact that I was gone from here for almost 3 weeks and had backed up piles of laundry. And, we got lots of linen-related wedding gifts that need to be washed. But, yeah...lots of laundry.

4. Boys eat a lot. I don't have brothers, so I didn't really grow up with that as a part of life. However, what I consider to be a decent amount of food doesn't really line up with Brad's idea. This leads to more dishwasher running, too.

5. I was watching Gilmore Girls while unpacking things yesterday, and he came in to ask if he could WATCH A BASEBALL GAME. That has never been an interruption I've dealt with. Maybe my dad would ask to check on scores but definitely not to watch a game. (sidenote: unfortunately for Brad, we don't get the station he was looking for...).

6. Legally changing your name is a hassle. It's very time-consuming and annoying. Maybe that's why a lot of women just want to keep their maiden names. I can almost sympathize with that now. Here's what I've accomplished so far: Social Security, Driver's License (I almost cried when I had to give up my Alabama license...), bank info, and Human Resources stuff at Union. Yea, me!

This is just nuts. I like being married, but I'm learning that I had become VERY comfortable in the Erin Way of Doing Things. I guess that's what 8 years of not living at home with the parents or being married will do to you. I never thought of myself as very independent, but looking at myself a little closer, I realize that I am. Yikes.

Catching you up to speed!

I have been SUPER remiss in blogging over the past month, and I'm ashamed of myself. In an attempt to justify myself/explain what all has been going on, I have compiled a list for you (to be elaborated on in the near-ish future):

1. Finished getting my students through the end of the year.

2. Did reviews on my students, sent them to committee, and wrote one zillion documents about the outcomes for each student.

3. Helped roommate move out.

4. Helped Brad move his stuff into the house to hang out until we returned all married.

5. Went home for the wedding and proceeded to fill my week and a half with LOTS of activity.

6. Got married!

7. Spent a week in Williamsburg, VA, enjoying the atmosphere and eating. A LOT. And hanging out with Brad.

8. Returned home, dumped two carfuls of stuff into the living room.

9. Went back to work immediately (although I'm only on a ten-month contract) in preparation for new student registration.

10. Went to many many official places around town to get my identity changed.

11. Finally began putting things in the house away today.

And now I'm super tired. That's the Reader's Digest account of the past month. I'm hoping to get some pictures and anecdotes up here shortly. Also, if you gave me a wedding gift and have not yet received a thank you note, please know that they are in the works!