Pet Love: Maggie the Shiba Inu Mix

This is my future dog:

Image from Petfinder.com

Not a dog like this one, no. That very one. I found this adoption notice for a Shiba/Lab mix in San Antonio about three months ago now and was sure that she would be adopted before I moved to the area. But she's still there, so it's got to be destiny right? Something about this dog speaks to me, you guys, in the absolute hippy-dippiest way. 

P.S. don't tell me that she hasn't been adopted because there is something weird or wrong with her. you might be right but SHHHHHHHH. let me hold onto hope.

Time for a New Word

I was thinking about how I am starting my adult life in one fell swoop here soon what with the job and the marrying happening rather simultaneously, but I was stuck on that word "adult." Having a professional job, being married, these are universally acknowledged to be "adult" things. But that word sucks. It has connotations of boring-ness, being saddled with burdensome responsibility, of routine. That or, you know, it is in all caps on a yellow background on nondescript building next to the word "video." 


"Grown-up" is our only alternative and that doesn't exactly say "fun and exciting and fulfilling" either. Maybe the problem isn't so much with the words as all the sad associations we have in our society with this stage of life. I caught a bit of a radio show last night as I was driving and the caller said that she was having trouble connecting with her husband because "after jobs and kids, we don't have much left for each other." And I don't know her story, maybe her job and her kids are really taxing, but I realized how sad it is that this comment fit so well into our cultural narrative.  That this is our fate as adults, to be sucked dry from our obligations. To have nothing left over.


Any ideas for words that might connote "no longer an young'n and responsible but life is still good times generally"?

Dear Food* Cooking on the Stove,

You smell super-delicious. Which leaves me feeling confused inside. On the one hand, this is good, because it means I am going to have a tasty meal. On the other hand, I cannot eat you for another THIRTY MINUTES and I worked out for 75 minutes today (unprecendented) and am starving, so I might die before I can eat you. That would be a real shame. Please hurry up with the cooking.


Love,
Natalie


*Goulash from Budget Bytes, if you were wondering.

Ready

It is April, the month before The Month. The month where I will graduate, marry, move, and (maybe?) take up real-deal employment. That is a lot of life change squeezed into poor little May. But today I bought our wedding bands, and in the jewelry store someone called me Natalie HisLastName, and it felt comfortable. The name change is a big, big deal to me, and it has sometimes felt like too big to take on. But then today, it was just nice. I was ready for it. And if I can buy wedding bands and get called a new name and take it in stride--that makes me feel ready to take on the rest of the massive change that awaits me. Ready to be a wife. Ready to live in a place indefinitely.* Ready to get out of my student/intern comfort zone. Ready to be a Southwestern girl again.**


Just...ready. To start a new life. 


I love the engagement process for this. It hasn't been entirely easy, but has led me here to this peaceful place. It let me wrestle with the change, acknowledge that the transition we're making is a huge one, ask questions of myself and Eric, go from the wedding being an almost surreal vision in the future to the day we are super excited to get to so we can get on with the being together. 


I feel at home in the idea of our marriage now. I have noticed lately that when people squee over the wedding, I have trouble matching their emotion. It's not that I'm not excited, it's just that when I was in an "omg eeeee!!" stage it was when I could hardly believe it. Now it is so solidly a part of my/our reality. I remember when they put Eric and Natalie HisLast on that form we filled out almost two (wow) years ago in the same jewelry store, while on our first ring-shopping venture. When they did that, I felt giggly inside. Today, when the security guard said, "Oh, you're Natalie HisLast, Amy told me you'd be coming in," I just felt like "Yes, that's me."


*I find the word "indefinitely" very romantic thanks to Notting Hill.
**I have decided that Texas belongs to the Southwest. Texans may not agree with this.


(Please know that it's not that being ready for the name-changing itself that means I am ready for getting married--if I weren't changing my name I would feel the same way, it's just that the name change and how my feelings about it changed is representative (for me) of my emotional transition from being a newly engaged to an about-to-be-married lady. Rock on, non-name-changers. )

Social Media

Yesterday, I made a LinkedIn profile. I was instantly overwhelmed by emails about new connections and tried to improve my profile but couldn't figure out the import resume feature and eventually gave up.


I am also considering making a Twitter account. I feel like the oldest lady ever when I look at Twitter and see all the @s and the #s and just stare at them in confusion.


When did I become such an old fogey? 


Update: Look to your right--I did it! Tweeting* and even adding it as a widget, fools! Welcome to the 21st century, me. 


Update x 2: Have now used @s and #s in tweets. Remains to be seen if I am using them properly, but it's progress.


*At first I wrote "twittering." Still ironing out the kinks.

Details

Some people care a whole lot about details, and the parties they throw usually have you ooh-ing and ahh-ing over the small little touches they put on the event. I am not one of those people, but there are a few details that I have worked into the wedding that I am excited about.

Here's one of them: 





I bought these on Etsy (from vendor Woodenhive), and on the handle they have our wedding date. I like mementos that you can incorporate into your everyday life. I really like to get art when I travel for this reason--you hang it on the wall and you see it every day and are reminded of another place and time. I like the idea of us eating with these forks for birthdays or for Christmas or just for any-ol' dinner and thinking about smashing cake in each other's faces, long ago.


I really want our guestbook to be something like this too, something we can hang up or use or something. I don't want to have this special thing end up packed away in a box somewhere. I also want people to be able to do more than sign their name, and I can't seem to find a guestbook or "guestbook alternative" that accomplishes this goal.


Anyone have ideas?

I always knew Stephen Colbert and I could be friends

But this proves it. Check out Colbert singing "Friday" on Jimmy Fallon's show:

And yes, that does make for 3 Rebecca Black references in one week.