married life

To steal a Thursday ritual from Sydney (who I'm creepily pretending to be on a first name basis with, when actually, I'm just obsessed with her blog) here are the awkward & awesome things about being JUST MARRIED.

Awkward

1) Not being able to deposit checks into my own bank account since most of our guests wrote checks out to "Mr. & Mrs. Tim Annan" and I didn't legally change my name yet.

2) Having rude bank tellers ask me "You just got married on Saturday? Why aren't you on your honeymoon?" First, my husband has a new job with no vacation days. Second, Christmas is coming up. Third, not everyone takes a honeymoon. Fourth, it's none of your business!

3) Having the same rude bank tellers say to me, "Is that the nail color you wore for your wedding? That's interesting..." Is this a bank or an 8th grade girls' lunch table? Awkward.

4) Being asked the same question over & over again by co-workers. So what's it like being married? There is literally no answer to that. It's pretty much the same as being engaged, except now we both wear rings, and our kitchen is too small to fit all the small appliances we received as gifts. (I think we single-handedly gave Cuisinart's holiday sales a boost, they're welcome.)

5) Signing my new last name for the first time on a cover letter at work. Annan. I just write a big fancy cursive A and then scribble the rest.

6) Being asked how to pronounce my new last name, even though it's a 5 letter word that consists of 2 letters. Emphasis on the A, not the N. "AH-nan" not "aNAN". I'll be explaining that for the rest of my life! But it's worth it :-)

Awesome

1) We kiss more, hug more, giggle more, cuddle more & are just all-around happier!

2) We were blessed with very generous gifts from our family & friends. Like so blessed it took 20 minutes, a pen, piece of paper, calculator and both of our brains to add up all that generosity. Then I fanned it out and danced around like I was in a rap music video. Wish I was kidding...

3) I got more bling on my finger. You think you don't care about diamonds until you own some. And then you want more... and more... and more.

4) We are more patient & understanding with each other. Maybe it's that married bliss stage, but we've been together for 4 1/2 years, and I think we've finally learned to pick our battles & not stress over the little things.

5) Being able to say "Oh hey, check engine light! I married a mechanic. You don't scare me anymore!"

6) Sitting here... watching the snow fall outside. And thanking God that it was a beautiful day for our wedding and the rain/snow held off. We were able to get pictures outside, and our guests were able to get to & from the wedding safely. Now I can sing "Let It Snow" and mean it!

7) The fact that my WONDERFUL boss gifted us a weekend trip to his vacation home in Miami Beach. Included? Airfare, beach club, cabana, breakfast, lunch, drinks & the keys to 2 cars. Nicest. guy. ever. Let the countdown to January 28th commence!