Wednesday round-up

I read somewhere that Alaska is going through a La Niña cooling phase, just like 2 years ago when we had the WORST SUMMER EVER. Well this summer is not much better, with our July rainfall rivalling that of Juneau's (arguably the wettest city in Alaska). Last year we were lucky and had El Niño blow through with warmer temperatures. Now that the wedding is over I haven't been obsessing over weather predictions nearly as much, but it would still be nice to have a clear blue sky day once in a while. My rain gear has been really been getting a workout!

Slowly but surely the name-changing is process is happening. Did you know that the social security office is just like the DMV? A room filled with uncomfortable chairs, multiple windows staffed by people wishing they were somewhere else and a take-a-number machine. With the SSA office and DMV under my belt, I blazed through my credit card companies, most of our utilities, my employer, 401 K, other investments, insurance, voter registration and created new emails for work and personal use. Still need to send in for a new passport ($110, yikes!), get new business cards, hop on D's insurance (mine is ridiculously high), get a new signature card at the bank, notify my accountant/dentist/doctors/pharmacy/subscriptions/library/airlines/professional organizations/Paypal/etc. The process is a bit daunting but manageable if I take one task at a time.

People are asking about the honeymoon - no plans for a real one until sometime this winter - January, February or early March. Surprisingly I haven't been bombarded with baby questions either, but it would be nice to enjoy being married for while. I have had some very frank conversations with friends who are moms and all of them have struggled in some way with the guilt over working, personal fullfillment while staying home or trying to balance the two. I'm not sure how it will work out at our house (me working vs. staying home) but we'll figure it out when the time comes.

It's hard to believe the wedding was over a month ago! Time is just flying by. I'm supposed to send my ring sinto Blue Nile to get cleaned and soldered together but it's difficult to take them off my finger. It used to feel odd to have something on my ring finger - now I feel naked without them.