Goals

Our wedding was just over a month ago; our Hawaii dinner “reception” was last weekend. Do you think I’ll ever stop saying, “Where did all the time go?”

People have been asking us how it feels to be married, to be living the part of life that comes after planning a wedding. Honestly, it still doesn’t feel all that different. Travis still takes the trash out on Sunday nights, does his own laundry three loads at a time, and washes the dishes after dinner as I sprawl across the couch watching silly tv shows. I still call him up to see what he feels like for dinner, go grocery shopping, and clean the cats’ litter box. We still haven’t really managed to find time to sit still or vacuum or deal with the pile of cards on the table. Sometimes he calls me “wife”; sometimes I call him “husband”. I am still signing my maiden name for credit card purchases. I answer to my new married name, but I’ve yet to refer to myself as such outside of work.

Travis says if we did it right, nothing should really feel all that different.

Maybe it’s because we’d already combined our finances into a joint account, so we’re in the pattern of who balances the checkbook and transfers money into savings. Maybe it’s because we still have separate accounts, so I don’t have to answer questions about the shoes I buy and he can order whatever homebrewing equipement he wants. Maybe it’s simply because we’re older and we knew what we wanted before we ever got here.

I’ve also been asked if it’s a relief not to be planning a wedding.  Honestly, the hardest part of planning the wedding was writing out these huge checks; I’m glad we don’t have to do that anymore!  Also, our wedding-related tasks aren’t really over yet.  We have thank you cards to send out (do we send out generic ones or get some printed with photos?), decoration boxes to unpack (do we use the big green vases, donate them, or try to put them up on a wedding site for sale?), and a “registry completion” event to go to (Travis is really sick of our drippy coffee pot).

Funny story: The other night I made salsa and pulled out the food processor bowl that came with my old blender.  It’s larger than a mini chopper (which I love) but way smaller than a stand-alone food processor.  Travis asked why we don’t have a bigger food processor and I joked that it’s because no one bought it off our registry (I was joking! I am in no way ungrateful for the many generous gifts we DID receive!)  I’m guessing the coffee maker and food processor are two items we might be looking to grab for 20% off.

Related side note: From our registry, someone did get us the hand mixer and microloft sheets, items I half-heartedly put on the registry to begin with. The former because I hadn’t felt I needed a new hand mixer after my old one broke, the latter to appease Travis’ love of soft, flannel-y sheets.  Well, I now love the mixer because it turns out there are quite a few things I make that are too stiff for hand whisking but not large enough to warrant pulling out the KitchenAid.  And the sheets? Let me just say it’s like being enveloped by the softest blanket ever, from head to toe, but they’re sheets, so they aren’t stiff and heavy.  Love them.  At some point, it’ll get too warm and we’ll have to switch to summer sheets, but as long as the nights are cool we’re keeping them on the bed.

I think I lost my point. Where was I?  Oh yeah, the wedding’s over, but we still have a lot of things to do before we return to what I call “normal life”.  And that doesn’t even include the ancillary tasks involved with getting my name changed.

So, I’ve set some goals for myself:

• Make a decision on thank you cards and get them done before Travis disappears for a week at the National Homebrewing Conference next month.  I have the list nicely organized, so I think this can go quickly.
• Write up some wedding re-caps and vendor reviews before wedding pictures get blogged by our photographer.
• Make a decision on what to do with the wedding decorations (and billions of candles and votives) and then just do it.  If you know of anyone who would like about 100 used votives (I think the small candles may be melted down already), some large green candle vases, clear glass flower vases, or LED tealights, please let me know.  I have no time frame on this, but maybe I’ll get it done while Travis is occupied with his conference.
• That’s actually as far as I got with my goals. 

The cat picture I just threw up there because it’s cute.  It’s cute the way the cats have completely made themselves at home when, at one point, we thought we’d always have to protect them from becoming a Sadie-chewtoy.