Signing my name

A simple task....something that comes naturally....a task that is automatic...a task that will change for me in 39 days. I have practiced it in the past but now I have to be serious about it. I've pretty much decided that my legal name will be Christine MaryEllen Grace McFadyen. No, I'm not hyphenating the last name....no "Grace-McFadyen." Grace will simply be a 2nd middle name for me, and I'll never say my name is "Christine MaryEllen Grace McFadyen"...my name will be Christine McFadyen. But legally I want to keep Grace in my name. I know that probably sounds all "woman's right-ish" but it's not. I simply LOVE the name Grace and don't want to have it legally removed from me. I know that I will ALWAYS be known as "a Grace girl" but I just feel that it's been my identity for 33 years and I don't want to give it up. (My sister is probably laughing at me right now.) So, I've asked Brian and he's fine with me doing this...just as long as my last name isn't Grace-McFadyen. His main reason for this is for our future children....he doesn't want them to be confused....and I totally agree! Plus I know it makes him proud to know that I'll be Mrs. McFadyen. Ok, so now that I've decided that, now I need to work on my signature. Today I sign Christine M. Grace. So will I sign Christine M. McFadyen? Christine G. McFadyen? Also, do I put the c in the Mc at the top or bottom? Guess I need to get some paper out and start working on this! LOL!!!!!!!! I know everyone reading this is laughing, if not smiling, and thinking "is she serious with blogging this?" Well, I blog for the purpose of in the future looking back and reading how I felt each day. I'm thinking that in the future, I'll sit down at the computer with a glass of wine and read my journal. Let's just hope that this website is still active then!

Not so romantic dinner

Our neighbor went to Maine this week for work and on his drive back he picked up live lobsters for the neighbors. He brought 2 over to our house on Thursday night and we put them in our fridge. We were so excited, but I gotta say that I was freaked out by the fact that there were live lobsters in my fridge. Then I thought it can't be any different than live crabs...so, I forgot about it. Friday morning as I was deciding what we'd do for dinner I thought of a great idea to have a romantic lobster dinner. I went to the store and bought veggies and the fixin's to go with it. I even googled how to cook live lobsters. I text messaged Brian to tell him my plans and he said it sounded great! I waited until he got home and we lit candles, opened wine, and pulled up the googled web-site. We looked at each other and laughed and said "ok, here we go." We got the water boiling and then opened the paper bag. We kinda freaked out a bit at the thought of cooking them but then decided to just do it. We put them in the pot and talked it through and said we were being silly b/c we eat lobster all the time!! So I began to cook the other food. We kept checking on them to see if they were done but we weren't sure so we cooked them a bit longer. By the time we took them out, sat down, and started to eat them we knew we did something wrong b/c there wasn't that much meat in them. We have no idea what we did wrong but decided that we'd never do that again. I started to get upset b/c the night didn't turn out the way I thought it would. I said "so much for a romantic dinner." Brian talked me out of the funk and we wound up laughing. After cleaning up the kitchen we laid on the couch and got caught up on some of our DVRed shows from the week. Oh well...I guess our next romantic dinner will be with something we know how to cook. (Now that I think of it...why didn't I call Aunt Cheryl?? I'm sure she would've known how to cook a lobster!)

6 weeks to go!

I went for my hair appt this week and as I was paying they said, "ok, see you in 6 weeks." I was like "huh? get out!" They looked at me like I was crazy and said, "no, why?" It hit me....I know my next hair appt is the week of our wedding......so, right there in the hair salon it hit me that we are getting married in 6 WEEKS!!! Crazy stuff!

He's a keeper

Yesterday when I got home from work I had such a headache! I don't normally get them that bad. I told Brian I needed to lay down for a little bit so I laid on the couch. 2 hours later I woke up and thought it was in the middle of the night because he knew my head hurt and didn't turn on any lights. I heard noises in the kitchen and I said "Babe? Where are you?" He said "in the kitchen trying to make something for us for dinner." I said "but we didn't defrost any meat so what are you cooking?" He said not to worry, that he'd figure something out. I walked in and he had all the cookbooks out. (so cute!) He did make dinner and it was so nice! I felt bad that I slept for 2 hours and we didn't get to the gym like we usually like to do after work. He said no worries that he knew I wasn't feeling well. Later on last night I was talking to my Mom and told her what he did and she said "Aw!! He's a keeper!!" Yes, yes, he is!

We've graduated...

...from Marriage Mentoring. Tonight was our last session with Pastor Jeff and Marilyn. According to our test results our biggest growth area is our spiritual relationship. We talked about what that means and that it doesn't just mean going to church on Sunday's. It's about growing together spiritually and forming our own family relationship, with God's help. It was a very enlightening discussion. We also felt really good because Marilyn commented that out of the couples they've mentored we have one of the most healthiest relationships. That was great to hear! We spent the end of our session discussing some details of our actual wedding day. They asked us what, or how, we think we will change after the "big day." Our answer was "not that much other than starting to build our family." They said that it'd be interesting to them for us to tell them how we feel after the wedding...and that our answer may or may not change and that we might actually be surprised to feel "different." I told them we'll tell them in 53 days.

Bridal Shower

Today was my Bridal Shower! (It wasn't a surprise shower...I had told my Bridesmaids that I'd figure it out anyway so they might as well tell me when it was. LOL!) It was a perfect day!! The weather was great...it was in the 50's so it felt like Spring in Feb. Brian drove me there and he came in to greet some of the guests with me. It was a great shower...my Bridesmaids really do know me and know what I would've wanted and they did it all! I couldn't have asked for a better Shower. The room was filled with love and laughter and that made me feel so special. Special because all those women in that room love Brian and I and we love them back. I could just feel how happy they are for us and that made me feel even more special. I don't think there was a minute that I wasn't smiling. I did my best to "work the room" and mingle...but boy is that hard!! I wanted to spend an ample amount of time with everyone and I do hope that I did. I was chatting it up so much that my Bridesmaids had to order me to eat. LOL! I can only imagine how hard it'll be to talk to everyone at the wedding. We got so many wonderful, thoughtful gifts and we can't wait to un-pack it all. I'm so exhausted (from being up til 3am) but I just can't go to bed...I'm just too excited and happy!

Visit with Nicole

Nicole came down last night to sleep over for my Shower today. When she got here we went out to dinner to un-wind and catch up. We had a great dinner, along with some wine, and then headed home. Brian was next door at the neighbor's house so we went over too. We all hung out until around mid-night and then we headed home. Brian, Nicole, and I stayed up until 3am drinking and chatting. Nicole and I don't get to see each other that much any more so we didn't want to go to sleep. We were worried about how we'd feel this morning when we woke up but we were fine.

Invitations

Mom came over today and we assembled the wedding invitations. It took us a couple hours but we enjoyed every minute of it. When we were done we both felt a sense of accomplishment. We can't wait to get them in the mail this week. :-)

Dinner w/Rob & Ida

Rob and Ida came down on Thursday night. Ida's birthday was last Sunday so we celebrated with another great dinner in from a local restaurant and cake. We chatted and caught up on each other's lives. Jadie loves when they come because Rob plays with her and Ida scratches her back....Jadie will go over to Ida and nudge her until she starts scratching. LOL! We had a nice evening.