The Gap Outlet

Have I mentioned that I LOVE The Gap Outlet?

Yesterday, I purchased the following:

1) A magenta “smock” tank top: $2.97
2) Brown leggings: $2.97 (The return of leggings pleases me. It has turned skirts that I normally have to put away in October to things I can wear year round. During cold snaps, I also wear leggings under some warm cords to feel toasty.)
3) A jean skirt: $9.99
4) A dress made out of sweater material: $25
5) A pair of nice brown shorts for Matt: $12.99
6) A t-shirt for Matt with an elephant on it: $4.99
7) A button-down t-shirt for Matt that he can wear unbuttoned over t-shirts during crisp weather: $9.99

I am rare in the way that I tend to not enjoy shopping. Especially clothes shopping. I usually try things on and they’re uncomfortable or they look bad…then I get bummed out. And then I suffer from buyer’s remorse after making any purchase over $20. But no buyer’s remorse on that dress. :-) And I am wearing my $2.97 tank top today.

The celebrating doesn’t stop!

We’re not going on a honeymoon until next summer. However, we are going traveling. A week from now, we will be in CHINA!!! It was a wedding present from Matt’s parents, and we will be traveling through China with his family. We will be going to Beijing, Shanghai, and Xian. Afterwards, we will be flying back via San Francisco. We will be spending a weekend in San Francisco and having two parties: a party at my parents house and a fancy Chinese banquet to further celebrate our marriage.

We’ll take a mini honeymoon (3-day weekend) to Woodstock, NH in the winter, but next summer, we’ll be taking our REAL honeymoon. We plan to go to Europe! I’ve never been anywhere in Europe, in spite of my mom being from there, and Matt’s been to Barcelona but only spent a few days there for a conference and didn’t get to see the sights.

We will be going to the island of Veli Losinj, Croatia, where my mom is from. In spite of it being in Croatia, the island is closer to Northern Italy in terms of heritage and Italian is the language primarily spoken there. (I’ll have to brush up on my Italian…beyond making small talk in Italian, the only things I know how to say are not very nice…) We will even have a place to stay. My nonna still owns a home there. So, next summer Matt and I will be taking our honeymoon…sitting at the beach, chowing down on fresh fish, and drinking wine. And we’ll get there via London, so we’ll get to experience another city.

The wedding was SUCH an amazing time, and sometimes when I realize it’s over, I get down in the dumps a little bit. But I have about a year until I can officially get down in the dumps. Our wedding might be over but by taking our honeymoon next summer, we have something else (almost as big as the wedding itself) to look forward to! And China will be incredible.

I can’t wait!!!

Hi, I’m still me!

OK, I tend to shy away from word feminist these days because it’s grown to be associated with man-haters. As a heterosexual newlywed, I am obviously not a man-hater. But in the purest sense of the word, I am a feminist. And as a married woman, there is something that really gets my goat: being referred to as Mrs. Matthew Mahoney. Or getting mail addressed to: “Mr. and Mrs. Matthew Mahoney.” NOOOOO!!! No, no, no! NO!

Something about that is offensive. It’s like complete loss of identity. One of the reasons I initially wanted to keep my last name is because I couldn’t stand the idea of being referred to as “Mrs. Matthew Mahoney.” I have a name, you know. I am still the same person I was a week ago, when I was legally single. I am not a silent shadow that follows Matt around. I’m not going to quit my job and wear an apron and have dinner on the table for Matt by 6 o’clock sharp.

I’d like to see this practice completely abolished. You can send things to “Matthew and Kristine Mahoney” or “The Mahoneys” or even “Kristine Munroe and Matthew Mahoney.”

My blog on Internet Explorer

I had been using Firefox exclusively for years until about a month ago when it ceased to work on my computer. Now I am stuck with Internet Explorer. My blog looks really weird on IE. I need to figure out how to fix that. :-(

Meanwhile, we have a new Flickr account for wedding pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/munroemahoneywedding/

I have only uploaded a fraction. More will be uploaded soon.

I’m married!

More later!! I am tired.

Freihofer’s Cookies & Hires Root Beer

Growing up, whenever we’d go camping in Upstate NY (of course, being from NJ, anything aside from the NYC boroughs and Long Island seemed like Upstate NY) we would get two things: Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies and Hires Root Beer. To this day, sitting around a campfire makes me crave root beer.

We couldn’t get Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies in NJ, so they were a treat.

This past weekend, we camped in Saratoga Springs. There were Stewart’s Shops everywhere. At first I was excited because I thought they were the same thing as the Stewart’s Drive Ins we had in New Jersey. I’d get grilled cheese and a root beer. (Hm, I really liked root beer as a kid!) The Stewarts Shops in Upstate NY turned out to be convenience stores, not affiliated with the Stewart’s Drive Ins or Stewart’s Root Beer.

The logos do look sort of similar:

Anyway, the Stewart’s Shops had Freihofer’s chocolate chip cookies. AND they were buy one get one free for the box! So, I got two boxes. The second box was supposed to be a surprise for my dad, since my parents are coming to town on Saturday. I was so excited about the Freihofer’s that I was worried I wouldn’t be able to keep the secret for very long.

Yesterday, on the phone with my dad:

KrissyInBoston: I got you a surprise.
Dad: A surprise? Is it edible?
KrissyInBoston: I don’t know…
Dad: OK, so it’s edible. Is it cheesecake?
KrissyInBoston: No…
Dad: Boston Cream Pie?
KrissyInBoston: No…
Dad: Oh, wait! You just came back from Upstate NY! Freihofer’s Chocolate Chip Cookies!

I just ate a few cookies and they were delightful. I have to keep them in a really high cabinet so I don’t have easy access to them. It’s really difficult to contain myself, but I don’t want to gain 5 pounds two weeks before my wedding!

Krisitne Munroe Mahoney

When Matt and I decided to get married, I thought I’d keep my last name. Kristine Munroe — that is who I’ve been all my life. I like my name.

When you Google “Kristine Munroe” a bunch of things come up…and they’re pretty much all refering to me, with the exception of maybe one or two.

Matt’s last name is Mahoney. It’s a fine last name. But if you Google “Kristine Mahoney”, a bunch of things come up…and none of them are me.

I finally decided to take Matt’s last name, anyway. I figured that over the years, people would assume that my last name is Mahoney either way, and if it wasn’t, I’d probably get really annoyed.

I just hate to give up the Munroe. I considered hyphenating it, but somehow that seems a little cumbersome. I finally settled on having my name be: “Kristine Munroe Mahoney.” I’m kind of attached to my name. I like being Kristine Munroe. So, I’m going to hang on to the Munroe.

And my signature is a barely legible “Kristine” with a squiggly looking M, so my signature won’t even have to change.

My mom was explaining to my nonna that soon I will be Signora Mahoney. This confused my nonna, because she thought my mom said MARONI, which means chestnut in Italian. “EH? MARONI? COSA? COSA?” she kept saying.

I’m on top of the world, looking down on creation…

I have terrible parking karma. I can never find a good parking spot, especially in Cambridge. Usually I end up circling over and over, breaking out into sweats, and mildly hyperventilating. And, on top of that, I can barely parallel park. Needless to say, I’m a fan of public transportation, but living in Newton, taking public transportation to Cambridge is just a pain in the butt.

Today, I found a parking spot just blocks away from Harvard Square. And it was at the end of a block, so I didn’t even really need to parallel park.

While this was happening, the song “I’m on top of the world, looking down on creation…” came on the radio.

And as I found this impressively wonderful parking spot, I really DID feel like I was on top of the world. I should have taken a picture of it. It was a thing of beauty.

Lovely night, too! Walked around and ate at Wagamama!