Finally Legally Changing My Name

Can you believe I’ve been married for over a year?

Matt and I celebrated our first anniversary last week, on September 22nd. And, embarrassingly enough, I still haven’t legally changed my name. I’ve been going by Kristine Munroe-Mahoney since we wed but I never changed it.

I couldn’t change it until after our trip to China (because I couldn’t get the passport and visa changed in time for the trip) and then…well, I just got lazy.

The name changing process will force me to go to two locations that I despise: the RMV, and the Social Security Office. Two places plagued by long lines and surly personnel.

Oh well. I guess it’s gotta be done.

Meet Peg

That’s Peg, the newest member of the Munroe-Mahoney Residence! She joins siblings Karl the Iguana and Levon the Cat.

She enjoys sitting in her pond, hopping, and sitting on top of half of a coconut shell.

Saturday in Maine

Yesterday was my birthday, and tomorrow is our first wedding anniversary! So, to celebrate, we went to Maine for some LOBSTAH!!!!

Fuggles IPA at Federal Jacks…YUM!!! This picture was actually a bit of a rude awakening. Upon uploading I thought, “Man, I don’t look so young anymore.” And to confirm: I was later called “ma’am” by a cashier at a gift shop.

Matt got the Lobster Feast…for $31, it came with a whole lobster, a buncha mussels, a cup o’ chowder, french fries, and a pint of beer. I got an amazingly delicious lobster roll, which while super yummerific made for a far less interesting picture.

Some pretty boats and stuff in Kennebunk(port)

And then we wanted to see a lighthouse. We’re obsessed with lighthouses and sadly we left our New England lighthouse book at home. So, we stopped at this beach so we could look it up on our phones. (I get carsick so I can’t read in a moving car.) It was cold but really nice. The smell of the ocean was invigorating!

We found the information for The Cape Neddick Lighthouse! We couldn’t go inside and it was on a little island so we couldn’t even really get near it, but I thought it was quite picturesque.

Afterwards we found a funny little bowling alley (it was in sort of a giant garage, and it also had indoor mini golf, pizza, ice cream, and t-shirts for sale) where we played a game. I won’t tell you how low I scored…but it was a little embarrassing. We had a good time anyway!!

Then we headed back down towards Boston to go to good ol’ Cabots where I got mint Oreo ice cream with hot fudge and Matt got a peanut-butter and banana sundae.

It was a really nice way to celebrate both my birthday and our anniversary.

Last night’s dream

Last night I had a dream that I was complaining about Sarah Palin to Barack Obama, and I accidentally called Obama just “Obama”…then I said, “Oh, I’m sorry…I mean MR. Obama!” And Obama said, “It’s fine, call me Barack!”

In the dream, I kept making lists about why Palin is dreadful, and each time the lists would get washed away by the rain.

Here’s Mr. Prius!!

Ain’t he a beaut?

New Englander

A few weeks ago, there was a moment when I realized that I had become a true New Englander. Upon landing in San Francisco, I immediately lamented the fact that there were no Dunkin Donuts. I’m not in it for the donuts, or even for the coffee…I just wanted a large, plain iced tea. That’s it.

I don’t like Starbucks iced teas. Sure, they have plenty of choices, but they all have this perfumey taste that I do not enjoy. Peet’s is a little better. I like the simplicity of a plain, iced black tea. And Dunkies is far cheaper than Starbucks.

Other passable places for iced tea are Panera Bread (it’s about the only thing there that isn’t an ungodly amount of calories) and Wawa, when I happen to be in New Jersey or Pennsylvania. My neighborhood bakery, Keltic Krust also has a ginger peach iced tea that I wholeheartedly enjoy.

But for value? Dunkin Donuts iced tea is where it’s at…and during my travels in California during a bit of a heat wave, I really missed it.

Get in shape, girl!

Anyone remember those commercials for “Get in Shape, Girl” from the ’80s? I used to see them all the time, but I was a kid who hated exercise so I was never really interested.

After moving in with Matt and gaining a whopping 20 pounds in one year, I decided it was time for ME to GET IN SHAPE, GIRL!!

I’ve been a fairly regular gym-goer ever since. At first I went every day but that’s dwindled down to a few times a week. Even though I don’t go all the time anymore, I thought I was in fairly decent shape.

Until TODAY.

I took a “Studio Sampler” class at the BSC and OHHH MAN!!!!! It KILLED me!!! It combined aerobics, strength training, stretching, weight training. We had to go up and down stairs, do jumping jacks, jump rope, run, and more. I am SO tired…I came home starved and ate some ravioli and string beans, changed into my jammies, and I’m about to go up to bed. And it’s 7:59 PM!!

There was definitely a part of the class where I thought I was going to have to just give up and go home…but I stuck with it, and it was a good class, so I plan to go back.

The Name Game

When I was growing up, I was one of many Krissies/Chrissies/Christines/Kristines/Kristinas/Christinas/Kristens…you get it.

I noticed on my Facebook that there are:

2 Kristens
2 Kristins
3 Christines
1 Christina
1 Crissie
1 Kristine (me)

Additionally, there are:

5 Katies & 1 Kate
4 Matthews
4 Jessicas
3 Beths
3 Marks
3 Elizabeths & 2 Lizes
3 Emilies
5 Sara(h)s

I just thought it was interesting :-)

Bye Bye, Dahlias.

See the little pink flowers on the right of the azaleas in the photo? Those were our lovely dahlias in the spring. They were thriving…they had gotten pretty big and they were looking incredibly pretty these days.

I guess I wasn’t the only one who was admiring them, because today I noticed they were gone. Someone uprooted it. Someone STOLE our dahlias. I am absolutely livid!!!! How dare someone just come up and steal our flowers.

The worst part is that this isn’t even the first time this has happened. About 2 1/2 years ago, someone stole a tigerlily from the front of our house. Just went and uprooted it. We weren’t into gardening back then, so we didn’t replant something until this spring.

Newton tends to make it into the top five safest cities list every year, but I wonder if they take in FLOWER THEFT when compiling this data?

I’m never planting anything in front of our house again, aside from maybe just doing some wildflower seeds, which I think people would be less inclined to steal.

I just can’t believe someone would steal our lovely little dahlias. :-(

Autumn Gardens

Well, I know it’s not officially fall yet, but even though it’s barely mid-September, our garden is beginning to look very fallish.

We have sunflowers galore, currently:

Our sunflowers usually begin blooming in August, but by September they’re amazing. The sunflowers have really taken over the back corner of our yard. When we returned home from California, I couldn’t believe how many sunflowers were in full bloom!

These mums are insane:

We had many potted mums decorating our wedding last September. A huge bonus of using potted mums as decorations is that after our wedding was over, we were able to come home and plant them. In fact, these mums are what got us into gardening this year. That one mum is GIGANTIC…the rest are fairly humble. A few didn’t come back this spring, but for the most part they are doing well. Something really nice about the mums is that each time I walk past them I am reminded of our lovely wedding.

AND…looky here:

Can you believe that’s the very same pumpkin that wasn’t even tennis ball sized a month ago? We have a few more pumpkins coming, but this one is truly the star of the show.

I expect one last great tomato harvest before the weather cools off more. We also have some daffodil bulbs to plant. From then on, it’s just our indoor Aerogarden (and the fantastic basil that comes from it!) until next spring. I think I’d like to get a dwarf apple tree to grow in a barrel, as dwarf apple trees don’t take long to begin yielding fruit. That would be something else to enjoy into the fall. We shall see. :-)