The saga of the name change

Even though I can't officially change my name until after we have the marriage license, I have started some of the paper work for changing my name. I've heard it's such a big task to change your name (think of how many documents your name appears on) that I wanted to fill out as many of the forms as possible.
It's a really weird emotional process when it comes to changing your name. I've had this name since before I was born. It's be a part of my identity my whole life. I've never identified myself with any other name before. Suddenly, I'm going through this process of legally changing that name forever. It's not that I mind it-- I'm looking forward to taking Ryan's name. Still, it's such a weird realization that my name will suddenly be different. It'll take some getting used to writing his name instead of mine. Still, it's just one more thing that makes me feel like we're a family.

6 weeks away...

Ryan and I can't believe how close we are to the big day. We've been engaged since June, so it's been a long year or so of waiting. I think we're so used to the idea of the wedding being something in the future, that it's almost hard to believe it's something that will actucally be here within a few weeks. The reality of it is starting to hit us a little more each day. Even little things, like buying a vaccuum cleaner, have made it feel more real. I've started to move more of my things over to the apartment, so my room at my parents' house is looking more and more bare. I can't wait till we are able to live under one roof together, and live our lives as husband and wife.
Of course, it is a little bittersweet to be moving out of my parents' house. I was born in the house I live in now, so it's the only home I've ever known. It will be a little odd to move out, but it'll be amazing at the same time. To have one home together, and no more of this switching back and forth between my house, his mom's house, or the apartment. It'll be really nice to know that at the end of the day, we'll be leaving work and coming back to the same home everyday. Ryan said it best when he said, "It's such a simple concept [coming back to the same home], but it's going to be so amazing."

Healthy eating

Ryan and I have been wanting to eat a little healthier these days. Typically, if we make dinner at the apartment it's some kind of speghetti, rice, or pizza dish. We actually eat a lot of tofu too. Our eating could be worse, but we'd like it to be better. Part of the reason for having such a limited variety of meals is that I'm still learning how to cook without screwing up. We'd like to start eating lighter meals that implement more vegetables. We've been trying to research lots of healthy recipes to try to integrate them more into our diet on a regular basis.

If anyone has any suggestions or recipes, we'd love to try them out! Leave a comment here, on facebook, etc and let us know your favorite healthy recipes.