Some Assembly Required

I had such a productive weekend! 

On Saturday, I finished editing the manuscript I've been working on as a freelance gig.  It was all about a white supremacist terrorist trying to kill minorities by tainting the flu vaccine supply with rabies.  It was a good read, actually.

This morning, the Dude and I hosted a brunch for about ten people.  Low key and delicious.

This afternoon, I decided to make a mouse pincushion from a pattern I bought on Etsy.  The seller doesn't have the mouse pattern listed in her shop right now, but she has some other patterns for cute things, like cupcakes and a miniature lunch for two.

I made this while watching an episode of Buffy, and it came out a little bit misshapen.  Maybe it adds character?

 I can't decide if my favorite part is the tail or the wee fringe on the ends of the scarf.

Something Blue

Since we didn't register for gifts for our wedding, those guests who wanted to do something for us other than contribute to our honeymoon registry had to get creative.  This is the story of two of our favorite gifts.

My maid of honor, Deniz, has the most amazing parents.  They are incredibly sweet, and I've always felt a connection to them.  Whenever I visit New York, they always welcome me into their home, and I've even traveled with Deniz and her mom!  In addition to other really thoughtful gifts, Deniz's mom created a piece of art for us.  She mostly works in collage form, but she paints as well.  She knew we were going to Greece for our honeymoon, so she created this beautiful collage for us to keep and forever remind us of the blue and white of the Greek isles.

She also knows that I love the "evil eye" beads that are popular all over Turkey and Greece.  Deniz's parents emigrated from Turkey about thirty years ago, and they've always had these evil eyes in their home.  They also tend to buy them for me on special occasions, for instance moving into a new home or getting married.  According to folklore, the evil eye protects you from people who are jealous or would hurt you.  If one breaks, you're supposed to throw it away because it has done its job.

I have about a million of them: on my keychain, two in my car, hanging on the walls of our house.  I think they're really cool, so I was excited that she worked some into the collage.

On our wedding day, two of the Dude's friends--Dustin and Natalie--gave us a unique gift as well.  Dustin's aunt paints landscapes, and we received a voucher for her to create a painting from one of our honeymoon photos.  We were blown away at such a gesture.

Here's the photo we sent to her:

It's from the island of Naxos, home of the famous Temple to Apollo (you can spot the temple in the background).

Here's what she created for us:

I finally picked out a frame today and hung both pieces of art in our living room.

Now they're there to remind us of our amazing Greek honeymoon.

Much better than a new blender, in my humble opinion.

I, Robot . . . You, Jane

My husband (who shall henceforth be known as "the Dude") and I have recently been talking about what we want to name our (future, hypothetical) children.  Not first names, though we have thought up a couple good ones.  No, I'm talking last name.

Before we got married, I decided not to take the Dude's last name.  It was a well-thought-out decision, and though I sometimes feel wistful about how my first name would sound with his last, it's a decision I intend to stand by.  Several factors went into this decision, including my connection to my (late) father, my professional identity, laziness (i.e. not having to stand in line at the DMV and County Clerk's Office), and my personal identity.  And I'm not gonna lie--when I saw the episode of HIMYM where Lily declared she wasn't taking Marshall's last name, that kind of sealed the deal for me.

Anyway, having different last names means that when we have a kid, we have to make another decision:  whose name does he get?  We tossed around some options the other night, and here are the possibilities we considered:

1.  The kid takes the Dude's last name.

This might be the easiest thing to do.  No hyphens, no muss, no fuss.  But this means the kid wouldn't have the family name connection to me, his mother.  And it kind of takes the wind out of my feminist sails.

2.  The kids takes my last name.

Same problem.  No family name connection to the Dude.

3.  A hyphenate:  the Dudes' last name - my last name

While this may be the most egalitarian approach, I have heard people with hyphenated last names say they have all kinds of issues with filling out online documents, etc. 

4.  A combine:  theDude'slastnamemylastname

Our last names sound really weird together, first of all.  Also, I'm not sure what kind of paperwork would be involved in officially making your kid's last name into a combine like this.  And if we went this route, our kid wouldn't share a name with either one of us!

5.  Two last names.

We could give the kid each of our last names without hyphenating or combining.  I think this is a pretty good solution, although inevitably the first last name will probably get dropped most of the time.

6.  A last name in place of a middle name.

This way the kid gets both of our last names, and because the second last name is a middle name, it won't get dropped as often.  However, the "real" last name still gets a higher status, so it's not completely egalitarian.


These are the options we tossed around, and I think both of us are pretty much open to any of them.  At first, the Dude was very much opposed to hyphenating, but the more we talked about it, he realized he didn't really have a reason for feeling that way.  I think we're leaning towards options three, five, and six.


Has anyone else dealt with this problem?  What did you decide?

Becoming, Part II

Today I made my first "real" sale on Etsy!  My two previous sales were both to friends, and while I know they liked their purchases, it's not the same as selling your product to a stranger, is it?

Although I'm very excited about the sale, there are a couple of problems.

One:  The purchaser ordered the one item in my shop that I don't currently have in stock.  I gave the original to Mrs. Sprinkle in a giveaway on Souris Mariage.  It's listed as a necklace, but I think I like it even better the way Sprinkle wore it as a headband.

Doesn't Sprinkle wear it beautifully?

This isn't such a huge issue, though.  I know I can whip up another one in an hour or so, and I've still got all the supplies on hand.

Two:  The person who bought the necklace lives in Kuwait!  I haven't (as of yet) made any kinds of special shipping pricing for international orders.  It's just plain ignorance and laziness on my part.  I have also done little to no research on customs laws.  I know that most countries require some type of customs form with international packages (and a fee), and they also often require the purchaser to pay another fee to get the package out of customs.  Phew!

I'm not 100% sure what this means for me as an international seller, so I have some work to do over the next couple of days!

I also think it's time that I include shipping rates for international sales.  I don't want to dissuade any potential customers from buying from my shop because I neglected to add their countries to my list.

Here's me, modeling the product as a necklace.

Are there any savvy businesspeople out there who have experience with international shipping?  I'd love to get the inside scoop.

Becoming, Part I

Welcome to my new blog, designed by the super-talented Kelly from Blush!nk!

If you found this blog, it's probably because you read some of my posts on Weddingbee as Mrs. Mouse.  Well, sadly, my time as a Weddingbee blogger has almost come to an end.  Pretty soon people will be talking about that weird married lady who hangs out on the wedding blogs all the time.  So I thought it would be nice to have a place where I can blog about normal, non-wedding stuff.

What do I have to talk about?  Well, for starters, there's newlywed life.  Though it's not much different from pre-wedding, cohabitating, common-law-marriage life.  The Dude and I do stuff like go see bands play, try to find the best burger in Austin, and shop at local vintage stores.  (We also do boring stuff like watch marathons of Mad Men and the Wire and take trips to Target, but I'll try not to talk about that sort of thing as much.)

You can join me as I navigate the treacherous path of my post- law school career and try to figure out the whole "baby" thing.  Will I be a lawyer, an editor, barista?  (A butcher, a baker, a candlestick maker?)  And how long can I suppress the ticking time-bomb that is my biological clock?

 Oddibe, my Number One Baby Substitute

Watch as I launch my Etsy shop in an attempt to emulate some of the way more talented people I know.  I'm getting over being camera shy (sharing your wedding photos with all of Wedding Blogland will do that to a person), so be prepared to get sick of seeing photos of me.  Oh, and I'm not afraid to post some unflattering ones.

Listen (and participate!) as I pose philosophical questions about marriage and feminism.

Indulge me as I share my most cherished obsessions:  fashion, television (especially Veronica Mars and Buffy), and the city of Los Angeles.

As a final warning, it might be a little while before I'm over the whole wedding inspiration thing.  Can I just throw another one?