Big news

I've been pretty quiet on here and social media lately and it's for a very good reason. I got married! Mike and I were planning this for months and didn't tell anyone. We decided to marry on our 15th anniversary (wow I'm old.) We didn't do anything fancy which I'm actually grateful for. Mike took the day off work and we went down to the courthouse for our ceremony. We didn't even bring witnesses. No rings since I can't really wear them anyway. It was small short and easy. But that little amount of stress alone was too much for me so in all honesty it was perfect. I always dreamed of having the TV picture perfect wedding with my photographer father taking pictures and my beautician cousin doing my hair and makeup. My entire family present. Having my grandmother there was something I wanted for years but of course she passed a few years ago. So while it wasn't the wedding I always dreamed of it was the one perfect for me. When it came down to it I got to marry my love and best friend so who needs a fancy ring and flowers and the rest. I sure didn't and I've never been happier. 

Yesterday I took my first bus ride here so I could go change my name. It's official. I am now Melanie Stewart. I just have to say it is absolutely ridiculous how much stuff is involved in name changing. I still have to get my new state ID and update everything else but I've started making the changes. 

Marriage life is kind of surreal. Mike keeps calling me by my maiden name. It's obviously going to take him awhile to get used to the new name. 

I keep thinking of all the new family we both have now. Maybe that means more because I'm a genealogist but it's sort of overwhelming. Even though we've practically been married for years we weren't and I can tell you there really is a difference. It's strange. But anyway with that one move suddenly I'm a stepmother to two teenagers. I have hands full of nieces and nephews. Unfortunately I also have some very less than perfect in laws whom I can only hope to never see again. I also finally made my mother a step grandmother and my sister a step aunt which is a fact I haven't gotten into with them but I find it funny. 

One of the strange side effects of getting married is now I tend to think of my husband more but also life in general is different. For example when crossing the roads I find myself being more careful because I know I have someone who loves me who needs me to be careful. It's so strange because we were together for so long and yet apparently we weren't as together as we thought. God has brought us closer together and for that I'm thankful. 

Anyway enough of my silent reflections. I did paint my nails special for our wedding day so I wanted to show them off at the least. I spent hours planning nail art and nothing was turning out right so eventually I said screw it and decided to do something simple. I looked through my boxes of polish looking for inspiration when it hit me that I need to stop trying to be like everyone else and do what everyone else does. I decided to play up my strength by doing what I do best. I played with layers. 

I did one layer of butter London Leccy then topped it with one layer of Lynnderella Snow Angel and finished it off with another layer of Leccy. Simple and easy but beautiful. Best of all I did this manicure the day before our wedding and it only had one little chip which was extremely easy to fix. I couldn't have done that with fancy stamping or other nail art. 

I have a ton of stuff to catch up on so I do plan on posting again later today and probably again tomorrow. I'll try to get back to some kind of regular schedule soon. For now I will end this with one last picture. Thanks for reading all of that.