What's in a Name?: A Ramble from MEMT

I'm kind of having an identity crisis. When I was little, I thought that when a girl got married, her name magically changed. I remember once seeing a book with my mom's maiden name in the front cover. It looked so weird, to think that my mom wasn't always a McFarland. McFarland was her last name on everything, and it seemed like it always had been. I knew of course that wasn't the case, but that's why I thought that one day you had your maiden name, and after the nuptials--tada! You have a new last name and everything is changed for you!

Not so.

I'm still a McFarland on pretty much everything. My library card, my driver's license, my bank account, email...

The long process of changing is annoying, but at least there's no deadline. But that's not the most annoying part! The worst is when people ask what my name is!

I stutter and look stupid as I pause and go through a million things in my head. If I'm buying something, I feel weird not using my maiden name because it's whats on my card, and I don't want them to think I'm stealing someone's card. If it's someone I'm meeting in our new neighborhood, I give Thornton as my last name, because eventually that's what my name will be and they'll know me as that longer. But I still have a hard time with that because my name isn't officially changed yet. Legally, I'm still Megan McFarland. Sometimes I know it's pertinent to give my new one, but they might not recognize who I am because they've heard of me with my old name. Then I'm always mumbling about how I just got married, and how I haven't changed my name yet legally, and it's weird.

If that paragraph was confusing, don't worry. I don't get it either. The point is that I'm confused. So I just choose to ramble on and try to make sense of this second last name nonsense. BTW, I'm adding his last name to mine. I'm not hyphenating, I'm just going to have four names. So my name will be really long. Maybe this is stupid. I don't know.

-Megan

Words I am Currently Loving

adventure-it's fun to have one

burst-so fun to say, as long as you don't make it awkward

butterfly-cute

compact-if you've read "Matched" by Alli Condie then you understand

fabulous-comes from "fable." So something that's so crazy/wonderful/awesome that it could only come from a fable? It's fabulous!

fancy-such a tacky, adorable word

fastpass-Disneyland made a great invention

feisty-note how it breaks the i-before-e "rule." Such a rebel.

hope-it's a beautiful thing

keratin-because I write about hair all day, I've grown fond of this word

lemonade-it's delicious, people!

lilliputian-means "small." Comes from Gulliver's Travels. You know the little people who bind him up? They were from the island of Lilliput. Cool, huh?

lista/o-OK, so this isn't English. It means "ready," but seems to embody the meaning better than "ready."

mallow-when you say this word, you kind of make the same motions with your mouth as you do when you eat a marshmallow. You just mouthed "mallow" didn't you...

olive-this is one of my favorite colors right now, and it's one of my favorite foods
passion-because that's what makes the world go 'round

struck-again, it sounds like what it means, so it rocks.

ubiquitous-means "everywhere" but isn't everywhere

vibrant-because vibrant colors are the best colors sometimes

vicious-because it sounds like what it means

violet-another color word, that is also a lovely object (see "olive")

On an unrelated note, Sam and I played Jenga the other night. We are super competitive at this game. I still can't believe I lost. But whatever.

-MEMT

Married Life Begins

Someone gave us a book of Crockpot recipes, and I was elated, because they all looked so delicious, and easy to make! I tried this taco soup one.

But we slept in so we didn’t have time to put it together in the morning. So I came home from work and put it together, even though we’d have to wait for 4 hours. We gave in and snacked just a bit. Then when the soup was done, we weren’t hungry. No problem. We decided we’d eat it the next day instead.

The next day was Pioneer Day, and Sam’s parents through a last-minute little get-together. So we ate with them, and saved the soup for another day.

Finally, on Wednesday, we at the soup. It was good, except we hadn’t let it warm up enough in the crockpot, so it was kind of cold. We put it back on, so by our second helpings, it would be warm. But Sam and I are skinny people, and we got full and decided we didn’t want a second helping. We would just save the soup and eat it for leftovers the next few days.

But although we unplugged the crockpot, we neglected to put it in the fridge. Facepalm. So a day later, we realize my crockpot is just sitting there, full of soup. Fail.

And our fridge really doesn’t have that much in it. There’s plenty of room for a crockpot. We’re just forgetful and inexperienced at feeding ourselves. As if I haven’t lived on my own for the past three years. I feel foolish.

One good thing is only being having to share my brownies with only one other person. Yumm...





This is our first meal at home as a married couple! Mac n' cheese. It was homemade, and let me tell you Sam makes a mean mac n' cheese. And see that bouquet at the table? It's mine. Proof that we did get married, honeymoon, and return home. Eventually I'll post more pictures and tell the story. All in due time, folks.

-Meg

We're finally getting married!

It's like Christmas Eve on steroids.

Tomorrow I am sealed to the man I love so dearly!

Just start watching at 1:15. That's what I've been singing in my head recently.

-Meg

words I'm hating right now

ethnic hair--people use this, thinking it's a PC way to say "non-Caucasian hair." They don't understand the definition of ethnicity, obviously, because since everyone has an ethnicity, we must all have ethnic hair.

exciting--everything is exciting. I hate how much I use this word. My toast and my wedding are exciting. This is not OK.They should not be on the same level.

gnat--the silent G is annoying. How fitting.

hopefully--because it should mean "full of hope" but instead means "I hope."

just--a terrible, useless filler. I still just don't know exactly what it is supposed to mean.

loading--computers' favorite word, unfortunately.

maybe--answers everything and solves nothing. I use it all the time because I don't plan my life like I ought.

mega--it's like my name, but not.

overwhelming--it's creepy how is sounds so much like what it means. It's long, it's hard to spell, and there's a sigh built in for your convenience.

pissed--just think about the two meanings, and how they're connected and it's terrible.

product--ubiquitous and vague, and I feel obligated to use it all the time.

screw--crude, weird, and twisted


snarky--sounds like one is saying "sparky" whilst gnawing

slip up--too figurative, too silly for something that's not silly.

soothe--sounds eerie, and like so many others on this list, it's everywhere

tits--sounds like it should be a type of bug. And of course, it's vulgar and immature. I hate hearing this everywhere.

vender/vendor--frustrating to spell

very--it means about as much as a politician's promises

zit--for nasty. Why do nasty things have to have nasty names, too.

In which the bridal/groomal photoshoot goes swimmingly

Yesterday I had my bridals done.

It was fun, but the whole day leading up to it was so stressful. I spent the whole day getting ready, and I think that wasn't healthy. I was stressed out because I was building up to the climatic moment for hours and hours and nit-picking myself.

Sam met me at This is The Place park that evening. We decided to do our bridals and groomals together so we wouldn't be as stressed on the actual wedding day (which is in one month!). We'll still be taking plenty of pictures on July 12, but it feels good to know we have plenty of pictures of us together already. Our photographer suggested we do a "reveal" AKA a first look. I was a little worried it would be cheesy, but it actually was pretty fun!

The moment I was with Sam, everything felt better. I felt more relaxed and just excited to be with him. Taking pictures was so fun, especially since we were all dressed up in our wedding garb. 

I don't have the actual pictures yet, but here's a little teaser. My mom took this when I had to hike up my dress to go through some touch terrain.

-Meg

Hired

On Monday, I was discouraged, frustrated and overwhelmed about life. I was still jobless, the wedding was approaching, which meant items on the to-do list were piling on faster than we were checking them off. 

Tuesday, I sent in an application to a job, and I heard back from the company later that day! The speed of the response was amazing.

First of all, I've applied at a lot of places, and most companies have an electronic application system. Many times, it takes a lot of time to fill it all out, and they ask for detailed information. I wouldn't have a problem with devoting so much time to a application if I knew it would materialize to something. But usually, the application just disappears into cyberspace and one never hears from the company again. I was lucky if I got an email saying they'd received my application. Usually there is no one listed to call to follow up, and sometimes they request not to call at all! There were so many frustrations.

But this application was different because it was simple, and a real person emailed me back the same day! I did some writing exercises and got feedback almost immediately. I went in for an interview on Thursday and Friday they called me and offered me the position. It all happened so fast.

I'm thrilled because I get to write every single day. There are a lot of other tasks associated with the job, but it's mostly copy writing. It's close to where Sam and I are going to be living, too. The people at the company were so nice; I was impressed with the whole office when I went in for the interview.

This is something I've been praying for. I just wanted an opportunity to do something--anything! When I thought about jobs I really wanted, I knew I liked editing, writing and teaching. But I also knew that there were probably a lot of other jobs that I didn't even know existed that I would be qualified for. Like this job. When I read the job description, I knew it was something I could do. I just didn't realize that it was an actual thing. I'll be writing the product descriptions for beauty products and doing other marketing duties.

For the record, I found the job on KSL classifieds online. I spent a lot of time on that website, and it's easy to use. I had plenty of duds there too, but if you're looking for a job, I'd say it's a good place to start.

I'm so thankful for all the people who helped me with job leads, and gave me career and resume advice. I know I was probably cranky and stressed a lot because of my joblessness, but everyone put up with me and loved me anyway.

I'm still working on figuring out some freelancing options to help supplement this job, but even if they don't work out, we'll be fine. I feel so blessed. God is so merciful.

-Megan