Cowboy Hat Day

I have to say I did not prepare for Tina's Cowboy Hat Day - luckily I have some pics from last year in which I tried to channel Louise (Thelma asked to be edited out). Enjoy!

uh-oh, I officially have 2 legal names

This has recently been discovered by me:

Same sex marriage certificates, certificates of civil union or certificates of domestic partnership, whether foreign or domestic, are not acceptable evidence for recognizing an immediate name change for use in a U.S. passport.

Donald Henneberger, formerly Donald Smith, recently received a letter from the National Passport Center in Portsmouth, New Hampshire, denying his request for a name change on his passport. The center said it would not recognize a marriage license for a same-sex couple as proof of a name change. . .

There are two ways same-sex couples can get the name on their passports changed. They can submit documentation of a “court ordered name change,”. Or, they can establish “customary usage.”
Customary usage must be supported by documents showing the name has been used for a five-year period. In five years, a same-sex marriage license could be used as one of those documents.

"We are unable to comply with your request for a name change based on the documentation you sent because of the Defense of Marriage Act ...," the letter states.

Yesterday I completed all of my paperwork for my new passport with my new name. Today I can throw that paperwork in the trash can.

Journal of a person who has something to say to Clinton: Your little DOMA project has secured the government's right to discriminate against its citizens, even if you think discrimination has no place in American society.

Wordless Wednesday

My taxes + the census = not counted

I just finished filling out my tax return. Turbo tax asks cherfully if anything has changed over the last year. If I happened to be married in 2008 there is a cute little box to check next to a picture of a diamond ring. Well, yes indeed I was married in 2008, let me go ahead and check that box. OHHHHH, But wait a minute. Unless I want the government knocking down my door for fraud, I better rethink my marital status. Let's see, how does the federal government see me? Oh, right, they see me as a single person, paying taxes, ineligible for the 1,138 federal benefits for married couples. Got it! Let me put on my second-class citizen jumpsuit. Ahhh, there, now that's better. Thanks federal government for forcing me to check the single box, again, even though I really do have a wife. Maybe next year.

The 2010 census is, of course, another undertaking by the federal government, so I shouldn't expect anything different, but I do. I expect that our community and our families will be counted properly and I expect that married same-sex couples will be counted as such. The 2010 census will not meet my expectations.

"If two people of the same sex identify as husband and husband or wife and wife, the census will retain that answer, but when results are released those people will be counted as unmarried partners."

Hmmm, looks as if I will be checking the married box. If we will still be counted as unmarried partners and we are both of the same sex (so that we can be counted in other studies) I see no reason not to respond as married. Suck it, census.

Journal of a citizen

Purchase

Love my new purchase! I haven't bought a purse in say, 8 years, at least. I carry one everyday but I've always been too cheap to actually spend real money directly on a bag. I've gotten away with using the bags that come as part of my FREE gifts from Lancome and Clinique. I am still too cheap to pay full price and happy to report that I got this bag for more than 50% off. Awww, yeah!!

Since it was at such a deep discount, the internet seems to have removed all pictures of it. Just use your imagination and combine the pictures below. The first represents the style, the second the color. It even has a light inside! The most remarkable thing to me is that it has pockets, lots of them. While the FREE bags I've been using have been, well, FREE, they have a severe lack of pockets, forcing me to give them a thumbs down on functionality.





Journal of a girly girl (sometimes)

Wordless Wednesday

I am trying very hard to make a comeback

I always like to have one major project to work on in my free time - something I can throw myself into and something that produces results. Sometimes it is a self improvement project such as studying for the bar exam, exercising or job searching. Sometimes it is a project for my enjoyment such as planning a wedding or planning a vacation. Some projects are shorter, even lasting only a couple of hours like quickly changing my image with a new hair color and new outfit. Some last a little longer like planning a surprise for B or planning a party (for Darcy!)

Right now I am embarking on two major projects, making a move across the country (and all the planning that comes along with something this HUGE) and starting a family (and all the planning and long talks and lists that are created for something this HUGE). The problem with these two monstrous projects is that I am not yet quite ready to start with either one. This means that I am searching for purpose every evening after work. I don’t like this. It means that I am unfocused, unproductive and most likely to just plop down in front of the tele and get sucked into some hour long police mystery. Hour after hour.

Last Wednesday I started working on this quagmire. I enrolled in a once weekly yoga class. This falls under the self improvement project category and the enjoyment category. I love yoga. I love the simultaneous mind and body workout/healing. But, once a week yoga isn’t really a very time consuming project. Twice a week, maybe, but that still won’t really quench my desire for a project.

This week I will continue to work on my problem. I have started composing a list in my mind of small projects that will carry me through the next few weeks - until B and I decide that it is the right time to start searching/applying for jobs in Cali and making a baby (just kidding on the latter, that comes after the move). My list isn’t all that fun and is composed mostly of cleaning projects. Much to B’s dismay (when she hears about this), one of the projects includes her and just happens to be the largest cleaning project (get ready, love).

What I like about cleaning projects is that the results are immediate and satisfying. Pick up that pile of papers, whaa-BAM, that spot is now clean; clean the dishes off the counter, boo-YAH, the counter appears; put my piles of clothes away, sha-ZAM, the bedroom looks bigger.

And now, some ideas for my creative summer project...someone has a baby on the way!!





Journal of a blogger (this blog is another project that could use a little TLC)

Wordless Wednesday

Perhaps you thought I fell in a snow bank and got stuck

Bullet point catch up:

• Enjoyed 11 days of gorgeous warm weather and sunshine


• Missed my wife


• Took the grueling 3 day California Bar Exam


• Survived


• Visited with Mom, Michelle, Mey, Eamonn, Silas, David, Amy, Shannon, Brady, Maedell, Harold, Uncle Steve


• Went for many many walks outside without freezing


• Got heartwarming news that made tears run down my face, the good kind of tears that were uncontrollable and got caught in the corners of my smile


• Realized how much I missed Los Angeles


• Loved my morning walks to Starbucks, even better when my mom joined me


• Ate real Mexican food


• Spent a very fun but very long day at Disneyland and California Adventure


• Shopped at Trader Joe's (oh how I miss TJ's) - thanks Michelle!


• Celebrated my mom's birthday with shots of vodka, the beach, a play and family


• Witnessed my nephew walking


• Visited an open house - just a mere $2 million and the house could be mine


• Confirmed that I am ready to make a big change and move to California again
  

Journal of [] me who is tired of wearing a wool coat