Silver Bells and Cockle Shells...

Community Garden, originally uploaded by rcoconnell02.

This is me, standing in front of our newly-planted community garden plot. Before the wedding, we erected a fence to keep the critters out. Last weekend, I spent an afternoon digging the beds. Later that evening, we filled 3 of our 4 beds with heirloom tomatoes, peppers, eggplant, artichokes (really!),melons, carrots, lettuce, and radishes.

To come: beans, corn, squash, potatoes, parsnips and onions.

Note that I'm 1) dirty and 2) smiling. The two often go together in gardening.

PS: yes, my t-shirt does detail the life cycle of a frog. Try not to be too jealous.

The Lame Name Game

Since people have started asking, I figured I should say something on the subject of last names--specifically, what mine is now. So here it is, broken out into two easy-to-read (translation: lazy) bullet points:

1) Legally, my name stays the same. I will use that name for all work-related activities, including publication.
2) In all other contexts, I am going by Ross's last name.

I don't have some deep reason for that choice. Basically, it came from piecing together the following three facts (note the bullet points):
1)I have a really really common last name (shared with over 30% of the US population) whereas Ross's name is much less common
2)Having two different names can be inconvenient, especially with kids
3)My name is better professionally, both because I've already published under it, and also because it falls near the front of the alphabet (author order in econ is almost always alphabetical)

I may choose to change the legal aspect eventually, depending on whether it is more irritating to go by a name that is not my legal one socially or professionally. Either way, the outward appearance will remain the same.

Jet lagged in Michigan...

We're back from Hawai'i. It was lovely. We walked on the beach, killed two pairs of hiking boots between us, took a stupid number of pictures (~1500 over two weeks), and avoided contracting Hansen's disease (not too hard, as it turns out). We also both picked up a new useless skill--reading and pronouncing Hawaiian words. Ross also started to learn the grammar and vocabulary because he's amazing like that.

I'm hoping to post about the wedding and honeymoon incrementally over the next few weeks, journal-style. I'll also link to pictures as I get them up.

Dude...we're married.

Now, off to Hawaii. Pictures of both the wedding (perfect in every way) and honeymoon (so excited) as soon as I recover.


Love!

Wedding Insanity...

Two days before the wedding, and Ross and his dad decided to take apart our sink.

Now they're taking apart the door.

That's the spirit!