"What will your new last name be?"

Drum roll please......dadadadadadadadadadadadada....

Christ.

Yep that's right. This girl ain't changing her name. The next question is always , "Why not?"
And I think, why SHOULDN'T I keep my name?

It's the name given to me almost 29 years to the day when I was born.

It's the name I have used professionally all over the country for the past 6 years. Changing it throws a wrench in my networking capabilities.

It has fewer letters than Dickson, and comes earlier in the alphabet so I'm always first. he he he.

I literally happen to be J Christ. How cool is that? Save for my mom, my brother, and my sister in law, not many people can claim that title.

I'm lazy. Changing it involves too much paperwork. I hate paperwork. DMV, SSA, multiple PT licenses, bank accounts, credit cards, 401k. It makes my head spin thinking about it.

I happen to be very independent and the thought of giving up my name to take someone else's seems so demoralizing. I mean why did the name change take place in the first place? As a sign of ownership. Yes ladies, we were once "owned" by our fathers. And given to a man to marry, not necessarily for love, forced to assume his last name. Now I know that in our society, this is no longer the norm, but the feminist side of me always remembers the history of it.

So when you ask me, "What will your new last name be?" Don't be shocked when I answer, "Christ." It's who I am. It's not for you or anyone to judge why I made this decision. I don't think it really warrants an explanation but I've tried to give you one here. A common last name does not make a family...remember that.

Sincerely,
The VERY soon to be MRS. Judi Christ

5 days...

Until the wedding! Holy Crap! It is SO surreal to think these are my last few days as a single woman. Am I sad? No. I can't think of anything more exciting than walking down the aisle to James' waiting arms and finally becoming his wife.

Mom and I are in full swing of finishing up the wedding planning and getting the house ready for the rehearsal dinner. Thankfully, Friday was my last day of work until August 4th! Yep, I have the whole month of July off. What will I do with all my time off you ask?? Well, let's see.

July 1-3: Tidy up the last minute stuff.
July 4: Get married.
July 5-18: Honeymoon in FIJI.
July 19-20: Pack
July 21-26: Drive from Cleveland to Oregon with Mom to move all my stuff out there. (and celebrate my 29th birthday on July 23)
July 27: Say goodbye to Mom as she flies back to Cleveland
July 28-31: I think I might actually get to do nothing.
August 1-3: Move in to our new apartment
August 4: Start work.

I'm booked solid. :) But I can't wait.

I can't believe it's June!

And I'm getting married NEXT MONTH. Where does the time go?? It's hard to believe that in 4 1/2 weeks I finally get to marry James and see him EVERY day (well except if he has to go out of town for work). It's all so surreal. I've been waiting for the day to come for almost 15 months now and it is fast approaching.

This past weekend I got some wedding stuff done. I've started the seating chart though I still have another week until my RSVP deadline so I won't be finalizing anything on that quite yet. I went and ordered my cake design and paid in full. Can't wait to see the final product! I met with the church to finally discuss the ceremony and I'm hoping to meet with the pastor that is marrying us this next week. James, my mom and I have been working on our wedding program quite a bit and have finally made some good progress. And last but not least, I've begun filling out the music list my DJ has asked for. It's all starting to come together but I know there is so much more to do! I have one more dress fitting scheduled then it will really feel real!