Becoming Left-Handed

Heart Attack

I thought I was having a heart attack tonight. I really did. The phone rang while I was sitting in my basement, next to a cozy fire, talking to my Dad (visiting from Windiana) and my sister, Rachel. I was explaining that Steve and I have been keeping a difficult secret for the last 13 days - we got a sneak peek at our wedding photo slide show at New Year's and we've been bursting to tell family and friends to go visit Frank DiMeo's blog to see for themselves.

Well, the phone call was from my Mom, who called to tell us that the blog post was up on Frank's site and we could all visit ... there I was, spilling my secret and having the need for secrecy cancelled all at one moment.  My chest started hurting and I had to just breathe.

My dad walked over to me and said, "Marti, I think you need to handle all this emotion in the write way."

So here I am, trying to process all this excitement in words. In a way, the photos are more real than the wedding day itself. I have watched our slide show every day for almost 2 weeks, and every time I see something new and feel something more. I am so grateful to Frank DiMeo for his talent and his incredible heart, and now I know why Frank's heart is so overworked! He must get those fluttery chest pains all the time!

The next few days will be as exciting as the few days following the wedding, as we share with family and friends and enjoy everyone's reactions...these are probably my last few days as a "bride" and I intend to enjoy them to the fullest!

This is also the first (and perhaps only) time I'm posting simultaneously on Becoming Left-Handed and Becoming Write-Handed. What a wonderful way for my two blogs to intersect over the happiest day of my life.

A New Blog is Born!

Today's a really exciting day for me as I launch my new blog, Becoming Write-Handed. 

First of all, thanks to all you faithful readers of Becoming Left-Handed.  Your comments have meant a lot to me as I told my story of being engaged and planning a wedding and getting married.  And thanks to all of you who submitted names and voted on names for the new blog - that was so fun!

Now, just 2 months into my married life, I am using my blogging experience on Becoming Left-Handed to launch a whole new blog focused on writing and my experiences as a ... well, just as me.  I hope you will enjoy the new format, the new stories, and the new voice.

I will still write on this blog from time to time, as I will certainly have "wifely" stories to tell about being a  newlywed! 

Another exciting development is that I was able to buy the domain names for both my blogs, and they are now mapped accordingly.  So, you can add www.becominglefthanded.com and www.becomingwritehanded.com to your bookmarks and you don't have to remember that long address that includes "typepad" in it (although of course that will still work!)

Please tell me what you think of the new blog and tell your friends, too!

I got a dot-com!

Okay, I'm really excited about this - after a year of blogging and a month of scratching my head, I found out how to get the address www.becominglefthanded.com to point to this blog.  No more .typepad in my address!

This makes it look so official!!

I am working on my other blog, soon to be open for you to read.  I've already started writing there and now I'm just working out the gritty details.

Weeee!!

Wow, blogging is complicated

I'll keep this short, since I'm at work and that means I should be thinking up profound statements about blogging, rather than sitting here on our first snowy day of the year, blogging.

I am trying to start Becoming Write-Handed as a new blog. So I optimistically upgrade my Typepad membership and start the process.  I choose a layout, a theme, a color palette, and a new photo. I get all the way to the part about choosing my domain name, and bam!  This gets hard.

I want becomingwritehanded.com to be my new blog.  But Typepad doesn't actually allow me to buy that domain name. I have to buy it somewhere else and point it to Typepad, or I have to end my relationship with Typepad and start a new site on host site like BlueHost that will also support blogging.

I am turning 2-3 hours of computer headache into 2-3 paragraphs, and making it look pretty.

Anyway, just know that I am working on it, and I am overwhelmed, and I really, really want to launch my new pet project ASAP but it's taking me a little while.

Thanks,
Marti

Get Out the Vote

Frank DiMeo sent me a few more preview images and said he couldn't decide whether he liked this photo better in B/W or color.  I can't decide either.  What do you think?  Post your votes in the comments and let's pick a favorite!

Sneak a Peek (A-Boo)

Coming soon in a holiday card near you ... one of these preview wedding images from Frank DiMeo!

Frank let us take a quick look at some early images so we could use one for our holiday mailing.  Thought you'd like to see them, too.  Frank's hard at work on 2 other weddings and an engagement shoot (not to mention recovering from surgery in the midst of the holidays) before he can really tackle our wedding shoot, but we know it's worth the wait and we are just so grateful for this preview.

Thanks, Frank. 

Oh, and special thanks to the Goddess of the Wind, a.k.a. Rachel, for "blowing" my veil just so!

Becoming Thirty

Today is my last day to be 29.  The last day of my 20s.

My 20s. In the last decade, I have met and worked for Hillary Clinton, I have gained and lost the same pesky 15 pounds, I have held more than six different jobs, I have been in love three times and married my best friend and man of my dreams, I have made friends with professors, bankers, interns, and rogues, I have traveled to Great Britain twice, I have lived in the Snow Belt and on the beach, I have adopted three cats, I have lost and found my way to God, I have raised money and lost money, and along the way, I have written about 1,000 pages of ... stuff.

I've been bravely telling everyone (not really everyone, only those nosy enough to ask how I feel about turning 30) that I'm better at 30 than I ever was at 20-anything.

I like to think that's true. But in reality, I think I'm still me, much the same as I was at 20-everything. The real difference, I think, is that I have found my voice and I am becoming the writer I've always been.

What's In A Name?

In the midst of unpacking and doing laundry from our honeymoon, organizing and putting away our wedding gifts, writing and co-signing hundreds of thank-you notes, traveling to and from LA for work, hosting houseguests 2 weekends running, re-decorating our bedroom with new curtains and comforter, and posting photos and making albums of the wedding, I had to buy a $4 money order.

This should not be a big deal, but for some reason, buying a money order is about as convenient as buying a house. It took me a total of 3 weeks to a) find out from the marriage license office (who referred me to the probate court's office) what the process was for getting my certified copy of our marriage "abstract"; b) fill out the required form, which I carried around in my purse for days; c) buy said money order; d) self-address a stamped envelope for the paperwork, and drop it in the mail.

So, finally, yesterday I received two thin green slips of paper with the raised seal of the Franklin County Probate Court that say, according to the Ohio Department of Health Vital Statistics, that Steven Walter Post and Martha Marie Bledsoe are in fact married. This little piece of paper allows me to start the legal name-change process. I feel compelled to tell you, though, that when I marched into the bank yesterday with my hard-won little green paper, they never even asked to see it as they changed my name to Martha Post on all my accounts. So much for process!

All of this got me thinking about what's in a name. It does seem (as much as I am complaining about it) that changing a name is a grave undertaking that should require many steps. I mean, a name change represents  a new identity, and new identities shouldn't just be lying around for people to assume, despite the bank's cavalier attitude.

And so, dear reader, as I have been giving the name-change issue much thought over these last weeks, I have decided that it is time to re-name Becoming Left-Handed. It seems fitting that my little blog should change its name at the same time I do!

In the one year and five days that I have been writing here, I have realized how vital writing is for me. It is just as important as breathing, perhaps more so. The days I don't blog feel somehow short of oxygen and my lungs feel rather cramped.

You might be thinking that I want to expand my blog beyond "what it's like to be engaged." and write about what it's like to be married. And that's true. But I also want a place where I can write about what it's like to have a love-hate relationship with your job, or what it's like to have your brand-new car in the shop for 9 days out of the month, or what it's like to drive through a writers' picket line in LA in the midst of realizing how much you love writing!

These are the stories I want to share with you. And eventually I hope these stories become a springboard for larger writing dreams, like a freelance career and a couple of books.

In the meantime, I need your help.  What should I call this new blog?

Here are a few of the suggestions I've heard from family and friends. Would you care to post a comment and vote for your favorite, or suggest another option?

Being Left-Handed
Becoming Write-Handed
The Daily Post
Posthaste
Post-Script

What do you think?

Friend Of A Friend

Every bride has certain moments that stick in her mind in blazing Technicolor.

Some of mine have nothing to do with Steve, but everything to do with you, our families and friends.

For example, at one point I watched Sally Lange Witkowski (wine tour game organizer, married to the guy wearing Steve's face, Electric Slider Extraordinaire) pull Jodie Silver (chiropractor, mother of 2, married to Steve's cousin Mike) onto the dance floor and I realized, our friends made friends with our friends!

Of course, we knew you would. We like you. You like us. How could you help but like each other?

In the one month (can you believe it's been one month?!) since the wedding, we've had our siblings emailing one another, our friend B! driving in from Washington D.C. to attend a party in Columbus thrown by our friends Stephanie and Brandon, and numerous other connections being made between (among?) all of you.

We really appreciated everyone who came in early for the Wine Tour, because that seems to be how so many people got to know so many people so fast.  Of course, you take 50 strangers and put them on a bus with enough wine, and magic is bound to happen!

This seems to be one of the happiest side effects of the wedding so far.  Stay tuned as we discover more!

More Photos

And here are still more photos, this time from Rachel's album on KodakGallery.com.  You can view her shots of the Village Tavern family dinner, the spa day at Mirbeau, the rehearsal dinner and the wine tour. And as always with Kodak, you can order prints online! Enjoy!