...

I hate that I always start my blog posts with how long it's been since the last time I posted. To my defense, a lot has been going on.

First of all, I'm married, and it's pretty great. Not a whole lot has really changed, but I'm ok with that. We already lived together, already started making future decisions together, already considered each other's money as our own... I feel like we had already committed ourselves to each other, and the ceremony was just to make official in everyone else's eyes what we already knew. We are starting to get into some joint decisions, though... we have an appointment with a financial advisor set up for a week from now, and we've already had discussions about what we've dubbed as "Future House." For now, we've decided to stay in our current rental until we get closer to having kids, but I am pretty excited for Future House. Especially since I am not using most of our wedding presents until we get into Future House.

Once I get everything figured out with changing my name, joint financials, and finishing thank you notes, my next project is applying for a graduate certificate program at ISU and possibly studying to take the GRE in a few months. I want to first get a Certificate of Public Management, which I was able to get the GRE waived for, and then take the GRE and apply the certificate courses to either an MBA or an MPA (Masters in Public Administration). Of course all of this will happen while working full time, but how can I pass up full tuition reimbursement at this job?

Other big news is that I'm now officially in training for the Des Moines Half Marathon. I successfully completed week one of training, and it's only uphill from here. Wish me luck!