I posted about this on Twitter as well and my lovely wife saw the Tweet and found out where the tag came from and got it for me as a surprise :).

(the one that Jennifer got me)

Turns out that it actually is in fact marketed as a luggage tag by OfTheFountain on Etsy who makes all sorts of hand stamped leather tags.

In person the tag looks a little more durable than in the original picture I saw so I guess it could be used as a luggage tag and be okay. Though I’d recommend switching out the leather strap for something more durable first if you want to be sure that your tag won’t break off during transit and end up doing it’s own sort of wandering.

That said I definitely like this a lot, it’s a really cool item for someone who loves stories like I do. Thanks Honey!

Notice something different around here lately? This blog recently underwent a change: the name went from Beginning (beginning.anitawirawan.com) to Anita’s Notebook (anitasnotebook.com).

Beginning.anitawirawan.com was fine when there weren’t that many people reading the blog but as more and more people came by it became increasingly obvious that a change was needed to keep things comfortable for everyone.

Not only was the url long and complicated it was just plain hard for people to remember. People who were wanting to do something as simple as checking to see what was posted here that week were having a hard time remembering what url to go to and/or how to spell anitawirawan (and who could blame them lol).

Even the name Beginning was a problem, seeming to slip people’s minds easily and in many cases when talking about this blog people just resorted to calling it things like The Anita Blog :D.


AT THE BEGINNING

So where did the name Beginning even come from? I had first started this blog in 2008 sort of out of desperation to try and get things together after my brother Jody died, to somehow wake up my mind from the shock of it all by doing some writing. The name Beginning was perfect for that time because I was starting at square one in many aspects of my life and had to re-learn how to do a lot of basic things that we all usually just take for granted.

But over the years this blog has evolved and now the name just doesn’t fit because, well, thankfully I’m not at the beginning anymore. I wanted to change the name and url to something that would be easy to remember yet reflected the core of what this blog is about, the love of interesting stories.

I racked my brain trying to think of something that would be good and came up with a few ideas, but nothing seemed to fit quite right. Then one night as Jennifer and I were chatting like we usually do as we drift off to sleep we got into a conversation about how it was really starting to bother me that I couldn’t think of a new name for the blog.

We started to brainstorm possible names on the off chance that something would turn up. And anyway it was a lot of fun. We rattled off possible blog names one after the other, some were ok and some just plain off the wall causing us to go into uncontrollable fits of giggling. After a little while of throwing random stuff out there I suddenly said ‘Notebook something …something notebook …um Anita’s Notebook?’


NOTEBOOK SNIPPETS

Jennifer froze for a sec and then said ‘I really like that!’. She felt very positively about it and thought it was a perfect name because my blog is based a lot on a little Moleskine notebook that I carry in my pocket with me everywhere. I love stories (have you noticed lol) and use this book to jot down snippets of all sorts of interesting or unusual ones that I come across during the day.

A couple snippets from my notebook:



This is the story that originally inspired me to start writing hint memoirs almost a year ago. I decided to challenge myself to write one hint memoir a day for a year.


Some quickly written notes on stories that happened one day while Jennifer and I were travelling, there was no need to write the whole story down because I knew I’d remember them all once I saw the notes (especially Bluetooth Escalade guy who was too busy concentrating on being a douche to notice he hadn’t taken the gas pump out of the car before driving off).

COMFY

The more I thought about it the more I realized that yes it was the perfect name for the blog (I only had one reservation about it, how would I refer to the blog when talking about it myself? As in it would be really odd to refer to myself in third person all the time).

It wasn’t long before we were both wide awake and had broken out a laptop to buy the domain name. It was obvious that neither of us would be able to sleep until the url was bought and I figured that was a good sign. Either that or we’d wake up the next morning and be the not-so proud owners of a random domain name chosen hastily while dozing off lol.

Turns out that we liked it even more the next day :).

The process of switching over the entire blog to the new url was a tad bit more difficult of a process than brainstorming for the actual name itself, but once everything was done it felt really good and much more comfortable.

Anyway I hope that you like the new name and that the url will make things easier. Already I’ve noticed a lot more people coming in on the direct url instead of having to search Google for some weird combination of terms just to get back here again. This is the start of many improvements to come, which as mentioned in the comfy couches post aim to make this a nicer home for people who love stories. And of course as always if you have any requests feel free to email me.

As Jennifer and I walked through the concrete levels of the downtown parking garage I felt a sense of nervousness, a knot in my stomach that was part anticipation part worry.

On the one hand this was so exciting, I couldn’t believe it was finally happening. But on the other hand…what if something went wrong? What if the judge turned out to be a crazy right wing nutjob and said ‘No way in hell, now get out of my courtroom!’??

Part of me knew that nervousness was playing tricks and making my fears play out scary cartoonish scenarios in my mind. But knowing this didn’t do anything stop it from happening. We had waited years for this to happen and now this hugely important event affecting the rest of our lives would hinge on the decision of a single person, a stranger.


THE HALLWAY CLOCK

In a hallway a small ways from the courtroom Jennifer and I hung out in front a set of tall windows that showcased a panoramic view of downtown Anchorage.

Our lawyer waited with us. He leaned against a heater casually, joking and telling stories of what he’d been doing in the last couple months.

We smiled back and laughed a little but there was really only one thing on our minds at that point: what was going to happen in the courtroom in about twenty minutes.

The clock ticked along slowly. Sloooooowly. Each click of the second hand was moving through molasses and there was nothing that could be done about it.


THE COURTROOM

When the time came around to go into the courtroom I saw that it actually wasn’t really a conventional courtroom but just a normal sized room with the judge and her assistant on one end behind a couple of regular office desks and on the other end rows of waiting room type chairs were lined up, almost all empty.

There was one other case ahead of us that needed to be taken care of. We sat and waited while the judge talked to the woman about…well who the heck knows…it was all bla bla bla to me…super important to the woman no doubt but I had so much on my mind that I couldn’t really concentrate on what they were saying.

Finally the judge moved on to our case. For our lawyer this whole name change procedure was apparently old hat and he stood up and easily stated in legal language that Jennifer wanted to change her last name. No she wasn’t trying to avoid debts. No she wasn’t trying to avoid legal troubles. Yes it had been posted in the paper for the required number of days. Etc etc etc….


THE REASON WHY

Then the judge asked Jennifer why she wanted to change her name.

Jennifer stood up and said that she wanted to change her last name to Wirawan because she wanted to have the same last name as me, the love of her life and wife of a decades. It was a simple statement but at the same time was so incredibly powerful because of all the love it represented.

There was a pause (and was that a slight smile from the judge?) and the proceedings went on a bit longer with the judge and the lawyer going through the legal motions.

The judge typed away on her computer in silence for a while and then…suddenly announced in so many words that the name change was approved. It was very anti-climactic after all the worrying I’d been experiencing leading up to it but that didn’t matter. Jennifer and I were so happy we immediately stood up and hugged each other with big smiles on our faces. We were now after all these years officially The Wirawans.


JENNIFER WIRAWAN

We found out a while later that the judge thought we were an adorable couple and had considered asking us if we wanted to take a picture with her to commemorate the occasion. But she decided against it because she thought we might think it was weird.

I wouldn’t have thought it was weird though, that day was one of the most meaningful days in my life. Jennifer changing her last name to match mine meant the world to me. I felt so happy the day the judge approved the name change that I’m not even sure how to describe it.

But as happy as I felt that day it doesn’t even compare to how I feel every time I hear or see the name: Jennifer Wirawan. It’s so awesome it can even transform the most commonplace of events into something wonderful. Do you ever get excited about looking at some random piece of mail like the electric bill? I do, because it has my favorite name in the world printed right on the front :).