Hello all! Today Chris and I are taking a short trip to the social security office to officially add his last name onto mine. It's a momentous occasions, gals! In the Chinese culture, when girls marry, we don't typically take on our husband's names. Why? The reason behind it is, you are always your father's daughter. So throwing away your family name is a no no. However, in the Filipino culture, when women get married, they tag on their husbands name and keep their maiden name as their middle name. To compromise, I decided to add his name to mine...no hyphens. I'm the only child and it pained me to think I'd drop my last name I so used to hearing for the past 31 years. Now I have the best of both worlds!
For this special occasion, I decided to pull out the Southward Stop Dress. I was inspired by the catalog shot for this first attempt at styling the dress:
The tights I'm wearing today has some rose detail you can't see if you're not up close. They're gorgeous!
Dress: Southward Stop Dress Anthropologie
Cardigan - Urban Outfitters
Tights - Anthropologie
Shoes - Seychelle's Booties
Before I leave, I finally was able to pick up my ring from Nieman Marcus last Friday. She's just like new and the crack in the back is fixed. It's amazing how you get so attached to your engagement ring. I felt lost without her for three weeks!
Have a wonderful hump day everyone!
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I hope the trip to the SS office went smoothly! Lovin' the outfit and I am REALLY lovin' the chic hair. I have a hair appointment tomorrow, eeep!
ReplyDeleteYou look so cute in your Southward Stop dress - I'm itching to try mine with tights! I love how you carved your pumpkin too! So cute!
ReplyDeleteSammie - Thank you! The trip did go smoothly. We only had to wait like 10 minutes and the agent was really nice. I guess those are the perks of going to government agencies in Bellevue!
ReplyDeleteMandy - The pumpkin was all the husband's doing! :) I guess I just gave him ideas of giving the girl some eye lashes!
Good news to hear you got your ring back in tip top shape! Hope the trip to SS went smoothly. I think Ev just mailed ours in (he added my last name to his middle name, I added my maiden to my middle name and i took his last name). The whole name change thing tho, was a pain, I still haven't changed all my docs!
ReplyDeleteI like your first styling of the Southward Stop. It looks very elegant with a long black cardigan, tights, and booties!
LoriSpeak
You look so refined in this outfit. It is so sweet of you to do the addition instead of removing your old last name :-) I really like that. I think that is how it is done in the ancient Chinese tradition too.
ReplyDeleteYou just look so great, Cindi! This outfit looks awesome on you and I am so jealous of your new haircut. :) Send some good hair vibes this way!
ReplyDeleteI love how you did your name, I think that is so sweet. I dropped my middle name (which still makes me a little sad because I loved it), moved my maiden name to my middle name, and took hubby's last name. 3.5 years later, I still haven't changed everything, haha! :)
I'm impressed that you are getting such a great start...two years later I still haven't gotten through the whole process!
ReplyDeleteLori - So sweet that Evan added something to his name. I don't think that's done enough! Sounds like you have a great guy!
ReplyDeleteYi - I think in China they are starting to go back to that now...those trendy young people. :)
Erin - I'm sending great hair vibes to you right now!!! :) I think technically my middle name will be my last name now but it just feels good to not lose it all together.
oh wow, you have it together!
ReplyDeletetechnically, I changed my name, but haven't actually done anything about it yet except where I work, that's the only place I changed it because I end up hearing it 50,000/day. In NY they don't let you add a name, you have to either hyphenate or just change. It sucks.
My SIL is philippino and that's how she changed her name too. Who knew it was such and ordeal!
You look great Cindi! I never knew that about Chinese last names since everyone in my family just added on their husband's last name, if not took it entirely. I changed my middle name to be my maiden name then added J's last name. In my Chinese family I always heard that saying "to feed a daughter is to feed someone else's family" or something like that?
ReplyDeletexx Vivian @ http://diamondsandtulle.blogspot.com
P.S. oh and I LOVE your outfit + tights!
you're 31??? You don't look it at all!
ReplyDeleteAnd that's interesting about last names in the different Asian cultures. I have always wanted to take my husband's last name- I'm old fashioned like that.
Vivian - Isn't it weird how Chinese families believe that about daughters? They totally believe that when a daughter marries, they're losing her for good. It holds true in the old days though.
ReplyDeleteRobin - Thanks!! :) I basically had a growth spurt and looked 21 when I was 15 and then I stopped aging...which is good for me! :) Being in Seattle, it's easy to stay away from the sun which always helps slow aging. Haha.
You look too cute in your new dress, love it layered with the cardigan! I'm the same as you, only child, and super-attached to my unique last name. When the time comes and we get hitched, I'll be doing the same and moving my last name in the middle. It's gonna be hard to adjust though!!
ReplyDeleteDea - I know! Especially since his last name is a little Western sounding and mixed with my legal Chinese name (I don't use Cindi legally on my documents), people might get confused. Haha..but oh well! I also refused to change my Chinese name formally to Cindi simply for the same reason. My dad gave me that name!
ReplyDeleteCongrats on another married life milestone! You look great in that dress - ack, I have to stop looking, I'm so tempted!
ReplyDeleteThis takes me back to the day my husband and I went to the SS office to change my name. We walked to the office in the 98 degree heat, got lost, and then spent 1.5hrs waiting in line. I'm glad I only have to do that once!
ReplyDeleteYou're making me want to go back to the store and buy this dress...Not good Cindi :)
I love learning about different customs in different cultures. It's so interesting!
ReplyDeleteCindi-after seeing you wear dark tights with this dress makes me want to get out of my pjs and re-create the look! I simply love it and can't wait to wear this look myself to the office!!!
I would never in a million billion years guess that we were the same age - you look SO YOUNG(you're so sweet or I'd hate you for having such timeless genes!) You look gorgeous in the Southward Stop Dress - I haven't worn mine yet, and that is a crime! Your ring is super pretty, I'm glad it's back to sparkling on your finger where it belongs :)
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea about your name. I never changed mine and it still bugs my husband 5 years later. I just can't bring myself to do it:)
ReplyDeleteYou look fabulous in your outfit!
Heya Cindi
ReplyDeleteI didn't know that about Chinese culture. I've always thought they'd change their surnames. I'm of a chinese background and so is my husband and the families didn't mention anything about not taking my husband's surname. Maybe it's a different chinese? Who knows!
All i can tell you is that i had the hardest time changing my surname after i got married. I made so many trips to the postoffice just to get my passport updated, as in order to get that updated i had to have changed my name on my licence,health card and bank cards first...! yeeee-ouch!
But it was worth it in the end...hehe..i didn't want to do the hyphen thing, it would have sounded funny (two asian surnames!).
You look gorgeous in your southward dress, looks very nice with a black cardi and dark tights!
Your ring is blign bling beautiful!!
Cheers
Jen
Lisa - Haha you have some willpower that I surely didn't have. I bet it's hard to resist when there are so many people out there wearing this as of late.
ReplyDeleteSara - I saw you in this just today and it looked so good on you!!! I can't believe you walked out without it though...and in a way was really proud of you! Haha.
Pamela - You've styled this dress so well so I can't wait to see what else you have in store for it!
Jan - Haha well you are one hot MAMA is all I can say!!! I look at you each time and think...wow..this is a mom???
A - Haha..I think the name thing had to be an understanding before we got married. It was just as important as whether we wanted kids. Guys can get pretty sensitive with the name thing so I was willing to compromise and give him the respect he deserved.
Jen - I'm not anticipating the name changing process to be easy! Haha that's why Chris tells me where to go, what forms to sign and such. He signed the social security form for me and told me where to sign...then told me when to show up for the appointment. :) He'll do the same for the other agencies as well.
Lovely shots Cindi! I am glad to see your Jack O Lantern 'guarding' the front of the house. Clothes-wise, you have done the catalogue shot just perfectly!
ReplyDeleteOn the name topic, I have kept my surname (I have a highly original one) but may hyphenate or change it when I have children. We are lucky to have the choice in these modern times!!
It sounds like you picked a great compromise for changing your name! On the Chinese side of my family, girls are not given middle names, as it is assumed that we will use our maiden name as a middle name when we get married. So I've never had a middle name : (
ReplyDeleteI like the way that you styled the Southward Stop with black tights. And so glad that your gorgeous ring arrived back safely. It's lovely!