Only five days left until I become a Mrs.! I’m excited, but I will admit it hasn’t fully hit me yet. There’s still lots to do before then and I’m sure I’ll be caught up in all of that until the day before or even that morning.

“I now pronounce you husband and wife. You may now change your Facebook status to married.”

I wanted to ask my fellow modern women out there – what do you do about your changing to your married surname when it comes to social media? I’ve always known I would want to take my husband’s name, but I guess I never considered that when creating my twitter, gmail, instagram, and every other social media and website account possible because I most commonly use Srlaupan (my first initial, middle initial and last name). I kinda screwed myself there, didn’t I? :)

I currently have a unique last name, so it’s always been easy to secure usernames with it. However, I’m now changing to a much more common last name – Doran. And combined with my ULTRA common first name, I had a hard time finding a username that was available that I liked.

I admit that a while back when we first got engaged I went out and parked two options for Gmail and Twitter – sarahrosedoran and sarahrdoran. The second one is shorter (by 3 characters) but I do like using my first and middle name. I’ve tried coming up with a more unique, evergreen username based on just my first and middle names so I could change over BEFORE we got married (one less thing to think about this week/right after the wedding would have been nice), but I couldn’t come up with anything that wasn’t taken.

I’m not too worried about my SEO, because I don’t own my own business, I haven’t done too much freelance work and I’ve only “been around” for a few years. But for women business owners and those that have worked long and hard to establish their personal brand, I can’t imagine having to make the decision about not changing at all, changing over personally but not professionally, or changing over completely and losing a bit of their hard earned SEO/name recognition.

How did you/do you plan on handling a married name change in this world of SEO and social media identities?

When I said lots has been going on in my last post I really wasn’t kidding. Fast forward two months and there has been a new thing crossed off my 101 in 1,001 list, a decision on our honeymoon, an accident, engagement pictures, a new car, applying for a new job, a trip to South Dakota, a trip to Arizona, an offer for that new job, and a crazy two weeks finishing up at the old job. I’ve been writing thoughts down intermittently but haven’t gotten the chance to finish any posts – but I promise to change that.

Today we are going to head out to shop for suits for the guys – fingers crossed this place has one that is a style we like, a fit we like, AND can come in all the needed sizes for our guys. I definitely thought the suit process would be easier than this – aren’t the GIRLS supposed to be the difficult ones to dress?! That was easy peasy.

Also, this afternoon is my bridal shower! It definitely feels weird. I haven’t had the “this shit just got real” moment regarding the whole wedding yet, but I feel like I’m on the verge. I did think that I would be super anticipating my bridal shower, going out and buying a new dress especially for the occasion and just basking in the bridal glow and joy – that hasn’t really happened, but I also think the stress of changing jobs (spoiler: the new job is mine) could be affecting that. As well, I always imagined my bridal shower would be on a bright and sunny day, but today’s not only going to be rainy, but thunderstorms are forecasted for the entire afternoon. Oh well. Let’s hope this weather karma means that the wedding day will be gorgeous in exchange. :)

When it comes to managing my life, I would say I rely pretty heavily on digital tools. Some of my staples include Gmail, Google Docs and Calendar, and Dropbox – and of course I have to be able to access all of these via my Android phone. But there’s something about having a paper planner/notebook that I haven’t been able to find a replacement for in the digital world. I have a planner that holds all necessary to-do’s and appointments, as well as a notebook for each of my larger projects in my life.

Currently I have a Moleskine Weekly Planner + Notebook for my personal planner (I have the X-Large size, but I couldn’t find it on their website). I’ve had this same style planner for the past few years through college and, while there’s a few things I might change about it, it has worked really well for me. I got another of these planners this year, but I was disappointed that I could only find the 18 month version, rather than the regular 12 month version (which gives me the feeling that they’re trying to phase this format out). So now I’m stuck lugging around pages for 6 months of 2011 that have already passed. And for work, since my day-to-day was pretty standard at my last job, I was just using a plain, half-page size notebook that I documented what I did each day so it was easier to bill my time at the end of the day.

Since starting my new position I’ve been scouring the interwebs for a new notebook/planner system that I can use for work (and the bits of work and personal life that will intermingle). I know I’ll be involved in a lot of different large projects, many of which I don’t even know what they’ll be like yet, so I need it to be versatile. I’ve found some cool options, so I thought I’d share them for all you fellow office supply/organization dorks out there.

(more…)

…To serve God and my country,
To help people at all times,
And to live by the Girl Scout Law.

I’m a Girl Scout again! Yesterday I started my newest adventure as the Social Media Manager for Girl Scouts of Wisconsin Southeast (GSWISE). This position is brand new to the organization, so I’m very excited to get started and help figure out what role social media will play to serve the council’s strategic plan.

I’m a council staff member, but I’m also registered officially as an adult Girl Scout member, so although I won’t be selling cookies I do have a uniform I need to wear to certain official meetings and I get to sport some spiffy pins. The pic I included is of my nametag and pins. The “100” pin is to commemorate Girl Scouting’s 100th anniversary and 2012 being declared as Year of the Girl.

To be honest, I’ve never been much of a “girl’s girl.” I was a Girl Scout until 5th grade (when our troop dissolved due to our leader no longer being able to continue), but since then I haven’t been involved in anything that really celebrated “sisterhood” or girl power. I’ve tended to find myself working and being friends with more men than women. I’m excited to be surrounded by so many strong, driven women (most of the GSWISE staff members are female), all working together to build girls of courage, confidence and character. I’m hoping that some of that will rub off on me, as well. :)