Now that things have settled down after the wedding and the moving and the buying anything and everything possible for our new home... I can finally sit back and relax.
Hahahaha! Yea, right. When does that ever happen? Especially when your husband is not an American citizen, needs to get a drivers license, you have to change your name on a billion different things and you work a normal 40 hours a week. This whole visa process seems to be never ending. After the 9 months of work for the fiancé visa, we still have a couple years to go, and a couple thousand dollars, dual citizenship. At least we are on the same continent now!
Let's rewind a little though... Because the last time I blogged it was July, and I had just jumped out of an airplane. After that was Christmas with its usual excitement and family time... Oh and I took a step up in the technological world and got my first LED/flat scream tv. Patrick and I topped it off with a new blue-ray player and laptop... Go big or go home right???
After Christmas was January, February, March, and then April. I am pausing on April because my fiancé (now husband) finally touched down in America for good. I was actually amazed that everything went so smoothly, considering some of the fiancé visa horror stories I read of hours of interrogation at the airport, being denied access, etc. However, by some miracle, everything fell into place.
Then came the wedding. It was a perfect and amazing day... Yea, I know that is a bit cheesy, but it really was. Nothing crazy happened... I didn't trip down the isle or rip my dress, thankfully. Everything just kind of went. Patrick and I were able to enjoy the evening thanks to everyone who helped us our so we weren't throwing flowers in vases at the last minute or fussing with the webcam right before the ceremony. It was just a perfect day.
Then came Hawaii. That vacation was much needed, and one of the best trips I have ever taken. We did some snorkeling, watersides, hiking, and of course, lots of eating. We finally got to make a stop at Kona Brewing Company. If you are ever in Hawaii, this is definitely worth a stop. Their beer and food are amazing. We staying on the island for a week, and then it was back to reality.
We flew into San Francisco airport at 4am, picked up our bags, paid the outrageous amount for parking, and began the trek back to Fresno. We picked up the keys to our new apartment 5 hours later and started moving in. Looking back, we probably should have picked up the keys before the wedding and moved a few things over... But hey, you live and learn.
Two weeks later, here we are and we are down to 2 boxes and Patrick has a social security number. However, I am no closer to changing my name. That is being put on hold while we get all the paperwork together for for his green card and ok to work from immigration. Let metell you, they do not make this whole visa thing easy! It is time consuming, expensive, nerve-racking and over all just a pain in the butt. However, it is completely worth it.
Hopefully by this time next year Patrick will completely legal, everything will be settled, and we will be house shopping... Then again, that sounds too normal and easy for us.
