US meets UK

I bought Twilight (and the other 3 books)…Waterstone’s had it’s 3 for 2 sale so… I mean, come on, NOT buying books on sale borders on criminal! After having discussions with other bees, with Rachel and finally with Beth – I couldn’t take it anymore. Beth is like my book pusher, I still remember on a vacation to Hilton Head island I made fun of her for reading Harry Potter. She told me not to judge a book till I read it, so after she finished I borrowed the book. Needless to say I’ve read each one several times.

So although I was able to resist multiple friends (both online and in the tangible world) I was powerless to resist Beth’s suggestion. The only problem with books like these, is that I literally consume them. I read all 4 books in slightly more than day. My name is Christiana and I have a problem. Although I will always place HP above the Twilight series, I’m just glad I didn’t discover the HP books all at the same time. Nick would have lost me for days instead of just the one. Also lucky? That Man Utd had a match the night I started reading Twilight, other wise Nick might have felt a bit neglected. I’m really grateful for a future husband who supports his future wife’s “healthy” addictions.

I’ve also realized that as much as I try to resist the fantasy genre, it just won’t work. The books/series that have consumed me have been the Xanth series (I was in elementary/middle school, but they still rule!), Anne Rice (the Mayfair Witches series), Harry Potter and Twilight. I don’t know why I fight the urge, silly Christiana.

So now I turn to you, recommend a book (or a series) for me to read!

So although the original intent was to have a bee meet up it was not to be. I also forgot that wedding shows/bridal shows/wedding fairs really get on my nerves.  So Mr.D and I hung around for as long as we could stand it and I was able to snap a few photos before I was reminded that photography wasn’t allowed…whoopsies!

There were TONS of dresses at the show, booths full of dresses, models walking around in dresses, girls trying on dresses. Everywhere! Most of the stands were all the same and they looked like this:

Lots of white/ivory/champagne/gold poof.  My favorite booth? Fur Coat, No Knickers.  Not only do they have a cute name, they were by far the most unique and interesting booth.  I really hope I can visit their shop while I’m in London this weekend and I suggest you sneak a peak online as well!

My other favorite sighting? A CHEESE CAKE! Not cheesecake, but a cake made out of CHEESE. While I have a cheese obsession Mr.D has a cheese phobia, so as much as I would love this for our wedding Mr.D would probably run screaming from the house.

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Then at the end we ended up in a line where we gave them part of the guide to the wedding show and they gave us a bag of chocolate and nivea face cream, it was unexpected and a bit odd…  Not to mention that Brummie (Birmingham) accents can be very hard to understand.  Some of the vendors there might have well been speaking French to me because I honestly couldn’t understand and just nodded my head.  I was so embarrassed but thankfully Mr.D acted as a translator.

Would you say wedding shows have been mostly helpful or useless in your planning?

Sometimes with wedding planning, life gets in the way. You forget about things, put them off and occasionally shirk responsibility. Sometimes it’s been the vendor and sometimes it’s been me.

Except I'm not juggling hearts or money (well, maybe, sort of money)(source)

The main difference is that I’m so much harder on the vendor than I am on myself, which could be taken a bit “zilla-esque”. Sometimes I’m only acting on my gut judgment, for a vendor to write to Mr.D with the wrong name (then try to bribe us) just shows poor business practices to me. The cake baker who we committed to that NEVER sent us a contract or sketch and continually stalled? Well, thats just not someone I want to depend on to get 80 some people dessert. Even though I try to give second chances I’ve cut these potential vendors off my list with little remorse. In my opinion they’re running a business and their actions reflect the type of service we’ll receive (and pay for). Everyone is only human though, which is why I believe so strongly in second chances.

So what do I do when the problem is me? My mother, a very bored Mr.D and I met with a florist in November. We liked their work, had a lovely time meeting with them and hallelujah, they were in our budget. All that was required to “seal the deal” was a $100 deposit and a contract to save the date. Between my parents, Mr.D and I we all sort of dropped the ball. I thought they had done it, they thought I had done it and lo and behold we just realized this. Crap. 5 months after the fact. So I’ve sent our (hopefully) florists an apology and asked if the date was still available. Should I send my florist “I’m sorry” flowers? I can only hope she doesn’t judge us as harshly as I’ve judged others, hopefully they give second chances too!

Anyone else drop the ball on wedding planning?

If you’ve ever been to England I’m sure you’ve done at least a few of these things:

• Walked into a dark bathroom and struggled to find the light switch
• Tried to operate a piece of electrical equipment only to discover your specific outlet had been turned off
• Cursed a giant hardcore grounded plug (maybe even painfully stepped on one)

You see, all the light switches for bathrooms are on the outside of the bathroom, and no outlets are within the actual bathroom. It’s prohibited by law!

You can turn off each individual outlet, the environmentalist in me loves this! The sleepy, confused or hungry me does not appreciate the extra time it takes for me to figure this out. Oddly enough Red means “Go” as in “go forth with the power usage. Or it could mean danger, but I like my version better.

The plugs are GINORMOUS, trying to carry around your laptop charger sucks. Not to mention the fact that you really don’t want to step on one.

At dinner with our friends the other week I was pleased (and a bit frightened) to discover the reason for these bizarre electrical issues. Most outlets in the US are 110 volts because our energy loses it’s strength the farther it has to travel and in the US it travels a lot. In the UK they’re 240! Hence the huge grounded plugs (and the avoidance of electricity + water) to avoid electrocution. So the next time you get frustrated from locking yourself into a dark bathroom, just remember that England is trying hard not to kill you.

Sort of. Last night I received one of the best emails of my life and it was from the US Government! This is what it said:

“The last processing action taken on your case:

Application Type: I129F , PETITION FOR FIANCE(E)

Current Status: Approval notice sent.

On March 10, 2009, we mailed you a notice that we have approved this I129F PETITION FOR FIANCE(E). Please follow any instructions on the notice. If you move before you receive the notice, call customer service.”

———–

WooHooo!!!!!!! I have no idea what this means, because I only vaguely remember the rest of the steps we need to take. I’ve been so focused on worrying whether or not we’ll receive notice in time that I’ve completely forgotten the rest of it! I know we need to go to London for an interview, and Mr.D needs to go to a US Embassy approved physician but I could care less right now.

I can’t begin to describe the worry that Mr.D and I have been feeling since October when we set our application (and $455) in to USCIS (aka US Immigration peeps). The only update we’d seen from October till today was that they’re overloaded with cases and wait times are longer. I was so worried I left a message with my congressman yesterday. Constituent services, including immigration, are part of their job, so if you’re getting worried too it didn’t seem like it could hurt to call for back up. Luckily I don’t know if we’ll need them now!

The toughest part about the immigration process has been the waiting. You spend all this time worrying about getting your application together and it you have enough information, or the right information, or if you perhaps forgot to sign one of the 271 pieces of paper you’re submitting to a faceless government entity. Then you simply wait for months with no inkling as to what could be coming all the while planning a wedding you’re not even sure will include a legal marriage. A few things could happen, it could come too early and you’ll need to be married early to avoid visa expiration or it could come too late so you’ll have a wedding without a legal marriage. It’s a pickle no matter how you slice it.

Is anyone else on the immigration roller coaster?

Part I of the d’Orsay Immigration Saga

So, re-inventing Kraft Macaroni and Cheese is probably out of my range. Nick and I both miss big, doughy soft pretzels – the kind you can get at the mall or on the street. Mmmmm, street food. I’ve never attempted of bread project before so I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I was inspired by Jenna of That Wife to go for it. I found a recipe by Alton Brown and got down to business.

This post is a bit photo heavy so click the link to enjoy!

I was nervous about the water being to hot and killing the poor little yeast – I think I did this right because it still got frothy. This is pre-froth though, it was just fun to look at.

Then I set the whole thing in motion with the stand mixer and it has re-affirmed everything I had hoped. A stand mixer is amazingly handy – I wouldn’t have attempted pretzels without it. A word of advice? If you have any rings on, take them off. I realized halfway through and dough all up in my ring.

Well mixed dough ball then goes into oiled mixer bowl for 50-55 minutes to double in size. Doubled dough:

Then you have to roll it out into 24 inch long “snakes”, I used the largest cutting board I could find and oil. But I still have no idea what 24 inches looks like.

Then you plop your little pretzel babies into the boiling water/baking soda. You can see the boiled one on the right.

Only one didn’t exactly survive and had to reformed…

The only problem I had? After baking the pretzels I had a hard time removing the pretzels from the trays, I don’t know if greaseproof paper is different from parchment paper. Or if I didn’t oil them enough, or if I should have let them cool longer. In any case – there was carnage.

Forget the carnage though – look at the end result! I ate one almost immediately and it was a-m-a-z-i-n-g. I highly suggest you try this recipe!

This Saturday?! If you’re in the UK and anywhere near the midlands/Birmingham area I hope you’ll be joining me at the National Wedding Show at the NEC. The show looks like it’s going to be a ton of fun, especially since we’ll be meeting up at the Celebrations Bar at 12:30. woo hoo!

If you can make it, comment below and I’ll PM you my number since I imagine it will be a bit crazy inside. Maybe I can wear bee paraphernalia? I hope to see you there!

I would like to let all the US readers know something terrible about England. You CAN NOT get decent Macaroni and Cheese. Unless you make it yourself and we all know that it just isn’t really the same.

Nick surprised me around Inauguration Day with several boxes of Kraft Macaroni and Cheese. It was even the Deluxe kind, what I break out if I’m in a really bad mood. It’s not for everyday consumption, not just due to the threat of heart disease, but because it’s £6.00 a box plus shipping! Yikes.

So I was temporarily able to have “the blues” and I still have a few boxes left. Though, as all mac ‘n cheese lovers know, there is a huge difference between the deluxe velveeta-esque version and the classic version. So imagine my surprise while in Booths (a posh,local/organically focused supermarket) when I spied this:

This whole time I’d been searching for a BLUE box and I should have been searching for a RED box. Duh – the redcoats boxes are coming. So I happily set about preparing my red box trophy only to discover that although it looks the same – it tastes like cardboard. I have been defeated by the British.

Is pretty much how our venue search went. You see, that other post – those were only the places I physically went to see. Other places we considered getting married at:

I love the Baltimore Zoo, but the mansion doesn’t have A/C and theres no telling what August weather will be like, with several elderly guests it just didn’t seem like a great idea. After seeing this Flickr stream, I almost wish I had considered it further.

(source)

The Liriodendron is located in Bel Air and has a gorgeous portico and draping wisteria on the porch. It was in our budget, but it could be difficult for people to get there at 6:30pm on a Friday.

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There were many more Baltimore options I considered before giving up; these included the National Aquarium, the Maryland Science Center, Maryland Art Space, Port Discovery, The Evergreen House, and every museum, community space and public historic home I could think of.

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I then expanded the search and headed to the country to ponder Thorpewood, Boordy Vineyard, Linganore Vineyard and Ladew Gardens.

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Next I set my sights towards the eastern shore, Chesapeake Beach Resort and Spa, Herrington on the Bay, River Plantation, and the Chesapeake Bay Foundation. These were all out of our budget and would force the wedding to occur on a Saturday or Sunday which we were trying to avoid.

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I considered similar venues to Oakland Manor, Gramercy Mansion, Overhills Mansion, and Ceresville Mansion.

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They were either out of our budget or just didn’t attract us any more or less than Oakland did. Columbia is smack in the middle of Baltimore and DC and it’s just off the main highway so the location is easy for people coming from both cities to get to.

I headed south to DC and researched the 2941 restaurant, Human Rights Campaign Equality Center, the Audubon sanctuary, Brookside Gardens, and the Halcyon House (one of the UnBride’s venues).

(source)

Thanks for joining me on the tiny journey through MD/DC (and one VA) venues. This list is by no means comprehensive, I tried to scale it down so it wouldn’t be too overwhelming or too huge for a single post.

How many venues did you consider before deciding? Just a few or countless research options?

It’s our meetiversary! Last year I boarded a plane to Austin for the weekend to interview career candidates for PIRG and play in one of my (now) favorite cities with 2 of my work friends. Nick had been in town for a few days for the SXSW Interactive conference and was still jet lagged. We each thought we were coming to the city for business and a little fun with friends.

(The only photo from that trip – Because yes, on Sunday my friend Heather and I did go to Whole Foods purchased mimosa materials and filled our water bottles with them. We may have then walked around Austin {found MORE mimosas} and narrowly escaped scientologists.)

After hopping off my plane, eating dinner and drinking a crazy purple margarita, the girls and I headed to Bar Six. We went upstairs and I was smacked in the face with an elbow where Nick and I began a conversation that hasn’t ended. We went on our first date the next night and it was truly love at first sight. I’m so happy I said “yes” to going to Austin on that work trip. It always reminds me to say yes more often, you never know what it might lead to. Have a lovely weekend!