US meets UK

I know, I’m back from the dead. But, things have been good. Really good. I’ve started a job and career I’ve been loving. We moved out of DC and closer to Baltimore. Nick and I are still happy and in love, and the cat has been off insulin for almost a year. So, all wonderful things!

So, how did this blog post come to be? Shutterfly. And Travelzoo. But probably Travelzoo first because they had an offer for Shutterfly and so I purchased it and then I thought AH HA. I have something to write about. But it isn’t exactly holiday cards, though we are adorable.

Stationery card

View the entire collection of cards.

I’m an atheist. Whew! There, I said it. And so, this time of year I really don’t know what to send. I feel like “Merry Christmas” is weird (for me, for obvious reasons), “Happy Holidays” is pretty generic and “Season’s Greetings” is too. BUT, I have found the card for the procrastinating agnostic or atheist. The New Year Card. It can stay past December 25th and is slightly (ever so slightly) different.

In 2010 we sent out the top card (cheers!) with a photo from our wedding. Since we’ve been married three and a half years we thought it would be really weird to use a wedding photo and instead went for an instagram pic from an impromptu National Gallery of Art visit a few weeks ago.

So, there you have it. I’m an atheist sending out new years cards.

Hey hive!

Just buzzing by to try out the randomizer series! When I look at our photos I’m struck by how much has changed, and how much has stayed the same. For starters, I’ve been rocking blonde hair for over a year now…it’s strange to see myself as a redhead! We’re still lucky to be surrounded by our wonderful friends and family, even if we’re further down I-95 and living in Capitol Hill instead of Baltimore now.

I don’t know if I ever mentioned just HOW many photos there are of Mr.D and I making out kissing. So many, that when my dad wanted to look at the photos in a slideshow I almost died of embarrassment. Word to  the wise, save the kissing for your post-reception festivities. So it’s inappropriate that the first photo is…kissing.

In all fairness—our photographer told us to kiss for this shot…

(more…)

of 2011! Ha, have I taught you nothing? This is a process that never ends, it goes on and on my friends….

We’re about to remove the conditions on Mr.D’s provisional green card/permanent resident card. That’s right, we’re in a provisional marriage. Our learner’s permit of matrimony if you will. Basically, to ensure that you’re not in a sham marriage (and I assume, to collect further revenue) after you receive the K-1 (fiance visa), then after you are married and complete the adjustment of status you receive a provisional green card – valid for 2 years from receiving the card. In our case this is January 2010, so when the government refers to anniversaries… they mean when you received your card – not your wedding anniversary.

You can apply for your 10 year card as soon as 90 days before your expiry date. For the past year or so, I’ve been having flashbacks to our engagement year. Moments such as, “oh, we should save a holiday card to send to the government” or “don’t forget a picture of the two of us, we need evidence!”.  If you don’t submit the forms, evidence of your relationship and $590… you get deported. So obviously this needs to be completed.

It’s a stressful situation for so many reasons, but it’s also a strange position to find yourself in.  Trying to view your relationship as an outsider, making sure you look like a real couple, proving to someone you’ll never meet that you are a couple in a real marriage. I’ll be collecting the financial statements saying our bank accounts are intertwined, and plane tickets to show we go places together- because I have to. But I hate this process, I hate that it makes me feel that the burden of proof is on us, that it costs so much money that it is never ending.

I hate that I have to try and and plan our vacation before December 31, 2011 – because if we don’t receive something from the government saying that Mr.D can travel-we’ll be on the lower 48 lockdown and unable to leave (really it’s the return part) to the USA. I hate that I have to plan and save for fees I’ve already paid (do they really think his biomentrics/fingerprints have changed in 2 years).  I hate that I have to go through all this while watching other married friends never worry about such things.

We’ve sent the paperwork to Vermont (our filing service center) and have received the receipt and his appointment for re-fingerprinting. After that, we wait for the next instructions from the government.

D’orsay immigration posts:

Post 1
Post 2
Post 3
Post 4
Post 5
Post 6
Post 7
Post 8
Post 9

Sweet baby J – you’re on post 10!

Surprise! You thought I was gone, finished, finto after my recaps! Perhaps one day I’ll be writing a signing off post, but today is not that day my friends. As the spouse of an immigrant it’s going to be a very long time until I get to stop writing about marriage and immigration- but this post is not about that yucky business- it’s about photos!

I was lucky enough to be a fast commenter on a weddingbee classifieds post from Muriel Silva – an AMAZING photographer in the DC/MD/VA area. Despite the chilly temperatures (this session was in December 2009) and Mr.D’s general dislike of being a photography subject, we had a great time. If I were planning my wedding (and you know, not already married) I would hire her in an instant. If we’re in the states, and she’s doing maternity photos – I’ll be giving her a call in a few years.

We had a great time in Annapolis

At the end, we stopped by my favorite childhood ice cream shop and took a few shots with the letters I had made (cardboard and spray paint form Michaels). The letters now hang in our living room.

Did you do a couples shoot post wedding?

WHAT A HARD SECRET TO KEEP! We decided on December 1st to go to England for Christmas. You only live once right? We bought our tickets, but decided to keep it a surprise. Little did we know that trains don’t run on Christmas morning, so we waited until the 23rd to ask Nick’s brother for a ride from the airport. We were having such a difficult time keeping it to ourselves, we didn’t want to burden him with the secret for longer!

Everyone was well and truly shocked and we were so happy to be with everyone! I foolishly forgot to tote my camera around the first several days, so I only have pictures from the last few. I lost my point and shoot, so carrying around a dSLR is a bit of a pain, even if mine is tiny. Plus, I’m still learning so it takes me 4856837 as many shots to get one I semi-like.

Photos missing of actual Christmas day (so much excitement), Boxing Day (so much lounging), Shopping Day (so much Primark), dinner in Lancaster night, coffee at the midland in Morecombe, tasty curry from BarBar Elephant (I ate my jalfrezi without a thought to a photo). I had so much fun with Nick’s family that I’m not sure if I even had the photos, if it would accurately convey how great our visit was.

I took my old walk around the village

said hello to the horses and sheep I had missed

took in picturesque views

we played the HILARIOUSLY FUN Just Dance 2 on the wii

Ate almost 2 of these

Visited with adorable and fun godsons

And dined on fish and chips with dandelion and burdock on our last night

What did you do for Christmas? Any surprises?

Apparently I lack patience. I kinda knew this already.. but my lack of patience has now been confirmed.  I’ve always had an issue with surprises and I typically ruin them. I’m just so excited to share I can’t help myself (clearly I am four years old)!

As a kid, our presents were never under the tree till Christmas morning. Stockings remained empty, the tree skirt stayed bare. Silly me, I thought this whole time we were pretending it was because OF COURSE the presents wouldn’t show up till Santa came. Because we all know Santa doesn’t come till Christmas Eve.

(source)

At Sunday dinner I learned the true reason – my mother didn’t trust me to wait to open them. Turns out, my husband shouldn’t trust me either.  We met up with his mother and sister in New York a few weeks ago and it has been torture to not open the presents they gave us. Our apartment is on the tiny side so these presents are staring me down at all times. The only safe place to be out of the line of present sight is the bathroom.

In the future… I think Nick will have to hide them from me – perhaps at my parent’s house since I can’t handle waiting and being an adult.

Are you able to wait? Do you ruin surprises too?

Nick and I have been enjoying our temporary break from USCIS paperwork over the past 12 months (with the exception of filling out a painless change of address form). However, since I am an obsessive planner type.. I sometimes like to check in and see how everything fits together. So to date, we’ve already spent about $2,000 on immigration (USCIS fees, plus all the traveling to London and extra costs for the fiancé visa medical, etc) and we’ll have to set aside another $1270 for the next 2 years.

$590 in October for the restrictions on Nick’s conditional permanent resident card to be lifted (after you marry you are granted a 2 year card, but you have to apply 90 days prior to it’s expiration). Then $680 for Nick to apply to be a citizen in January 2013.

Then for the UK, we’ll need to set aside £750 (about $1,181 at this moment in time). The process is easier, and less expensive, if we’ve been married for four years prior to moving to England, so August 2013 will mark four years for Nick and I. Otherwise we move there and received a two year provisional stay, and pay again in two years.

I don’t even know how much it will cost me to apply for citizenship there.. because at the moment my brain is fried from immigration/ £/$/citizenship research. We will pay it though, because once we’re citizens of both countries we’ll be able to move back and forth more easily, and for myself I receive all the EU benefits (let’s move somewhere warm!).

The most bonkers part of this (to me at least) is that in 2013 I’ll be 29, and celebrating my 30th birthday in England. WHERE WILL WE HAVE BABIES ?!!?!? {cue irrational freak out}

too bad.. I’m not!

Today Eversave is having a deal on Paper Culture. I’d never seen Paper Culture before.. but I’m quickly falling in love with them! They have some of the BEST designs for holiday cards I’ve seen so far and they make an attempt at sustainable practices!

My faves?

Cheers!

Oh Joy!

more Cheer!

Naughty/Nice

Holiday Dots

and, I was psyched to spy this card out of their samples. I’ve looked at hundreds of cards and card companies. Most of their samples include heterosexual couples or children (and a few cards with two women on them) . But, paper culture has a card with two men on it, which I haven’t seen before. So, it might be a small thing, but I’m happy to see the card. Maybe they are a couple, or maybe Ethan and Christian are co-owners of a horse farm. Who knows? I’m going with couple.

So.. hooray holiday card deals!

ETA: I was going to make a comment about carbon neutrality and how you have to check out the projects…but then I saw that Paper Culture is Carbonfree partner with  Carbonfund.org. Since I used to work for CarbonFund.org – I can safely say that I fully support their goals.

So.. back to these holiday cards for the 893759678th time. Many couples send out cards from  the XXXX Family. Let’s call them the Smiths. So, there is George Smith, and Martha Smith and they are the Smiths. For the sake of fun, let’ s say they are in the Kelly Hildebrant situation.

But see, since I lost at Rock , Paper, Scissors; instead of being the MyLast HisLasts we are Christiana MyLast HisLast and Nick HisLast. I use my full double barreled last name at work, on facebook,  and in other public situations. I am always hopeful when I receive a letter it will be to my actual name… but it usually isn’t.

I wanted to do both names, because I like the idea of being “the Smiths” but with respect and honor to each of us and who we are – hence the MyLast HisLasts.  There are people in our lives who don’t care for us to be the MyLast HisLasts and don’t understand the reasoning.

So, we are the Christiana MyLast HisLast and Nick HisLast – but what does that make our holiday card? The MyLast HisLast HisLast Family? The MyLast-HisLast Family (though I don’t hyphenate)? The MyLast and HisLast Family? The MyLast HisLast family? Would the last one give the impression that he too is a MyLast HisLast, or would it look like we put both our names on the card?

The easy (evasive and slightly cowardly way) would be to forgo the whole XXXX Family sign off, and just say Nick and Christiana.

Anyone in a similar conundrum? What would you do?

My quick thinking cousin Megan, sent me a link to Fantabulously Frugal’s post about free shutterfly cards.  I mostly looked at ones that could be used with vertical pictures since those are the two photos I’m choosing between. Shutterfly also has non photo cards, photo cards (like the ones below) and holiday address labels. My top design picks?

Both pictures I’ve been considering lean towards red, so I don’t think the last two card will work for us. But I still think they’re pretty!

Would you like to get your own? visit Shutterfly’s blog for more information on how to get your 50 free cards. Since getting the cards requires a blog post about Shutterfly, you can consider this post sponsored. However, if you look at the comments in my previous post, you’ll see I was considering Shutterfly as a contender! Win win!

ps. It’s way too late to use a wedding picture right? I mean, we’ve been married for a year and a half – we’ve missed the boat. Right?