US meets UK

The next day we visited Cadbury world which, not surprisingly, was crawling with children.  I wouldn’t take my non exisistent children here, because I think they’d be bored senseless.  Much of the “world” is actually movie shorts.  The “Cadabra” ride was creepy and bizarre, the room where you learn about chocolate making was fun, but I think we mostly went for the free chocolate. “Free” chocolate received: 2 of each of the following, dariy milk, caramel, curly wurly, buttons.  You might see a few things missing…

And then to purchase MORE chocolate of course

We headed for the city center after our chocolate overload and visited The Bullring, a shopping center that didn’t really live up to the hype. But we did check out this awesome vintage shop

Which had a fantastic selectionof cowboy boots.

and a great door

Since it was St.Patrick’s day weekend, and apparently there is an “Irish Quarter” in Birmingham there were hundreds of very inebriated people. Birmingham was a ton of fun and I definitely recommend visiting, my only regret is not seeing more of the city center.  Well, that and not wearing more comfortabel shoes, but thats practiclly a daily regret for me.  Tomorrow I head to London so I won’t be back till Sunday! Enjoy your weekends!

Nick and I visited Birmingham over the weekend and started out trip the way we start all our road trips: with a McDonalds Breakfast. There is something different about the UK Egg McMuffin and I can’t put my finger on what it is exactly. The muffin and cheese seem different and Nick thinks they put butter on the US English Muffins. The UK Mcdonalds coffee is also TERRIBLE. The gave me a “white coffee”, I don’t know what I tried to drink, but it was no bueno.

At least it it was Rainforest Alliance Certified.

After an hour or so of the Wedding Show we reached our limit so we headed for Birmingham city center to visit the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery. They have a fantastic collection of Pre Raphaelite paintings and I also enjoyed their Arts and Crafts section.

This woman (Jane Morris) is modeled in so many of the paintings, but this is the only one of her as a redhead.

Nick and I both enjoyed the books in the Arts and Crafts section.

We found Millie and a Monkey in the museum as well. She’s a naughty brat, who would easily be f’ing with a fireplace. We love and miss her though, which is why we take pictures like this.

A HUGE painting by Botticelli.

Creepy ginger haired boys in dresses.

A painting by someone I don’t remember who used the wrong glazes or pigments. Rendering his subjects ghosts people.

I <3 Degas Bronzes

As with many free places there are often odd, eccentric people wandering around. We met Herman in the Buddha gallery and he started going on and on (and on) about Masonic architecture, symbols and la la stuff. 8 Lions, Hermes, H, 8, teardrops, seeds, same as above as below, men, man, Her-man. It was… interesting.

There are NO sushi restaurants near us in Lancaster. It almost breaks my heart, between sushi nights in Miami and my general love of Sushi Sono it’s one of the things I really miss about being in the UK. So on our way to the museum we spotted Woktastic. I should have known, from the revolving sushi conveyor belt that it wouldn’t be in the same realm as Miami or Maryland.

Then I accidentally ate CHICKEN, what the hell was chicken doing in sushi. Bastards.

Despite the chicken in the sushi we had a great first day in Birmingham. Huzzah! Stay tuned for our trip to Cadbury World and more of Birmingham!

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!

It was pretty tough for me to think about how to give you guys a tour of one of my favorite cities. Baltimore is full of interesting things to see and do!

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But thats what makes Baltimore one of my favorite cities!

Where to Stay

I suggest staying in Downtown/Inner Harbor or in Federal Hill, it’s hard to tell you which places to stay in, because I’ve never really stayed in a hotel in my hometown. Henderson’s Wharf Inn is the top rated hotel on TripAdvisor.com and it looks very nice, they were extremely helpful when I called about block hotel rooms. The Scarborough Bed and Breakfast is located in Federal Hill and has a great website with fantastic reviews. Like many places in Baltimore nice neighborhoods can also be near sketch neighborhoods. I wouldn’t let this discourage you though, as it really is a nice city and the parts you will see as a tourist won’t be featured on The Wire anytime soon. Here is a spreadsheet we made for our guests who are looking to rent houses.

What to Do

If you’re into baseball you should certainly check out a game at Camden Yards. I can’t believe I’m saying this, but if you’re a Red Sox (boo) or Yankees fan (hiss) you’ll be surrounded by your own kind when you come to a game. Baltimore is also home to Ravens, but I’m a Redskins fan so I’m little help on this one.

If you’re into art you should certainly check out the Baltimore Museum of Art (BMA) or The Walters for tons of art exhibits. They’re on the northern side of the city, so you’ll need to take public transportation, a cab, or your own car. I suggest having a nice picnic in Riverside park overlooking the Inner Harbor and heading down the hill to my favorite museum the American Visionary Art Museum (AVAM). The Maryland Science Center and The National Aquarium in Baltimore are also nearby AVAM. The Aquarium is one of my favorite date spots in the city, if you’re visiting in the summer Fridays after 5 is when prices take a dive. If you’re into history there are tons of fantastic spots in Baltimore – the most famous being Fort McHenry

Where to Eat

I’d also suggest trying to visit Baltimore during one of their fantastic restaurant weeks. Two years ago I seriously went to a restaurant at least once a day for a week to explore the different restaurants of the city. There is usually a week in the winter and week in the summer when the restaurants offer a a fixed course dinner for $30 of a fixed course lunch for $20. Some of the restaurants I’ve enjoyed dining in have been Bicycle, Black Olive, The Brass Elephant, Pazo, but there are tons I haven’t tried yet. For breakfast head to Spoons Cafe on cross street for local delicousness before you stroll around the Federal Hill streets to stop in the boutiques etc. You’ll also have to stop for a piece of pie at Dangerously Delicious because you guys already know how much I love this place.

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How to Par-tay

As far as Baltimore nightlife the city is a bit schizo, we don’t really have as many dance-y clubs as DC but I might only be saying that because I’m not really “in the know” in that department. A lot of the places to go out in Baltimore are still a bit collegiate. I love going for pizza and drinks over at Pub Dog (formerly Thirsty Dog) in Fed Hill and you can cozy up in the back by a fireplace. For a romantic night I suggest stopping for sunset drinks at one of the cities’ numerous wine bars or dropping by the 13th floor bar at Hotel Belvedere for a fantastic view before heading out to dinner.

My personal favorite bar in the city? The Brewer’s Art downstairs, hands down. In fact, I’m a pretty big fan of the Mt. Vernon neighborhood in general. The best festival voted a million years running is ArtScape – I hope you get to see it! I was *thisclose* to the Old 97′s the summer I first left town-the festival rocks my world every time. It’s also fun to swing by the Owl Bar because you’ll usually see a wedding party hanging out there since The Belvedere hosts tons of weddings. If you’re looking for a bar with peanuts on the floor head to the Midtown Yacht Club for more midtown fun. There aren’t many great places to stay in Midtown/Mt.Vernon, but you could easily spend a day visiting the museums, eating dinner at The Brass Elephant and enjoying the night life.

I hope you enjoy Charm City as much as I do!

ps. This post made me homesick!

and saw the field behind us on fire:

Sometimes life in England is weird. I say this because I was the only person in the house startled by the fire.

Once again, wtf England….

I made the mistake of wearing my new heels to Leeds and we both knew they weren’t going to work the second I stepped off the train. Our first adventure was an hour or so in BHs (or as I say BH’s) spent looking and finally purchasing a very comfortable pair of black boots. Nick knows shoes are the way to my heart, followed by food. So we headed to breakfast in BH’s because we were starving and literally couldn’t wait to walk around and find a pub.

Shopping in Leeds is 1,000,000,000 x better than Lancaster. They have a genuine high street; I deem a true high street as a street with stores I can only window shop in, like Rodeo Drive in LA. Victoria Station is very pretty and very expensive but lovely to walk around in and escape the chill while looking at pretty things. I’ve been stalking Waterstones ever since I saw this post on Design Sponge * and these books are harder to find than you think! Actually, only one is difficult to find – Pride and Prejudice. I’ve been trying to slowly accumulate the books so we don’t spend too much money on books at one time (which I could very very easily do). Ta-daaaa!

I also found an Urban Outfitters (how American) in Leeds and we got the cute little salt shakers above and below. Yes, the salt does come out of their eyes

Unfortunately you couldn’t mix and match them, so we went for black and yellow. Here are two city shots of Leeds I took as we strolled around the city.

The return trains were at odd times and we opted for the 2:30pm train instead of the 5pm. The train was nearly empty and I slept on the way back to Carnforth. I think we’re heading to Ikea in Manchester this weekend. Yes, I am very very excited to go to Ikea, more excited than when we went to Pizza Hut.

Nick and I actually do things outside of wedding planning! I should probably show you what we’ve been up to lately.

Last night I went to a fondue party with Helen and it was ultra delicious.  ultra ultra delicious.

After all that deliciousness I needed to take a walk.  The next day Nick and I headed to Ambleside which is a bit north of where we are.  It was a pretty drive of less than 30 miles and we saw neat things like…

WIND TURBINES! yessssss!

We had a lovely lunch and walked around the village.  There are tons of great walking/hiking trails and we’ll definitely head back wearing the proper footwear and outdoor gear.  You can see the snow tipped mountain/hills in the backgrounds of the photos.

We also saw the priest’s hole…

mmmm…we didn’t eat there though.

We ambled around Ambleside taking pictures of things that interested us. As you know I mostly favor flowers, odd textures and city scenes.

In addition to the usual cafes and pubs there were bunches of quaint bookstores and a serious over abundance of outdoor apparel/equipment stores.

I’ll have to do a proper tour of Lancaster for you all, I’ll be sure to highlight the castle/functioning prison…

First, I’m writing this as I discover episodes of Sally Jesse Raphael on TV.

I know right? You can’t get that in America anymore!

You’d also be unlikely to see any of these at your grocery store:

Would you like the FULL MONTY in a can, because in England, you can get it.

Perhaps you’d like a big saucy banger?

The old combo of beans with balls? Maybe you’re up for some red hot balls?

BAHAHAHAHAHAHAAH

Welcome to England, stay tuned for things both inside and outside of the Tesco grocery store

Again, its not so easy.

Or cheap.

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Disclaimer: I am not am immigration attorney or specialist though we have visited them.  This is just our experience with the process so far.

In the US you’ll use an I-129 F form to apply for a K1 visa which gives you the right to marry a US citizen. This way if you intend to switch back and forth between your home countries everything will be much easier (or so we hear).  There are ways to get around this route, but we’re playing it safe since we’re not sure which country we’ll be living in yet.  

With this form you’ll need a check for $455, a boatload of evidence that you and your intended are actually a couple. We used plane tickets showing trips we’d taken together, credit cards statements showing we spent money in the same place at the same times, emails sent back and forth, the engagement ring receipt, and they allow you 5 pictures. We tried to include pictures of us in different places (AZ, FL, MD) and include photos of us with other people. Mr.D’orsay also created a quick “save the date” to include in the package so they’d know our wedding date and that we’d need the visa before June.

They have a website that will show you the approximate processing times for your center and ours is 6 months. We sent our paperwork to USCIS in October and have received a receipt back, but no further notification. They also have a place online where you can check on your status, but ours really hasn’t been updated (way to keep me stressed US government!). I just checked the site however, and it has changed to say that there is no longer a time frame since they’re exceeding the previous time frame and that they are currently processing applications for the fiance visa from March 2008. Great.

The next step is that Mr.D’orsay will have to go to the US embassy in London for an “interview”. We’ve heard from other couples who’ve done this that the interview is actually like going to the DMV or the bank, its just a window teller that asks you a few questions. Which is a bit unfortunate as we saved wedding contracts etc as addition evidence for this interview. Go figure.

We plan on returning on June 1st which gives us slightly more that 90 days once we enter. This is important because once you enter the country on a K1 visa you’ll have 90 days to get your marriage certificate and get married. Which means come hell or high water we’ll be married before August 29th, otherwise we’ll have to restart the whole process.

In the UK however, I’ve heard it only takes a few months to receive the fiance visa! I have a pretty large family and we can’t really afford to pay for a wedding in pounds, which are a few of the many reasons we decided to get married in the US. Though that “couple of months” waiting period sounds pretty nice!

You can’t work on a fiance visa while you’re in your fiance’s country either. With both the US and UK fiance visas you are not allowed to do paid or unpaid work, which means no internships, volunteer work, etc. Again, on the US fiance visa you have 90 days from point of entry to get married, in the UK they give you 6 months.

That’s our experience in fiance visas, I hope its helped you if you’re on this path and if not I hope you’ve gained some insight.

Have you had any immigrations issues? What advice can you add for other couples in similar situations?

Well, they don’t make it easy.

“They” being your respective governments. When Mr. D’orsay and I first decided that we wanted to see each other for longer than a week or two we started researching immigration laws. It was very difficult to find any resource that gave a simplistic overview of the process, everything was either a forum full of expat horror stories or complicated government jargon. I hope this serves as a comfort to anyone else going through the process, and informative to everyone else. I can only offer you our experience regarding US immigration with a sprinkle of UK immigration, but I still hope it helps you to know you’re not alone in this process.

In the US visitors from certain foreign countries can enter the country for up to 90 days. You should know important information regarding how you plan to support yourself during your stay, information regarding your return ticket, who you are going to visit and the address that you’ll be staying at. The government wants to be sure you’re able to support yourself while you’re here and you don’t plan on overstaying. The only issue going through the visa waiver program is that you don’t have the right to appeal, so if you’re denied or if they stamp you for a shorter stay, then you have to do what they say.

In the UK visitors on the same type of visa waiver program as in the US can enter for up to 6 months. Since it is such a long time they are very wary of people coming to stay for so long. You need to have all the same information as mentioned above, but its probably best if you provide back up documents. I didn’t have any supporting evidence, but to be honest, it was the first stamp in my passport so I think that helped my case since I was more bewildered than anything. The did end up detaining me, but only for an hour or so and to check out what Mr.D’orsay and I said separately. Their biggest concern was that whether or not I planned on working while I was in England and they wanted to make sure I didn’t overstay.

The best thing I can say about borders and border security is to simply tell the truth. Mr. D’orsay and I are staying with his mother, he owns two businesses, I had wedding invitations in my bag etc. I did feel exasperated about being detained, and I wanted to shout, “do you think we’d really design, custom stamp, emboss, assemble our invitations and pay the US government almost $500 if we were just going to hang out indefinitely here”?!!!? But thankfully I was able to keep my cool long enough to be let into the country. It really all depends on who you get, you could have a surly immigration officer, you could have a friendly one, you never know who you’re going to get.

What obstacles have you had to overcome to see your future husband?