Monday, September 28, 2015

An update and an explanation!

To the people who read my last post
and thought that you had missed this
big engagement announcement let me
ease your worries and tell you that
there hasn't been an official engagement announcement.

Or maybe that's what my last post was.
An engagement announcement ;)

Here's the thing, we're not sticking to cultural norms
or the status quo.

You're probably not going to see me flashing
an engagement ring all over town...yet.

You won't see engagement pictures of
us in a field with oh so perfect lighting behind us.

You won't see any of that because we're not
in the same place on this planet.

Now if we were a normal couple
that didn't have 4,000 miles in between us
then yes, you'd probably be seeing all of
those things right about now.

But we're not, so you're not!

I don't want anyone to feel like we forgot
to mention this to them before I blurted it out on my blog.

Truth is, everyone should know that
we're headed for marriage.

You just don't spend this amount of time
and money on someone you're not serious about!

And we've been serious for a long long time.
And it's time for us to move forward so we
can start living normal lives again!

And for my family and friends that read my blog
I just want to say that blogging is one of the best ways 
to get information out there to all of you!

Don't feel upset that I didn't personally come to you
and explain the happenings of my life because
we'd be there for a while and you'd regret the conversation instantly
once I start crying because this is all very stressful!

I've shed one too many tears over this already!

This isn't an easy process so please bear with me
and please pray for me because the stress and people pleasing
is really getting to me!!

I googled chronic people pleasing the other day.
Ticked all them boxes!
I'm trying to work on it!

Anyways...

Here's a little update for you all!

Tom and I are applying for the K-1 Fiance visa
so that Tom can come live in the USA for a few
years with me, married to me while I work and 
he works and get's his masters degree!

There are other facets to the plan like where
we'll live...how we'll survive on one income until
Tom gets his green card...but that's all information
that will come in the future!

So that's THE plan!

So while we are planning to get married
and do all sorts of things with our lives
it's hard to explain all of this visa information
to people who have never had to do it before.

You have to understand that I can't even get excited
about a wedding yet. I can't send invites, I can't plan anything
because before all of that happens Tom and I will
be thoroughly examined by both our governments.
The United States & The UK Governments 
get to decide if and when we get this visa!

And while I do think all will go smoothly
you just never know.

So yes, I'm going to blog about weddings
and plans and dresses and flowers and all sorts of things.
But don't think I've left you out, don't think I've forgotten to tell you.

Please remember that when this visa goes through I 
will shout all of this information at you, in your face,
because I won't be able to contain my excitement!

That is all...for now!!


Thursday, September 10, 2015

Three wedding's and a Visa!!

A little less than 3 years ago I found myself
in a weird spot with a random guy that I met online.

Obviously you all know how that story progressed.

I remember when I was a teenager and I was obsessed
with all things British, especially in the form of 
a cute guy with that cute accent.

I never once dreamed that I'd actually get
to fall in love with a cute guy with that cute accent.
But I did!
Lucky me ;)

We have both grown so incredibly much
over the last couple of years and we feel so grateful
that we've gotten to spend so much time together,
to really get to know each other and to fall in love!!

We are now in a place where we need to move forward
either together or apart and obviously we're choosing together.

I don't want to live in a world without him
and I'm pretty sure he feels the same about me ;)

So as you may have noticed I've posted a whole
lot about visa's over the last couple of days.

I'm sharing with you the highs and the lows
of this whole long distance love process.

Most of the time it's fun but other times it's hard and
stressful and scary and annoying!

I never want to come across as ungrateful for these
opportunities that we have. So please don't mistake my
grief with the visa process as me being ungrateful!!
Because just knowing that there is a way
for us to be together is amazing!!

We've had to work hard for this relationship so
we're prepared for this next step.

And hopefully once this visa process is done
we will be good for a while.

We know there will be more visa drama in the next few years
but we won't worry about that until the time comes.

Our visa journey is a big deal!
It's the story of one of us packing up and
moving to another country.

Leaving friends and family all in the name of love.

So far on this blog you've gotten to see us fall in love
and now you get to see us take it to the next level!!

The marriage level!!



Oh yes!

So what are you going to see on this space
over the next couple of months?

Well I will spill the beans on our plans
which includes the Visa we've chosen.

I will also share the process of said visa.
I will post when certain paperwork is approved
and we'll all have mini celebrations as we
slowly get this visa in one of our hands.

While we're on this visa journey
I'll also be sharing wedding ideas, plans and 
trying not to go insane because we're planning
a few weddings/receptions...

OH you're probably wondering why there
hasn't been a #blessed #engagement photo with #bling.
Well long distance puts certain things ahead of others.
The ring will come, patience is a virtue ;)



I consider myself lucky to have an incredible guy by my side,
the ring is a lovely symbol that I'm excited for but
If I had to choose what gets priority right now
it would be getting a visa and they ain't cheap y'all!!

So there's that!

Some major things are in store for us
and I'm pretty pumped that I can share it on this blog.

I missed blogging and I feel like I'm getting back into it!

Hope you all have a wonderful week!

Wednesday, September 9, 2015

The Visa Attorney

Tonight I contacted a VISA ATTORNEY!!
Whhaaaattt??

We decided that visa's are complex things that we don't really
want to mess up because if we do mess it up then we're
basically out of luck for a good long while.

Therefore we contacted an attorney, which is a very adult thing to do.

It's also probably an expensive thing to do.

So the visa isn't cheap and my gut is telling me that
the attorney won't be cheap either...

But we're in luck because she offers a payment plan #sarcasm

This is kind of how I feel...




But instead of an overly happy Aladdin, picture this guy instead 



Less money, more problems, that is the appropriate saying...
Whomever said more money, more problems was a big ol dumbo!!

So yeeaaa I'm going to try and make an appointment with the attorney
sometime soon so we can discuss our options.
Hopefully she'll help us come to a final decision!

Also if you read this blog and you've gone through the visa process
with or without an attorney I would LOVE to hear from you!

Should we hire an attorney, can we do it ourselves??
Guess we will see!!

Have a lovely day everyone!

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

I laugh in the face of plans...and Visa's make me want to cry!!

As soon as I hit publish on my last blog post
the plans began to crumble around us.

WHY is this so hard???
Whhhyyyy??

We are in love, we are happy,
I'm his person, we're each other's people, loves, lobsters!!

This is it for us, we've chosen, we're decided,
we want to be together forever and ever!!

So why is every visa path so freaking complicated!!!

Why do we feel like we're doing something wrong just by being in lovvveee??

I feel stressed!!

At least that's how I felt the second half of yesterday!!
Now my feels are sunshiny, positive and just overall happy.

Mood swings are in full force over here...



The reasoning behind my peppy self is due to yet another visa.
Except this time the visa is exactly what we've been looking for!!



We were trying so hard to make the wrong visa's work
that we neglected the search for the right one.

But last night I think I found it!!
I told Tom about it today and we researched and we
both feel like it's a HUGE step in the right direction.

We will do a little more researching but it's 
possible that things could start moving pretty quickly
with us if this visa really is the answer!!

Like i've said before you just don't know what will happen
so I won't share our exact plans yet but I will
share the plans that have failed.

The first failed plan was that I was going to move to the UK.
Yea, a big move over seas was in my future for a long time
and we were so excited, we were planning for wedding's and
apartments and all sorts of exciting things.

The way to this visa was through Tom and his career.
I let you know about the money Tom had to make in his job
before we would even be able to apply for the visa.
Well turns out making that much money is hard in the UK.

Tom had a part time job working nights for a retail store on the weekends.
He hated it, a lot!! It kind of made him rethink things about what
he wants from a career...(which wasn't nights in retail)
he wants to be able to do something that will inspire him and allow him to inspire others.
So he quit his retail job and had a little bit of a breakdown and then we decided
that it just wasn't going to work for us to start out in the UK.

Instead we started to look at coming to the USA!
Tom is thinking about going back to school for his masters degree
so we started looking at student visa's.

We thought that we could get Tom over here on his student visa
and get married and then apply for Adjustment of Status that
would cut out the complicated immigration Visa.

You can actually do ALL of that.
You can get a student visa and then if you meet someone
while studying abroad you can marry them...no issues.

But since we've already been together and both border controls
know about our budding relationship we are pretty much 
not allowed to go after this visa for fear of the border control
thinking that Tom is trying to come over here for an immigration status...
Which was half of our plan...which is not allowed.

If you're getting a student visa it has to be specifically for school...
If you have underlying reasons for applying for this visa and they
find out about them then you can kiss the visa goodbye
AND they would put a year long ban on Tom coming to the US!!!

And that's where we decided to axe the student visa!!!



FYI Gifs are forever in my blogs future, I just love them!!

Anyways...so now after all of those failed attempts we finally
feel like we've figured out this little visa game and
we're pumped about it!!

I'm not going to say what Visa, or where it will lead
but it's exciting and we both feel like this is it y'all!!

Phew!

I'm exhausted! 

More to come!!

Sunday, September 6, 2015

Fail to plan, plan to fail....or just failed plans


Plot twist, plot twist, plot twist!!!
And let me be clear, nothing has gone wrong, plans just change!

Plans, plans are funny little things that
can and probably will change in an instant.

It keeps things exciting which is great
but it also shakes things up which is a little scary.

But nevertheless here we are, in the midst of changing plans.

You know I could come on this space
and dilly dally around the subject of my plans with Tom.
I could, I can, I have and I am...
dilly dallying...

I don't really like coming out with plans
until I am FOR SURE that they are happening.

I've come out with plans a tad too early on some occasions
and well...things changed and it was a letdown...
I'm looking at you American road trip 2014!!



This time our changing plans aren't a letdown at all.
In fact they are a let up if that's a thing.

I wish I could spill the beans but i'm going to need
you guys to hang in there for a little while longer
before I start spewing our secrets ;)




These plans aren't any safer than any of our other plans.
In fact one failed google search could end it all.
Well not it ALL but it could shake things up.

Like if we google a question about a visa and google
comes back with an answer we're not fond of...
That is when plans change, that is the root of all of our changes.
Google and all of it's wealth of knowledge can be real upsetting.

Then again Google can be real fun...
Thanks for all of your fun little games googs!!


I will say that I am feeling very excited about these new plans.
I think it puts Tom and I on a really good path and I'm
excited to see what happens when we really go for it!

See, here I am dilly dallying up a storm.

I hope to share more soon!
As soon as I'm 99.9% sure of our plans I'll be here chatting up a storm!!

:) :)