The Next Step & Wedding Planning

Our visa petition has been approved!! YAY! As you know Patrick and I got engaged in November and he immediately petitioned for my fiancé visa which has now been approved! I've spent the last few weeks gathering the paperwork (copies of passport, birth certificate, passport sized photos, police certificate, application form) and I have my medical exam lined up this week and after that it's interview time. I have to say I'm a little nervous as to what the medical will be like and the interview process itself as there is very little information online but that's been the same for most of this process! We have had very little information on what happens next until that step is required and so many things hinge on other processes it's quite frustrating, but! We are nearly there!!

In fact it's less than three months until our English wedding celebration (yes we are having two! A symbolic wedding with friends and family in the UK and then a trip to the courthouse followed by a party in America) and I couldn't be more excited! We went back to England from Norway for a weekend a few weeks ago and picked out our rings and I can't wait to exchange our vows and give Patrick his ring to wear forever. We've asked our close friend and person who brought us together, Louise, to lead the English ceremony for us and we've written the working for it ourselves so it's completely personal to us. It's going to be such a wonderful day and sometimes I just wish it was tomorrow!

However once I go home to England for the six weeks before the wedding there are lots of little things to prepare to keep me occupied! My dress will be arriving into the store the week I return and then I have my fittings - pretty sure I'm not going to want to take it off!! And then I'm meeting with our photographers, having our menu tasting, arranging our seating plan and planning a sample playlist for the DJ! Plus buying some presents for special people and some finishing touches to the decorations. I heard a lot about how stressful planning a wedding can be and I think the level of stress is totally about your attitude. It's easy to get bogged down in little things that at the end of it all, aren't going to ruin your day. If you remember that the point of it all is about you and your partner joining your lives together forever and as long as you both show up on the day it's going to be perfect! Everything else is just icing on the cake - beautiful, fantastic icing of course, but icing none the less. I have to say that I honestly know our wedding is going to be the best day ever and I can not wait to spend the rest of my life with Patrick!

Flying Vegan

Eating on the go as a vegan is tough at the best of times and if you're also trying to avoid wheat or sugar or any other intolerances/dietary preferences you might have, only makes things harder! But being on a plane has to be the hardest because there is no where else you can go to find what you want. The best way to deal with it? Make like a Boy Scout and always be prepared! Tomorrow (yes, my exciting new American adventure starts TOMORROW!! Can you believe it?!) will be my third time flying without eating plane food. I did used to make sure I registered as a vegan in advance but after too many times of having products on my tray that I knew weren't vegan and eating dry bagels I decided it was time to take matters into my own hands.

This is the most prepared I've ever been (even have a yoga for planes video from YWA memorised!) and I have to say I'm actually pretty excited to have my inflight meal/feast! As you can see from the picture above I have a wide range of things I'm taking. I should just note here - you can take any food through security and onto a plane but you can't take things like fresh produce, meat or dairy through customs at the other end of your flight so make sure you eat it all first (the hardship!) or leave it on the plane. A lot of food that travels well tends to be dry and processed and obviously most fresh stuff does better in a fridge so I feel it's important to get a balance. Nairn's oatcakes are great travellers and I'm taking an avocado with me to smoosh on top. My plan is to take out the pit and wrap it up right before I go so that I just have to scrape out the middle without the need for a knife. In an ideal world it won't go too brown before I eat it but even if it does, that won't put me off one bit - I love avocado!! Personally I think avocado tastes better at room temp as I find it loses a lot of flavour in the fridge so it's a great choice. The bean salad I've prepared also is at its best at room temp so again it's ideal to travel with. 

Some other things I've made are raw cinnamon raisin cookie dough balls and peanut butter chocolate oat balls both from Texanerin Baking. They are both vegan, gluten and refined sugar free, incredibly easy to make - 5-10mins each tops - and taste amazing! I made them at the weekend and all my family have been snacking on them since. Luckily I put my plane ones aside before they dug in! The Bear yo yo treat is made of apples, pears and raspberries baked and made into dry fruit roll ups. They are designed for kids but they taste so good and are travel sized so brilliant to take on a journey! I've tried a few of their flavours but raspberry is definitely my favourite. Aside from that I have a small pot of nuts, a banana and an apple and seeing as technically I'm only flying during one meal time, I think this pile of goodies will more than satisfy me! If you have any plane, food or travel tips I'd love to hear them!

Starting over & our trip to Paris!

Starting over can be one of the hardest things to do. Ever. When you have your heart so set on something and you've planned and invested so much into it, to reach a dead end can be heartbreaking. But that's what Patrick and I have had to do with regard to my plan for moving to spend more time with him. Unfortunately the university made a mistake and the course they offered me wasn't applicable for international students - literally devastated! So much time and effort had gone into that for it all just to be taken away from us in one email. 

I can't say I coped with it all very well at first and it's been a tough couple of weeks to let go of all our previous plans. Having said this we have tried to make the most of our situation and so in September I will be taking an extended 3month holiday  to the States! After a 3week break there for Will & Claire's wedding of course. While it isn't what we originally had in mind I'm actually quite excited about this new opportunity for us and for me to travel more than I thought I would. As I've heard many times over the last few weeks, offered as words of comfort from family and friends, everything happens for a reason. Sometimes it's hard to see that reason in the face of disappointment but I think it's important to have faith, and that where there is a will there is a way and we have two wills.

But onto happier topics! On Patrick's most recent visit we went to Paris for 4 days which was amazing. The weather was wonderful and we did and saw so many fabulous things from climbing the Eiffel Tower to a trip to Disneyland (a special treat for me!!) to delicious meals at lovely restaurants. We of course hit all the usual tourist spots and had our pictures taken all over the city but what I was most surprised about was how well I was able to eat as a vegan in Paris. Everyone knows the French love their cheese and butter so I assumed eating out would be rather difficult but it turns out with a little planning Paris is full of vegan opportunities! 

The two best places we went (IMO!) were Hanks Burgers and La Bocca della Verita. The first place, as the name suggests, is a burger place, but all the burgers were vegan! It was amazing! I had just trouble trying to decide what to have but I had some of mine and a bite of Patrick's and they were both delicious so I don't think you could make a wrong choice. They also had desserts which are  so hard to come by in non vegan establishments if you want anything other than sorbet so of course I couldn't say no! I chose the carrot cake and it was the best I've ever had. If I'd eaten it before we left instead of saving it for later I absolutely would have had to buy another one.

The second place was a tiny little Italian restaurant Patrick had found online (Italian is his favourite) and I'd OK'd the menu in advance. The funny thing was he'd actually forgotten to check if the menu was okay for him but luckily he found something he liked. I chose what could be considered a 'basic' option of pasta with tomato and basil sauce but it was incredible. Sometimes the simplest things done impeccably are the most satisfying things to eat and this was just superb! We had lovely wine in a beautiful setting outside and a very friendly and helpful waiter which just made our entire dinner feel wonderfully special. If we ever go back to Paris, that restaurant will definitely be on the list of places we return to!

You know what, even Disneyland wasn't that bad for eating at and I'd resigned myself to a day of limp salad and fries as my main food sources! The salads were actually plentiful and not at all limp and that wasn't even my only option. I was pleasantly surprised and I no longer have to be apprehensive about the food in one of my favourite places in the world letting me down ;)

Plan A

I've called this plan A but in the scheme of things it's probably actually about plan C... But as it's the best one we've had by far I'm going to go ahead and call it plan A! As I've mentioned a couple of places on here I am looking to move to America in the very near future, primarily to be with this amazing man below.

Don't you just love his smile?? Anyway, we met about 18months ago now and have been dating for the last 9.5. He's currently doing his PhD at Yale (I know, brains and looks - I'm such a lucky girl!) and we want nothing more than to be in the same town. Although sometimes I think I would settle to be in the same state! So I'm looking to move there. Sounds straightforward right?! Yeah not so much...

Unfortunately the U.S. government isn't too keen on letting people into the country unless they have a really good reason. Sadly being in love with an American citizen doesn't count unless you prove it and get married and, while that is hopefully on the cards for the future, that's not something we want to rush into while we have other options to consider!

I looked into being a teacher (really not for me!) and working (unless you're highly skilled or very wealthy, business is a very tricky option) before deciding to try and study and get a student visa. I really want to do an MBA to further myself in my career through studying, so this seemed the perfect opportunity to do everything I wanted! You also have the opportunity to work part time on a student visa if your university allows you so hopefully I will be able to earn some money and experience alongside my learning.

My application has been processed and, literally about 5minutes ago as I was writing this, has been provisionally accepted based on my grades!! I'M SO EXCITED! There are still hoops to jump through as an international student but hopefully I will pass with flying colours and be able to confirm my place in the very near future.

Patrick and his flatmate, my future roomies, found and signed for their lovely new apartment yesterday too so that's another piece of the puzzle complete! There are an awful lot of steps to go through between now and moving and a lot that have been gone through already to get to this point! But after months of waiting for other people to make decisions, things are finally starting to look like they are moving forward - I'll keep you posted!