Praying for Oklahoma

via

Ironically, I had a post scheduled today,

talking about the places we live and how they can affect us in certain ways.

I didn't feel right posting about my experiences,

in the wake of what is happening in Oklahoma.

My emotions over what I am feeling,

are nothing compared to what others are feeling about a place that is their home,

a home that was just destroyed.

Perspective.

I hope to share my post with you soon,

but for now I am praying for all of those affected in Oklahoma,

a place that will now remind thousands of great loss and devastation,

and will also, hopefully, remind them of the kindness of others in the aftermath of tragedy.

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Proud

I have talked a little bit about my mom's story in this post,

how she overcame and accomplished so many things in her life.

On Saturday,
after 18 years of hard work,
while raising two kids on her own,
and working full time,

my mom finally received her Bachelors degree.

I have this vivid memory of my mom.
I am young,
maybe 10 years old,
and we are sitting on the floor in the dining room with tons of my mom's old college papers spread out around us.
She is looking at her old work,
and beaming at each assignment that had an A
(which was all of them).
She had started and stopped college so many times,
due to life and family.
I remember her saying to me that one day she would go back to school,
and she would get that degree.
It was important to her,
and she was determined to fulfill this life goal.

I have watched my mom struggle to make this dream become a reality.
She swallowed her pride and took classes with students half her age,
with teachers younger than herself,
but she always continued showed up.

So many times there were things that set her back;
struggles with my dad,
divorce,
financial stress,
raising Shane and I,
helping us through college,
giving a kidney to her sister,
having her appendix removed,
working a 9-5+ every day,
and family deaths and illnesses....
but whether she had to take a semester off,
or two years,
she would continue to go back,
and show up.

It could have been easy for my mom to give up.
But she didn't.

I think we can all learn a lot from my mom,
about achieving dreams.

Nothing is impossible.


I love you mom.
I am so proud of you.
Shane and I couldn't ask for a better role model.

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Quoting

source

Just a little Walt for your Sunday.

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Soon

You know those moments in life where you have so much going on in your head,

that it seems impossible to do any one thing?

I read a tweet from Elizabeth awhile back saying,

"I'm quietest on Twitter when I have the most on my mind. Funny how that works."

It makes sense though,

and is true for me as well.

There is so much happening right now over here,

things I want to talk about and will,

and things I want/have wanted to talk about but can't.

How is THAT for the best vague blogging ever?

Just give me the award now.

We are on the brink of something big...

a huge move,

a huge life change,

and the next two months are already shaping up to be totally crazy,

in the best possible way.

I am scared to make any wrong move,

and knock down the house of cards we have worked so hard to build.

I think we all probably encounter these moments,

more than once,

throughout our lives.

For your weekend I thought I would leave you with some awesome blogs to read.

Lauren has such a stunning blog with amazing photos and posts,

Lulu offers the best health and wellness advice,

and long time blog friend Devon is living the so-cal dream. 

Connect with Lauren: blog | facebook | twitter | bloglovin’ | pinterest | instagram

I recommend starting here and see inside her LA home here

Connect with Lulu: Blog | Twitter | Facebook | Bloglovin

I recommend starting with this post and for amazing posts on health go here

Connect with Devon:  Blog | Facebook | Twitter | Instagram

I recommend starting here and then reading her sweet love story here

*comments closed so you can say hi on their blogs :) 

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Weekend in Notting Hill

We finally arrived into Notting Hill friday afternoon,
and after being up for over 24 hours,
we just took it easy and slept.
On Saturday though we hit the ground running
and met up with Sophie.

Sophie was my first blog friend turned real life friend.
We both found ourselves living in Nottingham,
just mere miles from each other.

It was after my first meet up with her,
that I came up with the word Blate (blogger+date=blate).
So I have Sophie to help thank for all of my fame and fortune.

We started Saturday morning off at Granger & Co,
and feasted on their delicious riccotta hotcakes.
Then we walked to Portobello Road to take in the market.
While we were scanning the goods,
in the middle of the intense crowds,
we ran into a blog reader/friend,
who spotted us,
or lets be honest,
probably spotted Stephen since he towers a foot above the regular sized people.
(Hi Pamela!!)

When it started to rain we popped into a pub for drinks and snack food.
When the rain let up we walked the streets some more
and then had Pizza from Otto and some more wine for dinner with our friend, Ella, from Uni,
who happened to be up from Brighton that weekend.

It was SO nice to chat for hours with close friends.
Sophie and Ella are the type of people that just bring a sense of joy wherever they go.
They are so uplifting and positive,
and we feel really lucky to have those type of friends in our lives.

Sunday my new friend Amber
(thanks Lauren for letting me borrow her)
and her husband,
took Stephen and I to Electric Diner for lunch.
And omg was that place good.
It is an american style diner,
and the food is on point.

We just felt so taken care of from the time we arrived in Notting Hill,
thanks to Lauren, Amber, Sophie, and Stephen's best friend Greg,
who really went out of their way to give us a place to stay,
and to tell us where to go and what to do
(Amber made an entire map for us).

I first came to London May of 2010,
to visit the city,
and then to see the University of Nottingham.
I felt overwhelmed by London,
it seemed like there was so much going on,
and after spending four years is sloooowww paced suburban Orange County,
I felt a little anxious in the city.

However,
after this trip,
I feel like I have seen London in a whole new light,
and have a new sense of appreciate and love for that city.
I basically was just meant to be in Notting Hill.
Obviously.

*to see more photos of our time visit Sophie's blog here

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Our Visa Journey: Medical Appointment

photo by Sophie

I have a post planned about our visa journey,

with a step by step guide for those who find themselves in the same situation as us,

filing the same way.

But I don't want to post it yet,

because I am scared I am going to jinx us.

The side affects of visas are paranoia,

insomnia,

and stomach aches.

I will explain though why we had to go to London this time,

just to clear up some confusion,

since I am being asked a lot if we know when we are coming home yet.

One of the steps in this process,

was a medical appointment for Stephen.

When you plan on moving to a new country,

you have to get the all clear from a doctor before you can move.

I know this is at least the case for moving to the USA,

and Australia.

I am pretty sure this part is not a requirement to move to the UK

(I never had one).

Before you can get a medical appointment,

you have to wait to receive a case number,

which for us took a month.

That is why in a previous post I was so excited about getting a case number,

because it meant we could move on to the final steps.

Since we are filing directly in London,

his medical appointment had to be with the embassy approved doctor,

located in London.

(There is only one doctor's office in London that does this).

We were so lucky to get an appointment right away.

Stephen had to get blood taken,

a chest x-ray,

 two vaccines (pertussis and tetanus),

and a full physical.

We expected to be in the doctor's office for hours,

but we were in and out in 40 minutes.

I was so impressed by how efficient they were.

They were also very friendly,

and the office was beautiful.

This medical does cost a small fortune,

so be prepared.

At this stage they pass along his results

(saying he is all clear)

to the embassy,

and the embassy will then issue an interview date.

We also had to send in a second set of paperwork,

saying we were ready for the interview and had all of the documents ready to go.

The interview is held in London,

and is the LAST step of this whole ordeal.

The interview date is scheduled for roughly one month after they get the clear from the medical,

and we will find out that date in about a week or so.

We are really excited,

and really anxious.

Thanks for being patient with me as I vent about this journey,

and put it all out there.

Hopefully this will help other people in the future.

We did not use an immigration lawyer for any of this,

but we did ask for a lot of help from people who have gone before us,

and I spent hours upon hours making sure I knew every single step,

so that I was always ahead of the game.

Please don't hesitate to ask me any questions.

I can't wait to share our time in Notting Hill with you this week!

I fell in love with that place,

and didn't want to leave.

*I have also been responding to more comments on this post, and other people have been writing to other commenters as well, so be sure to check it. Just keep clicking load to see them all. 

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Happy Monday from Notting Hill

This weekend has been a whirlwind.

We got off to a rough start when our car broke down halfway to London. 

At 10pm at night.

On the side of the freeway.

We managed to get towed a couple hours later,

and finally arrived at a hotel in a city we didn't know,

at 1am.

We had to leave the car there and continue our journey to London at 4am that morning via train.

We JUST made it to Stephen's medical appointment for his visa.

(more info on our visa process to come)

After the appointment was over,

we were able to really relax and enjoy our time in Notting Hill.

We are eternally grateful to Lauren and Tyler for letting us stay at their place while they are in the US.

The weekend ended up being THE BEST weekend.

And now we are only ONE step away from getting Stephen's Visa!

Fingers crossed.

We are heading back up to Glasgow today,

after a pitstop in Crewe to get the car fixed.

I hope all you Mom's out there had a beautiful Mother's Day yesterday! 

I honestly do not know what I would do without my mom.

She is the greatest woman in the world. 

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