6 months fly by…

So 6 months have passed since I last checked in and what a 6 months it has been.

First thing is first, our house is amazing, we can walk to downtown, well we did in Summer, not so much now. Having the beach close by is amazing, we got far to used to dropping downtown for ice cream with the dog over summer. We’re really happy here as well as being able to look forward to new projects to make it even better. When my parents were over for a couple of weeks in August we really got to feel like this is our home, which yes, is an odd feeling with your parents in your house. Slightly awkward.

Mack (Macaroni, Mackadoodle) is great. Having cried like a small child watching Marley and Me last night, I get it. He’s a pain in the butt but I love him. He insists on eating everything he can reach when he’s home alone, or when we’re home but not around him, and boy, that dog can eat anything. He loves everybody and every dog. He wants to stop with everyone on the street to say hi as well as play with every dog and the park is his favourite place in the world. We’re there for at least an hour every day and I wouldn’t have it any other way, it gets me out walking every day and I’ve met some great people. Plus you get to play with peoples dogs and hug them without being the crazy lady in the street.

I’m officially legal with a green card, driving licence and all the trimmings. And just as I begin the horrible slog of job hunting, I found out I was pregnant. So yeeaahhhyy and ahhhh at the same time. All is well at 9 weeks, apart from being tired all the time, like persistent jet lag from terrible flights, and the grim nausea that hits around 4pm each day just as my wonderful husband gets home from work. Not so much the doting wife to come home too, however it will soon be over. Can I get an Amen for the calm of second trimester.

So with this new big step our family is taking I’m going to try and keep up to date slightly more, we can all hope.

Advertisements

Finally!!

This week is it! We’re finally moving into our house, it’s perfect and wonderful, a lick of paint and it’ll be amazing. We have no couch so may be sitting on the floor for a while but I can deal with that. Along with the house we can finally pick up Mack and bring him home. This is everything we’ve been waiting for!

Quick Updates

So once again my consistency has failed me. Few updates on life at the moment:

• All green card/employment paperwork was sent off, properly this time with the money, which homeland security are surprisingly very picky about. Should be hearing back about my employment authorisation some time in May, hopefully before, so I can be a regular person with employment and the ability to legally drive.
• I got a social security number, that counts for at least 3 grown up points.
• We are buying a house, the process was painful. It consisted of looking at buildings with ‘character’ shall we say, basically falling to the ground. Luckily our realtor Kim is a total bad ass, this barely 5 foot woman is my hero. She would flat out tell us, this house is a wreck, no way. Then one day she saved my soul from looking at any more wrecks and informed us that a family were going to put their house on the market but no one else knew about it yet but it was exactly where we wanted and in our price range. So we went for a viewing and BOOM that was it. I’m in love, it has everything we want and barely any problems, minimal things that we (Allen) can fix easily in some lovely Michigan Summer sunshine. I say this hopefully as spring has not fully sprung here yet, more like came for a day and gave up, however we have had several days in almost double figures, slight shock to the system.
• Finally, Allen’s favourite news, we’re getting a dog. Of course we are, we always knew we would once we had a house but it seems like Mr S can no longer wait and is already sending me links to shelters we’re going to visit. Bare in mind we don’t move for at least 4 weeks and we still need a little bit of time to organise the house. This fact however seems to have slipped Mr S’s mind and he’s convinced the minute we have the keys we’re driving to a shelter. We’ll see how that works out.

In other news I am currently having a slight break down that while I know I need a job I really have no clue of what I’m going to do. My current list includes: Glastonbury organiser, tambourine/Bez character (Brits will be the only ones to understand this reference) in a band, freelance writer, movie producer, CBGBs venue manager, own a music label or music journalist. So we’ll see how that goes in south west Michigan.

 

 

Married Bliss?

After our wedding we sent off all the paperwork necessary for my employment authorisation and green card, however forgot to add the cheque so this paperwork will be rejected and now I have to wait for them to return it, adding another 3 weeks to my waiting time. I was so deflated adding more time to my ‘killing time’ period as I like to call it. With no driving licence or employment authorisation I’ve been stuck.

However, we are currently looking for houses which is exciting so hopefully by summer we can find something for our own home. We’re mainly excited about the possibility of a dog more than anything.

For the time being we’ve been having some fun weekend times, watched the Super Bowl (YES Tom Brady for that crazy game) and exploring Grand Mere State Park, even after hunting for a toilet for the first half hour for Allen to poop, it was hilarious for me.

In the mean time, I’ll be here panicking about immigration and waiting for a house.

Better late than never..

Well the day came and went…almost 3 weeks ago, but it’s better late than never. That day, well the whole couple of weeks really is kind of a blur of being busy and meeting people. However I definitely remember being on a beach in some very cold rain for pictures in wedges and inappropriate clothes, but hell at least the pictures came out great.

So we’re back to reality, all the family have left, Allen is back to work and I’m still waiting for immigration, finally I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel. I can’t wait to be a regular grown up with a car and a job and a house, what a strange new years resolution. Hopefully this will be a big year for the new Sibarani family.

1 week to go…

This time next week our day will be underway, with everything booked and hopefully no last minute nightmares, the only thing left to do is deal with the bedlam of our families descending on us.

Christmas weekend

So this weekend turned out to be a joyous one, I don’t know what I was expecting but each day was a joy.

Last Thursday we headed out after Allen finished work early and went to the beach in St Joseph, it was covered in snow and ice but was beautiful and incredibly fun to play on snowy sand. I also discovered my future husband was a sheepdog in a past life by the way he runs in circles on the sand. Odd. However walking around all cozy in the winter sunshine was wonderful.

Friday, we met with our wedding photographer to go over the day and I am very excited about his plans for the wedding and I’m so excited to get the pictures done. After that we hit the road and went up to Grand Rapids. We immediately went to get food, obviously, we went to BOB and had amazing sandwiches followed by a look around the art museum and a wander around. However due to the grey day I feel like we didn’t fully see GR but liked it just the same. We also got Starbucks on the way home, yes to Christmas
Peppermint Mochas.

Saturday was a day of food and drink, obviously, it was Christmas eve after all. We had breakfast at Nikki’s, a cafe down on Main Street, with pancakes, eggs, bacon and good coffee, what more does a girl need on a Saturday morning. We then went hoe, snuggled on the couch, watched NFL and Christmas movies until we decided we must move once more. So we went for a beer in a cute bar in St J, followed by very good curry with many leftovers brought home. For future Jen and Allen, don’t order the bread basket when just the 2 of you are eating.

Christmas was an early start from an excited Allen who was awake at 5am asking to open presents. After getting up at 6, opening presents, making a fry up breakfast once again, we organised our wedding invitations we headed off to Allen’s auntie’s for the day. It was a lovely day with lots of good food, lovely people, sledging, new puppies and generally Christmassy vibes. Christmas night, back home, I discovered that Dance Central for the Xbox is not my forte however Xbox bowling is my jam.

Finally, Monday brought with it unusually warm weather. We started our day at the movies with Rogue One, which I highly recommend, especially as today it has been announced that Carrie Fisher has died, I feel happy that this new movie has kept up the high standards that her legacy has left behind. We then wandered around St J, with hot chocolate and drove around the wonder of South West Michigan in the sunshine. Not a bad day all in all.

Weekends like this make me so happy to be where I am with the person I’m with, although  we’re far from family, I’m so glad we have the opportunity to be happy in this great place (the sunsets prove it’s greatness).