How to Act in Love

As part of Martin’s green card process, we were required to attend an interview with immigration to prove we were not committing marriage fraud.  And as part of our legal fees, we had a pre-interview meeting with our lawyer to prepare us for the occasion.  After four years of being together, Martin and I took the process lightly and joked that the pre-meeting was to teach us how to act in love.  In hindsight, we apparently needed all the help we could get; let’s just say our lawyer was less than impressed.  The pre-meeting went as follows:

Question One: Do you have any financial evidence of your shared life together?  Easy enough, we have a shared bank account, shared health insurance, he is the named beneficiary on my life insurance policy and we live together…apparently that was not enough.  We should have shared bills, lease agreements, credit cards and car insurance.  Okay, Strike One.

Question Two: Do you have any photos together? Not a problem, we have four years of photos including vacations, family outings and hard bound leather books of our lives.  But afraid immigration would keep them, we only brought photo copies of a handful of photos (granted, we made sure to span the four years including different seasons, different haircuts, different clothing styles and different weight-fluctuations).  Apparently photo copies are not indicators of love.  Strike Two.

Question Three: Please answer some basic questions about each other such as “Lisa, when is Martin’s birthday” (October 8) and “what did you do for it this year” (blank stare…I have no idea); “Martin, when is Lisa’s birthday” (September 6) and “what did you do to celebrate” (me; blank stare…we in fact got engaged on my birthday), “Martin, when is your anniversary” (another blank stare, followed by a nervous laugh…) “when was the last time you went out together” (we both look at each other and really laugh because we have no idea).  To be fair we have been together for four years and birthdays, anniversaries or even going out aren’t that big of a deal to us.  Regardless, Strike Three.

At this point, I think our lawyer was getting more nervous about the validity of our relationship and indicated that if we don’t remember these basic things we will most likely be separated for individual questioning (such as what type of toothpaste does your fiancé use…which is one question we actually knew the answer to). 

Our meeting with the lawyer lasted 30 minutes and we spent the following week peppering each other with the same basic questions to ensure we wouldn’t fail when it really mattered.   

When the big day arrived, we woke up early and got to the office one hour ahead of schedule…the only other couple there that early was another American, German relationship (not a surprise).  We waited an hour until our allotted time and met with the agent for a total of 10 minutes during which 8 were spent with basic paperwork.  We were only asked one question and it was how we met, which we nailed!  Either our lawyer over prepared us, or the immigration officer could just tell that we actually are in love with each other.  Which is a good thing; if the US doesn’t think we like each other, we would have had bigger problems than just getting a green card.

Last hurdled has been cleared!  Fingers crossed the paper work is completed soon.

Only in San Francisco

What could be better than watching one of your favorite episodes of Sex and the City with a cosmopolitan in hand…seeing two episodes performed live by drag queens!   Yes, only in San Francisco, will you see a running show of Sex and The City Episodes acted out live and on stage by larger than life drag queens.

I read about the show in my Sunday newspaper back in January and I knew it was something that I had to do.  Originally intended for a girls night, the group was expanded to include boyfriends and co-workers once Martin claimed he wanted to participate (yes, he has been a big fan of the show since watching the entire series with me in Switzerland).  We settled on last Wednesday night and organized the crowds. 

With cosmopolitan in hand, we settled into our seats and got ready for the show.  And what a show it was.  The women were perfectly portrayed (slutty Samantha, realistic but trying to be sexy Miranda, innocent Charlotte, and the slightly ditzy, slightly confused but trying to be genuine Carrie…okay so maybe not spot on as compared to the original show, but rather when taking the originals to the extreme), the clothes were over the top ridiculous, the sarcasm and humor was dry and the only thing more amazing than the outrageous story lines from the original show was watching drag queens and men act it out on stage…yes, even the bedroom scenes.    So San Francisco and an experience to be enjoyed for any true SATC fan.

And even better, what started off as a limited engagement will now be extended with new episodes every three months…I know where I will be in June!

Showered with Love

This past weekend officially kicked off the wedding festivities with my bridal shower, hosted by my Aunt Melanie, mom and sister.  It was an afternoon tea party, which was completely appropriate given my love of getting dressed up and having tea parties when I was younger, although the “tea” back then was more sweetened milk with a dash of tea rather than tea with some milk.

I was nervous and excited for the occasion.  Nervous to be the center of attention for the afternoon and excited since it was only my third bridal shower I had ever attended (in comparison, I have attended countless weddings and bachelorette parties…clearly people know where my strengths lie). To calm the nerves, I went shopping the week of the party and made sure I had the best and most appropriate outfit a bride-to-be should wear…  Unfortunately, when trying to explain the shopping spree to Martin, I realized that he wasn’t familiar with the entire concept of a bridal shower.   My explanation went something like this “a bridal shower was originally a time for the women in your life to teach you about being married: how to cook, clean, be a good wife, etc” to which Martin replied “so why are your single friends going to be there?”   I clearly failed to mention that it is now just a good excuse to get together with the women in your life to hang out and catch up before the big show.

And what a great time it was!  In all, there were 18 of us, and the guests ranged from extended family, college friends, lake family and old friends from San Francisco.  It was great seeing everyone meet each other, share stories and made me realize how much fun the wedding in June will be! 

The shower ended with a few party games (name the spices) and me opening up presents.  I was overwhelmed and humbled by the thought that each person put into their gifts (each attendee was requested to bring a recipe) .   I was given Granny Fran’s famous applesauce recipe (with the promise to teach me how to make it) and Grandma Gimbel’s Applesauce Cake recipe from my mom (complete with the loaf pan that Martin swore no one would get us, so just asking for it was ridiculous in his eyes).  I received some amazing other recipes that I can’t wait to try out and I was gifted the infamous and original “Quote Book” from our college years by all of the college girls (something I have been not-so-subtlely hinting that I needed a copy of). 

I even loved the reprimand that each lady gave me for the lack of items on the registry…again, not a concept in Germany (where cash is the preferred gift) that I had to explain to Martin.  Getting anything registered with a man completely against frivolous items (like loaf pans and salad bowls) was like pulling teeth.

This shower has set the stage for things to come, and the bar is incredibly high.   I am overly ecstatic and hope I can live up to the expectations!   

 

M ore photos to come once I get them!