Paperwork! UGH!

So I have officialy filed the paperwork for Sunder's visa... well to be exact, I filed for the petition to be able to file for his visa. The gov. makes it really hard to obtain entry into our coutry if your not born here... seriously! So as far as I'm aware the process goes like this:
1) File i-129F which is the petition for your fiance to be able to apply for the visa
2) Once that is received by the Dept of Homeland Security Office they send a NOA (Notice of Action). This means they have the paperwork for your case, your assigned a case #, and they begin to review the information sent.
3) Once the petition is approved you receive a NOA2 which means your petition has been approved and now you are allowed to fill out the actualy visa application. More paperowrk is required at this time and has to be sent to my fiance in India.
4) He gets an interview and a health exam scheduled and has to report to the Indian embassy in Chennai. The health exam has to be completed before the interview and they will not approve the application until he is medically cleared.
5) If all goes well, and I know it will, then they approve the visa and he will receive it shortly after the interview.
6) We buy a plane ticket and he comes here!!!
7) WE GET MARRIED!!

So that's the process in a nut-shell... sounds easy, eh? NOT!! From talking with my Dad and looking at other messages from people who have completed the process...from start to finish, we're looking at about 6-8 months. So far, we've gotten the first NOA and have a case number. I just checked the website and they touched our case on 7/9 but none of the information was updated. It just says, information received and case pending. Well, its better than hearing nothing! Hopefully this is a smooth process and that he gets approved very quickly! I can't wait for him to come here!!!

Weekend Plans

Some people like to take the time that they are off on the weekends to clean or do projects around the house. My ideal weeked is going to be spent at the amazing Miller Park!

Friday night... Brewer's vs. Twins 7:05pm

Saturday night... Brewers vs. Twins 6:05pm

Sunday Brewers vs. Twins 1:05 pm

It should be a great weekend.... go Crew!

Room Decor

So I was thinking today of the way I could decorate my room at the house. I had a couple ideas of things I've seen in other people's houses/apartments that I might like to incorporate into my own room. Also, I have this huge banner (see picture below) from my engagement that is just chillin in my suitcase. I know it would make me smile to see it everynight before I go to bed.

I also thought of one design my friend Mari had at her first apartment in Colorado. She got a bunch of note cards and in different colored pens wrote out some of her favorite scriptures. She then put the cards on her wall in a funky pattern so that she would be reminded of the verses but also have a cool design on her wall. I might do that on one of my side walls... and there's also the option to paint!!!! When I was in college my roomate and I painted our room sky blue... I'm sure there was a distinct color name, which escapes me now, but we then sponged on the ceiling clouds. It was so funny, I remember being in the room before we moved in and we both are not very artistic people. We were standing on a 5 gallon bucket trying to get these sponges full of white paint, and then make a design that looked like a cloud. My sister was with us and was laughing so much. Eventually she was commissioned to finish our clouds, which looked more like droopy trees than clouds. Years later we came back to see if our room was painted over, or if they kept the clouds. To our dissapointment, they did indeed paint over our clouds... but I think it might be time for a "come back!" I'll check with Beck and see if she agrees =)

**crossing my fingers***

Bored... lets do Wedding stuff!

Uh, I hate not being busy at work. Its Thursday and to me it feels like it should be Tuesday. Time moves sooo slow when you don't have a whole lot of work to do. I'm getting work in slowly and some projects here and there. It's not terrible... it's just slow. SO, to keep myself occupied I've been looking online for ideas for invitations and table decorations. Any suggestions are more than welcome! I would like to do something inexpensive but that will look nice. Maybe I'll head to the scrapbooking store after work to get some ideas. I'm all about incorporating Indian culture into our ceremony and reception. NOW... if I just had the space booked for both! My mom and my friend Leah are going to tour a couple places next Wednesday. Hopefully we will find something that's nice and reasonably priced. There's a lot of work ahead, but it will be worth it in the end. I just look at the photos from the engagement and think of how great it will be to be married! Then, I get the drive to get the details set for the wedding!!
Check out the photos of the places I'm thinking for the Wedding/Reception.

This is the Miller Pavillion at O'Donnell Park downtown. It has a room that overlooks the Lake and it has an outdoor terrace area, they say the view is beautiful.

This is the Harbor Lights Room at the Downtown Transit Center. It also have a view of the Lake and a outdoor area.

I was also told that these places don't change-over... so this would be for a reception only. On the other hand, Coast Resturant downtown will do both the ceremony and reception. Check out the photos.

Just some ideas... we will see how the tour goes next week!

Monday Monday

I used to think that life would be so much better when I grew up and didn't have to go to school anymore. Now that I work full time and have no reason to be in school.. I want to get back to the days when all I did was drop my backpack at the door at the end of a long school day just to grab a soccer ball to go out and play.
It was super nice this weekend and instead of my knee getting sore from working out or from kicking the soccer ball around, my knee got sore from climbing up and down several flights of stairs carrying boxes, bags, brooms, bedding, & more... (couldn't think of another 'b' word to keep the trend going). MOVING STINKS!!
But getting back to the original thought... its nice to be carefree as a child and not have to worry about bills or payment plans or being in debt. There's also a point that you get to in your life where you can no longer skate on the coat tails of your parents and actually have to venture out on your own to learn what it means to be an "adult." I wish that everyone who turned 18 years old truly understood what it means to be an adult and to be responsible for your own future. I wish I didn't have to work a full time job. I wish I didn't have to sit at a computer all day while it was sunny and warm outside. I wish I could spend time travelling around the world and seeing all sorts of cultures. But, the reality is that I have debt just like 97% of all Americans have debt (that's my own estimate and is in no way 100% accurate). In order to eliminate that I have to work. Working is a means to an end.... that end being freedom from financial oppression. The good thing is that, if you dicipline yourself and live according to your means... this freedom will come sooner or later. I am on that path and the light is coming at the end of the tunnel. HOORAY!! NO MORE DEBT! =)

Wedding Fowers

So I met with a friend of a friend who does flowers for Weddings and a lot of other occations. She runs a business and her work is very nice. I had no idea how expensive flowers were though.... that's a topic for another day. We discussed ideas on which type of flowers to use and looked at a bunch of examples. So far I'm pretty set on having the flowers really colorful and not too expensive. So here are some ideas...

The white roses would be in my boquet only to tie in with my white dress... as well as the other flowers below...

Purple freesia... I love the smell!

Green Hydrangeas... gotta tie in green somewhere

Blue freesia, which look very similar to the purple, so we may use another blue flower that's a bit darker in color.

Orange roses... these to tie in one of the colors that my Maid of Honor choose for her dress color.

I'm trying to incorporate all the colors of the sarees that the girls will be wearing... Orange, red, light blue, purple, dark blue, and green. Should be a challenge for Rachel...but she's really good at what she does. I can't wait!!

Last, but not least... the red rose. I love the classic!!

Engaged!!

Yes, its true! April 19th I got engaged to the most wonderful man in the world... I'm a little bias, of course... but Sunder is WONDERFUL. This is one of many photos that were taken from our formal Indian Engagement ceremony. There was over 300 people in attendance... for the engagement! I love Indian culture!!

I'm filing paperwork for Sunder to come to the US on a fiance visa, which I hear it quite the process. It should be interesting to see how quickly things go and when that's approved he will come to Milwaukee. I can't wait!! Hopefully it will be sooner than later. I know he's going to LOVE the Wisconsin winter, especially because he's never seen snow before. If this winter is anything like last winter... he might die! Not really die... but it could make things interesting. I can't wait for him to see snow... it will be like when we had snow days... all you wanted to do was go outside and build a fort. I dont ever remember taking into consideration that it was like 20 below! Anyways, I'm really excited about planning the wedding and already have some great ideas. The other details will fall into place, I'm sure. Keep checking for updates as there should be plenty on the way!