Weather Inspired Baking

Fall is here! Even though the 88 degree Austin weather will make you think otherwise, the nights are getting cooler and I can feel a change that is saying summer really is over.

Adam loooooves ginger flavored things. Gingerbread, ginger tea, ginger snap cookies... Since ginger is a nice fall flavor I made some mini Ginger Lemon cupcakes. Gingerbread cake with yummy lemon frosting. I topped them with some candy corn to add some coloring and get us even more in the spirit.

Happy fall everyone!

'Til Death Do Us Part!

Blogging two days in a row! Lindsey called me out for not updating so I'm actively trying to do it more often. :)

One of the big things we have coming up is next week and it is when Adam and I go in to the USCIS (US Center for Immigration Services) to finalize our marriage visa! We have done a lot of paperwork and preparation for it and our attorney has helped us gather everything. They ask for a lot of documentation and it is a bit stressful.

The meeting will take place in front of a judge and on top of all of our paperwork (such as application, copies of several forms of identification, birth certificates, marriage certificate, passports, tax forms) we are to bring proof of our relationship and love. Things like love letters, notes, pictures, proof of name change, joint bank accounts, insurance, images from our wedding/honeymoon, pictures with family at joint family events.... It will be fun to look through that stuff and decide what is appropriate to present to a judge.

Our appointment is next week in San Antonio so we will go and visit the town also. It will be a good excuse to sneak in some husband and wifey time also. :)

I am happy when this process will be over so that Adam will officially have his visa to stay permanently in the states, we can travel outside of the US again, and can have a normal marriage without different countries laws coming into it!

There is of course one downfall though... When this is done we're going to have to do the process all over again for me with the United Kingdom. *sigh* Being an adult is complicated!

Goodbye Summer

This summer really has flown by. I remember being a student and always counting down the days until the semester was over so that I could do nothing all day and just lay by the pool to get my tan on. This was my second summer as an 'adult' and I actually didn't have much of a summer at all! I remember this past February when Adam and I actively started going to the gym and I told our personal trainer that I needed a hot bikini body for summer. My body was in a bathing suit for a total of about 6 hours this summer.

Even though there wasn't much pool or tanning time I did have a great summer. Here is my end-of-summer recap.

• four trips to NYC
• 18 days in Los Angeles
• trips to Chicago, San Fran, Seattle, Atlanta, and Orlando
• Adam spoke at three seminars
• celebrated our one-year wedding anniversary
• made a trip to the largest water park in North America, Schlitterbahn! (my one time in a bathing suit)
• had a feature story published in the sixth largest newspaper in the United States
• saw three Gay Pride parades in three different cities
• hiked the Austin Green Belt
• went to my cousins high school graduation and had a mini family reunion
• had my bestie come visit
• housed up to 6 house-guests at once (lots of visitors!)
• finally saw the bats on Congress bridge
• went out to Lake Travis on the 4th of July
• took on 4 new instructors and 3 new interns for our company

While it doesn't seem like anything too earth shattering or exciting happened, it was pretty non stop which is how our life seems to always be. I do love fall and now that summer is over I'm excited to see what this season brings! What was your favorite event or activity you did this summer?