london :: visa applications pt1

photo credit: ellemoss

I thought that Robert had submitted our Visa applications last week, but apparently, we are waiting on one more thing before doing so. Nothing mandatory, but a nice little addition to beef up the list about how great we are. You know ...
For those interested in applying for British citizenship or one of the many Visa's that are available, here's a little breakdown:

British Citizenship: From what we understand, you must have a parent born in the UK. Unfortunately, neither one of us fell into this category, so we haven't thoroughly researched this option. Here are some links for more information - Home Office- UK Border Agency and Right of abode.

The UK immigration system is divided into two main components - 'non-points baseda and 'points based'. Some of the non-points based options include:

UK Ancestry Visa: Good for 5 years and the cost is 230GBP per person <- this is the route that we are taking. You will qualify if you can show that:

• You are a Commonwealth citizen
• You are aged 17 or over
• You have a grandparent who was born in the UK, the Channel Islands or the Isle of Man
• You have a grandparent who was born in what is now the Republic of Ireland before 31 March 1922
• You are able to work and intend to do so in the UK, and
• You can support yourself and any dependants without needing any help from public funds

If you or your parent (who you are claiming ancestry through) are adopted, you can still apply for entry to the UK under this category. You must show evidence of the legal adoption with your application form.

As a spouse, I can apply for a dependant visa which allows me to live and work in the UK for five years. Robert and I can either apply for a Visa at the same time, or, since it is his Grandfather with the UK ties, he will apply first and myself second. If you apply for the dependent visa first, it will be automatically rejected with no refund. There isn't much information online regarding dependent Visa's, so if you are going this route, visit this blog for step by step instructions.

Several other non-points based Visa's are available. Some options allow you to work abroad and some don't. Each type of Visa has it's own requirements, restrictions and special circumstances, so make sure that you research everything thoroughly.

Stay tuned for part two where we'll briefly talk about point based visas!

vendor feature :: Hello! Lucky

(image via Hello! Lucky)

Have you heard of Hello! Lucky Stationery? If not, you should really step out of your cave and get ready to check out some of their amazing stationery designs. Hello! Lucky is a specialty letterpress print and design studio that creates wedding invitations, greeting cards and personalized stationery.

With offices in San Francisco and in London, UK, they have an amazing client list including Anthropologie, Kate's Paperie and Liberty of London. If that wasn't enough, they are also the authors of Handmade Hellos, a card crafting book featuring fresh greeting card projects from first rate crafters and have a second book called Handmade Weddings coming out in January 2011.


You can check out Hello! Lucky's portfolio here or be inspired by their blog found here. Interested in adding a DIY touch to your special day? Check out their easy to follow guides and templates as part of Martha Stewart Weddings to make your own projects such as the crepe paper flowers pictured above, donut hole bags, glass glitter crowns to name a few. Enjoy! Happy making!

Etsy Finds Friday

Etsy Finds Friday is a speckle of random things that have caught my eye on etsy.com. Great ideas and lots of inspiration for your upcoming wedding or to add a little handmade love to your life.

photo credit go to the respective shops listed below

(From left to right)
Top: Timeless Vixen Vintage, The shop at no 144, MagnolijaDRESS

Middle: Bayan Hippo Handmade, Lions Gate Designs, zwzzy

Bottom: Sparky Jones, hey chica, silvia66

it's only november third

I can't believe it is already November. Time seems to be flying by. Everybody already seems to have their holiday decorations ready to go. This year, Robert and I will not be getting a Christmas tree since we will be gone to Hawaii for most of December. I'm a bit sad about that, but we'll still do everything else and hello! Hawaii!

Found this on Jenny's blog yesterday and spent mucho time decorating my gingerbread house rather than replying to emails. Whoops. If you haven't tried it yet, click here to make your own version.

london :: driving

photo credit: k e n c h i e

So while I plan on getting a fantastic job in London with a driver (just kidding!), Rob is going to attempt to learn how to drive. We have no plans on purchasing a car, at least not yet, but we will be looking at rentals and possibly trying out Zipcar.

A unique element of the UK driving system is that you can either have an automatic only licence or a standard/automatic licence. The vast majority of cars in the UK are standard, even the ones from rental agencies and Zipcar. While in the UK, Canadians can drive using their current licence for a period of 12 months. After 12 months, or sooner, you can choose to do a direct exchange for a UK licence. The only restriction is that by exchanging your license, you can only operate an automatic vehicle. This is due to the fact that in Canada, we do not normally test on standard vehicles. If you are interested in starting this process, you can read more on Directgov.

To help prepare Rob with obtaining a full license, he ordered an assortment of training materials that you can find online including the official DSA complete learner pack and the official highway code. Which, by the way, took over a month to get here, so we contacted them and they resent the package to us. Of course, the day after, the original package arrives followed by the new ones a day after that which we then give to friends who are also thinking of moving abroad.

Overall, the rules of the road are pretty similar to what we have here in Canada. Some odd facts include:

• No yellow centre line to divide traffic travelling in opposite directions. They just go with a white line in the UK.
• Pedestrian crossings are named after the zoo: Zebra- Standard crosswalk, Pelican- These have a button at the sidewalk and a walk signal that appears on the other side of the street, Puffin- These have a button and a walk indicator at street level and Toucan- Same as a Puffin, but includes controls to allow cyclists to legally cross.
• Sidewalks are called pavement.
• Curbs are spelled 'kerbs' and during your road exam, you must be able to back up along the kerb and around a corner without striking the kerb.

Two driving schools that I am currently look at are the Automobile Association and the British School of Motor.

Wish us luck.

wedding :: aaron + jay

(image by Ophelia Photography)

Sometimes it takes me absolutely forever and back to post about weddings that we have coordinated. Partly due to the fact that a) I always forget to bring the camera b) My pictures are not the greatest c) I'm bad at following up on wedding pictures.

So here you go, my friends .... and if you missed it, you can see more images and Aaron and Jay's feature on Rock n' Roll bride!

Believe it or not, Jay and I met a few years ago when we both worked in the parade at the PNE. That's right. 17 days straight of parade goodness times two times a day for a total of 34 parades together. Fast forward a few years and I run into him at Got Craft where he and his wife Aaron (Locomotive Clothing), would later become vendors at.

Think gingham table cloths, Petunia on stage, Pop Shoppe soda, tons of bunting, fresh flowers in mason jars and tons of handmade charm! Check out these hand written name tags to encourage guests to keep their glasses and reuse them throughout the festivities.

Aaron and Jay wanted a ' Vancouver Special' themed buffet, so food included viet subs from a local mom and pop shop that they often visited, honey doughnuts from Deep Cove, sushi from Nikkyu Sushi - the place they first met and of course 160 cupcakes by the lovely Coco Cake Cupcakes!

You can check out Lynday's pictures and post here! Happy! Happy! Congratulations!

what time is it mr. wolf?

These O Clock watches remind me of candy.... Designed and made entirely in Italy. The center faces even pop out, so that you can buy different straps... and for the low price of $39.00, you should start thinking double rainbows people!

Cute packaging too! Available at Walrus on Cambie.

make :: handkerchief wedding invites

Have you seen these vintage handkerchief turned DIY wedding invites from Bird And Banner? You can see the samples that Bird and Banner made for Grace Bonney of design*sponge for her wedding invitations. To make the wedding even more personalized, many male guests arrived wearing their handkerchief invites as pocket squares. Cute!

You can read more about their wedding at design*sponge and Martha Stewart.

Psstt... Etsy Finds Friday will begin again next week!

wedding ideas :: buttons

photo credit: Tracey L. Heppner

Loving these button boutonnières spotted on @traceyheppner 's twitter feed a while back. Interested in finding some of your own for your upcoming wedding or just to add a little "wow" to your outfit? Check out Laurie Cinotto's website here and if you are a kitten fanatic like myself, you can also check out her kitten website here.

it's my birthday!

photo credit: HeyZee

Well, it was my birthday, October 22nd and yes, I did go ahead and schedule to work on two event programs to boot. Money is money and I want to squirrel as much away as possible for the upcoming move. So, we are off to Seattle for the day tomorrow. I'm on a moccassin hunt. My friend purchased a lovely pair, but unfortunately the store here no longer has any and apparently, Nordstroms has some in stock. Fingers crossed.

I'm feeling heaps better. Thanks for all of the good wishes. I'm still a-ok with a meal a day, so I know that I'm not 100 yet, but getting there. Oh, and I am SO over the beef, chicken, fish entree. I don't know if it was the number of dine arounds that I went on this year or the number of weddings or my sickness last week, but I can't do it anymore. As tasty as I am sure it is, no thank you. The last two evenings I went on dine arounds to Blue Water Cafe and Goldfish Kitchen, but had to skip the meal.

Oh yes, before I forget, we bumped into R & S at Angel Cafe this afternoon. CONGRATULATIONS! Need a coordinator? hehe.