K-1 To Do

Gray = done

• Need to write a check: Payment as required by USCIS. Use a personal check so you can track the payment.
• Need to write: Cover Letter. Should include a description of what you are petitioning for (I-129F), a table of contents (list everything in the packet). Make sure to sign and date the cover sheet.
• DONE: Form I-129F: Petition for Alien Fiance.
• Need to write: Declaration of how you met in person in the last two years. This should be a single typed page attachment regarding question 18 of the I-129F.
• Need to write: Original statements (from both the US Citizen and foreign fiance) certifying an intent to marry within 90 days of entering the US on a valid K-1.
• Need to gather and organize: Proof of having met in past two years.
• Copies of all airline boarding passes, train passes, itineraries, hotel receipts, passport stamps (make sure you can read the dates on the stamps), and other documentary evidence that you have met within the last two years. You may want to highlight or place post-it notes indicating the dates and locations on the copies (to make the adjudication easier) for the person reviewing your file.
• Do you have your flight itineraries or booking confirmations online? Send them to me?
• Also please scan/photocopy and send me all relevant pages of your passport.
• I can organize these: Color Photos of you and your fiance together. Make sure you write your names, date, and location on the back of every photo. Provide two to five photos. If you only have a single copy of the photo, then make a color copy and send that. If it is a digital photo, have it printed at a company such as kodakgallery.com. You can also make duplicates of photos at your local photo store (Walgreeens, CVS, etc). Place photos in a plastic bag or photo sheet and label the sheet. Note that you may not receive originals of photos back.
• The following items will not typically show proof of having met in the last two years however will show proof of an ongoing relationship: Copies of phone bills, cell phone bills, emails (you can edit personal info with a marker), letters (edit personal info also), stamps on the letters (to document the date they were sent), and other written documentary proof. Provide a reasonable amount; two to four of each type. Pick a range of dates up to and including the present. You can also include a copy of engagement ring receipt
• Should select some emails to send. Also do you have any of my letters with postmarks? I think I have a couple of yours.
• Also, I have the original engagement ring receipt. (Cleverly,) I had them put both of our names on it.
• DONE: G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the US Citizen signed and dated.
• Have to have one taken: One passport-type photo of the US Citizen.
• Need to figure this out: G-325A (all four pages) filled out by the foreign fiance(e) signed and dated.
• DONE: One passport-type photo of the foreign fiance(e).
• Still waiting for my mom to send me this: Copy of the Birth certificate (front and back) for the US Citizen or a copy of ALL pages of the US Citizen's passport issued with a validity of at least 5 years or a copy of the US Citizen's naturalization certificate (front and back). This is used to establish citizenship.

14 January 2008: Snow Day photo EXTRAVAGANZA

This is what I woke up to this morning:

Thayer in the snow.

The snow was that really sticky kind that coated the trees. When I stood under the tree, there was this weird light. It felt almost like being in a lighted tent. Shaded, but somehow emitting or reflecting a weird light. Beautiful.

Memorial Church in the snow.

Flowers and snow.

13 January 2008: What I want right now...

Hendrick's Gin with a cucumber garnish...mmmm. (Daedalus.) (Also a random old photo.)

12 January 2008: More ME

A random picture to make up for me not taking pictures.... Me on my birthday at Dali.

11 January 2008: This is how I feel when you're not here

Dopey and Sad.

2008

New Year's Resolutions:

◊ Be healthier & happier. The behemoth of unhealth starts creeping up around about now. I feel. I have to ensnare the behemoth of happiness with some kind of bush trap involving Gummi Bears.

◊ Family & friends. Visit when I can, & keep in touch when I can’t. Since they are strewn across the face of the Earth.

◊ Indytime. Make sure we’re also in touch & know wassup when we’re not in the same place. Be more organised about that & it will be less frustrating. (In some ways).

◊ Work harder at achieving personal ambitions. As I’ve worked out what some of these might be, I can focus on getting there, whether it be writing or music, or some combination of current interests. If only I become a pulp icon then I can write about myself & the pulpcycle of modernity will be complete. Muahaha.

◊ Focus better on everything. Other people’s needs, one’s own needs, as well as work & life & the things I need to do. Become less unlinear (see above).

◊ Have a wicked awesome year. Get married, have fun, do work unstressedly. Maybe get a Colin.

10 January 2008: Color

It's a very very depressing gray day, so I thought a picture of something colorful might help. These are tulips that Wiebke brought me the day she left. Very sweet. Anyway, we've had weird weather the last couple days. First there were a few really warm spring-thaw kind of days... days in the sixties where all the snow melted and left mud and mess everywhere. Now it's a "potential nor-easter" and it's been cold, gray, and pounding rain all day. Very cheerful.

I wish you were here.

9 January 2008: Modern Pastry

I love this wall at Modern Pastry, with the rough brick showing behind the shiny glass shelves and shiny foodstuffs.

8 January 2008: Il Panino with the girls

Here's me at Il Panino. Good food, as you know. Do you see that gorgeous ring on my finger?

7 January: The Laughing Mar

I almost named this one the laughing gnome, but thought Mar would take that personally. This was in Park Street Station and I liked it.

6 January 2008: Next year in Northampton...

...we'll finally go to the Tunnel Bar. I think we missed it both times we've been there so far. Also, I have a different, cheaper, better place for us to stay next time! I like taking little trips with you... Northampton in October was so fabulous...

5 January 2008: Politics at the pub

This fun banner was hanging outside Packard's, Northampton's sort of divey townie bar, which I frequented my senior spring because of their cheeeeap cocktails.

4 January 2008: Me Me Meeeee

Here's a weirdly skinny-looking picture of me at the Haymarket. I was drinking a smoothie called a "spanking." I do love ordering those. "Yeah, I'll have an espresso and a spanking, please."

3 January 2008: Snow at Smith

This was just after we arrived at Smith. It was my favorite time of day and the light was just perfect. I love how the light in the afternoon there turns everything rosy and yellow. Beautiful. That's the greenhouse and, beyond it, the pond.

Resolutions

Here's my annual list of New Year's Resolutions, most of which I will inevitably break:

1. Really be in better touch with my friends and family. This is a resolution I make every year, but this time I *really* want to make it happen.
2. Work much harder. With my work load for the next semester, I really need to.
3. Find a balance between work and play that satisfies both needs. Last January: too much work. From February through December 2007: too much play.
4. Be cleaner and more organized. I'm tired of my room stressing me out and never having clean dishes.
5. Pull together my image. Be more well-groomed and less slovenly-grad-student-like. I've let my wardrobe slip and haven't cared very much about my appearance for a leeetle bit too long.
6. Don't get to swept up in the wedding planning and visa anxiety. Bad bridezilla tendencies!
7. Work on professional goals: write/publish articles, apply for conferences.
8. Be a better teacher and proctor. Stop letting these things slide.
9. Be financially responsible. I'm po' and tired of it.
10. Be healthier: this means eating better, working out, seeing the doctor when I need to, sleeping plenty, not drinking too much, etc. etc.

2 January 2008: Another place I wish you were with me

Grendel's for dinner tonight. Yummy and cheap. Good beer. I had a turkey burger (The Natural Disaster) and a Cambridge Amber. Yum.

1 January 2008: A new Paradiso!

So! Today, Wiebke and I went to sit in a cafe and read after brunch today. We tried to go to Dado, but it was closed (New Year's Day), so we went to Algiers instead. I don't think we've ever been there together and I hadn't been there in about four years. Anyway, we walked in and went upstairs (I'd never been upstairs before). It's absolutely beautiful in there and I don't think it's as expensive as Paradiso was. The best thing, though, is that when we walked in, I saw ALL the old Paradiso regulars there. We sat right next to the funny old guy who always wears a little flat cap and crazy obviously designer clothes that are shabby even though they're clearly quite expensive. Anyway, it's a fabulous fabulous place and I think I have to go there every day. It really made me feel so much better about the coming year, because I have a regular place to go! I can't wait to take you there.

31 December 2007: Wiebke and Liz!

This was actually today, the 1st. Brunch today at Zoe's. I had a delicious sandwich and soup.

30 December 2007: Puppies, obviously

Blurry puppies. Not much of interest to take pictures of recently. I'll try to do better from now on.

29 December 2007: Drive to Louisville

It was lovely weather, as you can see. Like the barn, though.

28 December 2007: Lemons

Nighttime in the Jones kitchen. I just liked how the lemons looked in this light.