Lesley and Jonathan

I received a letter yesterday from the Consulate General of Canada in Buffalo informing me the permanent resident application was sent to NYC to expedite processing. Buffalo, Detroit, Los Angeles, New York, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. all have visa offices in the United States; however, only Buffalo processes immigration applications. Apparently starting in 2006, Buffalo began sending applications to the various Visa offices in the United States to handle the workload.

This means that our case can be finished much sooner than expected. Perhaps we will hear something next week or while we are in Florida!

Stay tuned…

I flew into Toronto Friday night to spend the weekend in Toronto. Just as the plane was taking of it began to snow in NY. I was glad we weren’t delayed, or worse, canceled. This is always a tricky time of year to travel given the cold, ice, and snow. When I arrived at Pearson, Lesley was there to greet me with the sniffles. It was her turn to be sick.

Saturday morning I woke up nice an early to setup the Rogers HD box to the new flat screen in the living room. It was great to finally watch something other than CP24. The rest of the weekend was uneventful, except for me taking part in the first “guys night out.” Mark, Andrew, and cousin Bryan headed over to my favorite pub 2Cats (I actually despise the place) and we left there to see one of Andrew’s friends who was playing in a band. We arrived just in time to see them packing up their equipment. After a few drinks we headed home. Not bad for the first night out and I’m certain there will be a lot more!

I woke up bright and early today (4:45) to hop on a bus to Pearson. There’s nothing quite like dragging your luggage through the snow; thankfully the bus stop is only a few blocks away. Just before take-off we stopped off at the de-icing zone; where, interestingly enough it was the first time I was in a plane who’s wings were covered in snow and ice. Fun times! And for added measure, today marks 3 months to the date Lesley and I said “I Do.” 1/4th of a year!

So not much happened this weekend; which was fine by me. It’s nice to relax at home sometimes and not run around. Next time, we will make up for it for sure.

By the way, I just added some photos from NYE. Go check them out by clicking the photos link above!

I know what you must be thinking, I am a terrible god mother. It took 3 weeks, but I finally met my nephew and he is sooo cute. On January 13th I got up bright and early to catch the 8:30 am flight to NYC to meet my nephew.

Jonathan and I made a pit stop in Brooklyn Heights for brunch, and then to the Brooklyn Museum to catch the Annie Leibovitz and Ron Mueck exhibits: http://www.brooklynmuseum.org/exhibitions/ …both were great. The Ron Mueck exhibit is fantastic. He works with Silicone and fiberglass to create larger than or smaller than life-size sculptures with details so real you expect the subjects to move. For my Canadian friends, this exhibit will next be in Ottawa at the National Gallery of Canada. Jonathan appreciated the photographic talents of Annie Leibovitz as did I, but I had the added benefit of viewing some of her work that has been published in Vogue and Vanity Fair. I recently went back to school at Ryerson for a Certificate in Fashion Styling in Co-ordination (so maybe I will get extra credits in class tonight. I am not sure if our trip to Anthropologie and Coach on 5th Ave on Sunday counts as extra credit!!).

Anyway, Ethan was definitely the star of the show this weekend and I am looking forward to seeing him again soon.

I received the Acknowledgment of Receipt (AOR) letter from Buffalo yesterday. My application was placed in a “priority queue awaiting assessment.” That means we are now one step closer to Canadian Permanent Residency! The e-Client Application Status (e-CAS) now reflects my application is In-Process. If I were to guess how long it would take to complete the process, I would say some time at the end of February; if not sooner. The closer we get, the more exciting it gets.