Hurry Up and Wait

That has pretty much been our motto for the past couple of weeks!  We've been doing a lot, and then waiting for the next step.  And then doing a lot... and then waiting for the next step!

We had an awesome week at the beach in Topsail, NC with Will's fam!  There were great fireworks, delicious food, and lots of laying on the beach, reading books- the best kind of beach week, if you ask me!

We left the beach a day early in order to start pulling together all of our paperwork for our VISAs.  It was not as simple as it may sound.  We found out that we would have to apply in person to get a VISA.  And guess where our nearest Spanish Consulate is.  DC?  Atlanta?  Nope!  Miami!  So we scheduled appointments as early as we could- July 24th.  And started prepping! 

Step one:  Get Georgia Driver's Licenses.  Two visits (because of course we didn't have all the paperwork the first time around!) and 4 and a half hours later... we would have our new driver's licenses' in 7-10 business days.  Note, mine still hasn't arrived while Will's came in the mail a week ago. 

Step two:  We needed medical certificates stating that we're free of any major illnesses from a doctor.  And they needed to be translated into Spanish.  Okayyyy.

Step three:  We needed background checks that have been notarized and received an apostille.  (An apostille is kind of like an international notary)  But you cannot get an apostille just anywhere!  They do them in Atlanta!  Since we needed them sooner than later, we had to go in person and get them done.  Then they had to be translated into Spanish.

Heading to ATL for an Apostille!!

Step four:  Copy everything we own a bazillion times and drive down to Miami for our scheduled appointments.

Have you ever seen a Peruvian Restaurant?  They're all over Miami.
This was new to us!  But our Seafood Parilla was amazing.

Step five:  It turns out "scheduled" is a loose term because we got to our appointment an hour early and waited two and a half hours. 

All set for our appointments!

Step six:  Have a lot of money.  It turns out none of this is free...

Step seven:  Drive the eight+ hours back home and wait 3-4 weeks for our passports to arrive and pray they have a VISA in them. 

All went smoothly at our appointments!!

And of course we had to stop by Cincinnati's local/favorite restaurant because there just happens to be one in Fort Lauderdale.

It's Skyline Time!



I was in heaven with my Chili Burrito Bowl

There are a lot of steps I left out... but that's the gist of it all.  I'm not gonna lie, it's a lot.  But it's also been fun.  Nothing like throwing in a little confusion, stress, and 1,600 miles of travelling, in a week's time!  We've learned a few things here and there and have gotten better (and not so much better) along the way.  For instance, we now carry lots of cash on us at all times since we never know how much we'll need to pay for something.  And personal checks are never accepted.  We also know to double and triple check everything we do.  "Are you sure these aren't supposed to be notarized?  Can you just do it anyways?"  This part hasn't been the most fun, but it's definitely pushed us and made us realized this is really what we want to do.  Every now and then we look at each other and squeal (Will mainly) "We're moving to Spain!!!!".  :)  And that's what keeps us going. 

And oh yea, this also happened a few weeks ago.

Thanks, Ridley.  That's so thoughtful of you to capture a snake and bring it into the house.
 



Luckily I was in Jacksonville celebrating my dear friend, Lisa's bachelorette party! 
So Will was left to handle that one :)