Now We're Cooking

I got word last night that finally (FINALLY) my paperwork from France is on its way to me here in Ohio. This is fantastical news, because it has been nearly 10 business days since they submitted it, and it was supposed to take 5. I had originally planned to fly on this Tuesday, and I am soooo glad I didn't buy a ticket. It appears I will be heading to Chicago on Tuesday or Wednesday for a morning visa appointment.

(QUICK RANT: so I had devised a plan to get to Chicago sans vehicle--there's an overnight MegaBus from Columbus to Chicago that gets in around 7am. French consulate visa appointments are all in the morning, so PERFECT, right? Upon closer inspection, the bus only runs on Thurs-Sun nights. Wait, what? So then I started looking up all matters of train/bus combinations that will get me into Chicago in the morning. I looked at Indianapolis, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Toledo, Columbus, etc. Basically there is NO WAY that I can get to Chicago around 9-10am without spending the night somewhere first (i.e. hotel). And no matter where I spend the night, I have to be up between 3-7am. Oh, and the places to spend the night are NOT convenient for me--there are some people I would LOVE to stay with, but the transportation only really works from the random locations. And I'd still have to drive into Chicago. And it's all very expensive and stupid. Basically....I HATE OHIO.)

Anyway!

What this all means is that I'm finally about to have an actual flight! Things are going to move very quickly now. Which means I have about 85 more things to do in the next 10 days. I have to start packing, I need to make sure I have my prescriptions in order, I have to get all my visa paperwork together, I've got to BUY a flight (yikes), I need to set up money transfers. Holy cannoli. But finally--FINALLY--I feel like it's actually happening.

If all goes well with the visa stuff, it looks like I'll fly around October 4th. Yay!



P.S. Yesterday was my mommy's birthday and we went to this antiques show in Granville, which is the cutest little town ever. And she told me that if I were to stay and NOT go to France I could get some of the amazing furniture and also we could get two more rescue Dalmatians. I mean, I'm going to France. But now when I get back I'm obviously adopting more dogs.

(Left: cake I made for Mom; Middle: dresser I love; Right: rescue Dalmatian)