I Was Welcomed Home.........

This morning I became an American citizen!

So today was my Naturalization Ceremony! It was AWESOME. It took us an HOUR to get downtown from Mentor on the Lake what with the snow and we were running like idiots to get to the court house on time for 8:00 am......

Luckily lots of other people were running late so that was good.

There were roughly 250+ people in the room and the people who were there for me took over a full row! The people who were being sworn in were asked to go to the front and sign paperwork and we received a nice letter from the President, the Governor and the Senators. Then the judge came in at about 9:15 and gave a nice speech about how America isn't a 'melting pot' but more of a 'stew'........ You had to have been there! LOL

A friend of mine had told me that at a ceremony he had been to the judge gave people the opportunity to come to the front and give some kind of speech about what the whole ceremony meant to them. I didn't have anything prepared really, but everyone who was there for me urged me to say something. I went to the front of the room, thanked everyone for being there for me (cried a bit) and gave a short speech. Then I sat down. I was the only person who got up to say anything.

Then we were sworn in "Raise your right hand ........" etc., and Bob's your Uncle it was over and done with! We were handed our certificates and it was over. It was a really REALLY nice ceremony and I'm so happy that I had people there for me - and I wish the ones that couldn't get there for weather/work reasons could have been there but I understand completely. Michelle took LOADS of photographs and one person made a video of the whole thing so I'm sure Michelle will make that available as and when.....

What a great great day! Someone came up to me afterward and thanked me for saying what I said and that it mean A LOT to them.......

When I was handed my certificate I was told "Welcome Home....."

As if the day so far wasn't good enough, I came home to find a video that was sent by my best friend Michael and a few other friends!

It made me cry! Thank you EVERYONE! Really, THANK YOU!

Awesomely Neglected!

Really, this blog has become somewhat of a red-headed step-child. Neglected. I started so well, yet here I am blogging what, once a month? Yet somehow, I think about it often, and I have to say that EVERY day something happens I think, Oh, I should blog about that, but then other stuff happens and by the end of the day, I'm just too tired and figure "You know what? I'll tell them tomorrow"

We all know how tomorrows go right?

But here I am.

What to tell you? Oh, I met a couple of famous people while I was in Vegas recently. I say met, I only physically touched one - I KNOW! but the others were in the same taxi line so as things go in the "I met someone famous" world, I met them OK?

In a nutshell, Jack Osbourne who looked as high as a kite and Malcolm in the Middle who was undressing me with his eyes and giving me the come hither look yet, he's about 2 feet tall and weighs a buck fifty if he's wet through. I was 'touched' by Andy Sipowicz - Dennis Franz of NYPD fame. The heel of my brand new boots snapped and he caught me as it happened. Cool huh?

One of the main reasons this blog is neglected is that my interest in photography has increased ten-fold and while having a Flickr account is awesome I have taken it a step further and now have my OWN website which you can find here at Photographs by Andrea dot com! I figured I'd give it a go. Feel free to leave me a comment in the contact page to say hey and to ask me to take your portraits!

Go on. Do it now! I'll wait. *waits*

Let me think what else has happened. Daniel got his school photographs this morning and they look pretty good, complete with the GREAT BIG HICKEY he has on his neck. Yeah, they zapped all the zits he had but couldn't get rid of the hickey? Are you kidding me?

I was reading an article in the paper the other day about some Frenchinasian woman starting her immigration process one day and by the next she was a citizen. Fuck me! Well, it actually took about 4 months but really, I'm already over a year. I put a call into the lawyer and she said she had a call into the Immigration service and they should get back in a couple of days as to what the hold up is. I won't hold my breath if you know what I mean!

It is officially October 1st today which you all know means one thing. It's my birthday month. As much as I HATE getting older, the lead up to my birthday is every bit as exciting as the actual day. George and I were driving somewhere the other day and I asked him "Am I 35 or 36 next?" He almost crashed. Apparently I am going to be a whopping 38! Where the frig did those last couple of years go? Can someone tell me? Anyway, back to the month of October..... Every day will be marked in a special way by me. Probably in a photographic way but marked either way.

Briefly, other things that need to be mentioned.

• Why do the people who make toilet doors leave such a bloody huge gap between the door and the frame? I mean, if I wanted people to see me pee then I'd gladly leave the door open. I don't because I don't!
• Commercials. Don't need to see them unless they have Peyton Manning in there somewhere.
• Fall TV season is back and I'm thrilled shitless.
• I have one more trip to England coming at the end of this month, just after my birthday so I am TOTALLY looking forward to that.
• Chicago. That's all I want to say. Chicago *smiles*

That's about it. I WILL be back but until then, check me out at my other places of residence.

catch y'all later!