Visa: It’s Everywhere You Want to Be.
How does the competitor’s commercial go?
Trans-Atlantic flights to maintain a five-year long distance relationship: Several thousand dollars.
Rejected job offer in Newport Beach in favor of thankless temp jobs in the UK: I try not to think about it.
Finally getting to live with the love of your life in the country where you were born and raised: priceless.
GREAT NEWS!
Hubby got his visa to live in the US!
We are so, so happy. This has been a very longtime coming for us and I can’t believe it is actually happening now! We are hoping to be out by Christmas but it could be as late as January.
The wonderful day started with a 6 am workout and some Nutella-swirled oatbran.
Mmmm. I have all of my empty glass nut butter jars saved up for oat bran days. Thanks Heather 
It turns out that I have been able to pop home at lunch and do my own thing. I love it! How else could I have a lunch like this?
Not your mom’s leftovers.
NEW DISCOVERY!
I know what you’re thinking: licorice? But this tea does not taste like licorice. It tastes sweet and spicy and actually creamy.
I just love it!
Later, a filling smoothie.
I forgot to specify the contents of my smoothie the other day. A few of you emailed me to ask what was in it. It’s the same smoothie I always have:
- < 1 cup (200mL) Unsweetened Vanilla Almond Breeze (or soymilk)
- 1/2 frozen banana
- ~1/4 cup frozen blueberries
- ~4 cups spinach
- 1 scoop vanilla protein powder
It’s a great combination: sweet, creamy, filling, and pretty low-cal.
Best of all, it balances out celebratory drinks.
I love a glass of wine while I’m making dinner! What’s the saying? I love to cook with wine…sometimes I even put it in the food.
On the menu: Easy Ratatouille with chicken sausage
Sauté zucchini, onion, garlic, bell pepper, and Italian herbs in EVOO (I also throw in mushrooms if I have them). Add tomatoes and cook down. If serving with meat, add in cooked meat (tonight I used chicken sausage but normally I use shrimp). Add a splash of balsamic vinegar and serve with parmesan cheese.
Don’t forget the salad. Be sure it’s a big as your head if you are looking to re-create this meal.
Dessert was consumed in the form of popcorn and two GS cookies. Yum.
Thank you for all the positive feedback on the new blog look! Cory (AKA Zesty Cook) has been hard at work on it and plans to reveal it on his blog tomorrow. Please be sure to check it out!
For those of you who are bloggers and want a new look (or maybe you are not a blogger but want to start a blog), I definitely recommend Cory’s design services. He is very knowledgeable and easy to work with. Best of all, he is happy to do the technical stuff, suggest his ideas, and then let you make the fun decisions I won this blog makeover in a giveaway he held last summer, so I am especially grateful to him for following through and giving me great service despite it being complimentary. THANK YOU, CORY!
One of my favorite features of the new layout is the comments section. I can now interact so much easier! So please come back and check the comments section for replies and conversations!
Well guys, I am pooped! It has been a very long day and the weeks ahead are going to get very busy, very quick. Now that we have the visa, I am anticipating things to move very quickly with the move. Please cross your fingers for me! I am ready to go home!
Do you believe that home is one place, or that it can be many places? I am especially attached to “home,” because I was born in the same house I lived in until I was 18 and left for college. Even then, I stayed in California. Being away from that has been wonderful but also hard. Some people tell me that home is wherever you have felt happiest. But I have come to agree with this quote:
My home is not a place, it is people.
-Lois McMaster Bujold
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Congrats on your hub getting his Visa! I am very attached to ‘home’ – tho I think of it as many places. The house I grew up in, my family’s home, vacation spots..
Congratulations! That is such exciting news, and December or January will be here before you know it! I actually have a friend right now married to a UK citizen, living in Zurich and she wanted to start looking into getting back to the US. I will have to tell her about your success!
congrats! where will you be moving to?
Thank you! Bay Area, California.
Home is definitely where my family is. We could live in a tiny apartment and have it be plenty homey!
I think you got most of my nooch recipes covered…the tofu ricotta is pretty danged tasty too. It’s also good on steamed veggies with a little bit of Braggs. Do you have that in the UK?
Congratulations! You guys are going to be so close to us!
I think I can find Braggs at Whole Foods in London…I will check when we go next month! Thanks!
love the new blow layout!!
congrats to Matthew!! i am so excited you’ll be closer to me!!!
at least way more similar time schedules too!!
love the salmon dinner and chicken sausage too! I miss chicken sausages!! I need them back in my life asap!!!
GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK GOOD LUCK!
YAYYYYYYYYY
Congratulations Lara (and Matthew!)!!! I’m so happy for you two.
And Lara, I LOVE the new blog makeover, it’s so beautiful and soothing for the eyes!
HOORAY!!!
I agree with the quote!
Congratulations!
SO exciting!!!
The yogi chocolate tea is really good too…for tea, not as far as hot chocolate standards go
I always forget to come back and check comments! I only just realised that people respond in the comment section- I have enough trouble finding time to catch up with blogs as it is
so don’t think I am ignoring you if I don’t respond to a response!
Did you find the Quark?..
I haven’t had a chance to look for the Quark yet! I will let you know when I try it
1. Congrats on the visa and new blog layout – dec/jan is sooo close!
2. Where do you find oat bran and chicken sausage in the UK?
3. Are there any foods you’ll miss when you leave? I never imagined I’d miss too much but on my recent trip to the US I came back with pumpkin spice, ranch dressing and annie’s!
4. Home is definitely where my mom is – I’ve never lived at her new location but I still say I’m going home for christmas etc
I get my oat bran from the bulk bins at the Whole Foods in London. I have seen it at Holland & Barret though!
The chicken sausage was bought at the farmer’s market in our city. It’s the only place I can find them!
I don’t think there are many UK foods that I will miss. Maybe Heinz Baked Beans. I miss a TON of US foods. Basicaly anything my Annie’s, Amy’s, or Kashi!
Awww, Lara this is wonderful news! I am so happy for you guys.
Home is wherever my heart is entirely full. For the past 5 years of my life, I felt like I was wandering aimlessly without having a “real” home. I transfered from school to school, lived with a few different roomates. It wasn’t until I bought my first home and moved in with the love of my life (hubby!) that I finally felt home!
You will be in your home soon enough my dear!
holy crapppppppppppppppppppppp!!!!! CONGRATULATIONS!!!!!!!! thats seriously SO awesome for you and your hubs
Wow! This is such wonderful news! I’m so happy for you and a BIG congrats
By the way, your Nutella oats may be the best jarred oats I have ever seen. No lie.
Congratulations to both of you!! I know you must be over the top with excitement.
We have some good friends who were in the same situation as you, although she was the British citizen and he the American. I can’t remember exactly, but it did take some time for her to get her Visa as well! They’ve been in the states for quite a number of years now!
Home is where you create it. Hub and I have lived in 9 places in 9 yrs together but are now homeowners and are staying put. Needless to say, Ive recreated a home 9x. None are even remotely close to extended family so it’s all about you and what you choose and make of it. Congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Hey! I recognize that character- he made off with 100 pounds from the local chippy the other night, then spent it all on booze down the pub with his friends!
Nah, seriously, congrats a million times over!
” I love to cook with wine…sometimes I even put it in the food.” Want that as a tattoo.
Zesty has a real name?! I never knew!
I honestly feel at home in about 4 places. I think it’s where you go and feel at ease, and perhaps where you have friends or friendly acquaintances who recognize you. Where you feel comfortable in your skin. Can’t wait til you’re back in Cali!
HECK YES! This is sooo exciting. Congratulations to both of you. You must be so excited!
I love the new design of you blog. It is so fresh and everything looks so clean. I’m so jealous!
Congratulations!! That is such great news for you two – woo!! Also, love the new blog look!! And you make that Ratatouille sound so simple – love it.
I think home is many places. I have my home, Auburn where I went to college feels like home and where I grew up – it’s all about familiarity and great memories for me!
I love that quote–but I can’t help that feel that NYC always has been and always will be my home. I’d be open to Spain again, though
Congrats on the visa!!! That’s so exciting!
And your description of that tea makes me reeeeally want to try it; is it available in the US?
Woo Hoo! Congratulations and welcome back to the US! I like the new design of your blog, too
CONGRATS TO YOUR HUBBY!!!! Hooray!!! Ive been reading at work, but today is the first day I remembered to look at the new layout when I got home, and WOW does it look fantastic!!
totally and completely obsessed with your oats in nutella jar! brilliant!
Congratulations! I am very happy that everything has worked out and good luck with the upcoming move.
Also, I have never heard that quote but I love it. I basically could make my home anyplace that is close to my family.
Lara – Congrats to you for properly checking out your boy’s home life in the UK, and making it your own, that’s no small feat and you’ll remember all those quirky things forever!
Matt – Congrats to you for proposing to Lara in the first place, smart move my Man and Congrats again for following a somewhat crazy notion that the California weather might be a tad better than ‘ol blighty…hang on, that’s wot I did.
Home? ….. it’s whereever you really can be you
Cheers & we’re so looking forward to you being here – and of course, don’t forget to practice your best American accent….the locals can get unruly when they hear those foreign British accents.
Thanks, Mr. & Mrs. Smoothiegirlshubbieluvieeatstoooooomuchchocolatesometime!
SO exciting lara!!!!!!!!! I didn’t know that the visa was the reason keeping u guys in the uk?? If u move back to the OC we haaaave to get together
My momz is bringing my blender tomorrow (ha and herself of course!) woooo hoo!
Again, congratulations and hurray! I am so, so happy for you both and can hear your happiness through this post! So exciting to have light shining at the end of your tunnel of patience
ahhhh!!!! so excited he got his VISA!!!!!! and if you’re gonna be back in the OC we definitely need to meet up!!! so exciting!!!!
Aww congratulations to you and your hubby!! That is soooo exciting! Hearing that you survived a trans-atlantic relationship for 5 years gives me hope. I’ve been in a long distance relationship for a year now, and my boyfriend is in Hong Kong while I am in the US. Thanks for the inspiration and congrats again!
Congratulations!!! How exciting! And I agree, home is all about the people. But it’s hard when the people that are important to us are so far apart…
Congrats!! That is so exciting! I know how long you’ve been waiting!
I’m definitely loving that salmon. It’s my favorite fish.. it’s pretty much delicious with any seasonings too!
And dinner looks fabulous as usual
Sometimes I wonder how I can eat so much veggies at one time!
CONGRATS LARA! THAT IS SOOOOOOO EXCITING!
i am so happy that you two are sooo happy and just plain excited for you!
Yay for the Visa!! That’s so exciting. Now the husband will get to see what life is like across the Atlantic! I have a feeling you might miss England a little, however…but what an experience to have lived abroad. I would love to do that sometime…
I gave my mom a magnet for Mother’s Day that said, “Home is where Mom is.” Maybe I’m a little too attached to my mom, but it’s true! My mom can make any place feel like home!
Eeeek congrats!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That’s so exciting
Love the new look, by the way.
Congratulations!! That’s so home eheh
Well, home for me is definitely the people.
We’ve moved one time and we have another house in the south of Portugal.. but if I’m with them I’m home. 
congrats hun
thats so fantastic! Im so excited for you!!
Ooo oats in a nutella jar? i like that idea, nutellas the best!
and dinner looks so yummy!
Congratulations to you both!
Food looiks gorgeous too!
If there is one person who can understand how important this visa is its me! I am so happy for you Lara.. this has been a long time coming! Is Matthew just as excited as you are?! Your family and friends in Cali must be over the moon!!! I know mine would be!
Thanks, Leah! I know you understand
Yes, they are all thrilled! So is Matthew 
really nice new look…so pretty and so girly!
Love the new look!
Egyptian licorice is my FAVORITE tea!!
xo
K
congrats on the visaaaaaa!! so happy for you! your blog looks amazing girl! xoxo
Love love love the new layout. Congrats on the visa — that is fantastic.
Congrats!! I’m so happy you get to come back! You never know, maybe now we can meet up for a glass of vino sometime.
California’s not too far from Colorado. Compared to the UK that is!
Thanks for mentioning the glass jars issue. I always forget to say something when I see other bloggers using plasic ones….I only buy my nut butter in glass jars just for that reason!
A wine meet-up would be fabulous…and perhaps the first in health blogger history!
I would never use a plastic jar, either. It’s so dangerous but I don’t want to get too preachy on here. I’m glad you agree!
Congrats on your husband’s visa! That’s awesome. My mom is from Peru and someday I hope to get citizenship there. And I do agree with that quote. Wherever family is, that’s where home is. Although I do miss my Seattle!
Love your new look! Great job Zesty and Lara!
Enjoy!
Oh yay! I am so happy for you guys!
Yay for the hubby’s visa! That’s great for you both.
CONGRATS!! How exciting – I’m so happy for you two!
Nutella oats in a jar sounds even better than PB oats in a jar! Haha love the wine quote!
I was born and raised in the same house that I currently live in so this is home for me
Congrats to you man! How exciting to be making a long awaited journey soon. Your dinner looks great. I love me some chicken sausage
~Justine
Yay for you guys!!! I know how excited you must be feeling about going home.
I think home is where your family and school friends are in a way, but the lines blur over time. I’m not sure that the UK will ever feel like home to me. Unless global warming speeds up.
That’s so awesome! And the bay area, okay, reallyyy jealous now.
Yeah for DH getting his Visa – the perfect Christmas present for sure!!
That heart plate is super cute.
Zesty designed my site too – he does such fantastic work. LOVE how yours turned out.