On Mini-Bios and a Moment in San Francisco

You know how sometimes, when you read a book on the topic of travel, or food, or love - or travel, food and love - you flip to the back cover to read:

"Susan Smith grew up in rural Vermont and studied International Socioeconomics at Harvard University. She met her husband in London and now lives in Paris with her 3 beautiful children and a dog named Bart."

Those little bios bug the heck out of me on MANY levels but mostly because they fail to mention the red tape, hundreds of documents and thousands of beads of sweat that go into a life (and love) lived abroad. Perhaps there is a limit to the amount of letters or words used. Or maybe that part just isn't that romantic.

I say all this because I have been back in the US this past week, wrestling with the French Consulate in San Francisco to obtain my Visa de Long Sejour - which will allow me to stay in France following my marriage to Mr. Yann. The good news: I WON. They gave me the visa!!!! The sort of bad news is: This is just the beginning of the paperwork process! YAY!

The last week has been a bit of a blur. I was able to see some dear friends and revisit American life - pizza and delicious IPA at Delphina Pizzeria, veggie burgers, amazing coffee at Four Barrel in the Mission District and breathing the clean, crisp, ocean air.

Here are a few photos of my time in San Fran. Yes, they have more to do with food than anything - come on, what did you expect?

Now I can take a deep sigh and look forward to the week ahead - the week that Yann and I get married. Woo hoo!