Happy holidays

Happy holidays everyone.  

Since the last time I posted we have been in and out of lock down.  We are about to enter out third lockdown starting the day after Christmas and lasting till the first of February- as of now.  Happy Christmas to us.  If I had the money, I would buy disposable masks and hand them out to every one who seems to refuse to wear one in the stores.  My Christmas gift to them  :)  

  Seems fitting for 2020- even when we are suppose to be in a lockdown.  

My little flat has decided to have a little drama of its own these past few months.  Rob and I were locked out of my flat (we had keys) but some how the lock had jammed (in terms from over here the snib dropped- in terms for back home the deadbolt locked and jammed).  The landlords came and the guy from upstairs came and they ended up having to run into the door and busting through it. So that night I had no lock on my door.  The amazing boyfriend that I have, worked it out to wedge something below the door so it would not open since he knows my anxiety was through the roof.  While this was going on we also noticed water was starting to leak in my laundry room.  The following week there was even more water in my laundry room.  The washing machine from upstairs had busted.  It gave true meaning to "When it rains, it pours."  Luckily, I have a lock on my door now and the person upstairs got a new machine.  All that's left is to get the door frame fixed.  My sofa is falling apart, but that's my fault.  I accidently stepped on it last year when I had strep and a chest infection.  My sofa pulls out to a sofa bed.  I spent most of December 2019 on this bed writing my thesis and when I got up I stepped right on the seem.  I'm thinking of setting up a Go-Fund-Me page for a new sofa.  Anyone want to contribute?  Maybe the flat is cursed.

I hosted my first Thanksgiving.  It was stressful.  I have never cooked for more than 2 people.  This year I cooked for 4.  Rob and I hosted it at my flat for his dad and one of their neighbor friends and we Skyped in my mom.  Cooking stresses me out anyways, but I wanted it to be perfect.  It turned out well and everyone had a great time.  Friday, Rob and I skyped my mom and we ended our Thanksgiving with a game of Scattergories.  It was Rob's first time to play my favorite game.  He came in second.  :)  It was a lot of fun and it worked well over Skype.  Our Thanksgiving movie of choice was The Nightmare before Christmas.  I had never seen it, and it seemed appropriate as it was a mixture of Halloween and Christmas so a Thanksgiving movie it was!

Anyways, the weather has become colder which I love.  People have started putting up their Christmas lights.  Its not as big over here as it back home.  It is nice as some people decorate their houses, and have charity boxes out front and ask people to donate as they look at their houses.  It was nice.  Imagine if that happened back home and if everyone who went all out on decorating their houses had charity boxes and people donated each time they came to look at the houses?  It seems like a lovely idea.  My boyfriend and I made a night of it.  We got hot chocolate, and drove around looking at the lights, and then came back to my flat and watched some Christmas movies.  It was nice.  

  

Not much news on the job front- the pandemic has made it harder and harder to find a job.  Fingers crossed for a Christmas miracle in terms of a job, please.  I wonder if Santa can grant that Christmas wish?   

I'm preparing for my second Christmas with Rob's family.  I enjoyed last Christmas, so I am sure I will enjoy this Christmas.  I am thankful this amazing family has welcomed me into their home and hearts and made me feel so welcomed.  They are amazing people and I absolutely love them.  

Other than that not much has really happened.    I hope you all are safe and healthy and whatever your holiday plans are you enjoy them.  

Have a wonderful Christmas and a Happy New Year!  Let's hope 2021 is a better year for us all!  

Catching up

Sorry for the long break between posts this year.  What a crazy whirl wind year 2020 has been. 

In February, my boyfriend, Rob and I celebrated 1 year together.  :)  It has been a fantastic year together.  I truly lucked out.  

At the start of March, I successfully defended my thesis!  :D  I am now Dr. Natalie.  I think it has a nice ring to it.  I got to present my work with a slide show and then went through my thesis with question and answers.  Rob and I celebrated with lunch and drinks and a huge sigh of relief it was over.  I miss my project though.  I really enjoyed my topic.  In March, I also started a research assistant post.  Luckily, I could work from home with the post.  This post was focused on exercise, so it was nice going back to my undergraduate days.  

I celebrated my birthday while in quarantine, probably like a lot of people this year.  I didn't mind.  I got to skype family.  I got coffee from a café and dinner from the pizza place on my block and after dinner I had a very British birthday cake of Collin the Caterpillar!  :D  It was a nice relaxing day.  

However, 5 days after my birthday I landed in the hospital.  Happy belated birthday to me!  It started with a trip to the eye doctor because I was seeing spots only at night when I closed my eyes.  Next thing I am in the hospital being told I need a lumbar puncture because there was pressure around the brain and swelling along my optic nerves.  So there I was, in a hospital room, scared to death in the middle of the pandemic, and not able to have hospital visitors.  I do have the most amazing boyfriend though.  The food was rubbish and I had no clothes for the next few days.  He was generous enough to make me dinner and bring me clean clothes each night.  He stood outside my window and we got to talk on the phone.  Yeah, I truly lucked out.  :)  He is a real trooper driving all that way that week and putting up with my stress over the situation.  Unfortunately, the medical mystery still continues.  I have had CT and MRI scans and waiting results from the MRI.  I have had eye exams and the pressure has been decreased, but the swelling is still there a bit.  Fingers crossed for results that provide answers.  

Graduation would have been in July.  A little bummed I didn't get to walk, but hopefully next year this mess will have settled down and graduation will be back on. Sad my family couldn't come, but hopefully next year they will come and celebrate with me!  The local café gave free strawberries and cream milkshake (or coffee in my case) for graduating!  That was good.  

Most of the places have opened back up, but it is still a crazy time.  Outside of work and writing papers, I have been able to catch up on a lot of TV and movies.  I finished Game of Thrones, Sense 8, The Witcher, Cursed, and probably some more.  I highly recommend Sense 8.  I really liked that show.  I introduced Rob to the world of ice hockey with the Mighty Ducks and Miracle.  I have also taken up Zumba and have been doing that 3-5 times a week- some with the leisure center instructors over Zoom and some with Youtube videos.  That has been fun. 

In August the government introduced a eat out to help out scheme, where your meal is 50% off Monday through Wednesday at participating places and if you sit in.  I have been taking advantage of that through weekly coffee get togethers with friends and some cheap meals before hospital appointments.  Today, my coffee was 1.47£ and it was great!  That is probably one of the cheapest coffees I have ever had here.  It was nice.  I also went to a work lunch and walk in the castle gardens today.  That was lovely.  It was also anxiety provoking too.  In the castle grounds there is a long pond, and on the walk way tons of ducks.  Luckily, it rained yesterday so the walkway was muddy and happened to be that way where all the ducks were sitting.  So I let the 2 guys walk close to the ducks and I walked in the grass.  I survived!  It was a beautiful garden.  My lunch- chicken salad had vegetables that were grown in the garden.  It was good.  

Trees leading up the ton-of-duck- pond

Vegetable garden in the castle grounds.  

Hopefully the next few months will be calm and answers will come.  I hope you all are safe and healthy and I hope it stays that way.  

Love to all

Happy 2020

Hello all.  Sorry its been a very long time since I updated.  So much has happened, but I'll try to keep it brief.

To start, on Tuesday the 28th of January, I submitted my Thesis.  I met my goal of submitting it before I started demonstrating this year.  87, 000+ words later it is submitted and now being sent to my external and internal examiners.  It is crazy to think it is over now.  I am relieved, but sad it is coming to an end.  Three years over just like that.  I celebrated with breakfast  (Gluten free French Toast) and coffee at one of my favorite places.

I have drank so much coffee in this write up stage that I had enough free coffee to redeem after each chapter (I had 10 chapters).  I also became ill while the write up was in its final stages.  Tring to write while having strep and a chest infection was not fun.  But I got there in the end.

Now I am patiently waiting for my defense and graduation!  I am ready for my family to come to see me graduate as a PhD researcher.

Outside of thesis writing and submitting, I attended my first pub quiz.  Our team ended up in the middle, so not bad.  However, I did win 3 raffle prizes.  I have saved my bottle of Prosecco that I won for the day I submitted... Celebration for sure!  I spent Christmas and Boxing Day with my boyfriend's family.  It was a lot of fun.  They are such amazing people and I have been lucky to be welcomed with open arms.  I also cooked my first Thanksgiving meal and attended the lighting of the town Christmas lights.  The holidays were nice.  I also received a nice email from my supervisors on Christmas telling me how good my literature review was for my thesis.

The town put monsters on the buildings for Halloween.  It was fun to see.  Also in October, I went to Dunluce Castle which was really cool.

In July and August, I had some friends visit from the states.  It was great spending the day with them.

Also in July, I got to experience my first 12th.  I loved sitting in my flat on the window sill and watching the parade.    When I first moved over here I was told not to go out on the 12th and that it was a dangerous day.  It was anything but dangerous.  The bands were amazing and I went to my boyfriend's brother's house as the majority of his family and band members gathered.  I'm looking forwards to next years.  Mom will be here to experience it as well.

In June, I moved to a new flat.  My first flat and my first flat off campus!  Its been a nice place to live.  Its near one of my favorite food places and just across the bridge to town (probably about a 2-3 minute walk to the town center).  Its a nice one bedroom flat with my own laundry room.  I was beyond lucky enough to have the furniture (all but the bed and one wardrobe) donated to me.

Other than that, it's the same old news.  Walks along the seaside towns, school, demonstrating, and now job hunting.

Well that is it for now.  Hopefully, I will update more often.  :)

Miss you all.  <3