Always an adventure

 Happy belated New Year!  The end of 2021 was a busy one! 

Since I last posted, I am still loving my job and have started demonstrating anatomy for the medical students.  I love both.  The medical school got Anatomage tables, which I had never seen before and was like a kid in a candy store the day I got to use one.  They are very interesting tables, not only showing humans, but animal anatomy too.  They allow you to 'dissect' whole bodies, sections, and organs and go through clinical cases.  My thoughts: they are good, but not as good as cadavers.  There is nothing like actually putting your hands on a heart or a femur- and for future doctors, I feel that is really important.  Outside of work, I joined the local leisure center and started Zumba 2x a week and Pilates (when it doesn't interfere with work).  Pilates is a bit better than at the uni but for some reason this country doesn't seem to do it in the order or speed that I am use to/taught.  I have fallen in love with Zumba though.  

October was my boyfriends birthday!  He got a nice surprise stay a seaside town.  We walked around the town, saw the castle, had a nice dinner, and went to the cinema for the first time in over a year! We saw the second Venom film- it was very good.  The next day we went to Belfast and spent the day walking around there.  I think I can say he was very surprised and I was shocked I kept it a secret for over a month!  :)  I loved seeing his face and the shock.  It was so fun!  We also carved our first pumpkin!  We carved baby Yoda!  And he turned out quite cute.  

 

In November, my first friend I made here, had a baby shower!  She and I were flat mates back in 2015 and have stayed friends since.  My first NI baby shower.  :)  She did give birth to a healthy baby girl in December and I cannot wait to meet the little one.  I also found a new sofa!  Why is this such a big deal?  The other one I had when I moved in, I broke about 6 months after I got it (opps) and we have been sitting on it ever since.  So when my boyfriend spotted this one- I claimed it and got it delivered.  The old one folded out to a bed- foam mattress, when I was sick with strep and trying to write my thesis, I accidently stepped on the seem and ripped it.  So to fold it back to a sofa and have it stay was never quite the same.  It was causing so much hip and back pain- it was time to get rid of it.  The new one- a large 3 seater recliner.  Not broken, comfy, and no pain.  :)  We also celebrated Thanksgiving, a few times.  Pilates and Zumba were on Thursday so I went to those.  After Pilates I treated myself to a Thanksgiving coffee like I do every year on that day.  I did some work and then went to Pilates.  When I came home, I was surprised with a Thanksgiving dinner my boyfriend made for me.  It was such a lovely, thoughtful surprise.  We then celebrated Thanksgiving on Saturday while skyping my mom.  

December, I think was my favorite part of the year.  Back in October it was announced that this CPD course I follow online has limited spaces available due to COVID and will be running this year.  So I jumped on it.  What was it?  A day in London dissecting the upper limb on cadavers!  Happy days!  So my boyfriend and I planed a few days before and a few days after the course to travel to London.  My first time in London!  And what is better than going to London for the first time than getting your hands on cadavers?!  I don't know!  London was amazing!  So many people though!  Oh gosh.  As a kid I wanted to live in NYC.  As a 30+ year old moving to a rural town to do a PhD, I wanted to move to a city like NYC, but I have grown to love this town I am in and London has far too many people for me.  We did so much in London, I will give the highlights.  We went to the Doctor Who store,  saw Phantom of the Opera- both AMAZING!  I absolutely loved it.  I want to go back and watch it again!  If you haven't seen it as a play- go see it!  The movie doesn't do it justice!  We went to Leicester Square, Trafalgar Square, Buckingham Palace, Westminster, Tower Bridge, Cafe in the Crypt, Hamley's, Regent Street, and so much more.  So my favorite places in London, so far, The Theatre Cafe (We had a Charlie and the hot chocolate), Nathalie's cafe, and Grom.  Cotto was lovely, Cafe on the Crypt, Whole Foods, and  Honest Burger.  Those are just the food places.  I loved walking around seeing all the sites, especially Leister Square, Piccadilly, and Trafalgar Square- I loved the movie statues and seeing all the theatres.  The Theatre cafe was an accidental find on our part after Phantom.  We happened to come across it and the fact that everything is theatre based, the drinks, the décor, the music in the background- I was in Heaven!  Nathalie's cafe served the best coffee I have ever had!  Yes, you read that right.  That mocha was the best mocha ever!  I want to go back just for those 2 cafes!  And then there was Grom.  This place was recommended by a Gluten free blogger- everything in this ice cream place is gluten free- biscuits, cones, ice cream with biscuits- 100% GF!  Although I was stuffed from dinner, when do I get the chance to have a 100% GF ice cream dish from the cone to the topping?!  It was so good!  My course was fantastic.  I admit I was a bit disappointed that there were no scalpels involved but, to learn on cadavers again- even if it was for a day was well worth it.  As an anatomist, I have found that when I think of the upper arm, I think of it as a whole.  The wrist, hand, forearm, etc are made up of many muscles, bones, but I found myself thinking of them as one unit.  It is hard to explain.  I know my arm can pronate and supinate, but this course  reminded me  to think of all of the muscles as individuals that make my arm pronate and supinate- not just one large muscle group.  I also met two new girls who have become instant friends.  To this day we have kept in contact, sent each other anatomy (and normal) notes, tips, and jokes. Who knew there were others like me that lived for this thing?! After the course we met up with my boyfriends brother and his girlfriend.  We went to a pub, saw a few sights, and went to Cotto (Another place recommended to me).  The laughs and memories were amazing.  We finally found Cotto, and they accommodated us even though we did not have a reservation. It was amazing GF food from a lovely Italian family.   I was even given GF rolls before my pizza!  I was included!  :)  The memories, laughs, photos, new friends, and new food from London were amazing.  Even though I fell the last night we were there, it was still a magical place.  And what can I say- what holiday is it, where I do not get injured in some form?!  :D  I think it is fair to say, I miss London.  I spent another Christmas and Boxing Day with my boyfriend and his family.  We played Bingo, Charades, and Who Am I.  I love spending time with their family and getting to know them.  It was so much fun.  I rang in the new year with my boyfriend and his dad.  We celebrated by doing a Marvel puzzle, skyping my best friend, and my mom.  It was a nice way to bring in the new year.  

That leaves us to January.  Its been a fairly quite month.  This weekend we went to see the Best of the Westend and Broadway at the same theatre we had our first date.  :)  Would you believe it will be 3 years in February?!  It has been an amazing 3 years.  We are also going to some anatomy events!  I am so lucky my boyfriend doesn't mind coming/being dragged to these events.  :D   

Graduation is finally happening as well, which means mom is coming!  I am excited for both- finally get to graduate with my PhD and finally get to see my mom.  I haven't seen her since December 2018.   

Here's to graduation, mom's visit, plays/talks, and who knows what else 2022 has in store! 

Better late than never

 Wow, it has been a long time since I have posted.  Is it too late to blame it on the pandemic?  

Quite a bit has happened since December 2020, when I last posted one of these.  

January 2021..   Since I didn't get to wish you all a happy new year: Happy New Year everyone!  :)  I rang in the New Year with my boyfriend, his dad, my best friend and her family, and my mom.  No, I wasn't back home.  The joys of Skype made it all possible for everyone to ring in the New Year here.  It was nice.  Back home, if I wasn't celebrating with family I would be bringing in the New Year with my best friend so it was nice to do that again.  New Years day I introduced my boyfriend to some traditions we have for good luck- such as eating black eyed peas and corn bread...  I think we all could use some luck after the year 2020.  And as he could tell you, I pulled out every good luck New Years food tradition I could probably think of.  And if anyone wants to know, corn bread is really hard and different to make over here.  

Well, the good luck of New Years eve must have worked as the start of February, I was offered a job.  It was only suppose to be for 2 months but turned into 6 months.  It was about a 45 minute trip away from where I lived and well, oddly, thanks to COVID, my train ticket was free because I worked on hospital grounds.  I am starting to think I should eat black eye peas and the corn bread again this year.  The job was working with the university in conjunction with the hospital and looking at a faster COVID testing method.  I met some really nice people up there, one who shares my love for Orphan Black and shows like that.  She has became a really good friend to me.  Also in February, my boyfriend and I celebrated 2 amazing years together.  We had coffee/hot chocolate from Tim Hortons, where we had our semi first date. 

So March-June are kind of a blur on what happened as work kind of took over and some nights I was working till 1 am and then getting up at 5/6 to catch the train. I have been a doctor for a year?!  Crazy!  A lot of coffee was drunk during the time. I did get to see the eclipse in June!  That was cool.  

  It is a little hard to see, but I promise it is there.

During this time my boyfriends brother came to visit as their dad was having heart surgery.  I finally got to meet brother number 2, and I think it is fair to say we got along great.  There were laughs, jokes, and pure craziness.  And then his girlfriend came and added even more laughs, jokes and craziness.  It helped with the stress of the surgery/health situation there dad was going through and I made two new friends.  She and I have a lot in common and I was so sad when she had to go back home for work.  It was nice celebrating my birthday 2 weekends in a row.  Their dad came home on my birthday, which was a nice gift.  I loved celebrating my birthday with my boyfriend's family, especially with his brother who was visiting.  Due to the events on the actual birthday, every place we tried for my birthday dinner was booked solid.  Crazy?!  Who would have thought so many people would want to go out to eat after being locked down for so long!  :)  It worked out in the end.  We got to a new place that served a lot of gluten free options and well the cocktails were nice too.  

July came and I must say, it has one of the best days here.  I love it.  When I came here 6 years ago, I was told the 12th was one of the most dangerous days and not to go outside.  So I never did.  I made sure to stay either in my room or work through the day.  Oh how wrong they were.  What a fab day!  I must say, I am thankful for this pandemic.  The past 2 years the 12th has stayed in town so I have been able to see it!  :)  Ok, I may be a little selfish, but I love how it brings this little town together and seeing people I have gotten to know.  I love watching the kids march and have a wonderful time.  And when that one band with my boyfriend and his brothers get close and start to march through town the excitement in the crowd is crazy.  For those of you back home, it is like a homecoming parade or high school football game.  When the team you want comes on the field or scores the point and the crowd just cheers, that is what happens here.   July is filled with a lot of parades.    July's weather though was brutal!  I do not handle heat well, mainly because it physically makes my heart and head hurt.  This heat was awful.  I know, I know, I can hear it now... "We were in the 100s"  Yes, but you have AC.  The temp here said it felt like high 90s, without AC.  I have never eaten so much ice cream, ice water, and ice lollies in my life.  My boyfriend and I took his dad to the garden center, and who decides to look like they are about to pass out from the heat?  Not the person in long pants and a long shirt... but me in shorts and a tank top.  I definitely do not think I will survive the summer back home if I ever go back.  Why was it so hot and when can this place get AC?  My last day of work on the COVID study was the end of July. 

I started a new job on Aug 2.  How was that for timing? I have been offered a 2 year post within the university looking at upper limb rehab in Stroke Survivors.  This post fits in with my undergraduate degree and my first research post.  I have been in the job just over a month and I am absolutely loving it.  It is a little bit of exercise science, anatomy, and something new all rolled into one.  I love my supervisors.  They are so nice, easy going, and give positive feedback.  They are fantastic.  

In other news that hasn't made it in the month to month update: I started the 100 mile British Heart Foundation September Challenge.  I have decided to walk 100 miles within the month of September to raise awareness for the BHF.  Its been good to not only really push myself but to raise awareness for heart disease given what has happened this year and the Kawasaki Disease my nephew and I have had. As of this morning, I am at 58 miles (not counting today).  I am not only walking, but have decided to see how many miles/steps I can do while doing Zumba.  I do Zumba 1-2x a day now that it is open at the leisure center.  My boyfriend and I have been taking walks around town as well as on the beach.

                                       

This small town did have some superheroes visiting this summer for the kids while they were out of school.  The town was also decorated in yarn which was quite fun to see.  I am so glad it is getting cooler again.  Bring on the sweater weather!    

  I am Groot!  Love this movie!  

  Some people have so much talent

That brings you all up to date.  I will hopefully get better at posting and won't leave such a long break.  Hopefully everyone is doing ok and is still safe and healthy.  

Stay safe and have a wonderful September!  

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

Catching up

Sorry it has been a really long time since I have updated.  

Work is going well.  It has kind of become a shock that this time next year it will be over.  I have enjoyed my PhD project.  I am a little sad to see it ending.  Not really a lot to say about work as it is basically all writing and trying to piece my final experiments together.  

I did some demonstrating this semester for cellular pathology which went ok. The coffee shop on campus got to know my order really well on Wednesdays.  All I had to do (and still have to do) is just walk in and the ask if I want my usual.  I like that  a lot.  😁  I am also now a 'fill in when needed' anatomy teacher for the physician assistant course.   

Outside of work, life has been pretty good.  I have made some new friends, two are doing PhDs in politics or something of that area.  One is from here and she and I usually try to meet for coffee a couple of times a month.  The other is from Canada and lives across the hall.  We often stand in the hallway or her kitchen (She bakes gluten free food :) ) and talk a few times a week.  In March, we went to a charity event at the local tea shop for rare diseases.  I had a masala chi hot chocolate.  Probably, my new favourite hot chocolate now!  It was a lot of fun and it was nice getting to know these two girls outside of a work environment. 

Also in March, I went to the Anatomy Live event in Belfast!  I am a nerd.  :)  I will skip the details for you all, but it is basically a dinner and dissection event.  I was in Heaven.  I got told I had perfect dissection skills by the surgeon leading the event.  I left feeling quite pleased.  It was amazing.  One of the best nights ever.  If you want, you can see that they got their start on Dragon's Den (UK Version of Shark Tank)  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=otYqv4BJBHA 

 

For the past few months I have been going out with this guy that I have now known for 3 years.  Crazy to think I have been here for 3 years!  He is really nice and sweet.  He understands my crazy work schedule and makes sure that I put it first.  When an experiment goes wrong or I just have a bad day he is there to pick up the pieces and make me laugh.  He makes those days better.  We have cooked each other dinner (shocking on my end- he lived and I didn't burn it) and we have gone on several walks.   Meme would have been shocked that I started cooking, especially for someone else.  I hope she is getting a good laugh at this. We have gone to the arcade a few times where I tend to beat him in air hockey.  :)  He is teaching me chess, which near the end of my first game I started to get the hang of it.  It was a little more confusing than checkers.  All in all we have fun and we make each other laugh.

This is one of the first walks we went on.  It doesn't look like it but it was super icy and very cold.  This is the Mussenden Temple.  https://discovernorthernireland.com/Mussenden-Temple-and-Downhill-Demesne-Castlerock-Coleraine-P2928/   I highly recommend it.  We didn't get to go inside but I do hope to go back.  Behind the temple is a cliff where you can see the beach below.

This is the suspected Bansky panting in PortStewart.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portstewart  We tend to go there a lot.  It is a nice little town.  

This is Portballintrae.  I think this was one of my favourite beach walks.  Not sure why.  I just really liked the view of that huge house and the beach.  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portballintrae

Maybe it is the walks or knowing my work is going well but I am finally catching up on some sleep.  Odd thing to be saying in my final year of my PhD.  I have always made it my goal throughout my studies to never pull an all nighter and so far I have not.  I have survived on 2 hours of sleep but never less.  As I finish up my final year I am starting to get back to the 6-7 hours a sleep a night that I use to have.

All in all, I would say things are going pretty well.  Not much else to really report.  Fingers crossed the next few months of writing and experiments go well as well as the job search.

Bye for now.

Happy 19 days of 2019!

Happy belated New Year.  I hope the first 19 days were wonderful.  I hope they were filled with happiness, and laughter, and your resolutions were kept.  I think I blew one of my resolutions within the first week.  Opps.

It has been a while since I updated you all.

Work is going well.  I am finishing up and am due to submit hopefully between October-December for this year.  Fingers crossed for that.  I feel like this time has flown by.  It is hard to believe that in a little over a year I will have a PhD.

I wish I could say more, but there really isn't much to say about the research just yet.  Just know it is going well and my supervisors remind me that they are really impressed with my work.

I did go home for Christmas, but it was really short, so if I missed seeing you I am sorry and I hope to see you next time.  I did get to see some friends which was great and so nice to catch up.  The rest of the time was with family.  To an extent it didn't feel like Christmas.  I missed Meme and moms family, and Aunt Diane's Brunch, and a Christmas Story playing on loop for 24 hours.  But it was fun seeing the kids get all excited for Santa and seeing where their Elf on the Shelf ended up each morning.   I introduced Ty to Anne Frank.  I had bought Tyler a "Who is Anne Frank?" book a few years ago and said I would read it with her.  This was the time.  We read the book every day, and she loved it.  She said she wanted to know more about her and read her real book.  This was probably the best Christmas gift ever; someone I can pass my interests, love, and passion about the Holocaust down to.  Tyler isn't much of a fiction reader.  She loves the book that she contains short stories of real people.  That's my kind of books as well.  But the way she wanted to learn more about these people and about the Holocaust, made me proud.  Meme would have been happy.  Meme bought me my first book on the Holocaust and then added to my collection whenever she could.  I am so glad I can do this for Tyler. Now, if I could only get her to use a bookmark vs. folding the edge of the page, I would be thrilled.  :D   Outside of reading Holocaust stories, the kids got the book, the Wonky Donkey.  If you have not heard of it, go and Youtube it now!  It is hilarious.  For months it was sold out everywhere here.  The guy at the store told me they had to do reprints of the book because it was so popular.  I do not think there was a day that went by where we did not read it at least twice.  And dang is it easy to memorize.  When I tried to mix up the words to catch them off guard, Lane and Mattie knew the correct words.  Smart kiddos.

I crossed an item off my bucket list.  I wanted to shoot a gun.  I did and I am good to never do it again.  I did, however, and always have, liked archery.  So, I liked shooting Lane's bow and arrow he got for Christmas.

I got a ton of coffee mugs for Christmas, some handmade gifts, and a pretty bracelet with Scottish coordinates on it.  :)  I also got a 23 and Me kit!  I got the health one as well as ancestry.  When I got my results back this past week, I was beyond thrilled to learn I had Jewish roots.  I am a strange one.  Ever since my first book from Meme, I became obsessed.  I remember sitting in the classroom with my awesome Genetics professor talking about my project modelled after the Shoah and he said to me that he thinks I may be Jewish by ancestry.  Well, sure enough.  I don't know why this makes me so happy, but it does.  I was happy to learn I have an increased risk of Alzheimer's and Celiac's Disease, and that I hate the sound of people chewing their food, but to learn I have Jewish ancestry, was cool.  It was also a little interesting to see the differences in my brother and I.

So, I came back after a week long trip and was sick over New Years.  But it was a good new years.  I talked to a friend and welcomed in the New Year as we chatted, got my hair cut, and relaxed a bit before school started again.

School here is odd.  Exams are after Christmas.  Those poor undergrads are expected to study during Christmas for their exams.  I do not get it.  And exams take place in a big lecture hall where there are security outside and random teachers inside.  So, what happens if you have a question about your exam and your teacher isn't there?  It just blows my mind.

I am on book 7 of Harry Potter.  I have become a little obsessed.  Not sure what I will do after it's done.  I feel like if I would have known I would have liked it this much I would have read it slower to make it last longer.  Oh well.

I did travel to Belfast last weekend.  Spur of the moment too.  Went into some new stores, well new to me, and had some Canadian Coffee.  I have 2 theatre plays coming up.  One is Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and the other is called The Suitcase.  I have never been to the theatre on campus, but heard it was nice.

That is about it for now.  I will try to update more often this year, but no promises.

Fingers crossed as I hunt for a job that starts around September goes smoothly.

Hope everyone is well and is having a good start to 2019.