TheMcWoods

Three months in one post - I'm rubbish at this blogging thing.

I spent most of the month of May in a mad scramble to finish and submit my PhD. The submission process was horribly anti-climatic though. It involved lugging 5 copies of my 360+ page thesis down to the main administration office, queuing behind people ordering transcripts and new student cards, and having a pimply-faced kid shove my £150 worth of theses on a shelf behind her. I expected fireworks, angels, or trumpets at least.

Luckily I had my sister-in-law's wedding to look forward to the day after I submitted. It was a lovely day and I will admit that Lee and I were pretty pleased with our little lantern set-up that we (along with lots of other helpers) had rigged up earlier in the day. I also loved the fact that I could wear a massive fascinator :)







In June I flew home for a quick one-week visit. We celebrated my Mom's 60th birthday with several meals out and my favorite Dairy Queen ice cream cake.





I was also happy to see that my idea to have 20 of her friends post pieces of a birthday puzzle had worked. The idea was obviously not my own, and inspired by Jordan Ferney's postcard birthday poster, but I did create a design all my own. Some friends even went out of their way to hand deliver or FedEx their card to my Mom because of the Canada Post strike.

I was also home to celebrate the life of my dearest Nana, an absolutely wonderful woman who lived a life full of joy. We were so touched by the number of people who attended her memorial service, with some friends travelling a significant distance to attend. Her church created a fantastic spread of food and I was reminded that church ladies do make the best egg salad sandwiches and date squares.









After returning from Canada, I needed to focus on revising and preparing for my viva/thesis defence. Lee kept out of my hair by taking our niece and nephew strawberry and cherry picking (and then whipping up some tasty jam - he continues to amaze me!).







After a solid week of preparation and anxiety manifesting itself as nausea, I went in to defend my work. I'm pretty sure I went into the exam looking like this:


(a picture actually taken by my Nana when I had to go into the Barbie display in Paris all by my myself...I was such a shy and nervous kid and I still remember the overwhelming feeling of fear)

Two hours of questioning by three professors later and I had passed (with minor corrections). To say I was relieved is an understatement.

I don't think I can officially call myself Doctor until the internal examiner signs off the list of corrections, but it didn't stop me from registering for a 10K run as one. Ha ha :)