This PhD thing might actually happen

Signs the end is nigh:

1. I finished the last of my coursework at the end of April, and my last comprehensive at the beginning of June. That means the next thing I submit is my thesis. 
2. I've finished and submitted one journal article/future data chapter and the second is on its way. 
3. I'm done collecting data for my experiments, "all" that's left is refining the model. 
4. Looking at apartments for next year, I'm not growing too attached. The thought of living somewhere for only a year is very strange to me after 3 years on Johnson St. and 4 years here.
5. I'm spending a lot of time thinking about a postdoc and what my next big thing will be like. At least this time I don't feel the same unmitigated joy as at the thought of leaving highschool and undergrad. I'm savouring the things I know I'll miss about being a grad student and living in Montreal. 
6. My thought pattern tends to be a cycle of: Australia woud be amazing/but I would be driven insane by the spiders/but I would forget what it feels like to be cold/but the SPIDERS etc.

April and May and June??

This post goes out to Chantal and Andrew for calling me out on abandoning my procrastination station. 

I have no idea where spring went, but now I'm sitting barefoot in my apartment in a sundress with the AC on (very low). Fortunately, my digital photos are date-stamped, so I can recover some idea of what happened.

In April I went to an "I'm on a boat"-themed bachelorette party for our beloved T-bride Meg,

Landlubber Liz and Admiral Anna

and Chantal made her famous jello shots (only one bottle of vodka! .... a texas mickey).

Not pictured: two additional trays

Dave and I went to Kingston to celebrate Easter with family,

Posing with my lovely cousins. 

and then went off to Ottawa for a wedding. We paused in Montebello to drink a caesar by the lake before returning to Montreal.

I started May by jetting off to Naples, Forida for the annual Vision Sciences Society conference. The banquets and beach were nearly as much fun as the lectures and posters.

The cabanas by the small pool. Life in Naples is rough.

After I got back, Twiggy missed me terribly and needed some serious snuggles.

That's her holding on to my arm.
It was difficult to work in this position. 

Twiggy and I together worked hard on some papers (both for degree requirements and publication).

And by "together" I mean "she napped"

I went out for dumplings with friends from the lab,

Where the teacups are beyond adorable - it's a little dumpling.

and then we watched a live taping of Quirks and Quarks Questions. A professor in our research unit was one of the experts they had answering questions.

"Do we all see the same colours?"

In June, Dave and I were in Peterborough for his sister Andrea and now brother-in-law Matt's gorgeous wedding,

I love this photo - I don't care if it isn't in focus

and then in Ottawa, reunited with the 152 Johnson ladies for Megan & Earl's fantastic wedding party. My feet hurt more than my head the next morning, so I know I'm getting old. And need to stop wearing stilettos if they don't have platforms.

Roomies (n. plural). Sisters, therapists, lovahs, chocolate dealers,
fellow procrastinators, motivators, and people who make sure you never drink alone.

In between, I've been keeping up with yoga, finished the course work for my last class ever, submitted my first journal article, read the latest book from Wheel of Time (and have since been re-reading the original series), and have been admiring the pictures on too many wedding websites.

Whew.