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Tuesday, January 5, 2016

Life Update Again

Happy New Year everyone! As I mentioned in my last post, I have been very busy these past few months due to some major life changes. BUT I think life is finally starting to slow down for me again (I HOPE). So hopefully this means a return to a regular reading and blogging schedule soon.


In case you were curious about what has been keeping me so busy, here are some updates:

1. I have successfully defended my thesis. I am currently working away on my revisions and I am hoping to get my manuscript in top shape so that I can get my chapters published.

2. I got married to my boyfriend of five years. We ordered an officiant off the internet, got her to edit down the ceremony to the bare legal minimum, and had it over and done with in five minutes. It’s not that I don’t take the institution of marriage seriously; it’s just that the hubbub, stress, and cost of a wedding do not suit my husband or me at all. Later, we celebrated with family and friends:


3. I am moving back to Alberta, maybe for the long-term. My husband has accepted a full-time permanent job in his field in Alberta, and those positions don’t come around too often in palaeontology. Moving is always a tremendous amount of work, but moving across the country is something else and it has been the focus of my attention these past weeks, along with my thesis.

We bought a car (first ever), packed it with some belongings and the ferrets and set off on our road trip. It's faster, cheaper, and safer to cross the continent via the U.S. in the winter than it is to go through Canada, so that's what we did. We got to see some great sights along the way:

Ghostly Presidents at nighttime - Mt. Rushmore, South Dakota
Wicked cool natural rock structure - Devils Tower, Wyoming
It seems like I only just moved to Toronto, so it’s crazy to think that I’m moving away again so quickly. There are many people here in Ontario that I will miss!


And to come:
1. A return to a more regular blogging schedule. This might not happen immediately as I still need to finish revisions on my thesis, get settled in my new place, and find a job, but it should hopefully happen soon and I’m looking forward to it!
2. A return to reading for pleasure. As with blogging, I haven’t had a ton of reading time to myself either, sadly. There were quite a few 2015 reads that I had been dying to get to when they were first released, but I found I couldn’t make the time for them last year. Finally I will get to read them in 2016!

So that’s it for me. 2015 was a pretty exciting year for me, but I am honestly looking forward to a less exciting, but still pleasurable, 2016 with some quiet time. Best wishes to everyone in the upcoming year!

45 comments :

  1. Sadie Sadie, married lady! Congrats! That's pretty exciting! All the best. Good luck with the settling back into AB living. I'm looking forward to seeing more of you in the bloggy world.

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  2. Congratulations on your marriage!!! That's so so exciting. I know this is a weird thing to say, but I've always liked the sound of your now-husband; I don't know, I just felt like mentions of "my boyfriend" cropped up quite a lot on this blog over the years and I was always like: "It's so nice she's still with the same boyfriend!"

    I now feel like a happy shipper :')

    Anyway, best of luck with your move, Aylee, and happy new year!

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  3. Congrats on getting married! And on your thesis. Hope the move goes well, and looking forward to seeing you blog again soon!

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  4. Congratulations on your marriage! Honestly, that is an amazing way to do things and so much easier. As well, congrats on successfully defending your thesis :) It seems like it's been a busy but very rewarding year for you! Best of luck with your move... Toronto will miss you!

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    1. Heh, thanks, it took a lot of the stress off :) I will miss Toronto too! But I may be back from time to time because my husband is from the area.

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  5. AYLEE I AM SO HAPPY FOR YOU. Your life has been crazy (awesome) lately so even though I've missed your blog posts, I'm just jumping with joy for you. Congrats, you! For getting married, finalizing your thesis, moving back to Alberta... you're adulting!!
    Happy January!!
    Jen

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    1. Adulting, yeah! ...sort of. Probably more adulting than I've been in all my life, granted. Thanks, Jen :)

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  6. Congratulations on successfully defending your thesis AND on getting married! What an exciting few months you've had. I kind of wish I didn't want the formality of a wedding ceremony and reception...it certainly is stressful and time-consuming! Congrats to your husband too and good luck with the move! looking forward to reading more posts from you. :)

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    1. Thanks, Amanda! I know a lot of family and friends would have probably wanted a formal wedding from me so there was some pressure there... Ultimately, it's really just not want my husband or I wanted.

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  7. Congrats both on getting married and a successful thesis defense!! That's awesome on both counts. Good luck settling into life in Alberta (you're closer to BC now, you could come visit!) :)

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    1. Thanks, Danya! It's true that now I'm back in the west, I'm much more capable to visit the beautiful province of BC and I hope to take advantage of that!

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  8. Oh wow! Congrats on successfully defending your thesis and on getting married! I know what you mean: me and the bf have been together for ages and we have no plans to get married. We always said that if/when we do, it'll be SIMPLE. I worked part-time in a wedding boutique and witnessed first hand the crazy amount of stress (and spending) people put themselves through for a single day - without much focus on the actual marriage I might add - is ridiculous (in my opinion anyway, to each his/her own of course) Anyways, way to keep it simple! I'm a little sad that you're moving further away - I was holding out hope that some bookish event would come to Toronto, Ottawa or even Montreal and we might actually meet in real life XD But more than that, I'm happy for your new opportunities and that you'll be closer to your family! In any case, I'm excited for more blogging from you again ♥

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    1. I had a feeling you would GET me (re:weddings), Micheline!! (But to each his/her own, I agree). I would hope that single day is actually one of the lesser defining days in our marriage, as I feel it should be.

      I'm definitely sad to be moving away from Eastern Canada, partly because I never really got to explore the beauty of the East Coast! I do hope I get to at least visit Anne's P.E.I. once in my life, and also the other eastern provinces at the same time :)

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  9. Huge congrats on your wedding and defending your thesis, Aylee! That is so exciting. I hope the move and settling in goes well for you both. Here's wishing you a quieter 2016!

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  10. My husband and I drove through the same area. It's really gorgeous!

    Congratulations on your wedding!!! We had a small wedding too. Just me, him and my BFF in the guys living room lol I have an audio cassette recording of it somewhere.

    Welcome back!

    Karen @For What It's Worth

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  11. Wow, Aylee! Congratulations on your marriage! I wish you and your husband all the happiness in the world.

    I'm also very happy to hear about your thesis. From all your previous updates posts, I remember you really struggled with it, so it's wonderful to see that you've succeeded there. I hope your move goes well. *hugs*

    And last but not least, I can't wait to see you get back to blogging- I miss your review and regular posts! So even if you take time with it, I'll be looking forward to your posts.

    Take care, my friend!

    Sarika @ The Readdicts Book Blog

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    1. Aww, thank you, Sarika <3 Means a lot to have your support.

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  12. Ahh!! congrats on getting married (and defending your thesis - go you!) All very exciting. That's cool you were able to travel through the U.S. a bit on your way to Alberta. But seriously - as soon as I read moving back to Alberta, I was like OMG- my friend is there! She's in graduate school there. I kind of want to make you two meet haha

    But yay for being able to read more for fun, and I do hope you can blog some more. It's nice to see you around. ;) Oh, and congrats to the new husband on his job! That's exciting!! I'm still on the search for a full time job - or you know, something better than what I currently am doing.

    -Lauren

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    1. Haha, where does she go to school? You should come visit :) I'll be joining you on the job search too, just as soon as I get my thesis out of the way. Thanks, Lauren!

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    2. I don't remember the name of the school. I need to ask. I really want to visit, but I doubt it would be this year and then she'll probably be home. Sigh. one of these days!

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  13. *hugs* Congratulations on the wedding, and the move!!
    I hope this means lots of exciting new things for you in Alberta, and your cake was so pretty! (those poinsettias? we call them Noche Buenas cause they represent Christmas Eve in my country).

    I hope the revisions come easily and you can read more for fun!!

    Again, Congrats!!!

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    1. Hugs back! I miss you, Alex. And those are poinsettias! Chocolate edible ones. That's a cool factoid about poinsettias in Mexico. Thanks, Alex :)

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  14. A LOT of good things happened to you. Congrats on your thesis defense and being married. That's amazing and you two look so happy together <3 I can't wait to see you pop up in my Bloglovin' feed more often, but take your time.

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  15. Happy new year Aylee. <3 YAY for having such an awesome last year :D And congrats of your thesis and on getting married. <3 That is so awesome. Yay :) I hope this year will be all kinds of awesome for you. <3 And that you will be able to read lots of books that you wish to read :) Happy reading sweetie. <3

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  16. Congratulations Aylee! I'm sorry we have sort of fallen out of touch but I really hope to see you again soon. <3

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    1. Yes, I would like that! Let me know if you ever come down to Drumheller :)

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  17. This has been such a great time for you! Congrats!

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  18. Oh, I can't believe it's cheaper to go cross-country via the US than Canada! How many states did you end up crossing and how are you settling in?

    Also, your wedding cake looks beautiful.

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    1. Well, not much cheaper thanks to the weak loonie. But in general the cost of living in the US is cheaper and the highway speed limits are higher so it's also faster. I think we ended up travelling through 7 states total? We moved in yesterday, just got internet set up today, so we're settling in fine :)

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  19. Congratulations on your marriage. I hope you are able to revise your thesis to your satisfaction. Good luck on your life for this year.

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  20. The past few months have definitely been busy for you, Eilidh!!! I'm definitely going to miss you now that you and your hubby are back in Alberta, but I'm so excited for the opportunities that it will give you both!!! I hope you get offered an awesome teaching job there!!!! :D

    Congrats again on your marriage! I'm glad you indulged in a cake though...cake is always worth the hubbub! haha And it looks like your road trip through the US was pretty neat!!! :D

    We definitely have to keep in touch though! I'm really going to miss being able to see you regularly again!! I might just have to start writing you letters! ;)

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    1. Thanks, Ambur!! That's really sweet - I'm excited for the opportunities we'll hopefully get here as well. Letters can be a pretty excellent way of keeping in touch!

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    2. You're welcome! :D Then we'll have to start writing some!! Also, I watched all of the last season of DA! So whenever you've watched it, we'll have to discuss!!! :D

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  21. Congratulations!!! I'm so excited for you :) I also got married recently and I'm hoping to defend my thesis by May.

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