Finally, what have I been up to?

Truth is, I haven't been up to all that much. Oh yes, I've been busy with thesis work, but really not as much as I need to be. I still haven't seriously started writing yet, but I have a whole month and I work best under pressure. High pressure. I've been gathering a lot of data, but I still need to organize it and analyze it. Make up some pretty graphs. And then do more experiments because I really don't have enough, and do some more analysis.

On top of all that, October 31st is the deadline for an abstract for a poster that I'll be making up and presenting in May (if it's good enough) at the annual ATS (American Thoracic Society) meeting (which will be held in Toronto). Still think that isn't all that much to do? It isn't... but I also have to make up a poster to present at the NESMS (North East Smooth Muscle Society) conference in Rhode Island on November 16-17. I'm going to Providence, Rhode Island!! Ok, I know, I'm not expecting too much ~ it's supposed to be a small, more informal convention, but it's still exciting. Especially since I've never been outside of Canada before!! We're leaving the Thursday afternoon and driving down, the conference is Friday and Saturday and we'll drive back Saturday night. I can't wait! But I need to make up a poster for that...

Furthermore, I've been taking a couple of leadership courses in order to complete a non-credit program MAC offers. I need to take 8 3-hour courses (4 mandatory and 4 elective) and do 40 hours of volunteer and write a short paper on it. Then I get a certificate or something, which will look excellent on applications and my resume. I had one last Monday, one yesterday and one today. Yesterday's was on leadership in children's literature, and I spent quite a bit of time reminiscing about my childhood books. I went to a French elementary school (and so did my boyfriend, so he knew what I was talking about) so no one at the leadership course knew which books of which I was thinking. Anyone ever heard of Barbapapa? The pink one was the dad (Barbapapa) and the black one was the mom (Barbamama) and they had a bunch of babies and the coolest house... Ah, memories.

So other than that, I've decorated a bit for Halloween and fall. Above you can see a candle I got from my Aunt when I went home for Thanksgiving. The scent is vanilla berry and it smells SOOOOO good! I also got this cute little pumpkin from my aunt ~ doesn't he have a devilish smile? Also while I was at home (and you can read more about that if you scroll down a few posts) my mom gave me this eyeshadow quartet from Avon. Aren't the fall colours gorgeous?? I don't really want to use it because it will ruin the pretty knit patterns... so pretty! Well, it's already too late, so I'm glad I took a picture to remember it.

One thing that I've always loved about living in the country is the garden my dad would always keep. We would always have 2 rows of onions, 2-4 rows of carrots, cucumbers, pumpkins, potatoes and corn (in that order from the side closest to the road). In the past few years, the garden has been smaller and more sparse, but carrots and pumpkins are almost always planted, and this year was no different. I was able to bring home a bagful of fresh carrots (so good you don't need to peel them) and a half-green pumpkin. It's been a few weeks now, and he's turned completely orange. The goal for this weekend is to carve him and cook the seeds. Pumpkin seeds are always such a delicious, seasonal treat. I remember my mom and I would sift through the pumpkin gunk to find all the seeds to roast. Of course, a dozen or so pumpkins gives a better crop of seeds than only one, but it'll still be a treat if I can get them to turn out alright.

I also had a few Halloween decorations put away in a box, so I took them out last week. I forgot completely about this adorable ghost that I picked up late in the season last year. He has a crazy little smile and is holding a couple of metal bats. And I just love the tip of his head, like he's wearing a sheet. So cute!

Otherwise, only one other exciting thing happened to me in the last week. I got 2 packages in the mail on the same day!! One was from my mom ~ she sent some Halloween candy and a gift, an orange tank top and undies from American Eagle, possibly my favourite store, ever (other than Chapters). My other package looked like this (once opened). Yep, it's my necklace from tqbdesigns!! :D This little box came cushioned in hunter green tissue paper and was tied with a paper band, which held an origami crane and a small note. The inside of this box had dark green paper grass inside and this beautiful, circle patterned paper. Inside was my necklace. my gorgeous, delicate, custom necklace. Isn't it pretty??? I've been trying really hard to wear all the clothes I have that will look amazing with it. So I really haven't taken it off much. I love it!!! (And no, I don't really have cleavage that nice... Pat was "helping" me get a "better" picture and it just happened to be one of the better pictures I took. Blurry pictures seem to be my specialty... I'm also wearing my Halloween tanktop.) I'm actually disappointed at how dark this next picture turned out, it seemed better on my laptop. Hopefully it's just the comp here at work and you can see better. What do you think of my necklace??? Ok, that's all for now. I have a few things I want to post on Etsy, but I probably won't have time tonight after my course. I did an MBTI (Myers-Briggs Type Indicator) test last week and we learn the results (and how our type influences our leadership) tonight. Should be fairly interesting... Anyway, hope everyone is having a great day!!