And a happy new year

It's interesting, looking at the "archive" list that I have of this blog and seeing the number of posts I have throughout the year. Last year I had a pretty low number of posts. Working on a PhD can definitely do that to you, especially as time starts to become not your own. So many deadlines, so many chunks of reading to do. I'm happy to say that the semester is now over (and has been for about a week or so), and there was SUCH A HUGE BURDEN OFF MY SHOULDERS when I turned in those papers, because I am officially done with coursework for my Phd program. And that feels so good. Now it's just onto general examination time, which is its own beast to face, but it's something different.

So, that brings me to my (what seems to be) monthly update on my life (though, this is a resolution of mine--to be more deliberate about writing on my blog because 1) I like it, and 2) it's the kind of social media sharing that I like the most, even though I know it gets the least amount of traffic).

To close out 2018, Sam and I spent a lot of time with family and friends in Utah and Boston. We also enjoyed getting to be outside a lot (in Utah) and eating at really yummy places (in Boston . . . though unfortunately I got food poisoning at one of those places, so now I'm sadly turned off from lobster rolls. But the rest of the food was really good!).

[Loving those bright blue Utah skies]

[Tubing with the family]

[Sam and I went snowshoeing in Sundance and it was really fun.]

💗

[In the meadow, we can build a snowman]

[Different view of Timp]

We were also able to attend the wedding of our good friends, Bailey and James, while in Boston, and it was so lovely, and very much them.

[The Emmanuel Church in Boston]

[We love Bailey and James!]

[In between the ceremony and the reception, we hung out at the Boston Public Library]

[At the reception. So literary. Very lovely. Much wow.]

[I might have taken two . . .]

[At the Dostoevsky table with all the cool kids]

[Quite the view]

[We also got to see Greer and Nathan, which was so nice.] 

And then, when we got back to Princeton, to ring in the New Year (and to take a break during essay-writing time for me), we were able to go to the Metropolitan Opera in New York, where we saw Aida. Princeton has an opera ticket lottery, and I ended up winning tickets, so it made for a nice date night, complete with a very classy dinner at a gyro food truck. (And, honestly, the gyros were really yummy.) We also ran into some Princeton friends, so when the opera ended around 11:30 pm and the next train to Princeton was at 12:45, we had some friends to talk with on the train ride home.

[The Lincoln Center at night--also, New York shows up to the opera.]

[Feeling fancy]

[For the record, we did enjoy the opera, especially the scenery and costumes--the spectacle of it all. It was reallllly long, though, and I didn't know that it would be about 4.5 hours long.]

At the moment, I'm in Russia doing research while Sam is in Uganda for work. Let's just say that we're looking forward to being together again. 

New Haven and New York

One of the perks on living on the East Coast (especially somewhere as nicely situated as Princeton) is that it is relatively easy to get to big cities like New York. Another nice thing for me is that I have lots of family, and lots of family living on the East Coast. And my cousin Kyra was kind enough to let me come up to New Haven to see their family. I had a lot of fun seeing them. I just wish I had more pictures to prove it. But here are some pretty pictures of Yale (but they aren't near as cool as the pictures of hanging out the Kyra and her cute little boys).

[Some obligatory pictures of Yale]

Again, no fun pictures of playing at the park or of our epic dance party, but just trust me. It was awesome. And just a lot of fun. 

I also got a chance to be in NYC before and after New Haven. I went to the LDS Manhattan Temple, walked through Central Park, met up with some friends, and got a Levain Bakery cookie (Em and I have a copy-cat recipe for it, and in my not-so-humble opinion, I think the copycat recipe is better. There. I said it. You may now start throwing tomatoes at me.)

[Cue Alicia Keys]

[Central Park]

[Grand Central Station is just so beautiful.]

[The Lincoln Center]

[Friends at the temple! So fun to meet up with them, if only for a moment]

[C is for cookie. So obvi it's good enough for me.]

The sister missionaries also came up to me at one point when I was sitting at a table and for a moment they thought I wasn't a member of the Church. They asked me what book I was reading (a super exciting one for my upcoming historiography class), and then I told them and just said, "How are you doing, sisters?" And we had a nice little conversation. It was just very funny. (What made it funnier was that 5 minutes after they left, the guy sitting close to me asked, "So how is that book you're reading?" And we also chatted for a bit. Fun times in the city.) 

Road Trip

So, it's been weeks since I've been on the blog. I decided to come back and post right now so that it doesn't become never. Because, in reality, there are so many bits and pieces of this new beginning that I'd like to write down (least of which is Princeton itself--but that also has to be explored and digested by bits and pieces).

But before I forget/before it becomes too long, I want to put down some highlights from the road trip my mom and I took to get out here. I decided that I wanted to drive from Utah to New Jersey, and my mom was kind enough to come along. (She really is a saint.)

[Princeton, here we come.]

[I think this was Wyoming? But it could very well be eastern Colorado or Kansas, too.]

[Definitely Kansas]

[The Sunflower State]

[And here is the part where I bombard you with 10 million pictures of a beautiful sunflower field.]

[They are just so beautiful.]

[And it was just a beautiful summer evening.]

[My momma who is actually the best.]

[Hello there, bright one.]

[Oh haiiiiii]

[By the way, they are not facing the sun.]

[Sunrise in Indiana]

[10 points to Gryffindor if you can guess what this truck was transporting]

[If you guessed chickens, you would be right. Chickens. Chickens everywhere!]

[Heading to NJ!]

[We made it to Princeton!]

[2200 miles later.]

[Sam was a champ and came up from D.C. to help me move in, too.]

[Turns out there's a pelican sundial in Princeton, too.] 

2200 miles, 4 days, and a lot of 80s music, which any true road trip needs. (And lots and lots of sunflowers.)