Hey all! Welcome back to my blog — and welcome to the final day of 2017! I hope this year brought you many things you needed and wanted. I hope you’re finishing the year with some sense of fulfillment. As for those inevitable speed bumps along the way, I hope you were able to keep moving forward despite the challenges. I hope you had people in your life who loved you extra hard in those moments and, if you didn’t, I hope you find your people in 2018.
Looking back, 2017 was truly a fulfilling year for me. Yes, there were some challenging moments, especially health wise, but taken as a whole, I am so pleased with this year. Not to be melodramatic, but this is the first time in a while that I’ve felt truly happy with another year gone by, so I thought I would take the time to share some of my favourite moments/experiences/things from the past twelve months.
These highlights are in no particular order and don’t have a clear linking theme — except that they all happened to me — but they do shed some light on what the year brought me.
I spent the summer in Toronto. Last year, I moved to Ottawa for work and I got to live with my family, which was lovely. The only downside was that I worked a job that made me deeply unhappy — and had repercussions on my other relationships. Staying in Toronto this year, I found a much better balance: I worked part-time as a research assistant in the English department and took a course at the Keele campus. I thoroughly enjoyed my work and while the course was not my favourite, it was still a nice summer and I was much happier.
I presented at my first academic conference this past June: the 16th International Willa Cather Seminar in Pittsburgh. My paper was a postcolonial interpretation of Cather’s novel A Lost Lady. The conference felt like an important moment in my academic career for many reasons: firstly, it was great to gain some firsthand experience presenting my research. Secondly, it was also valuable to receive feedback on my paper from fellow Cather scholars, as it made me think about venues for future research that had not occurred to me before. I was also fortunate enough to be granted a scholarship to present, which made travelling to the States more accessible! Overall, a really proud moment for me. 
My ID card for staying in residence during the conference. 
Me at the airport post-conference.
I saw a gynaecologist for the first time!! TMI? #SorryNotSorry. This year, I kept having problems with my IUD, which was terrible, except for the part where I got serious about my reproductive health. The gynaecologist helped me sort out the issue (feel free to message me if you wanna talk about similar issues — I am always happy to talk!) and I am thankful to be feeling myself again.
Mental health wise, I also got serious about working through my anxieties about school, life, etc. This past fall, I made sure to regularly see my counsellor (it became my Friday afternoon activity) and I am all the better for it. I’ve been seeing a counsellor on-and-off since the 10th grade in difficult times, but this year was the first year that I realized the importance of talking about my feelings even when I think I’m doing normal. In fact, I’m a big fan of counselling in any and all situations: there is something therapeutic (ha ha) about putting your feelings into words.
I vacationed in northern Quebec and Nova Scotia with my family (you can see some of my food pics here). It was a lovely time connecting with each other — and disconnecting from school and work and it felt so, so good. 
I felt like a poet. My advanced writing course with the poet Christopher Dewdney encouraged me to write regularly and always set aside time for my poetry. Those months while in the Dewdney course made me realize just how important writing poetry is to me. If you want to read some of my writing, here are some poems that were published in Glendon’s student newspaper ProTem.
I really connected with my person. I don’t usually post about him here, but this happiness is worth sharing. I am truly lucky to be with someone so supportive and kind and I’m so happy that we keep growing together.
In between these bigger moments/experiences, there were also plenty of beautiful, simple moments too. I made lots of bread: kneaded it by hand, saw it puff up in my oven, and then heard in crackle once I pulled it out. I FaceTimed my sister a lot and we shared many a laugh, as we always do. XX
Anyway, thanks to all who touched my life this year. You are so loved by me and I can’t wait to share another year with you all.
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