Love day and the start of the countdown

Thankfully the nice grad rep in my office is not like the people in the main one - she emailed me saturday morning as soon as she knew to let me know that the external reviewer has agreed to still be my external, so my defense date has now (finally!) officially been set. It will be the 27th as previously hoped for. With only 2 weeks to spare. Eep. It was a HUGE relief to get that news...it made the rest of the weekend a much nicer one. Since it was my anniversary yesterday I particularly appreciated the news...it made the day much better to be able to just relax and spend a whole day together.

It was so nice to spend a whole day with J on sunday. It was our 12th anniversary, and we had such a nice day together. It's been insanely busy for both of us lately. We slept in forever in the sunshiney warm bed with the cats and made blueberry lemon cornmeal pancakes for brunch. The weather was amazing so we headed out for a nice long walk down by the river on the hike paths and brought a blanket and some wine and just sat and relaxed and enjoyed each other's company all afternoon, sipping Gewurztraminer in the sunshine in the woods right down by the river. We actually saw a falcon dive down and catch a fish right in front of us while we were there! How cool is that?

J and I got ourselves spruced up a bit and went out for dinner to a lovely little place that we keep meaning to get to - St. Tropez Bistro. J has done a few cooking segments with the chef there, and has raved about the place. We finally got to have a relaxing meal there. It's been around in Saskatoon for many years, and is the kind of place where it's the chef, his sioux chef and his wife who serve and cook...it is incredible food in a casual but still classy atmosphere. They have a roof top garden where they grow some of the herbs and veg they serve. Really enjoyed it. Everything was delicious, right down to the edible flower garnish on the basil chicken. I loved it and definitely want to go back again... fantastic food and wine and even a delicious creme caramel for dessert. Pleasure piggy heaven :)

Then a long languid walk around in the evening...such a nice way to spend the day. Together. :)

Now begins my two weeks of madness planning for my defence. Thankfully, as a stress tool I've been focusing on building the powerpoint of my speech so it's nearly done. I just have to try and review all the little details about my project and prepare for potential questions and go over the talk a few times to make sure it flows and isn't too long. Now that I have an actual date (finally!) I feel like I can really get started...here we go. I still feel like I shouldn't get excited about it like something else will come along and change it again, but barring nuclear war or death, I think I'm good.

The countdown begins today!! 14 days...