I'm a Doctor!

I still can't quite believe my final defense is over and it all went out down successfully and I was announced a doctor of marriage and family therapy November 19th! It's the best feeling in the world. All the hard work over the years has finally paid off. The day was unforgettable. It was so nice having my family and some of my close friends there to watch me defend. Then we celebrated the day with a delicious lunch at St. Regis, followed by some quality play time with Maia. I went for my usual walk with Maia and Lucky and at 4pm and it was nice to have that time to myself and just reflect on the entire day. Then we had drinks at our house and ended up at Michael's Genuine for a wonderful dinner. It was just family, small and intimate and just how I wished it to be.

My presentation went really well. I kept it just on time and didn't feel like I missed anything either. I felt calm and relaxed and wasn't as nervous as I usually am during presentation. Maybe baby boy helped me with that ;) and probably because I simply new the information all too well and that gave me confidence. I did have a case of prego brain during the Q&A but what can ya do. My brain was fried and I was quite exhausted. Nevertheless it was a lovely discussion that ended in tears around the table.

Now as the end of a long journey ends, the beginning of a new chapter starts and I couldn't be more excited. I know I want to make my dissertation into a book and that is going to require lots of hard work but for right now I am focusing more on my clinical work and getting licensed. It will be nice to not have to worry about deadlines, writing chapters, editing etc. and to finally get paid for my work on a consistent basis.

Today I am already seeing a substance abuse group at the barn with my team so that should be interesting. Too bad the weather isn't better but we'll power through. Then it's a quite night at home with some cooking and tomorrow I'm off to a baby shower with Maia and then we meet our paradise farms group for a reunion dinner.

Things are going to get busy down here now that the season is about to kick off. Art Basel is around the corner and the rents and Villanueva's will be down here for a week so that should be fun. Then we had to Atlanta for pre-christmas time and are back down in Miami for the week of christmas.
We are getting our tree next weekend, and I already started decorating so I'm super excited to decorate the tree and make our house into holiday spirit. We didn't do anything last year because we weren't here and still Brad gave me such grief for that so this year I will make it extra nice ;)

Ok, I have to run and get ready and maybe start some of my last edits on my paper before it's off to the publisher yippie!