…And not just survived, I thrived! I was so nervous about going back to school as an old person who had been away from academics for a decade. Would I be able to keep up? Would I be the oldest person in all my classes? Turns out, yes and yes.

First off: Yeah, I was by far the oldest student in each of my classes, and a few times even older than my professors. Even more so because I was taking freshman courses, but Auburn also just doesn’t have the mature student population I’ve seen at previous schools. This was weird because I felt like it was a secret I was keeping–I’m not ashamed of going back to school in my 30s, but how do you bring that up to people who assume you are around their age? I ended up “outing” myself in a few classes, but it was generally a non-issue.

I did manage to make a couple friends, which was nice. I found myself feeling really lonely at the beginning of Fall semester, which was unexpected as I (surprisingly) haven’t felt lonely the entire time I’ve been in Alabama! It was just strange being surrounded by people all day and not knowing any of them. Thank god for the few classes where I was able to interact with people.

My French classes were the best. I took French I and II this year, and it was a great refresher on what I’d learned way back in high school. My professor was really sweet and I’ll miss her–just not enough to take more French, ha. She’s a native speaker (from Côte d’Ivoire) and oh boy did my pronunciation improve thanks to her. It was also nice having most of the same classmates all year as it gave us the chance to get really comfortable with each other. Also enjoyable were Anthropology, Art History, World History I and II, and Public Speaking.

I gotta say, going back to school as an adult is playing on easy mode, especially since I was taking all introductory courses. There’s so much that I know just from being alive for so long that came in handy in my classes, it almost felt like cheating?? I’m sitting with a 4.0 that, for the most part, came very easy to me. I’m enjoying it while it lasts since I’m sure I’ll find myself in more challenging courses soon. Approaching each class with an attitude of curiosity and an eagerness to learn new things is something I wish I’d been able to do when I was younger.

In the Fall I’ll be finally taking a couple major-specific classes which I’m excited for, along with a drawing class for my recently-declared Studio Art minor. For now, aside from working a part-time remote student gig, I’m enjoying a nice, long, relaxing break.

Welp, we added another furry critter to our family. Meet Jimini, named for the Jim ‘N Nick’s BBQ van he was discovered under. Jimini Crickat, if we want to get formal.

Last week, Stu was at work in Montgomery when he discovered this little guy had hopped a ride on the gas tank of the van delivering lunch to his team. He managed to stash him in his gym bag (not an easy feat) and then called me to ask if he should bring him home or drop him off at the Humane Society. Obviously I have no will power when it comes to these things!

I set up our en suite with some food, litter, and a couple cozy places to hide. As soon as Stu got home with him, we quickly weighed him so we could guesstimate his age–thankfully, he was just over two pounds, which meant he was likely already weaned and wouldn’t need kitty formula or anything.

He was definitely looking a bit bedraggled. His fur was dirty and his whiskers and front paws were a little scorched from the hot van. Stu took him to the vet the next morning while I was in class and they treated him for fleas and worms, but otherwise gave him a clean bill of health and put his age at about eight weeks. A gentle bath later and he was looking pretty good!

He’s been adjusting incredibly well. He purrs louder than any cat I’ve known and is so, so playful–we’re finally getting some use out of the cat toys that Meowmers and Fergie showed no interest in. Speaking of them, they’re slowly getting used to having yet another animal in the house. Meowmers is warming up a bit quicker than Fergie; no surprise there. We’ve had a couple brief introductions with Winnie, but that process will take a bit more time.

So far our main focus has been fattening Jimini up. He was skin and bones when he arrived, so he’s been happy to have a steady supply of kibble available. His paw scabs have already fallen off and his singed whiskers are looking better. We’ve let him explore downstairs a little bit, but for now he’s mostly confined to the bedroom and bathroom since he’s so tiny.

I really thought we’d make it at least a full calendar year without getting another pet, but I’m so glad we’ve got Jimini!

This is one of those American things that I’ve been waiting ages to try. Girl Scout cookies are super hyped so I was excited to get my hands on a couple boxes.

In Canada, where we have Girl Guides instead of Girl Scouts, there are only two types of cookie to choose from – a chocolate/vanilla mixed box (my personal fave) and a chocolate mint box (aka Thin Mints). Here, the Girl Scouts sell over a dozen varieties, although some are regional.

I consider myself to be a bit of a cookie expert, so here are my humble thoughts on each of the ones I tried:

Do-si-dos – 9/10. If you’ve ever had a Pirate cookie in Canada, these are essentially the same, except a little smaller and I think a little tastier. The cookie even has a similar pattern on it. Solid oat and PB cookie.

Lemon-Ups – 8/10. Kind of plain, but also really enjoyable. They’ve got a bit of a lemony glaze on the bottom that really ups the lemon factor. The cookie itself is kind of shortbread-y. Would go great with a hot mug of tea. Also, each cookie is stamped with a cute, uplifting message. Fun!

Tagalongs – 2/10. Wow. It is so rare that I straight-up do not like a cookie, but here we are. Have you ever tried to replicate a Reese’s peanut butter cup at home by mixing just peanut butter and chocolate chips? If so, you’ll know all too well how disappointing the result is. These cookies taste like that: so bland.

Samoas – 11/10. Honestly, why even bother with the rest? As much as I enjoyed the Do-si-dos and Lemon-Ups, I fully regret not just getting four (or 40) boxes of Samoas. Everything else is TRASH in comparison.

First, a humble brag: 2020 ended up being a really great year for me. Part of that is due to timing – finally seeing the results of things started in 2019 (or earlier) – and part of it is just plain luck. Either way, I know I am incredibly fortunate.

Obviously, COVID dominated our thoughts and actions from March onwards. Despite Alabama’s numbers being consistently awful and Stu often working with the public, we have managed to avoid catching it. Well, probably – I guess there’s a chance we had it and were entirely asymptomatic.

A quick jk it’s wordy rundown of the year:

January was boring. I don’t think we did much besides go to a women’s basketball game – my first college sports experience! Fun fact, actually really, really sad fact: They don’t sell beer at college sports events here.

In February, my cousin Jamie and their husband Michael flew out from Seattle to visit us. I must have been having too much fun seeing family for the first time in nearly two years because I took hardly any photos. So unlike me! We had a great time showing them around town and, of course, eating at Waffle House. I’m so glad the timing on that trip worked out. Had we planned it any later I’m sure we would’ve had to cancel.

March was a busy month. Early on we took a trip to IKEA (Stu’s first ever!!) in Atlanta, where I wholly regret not buying more. Had I known everything would be shut down a couple weeks later I would’ve packed the car.

In mid-March, we put in an offer on a house – this house! We actually found out our offer had been accepted while out at a pub with friends – our last outing. We’d been seriously looking at houses since January but only really considered one other. I’m so glad we ended up where we are.

At the very end of March, I finally received my green card! I really can’t describe how much of a relief that was. It may have been even more exciting than buying a house.

April was mostly spent packing and moving. Our new house is only a 10-minute drive from the one we were renting, so moving was done by loading up the car and bringing things over a bit at a time. It was not very organized but it was also way easier and less stressful than usual. Considering we had just done our big move upstate a mere eight months prior, I was all for a more relaxing experience.

(I must say I do not recommend buying a house or moving in general during a pandemic. First of all, any shopping sucks when you’re trying to limit exposure to others. Having to make multiple trips to Lowe’s for necessary new-house things is a million times worse when it’s packed with people who suddenly have a ton of time on their hands and want to tackle their DIY list. There wasn’t even a mask mandate at this point!)

One of our must-haves when house hunting was a fenced backyard so that we could get a dog. We didn’t waste much time with that! In May we brought Winnie home. It was definitely an adjustment (I am not used to big dogs!) but overall it was fine. Her previous owner already had her crate trained and taught her to sit which really eased the process. To this day, the cats still don’t like her but she is just dying to be their best friend.

At the end of May we attended a BLM protest here in town. What a powerful day! Auburn is 75% white and, like the rest of the state, has a pretty racist history. Seeing hundreds of locals get together to fight back against racist police brutality was really inspiring.

In June we celebrated my 33rd birthday with a nice dinner out. At the time there were capacity restrictions in place that made it feel like a safe enough option, but those have since been lifted. I’ve got such a backlog of restaurants I’d like to visit once it’s safe to do so again!

At the end of June into the beginning of July we traveled down to Point Clear for Stu’s work symposium and then stayed in Mobile for a few days after. I already wrote about that here so I won’t go into it again. I am super looking forward to going back again this summer!

July and August were too damn hot, it being Alabama and all, so we hardly did anything that involved being anywhere or moving around. Actually, the same goes for September and even a lot of October. This summer really felt unending.

In October, Stu had to go to Texas to take an online army course, so he was gone for most of the month. Yes, he had to travel across multiple states to quarantine in a hotel room and do coursework that, aside from picking up and handing in his packet, was entirely online. And people say the defence budget is bloated… While he was gone I occupied myself by painting our master bathroom, upstairs hallway, and guest bathroom.

At the end of October we got to see two of our very dear friends get married! I’ve officially been to more weddings here than I had back home, haha. Of course, it was a very small wedding (30 guests), everything was super spaced out in the large ballroom of an opera house, and we were all masked except when eating or drinking. Even with the restrictions place this was such a lovely evening!

In November we stressed about the election, celebrated the eventual results, and had a small Thanksgiving at home. I discovered some trails connecting a couple of the developments around here just in time for the cool weather to (finally!!) arrive.

Christmas is my favourite time of year, so December was a really nice month. We bought a tree and put up lights on the house (with varying degrees of success) and tried to make things feel cozy and merry. One of my goals for this year is to get some shelves or a mantle up in the living room, because as it is now we have nowhere to display little knick-knacks or put up stockings. I did some baking, painted my own ceramic tree, and even bought wintery PJs. We did a LOT of Christmas light drives around town, but in the end we realized that our neighbourhood had the best lights by far.

We did have a small get-together a couple weeks before Christmas with Stu’s dad and step-mom, her brother, and his kids. It was really nice to see some family and almost have some normalcy. I’m really hoping we’re able to do holidays properly this year, but we’ll see.

I will say spending Christmas Day at home was kind of nice. Usually we are up and on the road pretty quickly. This year, we got to leisurely open our presents while drinking mimosas (a Garnett family tradition) and then spend the day being cozy. I made a pretty decent turkey dinner, too.

New Year’s was spent quietly (and soberly!) at home with a couple friends, playing Jackbox games and snacking.

Oh! I nearly forgot to mention one big thing that happened in December that will impact things this year. I got into Auburn! I applied way back in September and was worried because I had such a non-traditional application – “mature student” is not a thing here and although I have a two-year diploma from a university back home, I have none of the core classes required of an Auburn transfer student.

They let me in anyways! I start this fall, so there is plenty of time for vaccinations to roll out (hopefully). I’m pretty sure I’ll be one of the oldest undergrads on campus, but I’m really looking forward to an Authentic American College Experience™. War Eagle, I guess!

Cheers to 2021! It’s already off to a rocky start nationally (like the attempted COUP by a bunch of idiots, are you kidding me?!) and Stu’s about to leave for another month in Texas (this time for an actual in-person class) but, uh… Things can only get better from here?

Look how big our girl has gotten!

We’ve been pretty bad at celebrating things together. Last year, Stu spent nearly 6 months away at various army training things, missing both our birthdays and our anniversary. This year he was home for my birthday but away for his. We celebrated Canadian Thanksgiving in 2018 but he hasn’t been home for it since. At least we’ve always been able to spend American Thanksgiving and Christmas together.

Of course, like everything else, this year’s holidays are a bit different. Instead of driving down to Brewton, AL to feast with Stu’s stepdad’s family, we had a Zoom call with them the night before and then had a quiet Thanksgiving, just the two of us.

The original plan was for Stu’s dad to come over for dinner. I even specifically chose to get ham over turkey because that’s his favourite. Unfortunately, last weekend he learned that his coworker–who sits one desk over–tested positive for COVID, and he was unable to get himself tested before the holiday. Super frustrating considering we’ve all been careful!

Anyways, I’m really writing this all up just to have documentation of how good this dinner was. I had bought a box of Stove Top prior to deciding on ham, but it worked anyways. Everything else was from scratch (and I even souped up the stuffing a bit by adding some fresh veg). The relatively tiny amount of green beans in the photo above is due to it being the only side dish I was able to successfully portion for two!

Since then, we’ve been eating a lot of ham sandwiches, ham omelettes, and ham and scalloped potatoes. One night I just had a bowl of stuffing for dinner. Winnie’s been enjoying some bits thrown in with her kibble on occasion and even stole a huge chunk which, honestly, I’m okay with since these leftovers are never-ending.

Onto Christmas now! It’ll be another quiet holiday for us, but that’s okay. We got most of the outdoor lights up last week (shoutout to Stu for surviving the roof) and this week we’ll pick up a tree. I love this cozy time of year ✨

Last month, Stu and I got to take a trip to LA (Lower Alabama 😉) and spend a week in Point Clear and Mobile. Now, we would not normally drive across the state to galavant about in the midst of a pandemic that has been hitting Alabama pretty hard. However, it was Stu’s annual work symposium and therefore definitely not optional for him and mostly not optional for me (families are strongly encouraged to attend, although I didn’t have to do anything in any official capacity).

This year, the symposium was held at the Grand Hotel in Point Clear (just across the bay and about a 30-minute drive from Mobile) and oh boy, I was not expecting such posh accommodations. Last year for this event we stayed at the Renaissance Hotel in downtown Mobile which was nice, but at the end of the day it’s just a hotel–the Grand is a whole-ass sprawling complex of buildings, golf courses, and private beaches. I knew we were in for a treat when we signed in with the guard at the gate, who then radioed ahead to the valet at the main entrance so they could greet us by name. Is this how rich people live all the time?

While Stu sat around with his colleagues learning about… idk, army things, I’d grab my Kindle and swing by the lobby cafe for a Viet iced coffee and a baked treat before parking myself on a chair at the beach for hours on end. While the National Guard recruiters and their families made up a large chunk of the guests, there were still plenty of super-white, super-rich, super-khaki’d Southerners for people watching.

In Stu’s downtime we got to explore the hotel (we found a Rollercoaster Tycoon pinball machine in one building which was very exciting), hang out poolside, and venture into Fairhope to say hi to a couple friends.

After three wonderfully relaxing days (for me at least), the symposium was finally over and we had to leave the Grand and return to reality. Since we were already going to be in the area, we had booked an Airbnb to spend the Fourth of July in Mobile.

Of course, many of our favourite places were closed, and since we were also doing our best to avoid crowds, it ended up being a very chill trip. We did get to see a lot of our favourite people (porches are great for socially-distanced hangouts) and eat at a couple great places, but we also spent a lot of time at the Airbnb watching Hamilton and Unsolved Mysteries.

I’m really glad we had the opportunity to leave town for a bit, even if it was for a semi-stunted vacation. I’m not sure when we’ll be able to get away again. COVID is still raging here – there have been nearly as many cases in this state of just under 5 million than there have been in all of Canada. I will probably write a post about all the immense stupidity I’ve seen here regarding that, but I’ll need to prepare myself mentally first. School’s back in session, the college bars are packed, and 2020 is nowhere near done being awful.

What a weird couple months.

Stu and I bought a house just in time for everything to shut down due to the pandemic. We found out our offer had been accepted in mid-March while we were out at a bar with friends. A month later, we signed the paperwork on the porch of a lawyer’s office, with a giant bottle of hand sanitizer on the table and pens that we got to keep.

You know what’s annoying? Moving when everything’s closed! We’ve had mixed experiences with curbside pickup and I really just want to leisurely browse around at Lowe’s without a million unmasked people coming within six feet of me.

Whining aside, we’re obviously incredibly #blessed. We remain in good health (as do our families and friends), Stu was able to work from home about 50% of the time, and somehow we’re at a point where we’re more stable than ever. Our mortgage is less than our rent was and we have more space. Our new ‘hood is fully lined with sidewalks, something I’ll never take for granted again.

Although Alabama is pretty much fully reopened now, we’re maintaining our habits from the past 2 1/2 months. Masks in public, limited trips out, and maintaining distance whenever possible. I wish I could say that most people are doing the same but it’s been depressing to witness. Combine that with white supremacy rearing its ugly head once again and the news out here has been pretty bleak.

On a lighter note… we have a puppy! We always said we would get a dog as soon as we had a fenced-in backyard, and now we’ve got one so here we are.

Her name is Winnie (for Winifred Sanderson), she’s a 14-week-old, 28-lb German Shepherd, and she is just the sweetest. Introductions with the cats have gone slowly but we’re optimistic that they’ll learn to quietly tolerate each other.

That’s all for now. I hope everyone’s staying safe and healthy!

Hey, y’all!

I’ve been sitting on this blog for well over a year, far too anxious to make a move on it until I had a bit more stability re: my immigration status. I have a huge fear of jinxing myself. What if USCIS somehow saw it and hated it and deported me??

Well, I’m here and I’m posting, which means the news was good: I got my green card! I’m officially a permanent resident of the United States and no longer have to live life with the fear of being semi-documented.

Anyways, I guess I have no excuse now. I have a big list of things to write about and even more time on my hands than usual since we’re self-isolating. I’m hoping this blog will help me keep people up-to-date with what I’m doing since I’m guilty of being bad at staying in touch in any sort of consistent manner.

In the meantime I’ll give y’all a brief rundown of what I’ve been up to in the past (almost) two years:

• Got married
• Adopted two cats
• Traveled to Massachusetts, Texas, Kentucky, Louisiana, and Florida, plus alllll over Alabama and a bunch of stops in other states as well
• Moved across the state from Mobile to Auburn (and we’re about to move again within Auburn)
• Survived two full Alabama summers
• Met lots of really amazing people who break all the red state stereotypes in the best ways

I know a lot of people from back home have had questions about life in the Deep South and I’m looking forward to sharing things from my perspective. Let me know if there’s anything you’re curious about!

~ Leanna