It's been a long road (and not nearly over yet!), but I am pretty excited to say that I defended my preliminary exam and dissertation proposal and am now officially a doctoral candidate! Two hours of defending my work was a little exhausting, but nothing that a little champagne couldn't cure ;-) I'm a pretty lucky chicita- I have a great husband who has been so supportive of me, wonderful parents and brother, and amazing in-laws. Now I just have to defend the final dissertation, complete an internship, obtain a post-doc, yada yada yada. It's never-ending, but totally worth it.