What I Wore Wednesday

This concoction was loosely inspired by the Take One, Pass it On challenge that lots of lovely style bloggers have been doing lately. I wore this navy gingham shirt on Sunday and then repeated it for work with one of my favorite skirts, this mint beauty (a.k.a. the J. Crew sterling skirt, via super sale). I'm still trying to decide what I think of this outfit. Even though navy and mint are perfect together, I think I liked this skirt better when I wore it last and kept it simple with a grey crewneck sweater and black boots.

 

Take One, Pass it On:

 

Navy gingham take 1

 





Navy gingham take 2

Sweater and skirt: J. Crew

Gingham: Forever 21

Necklace: J. Crew Factory

Wedges: Target

 

 

And a couple other random outfits:

 

Marshmallow coat and Hunters for our crazy snow... 

Cozy Aztec cardi and leggings along with one of the hubby's comfy tees for studying and nursing my ugly case of bronchitis (thank you again, pediatrics rotation).

Cardi: Urban Outfitters

 

Linkin' it up with The Pleated Poppy, Alison, and Shanna. I have a couple blog posts in the works, but I'll posting them later since I'll be buried in books and pediatrics notes until my exam Friday. Can't.wait.for.the.weekend.

What I Wore Sunday: rust + navy gingham

 

 

 

 

Stephen informed me that I looked like a "country girl" today, which not exactly what I was going for...I've been trying to remix things in my closet more, and I liked the way this rust colored cardi complemented the navy blue gingham. Also, I've been wearing these Hunter boots non-stop lately...I know that they're technically rain boots but they work equally well in our mounds of snow.

 

 

 

 This cardi is literally 5 years old (and for you grammar people, I know that I just misused the world literally...sorry). I love 're-discovering' something that's been in your closet for a long time, but not worn for awhile. The burnt orange color along with the little ruffle and matching pearl buttons made this one of my fav sweaters for a long time. And this navy gingham shirt was a stellar Forever 21 find. I loved the J. Crew version but no way was I spending $80 on it, and this one is super similar.
 

Cardi: J. Crew (way old)

Denim pencil: J. Crew Factory (old)

Gingham: Forever 21

Boots: Hunter

 

After we got home from church, Stephen went ice-fishing with my dad and brothers (I'm not sure how they're going to get to the fish underneath a gazillion feet of snow and ice). I'll be nursing my cold-turned-bronchitis (thank you, pediatrics rotation) wrapped in a blanket with a cup of tea while I study for my peds exam.
 
As always, joining Fine Linen and Purple. for What I Wore Sunday. Also linking up with Plane Pretty and My Style Monday. Happy Sunday!

Friday Quick Takes

As always, joining Jen.

1. In case you didn't believe me this week when I said that we had the snowstorm-to-end-all-snowstorms, this is our porch. The little green thing is the top of the umbrella on the summer table from when we moved in...

 

2. And this is from our local newspaper; the picture was taken down the street from us:

 

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3. I think it can be a little obnoxious when people post pictures of flowers from their significant other on Facebook (guilty) but here it is anyways: Valentine's flowers from Stephen, still going strong last night. Could they be any more gorgeous? Pink lilies are my favorite :)

4. I have a nasty sore throat, I'm sure from one of the little munchkins on my pediatrics rotation. We had multiple cases of strep throat last week, so I made sure to inform Stephen that I did not have signs of strep throat including petechiae on my palate, cervical lymphadenopathy, or fever. To which he exclaimed, "That's the best news I've heard all day!"

The bottle below is Umcka (apparently the scientific name is Pellargonium sidoides) and it's a natural remedy. Now, I may talk down natural remedies and herbal supplements, but when I get sick I am willing to try almost anything. This is my second bottle of the stuff during this pediatrics rotation (I actually found an NIH study on it's merits). 

 

5. My next rotation is surgery, and I had a nightmare about it two nights ago (which probably does not bode well for me since I don't actually start the rotation for 10 more days). It was something about me not scrubbing in right, ruining my sterile gloves, and the attending surgeon getting upset. I think I'd rather stick with the sick kiddos (and funny stories) on pediatrics....

 



6. I made sloppy joes for the hubs last night. This was my second attempt; my first I used cans of Manwhich (a.k.a. pre-made sloppy joe sauce) and Stephen was very polite about it but definitely not a fan. This time I used his mom's recipe, which is super easy and really delicious: 1 lb of ground beef browned with 1/2 cup of celery and 1 small onion, then you add 1/4 tsp of ground yellow mustard and squirt in as much ketchup as you need to make it moist.

I told Stephen to eat up since today is meatless. I always feel guilty about Fridays in Lent because I have no problem whatsoever not eating meat, but Stephen is always ravenous by the end of the day (he once ate 1/2 a pan of spinach lasagna on a Friday during Lent).

7. For my style post this week, I remixed the black polka dot dress for work that I wore last Sunday. I think I could wear this dress every day...

 

Stephen and I are hoping to make it to the fish fry, Stations of the Cross, and Praise and Worship at one of the local churches tonight. Happy second Friday of Lent!

What I Wore Wednesday

Oh, Wednesday. I'm fighting a cold that I can pinpoint to one little munchkin who let out a huge cough/sneeze when I was listening to his lungs the other day (you'd think I would have learned after 6 weeks of pediatrics to avoid standing in the direct line of fire during an exam). We are also completely buried right now after the-snowstorm-to-end-all-snowstorms hit yesterday. Everything was closed except for the hospital and our clinic. I was extremely fortunate and did not get paged last night while I was on call since I was dreading making my way to the hospital in the middle of the blizzard.

Stephen luckily snapped a few outfit pics before the crazy storm hit. I did things a little differently this week and took some insta pics of my other outfits. Not the best quality, but it was extra motivation to get dressed in the a.m.! I noticed an unintentional theme this week of simple + a little pop of color.

Weekend casual: grey + cream polka dots

Polka dot sweatshirt and skinny high risers: Madewell/boots: Hunter

Manic Monday: green dots + leopard for work

Chiffon dot top: J. Crew/trousers: Gap outlet from forever ago/leopard flats: J. Crew on super sale

Work #2: Black/White + a pop of coral

Polka dot ponte dress: J. Crew (last worn here)/Button-up, tights, wedges: Target/Necklace: J. Crew Outlet

After work: Colored jeans + a cozy sweater

Jeans: J. Crew Factory/Sweater: Forever 21/Skimmers: Madewell

Joining The Pleated Poppy, Shanna, Alison, and Rolled Up Pretty on this lovely Wednesday.

What I've learned so far on pediatrics...

I'm almost done with my pediatrics rotation and I can confidently say that I've learned some valuable life lessons:

 

1. Don't ask a kid whether you can look in their ears, listen to their lungs, examine their stomach, or whether they want to sit on the exam table. 9 times out of 10 the answer will be "No!" You can give a kid options ("which ear do you want me to look in first?") although from my experience, this doesn't always work either. I'm pretty sure that we discussed this in "Examining the Young Child 101" the first year of medical school, but I still started off way too many peds exams by "Will you please sit on the exam table for me?

 

2. Two words: poker face. So for example, when your patient sees you with your attending (who is 30 years older and 6 inches shorter) and asks "Mommy, are they married?" you avoid a look of complete horror or bursting out laughing.

 

3. Apparently a bulging tympanic membrane (a.k.a. infected eardrum) looks just like a cervix. I didn't come up with this myself, mostly because my tympanic membrane descripters are still limited to "looks red" and "doesn't look normal, probably infected", but my attending last week assured me that when I identify a bulging tympanic membrane it will look like a cervix:

 

Bulging eardrum:

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Cervix:

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And he may be right.

4. Upon entering a child's room, you will immediately be questioned as to where the shot is and if you are giving them a shot. After they realize that you really aren't going to give them a shot (that's reserved for last, from the nurse), they will relax for two minutes until you pull out your otoscope and try to look in their ear.

5. Examining a kid's ears (especially if they are under 5) is one of the hardest things that you will do in medical school. Case in point: the little girl (who will forever be engrained in my memory) who let out a blood-curdling shriek when my otoscope entered her ear canal. It seriously scared me. The best part was that when my attending came in, the patient kept telling him that "My ear's broke! My ear's broke!"

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6. Stickers really do cure all ills. Except for one little girl who was so mad about getting her shots that she would not accept a sticker.



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6. 90% of pediatric patients will have a runny nose with yellowish-green discharge. The other 10% will have diarrhea. It is a small miracle that I have not gotten deathly ill yet. It's probably because for the entire last 6 weeks I have looked something like this:

source: whatshouldwecallmedschool

7. Never, ever understimate a kid. I have found orange chunks in a kid's ears and an object in a kid's nose that had been there for months. Kids are very, very crafty.

I'm not sure that I'm cut out (or called) to be a pediatrician, but I will say that I've learned a lot in the last 6 weeks. I've also stored away various dos and don'ts for when Stephen and I have kids. So, while I won't exactly miss pediatrics, I'm grateful for the funny moments and life lessons.

What I Wore Sunday: Navy + black polka dots

  

This was my first-evah attempt at wearing black and navy together. My friend Maria in college was always an advocate for the combo, insisting that black + navy = class. I was never so sure (I always thought it would look like an accidental mismatch), but this dress with black was too funeral-ly and I've seen some great navy/black combos lately so I decided to give it a shot. I added some grey tights and a light green-blue belt to complement the navy. This dress was just a tad too short when I bought it, so my wonderful mom helped me redo the hem to add a couple inches and it now may be perfect: comfy ponte material, great for work over a white button-up, easily dresses up with a colored belt and a cardi, and it has polka dots!

Joining the infamous Sunday-link up again at Fine Linen and Purple, along with the Woestmans and Plane Pretty.

Navy cardi: J. Crew factory

Black polka dot dress and belt: J. Crew

Tights and wedges: Target

Necklace: wedding gift from the hubs

After mass last night, Stephen and I went to a Valentine's dinner for married couples sponsored by our church. We had so much fun, and surprisingly we weren't the most recently married couple (we sat at a table with two couples married the month after us). The longest-married couple was 59 years. The dinner was catered by the same people who catered our wedding reception, and we were pretty happy to actually get some of their to-die-for carrot cake this time (if you are planning your wedding make sure that someone saves you some dinner and cake, you really won't have time to eat it!!) One of the married couples who had been together 21 years and has 8 children gave a beautiful talk on NFP, forgiveness, and how their relationship has changed over the years.

Have a lovely Sunday!

He would kill me for doing this but What He Wore: Banana Republic sweater

Friday Quick Takes

 

 

Joining Jen!

1. I started off the week by going to spinning class with Stephen and my sister. Stephen was a competitive cycler for a few years and takes spinning class very seriously. He looked kind of like this:

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And my sister and I looked kind of like this:

 

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Stephen kept telling us to focus. Anyways, it was fun.

 

2. The crowning moment of my week was when I got a kiddo's knee reflexes by using the bottom of my stethoscope. Now, the seasoned physicians always do this no problem (who needs a reflex hammer when you have a stethoscope?) but I have always been afraid to try considering that it took me months to be able to get a patient's knee reflexes with a reflex hammer. Anyways, I just decided to go for it this week on a cute 5-year-old and I was pretty proud of myself when his knee jerked up.

 

 

3. One of the weirdest moments of my life happened to me while watching "The Bachelor" this week. This warning came on the TV: https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=aNXmuhNKX_g

Apparently someone (from another country) thought it would be funny to hack our small town TV stations with a zombie warning. I was not pleased since it was during my super important Bachelor-watching (and I admit that I locked all our doors).

 

4. I said that I would share a picture of the gift I made Stephen for V-day and here it is:

 

 Ok, it's not done yet. Apparently it takes a little longer than I thought to make a gigando-fleece tie blanket. I also found him a Nautica cologne set (his favorite) for $32! What a deal (don't tell him how cheap it was).

 

5. My little sister sent me this picture of a sheep's heart she is dissecting in honor of Valentine's Day.

 

 

She is a girl after my own heart. It also brought back fond memories of med school gross anatomy lab (I will never forget holding a human heart in my hands).

 

6. Valentine's Day reflection post on love here. I really enjoyed writing this (and love this quote; Emily Bronte is my hero).

 

 

7. If you weren't able to celebrate hearts day yesterday (Stephen and I will be celebrating it this weekend since he was working) check out Stephanie's date/outfit ideas here.

Stephen and I are volunteering at our local sled dog race tonight as part of my Outdoor Emergency Care class, hoping that we don't freeze! Happy weekend.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



All you need is love, love, love...

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I was reflecting this week on what love truly means. The word itself gets thrown around all too loosely (and I'm as guilty as anyone else...I love that J. Crew cardi and love watching the Bachelor). So anyways, here are my random thoughts on love intertwined with cheesy pieces of my own love story (don't say that I didn't warn you).

1. My dear lil' sister's facebook status yesterday: "To some people, it's Valentine's day. To me, it's Thursday." I spent a lot of Valentine's that were just another Thursday (or whatever day). And a couple with another person, but who I knew wasn't the person. Then one day when I was least expecting it, I met my person.

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2. Our wedding was the most beautiful day of my life. I can't deny that I had some pre-wedding jitters (and months of stressing over wedding preparations that didn't really matter in the end), but the moment when I saw his face waiting for me at the altar, I felt a completely overwhelming sense of peace and joy.



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3. Since Stephen and I got married in August, one of the deepest ways that I've experienced his love for me is his kindness, patience and gentleness towards me when I really do least deserve it...there have been too many instances where I've taken out my lack of sleep, frustration towards med school, a tough day, or just regular old PMS on him. And he loves me anyways.

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4. I love the picture below (there I go using "love" again). When I was on my OB rotation, the moment a baby was born it was like the world stopped. I felt immensely privileged to be a part of each delivery, and I don't think that there is anything else like the love a parent has for their child.

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5.When I think of a person that epitomized love in every part of their being, I think of her.

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6. And we would never have known what love was without the Person who encompassed love itself.



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Happy hearts day!

(And if you haven't had enough cheesy love story, you can check out our full story here)

The best day of my life...