March Budget: Pushing the Boundaries

It's funny how drastically our styles change over time. I find that once I love something I love it forever as I will never grow tired of lace or bright patterns. I am also finding that things I once hated like female loafers, studded shoes, and leopard print are now items on my must have list. These kinds of things are completely out of my normal comfort zone and I think that's what I love most about them. It's good to push your fashion boundaries every once in a while.  

Sunny Disposition?

I often use my wardrobe to express how I'm feeling. In this case, I'm using it to express how I want to feel. This has just overall been a rough week for me. With a neuro exam, a practical, and multiple quizzes I'm just feeling really run down. I didn't bother posting a Work-It-Out Wednesday yesterday because my exercising was almost non-existent this past week and I'm not motivated. I need to get myself out of this rut and nothing says cheer up quite like a pair of yellow pants.

Blouse: Ann Taylor Outlet
Pants: J Crew F. Skimmer Pant in Bright Sun
Blazer: Talbots Canvas
Necklace: J Crew F. Bead & Crystal in Summer Lime

Back to the Grind

Well the break is over. As usual it started out with the best intentions of studying the entire time and that just didn't happen. It is so hard to go from having class from 8am-5pm and studying or practicing in lab nonstop to suddenly having time to yourself. It is just impossibly hard to force myself to do too much studying during breaks. I always feel really guilty about it later but it was worth it to relax and catch-up with my husband. Now, that reality has set in I have my work cut out for me.

Tomorrow I have a periodontal skills assessment. For those who don't know what periodontology is, simply put it's a specialty of dentistry that focuses specifically of maintaining the oral health of the supporting tooth structures like the gums and bone. This will actually be our first skills assessment and it is one that is associated with a high failure rate in the previous classes. I'm actually extremely confident in my ability to perform the necessary task, but I'm more so concerned about keeping my anxiety in check. I have been practicing and met with the professor individually just to ensure that I am doing everything correctly, but I'm nervous about being watched. And as I have to be seated for the exam and the professor will be standing above me-it will be a very intimidating position to be in.

Source

Also, we have our regular exam this week, this time in neurology. Definitely an area that I'm not a fan of.

Mixing it Up

Today is my last day in Boston so I am trying to enjoy every last bit of it before I have to return back to my normal schedule. I also figured that I may as well take advantage of the cold and wear these tights. I have been trying to style them all winter. With such a bold bright pattern, they needed to be the focal piece of the ensemble so I paired it with the neutrals of white, black, and gray. I love the pop of color the tights add and the bonus of mixing the patterned tights with the textured shorts. 

The Inspiration for our Trip to CA

The feature article for the December 2012 National Geographic was on "The World's Largest Trees". The article focused on General Sherman and The President, which are giant sequoia trees and ranked the largest in the world. To me the sequoias are beautiful with their rust colored bark and outstretched branches. It is especially amazing that they have been able to survive for thousands of years through harsh winters and fires. With such an awe inspiring natural wonder just a plane ride away, we couldn't help but want to see it. 

National Geographic: Climbing The President

Loving Leopard

So I used to hate leopard print with a passion. I always thought that it looked kind of tacky but now I have quickly become a fan-when it's worn right that is. I'm still not sure how I feel about an all leopard print dress or blouse, but a pop of it here and there with a handbag or a pair shoes is ok. I'm crushing pretty hard right now. Here is some of my inspiration:

Work-It-Out Wednesday: Getting Started

So this week was the first week in my pledge to get back into shape, not only to look better but to feel better and have more energy. I find that I normally have trouble with motivating myself to get going so I have all kinds of systems in place to help me get started. One of the best ways to do so is with an inspirational quote. Here is one that I found on Pinterest that I am loving right now. And of course this can apply to all aspects of life-not just fitness. 

Antiques & Tomboy Chic

So I am currently on my Spring Break which is why you haven't heard from me in a few days. I've just been taking it easy and while many of my schoolmates went off to warmer climates like Florida or the Caribbean I went the opposite direction to Boston. The high will be in the 30s all week and there is snow on the ground (you all know how much I hate the cold), but it's all worth it to spend a week with my husband. I had an early flight here and knew that we would be doing a bit of walking so I decided to dress comfy. I used to be a complete tomboy and every once in a while I like to go back to that but with a girly spin to it.

Work-It-Out Wednesday

When I started this blog in January I originally created a Health and Fitness Page in order to make myself more accountable for regular workouts, but all I really did was pretend as if the page didn't exist. I have been very good at living in denial, but it has been long enough that I can't continue to ignore the page or my reasoning for creating it so welcome to the first official work-it-out Wednesday. Because we normally have a test every Wednesday, it has come to represent the end of the week for me more so than a Friday would. So every Wednesday I am going to make an effort to report what I did each week to stay active and how I am advancing towards my fitness goals.

Eventually, I will be the person in the gym running several miles-you know instead of being the person who spent 30 minutes matching their work out gear and spent more time posing for photos and texting then actual sweating.

What a Tease!

Like yesterday, today promises to hit the 70's but I am not getting my hopes up too much because this will be the warmest day of the week. In the past few weeks we have had these amazingly gorgeous weekends only to then endure a week of snow or rain. So now that it is warm again-I doubt that it is here to stay yet.

Not a Beauty Guru

I am a terrible blogger because I have been hinting at doing a beauty haul for a while now, but never actually got around to doing it...my reason being that every time I sat down to do the haul I realized that there was something I needed and wanted to wait so that I could include it. I may go months at a time without purchasing anything beauty related and then I find myself picking up multiple items in a short time span. The items I'm going to show/review are things that I purchased over the past few months and even then there is still a lot. So you have been warned..this is a lengthy post.

Celebrate: Husband's 25th Birthday

My amazing husband turned 25 last month and while he has been here with me all week for his Spring Break we have been celebrating. Here is just a quick post of what we have been doing:

Giant Cupcakes!

California Dreamin

I had mentioned in my February Clothing Budget that I allocated the money from my "no-buy" month to my travel fund and I also promised a post about it so here goes. Because husband and I live so far away, a visit to see each other necessitates a plane ride. Therefore, we have a general travel fund to cover these expenses throughout the year. Additionally, I love to travel and experiencing these new things with my husband makes them extra special. I know that it would be easier to wait until we were both finished with school to travel, but I find when you view big goals like seeing the world or running that marathon as unattainable things that won't happen until the far off future, they never seem to happen in the present.

Punta Cana Dominican Republic

Morning!

Good Morning All! I have been up since 4:30AM today, but don't worry I went to bed early so I am fairly well rested and got in some studying before class today. I am in a particularly good mood this morning and I don't know why. Maybe it is the warm weather and I guess it doesn't hurt that I just found out that we don't have class from 10AM to 12PM, meaning that we only have 6hrs of lecture today instead of the usual 8hrs. Our faculty of course teach us anything dental related and we do have anatomy and histology professors on staff, but most of our basic science lecture material comes from the medical school faculty. There was a scheduling conflict so we have an extra 2 hrs free which I will be spending studying for our Wednesday exam. I have a feeling that this is going to be an especially productive day.

February Clothing Budget

As you all know-I attempted to make February a no-buy month as per my New Year's Resolution to go an entire month without purchasing any clothing or accessories. Hubby didn't think that I could do it and neither did I, but I am happy to say that I was a great success. There were quite a few moments of temptation like the President's Day sales and at one point I literally found myself in a dressing room-knowing good well that I shouldn't be. The break was good for a lot of reasons including that it gave to the opportunity focus on rotating the clothes I currently own and figuring out exactly what it is I am looking to purchase in the future. The money saved this month would normally stay within the clothing budget category, but instead I decided to completely reallocate it towards our travel fund (post soon to come).

I do however have some items to share. As mentioned before (January Clothing Budget ), I ordered these items at the tail end of January with a J Crew gift card. I ended up deciding to keep everything that I received so here is what I got:

1. J Crew Factory Printed Draped Tank: Violet Fuchsia-$50  Original: $64.50

Normally I would have waited for this item to go on sale a little more, but I love the print and I was worried about it disappearing in my size if I waited too long. It is still available and at an additional 30% off. I don't regret purchasing it though, because I wanted to guarantee that this piece would be in my closet.