june 2018//

Happy Friday---the last one in June! I cannot believe how fast this month just flew right on by. I think that I can chalk that one up to being out of town every single weekend this month. 

June was filled up quickly with studying, biking Martha's Vineyard, volunteering, hiking to a secluded beach, entering the last year of my twenties with celebrating my 29th birthday, seeing my baby sister graduate, recognizing the importance of the time that I've spent treating patients and loving every minute of it, and being surprised by a new car. Plus so much more. And now I'm headed off tomorrow on a medical dental mission trip in the Dominican Republic! 

medical dental mission trip

Nothing fuels the heart or feeds the soul quite like helping others, which is why I couldn't be more excited to announce that I'm headed off on a medical dental mission trip to the Dominican Republic! 

spring 2018 clothing budget

I've been stocking up my closet lately with lots of great pieces for Spring and Summer. Not too many though because I'm still living the #scrublife 5 days a week. But here's what I've added to my closet since I shared by winter budget. 

tooth be told...I love my patients

Last week, I didn't have a single lunch break. With being on an emergency dental rotation, I ended up seeing patients straight through. The cranky hungry side of me wanted to do nothing but complain. And I won't lie, I may have whined a little. But at the end of it all, I'll skip lunch any day because I love what I do, I love why I do it, and I love my patients. It's the only way that I am able be at dental school right now, making so many sacrifices---far beyond missing a few lunches. 

Biking Martha's Vineyard

One of my absolute favorite ways to explore a new city is by bike. How could I not love that feeling of the wind in my hair and the prettiest sights coming into view? And with Martha's Vineyard being so picturesque, ferrying over with our bikes was a no brainer, especially since Husband just attached this pretty new bike basket to my bike.

 Biking though the Vineyard was at the tippy top of my wish list, so on our first morning in Martha's Vineyard, we hopped on our bikes and pedaled our way through scenic Edgartown. 

studying for boards...by the numbers

For the weeks leading up to my dental school boards, I spent as much of my time as possible sitting here...at this very desk. There was so much material to cover and so little time to do it in. Honestly, this was a really rough time for me with being constantly overwhelmed. 

I love sharing the good sides of dental school here and with all the procedures and work that I get to do. But studying for this exam wasn't exciting and it wasn't easy. It was just constant stress and exhaustion. But I think it's important to share this side as well with all the real work that goes into pursuing this crazy career. Here's a glimpse of what studying for boards part 2...by the numbers was like. 

a day in the life of a dental student: boards study

The hardest part about prepping for boards wasn't the content, it was time management. My dental school runs on a very unique schedule where we get more clinical hours than anyone else in the country. But an unfortunate side effect of that is that we also get significantly less time off. 

So while most dental schools give their students anywhere from a few weeks to a month of uninterrupted study time-I got 3 days. As you might imagine, that doesn't even begin to make a dent in preparing for a 12 hour exam. So the name of the game became squeezing as much time as possible out of each day to make time for studying. Here's a glimpse of what my average day has looked like these past couple of months. 

friday favorites 06.22.18

Seriously, you guys--what a week. A busy, crazy, hectic, amazingly good week. Normally, I'm counting down the days until Friday, but I loved everything about this week.

surprised....with a NEW CAR!

If you follow me on instagram, then you already know that I rolled into this week in a brand new car! 🚙 Of course, I wanted to document this crazy sweet story of how this all happened because it was a complete SURPRISE to me and there is so much gratitude and relief around this.

Let's start out by talking about my old car. I had an 11 year old Honda Civic, but you would think it was even older than that. In fact, I've completely lost faith in Honda (even though I had 2 other Honda cars prior to this one that I loved) after my experience with constant problems with this car over the years. Lots of things were falling apart that are beyond the normal wear and tear. But there were a few big issues that have become major problems. 

gingerbread cottages

Yes, this house is that pink!

 All the little gingerbread cottages that dot the town of Oak Bluffs are equally colorful. While we were celebrating my 29th birthday in Martha's Vineyard, visiting these was at the top of my list. 

And we managed to find them. Rows and rows of these bright-hued whimsical little cottages. 

DIY: graduation gift box

This weekend, we got to celebrate my little sister's high school graduation. And I was happy to fulfill the big sister roll by spoiling her rotten with gifts. But honestly, she deserves it for graduating summa cum lade and landing a college scholarship. Can you tell that I am a proud big sister? 

I'm a BIG fan of the little details so I decided to wrap her big gift from me in a very special gift box. 

I designed this gift box to look just like a "cap and mortarboard". It got soooo many compliments at my sister's graduation party that I constantly had people asking me where I bought it and then how I made it, once I revealed it was a DIY. So I decided to share this quick DIY here since this is an easy project with a big WOW factor. 

Here's how I made it: 

friday favorites 06.15.18

Happy Friday! 

This week has been a rollercoaster with dental school so I'm happy to be calling it. I'm not just looking forward to this weekend, I need the break! Ha! 

But don't let my exhaustion fool you. Overall, I've had a pretty wonderful week. 

The Aquinnah Cliffs

While we were celebrating my 29th Birthday in Martha's Vineyard, I had the opportunity to visit the gorgeous Aquinnah Cliffs. When heading over to the Vineyard, the ferries dock on the Eastern side of the island. Since Aquinnah is on the western most part of the island, it's a side of the Vineyard that many people don't have the chance to see. 

But we knew ahead of time that we wanted to explore as much of the island as we possible and had ferried over with our car. It was a little over an hour drive, but so worth it to spend the last few hours of my birthday in this gorgeous place.

the last year of my twenties

I feel so lucky that I got to celebrate my 29th birthday in Martha's Vineyard. It was a weekend filled with beach-combing, biking, hiking, lighthouses, lobster, time with my husband, and all the pink rhododendrons.

 Twenty-nine honestly feels like such a monumental year as I approach the end of my twenties...the end of a decade. I thought I would dread this age, but instead I'm looking forward to it. I may have picked up a few extra pounds and a few bad habits in my twenties. But more than anything, I've picked up the best experiences. I traveled the world. I found the best cutest sweetest pup that a girl could ask for to call my own. I hiked all the miles and camped in the best places. I found the love of my life and was lucky enough to marry him. I earned a B.S. in Biology and am so close to earning my doctorate degree and achieving my life-long goal of becoming a dentist. I've been selfish and made my twenties all about me. I gave myself a whole decade to do nothing, but accomplish my dreams. So I'm very much looking forward to this last year of my twenties and all of the adventures that it will bring before this next stage of life. Happy Birthday to Me! 

29th birthday in Martha's Vineyard!

I’m THAT girl who loves birthdays. Everyone’s birthdays. A whole day dedicated to just you. Oh, and let’s not forget about the fact that there is cake involved. Yes…Please! I don’t even care that I’m getting older. I’m just so happy to celebrate and I think I rang in the last year of my twenties the right way. 

When I realized that my birthday was on a Friday this year, I immediately took the day off from the dental school clinic. I will have to make up the missed day, but it was worth it to have a 3-day weekend for my birthday. Why ADULT on your birthday if you don't have to? I flew into Boston late that Thursday night to reunite with Husband for the first time since our Easter Trip to New Orleans. Between that and my birthday, we had so much to be grateful for. Also, how amazingly perfect is this "OFFICE" themed birthday card that Tom got me? He knows me too well. 

friday favorites 06.08.18

Today is the best Friday ever because it's my B-I-R-T-H-D-A-Y! Since it has been a while since I shared a Friday Favorites, I thought today of all days deserved one because I have so much extra to be grateful for this week. Also, I've really missed these weekly favorites but took a break away last month because May 2018 was so tough for me.

 Every Friday, I would try to think of the best parts of my week, but the only favorite thing was that it was over. Of course that wasn't true, but I was having a hard time having a positive attitude towards life. Thankfully, June is treating me so much better and I'm starting to get back to my old self. 

101 in 1001: Update #5

A tale of procrastination: I meant to share this update in May, but didn't because I was avoiding writing it. Not because I didn't want to, just because I thought that it would take soooo long. 

As it turns out, I didn't really check that much off my list since my last update so writing this post took a whopping 22 minutes--including this intro. Oops! Too bad I didn't check off item #45 which is to stop procrastinating.

girl scout dentistry merit badge

Last weekend I had the chance to volunteer with the Girl Scouts. Things have certainly changed a lot from when I was in a troupe, but it's still true to its mission of supporting and encouraging the growth of young women. 

may 2018//

May was a tough month for me to get through. It was miserable actually. That's hard to admit because I try not to be negative in this space, but it's true. All month long, I felt like I was just barely holding on and waiting for it to end.

I was so stressed out and not getting enough sleep while studying for boards. I didn't see my husband at all during the month of May. I gained a ton of weight from being mostly sedentary studying non-stop. I had so many new patients assigned that I finally had to say...E-N-O-U-G-H. Not to mention, that I spent two weeks on a pediatric/orthodontic rotation surrounded by kids that got me so sick that I had a fever for days. It was a rough month to say the least. But in the grand scheme of things, nothing I'm going through right now is permanent or even really that bad. Here's a peak at my month.   

a year of treating patients

And just like that, it’s June, which made me realize that I’ve been treating patients for a little over a year now. Some days I feel like an actual dentist, like yesterday when I did a perfectly filled root canal. Then there are days like today where my pediatric patient has a total meltdown to the point where I have to delay treatment.