HAPPY NEW YEAR'S, y'all!!! I can't believe it's 2016 -- which means it's another graduation year for me! So crazy to think about how far I've come. I still remember my high school and college graduations so clearly. White Coat Ceremony, which was in August 2012, seems like it was literally yesterday and now I'm graduating in just a few short months. I'm so not ready for the real world yet!

Last year, I found a really neat template on the Lauren Conrad website for listing some of my resolutions for the year. I did a year in review post yesterday seeing how I did on those resolutions and to my surprise, I didn't do as bad as I thought! So I figured I would do this again this year and see my progress come next year. I'm so excited and nervous for 2016. I'm ready to start the last leg of my medical training, but it's so scary not knowing where I'm going to be in 6 months. I don't think I want to stay in Pittsburgh for multiple reasons. One, I think it would be good to experience another city, and second because I really didn't like the program here as much as I thought I would. I didn't really gel well with the residents and don't like how overrun they look all the time. But who knows, I may end up ranking Pitt #1 and end up staying here, although I'm not crossing my fingers given my terrible Step 1 score. As scary as the thought it, there's also something exciting about starting new in a new city, a new apartment, new furniture, new everything! Scary, but still tons of fun, especially for single gals like myself. See I'm rambling again. Without further ado, my resolutions! :) 

A bad habit I'm going to break: I really want to start blogging more frequently. I'm no beauty or life expert, but I do really enjoy blogging. Not only does it help me de-stress, but I feel like it also improves my writing skills. My goal would be 2-3 posts/week, but sometimes that's really hard to accomplish. I think a goal of 5 posts a month would be easily doable, so that's going to be my goal for 2016! 

A destination I’d like to visit: Oh gosh, I have a billion places I want to travel to, but money's going be reaaaally tight for me for the next few years. Womp womp, student loans. I think my friends and I might be planning a trip this year possibly to Orlando, Florida, or the Southwest so I'm really looking forward to that if it ends up panning out! Otherwise, I really want to visit New York City once again before starting residency. 

I’m going to work harder at: Financial planning! My biggest goal for 2016 is to become better at budgeting myself. I recently purchased the Mead Organizher Expense Tracker from Amazon and I'm really looking forward to using that to budget myself. I've also created an Excel spreadsheet laying out my fixed and variable expenses during residency -- mainly to see how much of my salary I would be able to funnel into repaying student loans. Although I won't really have to start strictly budgeting myself until June when residency starts, I definitely want to start practicing early on so that the transition will be easier.  

A project I’d like to finish: I have two projects I really want to get done this year. First, is my scrapbook that I started in 2015. It's allllmost done so I really hope I'm able to totally finish it off this year, hopefully by graduation. Second, I really hope to finish creating my bucket list. I've always loved the thought of making a lifetime bucket list, and have never actually created one. So I hope I can sit down and make one this year -- and who knows, maybe even accomplish a few things on that list!

A class I’d like to take: Unfortunately, I don't think I'll have time for any sort of formal classes this year. However, I really want to get better at cake decorating and will probably watch a few YouTube videos to help me become a boss at buttercream roses and flowers. That counts as online class, right?

I’d like to spend more time doing: Baking and cooking! I fell in love with baking and cake decorating this year, and I hope to continue practicing and perfecting my baked goods and cake decorating skills. I've also started cooking and making my own dinners. I spent the first half of 2015 eating out a LOT, but the second half I've been working on cooking my own meals and experimenting with tons of Pinterest recipes. I really hope to continue and become better at cooking, baking, and cake decorating this year!

A food I want to eat more of: Protein and vegetables! I want to incorporate more vegetables and protein into my meals. It can be hard doing so on the go, but it's definitely doable with some creativity and planning ahead!

I want to wear more: Dresses! Come on, if I'm not going to do it now, when else am I going to? I really hope to trim my body down and be able to rock dresses. They don't have to be tight, body-fitting dresses but I want to look at least somewhat decent in dresses this year. 

Year In Review: 2015

As I was pondering about what to post today, I reminisced back to last year when I made this blog and thought it would be cool to revisit my old posts. I stumbled upon my New Year's Resolution post from last year and figured it would be fun to see how I did on my resolutions for the year.

A bad habit I want to break --> Procrastinating. I really really really want to break my horrible habit of waiting until the last minute to do most things, which always gets me in trouble and ends up in bad quality results. 

Although I'm still not the most organized person, I think I've made a few strides along this alley! I've definitely gotten better and was super proud of myself for not procrastinating on getting my residency application materials together -- in fact, I was done super early around August, which I was mega proud of! It definitely pays to not procrastinate and really, really helps de-stress your life. With that being said, I still want to work on this and not procrastinate on all of my projects. Here's to procrastinating even less in 2016! 

A destination I’d like to visit--> I'd like to visit a lot of different places, but I think this year I'd really like to try and visit Boston or California. I'll be interviewing a lot this year, so I'm going to also use that as some time to travel! 

I traveled alottttt this year! Although I didn't get to travel to either Boston nor California, I went to a bunch of cities in the Northeast and Mid-Atlantic areas. Some of my favorite and most memorable locations were Long Island, Washington DC, and Norfolk! 

I’m going to work harder at --> Staying healthy and binge-eating less. 

Unfortunately, I struggled with this goal again in 2015 :( but, I'm not ready to throw in the towel yet! 2016 is another year and another chance to crush it! #optimistic ;) 

A project I’d like to finish --> My 2015 scrapbook. 

I'm SOOOOO excited to say that I've finally started working on my scrapbook! Last year, I was planning on making it solely about memories from 2015, but I decided at the end to make it a culmination of my undergrad and medical school experiences. Mainly because this year was so stressful and busy that I didn't get to do as much fun stuff as I thought. I have about 5-6 pages done and am well on my way to getting it done in 2016! 

A class I’d like to take --> I'm actually really excited to take my Pediatrics rotation, and do various medicine and pediatric electives! 

Boom, did my Peds rotation and loved working with kids! Yes, I applied into pediatrics, but surprisingly I didn't really enjoy the rotation that much mainly because of the residents I worked with. Most of them were incredibly obnoxious and full of themselves, which is why I will not be ranking Pitt #1 on my list this year! :) But I know Peds is my calling, especially primary care pediatrics, and I'm super pumped to start the next phase of my training this upcoming year!

I’d like to spend more time doing --> Spending time with my friends, both old and new. 

Yes, yes, and yes! Although this year was incredibly busy in terms of finishing up clerkships, doing my acting internship, and interviewing, I still made a lot of great memories with friends both old and new. That ranges from attending my former roommate's wedding, grabbing dinner with the Forbes Hall crew, visiting my best friend from college in Washington DC, having bro nights with my medical school friends, watching the NZ and American bachelor, hosting a bonfire party, and many many mannnyyy more events! 

A food I want to eat more of --> Vegetables. Also i'd like to start making salads at home because those are a great way of getting in veggies, proteins, dairy, etc. and are really fun because you can customize it any way you want and the options are endless! 

Been working on it! I definitely got better at grocery shopping this year and cooking at home, but I went up and down in roller-coaster waves as far as my diet goes. I really want to work on solidifying a meal plan and healthy eating habits for myself this year now that I have more down time to focus on these things.

I want to wear more --> More jeans and less leggings/yoga pants! Also I want to finally start wearing cute dresses more often and finally buy a nice bikini this year. 

Yeahhhhh not really :( but like I said, next year's a charm! ;)


So from the looks of things, I didn't do too shabby on my resolutions this year! I'll be posting my resolutions for 2016 sometime tomorrow, probably following the same template! Happy New Year's Eve!!! Party it upppp.

Merry Christmas!

MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope everyone who ends up reading this post/blog had an absolutely wonderful holiday season this year. Even though Christmas may be over, there's still lots of holiday fun to be had with the sales and New Years celebrations coming up. In fact, I'm blasting the Michael Buble Christmas CD as I'm writing this post! Being a busy as I am, it's hard for me to carve out time to fully enjoy the holidays each year, but I try to do my best each year and spend quality time with as many friends and family as possible. I may not get to see, call, text, or hangout with all my friends regularly but I still try to send all my close friends a holiday card each year to keep in touch and let them know that I still care about them. For me, the holiday season isn't so much about getting as much as it is about giving, even if it's something as simple as a holiday card or a $10 personalized gift to my closest friend. It's honestly the thought that matters, at least for me, even if I get nothing in return. The fact that people have stuck around in my life as long as they have means a lot to me.

This year, as with all years, I had an absolute blast with my family. We went to see Alvin and the Chipmunks on Christmas Eve, and on Christmas Day we had a home cooked Indian lunch and just relaxed together in our den as a family. The highlight was the holiday quiz game my brother made for the family! It was a super fun and silly time! Today, we went up to Erie and had a nice lunch by the bay front area and then ate some cake and coffee at the Sheraton. On our way back, we stopped at the outlets, where my mom and I purchased a bunch of goodies from Bath & Body Works (their sale is legit SO good!). I also bought a ton of sweaters from Old Navy for only $38! Love that place.

As for the rest of the holiday break, I have a ton of projects planned. My biggest project is to reorganize my room at my parent's house. It's such a huge, cluttered mess that really needs to be redone even if I'm not going to be living here for a long time. And plus, the New Year makes me itch to redecorate and reorganize, so this is perfect! I also want to get organized in other ways including using a planner to organize my life and an expense tracker to budget myself better. Plus, I have some smaller projects like making some holiday brownies, getting my eyebrows done, thinking about my residency rank list, etc. Plus, packing for my trip to India and London that's coming up in a few short weeks. Lots and lots to blog about and hopefully I can continue my blogging spree until the New Year!

Crafting Weekends: Glitter Dipped Wine Glasses

*image credit goes to Cupcakes and Couture

I've been meaning to write this post for months now! I first made these glasses as a present for Mother's Day but I never got around to posting it. I've since made a dipped wine glass for myself so I remembered to take photos this time! I freaking love making stuff like this. It is such an easy, cheap craft to make and it looks so unique and polished! Not to mention that you can actually use it regularly. My favorite part is that you can reeeeallly customize these glasses any way you want -- different glitters, different colors you can use, different gluing techniques, patterns, and a bunch of different messages and patterns you can write/draw on the actual glass portion. It makes for a super cute, cheap, personalized gift for weddings, parties, Christmas, birthdays, ANYTHING. I've even seen it being used as bacholerette party favors on Pinterest! Looking back, I'm actually regretting not making some more for our Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner table this year! But anyways, enough rambling.

So the materials. First off, you'll obviously need a clean, plain wine glass. You can find these anywhere. I bought mine at Walmart for $1. You can use a more expensive wine glass, although I've read that cheaper glasses actually hold up the glitter and writing better. You'll also need some loose glitter. This is the fun part! There are soooo many different shades and sizes of glitter and you can get super creative by mixing different colors, textures, etc. For mine I chose a champagne white gold, which is my favorite metallic. I bought mine from JoAnn Fabrics in a shakeable container (is that what they're called?!)...you know, the one with holes on top so you can shake out the glitter easily and don't have to dip your hands into it. Makes for an easy, mess-free application! You'll also need some Mod Podge, which is gonna act as the glue for the glitter to stick to. There are SO many different varieties of Mod Podge. I chose the plain Mod Podge with a gloss finish and it worked really well. It's also nice to have some sort of clear acrylic sealant spray to lock your glitter in place. Although it's technically optional, it's going to add a nice finishing touch to your wine glass and make it so that the glitter isn't going to scrape away from your glass with continued use. And if you're giving it as a gift, I think it's nice to add that professional touch. I used the Mod Podge brand, although they had other types as well. Whichever one you choose, make sure it's clear and has a gloss finish! You'll also need a foam brush, which you can buy at any craft store, to paint on the Mod Podge. Lastly, you can buy some metallic Sharpie pens to jazz up your wine glass if you want to add any writing or doodles to your wine glass. They don't have to be metallic although I think metallics go really well with glitter!

So I didn't take step by step pictures, but it's incredibly easy to figure out.

1. Plan out your wine glass. Like I said, the possibilities are endless. You can choose to coat the entire stem in glitter, do just the bottom, cover the entire glass, etc. You also want to decide if you want to doodle on your glass with Sharpies. For my Mother's Day present, I chose to write "Mom" in cursive with a bronze Sharpie. Check out Pinterest or Google Images for ideas. 
2. Setup to glitter! Lay down tons of newspaper on your work area so it's easy to get rid of the glitter when you're done. You also want to cover all parts of the wine glass that will not be getting smothered by glitter, especially the insides of the wine glass.You can do this by taping newspaper around the outside of the glass and putting some on the inside of the glass as well.
3. Mod Podge time. Using your foam brush, coat your wine glass with a thin layer of Mod Podge. You want to cover every single inch of the glass that will be getting glitter-ized, but you want to make sure it's not gooped up or dripping with Mod Podge. 
4. Sprinkle on the glitter. Immediately after you cover your glass with Mod Podge, shake glitter to cover the entire area. This is where a glitter container with holes comes in handy! You can go crazy and coat excessively, making sure there are no "bald spots". Remember, you can shake off any excess glitter, but it's a pain to go back and spot-treat any missed areas (been there done that)! Once you've covered the entire glass, leave it alone for about 30-60 minutes. The longer, the better.
5. Decorate your glass. If you want to add any messages, writing, or design on your glass, remove the newspaper covering your glass and draw directly on the glass using your Sharpies. Let it sit for about 15 minutes.
6. Seal the glitter. Once you're happy with your glass, time to lock it down! Hold the sealant spray about 6 inches away from the glass and spray while twirling your glass until each area has an even coat. Do this for the entire glass -- including the parts written in Sharpie and any blank areas. Don't spray excessively at any one point otherwise it might get chunky in one area or the glitter may spray off.You want to give a fine, thin coat to each part of the glass. 

That's it! That's how easy this project is. If you love glitter as much as I do, you can try with different types of glasses, different colors of glitter, different designs, etc. Like I said, the possibilities are literally endless and I love how practical this craft is! Hope you guys enjoyed..here's to many more crafting posts this coming year!

First Dates

Long time, no talk. I know, I know that seems to be theme for this blog :( A LOT has happened since I last posted...I think back in like late November? December's definitely been an interesting, eye-opening month for me in many ways.

Let's first talk about my very first date. Yes, I'm 25. Yes I just went on my first official date like a week ago. It was with a guy that I've known since high school and had a small crush back then. As fate would have it, we went to the same college and had the same major, although he was a year below me and our classes never overlapped. But I would see him around campus and say hi, smile, etc like I do with anyone. Fast forward to first year of medical school, he ended up messaging me one night and we started texting regularly shortly after that. We then made a date to hangout, but as silly me would have it, I of course fucked it up. Instead of going out to dinner or for coffee like a normal person, I decided to text him half-drunk after a night of clubbing during medical school orientation and invite him over to my place. I didn't even think about the kind of message it sent. So he showed up to my apartment with a bottle of Smirnoff I think? Or Bacardi, I can't recall obviously. And of course like any normal man, he thought it was a bootycall. When that didn't happen and I refused to even kiss him after he made it very clear that he wanted me sexually, he of course went home all flustered, embarrassed, and probably a little upset. SO embarrassing! To my surprise, that wasn't the end of our relationship. We still Snapchatted and texted every now and then, but our busy schedules prevented us from setting a date to hangout again...not that he was yearning to hangout with me after our little incident, I'm sure. Fast forward some more to a few weeks ago (mind you, like 3 years later after the embarrassing incident), we decide to hangout again. We got Thai food at a local joint and it was....awkward. Just an awkward fucking date. He had a cute face, gorgeous eyes, and a good head on his shoulders but there was just no chemistry. He made some awkward jokes on our drive over to the restaurant and made waayyyyy too many sarcastic, joking comments for me to even take him seriously. Everything I said would turn into some sort of sarcastic comment or joke. A little over the top and annoying. Just too much of a clown for me, let's put it that way. He paid for the meal, confirming that it was a date not just a friendly hangout...oops. When he dropped me off, I don't know if he expected me to invite him upstairs, but I just told him it was fun, wished him a good night, and left things that way. No kiss, no physical contact, nothing.

Although he wasn't the one and there's zero chance of a second date, I'm still glad I put myself out there. I was so incredibly nervous and wanted to cancel the whole night, but I'm proud of myself for stepping out of my comfort zone and giving things a chance. About fucking time since my ovarian clock is tick-tocking away. Having this experience definitely makes me more comfortable with the thought of dating, and to be honest I can't wait to do it again! I'm a pretty social person and I love meeting new people, so dating isn't as scary as I initially thought. Just getting past those first date nerves and hoping he's a decent, normal guy is the only part that scares me. And to be honest, stepping into the whole dating realm makes me more self-conscious and propels me to get fit and look my best. I may not be America's Next Top Model, but the least I can do it shed a few pounds, tone up, and look good in sexy clothes. Or at least jeans for now! And dating gives me another incentive to focus on my outer appearance and health.

Whew so there it is. I FINALLY got this post up and written. I wanted to write about more fun, exciting stuff that's been happening in my life this month but I'll save it for another blog post. I'm going to try to blog every day until the New Year, but no commitments. I already have some stuff I wanted to talk about like my HUGE beauty hauls, favorites, more life events, and exciting stuff coming up next year so look out for some more stuff coming up soon!

Holiday LUSH Haul

Now that Halloween is over, it's officially holiday time -- the best time of the year. It's such a cozy, festive time of the year. Unsurprisingly, it's my favorite time of the season, especially when it comes to shopping! I feel like as soon as November 1st hits, all of the stores are lined with holiday decor, bright lights, and red/green stuff everywhere. Even Christmas music starts playing in most stores.




I have my list of stores I hit up each holiday season, but one store that tops the list in terms of festive cheer is LUSH. I was never a big fan of the store until last year when a LUSH store opened up at my mall. And not going to lie, I'm a huge sucker for adorable-shaped things so of course this very rapidly became one of my favorite stores. Bath time also happens to be one of my favorite luxurious comforts during the frost season so I of course love all sorts of fun bath items like bath bombs, bubble bars, soaps, etc. I think LUSH does such a fantastic job of coming out with seasonal items. They have absolutely adorable stuff for the holidays and they have a wide assortment of things that cater to a bunch of people. Although I'm posting it later in November, I actually picked this stuff up within the first of November since their holiday stuff tends to run out super fast! I went in early December last year and a lot of their bath bombs had run out and weren't coming back until next year, which was quite disappointing. So I made sure to go embarrassingly early this year and stock up on my favorites before they run out this year.





As you can see, I got quite a bit of stuff...well more than I usually get from LUSH.  I made sure to get all the stuff I had been eying up because who knows if I can even indulge in bath time next year *sad face*. Seriously guys, not looking forward to residency hours next year. The item I'm most excited about this year is the Holly Golightly Bubble Bar. Holy moly it looks and smells just like Christmas. I'm a huge fan of the LUSH bubble bars and this one is ginormous and will probably last me a few baths. It also smelled the most Christmas-y to me -- like cinnamon and pinecones. Yummy! And of course, let's be honest and say that I got suckered into this because of all the glitter. The pink dollop next to it is one-half of the Rose Jam Bubbleroon in its old formula. I used the other half recently and oh my gosh it smells heavenly. Not a Christmas item, but definitely a really comforting scent, especially for Valentine's Day and the spring!



On the second half of my bath ledge, I have a few more bubble bars and bath bombs. The thing that jumps out is the cute little Butterbear Bath Melt. I'm not a huge fan of their Bath Melts, but I got this one because it was absolutely adorable, it smells heavenly like white chocolate, and it was only $4.95! The Bath Melts are sort of anti-climactic in the fact that they don't do much but they do leave my skin super soft since they're chock-full of cocoa and shea butters. Next to that is the all too famous Cinders Bath Bomb. Again, I had heard loads about this product online, but I never got the chance to try it out myself because it's limited edition for the holiday season (I think?) and it had sold out when I went in early December last year. It's made with vegan popping candy so it sounds like little crackles going off in your bathtub. I wish it smelled more like Christmas, but it has a fruity scent with maybe a hint of cinnamon. And lastly, the Sparkly Pumpkin Bubble Bar. I wasn't sure if I wanted to purchase this since it's more autumn-themed, but in the end I decided to get it since I love bubble bars and of course, it's covered in glitter. And it looks stunning along my bathtub.



So there you, my little holiday LUSH haul. The store had a ton more holiday stuff including tons of bath bombs, face masks, lip scrubs, lip balms, etc. but I tried to control myself and only purchase a few of my favorites. If you can only get one thing, I'd encourage you to get the Holly Golightly Bubble Bar since it's humungous and will last a few baths, it smells divine, and it looks (and smells) like Christmas. Seriously, even if I only had this my bath ledge would look stunning and ready for the holiday season. Thats another thing I love about the LUSH products, they really do jazz up your bathroom and bathtub area, and you can use the products once you're tired of the decorations too! They also scent your bathroom -- my bathroom now smells like rosy perfume. As for me, I'm probably going to keep these along my bath ledge until Christmas is over, and start using the products sometime in January. These will definitely keep me stocked up on bath products for the rest of the cold dreary season! Happy bathroom decorating! :)

10 Things I'm Grateful For This Thanksgiving Season

Happy Thanksgiving everybody! I spent an absolutely wonderful day with my family today -- especially considering this may be my last Thanksgiving at home for the next 3 years! Although it's easy to get caught up in all the Black Friday deals (which can save you a lot of money!), it's important to remember the true meaning of Thanksigiving. Stop and count your blessings. For so many years, I've spent the majority of Thanksgiving making sure everything's perfect, coordinating the food, rushing to make sure I have all the appropriate food ready, making sure my family's into the food preparation, making the table all pretty that I never really stopped to consider the true meaning of this holiday. It's not just about how delicious the food is or how many sides you have prepared. It's about spending time with family and being grateful for all you have, no matter how little it may be. Even if you only spend Thanksgiving with one or two other people or get the majority of your meal as takeout from Boston Market, the people you spend it with and the comfort you get around them is more important than anything else. And it's about thanking the good Lord for all that he has provided you -- the simple necessities and comforts of life that we often overlook. So this Thanksgiving, I thought I would write out all of my blessings and things I'm truly grateful for, not just today but throughout the year. Even though life has me down sometimes, I feel like I'm truly blessed to have such a wonderful life and God has provided me with so much more than I deserve.

1. A really amazing family who's incredibly caring, supportive, and always there for me through thick and thin.
2. Some really great friends, some new and some who have stuck with me through the years.
3. The ability to have gotten this far into my medical training with hopes for a prosperous future in a field as rewarding as pediatrics.
4. Getting a bunch of great interviews this application cycle despite all the hardships I had to face during medical school.
5. Living in a country full of opportunities, freedom, and resources.
6. Having the financial means to live a comfortable life.
7. Good health for myself and my family.
8. Experiencing the beautiful colors of fall and the cozy season of Christmas...and writing this post whilst drinking a steaming cup of hot cocoa!
9. My overwhelming stash of beauty goodies.
10. Our family's holiday traditions, as non-traditional as they may be!

Happy Holidays everyone. Here's to a wonderfully cozy, comforting holiday season ahead!