Hello and welcome to Blogmas! I know last year I did a terrible job at keeping up with blogging through the holidays, but I'm going to challenge myself to do better this year. We can only improve with each year, right?

To start things off, I wanted to ramble on a bit about Thanksgiving weekend. I realized I never blogged last week after the occasion. Even though I was in New York over the holiday, I still had a great weekend with friends turned family. One of my college roommates was visiting so I got drinks and dinner with her and her boyfriend in the city on Wednesday. On Thursday, I drove up to Westchester to have Thanksgiving dinner with one of my best friends' family. He also invited another one of our medical school friends and his girlfriend, so it great catching up with them. His family was very warm, friendly, and inviting. Not to mention the food was delicious. I've never had such moist turkey or mouth-watering stuffing. I even got to network with my friend's aunt, who's a pediatrician up in Westchester. It was so nice to be surrounded by friends this Thanksgiving, and I'm grateful for all the memories I got to make this year.

On the Sunday after Thanksgiving, I hosted my very first dinner party/Friendsgiving EVER! It was a lot of work, but oh my gosh you guys it was so worth it. I've quickly come to realize that I love hosting. My apartment was decorated for fall, and all my friends loved how cozy my apartment felt. I got "fancy" plastic cutlery, plastic wine glasses, and holiday-themed disposable plates and napkins from Dollar Tree that were super affordable, yet polished. My friends each brought a dish or two. I supplied a mashed potato casserole (holy crap it turned out SO good you guys), dinner rolls, brie with baguette, and some sparkling cider. We popped open three bottles of wine and spent the night playing Cards Against Humanity and Quiplash. Lots of lifelong memories were made and laughs were shared.

Even though I wasn't with my immediate family over the holiday, I spent it with some amazing friends and could not have asked for a better Thanksgiving this year. I genuinely cannot wait until this time next year, and can only pray and hope that it will be as warm as this one. I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving this year, and be tuned in tomorrow for some beauty bits and bobs!

Random Rambles: Cozy Fall Night

Just got back home from spending a weekend in Pittsburgh with the family. Oh, the long 800-mile round trip spent listening to Taylor Swift and my old favorite alternative hits from the 2000s. It was a good weekend, although it ended on a sour note with my parents have a flaming argument and horrible driving conditions that forced me to call out from clinic this morning. But nonetheless it was so nice to be surrounded by family and love. I really needed it after how terrible and overworked I was feeling after these last 1.5 months of NICU and ED. I'm back rejuvantaed and ready to just finish the last 2 weeks of ED and start my string of electives coming up. But for now I'm just so happy to be sitting in front of my iMac with my fuzzy slippers on and drinking a cup of toasted almond coffee listening to indie songs on Spotify. Pretty basic, right?

The whole trip just made me reflect on life. I spent my entire life in Pittsburgh, being so antsy to move out and experience something different. I'm finally living on my own, 400 miles away from home, with no family around, just minutes from New York City like I've always dreamt of. But now that I'm living my dream, I can't wait to return home. It's true, absence does make the heart grow fonder. Don't get me wrong, I couldn't have picked a better place to move to. I love living in New York. I feel like I have the world at my fingertips, and not a weekend goes by that I'm bored. It's pretty much impossible to tire of living here. I can do anything I want to here, and this place is a haven for foodies like me. But I miss my family so much. I was joking the other day that if my family moved here to Long Island, my life would be perfect.

Although I still have 1.5 years of residency left, I'm already starting to think about where I want to land up after it ends. As much as I love living in New York, this place is never going to be home for me. Pittsburgh will always be home and my first love. Maybe it's because my family is there but every time I drive back home, I feel so warm, safe, and happy. It's the kind of feeling I've never been able to find here in New York. Let's just say it's going to be a very hard decision about where I want to end up after residency. Although my family and home is in the Burgh, most of my good friends are back here in New York. Good thing I have 1.5 years of residency left to distract me from making that decision! 

Favorites | Fall Edition 2017

Hellooo, it's October. Not quite the ideal fall weather yet here in New York, but the mornings and nights are getting chilly with crisper air, so that means fall is officially starting. It's no secret that I love fall. As my mom says "it's my season". It's such a cozy time of year. Bundling up, spending time with loved ones, sipping hot tea, and the warmth of fall colors all around you. I'm really sad that my fall is going to be super busy with heavy rotations, but I'm trying to have some fall fun in the bits of time I have off. But as a tradeoff, I'll have a lot of free time during the Christmas/winter season, which I'm very happy about. I also have real Thanksgiving plans this year unlike last year. I'm going to one of my best friends' house for Thanksgiving dinner and then planning on hosting Friendsgiving at my place on the Saturday after.

Moving on to fall favorites, you'll notice that a lot of these are more lifestyle favorites. I've gone through a bit of makeup breakup in the past few months. I just haven't felt like wearing makeup and have been going bare faced to work most days. Working on changing that, but for now these are the things I've been calling my true loves this end of summer/fall season.

NARS Blush in 'Sin' - plummy-golden blush that's perfect for autumn looks

Neutrogena Healthy Skin Blush in 'Flushed'  -- a brightening, beautiful coral-pink blush perfect for days you need a little pick me up.

ColourPop Pressed Powder Shadows in 'You Know The Drill', 'Wake Up Call', 'Bel Air' -- creamy, beautiful, blendable, richly pigmented, and only $5 a pop. Enough said. My two favorite mattes are "Wake Up Call" and "Bel Air" which work great as transition shades or even by themselves for a soft everyday look. "You Know the Drill" is a beautiful champagne-rose gold that is the perfect shimmery shade for everyday looks. I never get complimented on my makeup, but whenever I wear this shade I get multiple compliments a day, no joke. 

Hourglass Ambient Lighting Powder in 'Radiant Light' -- you guys know I'm not a highlighter fan but this highlight just lifts up the cheeks for a very subtle, office-appropriate glow

OGX Thick and Full Biotin & Collagen Shampoo and Conditioner -- I've only used these once but I'm already obsessed. Even after one use, my hair feels so much stronger and fuller. I can't wait to see how this fixes my hair with continued use.

OGX Nourishing Coconut Oil Weightless Hydrating Oil Mist -- coconut oil has a bad reputation of weighing down hair. This product, however, adds a ton of shine to hair, but is uber light and smells amaaaazing. Another fave OGX product.

Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Latte & Maple Pecan Latte -- what's a fall favorites post without some sort of Starbucks drink? This year, both the classic PSL and the new maple pecan latte have been my favorites. The maple pecan latte sounds like it would give you a toothache, but it's a very warm blend of spices and nutty flavors with just a hint of sweetness. Really a must try this fall season! 

Spotify Autumn Acoustic Playlist -- Guys, I have to say that subbing to Spotify Premium is one of the best investments I make each month. This month I have been obsessed with the "Autumn Acoustic" playlist. I listen to it constantly when I'm at my desk just internet surfing or catching up on work. It's a super relaxing playlist full of acoustic indie tracks, and feels absolutely heart-warming on cold fall mornings and nights.

Bath & Body Works 3-Wick Candle in 'Pumpkin Pecan Waffles' -- Each year I have a favorite BBW candle and this year, Pumpkin Pecan Waffles take the prize. Smells like a bakery inside your house and has a very strong throw!

Half Baked Harvest Cookbook by Tieghan Gerard -- Last but certainly not least is this cookbook...aka my new obsession. I'm trying to get into cooking and healthy eating, but I can't stand a lot of "diet" blogs because they make such bland, disgusting food. Enter HBH. She has so many recipes that are easy to make, easy to add vegetables to/customize, healthy but still delicious, and best of all they're very comfort-type of foods, which are my favorite. The way she presents the recipes is perfection. I kid you not, every recipe I try off her book or blog turns out delicious. If you're like me and want to start eating healthier, but still want flavorful, easy to make food, go check out her blog and buy her book. Best $20 ever spent.

MIA: Where Have I Been?

One of the best parts of ED rotation: random Thursdays off.
Although the ED rotation is overall is a total nightmare because of the long hours and not getting to eat at all during a shift, the random days off are pretty awesome. There's just something about having a random weekday off that makes my heart happy. Even though those days are mostly spent getting caught up on work rather than a day of rest.

I have a bunch of paperwork to catch up on, but I wanted to take a few moments this morning to update this blog. So many things have happened over the past few months! Let's just do in bullet order instead of smashing it all in a paragraph. I lit up my candle, how it's time to get to business!

1. My Macbook died. RIP Macbook, cause of death:  coffee spill.
2. I got an iMac! I've been lusting over the iMac for sooo long, and I was like eff it. I work my ass off I deserve to use some of my savings towards the computer of my dreams. And not to mention, I really needed a computer because doing stuff of my iPad was just exhausting. 
3. I tried Coffee Meets Bagel. Epic failure. Met a guy I really liked, but he wasn't that interested in me. Let's just stop at that.
4. I went to the gym for the first time in years! If you've been following my old posts, I think I mentioned it somewhere in there that I was morbidly afraid of going to the gym. But I mustered up the energy and got my ass there. Now to just be more consistent.
5. I'm now 1 1/3 done with residency! Woo! 
6. I've decided to return to Pittsburgh after residency ends.

I think those are the major updates for now. I was going to start talking about fall favorites in this post, but I think that's better suited for a whole new post. I hate lengthy blog posts. 

BH Cosmetics Carli Bybel Eyeshadow & Highlighter Palette -- Review & Swatches

Hey guys! I have a very exciting blog post for you guys today. I recently got my hands on the Carli Bybel 14 Eyeshadow & Highlighter Palette from Ulta that has gorgeous, no...absolutely scrumptious, golden and bronze hues for everyday wear.

The first two rows have 10 eyeshadows with a mix of mattes and shimmers in various warm golden, bronze, and berry toned shades.

The bottom row has 4 highlighter shades. The first one seems to be a nice cool tone but the remainder of the three are warm, golden, and right up my alley.

Swatches of the eyeshadows start bottom up. The mattes are slightly chalky, but the shimmers are very buttery and have amazing color payoff with just one swipe.

Swatches of the highlights. The first highlight shade I found to be quite chalky, but the other three highlighter shades are very pigmented and easy to apply.


I won't lie, I haven't applied this to my eyes yet but I'm really looking forward to playing with the shimmer shadows in this palette. I'm not much of a highlighter fan, but I'm looking forward to testing the highlights on both my cheeks and my eyes. I love that this palette is full of warm toned shades with a mix of gold, bronze, and copper which are my favorite. There are also a couple purple-toned shades that I'm excited to try.

Back From a Spring Hiatus

I'm back!!! For real this time. At least for the next two months.
Let's recap to the last three months -- NICU, inpatient, inpatient. It's been helllll. I've been working 70+ hours per week with barely a day off and day-night schedule shifts up the wazoo. I'm on elective again (ie - 8:30-5 everyday with all weekends off) which is heaven. So glad to be having free time off again.
Today was my first relaxing day in the last three months. I slept a solid 8 hours, woke up at 7am, drank a cup of coffee at home while browsing YouTube this morning, and got home by 4:30. I was going to cook dinner, but instead I chose to update my calendar, plan my weekend, drink a glass of wine, and order Chinese food while watching the Kardashians. This is what life should be like. 
Tomorrow morning my goal is to wake my ass up and go to the gym. It's been 9 months that I've had a gym membership and I haven't gone. It's so embarassing. That changes tomorrow!

I have some hauls, palettes, and favorites that I've been meaning to share for a longgg while on my blog. I have so many springtime favorites and discoveries from beauty to haircare to food to homeware and everything in between. Also, be expecting some travel diaries posts up this weekend or earlier next week. Cheers to a fun, laid back, casual, adventurous summer. 

Favorites | February 2017

I can't believe it's been like a month since I last blogged. Surprise surprise, this year is flying by and I still haven't adjusted to the fact that it's 2017. January whizzed by in the ED, and February whizzed by in Step 3 study land and vacation. Not sure if I've mentioned this in my last post, but for the past two weeks I have been in Dubai and India with my mom for a bit of sightseeing and catching up with family. I'm planning on writing a separate blog post this upcoming weekend for my travel experiences and photos. For now, let's just say it was a really nice trip and it sucks to be back and have a rough three months to look forward to. The only good thing is that this week is going to be fairly light since I'm on nursery night shift for the next four nights and then I'm on my golden weekend with three days off. So nice slow transition back to work life until my next easy block in three months. I also have my eye appointment this week which I'm nottttt looking forward to.

Alright let's get to some favorites for this month. Sorry it's a tad late, I'm trying to post favorites at the end of each month, but I didn't have my laptop on this trip and it's really hard blogging on an iPad! Not too many favorites this month since I haven't had too much time to try out new products, but all o these are really amazing products nonetheless.

Too Faced Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar Eyeshadow Palette, Nougat

I've been on a cool-tone rampage this month. I've also been playing a lot with my Chocolate Bar palette, especially with the cooler shades like Nougat, Puddin', and Rum Raisin. Of all three, I think Nougat is definitely my favorite. It's a beautiful matte dirty pink sort of shade that's a lighter brown with a hint of pink-mauve undertones. Really unique shade, at least in my makeup collection. And of course, the quality of these shadows is superb and they all blend beautifully. 

Urban Decay Eyeshadow in Half-Baked

How's this for a makeup throwback. I dug this out of my eyeshadow drawer and have been wearing it quite a bit this month. I used to think this was way too bright of a gold, but I wore it this past month and I loved how it made my tired-sunken eyes pop.

L'oreal Voluminous Volume-Building Curved Brush Mascara 

The L'oreal Voluminous Mascara is at the top of my holy-grail mascara list. However, I usually go for the straight brush. While shopping at Ulta a couple months ago, I accidentally picked up the "Curved Brush" version. I didn't even know they made this mascara with this type of brush. But lo and behold, this ended up being a happy accident since I fricken love the curved-brush version of this mascara...even more than the original! The curved wand boosts up my lashes and makes them look more curled and fuller than with a straight wand, so this is definitely a must-try mascara. 

NYX HD Blush in Pink The Town

This has been my go-to blush this month. It has an interesting finish, it's mostly matte but has a hint of a satin-sparkle finish if you look at it carefully. The color is pretty ordinary but nevertheless it is a brightening peachy-pink blush without making your face look like a disco ball.

Neutrogena Oil-Free Acne Wash Cream Cleanser

I wanted to switch things up with month and try a new acne-specific face wash. I really like Neutrogena products and I decided to try the orange-colored tube of acne face wash from the sea of Neutrogena acne face washes they had at Ulta. I think it's reduced the number of fresh acne spots that have cropped up on my face this month, but I'm going to test out it for another few months before the final verdict is out on that. But like other Neutrogena face washes, it has menthol that makes your skin tingle, has a faint cucumber scent, and it did not cause me to have an adverse reaction.