Birthdays and pearls

I have a confession to make:  I am obsessed with pearls.  I wear them with nearly every single one of my outfits...I simply cannot get enough of them!





This past week was exceptionally busy, even for me! After a whirlwind couple of school days, I left town for my dad's SUPER AWESOME BIRTHDAY EXTRAVAGANZA.  Spending Veteran's Day weekend with your parents might sound lame, but I actually get along wonderfully with my mom and dad and couldn't have had a better time!  My mom bought my dad an iPad for his birthday, and we were all super excited to give it to him. He had absolutely no idea that he was going to get one, and the look on his face when he realized he was an opening an iPad was truly priceless!



After presents, we went out to his favorite Mexican restaurant for dinner (and margaritas!), and then went to a country bar for some live country music. All in all, it was a great night! I have to admit, after playing with my dad's iPad I really wouldn't mind one myself...

What I'm wearing:
Top - Arden B
Cardigan - Vintage
Boots - Simply Vera
Necklace - Grandma

Kind of a big deal

Today was kind of a huge deal.

At my University, they keep us poor incompetent vet students away from live animals for the first two years of our schooling.  During these years, we basically lived in lecture halls and libraries, studying and striving to learn as much information as possible for the day when we would finally get to work on live animals.  After awhile, I really didn't think the day would ever come when I would get to work on an actual patient.

Well today was that day...our VERY FIRST surgery day!

We were split up into groups of three and each assigned a dog to either castrate (if it was a boy) or spay (if it was a girl).  Each member of the the team was assigned as either the primary surgeon, assistant surgeon, or anesthetist..but we had no idea which role we would be assigned until today!  Our dog was a boy, and I was assigned as anesthetist for the day.  I was actually dreading the role of anesthetist because I am really paranoid about anesthesia...there is just so much that can go wrong!  It was my responsibility to place our dog under general anesthesia, monitor him throughout the surgery, and then wake ("recover") him when the procedure was finished.   I was SO scared that he wouldn't wake up, but he popped right back up after we were all done!  I was so relieved I could have cried...

Our dog was the sweetest, most adorable Rottweiler mixed named "Stocker", and I have totally fallen head over heels for him!  He's from the shelter and is up for adoption, and I would absolutely love to bring him home with me for good.  Alas, I already have two cats and I'm not sure how Stocker would do with a couple of felines.   I am determined to find him a good home nonetheless... there's no way the little sweetie deserves to go back to the shelter!



I love this top and cardigan, but am unhappy with the fit of these jeans. New "skinny jeans" are definitely on my list of need-to-buys!






What I'm Wearing:
Blue bow shirt - Little yellow button, thrifted
Cardigan - Vintage, thrifted
Jeans - Tommy Hilfiger "skinny jeans", thrifted
Braided belt - Chiang Mai, Thailand Walking Street Market
Black flats - thrifted

Fringe-erific!

I am completely obsessed with these super cute boots I found at the thrift store a couple months back. Now that autumn has arrived, they've been making a fairly regular appearance at school. Not only are they super comfortable, but they're really versatile, too! I picked up this fringed cardigan during my last thrift store outing and had these boots in mind when I bought it. Fringe-overload, or fringe-erific? Personally, I kind of like them together!







I actually prefer this outfit belted.  I knew today was going to be a loooong day (9 hours straight working in the lab!), and I simply can't tolerate having a belt around my waist for that long.  I know other fashionistas can do it, but I haven't developed that skill yet! Maybe some day...







I bought this necklace this past September in honor of my summer spent in Thailand. I lived and worked in Chiang Mai, Thailand for 7 weeks this past summer, and it was the most amazing experience of my life! I stayed at the veterinary school in Chiang Mai, and was intrigued to learn that a great deal of their veterinary schooling is focused on elephant medicine. Imagine that! If only there were more elephants in the Midwest USA, because I would totally love to work on elephants!

What I'm wearing:
Skinny Jeans - House of Dereon
Fringed cardigan - International Concepts (thrifted)
T-shirt - Freak Zoo (hand-me-down)
Tank-top - zoey beth (thrifted)
Earrings - Kohl's
Necklace - silver shop in South Carolina
Boots - thrifted. Similar (or same?) boots found here  
Braided belt - Chiang Mai, Thailand Walking Street Market

A day in the lab

Autumn is, by far, my favorite season. I love the cooler temperatures, bonfires, football games, pumpkin pie, apple picking...pretty much everything about it! So when the weather is gorgeous and mild, like it was today, it's all the more depressing when I have to spend the majority of it INDOORS. Alas, I spent today in the lab working on my research project for my MPH degree. A degree which I've been trying to finish up for the last three years, and am concurrently pursuing with my DVM. Yep, I'm that much of a sucker for punishment.

Regardless, I still relished the fact that I didn't need to wear a coat today. That was just about the only bright spot in my whole day. That and catching the neighbor's cat napping on the electric box outside my apartment. She is such a cutie!





I only recently began wearing straight-legged jeans, and I'm still trying to figure out how to wear them correctly. It seems to me that my body shape isn't extremely well-suited for the these types of jeans, but I'm trying nonetheless! Today's outfit was a nice change from the brown tones I usually wear. I find that I'm naturally drawn towards earthy colors, such as brown and green. If you peek in my wardrobe I'm afraid those are the two colors that would pop out at you right away! Does anyone else have this problem? At least it makes it easy to match accessories!







What I'm wearing:
Shirt - Forever 21
Jeans - Tommy Hilfiger "Skinny Jeans" (thrifted)
Flats - American Eagle
Belt - Chiang Mai, Thailand Walking Street Market
Earrings - Jule

Horses and hearts

I woke up feeling really ill today, so not much effort went into dressing. I almost got rid of this tank top last time I went through my closet looking for things to give to the thrift store, but ended up hanging on to it. After all, some days you need clothes that make you smile...and what is more smile-worthy than horses, hearts, and flowers?

Besides, I thought it would be a perfect top for vet school! Next quarter I'll be taking more equine-focused courses, so perhaps this top will have to make another appearance then...









And THIS is my darling boy, Calvin. I adopted him as a kitten when my boss at the time brought him into our veterinary clinic after finding him by the side of the highway.  We gave him a check-up and put him up for adoption, but I had already fallen in love with him.  He was just a little guy, and trashed his cage every day playing with the blankets and toys in his cage.  I used to take him out of his cage and let him sit on my shoulder while I did laundry and cleaned the common area.  Believe it or not, he really was small enough to sit on my shoulder!  I started to take him home with me in the evenings to socialize him and play with him, and secretly dreaded the time when he would finally find his forever home.  So I decided that I would just have to make his forever home with ME, and adopted him myself!   We've been inseparable ever since!



What I'm wearing:
Brown cardigan - Old Navy (thrifted)
Horse tank top - Delia's (thrifted)
Purple pants - Old Navy (hand-me-down from sister)
Red flats - American Eagle
Purple charm necklace - handmade gift from friend
Purple dangle earrings - handmade gift from friend

Fringe on Halloween

One of my favorite new trends right now is FRINGE! Whether it's bangs or on bags and shoes, fringe is definitely IN here in Ohio! On my last thrift store adventure I was thrilled to pick up a long brown cardigan with fringe on the ends, and I can't wait to shoot pics and share it with you guys. Combined with my fringed boots (also a thrift store find) I think I have a winning outfit that will be just perfect for fall! What do you think about the current fringe trend?

Today I had surgery lab all afternoon, so I spent most of the day in scrubs. Unfortunately there's no "cute" way to wear scrubs...although today I was rocking my Katherine Heigl brand designer scrubs. Did you know there was such a thing?

Surgery lab today was actually quite appropriate for Halloween. We practiced fracture fixation techniques, which meant a lot of sawing and drilling through bone. In the end, we ended up with a tibia that looked very much like it came from some Frankenstein's monster skeleton dog!

This is what it would have looked like in a real, live dog:

(Photo courtesy of http://www.vetsurgerycentral.com/esf.htm)
Pretty cool, huh?

In honor of Halloween, the American Veterinary Medical Association released a press release describing why you would want a veterinarian on your team in the event of a zombie apocalypse. If you've never thought about it before, you may want to think about it now...especially with it being Halloween and all... ;)

5 reasons you want a veterinarian on your team in a zombie apocalypse


Schaumburg, IL — In recent episodes of AMC's zombie series The Walking Dead, a new character introduced to the show, Dr. Hershel Greene, helps treat and save the life of a critically injured child. Dr. Greene, however, is not a physician, but a veterinarian.

Now, under normal circumstances, of course, we would never recommend that a veterinarian treat a human, but in the midst of a zombie apocalypse, well ... physicians might be hard to come by, governing boards and malpractice laws are out the window, and if one of your party is bleeding to death, a veterinarian just might give that person the best chance of survival.

Which got us thinking ... how else might a veterinarian prove useful in a zombie apocalypse? Here are our top 5 reasons you'd want a veterinarian as part of your zombie apocalypse team:

Continue reading here...

Getting to know me

Hello world.

Just to be clear from the start, there are many things I am not.

1) I am not a professional photographer. Alas, I wish I owned an amazing camera and had the artistic skills to shoot Vogue-worthy photo spreads for this humble blog. What I do have is a KodakEasyShare Z712 IS and a desire to get better with every photo. To that end, feel free to critique away!

2) I am not a fashion icon. There are some days when I put an outfit together, and by the end of the day say to myself, "What was I thinking?" No indeed, I am not above fashion mistakes. That's why I'm both a vet AND fashionista in training! What I AM is a girl who loves fashion and trying new things...even if it puts me at risk of looking a bit silly at times. Again, feel free to critique away!

3) I am not a supermodel. I was a quite hesitant about doing the whole "fashion blog" thing because the thought of taking pictures of myself for the whole world to see did not excite me. At all. However, the idea of challenging myself to find new and creative ways of wearing my thrift store finds DID excite me. And so a-blogging we will go.

4) I am not a vet. Yet. I am beyond excited to attend veterinary school and cannot WAIT to achieve my dream of becoming a veterinarian. That day is coming. In the meantime, all I can do is study, study, study. Because I am not a vet, I cannot ethically answer veterinary-related questions on this blog. Even if I DID have my DVM I couldn't answer, because without a little thing called the VCPR (Veterinarian-Client-Patient Relationship) it would be unethical of me to do so. My answer will always be, "Ask your personal veterinarian." Sorry!


On the other hand, there are a few things I am:

1) I am a vet student. Veterinary school in the USA, like medical school, is a 4 year post-undergraduate program. I received my BS in Zoology (minor in English) in 2008 and began veterinary school in 2009. I am now three years into my veterinary education, and am learning more and more each day! Veterinary school is, quite simply, draining. Human doctors have to learn the anatomy, physiology, and disease pathology of a single species - humans. As veterinarians, we have to learn the anatomy, physiology, and disease pathology of dogs, cats, sheep, cows, goats, horses...the list goes on! As you can probably guess, it is an extremely demanding program, and because of that most days it can be challenging to find motivation to even put pants on. Seriously, students sometime show up to class in PJ's. It happens. Hopefully this blog will inspire me to put away the hoodies and sweat pants and instead dress like the inner fashionista I am!

2) I am a POOR vet student. Veterinary school is EXPENSIVE, and the average debt of a newly graduated veterinarian is about $150,000. Yeah, it's not a pretty picture. But most of us don't go into veterinary medicine because we want to get rich. We do it because we are passionate about animals! Because I am "poor", I do most of my shopping at thrift stores...and I love it! The thrill of the hunt! The rows and rows of clothes, with buried gems just waiting to be found! Honestly, who doesn't love a good thrift store?

3) I am over-involved, over-committed, and don't know how to say no. Meaning I don't have a ton of spare time. In fact I probably shouldn't even start this blog. But you know what? I'm going to anyway.


And so, my friends, without further ado...here is my FIRST outfit of the day! It's that time of year when the leaves change color and the temperature drops. No longer can I leave my house 10 minutes before class and make it on time. No sir, now I have to leave myself extra time to defrost the car and scrape off the frost (and glare enviously at passing cars that obviously live in garages...sigh). This time of year I'm a BIG fan of layers, especially because I get more use out of my wardrobe by layering long-sleeves under my warmer-weather tops.




What I'm Wearing:
Deer shirt - Thrifted
Long-sleeved T - Cloud Nine (Burlington Coat Factory)
Skinny Jeans - House of Dereon
Brown corduroy blazer - Lipstick (hand-me-down)
Necklace (gift)
Boots - Simply Vera






This is Abby, my oh-so-chubby darling girl! I'm currently working on helping her to lose some pounds, since she is quite a bit heavier than she ought to be. In the future I plan on writing a bit about Abby's weight loss journey. I hope you'll come back to read all about it!

Thanks for reading my first post! I'm really looking forward to this journey!
Happy Halloween!